Punish Russia? Never. It is all hot air and lies

 

Irrational GOP Chest Beating

• Watching GOP politicians and talking heads drone on and on about the Ukraine is like watching male gorillas irrationally beat their chests at each other. 
• Republicans know full well nothing will be done to punish Putin because he could cut the supply lines to our troops in Afghanistan that run through Russia.  Not to mention that we cannot even get into space with hitching a ride on Russian space ships. 

Bullshit Alert  -  Simply, you are being played for a fool by the hacks from both parties when they strut around pretending that they care "so deeply" about the Ukraine.  It is all bullshit and strutting for the cameras and voters.

While calls mount on Capitol Hill to robustly punish Russia for its incursion into Crimea, some officials in the back halls of the Pentagon are privately pushing for restraint.

That’s because senior US military officials are well aware that a key supply line in and out of Afghanistan runs through Russia.

That supply line, known as the Northern Distribution Network, or NDN, brings food, water, and building materials that keep US troops in Afghanistan fed and America’s longest war going reports the Christian Science Monitor.

Negotiating the NDN was a labor-intensive endeavor, and the Pentagon does not want to lose it, particularly as the spring fighting season in Afghanistan is set to begin soon.

“It’s been a heck of a process and of course we’re always looking out for any disruptions to it,” says a senior defense official. “Political problems with Russia is certainly one of them.”

The good news is that so far, Russia has shown no inclination to use the NDN as leverage in the wake of US retaliation for its troop movements in Crimea.

This was true even in the middle of the conflict between Russian and Georgia in 2008, for example – in which the US took Georgia’s side.

Back then, it remained business as usual along the NDN, notes Thomas Sanderson, co-director of the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

That surprised a number of defense analysts, he adds, but it also makes sense: In a time of economic uncertainty, the NDN offers Russia a considerable source of income, in the neighborhood of $1 billion a year.

“Putin’s finance guys might be telling him, ‘Hey, we really need the cash,’ ”  Sanderson notes.

At the same time, Russia has long been able to “compartmentalize” its diplomatic relationship with the US, he adds, when Russia never even hinted that the NDN might be in jeopardy during the US-Russia diplomatic fallout over Georgia.

Even so, this doesn’t stop Pentagon officials from worrying about the possibility that the supply line could be cut off.

Chest beating and ground thumping by mountain gorillas.

Politicians Beating Their Chests

Both parties pretend to care about issues by, gorilla-like, beating their chests for

the public.  If you believe what they say you are a fool.

Bullshit and Lies
Bottom line - No one really cares about the Crimea.  NATO is not going to do anything to endanger their supply lines through Russia to our troops in Afghanistan.

US troops set out on a patrol in Paktika province, Afghanistan, close to the Pakistan border.  NATO troops are exposed in the middle of fucking nowhere with supply lines running through Russia and a Pakistan deep in Islamic terrorism.  Russia just might be the most reliable partner we have.