First I want to say….it is WINTER….LET IT GO!

Congress in recess today because of snowy weather…..does Congress really need an excuse to do NOTHING?

One last note off topic and then I will get to the point of this post….It is Mardi Gras Day….eat, drink and puke….for tomorrow begins Lent and that can be a bitch!

While you were disinterested and watching whatever mind sucking show you watch to ‘educate’ yourself….the world is moving closer to disaster……while the experts twiddle their thumbs and scratch their heads……..

Russian troops won’t leave the Ukraine until the situation is “normalized,” foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said today, arguing that Russia was defending its own citizens by invading. The people who ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych “intend to make use of the fruits of their victory to attack human rights and fundamental freedoms of minorities,” Lavrov said in Geneva, according to the BBC. Russia appears to be tightening its grip on Crimea, with thousands of troops now in the region and large Ukrainian military bases surrounded. Russian troops have also secured a large ferry terminal, raising fears that yet more soldiers are on the way.

In the latest developments:

• No shots have been fired yet, but Ukraine’s acting prime minster says armed conflict is a definite possibility and the country’s armed forces have been mobilized, reports the Washington Post. If Vladimir Putin wants war, “he has reached that target within a few inches,” he said.
• All eyes are on President Obama, who has condemned Russia’s “breach of international law,” sent John Kerry to Kiev, and approved economic sanctions designed to, in one official’s words, “make it hurt,” the New York Times reports. “It’s the most important, most difficult foreign policy test of his presidency,” says one career diplomat. “There’s no one in Europe who can approach him in power. He’s going to have to lead.”
• The other seven members of the G8 have, at Obama’s urging, condemned the invasion and suspended plans to attend the group’s June summit in Sochi, a move shrugged off by a Putin spokesman. “It’s not a minus for Russia,” he said. “It will be a minus for the G8.”
• But in a potentially positive development, Putin has agreed to Germany’s proposal for a team of European observers to head to Crimea on a fact-finding mission, the LA Times reports. The Kremlin news service said that Putin had agreed in a phone call with Angela Merkel, telling her that Russians faced “the unrelenting threat of violent action from the side of ultranationalist forces.”
• Meanwhile, Russia is taking a beating in the financial markets. The Moscow stock market plunged 10%, and the ruble hit a record low against the dollar and euro before the Russian central bank stepped in, Reuters and the Wall Street Journal report. The crisis has also driven up global oil prices.

And while you were watching Nancy Grace babble her brains out…..there have been further developments……

A supposed Russian deadline for Ukrainian troops to get out of the Crimea region passed today without incident, though what appear to be the first shots of the crisis were fired at an air base in the region this morning, reports the AP. Pro-Russian troops who have seized the Ukrainian base fired warning shots when they were approached by hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers demanding their jobs back. They said they would shoot the Ukrainians if they got an closer. In other developments:

• With John Kerry on his way to Kiev, Vladimir Putin has ordered tens of thousands of Russian troops on exercises near the border to return to their bases, easing fears that Russia plans to invade the eastern part of Ukraine after tightening its grip on Crimea, Reuters reports.

• Russia’s United Nation envoy claims troops were sent across the border to protect civilians at the request of ousted Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovich, reports the BBC. Western diplomats say Russia’s arguments in favor of intervention are groundless, though the LA Times notes that CIA director John Brennan told officials yesterday that a 1997 treaty allows up to 25,000 Russian troops in the Crimea region, meaning Moscow may not consider the troop movement an invasion. Some 16,000 Russian troops are now believed to be in the region.
• The Obama administration has suspended military ties with Russia and US officials say the next move will be to freeze the assets of top Russian officials. European leaders, however, are resisting calls for tough economic sanctions if the Russians don’t withdraw. “The biggest argument for severe economic sanctions not being imposed is that the European countries don’t have much of an alternative to Russian energy supplies,” an analyst tells the New York Times.

Time for someone to locate an expert in Eurasian issues…..what they have now are hacks apparently….why?  A 2013 report that graded different parts of the global as “flash points” gave the Russia/Ukraine region a LOW possibility of problems…..they also missed the Thai thingy also…that area to them was only a moderate chance of problems……may I suggest that the State Department contact Prof. Bueno de Mesquita a true genius in the international conflict field….I think he could point this rudderless ship in the correct direction…..just a thought.

The US really needs to find new people….these present ones are worthless!