Ukraine vs. Russia... vs. the world

Lykeios wrote: I really don't care about the excuses Putin may have for invading Ukraine. I do not care if he had a legitimate reason or not. I want to see people support the Ukrainians and the sovereignty of their Nation. Putin has NO right to waltz in and capture an entire region of another sovereign region for ANY reason outside of open warfare against said country.

The situation bothers me more because I know exactly what the "West" will do about the slap in the face Ukraine has received: Absolutely NOTHING. Wow...evonomic sanctions agaibst Russia? Since those work so well in the Middle East...sure, let's do that. Short of open military action to remove the Russians from Ukrainian soil there is no action the EU or U.S. can do that will even give that dictator (Putin) pause.

NOTE: These are statements of opinion...so, kindly take them as such.

Economic sanctions on russia would be hard for the EU, but believe me, all the mega-rich mega-powerful we-own-the-government gas and oil barons will be hit really hard in the pocket.

Imagine sanctions that prohibit trade with russia and countries which trade with russia. Even china would have to abandon them because china has got too much to lose by stopping trade with the US and the EU, its biggest customers. (not to mention all those US dollars in their central bank coffers would become completely useless)

I live in Hungary which is just next to Ukraine. We are a bit frightened for many reasons. Some years ago there happened to be a smaller quarrel between Russia and Ukraine, so Russia turned the gas-tubes off, and because of that Ukraine turned off the other tunnels traveling to Europe, and thus to my country. As a result, the whole system collapsed. The large-scale works shut down, schools closed and many people didn't have to go to work, to spare the remaining gas. It was for a few days (thanks God), but even this was a situation of crisis. The second problem is that the EU is imposing economic sanctions against Russia (e.g. in trading), which may not have instant effect, but sooner or later the economy will break under the pressure... and then Putyin will either have to bend to the EU or take radical steps. And not to mention the news I hear from Hungarians living in Ukraine. There is a significant minority of Hungarians living there - alongside my relatives, and they are getting call-up papers to the Ukrainian army.
I know it doesn't really seem a great problem for those who live far away from here, but as we are much closer we can detect smaller changes that may not be that visible.
Oh, and the main reason why Putyin attacked the Crimea is that an important minority of Russians lived there, and if I know right, they even wanted to join Russia. There are even splinter groups on the eastern part of Ukraine who also want to join Russia.
These are just my opinions and what I witness here, I thought I would share.

And woa, I haven't realized that this topic is this old. :whistle: