In the news

[brite]

As a PoliSci major, I'v watching the world kind of blow up lately. The Ukrainian president bugs out in the middle of the night, no one seems to know where he is... and the only person that cares seems to really be Putin..isn't that interesting?

But the story that really has caught my eye.... Venezuela... As much as our Sigma talks, i cant help but worry. The crime rate is at an all time high (71 murders a day?), inflation is through the roof (58%, from what I'm hearing) and this from a country that i sit7ting on one of the worlds largest oil reserves.,.. with a government that can't keep the lights on!

All of this said... Sigma... stay safe..

[Rommie]

Been reading a lot about speculation that the government in Venezuela is cracking down on Internet connections in light of increasing protests there. Really hoping Sigma will sweep in and tell us all this isn't true.

Ukraine is also an interesting one because my grandma and relatives (who my mom is currently visiting) are about a 2 hour drive from the border with Ukraine. It was rather similar when Yugoslavia was breaking up though- Hungary was the first Eastern bloc nation in NATO in part because Kosovo was around then, and they wanted access to the air force bases- so they're just keeping a wary eye on things.

It does make me wonder if anywhere else in Europe might be inspired to do protests though- Bosnia's starting to have quite a few. May you live in interesting times, eh?

[Sigma_Orionis]

I'm still here, been bitching all week about the mess on the Banana Republic NewsFlash thread

So brite, see I wasn't exaggerating? Incompetence is as Venezuelan as Apple Pie (errr make that Arepas).

As far as I know the Government made a lot of noise about cracking on CNN and it backed away from that this weekend.

Today I left directly from home to a Meeting at a Government Office (who is asking for our services, for no other reason, so stop making stories about the Secret Police ) and My boss called me to go back home after the meeting,

Tonight I got a text message from people at the office saying "stay at home tomorrow"

And the government decreed that most of the week is a holiday.

I suspect they're trying to get people of the streets.

[The Supreme Canuck]

My advice? Stay inside. Stay safe.

[Sigma_Orionis]

That's exactly what I've been doing.

[brite]

That's exactly what I've been doing.

Just be careful... make sure you have enough dog food...

[Sigma_Orionis]

Meh, Apparently the dog has enough food, or so my old man says.....

[FZR1KG]

That's fucked up Sigma. Take care of yourself.

[brite]

Meh, Apparently the dog has enough food, or so my old man says.....

Didn't you once have that discussion with your dad?? LOL And we are talking Neos... they are BIG dogs... (Cookie could ride one of those...)

[Sigma_Orionis]

Lol never had a conversation with the old man about the dog. This Neo is a bit small for its age, and loves people food, her favorite sport is to sit besides you and give you her best "Little Orphan Annie" look so you give her part of whatever you're eating. I bet Fisher would love this dog

[SciFiFisher]

Lol never had a conversation with the old man about the dog. This Neo is a bit small for its age, and loves people food, her favorite sport is to sit besides you and give you her best "Little Orphan Annie" look so you give her part of whatever you're eating. I bet Fisher would love this dog

I could feed a village for a week with one of those!

[FZR1KG]

Lol never had a conversation with the old man about the dog. This Neo is a bit small for its age, and loves people food, her favorite sport is to sit besides you and give you her best "Little Orphan Annie" look so you give her part of whatever you're eating. I bet Fisher would love this dog

I could feed a village for a week with one of those!

Surely there's not enough meat on one for that.

[brite]

Lol never had a conversation with the old man about the dog. This Neo is a bit small for its age, and loves people food, her favorite sport is to sit besides you and give you her best "Little Orphan Annie" look so you give her part of whatever you're eating. I bet Fisher would love this dog

I could feed a village for a week with one of those!

Surely there's not enough meat on one for that.

Fisher says that if you made a stew....

[FZR1KG]

A touch of olive oil, some veggies. He has a point.
I recommend slow cooking or a pressure cooker.
Dog meat is really tough and stringy.
Gets caught in your teeth to easily.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Great, now I'll get "Little Orphan Annie" looks from the dog everytime I mention stew around the house

[brite]

Great, now I'll get "Little Orphan Annie" looks from the dog everytime I mention stew around the house

Don't look into the eyes... that's how I ended up with 2 Pomeranians...

[Parrothead]

Our federal gov't is sending a group to Ukraine today, to take a look and have some preliminary discussions with the gov't.

Russians won't easily give in, IIRC, Ukraine and Russia signed an agreement a few years ago, extending Russia's lease on bases in Sevastopol (sp). The Crimean Peninsula is full of ethnic russians, as with any country bordering Russia, these ethnic populations will demand Russia do something to help them. The area has and will remain to be a powderkeg. We had a bit of a kerfuffle as Trudeau (leader of fed liberals) made a bad joke about Ukraine needing to worry because Russia lost at hockey in the Olympics, on the weekend. Felt for Garneau who was sent out to defend Trudeau's comments Monday. Tuesday, Trudeau issued an apology.

Gas pipelines run through Ukraine, carrying natural gas from Russia to E. Europe. IIRC, sometime in the early 2000's during one of the disputes over gas prices, some sort of deal may have been struck transferring some of the ownership of some pipelines to companies with russian ownership. There was the issue of Russia shutting off the pipelines mid-winter, eventually affecting gas supplies in Europe. The pipeline has been built under the Baltic from St Petersburg to Germany, don't know if future pipeline politics will be played as things in Ukraine unfold. These issues will come up in the future, once some stability has been reached and "spheres of influence" re-established. Ukraine could end up being split east-west. East leaning to Russia for support and economic ties, west to the EU. It will remain to be messy. The Russia - Ukraine history is long along political and religious lines.

Sigma - stay safe

[geonuc]

Putin will play as dirty as he has to, so I expect gas shortages.

[Rommie]

Crimea is sorta an interesting case because it was actually Russian-owned for centuries but they bunched it with Ukraine during the Soviet days (when it was assumed it didn't matter). So it's still an autonomous region within Ukraine but definitely not Ukrainian- the Russian fleet is headquartered there for example.

I don't know yet if eastern Russia is going to split off from the rest of Ukraine because, first, there is a significant non-Russian population there, and second most of Ukraine's industries are centered in that region. Not so easy to split up if you don't want to.

Regarding the natural gas... I definitely remember the last time Russia cut it off because the majority of Hungary's heating comes from there, so my cousins didn't have to go to school that week for example to conserve it. Thing is though this time of year that's an empty threat in some ways if they decided to do it, because unlike the US our winter has been extremely mild and we're just coming out of it to boot. Obviously you still need some gas, but it's not a thing that'd do much leverage versus pulling the plug in January like they did last time.

I guess they could do it again next winter, but that's so far away that who knows what's gonna happen until then.

[Parrothead]

There is an agreement over the Crimean Peninsula. Putin won't car what Obama says, as many talking heads have pointed out, Obama has made many red lines and then ignored them. I like the rferl site for news on these types of stories. Here's a background on how things in Crimea pertain according to the "Budapest Memorandum": http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-explainer-budapest-memorandum/25280502.html

Looks like Putin has already violated it.

[FZR1KG]

Putin's violated a lot of things...but that's not what this thread is about. lol

[Parrothead]

Forgot to mention, saw Shahkisvihli (sp) on cnn last night. He pointed out similarities between this and the situation with Geogia and it's autonomous regions back in '08.

He basically stated, if they want to be effictive, boot Russia out of the G8 (Putin won't care about it) and not only freeze Yanokovych's assets, but Putin's too. Reading the rferl site, looks like gasline politics is coming, heard on the tv news Putin has requested autorization from the Duma for armed action.