http://en.itar-tass.com/economy/723249?utm_medium=rss20
I was looking to see the nature of the railroads in Ukraine. Railroad geeks like me know that Russia does not use standard gauge tracks. That makes commerce more problematic, but protects Russia from invasion by rail by other European countries.
Here is an interesting tidbit from 1931
http://www.jta.org/1931/02/19/archive/railway-communication-to-be-provided-for-new-jewish-region-in-crimea-move-to-overcome-hindrances-to
Not surprisingly, the Ukraine is Russian Gauge – Poland is standard gauge, which is where the change of gauge occurs.
I think India has different gauges too.
And Pakistan has its own standard. One of our problems trying to get supplies to Afghanistan from the north is the Russians built the “Peace” bridge to Russian gauge – making it useless for NATO / EU gauge equipment. We were helping the former Soviet Republics convert away from Russian gauge, which is a big red flag to Russia’s sense of having a security buffer. With the growth of containerized rail transport, the dual gauge issue is much less important for commercial traffic. You just use a crane to move the container from one train to the other. Not so easy with special purpose cars designed to carry tanks.
One of my memories of living near Michigan City Indiana was for several days watching military trains rolling through the middle of the street on tracks normally used only by the South Shore commuter rail carrying HUMVs en route to the middle east for Iraq War #1.
Connecting the dots continues
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/164673/crimea-as-jewish-homeland
Everything old is new again
Why do you think the Russians had the Crimea vote on Sunday, March 16, 2014 for whether they wanted to join Russia?
http://trendypie.com/exactly-70-years-ago-on-16-march-1944-the-soviet-army-started-the-operation-to-release-crimea-from-nazi-germans/
The Ukraine Navy is collocated with the Russian naval base. The Crimeans / Russians said straight away Ukraine can forget using its Navy for anything and has moved to make sure that’s a fact. The government in Kiev can’t get to the base without going through Crimea. Crimea is attached to Ukraine by a thin strip of land which is highly defendable by the Russians.
http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/19/crimean-forces-storm-ukrainian-navy-hq/
Breaking news from AP – the missing cat in Fort Collins has been found!
http://m.seattlepi.com/news/us/article/Stolen-Colorado-hotel-cat-found-safe-scared-5330389.php
purrty good news day… must be nothing going on the the Crimea or the Indian Ocean.
Ukraine agrees to remove troops from Crimea
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/crimea-crisis-ukraine-troops-pull-3262455
The Ukranian soldiers know there is no upside to resisting Russia in Crimea.
Will Russia stop with Crimea? Will Ukraine rush now to join NATO?
This is exactly where Ron/Rand Paul are clear on the Libertarian POV. This is none of our business. If Europeans feel threatened, they have the obligation to fund the military and round up the men to fight their wars.
I’ve not heard anyone ask them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they believe the reason we were drawn into WW2 was our intervention in Hawaii to overthrow the native leadership of the island.
I doubt this will ever be a majority opinion of the US. Logic is a little bird chirping in a meadow.
Maybe sooner than you think:
http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/19/rand-paul-gets-standing-ovation-at-berkeley-your-right-to-privacy-is-under-assault/#ixzz2wSXeZYz2
Looks like Bill Kristol is attacking. I heard a caller last night to the Red Eye talk show saying Ron Paul supports the Palestinian car bombings. The hosts laughed the caller off the air, but it was clearly part of an orchestrated smear campaign.
http://ronpaulinstitute.org/media/117903/fightback.pdf