The U.S. is playing a dangerous game of chess in world politics. If we do not have the ability to successfully threaten a country of equal military power then what good are we? In certain instances in todays geopolitical sphere we NEED to have the ability to push the rowdy little brother countries back into line. This means REAL and FORCEFUL sanctions against countries like Iran, Syria, and now Russia. I think a lot of people had hopes for Russia, meaning we thought that they would actually put their act in gear and become a solid addition to the the most powerful countries in the world. Instead they have once again bullied their way to the front of the chow hall line. Sadly they do not bully in a way that is very healthy to the rest of us that just want to live normal peaceful lives.

We are no longer in an era where the world is centered around who has the biggest empire. Colonialism breeds slavery. Slavery is bad in all meanings of the word, and the way that Putin has used it against old soviet republics is especially frightening. The Russian President is essentially a dictator and with that power comes the ability to create laws much like U.S. executive orders yet with relatively no checks and balances. Yes there is a Prime Minister and a Federal Assembly (Parliament) who have to approve certain things that the president does but in the case of Russia these are all just formalities.

According to President Putin, Crimea being soaked back into the Russian borders was merely correcting a historical injustice. Please someone tell me how this is true, why not just take over the rest of the old Soviet countries again? That would probably make him happy considering for the majority of his youth and young adulthood he had a predominant role in illegal intelligence gathering for the Kremlin. He loved the Soviet version of his beloved Russia and was probably clapping over-enthusiastically during the Soviet portion of the Olympic opening ceremony.

In order to deter people like Putin from making these power grabs we must have the ability to push them back into place using diplomatic bullying and sanctions that will make it impossible for Russia to be economically stable without the help of the E.U. and the United States. The United States could approve the Keystone Pipeline and start to use its own oil supply and in turn severely reduce the 26 billion dollars that is being paid to Russia for crude oil. If the E.U. drastically cut importing from Russia, the Russians stock market would crash. The problem with this is we rely too much on countries for things we need and have no other immediate method of obtaining such goods.

Whether or not the U.S. acknowledges the Crimean annexation to Russia is pointless because it happened and it is very real. In the bejeweled halls of past Russian Czars Vladimir Putin signed a treaty for Crimea to join Russia, they expanded their map and in doing so expanded their empire. Whether or not the people of Crimea where forced to vote for the annexation or not will remain unknown. We can however assume that they where bullied in the same methods that the people of North Korea are forced to vote in their country.

What else can be said, except to try and keep on living the way you do knowing that we give Russia almost 27 billion dollars a year. Most people don’t care about this, because like everything else in America “It only indirectly affects you.” And that lady’s and gents is how World War’s start. Whether it is assassinating a world leader or invading other countries, leader’s who are too power hungry will forever be on Earth and will always strive to obtain more power.