[Keith_McClary]

Just another way to think of it, is there a law at the UN or something that says the US is responsible and answerable for everything? Maybe it's not our business?

The "law at the UN" is that it's none of your business how other countries run their affairs.

[vtsnowedin]

Just another way to think of it, is there a law at the UN or something that says the US is responsible and answerable for everything? Maybe it's not our business?

I don't have the exact language in front of me and the specifics are most certainly classified but the NATO alliance is a mutual defense pact where an attack on one is considered an attack on all members.
So yes we have an iron in the fire if hostilities break out between Russia and NATO member Turkey.

[Plantagenet]

Russian Media Explodes With Vulgar and Racist Anti-Obama Rhetoric

As in America, the Russian public is largely informed by TV shows and other media, which never miss an opportunity to remind viewers that the current occupant of the White House is the world’s biggest villain—but not one to be taken too seriously.

Putin is strong. Obama is weak. Putin is a doer. Obama is a talker. Putin fixes. Obama ruins. Putin is a leader. Obama isn’t.

...

In Russian, “schmoe” resembles the Yiddish “schmuck,” but with much stronger negative connotations.

“Obama schmoe” has recently become an all-pervading part of Russian pop culture. There are “Obama schmoe” bumper stickers (in addition to others, like “Obama is bad” and “Obama is the devil”), and there are T-shirts with pictures of Mr. Putin whispering into the ear of the embarrassed American President, “Obama, you are a schmoe.”

There are satellite photographs of the slogan in white paint on the runway of the Russian air base in Syrian Latakia. There, it serves as a background for Russian warplanes.



...

Last week’s disgustingly racist scandal finally broke the patience of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, which had been silent despite all of the vulgar anti-Obama assaults in Russia. The high-end Bakhetle supermarket chain displayed cutting boards styled as the 2016 calendar that, according to Chinese horoscopes, will be “the year of monkey.”

“It is disgusting to see that such blatant racism has a place on Russian store shelves,” Will Stevens, the spokesperson for the U.S. embassy in Moscow wrote on his Twitter.
http://observer.com/2015/12/vulgar-and-racist-anti-obama-rhetoric-inundates-russian-pop-culture/

Lets just hope our beloved President does't misunderestimate Putin and bumble into a war in Russia, the same way he misunderestimated the Caliphate as the "JV" and bumbled into a war in Syria that now entering its third year.

[SeaGypsy]

Erdogans statements are outrageous. He is a totally arrogant little turd who should be cut out of NATO & see how he goes with 'occupying Russia in 7 days'.

[JV153]

I've been seeing a lot of unusual articles in the Finnish newspaper's as well - the articles are becoming exceedingly sensational in nature - and I suggest that you we just read them calmly and recognize them for what they are.

[Cog]

Most Russians are racist by nature. Their media and social networks often portray Obama and the first family as chimps eating bananas. How anyone like dissident can defend such racism by the Russians is beyond me.

[Newfie]

Most Russians are racist by nature. Their media and social networkds often portray Obama and the first family as chimps eating bananas. How anyone like dissident can defend such racism by the Russians is beyond me.

I don't see where Dis is defending this behaviour.

OTOH, I can see an argument for defending it, as an example of US first amendment rights we have the constitutional ability to do so. By setting the example we educate Russians and others on how they should behave.

I don't like what you say be defend your right to say it.

[Keith_McClary]

Most Russians are racist by nature. Their media and social networks often portray Obama and the first family as chimps eating bananas. How anyone like dissident can defend such racism by the Russians is beyond me.

But you don't mind if Rs do it.

[Sixstrings]

Just another way to think of it, is there a law at the UN or something that says the US is responsible and answerable for everything? Maybe it's not our business?

The "law at the UN" is that it's none of your business how other countries run their affairs.

THEN RUSSIA CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS. Putin can't complain when we do things, then complain that we AREN'T controlling all these countries.

I guess they gotta work it out with Turkey.

[Sixstrings]

I've been seeing a lot of unusual articles in the Finnish newspaper's as well - the articles are becoming exceedingly sensational in nature - and I suggest that you we just read them calmly and recognize them for what they are.

It's chaos stuff. Putin is chaos president. Trump is #chaoscandidate. I'm seeing a pattern here, and management style.

Anyhow -- what are the unusual articles in Finland, is it about Turkey and Russia or issues in the baltics?

P.S. If it's about Russia-Turkey then yes, you're right about "read them calmly and recognize them for what they are." I've read and seen some mainstream analysis that says this is just something these two leaders are doing, and it's beneficial to both of them in terms of domestic consumption. Erdogan and Putin have similarities.

There's always two levels to things -- for popular / domestic consumption, then higher level.

2nd P.S. having said that though, it's still a risky thing Russia and Turkey are doing. AND, they're each stoking their populations to get worked up against the other.

[Plantagenet]

Most Russians are racist by nature. Their media and social networks often portray Obama and the first family as chimps eating bananas. How anyone like dissident can defend such racism by the Russians is beyond me.

Yup. The Russians are going too far with their racist attacks on Obama. You can see why the Turks would become upset over this.

Its not only on the internet and its not exactly out of sight in Russia either. Painting giant anti-Obama slogans on Russian military airstrips and projecting giant racist images of Obama eating a banana on Moscow buildings suggests this is being done with the full approval of the Russian government.


Racist pictures of Obama projected on Moscow apt. buildings on Obama's birthday

[Sixstrings]

Painting giant anti-Obama slogans on Russian military airstrips and projecting giant racist images of Obama eating a banana on Moscow buildings suggests this is being done with the full approval of the Russian government.

What's more pertinent and concerning about it is the degree of anti-american sentiment and yes, their government is stoking that up and fanning the flame.

So what are they getting the Russian people pumped up about, to hate America so much for?

Is it just beneficial, to deflect Russians' frustration onto the "American president?"

The ironic thing is that Obama hasn't done anything to Russia. Obama has actually conceded points and not done what could have been done, again and again, and gone along with Putin.

O could have sent a lot of arms and support to Ukraine but decided not to in the end, in deference to Russia. We don't seem to be getting any credit for the restraint we showed.

Bottom line, issues between Russia and Turkey are not Obama or the USA's fault.

Putin's been trying to drag the us into it / pin it on us but we really aren't involved with it.

[Sixstrings]

Erdogans statements are outrageous. He is a totally arrogant little turd who should be cut out of NATO & see how he goes with 'occupying Russia in 7 days'.

I'm not condoning Turkey, but at one point Putin said the exact same thing to Ukraine:

Putin Tells European Official That He Could ‘Take Kiev in Two Weeks’
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/03/world/europe/ukraine-crisis.html?_r=0

[AgentR11]

What's more pertinent and concerning about it is the degree of anti-american sentiment and yes, their government is stoking that up and fanning the flame.
So what are they getting the Russian people pumped up about, to hate America so much for?
Is it just beneficial, to deflect Russians' frustration onto the "American president?"

I mentioned it in another post. Its currency... again..

As I've noted, as prices sit now, Russians are finally paying regular market prices on pretty much all goods not having very specific logistics and distribution requirements.. ... but. oil prices are low, and will remain low probably for a few years, and still make up a disproportionate share of Russia's export income. otoh, Russia's expenses internally are not dollar based, they are ruble based; you can see this in the discontinuity between the change in exchange rate vs the internal rate of inflation. If Russia were to take the ruble to 80+ (or heck, I'd say take it to 1:1 with the Yen), Russia's federal budget will balance more or less for the remaining oil dependence period, hopefully giving them enough time to expand exports of grain, electricity, timber, ships, military hardware, etc. At 80-100 rub/$USD, they can crush competitors in grain markets, and make a good entry into the electricity market (NK, China, etc). Also will make their export aircraft much more competitive. (enough so that China has started buying without intent to reproduce, saving their effort for their own naval fighter version).

But... moving into the 80-100 range will cause another bout of social grumbling, so if the grumbling can be pointed at the US, coupled with some images of US forces training folks in Ukraine who then march under the wolfangel with weapons... Game and second set, Putin. EZ PZ.

In two big, bold moves, Putin will have recovered Russian manufacturing and returned his country to a production / mercantilist mindset. But their finance won't be focused in London or NY. It'll be in Shanghai, and our little game for Central Asia will start coming apart at the seams.

China is the power of relevance. (Watching Xi is like watching a cat that just got the goldfish and the canary while you weren't looking)
Russia is the catalyst and enabler.
China with Russia in her pocket has NO external dependencies and no significant material limits.
And Obama let it happen.

[Subjectivist]

Interesting fact, anyone who actually invades Russia will discover lots of sun like devices shining in their country PDQ. This is what keeps the peace.

[Plantagenet]

O could have sent a lot of arms and support to Ukraine but decided not to in the end, in deference to Russia. We don't seem to be getting any credit for the restraint we showed.

Russia is a tough place and Russians are tough people.

Russians don't respect weakness.

[SeaGypsy]

The interpretation i read told Putin to shut up about Turkey dealing with IS or Turkey would lead NATO to invade Russia. Just stupid. & typical.

[ROCKMAN]

As far as the nasties coming out of Russia et al about our POTUS (not in the top 10 of my favorite POTUS's) it's like we say in Texas: my dog may be an ugly and worthless old mutt, But he's my dog and if you kick him I'll feed him you nuts! lol

"In the event of war with Turkey, the Russian Federation can be occupied within seven days". Rather bold considering that even Hitler thought it would take Germany 6 months. And then consider the results of their effort to occupy just one Russian city...Stalingrad:The Axis suffered 850,000 total casualties among all branches of the German armed forces and its allies; 400,000 Germans, 200,000 Romanians, 130,000 Italians, and 120,000 Hungarians were killed, wounded or captured.

And they didn't even take the city.

[Sixstrings]

Russia is a tough place and Russians are tough people.

Russians don't respect weakness.

Exactly. Two "tough guys" have locked horns. Perhaps they'll shove for a while, but neither push the other over. Peace through strength kind of thing.

One thing about it, the US and West definitely wants Russia on board. So Russia always has that option. Russia could decide to give up on some of the points it needs to, to mesh with the coalition.

By becoming a US ally, the US would be in charge and could say "okay Turkey, leave Russia alone, we're all on a team here."

Or, maybe Russia could scratch our back some and then we'd be inclined to scratch their back.

Analogy.. the coalition is like a ship, and yeah Turkey is a loose cannon on it and needs some watching, but it's still on our ship.

One thing Russia can always do is simply get on the ship, too. And then we can have two loose cannons on our ship, Russia and Turkey, but at least they won't be facing each other.

By the way, I did some reading around / youtubing and I think finally figured out why it is that Iran can't be allowed to get too involved. I think I actually heard this in the Democratic debate, something about the fact that Israel won't accept it if Iranian Hezbollah moves too far west towards Israel. And I've read that elsewhere too, that Israel's made it known they won't tolerate Iran coming in too close.

So see.. these are some of the dynamics going on.. it's complicated stuff, and the USA does the best it can do at overseeing a 65 nation coalition where interests have to be balanced and consensus reached.

And, the US is not answerable for everything Turkey does, nor can we be held responsible. We do not actually own Turkey, it's not Puerto Rico.

If the US were to come down hard on Turkey, then Russia has to give the US reason to do that, Russia's gotta become our new best friend and doing all these great things for us and helping us out. Russia has to make siding with Russia, in the USA's interest.

But even then -- the US still isn't just all in charge, it's a 65 nation coalition, and Russia has to manage its relations with all these countries.

[Sixstrings]

The problems with Russia is pushing Turkey to mend fences with Israel, and they're working on a natgas deal:

Russia rift pushes Turkey to mend fences with Israel

High quality global journalism requires investment.

Just weeks after Turkey’s relationship with Russia took a calamitous turn for the worse, Ankara is mending fences with another near neighbour that could become an important energy supplier: Israel.

Turkey and Israel agreed this week on the contours of a long-delayed deal to repair their bilateral relationship, which fractured in 2010 after Israeli naval commandoes stormed a Turkish ship off the Gaza Strip, causing the deaths of 10 people.

Crucially, the draft agreement includes a plan to buy Israeli gas.

An overriding factor, both Turkish and Israeli energy executives say, was Ankara’s fear that Moscow could exploit its position as the country’s dominant gas supplier.

Not only does Turkey get over 50 per cent of its natural gas from Russia but the country had also previously been chosen by Moscow as a trading hub for Russian gas supplies to Europe through a prospective new pipeline called Turkish Stream.
Russian-Turkish tensions appear to have put paid to that plan, while a separate Russian project to build Turkey’s first nuclear power plant is also in doubt.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/540f87f8-a58f-11e5-97e1-a754d5d9538c.html#axzz3uyOEh8Gb

It is sad and unfortunate, how FAST these relations went to crap between Russia and Turkey.

Russia had a lot of business with Turkey, and plans.

Putin bears some responsibility for this.. it's not like Erdogan is a good guy either, but apparently Putin screwed something up.

Some more about the back and forth, between Turkey and Israel:

Israeli state, people ‘certainly friends’ of Turkey, AKP says

“Certainly the Israeli state and the Israeli people are friends of Turkey. Our criticism so far has been directed at the Israeli government’s extreme behaviors and at its behaviors which we don’t consider legitimate. In this context, the Mavi Marmara attack marked a turning point,” Çelik said, referring to the fact that Israel’s once-strong ties to Turkey soured in 2010 when Israeli commandos killed 10 Turkish activists after storming the Mavi Marmara, a ship in a convoy seeking to break an Israeli naval blockade of the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

Turkey had demanded Israel apologize for the assault, pay compensation and lift the Gaza blockade, Çelik recalled, adding, “The first condition was met, but our two other conditions have not been met.”

A senior Turkish official, who requested anonymity, told reporters on Dec. 18 that progress had been made on Turkey’s key demands to lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip and compensation over the 2010 raid.

“We are close to a final framework” for a deal on the normalization of ties, said the official. “There is tangible, positive progress.”

Earlier, Israeli officials revealed that Israel and Turkey in secret talks in Switzerland had reached “understandings” to normalize ties that were downgraded following the deadly 2010 Israeli commando raid.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/israeli-state-people-certainly-friends-of-turkey-akp-says.aspx?pageID=238&nID=92791&NewsCatID=338