Crimea River

"Ever since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 the crack-para-military UNA-UNSO members have been behind every revolt against Russian influence. The one connecting thread in their violent campaigns is always anti-Russia. The organization, according to veteran US intelligence sources, is part of a secret NATO 'GLADIO' organization, and not a Ukraine nationalist group as portrayed in western media.

"These people are the dangerous mercenaries used all over the world to fight NATO's dirty war, and to frame Russia because this group pretends to be Russian special forces...

"If true that UNA-UNSO is not 'Ukrainian' opposition, but rather a highly secret NATO force using Ukraine as base, it would suggest that the EU peace compromise with the moderates was likely sabotaged by the one major player excluded from the Kiev 21 February diplomatic talks -- Victoria Nuland's State Department." (F. William Engdahl, "The Rape of Ukraine; Phase Two Begins," Information Clearinghouse)

So, were there NATO-backed paramilitaries on the ground stirring up trouble prior to the coup? Did they instigate the coup by firing into the crowd on Maidan Square, killing innocent people and creating the panic that forced Yanukovych to flee the country? Did they execute this plan to avoid new elections which were agreed upon by the opposing parties? Did they execute the plan to take advantage of the fact that Putin was still bogged down at the Olympic games and unable to give the crisis his undivided attention?

These are just some of the questions that remain unanswered, but even without all the details, there's certainly enough to suggest that agents of foreign governments played a critical role in toppling Ukraine's president.

At present, the situation in the Crimea appears to be relatively calm due to stepped up security. The Russian military has secured the main government buildings, airports, military bases and harbors. Working people are still able to carry out their daily activities much as they had before the government was toppled. Putin has done what he had to do to defend Russian security and protect Russian-speaking people in the Crimea. Obama would have done the same thing had he been in a similar situation.

Naturally, the Obama team is hopping mad. Their plan failed, they have egg on their face, and they want revenge. That's why they dispatched the dreary John Kerry to make the rounds on the Sunday talk shows, so he could wave his finger threateningly at Putin while boring people to death with his monotone bloviating. The whole Obama team is having a giant hissyfit because they rolled the dice and came up snakeyes. That's unfortunate, but what do they plan to do about it; that's the question? After all, holding your breath and stomping your feet may be personally gratifying, but it doesn't translate into effective foreign policy. That takes insight, vision and a solid grasp of the facts, all of which are sadly lacking among the dismal members of the present administration. The problem is, there are no good options. Aside from launching a full-blown ground war, which nobody wants, Obama is just going to have to suck it up and move on, because, at the end of the day, Moscow's still going to control the Crimea and Obama and his EU collaborators are still going to be stuck with a broken, underwater province run by technocrats, kleptocrats, and neo-Nazi, clownshoes politicos. So, deal with it.

Here's how the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, Richard Haass, summed it up in an interview on CNN earlier in the week. He said, "This is not Syria, where the United States did have real options, and the president chose not to implement them. Here we really don't have very good options to introduce."

Indeed. There are "no good options" which is why we think that Moscow will shrug off the mudslinging and the saber rattling and go about its business much like before. In the words of an old Russian proverb, "Dogs bark, but the caravan passes on."