<p>Can’t decide what I want to do more, both extremely interesting options:
Watching Michigan beat Moo U and secure the 1-seed or following new coverage relating to Ukraine getting wiped off the face of the Earth by Vladdy PuPu, and Europe throwing empty sanction threats and getting their natty cut off…</p>
<p>Hehe! Any nuclear power (especially Britain, China, France, Russia and the US) can get away with what Russia is doing. There is not much the US or the EU can do to stop Russia. Remember when Russia invaded Georgia in the summer of 2008? Or when the EU and the US allowed Kosovo to unilaterally secede from Serbia? No wonder the US and the EU are so opposed to any country acquiring a nuclear deterrent. </p>
<p>As for being a #1 seed, a win over MSU should seal it. But if we lose, I think the remaining 1 seed will go to UVa.</p>
<p>I’ll take it one step further… Vladdy is just joining in the party with what the US have done with Iraq/Afghanistan and Europe has done with Libya. Now of course when you are Russia you don’t even need to come up with a somewhat believable excuse/cover… but nothing different in nature really.</p>
<p>It is still early, but MSU seems to be in control of this game. If we lose, we will remain a #2 seed.</p>
<p>Vladdy definitely scares me. He is a totalitarian despot, but unlike any despot in history, he has a nuclear arsenal at his disposal. Scary stuff.</p>
<p>Figure you two would be the two who can tell me… How do I profit off of this whole Ukraine thing? </p>
<p>seems like the last #1 will go to Virginia if we don’t win?</p>
<p>Seeing Bearcats be wrong is almost, ALMOST as satisfying as that game was. </p>
<p>MOO, Bearcats, mooooooooooooooooooooooooo. </p>
<p>(To the rest of you, good game. I’m rooting for Michigan, too. It’s going to be a rough go of it.) </p>
<p>Putin is off his rocker, to put it lightly. I don’t think this will be “the trigger” but I feel for those in the Ukraine who want the fighting to just be done.
I want to know why Russia wants Crimea so bad. Putin’s not just a “oh we’ll let them join out of the goodness of our hearts” kind of guy… there’s something in it for him, I’m just not sure WHAT exactly</p>
<p>Putin wants Crimea for several reasons.</p>
<ol>
<li>To show the World that Russia can still be a bully and get away with it.</li>
<li>The Crimean peninsula is strategically located in the Black Sea. As long as Ukraine’s government was pro-Russia, Putin was perfectly content with having Crimea be part of Ukraine. In fact, Russians hate Crimea. They see it as an undesirable satellite, and its citizens as second class citizens. However, with Ukraine becoming increasingly EU minded, and inevitably joining NATO in the future, Russia knew it had to make Crimea part of Russia again. </li>
</ol>
<p>Sadly for Crimeans, they were brainwashed into believing that Kiev was overrun by Russian-hating “fascists” and that under the umbrella of the Russian Federation, they would experience economic prosperity far greater than they experienced as part of Ukraine by promising the development of a very lucrative tourism industry. Of course, none of that propaganda is true, and in the long term, Crimeans will remain insignificant. Most Russians would never even consider visiting Crimea, not so much because of their disdain for Crimeans and their belief that it is inferior, but also because of Crimea’s harsh landscape and absence of touristic appeal in general. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the US and Europe set a very dangerous precedent when they allowed Kosovo to unilaterally secede from Serbia. This is the basis on which Russia is now annexing territories such as Crimea. I am afraid it will not stop here.</p>
<p>Long time no see bearcats. It’s great to see you posting again :)</p>
<p>A lot of bracketology had Michigan as the #2 seed in a lackluster East regional until speculation moved them up to a possible #1 seed if they beat MSU for the Big Ten tournament championship. When MSU won that game decisively, Michigan not only got bumped back to a #2, but they got shipped out to a much tougher Midwest regional featuring 3 of last year’s Final Four (Michigan, Wichita State, and Louisville), plus perennial contender Duke, plus a young but extremely talented Kentucky team that could catch fire in the tournament. Tough, tough bracket. But these young Wolverines still have gas in the tank and fire in the belly. They’ve given us a better season than anyone had a right to expect after McGary went down. I think they can still make a mark in this tournament, but they’ve been dealt a tough hand.</p>
<p>Meanwhile MSU in the East, although seeded #4, seems to have a much easier path.They’ll need to beat Delaware, then the Cincinnati/Harvard winner to advance to the Sweet 16. Their big hurdle is then Virginia, a good defensive-minded, offensively-challenged team, but it’s tough to bet against Izzo in that kind of junkyard dogfight. Then it’s overcoming probably Iowa State, Villanova, or North Carolina to get to the Final Four–all good but flawed and inconsistent teams. No wonder MSU is everyone’s favorite to make a Final Four run. </p>
<p>Although there are many good teams in the Midwest bracket, Michigan will only have to play 2 of those teams. Duke in the Sweet 16 and the survivor of the Wichita State/Kentucky/Louisville sub-bracket. I do not think other teams will have it much easier. </p>
<p>" there’s something in it for him, I’m just not sure WHAT exactly"</p>
<p>Of course you are not sure. I am not surprised at all. Anyone who’s even somewhat analytically minded can tell what Putin wants and why Putin is doing this and why he has no disincentive not to.
Putin might be nuts, but he’s not stupid. He’s going to push the envelope whereever he can to expand the Russia sphere of influence without triggering a nuclear war. Anyone logically minded would do the same in his shoes, especially being a dictator not bound by any rules. </p>
<p>Putin obviously will not stop there; I wouldn’t if I were in his shoes at least. I’d send my intelligence agencies to incite unrest everywhere that I want from a strategic perspective and move in with whatever lame excuse I can come up with. His popularity domestically has skyrocketed and the EU will just walk away with their tails between their legs just like they have. The incentive for the US to care is vastly less than the incentive for the EU countries, not that it matters because of the MAD world we live in anyway.</p>
<p>It is amazing to see Putin outmanuever Obuma at every turn throughout this thing. But what do you expect? A former KGB elite operative vs an idiotic liar-in-chief who has done nothing in his life other than community organizing in the corrupt city of Chicago… The American public is paying the price for first electing an idiot who has gotten everything based on legacy status to 8 years of presidency , and then electing the next idiotic ideologue who is all talk but cant achieve crap to another 8 years. 16 years of incompetence can easily do a nation in.</p>
<p>But really… who cares anyway? As long as you live in a nuke possessing country you’re fine. It’s very interesting drama if you follow the reddit live thread though… I feel like watching a war games movie. I wish the scam, FED-induced market would have crashed because of this on the other hand.</p>
<p>bearcats, Putin did not outmaneuver anybody. Remember when he invaded Georgia back in August 2008? Who was president of the US then? Putin holds all the cards. He has a nuclear deterrent, which means that nobody will dare oppose him militarily, and Europe depends on Russia for much of their natural gas, so economic sanctions are unlikely. The only country in Europe that can somewhat oppose Russia is France, but alone, it is unlikely to make a difference. </p>
<p>The day the US decided to breach all norms of international relations and invade a country preemptively, or allow part of a sovereign state to determine its own status via a localized referendum in order to unilaterally secede was bound to set into motion events that nobody can control. Who’s brilliant maneuvers in diplomacy were those? Certainly not Obama. If I recall, the Iraq and Kosovo fiascos was entirely of Bush’s making. Of course, Europe was equally as guilty were Kosovo was concerned. Since then, any powerful country was given a carte blanche to bully weaker nations and interfere in their internal affairs. </p>
<p>That being said, I think Europe and the US should remember the 1930s. Appeasing a mad megalomaniac like Hitler (or in this case Putin) is fruitless. Eventually, he will have to be dealt with. Since a military response is out of the question, the only way to effectively deal with Russia is to cut all ties with it. This will hurt, particularly the British and the Germans, but the alternative is much, much worse. </p>
<p>Incidentally, I agree that Putin will not stop with Crimea. Other parts of Eastern and Southern Ukraine, as well as Moldova and Belarus and several other countries are going to be dragged into this. </p>
<p>Like I said, scary stuff!</p>
<p>I love how this has morphed into a bifurcated thread. I can’t wait to read the posts if Michigan beats Duke and Putin sends troops into Transdnistria the same day!</p>
<p>I really think Putin doesn’t give a hoot who is in power here in the US. He’s an egomaniac and believes he’s untouchable. </p>
<p>I don’t know what the answer is and I won’t pretend to. I know I’m done with war and I think most of the country is with me. I already lost my BIL in Iraq and am sick of having friends fighting pointless “wars”. I was born during Desert Storm and was in 7th grade in 2003. I’m now in grad school. I’d be really surprised if those entering college this year can even remember a time we weren’t “at war”. I don’t think too many people are keen on deploying our troops to deal with Russia, even if we see them as an “issue”. </p>
<p>Duke vs Michigan was by far my hardest pick. I ended up picking Michigan but I have Louisville going to the Championship so… </p>
<p>(PS: We started a CC bracket in the Parents Cafe if any CCers would like to join)</p>
<p>I didn’t absolve Bush for incompetence. It’s unfortunate that we went from the third worst president of all time to the worst president of all time in US history (with the second worst being Jimmy Carter). I guess this is pitfall of democracy, when you let the mass decide, given that a large portion of the mass is stupid and gullible. That’s how the American public first elect a president simply based on legacy/daddy and then get duped into a sweet talking ideologue who has achieved nothing in life other than “community organizing” selling “hope” and “change”. The electoral college was originally designed to counter this but obviously it is of no use nowadays. </p>
<p>The most effective way to stop Putin is to hit where it really hurts… the wallet. You see what happened when report came back that Russia crossed the border from Crimea to Eastern Ukraine, MICEX (Moscow exchange) dropped over 10%, and Putin immediately came out and said there’s no intention to further invade Ukraine to calm the domestic market. Putin, for all the power he wields, still answers to the wealthy oligarchs as a whole in his country. Which means you punish Putin by crashing its stock market/economy and hurting their onshore billionaires. The Fed, with the printing power of the world’s reserve currency, absolutely can easily crush that market/economy in a few ways.</p>
<p>1) the FX market and the equity market is linked. You manipulate the FX market to cause headwind/capital outflow in that equity market. (see correlation between USDJPY and US equity market via the yen carry trade)</p>
<p>2) As we know, the FED has unlimited printing power given the world’s reserve currency status (just look at the numerous rounds of QEs with trillions of dollars printed). Print USD and just buy up Ruble on the open/NDF market. Artificially appreciate the Ruble until Moscow has to intervene and gate capital. This will completely screw up Russia’s export and kill its economy. This was how Soros broke the Bank of England (and all the Asian counrties in the late 90s)… except Soros had to use real money, and the Fed can just use monopoly money, which makes it 1000 times easier.</p>
<p>3) The opposite of number 2. Manipulate the Ruble in the open market and crash (devalue) that currency, using USD’s world reserve currency status. This would cause hyperinflation within Russia which ALWAYS leads to civil unrest.</p>
<p>All this sanction talk is pointless. You aren’t going to fiscally hurt Russia without hurting yourself big time. But the monetary space is where the power balance is extremely tilted towards the US.</p>
<p>btw, France standing up to Russia? lol when has France ever stood up to anyone in its history? huehuehuehuehue. France also probably has the most vulnerable/weakest economy amongst the nuclear powers outside of Russia’s.</p>
<p>Really interesting how the US is trying to get itself involved over there.
Somewhat similar to China trying to claiming islands in the Pacific as theirs.</p>
<p>Are Americans really that ignorant about their history? The US is built off principles of genocide and stolen land.
Russia and China are just doing what the same what we have done.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>Really disappointed in that last Michigan vs MSU game. Terrible passing and ball handling on our side. They were penetrating our defense too easily. Also were not aggressive about collecting rebounds. A 15 pt loss is not how you want to play a championship game. When both teams are equally healthy, we were definitely on a lower tier than MSU</p>
<p>“When both teams are equally healthy, we were definitely on a lower tier than MSU”
No because we weren’t healthy. We had a preseason all american sitting on the bench, who could make a possible comeback if we make the final four. But we don’t whine about it and use it as excuse after every loss like bitchzzo does.</p>
<p>“Are Americans really that ignorant about their history? The US is built off principles of genocide and stolen land.”
I think it would be naive to think that the US (and EU) cares about the principles of Russia"stealing" Crimea, even though that’s the excuse of them being involved. For every reason Russia wants Crimea, the US/EU do not want Russia to have Crimea. It represents Russia increasing its sphere of influence and reducing the NATO countries’ buffer zone, not to mention allowing Russia more control into the warm waters of Europe. It is all about strategic positioning of military, and has nothing about right or wrong. </p>
<p>“Are Americans really that ignorant about their history?”</p>
<p>Is that a serious question?</p>
<p>I hate OSU. They had one job and screwed it up -.-</p>
<p>“Are Americans really that ignorant about their history”</p>
<p>well, it is true that most Americans are idiots.</p>
<p>All espn analyst and Obama have Michigan St. to win the NCG.</p>
<p>hopefully this creates too much hype for them to handle and lose to UVA</p>