Crimean Conflict

I know this is a little bit off topic but it's actually getting quite a bit of media attention even down here so I feel like I should express my opinion.

For those of you that aren't following it or don't know, Russia has deployed troops to the Crimean Peninsula and has effectively taken over the Ukrainian province under the pretext of protecting the large ethnic Russian majority in that part of the country. This is just the latest in a series of escalations following a trade disagreement between the E.U., Ukraine, and Russia.

What I have an opinion about at the moment is what the U.S. and its allies are doing to "punish" Russia for its actions against Ukraine. As far as I can tell we have just been wagging our proverbial fingers at them and saying we won't attend their next club meeting if they don't stop being bullies. The "G7" as they are being called by the media consists of the G8 minus Russia and the next meeting was to be held in Sochi in June, but now the other members have "suspended preparations" for the meeting. How threatening is that? Russia invades a sovereign country and we say we won't attend a G8 summit. Do we think Putin is off in a corner crying because he got kicked out of the neighborhood boys club? I mean seriously, I don't want to get involved militarily anywhere but can we at least put some skin on the table? How about sanctions against Russia or even economic help to Ukraine.

Even then Ukraine is such a SNAFU right now. Their new admiral defected to the Russians and took with him their fleet in the Black Sea. Crimea elected an interim PM or some other title because they want to defect to Russia as well. We might as well just let Crimea secede and be done with it, then let the rest of Ukraine become a member of the E.U.

Reading about this in the news this morning I did some behind the scenes research and was reminded about what happened the last time several world powers fought over the Crimean Peninsula and that it did not end well. I re-read Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade" this morning and thought it a good warning about the costs of conflicts over power and money.

Charge of the Light Brigade by Richard Caton Woodville

Half a league, half a league,
  Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death,
  Rode the six hundred.
'Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns' he said:
Into the valley of Death
  Rode the six hundred.

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldiers knew
  Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
  Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
  Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
  Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army while
  All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre-stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
  Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
  Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
  All the world wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
  Noble six hundred!

-Alfred, Lord Tennyson