
<p>Despite all the elitist diplomatic talk about not escalating the war … bringing Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table … and finding an exit ramp for Putin … the world knows what his intentions are. ; The Madman of Moscow wants to reclaim the property of the old Soviet Union … period. ; Any negotiated peace would merely mean letting Putin have what he has taken so far and wait for his inevitable next advance.</p>



<p>We know he has plans for the rest of Ukraine – and beyond. ; Putin is already talking about tiny Moldova in the same way he talked about Ukraine – and Hitler talked about the Sudetenland and Austria. ; They just want to unite their people. Uh-huh.</p>



<p>Moldova is a republic of approximately 2.5 million people nestled between Ukraine and Romania. ; It essentially has no military defense – and is not a member of NATO. ; Like Ukraine, it has a small separatist movement of Russian-speaking people. ; Putin’s plan is to take the southern coast of Ukraine to Odessa. ; That means he picks up Moldova like a poker chip on the floor. It is a bonus in Putin’s push against NATO.</p>



<p>No one seems to care much about Moldova. ; While Putin sees it as a prize, the western world shows little interest in the future of the tiny nation. ; Perhaps if Putin does take Odessa, Moldova is not worth protecting. ; After all, what is one very small independent nation being grabbed by Putin compared to nations like Ukraine … Georgia … Chechnya?</p>



<p>If anyone worries, it should be the Romanians. ; They currently do not border on Russia at all. ; But if Putin takes Ukraine and Moldova, the Romanian/Russian border would be approximately 1200 miles long. ; In fact, geographically it starts to look like the Russian/Ukraine border – with Russia forming a semi-circle on the eastern Romanian border. ;</p>



<p> ;It is only a short distance along the Romanian southern border to Bulgaria. ; Taking that strip of land would cut Romania off from the Black Sea. ; ;</p>



<p>Putin will not stop until he is either removed from office, dies, or is killed. ; That is obvious to everyone – with the possible exceptions of the appeasement-oriented diplomatic establishment in Washington. ; Even as the war in Ukraine is raging, it is important to understand the risk of another western defeat.</p>



<p>So, where is that red line that, if crossed by Putin, the west would rise to the occasion? ; And if Putin is winning, a lot of nations will stick with him – such as India and China. ; If he starts to lose, a lot of nations will give Putin the cold shoulder.</p>



<p>Stopping Putin where he is is not enough. ; He must be defeated and pushed out of Ukraine. ; Russia just pays reparations. ; The west needs to support the anti-Russian movements in Georgia and Chechnya. ; No stolen geography should be surrendered to Putin. ; That was the big mistake the west made after World War II – when the Washington elite accepted the Soviet Union as an established fact. ; Making the same mistake twice is political and moral malfeasance.</p>



<p>So. There ‘tis.</p>

Putin eyes Moldova. Who cares?
