On a purely conventional war, yes, the US absolutely stomps the Russian military flat. Nobody on the planet has the kind of control and command and logistic capability that we do.

However, this is shaping up to be a proxy war. We have been pushing grey money and non-lethal stuff to the UA so far, but if this particular cease fire falls apart I expect to start seeing weapons moving. Which would only be fair, since Putin is flooding the rebels with high end weapons and gear....

And I gotta say, the idea that since the US invaded Iraq and knocked over it's gov't seems to make it ok to seize your neighbors land is a HUGE failure of logic. Plus, and this is important, the US was always very clear about what we were doing in the Middle East. Russia is sending men, vehicles, weapons and equipment while saying "nope, those guys are on vacation, they just took their GRAD with them like you do when you go on vacation....".

Nobody outside of Russia believes what they are saying. It is transparently obvious. Which is a shame, at some point between the end of WW2 and now the Russians seem to have lost their superiority in Maiskarova. Shame.

critical, check who trained who and what they did later...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Iraq_during_the_Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_war
This is just one example when US do high profit. First they sold weapon to iraq to fight iran, ofc they got oil for weapon. Then they sold weapons to kuwait to fight iraq, again for oil. And after all that they got to greedy and took iraq out totaly so they can steal their oil permanently. They put Sadam in charge of Iraq and when they used him for their goals they removed him. I dont like dictators to make it clear but why would US care what happen on the other side of the world if they dont have economical interests? Why they dont interfere in africa where people also are in so many wars??? No economical or strategic interest. Dont be naive, that BS 'we spread out and protect democracy' shit is illusion for so many americans. Look big picture, look out of the box and you will get all... Would you send your troops in the middle of the desert to get killed if you dont have interest??? If they are so nice then why they didnt send their army to protect palestinians from israel... simply... palestina dont have natural resources and israel is economicaly stronger so they dont have interest in helping palestina. you have other exampels also... same shit will happen in ukraine, just watch... US have to much weapons and they must to sell some, that is all...

and bout 'conventional war' with russia, i bet russia would let americans enter inside their border like 100 feet inside before their launch their arsenal... especialy with Putin in charge... But all experts, from all countries says one power will overrun both, Russia and US in economy and military power before 2025. maybe even earlier, depends on global crysis... CHINA.

You are, again, making an argument against things I didn't say. We're not angels. Every country does what it does for it's own self interest, both good and bad. Every nation that has been on top has done horrible things, it's the nature of things.

And honestly, while the US will end up selling arms and equipment to Ukraine, if the previous administrations hadn't been hopelessly corrupt, they wouldn't need to. Ukraine has (had?) a vibrant and effective arms industry of it's own, but all the stuff they made got exported to line pockets instead of being used to strengthen the Ukrainian Army.

Yes, the US interfere's in countries. Many of us don't like it, but it is what it is. But what we don't do is literally carve off parts of countries for ourselves anymore. Nobody does that, but Russia seems to think it's ok. It's not.

And yes, you are correct, China is the next big power coming up. Them and India.

"If they are so nice then why they didnt send their army to protect palestinians from israel... simply... palestina dont have natural resources and israel is economicaly stronger so they dont have interest in helping palestina."

This might be the wrong forum for this debate but you are oversimplifying the motives behind American foreign policy decisions. Yes, Israel is way more significant as a trade partner than the non-existing State of Palestine, but the fact that the US has always been the No. 1 supporter (and most important ally) of Israel has nothing to do with the economy. These nations have shared close political ans cultural ties since time immemorial, or at least the birth of the modern state of Israel. Actually, the latter has received billions of USD's worth of aid from America. Israel is a very densely populated narrow strip of land, not really rich in natural resources, so it's doubtful that America will ever make a profit on these "investments". But the American public and media would lynch any US president who would support the Palestinians instead of Israel.

Iraq and other American ventures in the Middle East are very different in this regard.

heh... its like 'i didnt occupy you but give me concesion to exploit oil fields for 50 years cause i helped you' its like 'i wont take your house but give me roof and all furniture in concesion for 50 years' :) just technical question how you call that... When yugoslavia was falling apart they supported referendum that kosovo get independence from serbia, cause US got huge military base in return (you can check it) but when krim demanded referendum to separate from ukraine they was against it... and where is the diference? I am from Croatia, we was at war with serbia so trust me i kinda suport kosovo but just stating... WHERE IS DIFERENCE? Why Krim wouldnt have right for referendum and local election for independence if there is like 80% population are russians and want independence???

yes flags, i know all details but i simplified it on purpose to not get to deep, US even gave nukes to israel so they can survive between all those muslim lands. Its also a big political loby in way of financing political campains in US by israel so those politicians gave them back that support for campain multiplied. Never proved but even kennedy was under suspitions for that... (some documentary movies) a lot of movies and experts and other sources says 2 most strongest loby's in the world are jew's and free mason's.

The difference is that there was a genuine desire on the part of Kosovars to be an independent nation, and they proved that by both ballot and bullet. It was the last spasm of the collapse of Yugoslavia. All of Europe wanted that NATO intervention (and note, it was NATO that was involved in the KFOR missions, initially. Not just the US. And currently KFOR is under the auspices of the United Nations.) and for the bleeding to finally stop.

I am all for Eastern Ukraine becoming more autonomous, but not like this. IT needs to be done at the ballot box, within the rules, not with Russian thugs in uniforms with no patches holding guns and telling folks who can and can't vote, and what to vote for.

Crimea had rigged elections, overseen by Russians, after the local government had been overthrown by the Russian Military pretending to be "local militia".

And yes, there were concessions made in Iraq. And then broken, and remade, on and on... getting concessions for oil, rebuilding, whatever, while not GREAT, is still a hell of a lot better than marching in, planting American flags and saying "this land is now part of the US", which is what Russia did in Georgia in 2006, Crimea last year, and is trying to do in Eastern Ukraine now.

Also note that a great number of American's were against the war in Iraq. I'm one of them. There are marches and protests with 10's or even 100's of thousands of people, protesting the war.

yes CD, maybe you personaly didnt want war, i told in general, majority was for war or neutral just cause they bought that propaganda 'we spread democracy' shit. I am from city what was in center of conflict for 5 years so i dont get people who want war... Its so fucked up when you can buy automatic weapon AK47 for 60$ even now, 20 years after war cause so many leftovers from war still here.