European Tribune - Comments

kettle... pot | 21 comments (21 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: What gain for Russia ? (4.00 / 2)

How's the price going to be high? So far all we've had is a lot of bellicose talk from NATO and the State Department - inasmuch as one can separate the two. But it's not like the people who are doing the tough talking have much leverage against Russia.

- Jake

If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Wed Aug 27th, 2008 at 02:13:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What gain for Russia ? (none / 1)

Ok, let's suppose they get way with it easy. Still, what is the gain ?

by balbuz on Wed Aug 27th, 2008 at 02:56:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What gain for Russia ? (none / 1)

I can think of three:

Domestic political gain. This sort of stuff always plays pretty well back home.
Local strategic gain, perhaps. I don't understand the details of the disputes in the area well enough to judge this one.
They send a clear indication of the alternatives to dealing with Russia as a partner in good faith. Basically punishing default in the game by defaulting, which is a sensible strategy.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Wed Aug 27th, 2008 at 02:59:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What gain for Russia ? (none / 1)

Domestic political gain. This sort of stuff always plays pretty well back home.
I intend to ask folks over there how they react to it.

Local strategic gain, perhaps.
Might be it. I hope someone has an idea.

Basically punishing default in the game by defaulting, which is a sensible strategy.
Me no understand. If you don't play nice, I won't play nice either ?

by balbuz on Wed Aug 27th, 2008 at 03:25:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What gain for Russia ? (4.00 / 4)

If you don't play nice, I won't play nice either ?

Pretty much. Sometimes it is worth taking damage to make clear that you won't accept disrespect/abuse. Bullies generally pick on the ones that don't fight back.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Wed Aug 27th, 2008 at 03:30:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: What gain for Russia ? (4.00 / 2)

I think that's close to the mark. We know that NK was reprieved from god knows what because they managed to build a bomb which scared the Americans, and Iran is smart enough to sail ahead with building one for the same reason.

While the danger is always present that the people in the White House will snap and bring down the planet, their actions show that they respect strength in others, and only stamp on the weak.

--
$E(X_t|F_s) = X_s,\quad t > s$

by martingale on Wed Aug 27th, 2008 at 07:49:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]

kettle... pot | 21 comments (21 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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