Dust off your books, Russia's going full-USSR rewind.

[Raellus]

The news has been saying that the images of Russian troops we keep seeing are from the Russian Black Sea bases. Does this mean that they're Naval Infantry? I haven't noticed any distinctive blue and white striped undershirts (also worn by Russian paratroopers and some special forces) and all the photos I've seen show sanitized uniforms with no visible insignia of any kind so I have no way of figuring it out.

Crimea is Russia's for the taking. Short of comprehensive economic sanctions, freezing of Russian assets abroad, and a full embargo on Russian goods, there's really nothing the rest of the world can do to stop them. I don't see this happening.

As for the rest of Ukraine, I don't think the Russians are going to invade and I doubt we'll see full-scale war. I can see, however, a brief Russian invasion/occupation of East Ukraine so that that territory can be used as a bargaining chip to win annexation of Crimea (i.e. we'll pull out of E.K. if you recognize our annexation of Crimea). If would also afford the Russians an opportunity to whittle down the Ukrainian military a bit. That said, I don't think Putin will go that far. Still, I don't see NATO or anyone else doing anything militarily to stop him. The only way this is going to turn into a proto-WWIII is if a full NATO member like Poland or the Baltic states is attacked and Putin would be mad to do that. I think he's far too canny for that sort of brinksmanship.