COUP IN KYIV?

Putin didn't get anything economically by taking over Crimea. Crimea has been very heavily subsidized by the Ukrainian government and is very dependent on the rest of Ukraine for its electricity supplies, for various other things that it requires, like water, to run its agricultural complex and its industries. It's not a wealthy country ... so he didn't actually get anything material by deciding to take over Crimea.

What he got was the ability to come home to his home population and say, "Look how strong I am. They're not going to be able to insult us any more like they have been doing since the end of the Cold War. Russia's military might is back. ... I have now brought back Russia into the limelight and I'm protecting the Russian population."

"The mere fact that you have discussions about Sweden and Finland joining NATO is a clear sign that - in the big scheme of things - Putin's behavior is backfiring," Charles Kupchan, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and a professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University, told DW. "Putin has scared all those countries around him by invading Crimea and annexing it."

And by scaring its neighbors, Russia is going to push Sweden and Finland toward NATO, according to Stefan Olsson, director of the Stockholm Free World Forum think tank.

SEVASTOPOL, March 26 (RIA Novosti) - The combat dolphin program in the Crimean city of Sevastopol will be preserved and redirected towards the interests of the Russian Navy, an employee at the facility where the dolphins are trained told RIA Novosti.

The program, dating to the 1960s, was previously scheduled to be disbanded by the Ukrainian navy in April, but the facility and the dolphins themselves have now become Russian following the reunification of Crimea with Russia last week.

"The oceanarium's engineers are developing new instruments for new applications to boost the operational efficiency of the dolphins underwater," the employee said, requesting anonymity. The employee added the animals are currently outfitted with extremely outdated equipment.

The dolphins are trained to patrol open water and attack or attach buoys to items of military interest, such as mines on the sea floor or combat scuba divers trained to slip past enemy security perimeters, known as frogmen. Man-made sonar systems are often incapable of detecting such small objects in crowded environments such as harbors.

"Our experts have developed new devices, which convert the detection of objects by the dolphins' underwater sonar to a signal on an operator's monitor," the source said. "But the Ukrainian Navy lacked the funds for such know-how, and some projects had to be shuttered."

The source expressed hope the Russian navy would support the combat program, which also trains sea lions.

Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, the dolphin program was handed over to the Ukrainian navy, where it was initially reconverted for civilian uses, such as working with disabled children. The military arm of the facility was re-formed in 2011.

The facility is one of only two such combat dolphin training centers in the world, the other is run by the US Navy in San Diego.

Even the dolphins of Crimea changed side

he justifying not changing his course on massive defense cuts by claiming to believe that russia is a " regional power acting out of weakness in Ukraine".

The truth is that the Russian military has proven to be shockingly modern and capable

the Putin military transformation has been successful over the last 5 years

during which time no one in Washington has been paying any attention.

Dont hold you breath waiting for Obama to wake up, he who has proven that he will stick to his ideological delusions no matter what facts come in.

How many of those Ukrainian soldiers were Russian speaking with family inside Crimea? What Putin banked on was that most of them would defect to Russia without complaint. Instead we've had weeks of standoffs and a large number of Russian speaking Ukrainian soldiers staying Ukrainian despite all the pressure to do otherwise.

Do you really think stratetgists back in Kiev would put Russian speaking soldiers, with family inside Crimea, at bases in Crimea?

Do you really think stratetgists back in Kiev would put Russian speaking soldiers, with family inside Crimea, at bases in Crimea

. Amazing how you mindread President Putin.

SEVASTOPOL, Crimea -- Olha's husband was a Ukrainian military specialist at the Belbek base near Sevastopol, Ukraine's main air base in Crimea, until it was stormed by Russian troops on March 22.

Now Crimea's crisis is forcing the couple to choose the least bad option for their future.

They, like the families of thousands of other Ukrainian military personnel who've lived their entire lives in Crimea, are trapped in a no-man's land.

Ukraine's acting President Oleksandr Turchnyov on March 24 ordered Kyiv's Defense Ministry to withdraw all Ukrainian troops from Crimea.

But many soldiers and their families have no place to go on the mainland unless Kyiv provides support. But if they stay, they face pressure to swear loyalty to Moscow and, according to new legislation, will automatically be made Russian nationals unless they declare their desire to retain Ukrainian citizenship -- which they fear could lead to reprisals.

Yes I do, I think just one of the many forms that Ukrainian ineptitude took was being lulled by the West into a false sense of security believing that the once great Russian empire had been defanged for good. It never occurred to them that Russia would walk in and take Crimea.

OOPS!