[quote=earlyretirement]
Like some, I haven’t gotten in the stock market as heavy as I wish I did watching the way it’s gone on a tear.
[/quote]
You can’t beat yourself up about this. A lot of FAs got it wrong too. Things will probably/hopefully get back to normal, unless we’ve forgotten what that is. If you can’t buy at a good price then don’t buy. Better to cut back on expenses than take risks. Advisers with 20:20 vision and “I told you so”, “stay in for the long haul” mentality are just doing what they do; protecting their livelihoods. I very much doubt many anticipated the run we’ve had.
Putin and Russia seem to be getting a lot of media attention. Perhaps not surprising, but it’s the kind of fear-mongering attention that is curious. It has re-ignited a cold-war mentality, which is strange considering it is Russia that is under pressure here. People like John McCain seem incapable of critical thinking vis-a-vis US foreign policy. Things never resolve themselves especially when both sides of the argument remain sanctimoniously dogged in their self-righteousness. The way the Republican party is using this episode to slam Obama is so transparent and futile.
Putin does not want to lose the Ukraine, and he may be using Crimea as a side show because it is his strongest base from which to launch a risky strategy. I fail to see why Sevastopol is so strategically important, since the Turks control the Bosphorous. If the new Ukrainian authorities are going to fight over Crimea, then they start to look suspicious. The other question is whether Europe wants the Ukraine. It turned down Turkey and has strict criteria for joining the club. The poor state of the Ukrainian economy means it will have to go it alone on the path to improvement. The Ukraine has more in common with Russia that western Europe. It uses a cyrillic alphabet and share many words with Russian. Kiev, with its beautiful churches with cupolas are reminiscent of Russia, and is mostly orthodox as well. However, they are defiantly independent as recent events show, and have every right to choose their own destiny. I think the best the West can do is be there for them, but not force Putin into a corner over this.
