Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
^^^ It appears that extensive "defensive" arming of ukraine is underway with public announcements due sooner or later. The only hope I have for matters is that there are idiots like sakashvili and porky at the helm. They might just remain stuck in a new georgia situation.
The ukrainian government claiming "no ceasefire" when major fighting is going on is bothersome. They might be closer to a full on restart.
The rest is good cop/bad cop stuff. The US isnt a one horse carriage any more, so there isnt really a point in blaming the president here. The VP (think cheney), the state department, clinton, the GoP all have their own horses in the race. Germany is stuck with the problem, it cant disown/spill the beans. There is no going back. So Russia is breaking up with Europe. And slow break ups/divorces are ten times more painful than a short/abrupt process.
The ukrainian government claiming "no ceasefire" when major fighting is going on is bothersome. They might be closer to a full on restart.
The rest is good cop/bad cop stuff. The US isnt a one horse carriage any more, so there isnt really a point in blaming the president here. The VP (think cheney), the state department, clinton, the GoP all have their own horses in the race. Germany is stuck with the problem, it cant disown/spill the beans. There is no going back. So Russia is breaking up with Europe. And slow break ups/divorces are ten times more painful than a short/abrupt process.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
Y.Kanan - there is always a lot of subjectivity in world dominance. Even now a lot of people talk about the moment when US took over from Brits was during the Suez Canal crisis. That was much after the US overtook the Brits in terms of economy, mil etc etc.
Net point being: the moats are getting readied, the empire is being put up. Without the moats, the empire will crumble. So always the moats first while empire is coming up in the background.
Russia can simply not come up as no 1 itself currently. It can only play king maker. Tha,t it will. That much seems clear.
Russia [and India] probably needs its own Monroe doctrine.
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In the longer run, both Russia and China are winners. Why? Water is the new oil. The only ones who can beat them are Brazil and perhaps Canada. But I think even Brazil has major water trouble lately? Not sure about Canada yet. With so much of a natural bounty, it seems very unlikely that Russia can even struggle the way the west thinks. IMHO, the guys at the top just don't get the holistic picture. Russia simply has abundant and bountiful natural resources for them to go down in a hurry.
On the same note: I still think its a mistake that all the fellas allowed China to capture all the water heads in Tibet and Central Asia.
Net point being: the moats are getting readied, the empire is being put up. Without the moats, the empire will crumble. So always the moats first while empire is coming up in the background.
Russia can simply not come up as no 1 itself currently. It can only play king maker. Tha,t it will. That much seems clear.
Russia [and India] probably needs its own Monroe doctrine.
--
In the longer run, both Russia and China are winners. Why? Water is the new oil. The only ones who can beat them are Brazil and perhaps Canada. But I think even Brazil has major water trouble lately? Not sure about Canada yet. With so much of a natural bounty, it seems very unlikely that Russia can even struggle the way the west thinks. IMHO, the guys at the top just don't get the holistic picture. Russia simply has abundant and bountiful natural resources for them to go down in a hurry.
On the same note: I still think its a mistake that all the fellas allowed China to capture all the water heads in Tibet and Central Asia.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
The UBCNews Anal-e-sys on WHOTUSBO is this:
1. POTUSBO and FLOTUSBO are basically decent people, who have clawed their way up. They have achieved far beyond their dreams or what anyone thought they could achieve. Now they are into retirement mode, trying to philosophical, saving humanity etc. They are also very SMART people on an individual level: FAR better educated than a) Dubya - who got in on daddy's $$ and got out barely.
b) SlickWillie: OK, smart, visionary, Rhodes etc. but politician from day 1.
c) You have to start with this model to get anywhere. I used to hear of him back in 1978 as the Up&ComingHotShotFromArkansas. His half-Bro used to be in Peecheedee program in Ulan Bator Yak Madarssa.
d) Bush1: slimy character from Yale Skull&Bones society, also got in with silver spoon up his musharraf. Main credential: Musharraf-gunner on a bomber in WW2 (which I respect!) Couldn't say Iraq or Iran.
e) Ray-gun Reagan: movie actor.
f) Jimmy Carter: dropped out of engg. school in freshman year.
Compared to all of them, BO and MO are very well-read, thoughtful, articulate, and in my view, caring people. As individuals.
2. Now for their constraints:
a) His constituency in Illinois is full of Pakis and Ay-Rubs. Islamic to the core.
b) Large Black Muslim constituency
This explains his pandering to Indian SIMI types and genuflecting and ass-kissing in KSA.
c) Rest of AA society is dominated by the Southern Baptist NitWit Society that is more Conversionist, racist and self-Righteous than the KKK and Aryan Nations combined. This is the Prayer Meeting crowd.
d) His WHOTUS circle is comprised of above 2 extremes. How they sit in the same room is a miracle, except that they have to, to feed at the same trough, and they have the common factor of race. They are NO MATCH for the T-Party types AND PAKIS who have infested the State Dept. Can u imagine a bunch of WHOTUS AAs giving orders to the mandarins in the CIA who trace their origins back to the MayFlower and the Montgomery, AL plantation owners? It's like the ABV PMO trying to get things done through the INC-planted Babucracy, except 100 times worse.
e) The Democrat COTUS leadership is more commie than Trotsky ever was. Rattlesnakes all. B.Boxer et al. All mega-millionaires. Look at the cra* coming through every day from CREDO and other propaganda channels. Latest is to shoot down BO's plan to go to war with ISIS, and instead demand Peace With ISIS.
This is what he faces every day.
1. POTUSBO and FLOTUSBO are basically decent people, who have clawed their way up. They have achieved far beyond their dreams or what anyone thought they could achieve. Now they are into retirement mode, trying to philosophical, saving humanity etc. They are also very SMART people on an individual level: FAR better educated than a) Dubya - who got in on daddy's $$ and got out barely.
b) SlickWillie: OK, smart, visionary, Rhodes etc. but politician from day 1.
c) You have to start with this model to get anywhere. I used to hear of him back in 1978 as the Up&ComingHotShotFromArkansas. His half-Bro used to be in Peecheedee program in Ulan Bator Yak Madarssa.
d) Bush1: slimy character from Yale Skull&Bones society, also got in with silver spoon up his musharraf. Main credential: Musharraf-gunner on a bomber in WW2 (which I respect!) Couldn't say Iraq or Iran.
e) Ray-gun Reagan: movie actor.
f) Jimmy Carter: dropped out of engg. school in freshman year.
Compared to all of them, BO and MO are very well-read, thoughtful, articulate, and in my view, caring people. As individuals.
2. Now for their constraints:
a) His constituency in Illinois is full of Pakis and Ay-Rubs. Islamic to the core.
b) Large Black Muslim constituency
This explains his pandering to Indian SIMI types and genuflecting and ass-kissing in KSA.
c) Rest of AA society is dominated by the Southern Baptist NitWit Society that is more Conversionist, racist and self-Righteous than the KKK and Aryan Nations combined. This is the Prayer Meeting crowd.
d) His WHOTUS circle is comprised of above 2 extremes. How they sit in the same room is a miracle, except that they have to, to feed at the same trough, and they have the common factor of race. They are NO MATCH for the T-Party types AND PAKIS who have infested the State Dept. Can u imagine a bunch of WHOTUS AAs giving orders to the mandarins in the CIA who trace their origins back to the MayFlower and the Montgomery, AL plantation owners? It's like the ABV PMO trying to get things done through the INC-planted Babucracy, except 100 times worse.
e) The Democrat COTUS leadership is more commie than Trotsky ever was. Rattlesnakes all. B.Boxer et al. All mega-millionaires. Look at the cra* coming through every day from CREDO and other propaganda channels. Latest is to shoot down BO's plan to go to war with ISIS, and instead demand Peace With ISIS.

This is what he faces every day.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
^^^ There are two counter arguments:
- The buck has to stop somewhere. That veto pen has stood out of view too long. The POTUS really has been on backfoot from day 1 : the beer summit.
- Legal profession/too many lawyers. I cant trust anyone in that profession having any humanity left. Its not possible. That profession survives on sucking blood out of dead carcasses of murdered children.
I agree it is a miracle that BO rose above the field that was the 2008 pool. And he will never be one of the rest of the lot. And he has tried.
But thats on domestic issues. He never really graduated from being the junior senator in anything else. The democratic setup assumed they will have a remote control in WH with BO. To a large extent, that has been true.
Instead of legacy and the inevitable last day pardons, this time could be utilized with actually using the executive power to restrain the empire and make the executive branch function like a check and balance arm. Every protection built into the domestic and international policies is long dead, it would not be bad to revive a few.
- The buck has to stop somewhere. That veto pen has stood out of view too long. The POTUS really has been on backfoot from day 1 : the beer summit.
- Legal profession/too many lawyers. I cant trust anyone in that profession having any humanity left. Its not possible. That profession survives on sucking blood out of dead carcasses of murdered children.
I agree it is a miracle that BO rose above the field that was the 2008 pool. And he will never be one of the rest of the lot. And he has tried.
But thats on domestic issues. He never really graduated from being the junior senator in anything else. The democratic setup assumed they will have a remote control in WH with BO. To a large extent, that has been true.
Instead of legacy and the inevitable last day pardons, this time could be utilized with actually using the executive power to restrain the empire and make the executive branch function like a check and balance arm. Every protection built into the domestic and international policies is long dead, it would not be bad to revive a few.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
Ze poodle, it is le barking. Boots on ground.
Good argument for domestic rearming arguments, but wading into this debate may be a higher payscale than a poodle thing now.
Good argument for domestic rearming arguments, but wading into this debate may be a higher payscale than a poodle thing now.
Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
YKanan, The BRICS horse seems to be a non starter, because China has no intention of being the only moneybags in that grouping, and the rest will not allow China make unilateral decisions.Y. Kanan wrote: This is the outcome most of us want to see, but how realistic is it? So far it doesn't look like any countries are lining up to join a BRICS alternative global economic and financial system that rejects U.S. rules. Only a handful of countries have moved away from trading in dollars. Are there any indications that a sizeable chunk of the world economy is willing to move away from the US dollar-denominated system? I haven't seen any but maybe I haven't been looking hard enough.
The danger is Russia collapses into a new financial crisis before any alternative system can gain any traction. If Russia goes down that dream probably dies with it.
But there have been recent news items about Russia and China and India making noises about doing oil trade in local currencies instead of the dollar -- this may mean an alternative to the SWIFT system will be created if these countries are really serious about this. The ME oil producers are stuck with trading oil in $s, except for Iran.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
Amazing provocations. I'd say Kharkiv, Mariupol and Odessa and DnieproPetrovsk are goners after these 2 new items.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
I am beginning to understand a strange item on the tweets: When the 'rebels' took over Debtaltseve, reports said there were yells of AOA. I wondered why. See name and origins above: Islamic Russian volunteer. Strange loyalties and alliances. What next? A Jewish Hezbollah commander?Islam Alibaterov, 29, -- who claims he came as a volunteer from his home region of Dagestan in Russia to fight with the rebels -- recounted how the fighting has focused on the tiny village of Shyrokine, some 15 kilometres east of Mariupol.
Last edited by UlanBatori on 25 Feb 2015 08:12, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
"Armed guards will go in to support these 75 trainers, just in case"UlanBatori wrote:Amazing provocations. I'd say Kharkiv, Mariupol and Odessa and DnieproPetrovsk are goners after these 2 new items.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
A gentle pooch to the experts here. I was led to believe, by decades of propaganda, that the FSU, Ukraine etc are dirt-poor, with people living in 1-room hovels. But all the pictures I see are of pucca middle-class or better houses, broad, grand urban streets and buildings, nice roads, clean public vehicles, nice, late-model cars, and people wearing stylish clothes (I mean the civilians, not the nattily-clad military types) and RayBans. Lots of Twitter accounts there. Pictures of Debaltseve esp., showed really big houses and nice big plots around them. All in all, Ukraine looks like a pretty wealthy nation. My comparison points are not just glorious Ulan Bataar, but places like West Virginia, Montana, and rural Alabama/ Mississippi and Arizona/Nevada/Texas. Ukraine looks better-off than any of these places. Tragic that they are getting Halliburton-Reconstructed now.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
^^ You have been propagandized. You need to be re-imaged!
Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
Russia seems to have taken preemptive steps to have the islamist types on their side by making blasphemy illegal and arresting people who did the who Jay-soo-charlie charade. They seem to want to ensure that the ISIS has more interesting targets and cannot be redirected by the vanguards of freedom and democracy in the general direction of russia. Russians actually did this well before maidan -- they must have known something was coming up.UlanBatori wrote: When the 'rebels' took over Debtaltseve, reports said there were yells of AOA. I wondered why. See name and origins above: Islamic Russian volunteer. Strange loyalties and alliances. What next? A Jewish Hezbollah commander?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/ ... 7020130521
Last edited by Tuvaluan on 25 Feb 2015 08:04, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
http://www.newsweek.com/ukrainian-separ ... pol-309068
UkBapZis are feeling the warmth under their musharrafs:Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) announced fresh gains towards the key Ukrainian port city of Mariupol today, as government forces reported the rebels were indeed preparing to move in on the city. A spokesman for DNR told Russian news agency RIA Novosti that the separatists had today taken two villages situated inside the mutually agreed buffer zone, bringing them closer to the northern extremities of the port city of Mariupol, which is the second largest city in the Donetsk region.
“Yesterday evening we liberated Pishtevik and Pavlopol near Mariupol. The national guard was unable to affirm their control there,” the spokesman said. However, reports of Pishtevik and Pavlopol being taken have not been verified by pro-Kiev forces on the ground. Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainskaya Pravda spoke to the press secretary of the local volunteer battalion Sector M who said: “These points are situated in the buffer zone, they are not under our control and we do not have anyone stationed there. The militants can simply go there.”
Prior to the Minsk agreement two weeks ago, Pavlopol had been under the control of Kiev forces but according to the Sector M spokesman the territory was lumped into the buffer zone as part of the agreement and government forces have since pulled out. According to the official Facebook feed of Ukraine’s military operations in eastern Ukraine fighting is intensifying in the vicinity of Mariupol as the town of Shirokino, east of the city came under heavy fire in the early hours of the morning.
In a press briefing this afternoon Andriy Lysenko, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s operations, said that shelling had decreased during the night, but confirmed that separatists were redeploying troops and equipment towards Mariupol.
Were Mariupol to become a battleground, the city presents several complicating factors. Its primary garrison is the Azov Battalion, a private militia that fights for Kiev but has attracted intense notoriety for its use of the Nazi wolfsangel as its symbol and the outspoken neo-fascist views of many of the volunteers who fill out its ranks.
And while no one is sure about the sympathies of the local population, analysts in Kiev say there are growing fears that the rebels are preparing underground units in cities throughout eastern Ukraine, including Mariupol, to rise up and strike from the rear when an appropriate moment comes. A weekend bombing that killed two people at a pro-Kiev rally in eastern Ukraine's biggest city, Kharkiv, has further stoked such fears.
"Our forces in Mariupol will fight to the last man. But we only expect the worst," says Alexei Kolomyets, head of the independent Center for European and Transatlantic Studies in Kiev.
Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
This is some horsesh!t from the strategery experts in the land of freedom and democracy.
So the US's world view is to build "coalitions" that will do the US's bidding to push the US's plans, however cretinous they may be....the coalition with Germany and France seem to be fine examples.
If we apply this US doctrines to Ukraine, then the US goes "all in" with other people's militaries according to the first one from Col. Thomas -- case in point, the UkBapzi Nazi army fighting US's war in Ukraine. And US builds coalitions that can fight the US's wars to protect US interests, like the morons in Germany and France. Nice doctrine...the world is going to be in the palm of the greatest country in the world with such awesome doctrines....the only questions left are: "where do we start the next war?" and "who's got the crisco?"Anne-Marie Slaughter @SlaughterAM · 7h 7 hours ago
Adm Michele Howard: ONCE decision to go to war is made, US mil has no problem going all in, incl using asymmetric responses #futureofwar
0 replies 7 retweets 1 favorite
Nitin Pai retweeted
Anne-Marie Slaughter @SlaughterAM · 13h 13 hours ago
THIS! Col. Troy Thomas: "strategic success in future requires competitive coalition-building" getting/organizing right partners #futureofwar
So the US's world view is to build "coalitions" that will do the US's bidding to push the US's plans, however cretinous they may be....the coalition with Germany and France seem to be fine examples.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
If ghengis khan could do it, why not the US?
One of the favored tools of war for Ghenghis khan was to marry one of his daughters to the king of newly conquered territories (and kick out any other previous wives), then appoint the king as one of the leaders of new expeditions. The kings never came back from the bloody wars, leaving the "wives" as de facto rules and no chance of a challenge to the Khan.
Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
Indeed. Maybe the resident mongolian could provide some insight into the mind of the Genghis.shreeman wrote: If ghengis khan could do it, why not the US?
Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
The poodle squeaks! The Moron of Cam's new Crimean War
Wanting to go down in history as a great British military zero...oops! Hero,Daffy "Duck" CaMoron wants another historic military debacle ,a re-run of the Charge of the Light Brigade,a resounding debacle against Russia,in keeping with the current retreats of British troops all over the world."It is only by staging another historic defeat can Britain proudly hold up to the world its greatness in poetry",said the Moron."We need new Kiplings and Tennysons in the 21st century,for their words to record the glorious asinine sacrifices of British youth upon some far-forgotten foreign field that will ever be British",
quoting Rupert Brooke's famous words on the futility of WW1 whose centenary we recently commemorated.
Having been left completely out of the Minsk talks and agreement,The Poodle is attempting to bark at the Bear.A wonderful statement that the poodle army of instructors and advisers-as if the Kiev junta haven't had enough of them,with disastrous results,will be kept well away from the fighting!
This is actually wonderful news to Pres.Putin.He can now watch and wait as the Poodle infantry walk around "training" Willy Wanker's chocolate soldiers in the safe locale of the Maidan.It gives him the justification for sending in his own "advisers" openly,who no doubt unlike their British counterparts will not hesitate to face off with the enemy on the border/lines of control.However,most observers feel that the Moron of Cam is actually keeping his powder dry for the coming dog-fight in May,the great British "bone-fight" held every 5 years,where his Tory terriers are expected to be badly chewed up by a motley gang of Labour Lab gundogs,wild SNP Scotties,UKIP bulldogs,BNP mongrels and Lib-Dem spaniels!
This to most observers is a ruse to fool the British public into believing that the Tort Terriers bite is worse than their bark!
Chief poodle,the Moron of Cam spake thus:
British forces head for Ukraine as David Cameron issues warning to Vladimir Putin
Prime Minister announces British infantry training mission to Ukraine as he warns of 'deeply damaging' consequences if EU fails to stand up to Vladimir Putin on Ukraine
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... Putin.html
PS.Angelly Merkel.,that great peaceful German Rottweiler,quoting Bismarck's famous words about the Balkans in the context of the UKR crisis,said ,"why doesn't the Moron of Cam heed the words of Kipling,who wrote during the Afghan War,to "roll on his rifle and blow out his brains and go to his God like a soldier",instead of sending his young men to do so!
French poodle M.Hollande,wagged his tail vociferously in support,looking up at his mistress!
Wanting to go down in history as a great British military zero...oops! Hero,Daffy "Duck" CaMoron wants another historic military debacle ,a re-run of the Charge of the Light Brigade,a resounding debacle against Russia,in keeping with the current retreats of British troops all over the world."It is only by staging another historic defeat can Britain proudly hold up to the world its greatness in poetry",said the Moron."We need new Kiplings and Tennysons in the 21st century,for their words to record the glorious asinine sacrifices of British youth upon some far-forgotten foreign field that will ever be British",
quoting Rupert Brooke's famous words on the futility of WW1 whose centenary we recently commemorated.
Having been left completely out of the Minsk talks and agreement,The Poodle is attempting to bark at the Bear.A wonderful statement that the poodle army of instructors and advisers-as if the Kiev junta haven't had enough of them,with disastrous results,will be kept well away from the fighting!
This is actually wonderful news to Pres.Putin.He can now watch and wait as the Poodle infantry walk around "training" Willy Wanker's chocolate soldiers in the safe locale of the Maidan.It gives him the justification for sending in his own "advisers" openly,who no doubt unlike their British counterparts will not hesitate to face off with the enemy on the border/lines of control.However,most observers feel that the Moron of Cam is actually keeping his powder dry for the coming dog-fight in May,the great British "bone-fight" held every 5 years,where his Tory terriers are expected to be badly chewed up by a motley gang of Labour Lab gundogs,wild SNP Scotties,UKIP bulldogs,BNP mongrels and Lib-Dem spaniels!
This to most observers is a ruse to fool the British public into believing that the Tort Terriers bite is worse than their bark!
Chief poodle,the Moron of Cam spake thus:
http://rt.com/uk/235183-cameron-aid-ukraine-pledge/Prime Minister David Cameron has said Britain will not supply Ukraine with lethal weaponry in the fight against rebels in the East of the country, but UK troops will support Ukrainians with tactical intelligence, training and logistics.
Speaking to the Liaison Select Committee, David Cameron said UK support would be given “well away from the area of conflict,” adding that the purpose of aid would be to improve Ukraine’s tactical advantage.![]()
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He was further questioned on the capability of the UK to defend its airspace after RAF jets were scrambled to intercept Russian bombers last week for the second time in 2015.
He said the Russians were probably trying to make “some sort of point,” but added that he didn’t know what that point was.
Cameron said Britain should be confident in its defensive strengths against Russia.
EU and US leaders accuse Russia of supporting the militias in Donbass. The claims have been repeatedly denied by Russian officials.
Russian draft resolution on Ukraine passed by UN Security Council
He added that should Russian President Vladimir Putin risk destabilizing the Baltic states with a cyber-attack, or similar, he would risk confrontation with NATO.
“We are committed to their collective defense,” Cameron said, but he did not give an indication of what a “red line” might be, in terms of intervention.
He said the UK must continue to work with Russia on matters other than Ukraine, despite the country not “behaving like a strategic partner to Europe,” saying it was important to join efforts to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.
The Prime Minister, however, also advocated deeper sanctions against Russia, adding that the Baltic States and Poland were likely to agree.
Cameron’s actions go against those of French and German leaders Hollande and Merkel who are pushing for a peaceful and diplomatic solution to the conflict. The leaders orchestrated the Minsk peace talks, where a ceasefire was agreed, though there have been reports of continued clashes since the deal was reached.
US arming Kiev would ‘explode’ situation in E. Ukraine – Russian Foreign Ministry
Last week the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to approve a Russian-drafted resolution to support the Minsk agreements, reached by the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine.
The resolution was submitted to the UNSC by Russia on February 13, a day after the Minsk deal was agreed. It is aimed at endorsing and executing the Minsk agreements. The document also expresses concern over the continuing violence in eastern Ukraine, and stresses the importance of resolving the conflict peacefully.
“After the unprecedented diplomatic efforts last week, Ukraine has a chance to turn a dramatic page in its history,” said Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin, who expressed “gratitude” towards the other parties for endorsing the document.
It was revealed in early February the US is considering sending arms to Ukraine.
Cameron is facing a general election on May 7. His tough stance on international tensions between Russia and the West is informed with this in mind.
British forces head for Ukraine as David Cameron issues warning to Vladimir Putin
Prime Minister announces British infantry training mission to Ukraine as he warns of 'deeply damaging' consequences if EU fails to stand up to Vladimir Putin on Ukraine
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... Putin.html
PS.Angelly Merkel.,that great peaceful German Rottweiler,quoting Bismarck's famous words about the Balkans in the context of the UKR crisis,said ,"why doesn't the Moron of Cam heed the words of Kipling,who wrote during the Afghan War,to "roll on his rifle and blow out his brains and go to his God like a soldier",instead of sending his young men to do so!
French poodle M.Hollande,wagged his tail vociferously in support,looking up at his mistress!
Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
Not surprising actually. A lot of `friendly' Muslims from the Caucasus were recruited by Russia, during the Chechen war, for counter-insurgency. I would imagine some of those units were dissolved once the insurgency died down and those men would be available to fight elsewhere now. The Russian `volunteers' are paid, though nowhere near the levels of those recruited by the likes of Blackwater.UlanBatori wrote:I am beginning to understand a strange item on the tweets: When the 'rebels' took over Debtaltseve, reports said there were yells of AOA. I wondered why. See name and origins above: Islamic Russian volunteer. Strange loyalties and alliances. What next? A Jewish Hezbollah commander?Islam Alibaterov, 29, -- who claims he came as a volunteer from his home region of Dagestan in Russia to fight with the rebels -- recounted how the fighting has focused on the tiny village of Shyrokine, some 15 kilometres east of Mariupol.
The Jihadist lot are fighting on the side of Chocolate.
Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
Income levels in Ukraine have been about 40% of Russia's (and double of India's in PPP terms). Since the conflict beganUlanBatori wrote:A gentle pooch to the experts here. I was led to believe, by decades of propaganda, that the FSU, Ukraine etc are dirt-poor, with people living in 1-room hovels. But all the pictures I see are of pucca middle-class or better houses, broad, grand urban streets and buildings, nice roads, clean public vehicles, nice, late-model cars, and people wearing stylish clothes (I mean the civilians, not the nattily-clad military types) and RayBans. Lots of Twitter accounts there. Pictures of Debaltseve esp., showed really big houses and nice big plots around them. All in all, Ukraine looks like a pretty wealthy nation. My comparison points are not just glorious Ulan Bataar, but places like West Virginia, Montana, and rural Alabama/ Mississippi and Arizona/Nevada/Texas. Ukraine looks better-off than any of these places. Tragic that they are getting Halliburton-Reconstructed now.
it would have reduced to almost a third of Russia's. That said, due to the communist legacy, is is easy to live on a low income.
Most people live in free housing. Medical care and education are free. Energy is highly discounted. Basic foodstuffs and liquor are cheap. Cities are reasonably well planned etc.
Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
Europe Throws Ukraine Under the Bus
The battle for Debaltseve is over. On February 18, Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president, ordered his troops to withdraw from the city in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
The soldiers hadn’t a chance of winning. They were easily outnumbered by pro-Russian forces, whom Moscow has supported throughout the conflict. As the Ukrainian soldiers made their way out of the bombed city, the ceasefire accord reached in Minsk on February 12 was in tatters.
Repeated calls by Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, to Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, to implement the ceasefire have gone nowhere. Diplomacy has failed. What is more, Europeans have not grasped the implications of Ukraine losing its territorial integrity.
European leaders can wring their hands. They can threaten to ratchet up the sanctions they have imposed against Russia. But the damage has been done ever since March 2014, when Putin annexed Crimea. Through its weak response to Russian aggression, the E.U. has discarded the rules of the post–Cold War era.
Even the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, in which Western and Communist bloc leaders pledged to respect the inviolability of borders, has been torn up. Europe is entering a new and dangerous era for which it is completely unprepared.
When it comes to facing real threats on their Eastern borders—meaning from Russia—European leaders still cling to the idea of soft power. Yet at the same time, several governments have joined the U.S.-led coalition to fight the terrorist threat coming from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Ursula von der Leyen, the German defense minister, who is overseeing a new white paper that refers to Russia as a threat, tried to explain the difference in approach between Russian aggression and jihadism. Speaking at the February 6–8 Munich Security Conference, von der Leyen said diplomacy could not work with the Islamic State because there was no one with whom to negotiate. Therefore, force was a viable option. That, she said, was not the case with Russia: there, the West had a negotiating partner.
Not any more, it seems. The failure of the latest ceasefire agreement in eastern Ukraine shows the futility of talking to the Russian president.
Some European leaders would beg to differ. The fulsome ways in which some leaders deal with Putin are shameful. They make a mockery of European unity and the appalling suffering of civilians in eastern Ukraine.
Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, who feted Putin on February 18, is willing to make his country even more dependent on Russian energy by agreeing to Russian loans to build a new nuclear reactor near the central Hungarian town of Paks. That dependence carries a high price in the form of political interference. So far, Orbán has backed E.U. sanctions against Russia and NATO’s new reassurance role in Eastern and Central Europe. But that continuing support cannot be taken for granted.
Other European leaders, who seem to forget that a war is being waged on the E.U.’s borders, have no qualms either in dealing with Putin. Nicos Anastasiades, the president of Cyprus, is scheduled to visit Moscow on February 25. For many years, Cyprus has been providing Russian oligarchs with a safe haven for their riches.
Alexis Tsipras, the newly elected prime minister of Greece, has nonchalantly implied that he could turn to Russia for financial assistance if his talks with E.U. finance ministers over amending the terms of Greece’s bailout program fail. And don’t forget Miloš Zeman, the president of the Czech Republic, who is known for his pro-Russian stance. With leaders like these, it’s a wonder that the E.U. ever managed to push through its sanctions.
But there is a wider issue at stake: the Europeans’ unwillingness to defend Ukraine’s territorial integrity has set a precedent. Some would say that Russia tested the E.U.’s resolve in 2008 after its short invasion of Georgia. Then, the response by the E.U. and by the West in general was weak.
And as Russia over the past year began chiseling away at parts of eastern Ukraine, in November 2014 the Kremlin signed a security pact with the self-declared republic of Abkhazia, which Russia prized away from Georgia during the 2008 war.
With the fall of Debaltseve, Poroshenko had no option but to call on the United Nations and the E.U. to send peacekeepers to eastern Ukraine. Whatever the response to that request, the record of peacekeepers is to consolidate facts on the ground, not to undo them. That could suit Putin.
Poroshenko’s call also confirms how the E.U. and the United States failed to give the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) sufficient personnel and support to monitor either the September 2014 Minsk Protocol or the February 2015 ceasefire agreement. Pro-Russian separatists have done everything possible to hinder the OSCE monitors.
That aside, Europeans’ unwillingness to defend Ukraine’s territorial integrity is due to more than the reluctance of most E.U. governments to provide Ukraine with weapons. Apart from the endless arguments over whether sending arms would encourage Putin to escalate or de-escalate the war, this unwillingness also stems from the fact that most European governments do not believe Ukraine’s territorial integrity matters that much to their own security.
For most Europeans, the war in Ukraine—unlike the Islamic State—does not pose a threat to their way of life and their values. Yet the war has already called into question Europe’s values and the principle of inviolable borders. What European leader would deny that?
Cheers
The battle for Debaltseve is over. On February 18, Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president, ordered his troops to withdraw from the city in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
The soldiers hadn’t a chance of winning. They were easily outnumbered by pro-Russian forces, whom Moscow has supported throughout the conflict. As the Ukrainian soldiers made their way out of the bombed city, the ceasefire accord reached in Minsk on February 12 was in tatters.
Repeated calls by Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, to Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, to implement the ceasefire have gone nowhere. Diplomacy has failed. What is more, Europeans have not grasped the implications of Ukraine losing its territorial integrity.
European leaders can wring their hands. They can threaten to ratchet up the sanctions they have imposed against Russia. But the damage has been done ever since March 2014, when Putin annexed Crimea. Through its weak response to Russian aggression, the E.U. has discarded the rules of the post–Cold War era.
Even the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, in which Western and Communist bloc leaders pledged to respect the inviolability of borders, has been torn up. Europe is entering a new and dangerous era for which it is completely unprepared.
When it comes to facing real threats on their Eastern borders—meaning from Russia—European leaders still cling to the idea of soft power. Yet at the same time, several governments have joined the U.S.-led coalition to fight the terrorist threat coming from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Ursula von der Leyen, the German defense minister, who is overseeing a new white paper that refers to Russia as a threat, tried to explain the difference in approach between Russian aggression and jihadism. Speaking at the February 6–8 Munich Security Conference, von der Leyen said diplomacy could not work with the Islamic State because there was no one with whom to negotiate. Therefore, force was a viable option. That, she said, was not the case with Russia: there, the West had a negotiating partner.
Not any more, it seems. The failure of the latest ceasefire agreement in eastern Ukraine shows the futility of talking to the Russian president.
Some European leaders would beg to differ. The fulsome ways in which some leaders deal with Putin are shameful. They make a mockery of European unity and the appalling suffering of civilians in eastern Ukraine.
Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, who feted Putin on February 18, is willing to make his country even more dependent on Russian energy by agreeing to Russian loans to build a new nuclear reactor near the central Hungarian town of Paks. That dependence carries a high price in the form of political interference. So far, Orbán has backed E.U. sanctions against Russia and NATO’s new reassurance role in Eastern and Central Europe. But that continuing support cannot be taken for granted.
Other European leaders, who seem to forget that a war is being waged on the E.U.’s borders, have no qualms either in dealing with Putin. Nicos Anastasiades, the president of Cyprus, is scheduled to visit Moscow on February 25. For many years, Cyprus has been providing Russian oligarchs with a safe haven for their riches.
Alexis Tsipras, the newly elected prime minister of Greece, has nonchalantly implied that he could turn to Russia for financial assistance if his talks with E.U. finance ministers over amending the terms of Greece’s bailout program fail. And don’t forget Miloš Zeman, the president of the Czech Republic, who is known for his pro-Russian stance. With leaders like these, it’s a wonder that the E.U. ever managed to push through its sanctions.
But there is a wider issue at stake: the Europeans’ unwillingness to defend Ukraine’s territorial integrity has set a precedent. Some would say that Russia tested the E.U.’s resolve in 2008 after its short invasion of Georgia. Then, the response by the E.U. and by the West in general was weak.
And as Russia over the past year began chiseling away at parts of eastern Ukraine, in November 2014 the Kremlin signed a security pact with the self-declared republic of Abkhazia, which Russia prized away from Georgia during the 2008 war.
With the fall of Debaltseve, Poroshenko had no option but to call on the United Nations and the E.U. to send peacekeepers to eastern Ukraine. Whatever the response to that request, the record of peacekeepers is to consolidate facts on the ground, not to undo them. That could suit Putin.
Poroshenko’s call also confirms how the E.U. and the United States failed to give the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) sufficient personnel and support to monitor either the September 2014 Minsk Protocol or the February 2015 ceasefire agreement. Pro-Russian separatists have done everything possible to hinder the OSCE monitors.
That aside, Europeans’ unwillingness to defend Ukraine’s territorial integrity is due to more than the reluctance of most E.U. governments to provide Ukraine with weapons. Apart from the endless arguments over whether sending arms would encourage Putin to escalate or de-escalate the war, this unwillingness also stems from the fact that most European governments do not believe Ukraine’s territorial integrity matters that much to their own security.
For most Europeans, the war in Ukraine—unlike the Islamic State—does not pose a threat to their way of life and their values. Yet the war has already called into question Europe’s values and the principle of inviolable borders. What European leader would deny that?
Cheers

Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
Ukraine does not lack in weapons, population if they are willing to fight.
their problem is perhaps lack of morale, and financial constraints to engage in a big war.
their problem is perhaps lack of morale, and financial constraints to engage in a big war.
Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
Many Ukrainians are probably still pro Russian at heart despite excesses of idiots like Stalin. I remember when 2nd Chechen war broke out, Russians had a hard time controlling all the cossack "volunteers" who showed up from Ukraine etc to fight on Russia's behalf. This stupid division of country business post Perestroika played right into wests hands. Make no mistake, that was the plan of several meddlers for J&K as well.
Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
This is why Kashmir entirely should have been liberated already in 1948, and pakis treated the way the pro-Russian 'rebels' are battling ahead in Ukraine right there in 1948 after pakis sent irregulars across openly. Pro-Russian 'rebels' have better strategy -and are obviously not treating open aggression with anything less practical than realpolitik- than advisers to the Indian politicians who can not seem to think beyond current propaganda level.that was the plan of several meddlers for J&K as well.
Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
So those Russian planes buzzing UK were a message to Cameron. He claims he didn't understand but looks like he acted like he got it.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
Ramana,ramana wrote:So those Russian planes buzzing UK were a message to Cameron. He claims he didn't understand but looks like he acted like he got it.
Thats not even a poor excuse. Russian long distance aviation has been active for last two-three years, almost back to cold war levels. Same can be said for US/NATO planes. Baltics have been having multiple exercises with NATO, including the swedes/finns in the act too. Nothing more that routine training and poor excuse used by cameron just for the most ignorant.
The French are egging the russians to take action over the mistrals. That may well be in the next grouped provocation.
The thing of note is *when* have the US ever pulled out after going into a country except through a military route -- vietnam. Not Japan, not korea, not germany, not italy, not afghanistan, not iraq, not....
Its an employment scheme. And ukraine is now generating jobs (x100 grunt scale, y x 100 high paying "trainer" level, z x 100 contractors) for the US unemployed, as well as some low paying ones for the ukrainians too. The poodles just want some of their local troublemakers employed abroad too as usual.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
I remember reading a while back that these air / sea incursions by Russia has been observed for a pretty long time... but that the countries choose to do so (reporting, that is) only recently because the situation between the reporting countries and Russia currently is not the friendliest, to say the least.
So, seen from that tinted window: it seems likely that these are suppressed by countries to be released to MSM only as and when reqd. Else, its just noted down and let go w/o reporting to MSM.
So, seen from that tinted window: it seems likely that these are suppressed by countries to be released to MSM only as and when reqd. Else, its just noted down and let go w/o reporting to MSM.
Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
the system isn't up and running yet. You build it and they will come.Y. Kanan wrote:So far it doesn't look like any countries are lining up to join a BRICS alternative global economic and financial system that rejects U.S. rules. Only a handful of countries have moved away from trading in dollars. Are there any indications that a sizeable chunk of the world economy is willing to move away from the US dollar-denominated system? I haven't seen any but maybe I haven't been looking hard enough.
Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
http://rt.com/news/235563-kiev-weapon-withdrawal-plan/
Kiev trying to invalidate weapons withdraw plan, undermine Minsk deal – militia officials
RT
Argentina and UK Falklands spat spiced up by Russian jets
Published time: December 29, 2014
Kiev trying to invalidate weapons withdraw plan, undermine Minsk deal – militia officials
This is however a none-too subtle message to CaMoron (if he didn't get the hint with the Bear bomber visitations) !Kiev is trying to invalidate the plan of heavy weaponry withdrawal from the demarcation line in eastern Ukraine, thus undermining the Minsk peace deal, Donbass officials claim. An OSCE top official says Kiev is not pulling away its artillery.
According to the peace deal, heavy weapons must be withdrawn from the agreed demarcation line starting February 22. But Donetsk representative Denis Pushilin and Lugansk representative Vladislav Deynego have claimed in a joint statement that Kiev is “attempting to invalidate the plan.”
The Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which has a monitoring mission in the conflict area, said Kiev has so far failed to begin moving its weapons from the demarcation line.
“Ukrainian military forces keep silent for the moment being. They don’t pull out their heavy weaponry and say that a pause is needed. That is what really triggers certain concern of the OSCE, as this pause may last indefinitely,” said the Russian ambassador to the organization, Andrey Kelin.
Kiev selectively follows the Minsk deal, a spokesman for the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Andrey Purgin, told Rossyia 24 TV channel on Wednesday. Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN humanitarian mission in Donbass are trying to achieve the cancelation of Kiev’s “blockade” of the eastern regions, he added.
OSCE mission gets access to Debaltsevo in E. Ukraine, Kiev and militia swap prisoners
“Given the fact that we withdrew nearly 400 units of heavy equipment [from the demarcation line], we don’t want to return them to their positions,” Pushilin and Deynego said, expressing hope that the Thursday meeting of the contact group “will help avoid making such mistakes.”
Pushilin also said they are being “forced to address the Ukrainian party, as well as the guarantors of the peace process – Chancellor Merkel, President Hollande, President Putin – to urge them to prevent a failure of peace intentions.”
Pushilin and Deynego also expressed hope that Ukraine will comply with the signed document and start the pull-back of artillery.
The Russian ambassador to the OSCE, Andrey Kelin, added that Kiev has not yet given a promise to draw back its artillery. On the other hand, it has been more than two days since the militia said they are ready "to grant access for the mission to the locations where guarded weapons would be stored,” he said.
The president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, Ilkka Kanerva, said the rebels have denied “unlimited access” in eastern Ukraine to the OSCE’s monitoring mission.
In turn, the militia said they have sent an inventory to the OSCE – and that the observers are rejecting invitations to witness the actual movements of the weapons.
OSCE neglects its mandate in Ukraine – Moscow
“We believe the OSCE's role is crucial. Once again, we confirm that we are interested in OSCE presence at all weapons-withdrawal events. The OSCE must be present to monitor the withdrawal of the weapons by both sides," rebel spokesman Eduard Basurin said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Purgin told Rossyia-24 that the “OSCE is denying to record the pull-back of our weapons.”
He also noted that the humanitarian situation in Donbass has worsened since the ceasefire started and that the region is “close to a catastrophe,” as Kiev has imposed a blockade.
The members of the Trilateral Contact Group – Ukraine, Russia, and the OSCE – have seen a decrease in the intensity of heavy shelling, according to the press secretary of Ukraine’s ex-president, Leonid Kuchma, who represents Kiev in the peace negotiations.
Peace in Ukraine is “fragile” but it’s in place, said the OSCE's chairperson, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, while speaking at a Helsinki Commission hearing at US Congress on Wednesday.
Kiev asking for more guns
Following the agreement for weapons withdrawal, Ukraine continued appealing to other countries for more weapons.
The first deputy chairman of Ukraine’s parliament, Andrey Parubiy, passed down a list of weapons that Kiev wants from the US during his meeting with Republican Senator John McCain in Washington on Tuesday. “Some of the weapons are non-lethal. For example, radars and UAVs (drones), radio communications, and interference suppression devices,” said Paruiby. “The lethal weapons include, primarily, anti-missile systems, including Javelin (anti-tank missiles).”
Parubiy clarified that US President Barack Obama has already seen the list, adding that US commitment to send weapons could encourage other countries to follow suit. Moreover, during his visit to Ottawa, Parubiy stressed that Canada could help influence Washington's decision. “Canada is kind of the authoritative voice that can push [for] that. It can influence the US decision.”
Also, former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili – who recently became an adviser to Ukrainian President Poroshenko – is currently on a working trip to Washington, with the mission to persuade the US to supply Kiev with arms.
RT
Argentina and UK Falklands spat spiced up by Russian jets
Published time: December 29, 2014
The Falkland Islands - a UK overseas territory Argentina lays claim to - have been allegedly reviewing their defenses after news Russia may offer Argentina fighter jets. Moscow could swap them for beef and wheat, UK's Daily Express says in its report.
The deal reportedly involves a lease/lend of twelve Sukhoi Su-24 all-weather attack aircraft, which NATO calls "Fencer A". The jets will be able to do air patrols over the Falklands' capital, Port Stanley. According to the tabloid, Ministry of Defense officials fear Buenos Aires will take delivery of the planes well before the 2020 deployment of the Navy’s 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth and its F-35B fighters, leaving a “real window of vulnerability.”
Up to 1,500 troops, backed by a naval warship that visits throughout the year, are permanently based on the Falklands, along with four RAF Typhoon jets, plus anti-aircraft and artillery batteries
Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
And the hint of bigger threats to come!
Putin: Gas supplies to Europe could suffer in 3-4 days if Kiev doesn't pay
Published time: February 25, 2015
http://rt.com/news/235459-putin-gas-ukraine-europe/
Putin: Gas supplies to Europe could suffer in 3-4 days if Kiev doesn't pay
Published time: February 25, 2015
http://rt.com/news/235459-putin-gas-ukraine-europe/
Russia will cut off gas supplies to Ukraine if Kiev fails to pay in “three or four days,” President Vladimir Putin said, adding that this "will create a problem" for gas transit to Europe.
“Gazprom has been fully complying with its obligations under the Ukraine gas supply contract and will continue doing that,” Putin told reporters after talks with the president of Cyprus on Wednesday. “The advance payment for gas supply made by the Ukrainian side will be in place for another three to four days. If there is no further prepayment, Gazprom will suspend supplies under the contract and its supplement. Of course, this could create a certain problem for [gas] transit to Europe to our European partners.”
However, Putin expressed the hope that it would not come to that, stressing that “it depends on the financial discipline of our Ukrainian partners.”
Kiev cash-for-gas fail could cost EU its supply - Gazprom
He noted that Russia’s ministers and the CEO of Gazprom have “actively” reminded Ukraine of the looming deadline.
On Tuesday, Gazprom's CEO Aleksey Miller reminded Ukraine’s state-owned Naftogaz of the gas prepayment. Miller said that Ukraine had not paid for March deliveries and warned that Kiev was risking an early termination of the advance settlement and a supply cutoff.
"It takes about two days to get payment from Naftogaz deposited to a Gazprom account. That's why a delivery to Ukraine of 114 million cubic meters will lead to a complete termination of Russian gas supplies as early as in two days, which creates serious risks for the transit to Europe,” Miller said.
Putin said that Gazprom had breached no contract terms of gas supplies to border points to eastern parts of Ukraine.
"It has become known to us that Kiev suspended gas supplies [to Lugansk and Donetsk regions] referring to the alleged damage to gas pipelines," Putin said.
"At the same time, Gazprom is fulfilling the contract signed back in 2009 and an addendum to it made in October last year. In full compliance with this contract, it supplies gas to Ukraine under advance payments made for the volumes, which Ukraine needs."
Putin indicated that these contracts also stipulated border points. "Gazprom is not breaching any provisions," he added.
"As for the damage to the gas pipeline, I don't know for certain, but I know that these regions are home to about 4.5 million people. Just imagine that these people may be left without gas supply during the winter period. In addition to the hunger, there as is already stated by the OSCE and the humanitarian disaster, just imagine these people may also be left without gas supply," Putin said.
He accused some Ukrainian officials of failing to understand the humanitarian issues in Ukraine’s eastern regions.
Citing the OSCE report of a “humanitarian catastrophe” in southeastern Ukraine as well as famine, President Putin said Kiev’s recent decision to switch off gas for those regions “smells like genocide.”
Ukraine’s state-owned Naftogaz suspended gas supplies to eastern regions on February 19, citing damage to a pipeline. Under the gas deal between Moscow and Kiev, Gazprom promptly launched gas supplies to Ukraine’s southeast through border gas metering stations supplying 12 million cubic meters a day.
Kiev said it restored the damage in several hours and restarted gas supplies. Naztogas has refused to pay Gazprom for the gas supplied to eastern regions from February 19. The same day, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered the country’s energy minister and the head of Gazprom to prepare proposals on fuel deliveries to Ukraine’s southeast regions.
Naftogaz has also accused Russia of breaking the agreement to deliver 114 million of cubic meters of natural gas to Ukraine by delivering only 47 million cubic meters.
According to Naftogaz, since February 22 Gazprom has been fulfilling only 40 percent of its requests for pre-paid gas, yet the Ukrainian company plans to get 206 million cubic meters of pre-paid gas by the end of February, RIA-Novosti reported Wednesday.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
A long term pause doesn't seem to be acceptable to the ignored -- the poodles, and the kerrys and bidens and so on. The surrender monkeys are switching sides too. Lame.
As far as I can tell, whatever was important to the US/NATO, was in Crimea and not Ukraine. This presents a problem. I am not sure where the warring parties are going with this. No one is walking into Crimea now. Russia will totally unravel before that happens.
As far as I can tell, whatever was important to the US/NATO, was in Crimea and not Ukraine. This presents a problem. I am not sure where the warring parties are going with this. No one is walking into Crimea now. Russia will totally unravel before that happens.
Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
Q: Why is the UKR regime running to Blighty?
Ans:The Germans and French have abandoned them!
Ans:The Germans and French have abandoned them!
http://rt.com/op-edge/235395-uk-irish-s ... r-ukraine/
Britain couldn't defeat its own separatists, so why is Kiev asking for London's help?
Bryan MacDonald is an Irish writer and commentator.
Ukraine asking the United Kingdom for advice on fighting separatists is akin to questioning the Marlboro Man about how to prevent cancer. It’s not only futile - it makes both Kiev and London look stupid.
Apparently the day Henry Kissinger won the Noble Peace Prize, satire died. If any semblance of irony had survived that curious prize-giving, it finally made a quick exit, stage left this week. Ukraine asked Britain for guidance in its struggle against rebels. Next they’ll be asking Bernie Madoff for advice on investments.
Yes, this is the same United Kingdom that spent 30 years fighting pro-Irish separatists on its own soil and eventually shared in a glorious stalemate. Over 1,000 British government personnel and almost 2,000 civilians died before London finally ordered its military forces back to the 'mainland.' Not to mention that the UK also endured billions of pounds of economic damage and a serious diminution of any residual moral authority it had aspired to project.
In 1968, when ‘The Ulster Troubles’ kicked off, ethnic Irish residents of the province were discriminated against in access to both housing and employment. To make things worse, only householders were permitted to vote - not that it mattered because of constituency gerrymandering to ensure pro-British majorities. Additionally, the police (RUC) were almost 100% ethnic British and the Special Powers Act allowed them to terrorize the minority community.
Following 30 years of British state-sponsored violence, blithesomely encouraged by numerous incumbents of Downing Street, London finally gave up in the 90’s. John Major began the negotiation of a settlement with the IRA’s political wing, Sinn Fein, and his successor, Tony Blair, was forced to accept radically different terms from those of 1968. Now, pro-Irish separatists and pro-British unionists share power, the re-branded PSNI (police) is balanced along ethnic lines and discrimination is, mostly, a thing of the past.
Ukraine is currently soliciting help and advice from the UK in its own struggle against separatists. How much Kiev knows about the circumstances in Ulster is unclear. My guess is very little.
After decades of refusal to talk to ‘terrorists,’ Britain was forced to, eventually, not only negotiate with but fully recognize rebel leaders as legitimate; now they are part of Ulster's government. This is something Kiev’s embattled President Poroshenko will not countenance for the leaders of Donetsk and Lugansk’s self-declared ‘republics.’ Unless Poroshenko is about to conduct a massive volte-face, he might as well be taking body-building lessons with Woody Allen as listening to exhortations from London.
For its part, Downing Street seems to be upset at widespread observations about Britain’s latter-day geopolitical weakness and irrelevance. After Germany and France took the lead in seeking a negotiated settlement of Ukraine’s Civil War, PM David Cameron was roundly filleted for not tagging along. Of course, Angela Merkel neither wanted nor needed him there.
But, in the UK media's Goldfish bowl, that’s beside the point. There’s a UK election shortly and Cameron is afraid to appear weak and unimportant. Never mind that he is feeble and irrelevant, he can’t afford to let the British public realize that Germany, France and Russia are the principal powers of modern Europe and the UK is about as significant as Italy.
Members of the Orange Order take part in a rally in Belfast to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Ulster Covenant September 29, 2012. (Reuters/Cathal McNaughton)
The last time Britain was a serious geopolitical player was during the halcyon days of Margaret Thatcher’s lengthy rule. Ronald Reagan needed a dependable European ally in his quest to weaken the USSR. West Germany, with ‘ostpolitik’ all the rage, was unreliable and Mitterrand’s France was too socialist itself. Association with Reagan's star power boosted Thatcher, and her nation shared in the warm glow. Since then it’s all been downhill.
However, news has yet to reach London’s self-absorbed and jingoistic press.
They believe Britain still matters. Sorry chaps, it doesn’t. Washington has essentially outsourced Europe to German management and Russia regards Britain as an irrelevant little island. Meanwhile, China hardly gives a flying feng shui.
In military terms, both France and Russia would each annihilate the UK’s weakened conventional forces if necessary. We are now a long way from the military might of an empire which once dominated the globe.
If post-war British diplomacy hit a high water-mark under Thatcher, it has plummeted to a nadir under Cameron. His inconsistent, frankly bonkers, foreign policy has destroyed relations with the EU, rendering the UK impotent in Brussels. The old Etonian’s scattergun approach had made him look stupid on Syria, when his own parliament over-ruled his rush to war. In Libya, Cameron’s hunger for regime change has left only chaos behind. Initial false optimism replaced by a ‘mobocracy’ as a once stable nation buckles.
Also, the PM’s statements on Iran seemed to be more about selling Typhoon jets, thus bolstering Britain’s struggling armaments industry, than anything approaching reality.
The legend of Midas suggests that the Greek king could convert any object to gold just by touching it. Cameron seems more proficient in transforming utopian notions into washouts. This is the man who, through sheer ineptitude, almost destroyed a centuries old union between England and Scotland. Indeed, the final act in his political life will probably be to lose the forthcoming election to a Labour/Scots Nationalist coalition.
Europe is tired of Ukraine. That’s what Minsk was really about, Core Europe (led by Germany and France) signaling to Kiev that there’s no support for continuing the civil war. Only a few fringe countries - Estonia, Lithuania and Poland - still exhibit any hunger for continued bloodshed. In a fit of petulance, after being shunned by the real powers, Cameron has allied the UK with peripheral EU countries which have historic grievances with Russia. He’s finally found a way to scrape the bottom of the barrel.
For its part, Kiev is now being advised by a country which, despite far greater resources, was unable to defeat a small separatist army on its own territory. In a mirror of Russian support for the rebels, the IRA was heavily funded and armed by sympathetic Americans. However, as with Russia in east Ukraine, this didn’t extend to official US military support.
Twelve months since its self-destructive Maidan coup, Ukraine has shed large swathes of its territory and forever lost the hearts of minds of much of its populace. It took the UK 30 years to realize its Ulster policy would never succeed. The best thing the 75 British military advisers about to be deployed to Ukraine can do is explain that to their counterparts. It would save thousands of lives.
Peace is hard to achieve on the ground and peace is tough to sell to radical nationalists. However, one suspects that peace is not what Kiev and London are thinking of.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
Poland says it wants its enclave of ukraine back.
Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
This is exactly what is required, Poland should forcibly take this, then the Ukranian population will learn what NATO has been doing to them.Shreeman wrote:Poland says it wants its enclave of ukraine back.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
^^^ These are all terrible developments. A frozen border in ukraine wont stay frozen. And a hot border in ukraine will lead to issues cropping up in yemen, argentina, cyprus and lord knows where else.
China will make a land grab in south china sea given the latitude. All in all, pushing the clock ever closer to midnight. Lame, lamer, lamest.
What do the politicians know than we cant even dream into our assessments? Have they stolen all of the russian launch codes or fuses?
China will make a land grab in south china sea given the latitude. All in all, pushing the clock ever closer to midnight. Lame, lamer, lamest.
What do the politicians know than we cant even dream into our assessments? Have they stolen all of the russian launch codes or fuses?
Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
Interesting. This is no doubt at the instigation of the Russophobes in US State Department. Another feather in the caps of their Excellencies, Brzeshinsky & Nuland. This will make it easier for the Russians to fuel anti-Poroschenko feelings in Ukraine, if his government accepts the assistance. It is hard to know whom the Ukraineans hate more - the Russians or the Poles.Shreeman wrote:Poland says it wants its enclave of ukraine back.
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Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
^^ AFAIK, brzezinski zbigniew had nothing to do with this. If anything, he has been a reasonable sane voice in all this from all that I have seen. He did sound apologetic initially that Russia is being challenged this way. Besides, I do remember that his advice wasn't sought after while this happened and he was sidelined. Thats the saddest part of this game too. The sane voices have been drowned out.
Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
Zbig is all for taking on Russia actually -- check his timeline. He gloats that Putin is not much of a chess player or strategist, and his only concern is keeping China on the US's side -- his thinking is pretty much in line with what is happening. It is Kissinger who has recently started warning US adventurism in Ukraine and says that this is a resumption of the cold war and could end badly. Zbig is the scumbag he always was -- no change there.
Re: Eastern Europe/Ukraine [Feb 6th 2015]
Even the Right Wing British "Torygraph" is giving the viewpoint of the "rebels" of the east and disputing the canard that Russian forces are fighting in the UKR.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... efire.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... efire.html
Deep mistrust threatens Ukraine's shaky ceasefire
Rebel soldiers have one thing in common with rank-and-file Ukrainians: an almost complete lack of faith in their enemy’s willingness to fulfil the Minsk peace agreement
By Roland Oliphant, Donetsk
26 Feb 2015
From the narrow loop hole of a machine gun nest, a rebel fighter squinted towards no-man’s land and listened for the whump of artillery and the intermittent crackle of automatic weapon fire.
From these trenches, the war in eastern Ukraine is seen in almost exact mirror image to that in the west: it is the Ukrainians on the other side who started the war; it is they who are still violating the ceasefire; and it is the Americans, not the Russians, who are stoking the conflict by arming proxies.
But rebel soldiers here do have one thing in common with rank-and-file Ukrainians a few hundred meters away: an almost complete lack of faith in their enemy’s willingness to fulfil the Minsk peace agreement.
“The Ukrainians will not keep to the Minsk agreement, we are certain of it - Poroshenko does not want peace,” said the separatist commander in charge of this stretch of the front line.
It is that deep mistrust that threatens the success of what Angela Merekl called the “last chance” to end the war.
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A relative lull in violence here in the past few days has raised hopes that there could be peace after all.
Ukraine said on Thursday that it would begin to withdraw heavy artillery out of range of the front, saying it had gone two days without taking casualties - a crucial sign the truce is beginning to work.
The separatists announced the start of their own withdrawal on Tuesday. If both sides keep to the commitment, and the ceasefire holds, the diplomats may be able to work on the next stage of the deal: organising mutually acceptable local elections in a bid to build a lasting settlement.
But the rebel fighters on this stretch of front already blame the Ukrainians for breaking the ceasefire.
“They have been firing today from an automatic grenade launcher, but we have not answered because we see no point - yet,” said the commander.
He may have been telling the truth. The sporadic shooting was a fair distance away and it was not possible to tell who was responsible for it.
Several hundred metres from the Ukrainian army’s stronghold in the village of Peski on Donetsk’s northwestern edge, this warren of trenches and machine gun nests was at the centre of ferocious fighting just over a month ago.
As an eight-month battle for the nearby airport approached its climax in January, the Ukrainians desperately resisted all efforts to dislodge them from the village and close the only supply route to the beleaguered garrison in the terminal buildings.
“Our company was thrown in here and we held it practically surrounded for two and a half months, before the Ukrainians were pushed back and we were properly secured,” said the rebel commander, who goes by the call-sign “Zhora.”
A small businessman from Druzhkivka, a town now on the Ukrainian side of the lines, Zhora said he joined the separatist’s nascent army at the beginning of the uprising, after he saw “the deaths of children” at the hands of the Ukrainian army in Slavyansk, the rebel’s first stronghold.
Vostok battalion, the unit he joined, has since swollen into a full brigade (Zhora commands about 130 men in the ninth company of its 3rd battalion), and is part of a separatist army that the United States believes is now larger than that of some European states and Nato members.
But as far as the men of the ninth company are concerned, it is the Ukrainians getting foreign help, and it is America, not Russia, that is arming proxies.
“Look at that,” said Zhora, presenting the nose cone of some spent ordnance that he said had hit a nearby house. “It bears latin lettering. There is no way that is from Ukrainian or Russian stocks. So they are definitely getting arms from abroad,” he said. “We’ve seen them with American weapons - M-16 rifles. Where do you think they got that?”
“It’s all a lot of nonsense this stuff about Russians here. I wear a Russian flag shoulder patch because I like that country, I used to take my holidays there. If there are Russians here they are volunteers. We’re all locals, and we’re fighting for our land.”
There is evidence of Russian involvement in eastern Ukraine, but it is also true that, contrary to some statements from Kiev, many of the fighters on the separatist side are locals, and fighting for what they see as genuine grievances against the government in Kiev.
“I joined in summer after they started shelling Donetsk,” said a fighter called Sergei. “I had to do something.”
Like many, Sergei expressed scepticism that the Ukrainians would keep to their side of the peace deal.
But even if Kiev keep to the agreement, the fact is many amongst the separatist rank and file are unhappy with its terms.
In a compromise endorsed and negotiated by the rebels’ key backers in the Kremlin and signed by their local leaders, the peace plan envisages keeping the Donetsk and Luhansk regions inside Ukraine under a decentralisation deal that would grant them significant autonomy.
After ten months of war, however, many front line fighters say that will not be enough. The mantra here is independence or nothing.
Alexander Zakharchenko, the leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic, has repeatedly stated he wants full independence, although he has for now accepted the deal signed on February 12.
“At a minimum we need all of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. And I will fight until the criminals responsible for this are punished - by that I mean Poroshenko and the politicians who have destroyed Ukraine,” said Zhora. “How long will the war go on? I don’t know.”