Just watch where you step because I missed a pile of a link yesterday, much to my surprise.
Lot more piles to look out for today:
"Russia reclaims Crimea as its own" by David Filipov | Globe Staff March 19, 2014
They left him behind after the Olympics for this.
LUHANSK, Ukraine — Sweeping away Western objections, President Vladimir Putin reunited Crimea with Russia on Tuesday, asserting that Russian land torn away by the mistakes of Communists had been returned to its rightful place on the map.
In an impassioned address broadcast live from the Kremlin’s ornate St. George Hall and watched closely on both sides of Ukraine’s east-west divide, Putin dismissed European and American criticism of Sunday’s Crimean referendum as evidence of NATO’s double standards. He also hailed the decision of voters in the Black Sea peninsula to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.
‘‘In people’s hearts and minds, Crimea has always been an integral part of Russia,” Putin said of the region, which was Russian territory until it was transferred to Ukraine by Soviet leader NikitaKhruschev in 1954. “This firm conviction, based on truth and justice, was unshakable and passed from generation to generation.’’
Putin also suggested that secession-minded eastern Ukraine, dominated by Russian speakers, belonged in Russia. Ukraine’s borders, he said, were drawn up by the Bolsheviks without regard for the “regions of Russia’s historic south” they incorporated. Nonetheless, Putin insisted Russia has no plans to further divide Ukraine.
This did not reassure Ukraine’s new government, which has dispatched troops and tanks to its eastern border, where Russia has massed thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks.
Uh-huh.
‘‘Today’s statement by Putin showed in high relief what a real threat Russia is for the civilized world and international security,’’ Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Evhen Perebinis said on Twitter. Crimea, he said, “has nothing to do with law or with democracy or sensible thinking.’’
He's a joker and prankster!
In Poland, Vice President Joe Biden warned that the United States and Europe will impose further sanctions against Moscow. ‘‘The world has seen through Russia’s actions and has rejected the flawed logic,’’ Biden said.
We will get to him a little further down.
But Putin’s logic played well in Sevastopol, Crimea, home of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. Crowds cheered and waved Russian flags while watching the president on a large screen in the city center.
In a 40-minute address frequently interrupted by applause, Putin equated the justification for Crimea’s referendum with NATO’s support for Kosovo’s independence from Serbia in 1999 based on what the alliance called the right for self-determination.
Right back at ya!
Ukraine’s government, Putin argued, was installed illegally during street fighting that ousted the legally elected president in February, and driven by radical ‘‘nationalists, neo-Nazis, Russophobes, and anti-Semites.’’
Yeah, those are AmeriKa's guys.
Western nations have said Crimean voters were held at gunpoint by a force of more than 20,000 Russian troops that took control of the peninsula two weeks before the referendum, blockading Ukrainian soldiers.
Really?
Putin’s speech — and formal action — capped a remarkably fast annexation of the Crimean peninsula that has taken place over two weeks. Throughout, Putin has all but ignored objections by US and European allies.
Yeah, almost as fast as Israeli annexations that the U.S. supports in the cause of peace.
Until Tuesday, that occupation had been largely peaceful. But Ukraine’s military said that an officer was killed when Russians attacked a Ukrainian base in Crimea.
Concerned by Putin’s assertion that Russia would act to protect millions of Russians living within Ukraine’s borders, the Kiev government in Ukraine has been trying to shore up its own defenses. But its army has encountered an obstacle that highlights the difficulty Ukraine would have defending its territory: Russian speakers who inhabit it would rather see Russia run it.
Yeah, turns out the illegally installed Ukraine thugs speak only for themselves.
In Vilkhovskaya, a tiny village in the southeastern border region of Luhansk, residents piled debris on a railway two days ago rather than allow a train to unload Ukrainian army tanks. “We don’t want any war, we don’t want any tanks here,” said a woman who gave only her first name, Yelena, because police have sought the arrest of anyone involved in the action — and, she said, everyone in the town turned out. “We’re not against Ukraine, we’re all from Ukraine, but we don’t believe in that government.”
Yeah, that is the way MOST PEOPLE in the WORLD FEEL, save for the psychopaths calling the shots.
However, if the Russian army were to come in, Yelena and two friends at the Vilkhovskaya station said they would welcome them.
In the neighboring border region of Donetsk, Sergey Taruta, a metals tycoon who was named governor of the restive area by the new government, said the border with Russia had been bolstered with trenches and concrete barriers. “No one and nothing will pass,” Taruta said.
Yeah, no one and nothing will get past those. It's not like they have planes or bridges or anything.
Guy reminds me of the black night guarding the bridge in Monty Python's "Holy Grail."
For a while Monday, he could have been speaking of his own troops, as pro-Russia activists set up roadblocks to prevent Ukrainian army armored vehicles from traveling to the border.
Donetsk has been the site of several violent demonstrations by protesters calling for greater autonomy within Ukraine. Since the Crimea vote, many in eastern Ukraine want their own referendum on whether to secede and join Russia.
Over the weekend, pro-Russian protesters broke into the prosecutor general’s office, the Ukrainian Security Agency headquarters, and Taruta’s own business office.
During the protests, police held their ground only until protesters pushed, and then quickly yielded. Also, during a march on the central square of Donetsk, when protestors decided to take to the streets and march on government buildings, police not only failed to prevent them, they cleared the way by redirecting traffic.
Angered by the attacks, Taruta ordered his police to use all the weapons at their disposal to prevent further incursions during rallies he said were illegal.
That is some statement coming from a guy who took or was appointed power by the exact same methods.
More police took up positions in front of a central government building in Donetsk on Monday. But many of them were teens fresh from the academy, or, judging from their uniforms, still in it.
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Now back to Biden:
"West looks for new ways to curb Russia" by Josh Ledermanand Nancy Benac | Associated Press March 19, 2014
WARSAW — Vice President Joe Biden and European leaders unleashed a torrent of angry words Tuesday against Russia’s ‘‘dark path’’ as Western allies scheduled an emergency meeting in the Netherlands next week to figure out how to punish Vladimir Putin for taking Crimea — and stop him from expanding his reach even further.
Related:
"They're at it and at it and at it Robot Zio Stooge Boy has landed in the Ukraine it would probably prove very interesting to see what they have on this completely corrupt hack; very interesting. I don't know why I get that creeping sensation that he should look out for the crosshairs and the red dot. The situation is so unstable. The same would go for Obama. How easy would it be for the Ziopaths to arrange something with all the fingers pointing at Russia or Iran or Samoa? As you probably know, Samoa is becoming a major player in the high stakes game of socio-political strategy, moving and grooving."
No, I did not know that -- which is why I go there among other places to get a different perspective on this world of mine, rather than the prison, 'er, pri$m at my jew$tand.
Better hope the SS is watching your back, Joe.
Those who bet on “aggression and fear are bound to fail,” Biden said during a visit to Warsaw aimed at reassuring Russian neighbors who are nervous that they could be next after Putin signed a treaty adding Crimea to the map of Russia.
That's why the EUSraeli empire is crumbling, that and the slavish service to bankers.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, reflecting Western worries that Putin’s encroachment could spread further in Ukraine and beyond, said the Russian moves were “in flagrant breach of international law and send a chilling message across the continent of Europe.”
Evoking echoes of WII and you know who.
************
Holding out hope for a diplomatic way out of the crisis, Cameron added, “The choice remains for President Putin: Take the path of de-escalation or face increasing isolation and tighter sanctions.”
For all of the tough talk, the Western sanctions imposed on Russia have shown no sign of cowing Putin. More sanctions are in the works, but the West still is searching for more robust answers to the Russian action — short of military intervention.
At the invitation of President Obama, the Western leaders will meet at The Hague next week to discuss what comes next.
Will SOMEONE PLEASE JAIL THEM when they show up?!!?
Leaders from the so-called Group of Seven nations — the United States, Britain, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, and Canada — and the European Union will gather there on the sidelines of a previously scheduled 53-nation nuclear summit whose participants include Russia.
Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, insisted on more aggressive US action, urging the Obama administration to provide military assistance in the form of small arms and ammunition as well as nonlethal aid to Ukraine, as well as expanded sanctions. In a separate statement with Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, the two said, “The West must impose real costs on Russia for its aggression in Ukraine. By failing to do so, we only invite further aggression elsewhere.”
One wonders what Israel must have on them.
In the meantime, Biden’s two-day visit to Poland and Latvia was all about providing reassurances that the US commitment to defend its NATO allies is “ironclad.”
“Have no doubt: The United States will honor its commitment,” Biden said. “We always do.”
PFFFT!
Tell it to the unions, Joe.
The vice president said new NATO training and exercises will take place in Poland.
That doesn't look like "deescalation to me!
At Warsaw’s request, the United States last week sent some 300 air troops and a dozen F-16 fighters to Poland for joint training in a show of military support for a key ally.
Requested after copious amounts of US pressure.
Biden also said the United States is considering rotating American forces to the Baltic region to conduct ground and naval exercises, plus engage in training missions. As for Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Biden dismissed them as “nothing more than a land grab.”
OMG! And yet not a peep to ISRAEL about the same thing!
“It’s a simple fact that Russia’s political and economic isolation will only increase if it continues down this dark path,” Biden said, adding that virtually the entire world rejects the referendum in Crimea on Sunday that cleared the way for Russia to absorb it.
Israel is finding that out.
The vice president met with leaders of Poland and Estonia in Warsaw on Tuesday and was scheduled to see the leaders of Lithuania and Latvia on Wednesday in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. All four nations share borders with Russia and are members of the NATO alliance.
Former Soviet states are among those most concerned that Moscow could be resuming its traditional imperial ambitions. But Ukraine is at greater risk because it lacks membership in NATO and the promise of collective defensive measures that comes with it. Putin, who is anxious to keep Ukraine from tacking toward the West, offered a reassurance that he had no intention of invading other regions of Ukraine that seemed to carry an undercurrent of a warning with it.
UPDATE: Ukraine’s Crimea navy base taken, commander detained
Although Ukraine has never been offered full membership, NATO agreed at a summit meeting in 2008 to keep its door open to Ukraine and to cooperate on a range of defense issues. Particularly in light of the current pressures on Ukraine from Russia, it seems highly unlikely that leaders of NATO countries would close the door to membership for Ukraine.
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Time to curb my coverage:
"US response to Putin’s acts requires a level of subtlety | March 19, 2014
Russia’s annexation of Crimea....
The sanctions that the White House imposed were little more than a slap on the wrist....
Keep that statement in mind.
Such bravado aside, this first round of sanctions was designed to be more symbol than substance....
But!
Notably, Russia’s currency, the ruble, rebounded after falling for six days in a row. Yet if Putin persists in his adventurism, and if sanctions expand to hit financial institutions or oil and gas firms, Russia’s struggling economy could grind to a halt.
Such actions should be left as a last resort. While Russia, the world’s largest exporter of natural gas, can’t afford to have the tap turned off, neither can the European Union, which gets about a third of its gas from Russia. Coming on the heels of 2008 recession, the whole world’s economy would suffer.
Despite the taunting tone of Russian officials, this current round of sanctions could have significant long-term effects.
You know, this reminds me of somethings I read earlier.
Russia, already starved of direct foreign investment, is likely to face an ever steeper battle to attract outside funds. The rates that investors charge Russian firms to borrow money have already risen sharply, because Russia has suddenly become a riskier place to invest. Russian firms that need to refinance at low rates to survive may be out of luck. In the end, this slow, steady increase in the cost of doing business in Russia could prove a far bigger punishment....
That's silly because they will just get off the dollar and trade with a range of countries like China. Then the AmeriKan economy will crash completely, and maybe that is just what our psychopathic leaders want. Then they can enslave us all after having en$laved us all.
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Related: Wobbly US strengthens Russia
You know that old saying about opinions, and I'm so tired of reading neo-con ones.
Thus I thought I would bring you this.
"Ukraine and Syria will both fall to Putin
March 18, 2014
Why has Russia agreed to a cease-fire until March 21st, just three days from now?
By Dave Hodges
(INTELLIHUB) – Why has Putin been so audacious as to threaten to turn the United States into radioactive ash? The latter fact was reported by Dmitri Kiselyov, a television news broadcaster on state-owned station Russia One television. This can only be considered a direct warning, or threat, by Russia to the US.I have firsthand experience with the Russian media (i.e. Voice of Russia) and I can accurately state that nothing of a controversial nature goes out over the Russian media without state-sanctioned approval. Putin probably wrote the press release himself.
Sizing Up the Combatants
Russia has a minimum of 80,000 troops and 285 tanks poised off of Ukraine’s eastern border ready to cross and seize Ukraine. Meanwhile, Poland has mobilized its forces, but that move is merely defensive. Nearby Belarus is hoping not to get caught in the crossfire and they will stay out of the coming conflict.
Ukraine has called up 40,000 reservists to supplement its 120,000 man army. This is just enough of a military force to increase business for Ukrainian mortuaries.
Russia has the support of another 100,000 troops in Crimea. An estimated 20,000 can participate in the invasion of Ukraine. The Russian naval aircraft coverage, in Crimea, can offer cover for an invasion. Russian paratroopers can be deployed in 30-60 minutes after takeoff from Crimea’s previously seized airports. Ukraine has no defense for the Russian paratrooper forces poised to attack from Crimea.
The Russians are already engaging in a series of probing maneuvers into Ukraine. It looks more like the Russians are trying to provoke a Ukrainian military reaction by a frightened military battlefield commander and then the Russians will have their pretext to invade. Most military analysts that I know state that Russia will carve up Ukraine in a three-pronged attack which will take about three days to complete, with isolated pockets of Ukrainian resistant lasting a bit longer if Ukraine has the stomach for the fight, which many analysts question.
The Ukrainians also have private armies totaling an estimated 20-30,000 troops which protect Ukrainian oligarchs. Reportedly, the Russians are already working at bribing these troops to lay down their arms and the oligarchs will be left alone.
If the oligarchs knew their Russian history, they would not think about laying down their arms. Former Russian officers, in Moscow, were told by the Bolshevik revolutionaries to turn in their guns and they would be left alone during the Red Revolution. All of the officers who did so, were executed on the spot. This is a consistent theme in world history with regard to gun confiscation (are you listening residents of America?). If the oligarchs decided to fight a guerrilla war similar to the Mujahedeen (al CIA-aeda) did in Afghanistan, the Russian consolidation of its holdings in Ukraine, particularly it natural gas shipments through the country would be imperiled with nearly 6-8 weeks of winter left in Europe. This insurgency force is the ONLY hope that Obama has in mounting any kind of meaningful resistance.
Putin cannot allow an oligarchy guerrilla force to be established and fully equipped by the CIA as we saw in Afghanistan, Libya and later Syria. Putin is going to act quickly and decisively. It is likely that this three-day truce window contains a negotiation process between the FSB and the oligarchs who could be offered a piece of the natural gas pipeline pie in exchange for standing down.
Could such a force hold out until NATO forces could invade an already occupied Ukraine? Maybe, but it is a moot point. Putin will never allow time for an insurgency force to be readied. Again, this is why Putin has promised only 3 more days of cease-fire. In these three days, the Russians are determining their most likely pockets of resistance and are planning accordingly.
The time is growing near, the Russians are taking off their proverbial gloves and the fight is about to commence, perhaps as early as this weekend.
Putin Employs JFK’s Cuban Missile Crisis Strategy
Do you remember your 1962 history as Russian naval forces were sailing towards Cuba after JFK had established a naval blockade around Cuba? As the Russians approached the firing line, JFK contracted the circle of the blockade and gave the Russians time to think about their options. ICBM nuclear missiles lie in wait in the silos as American forces were on the highest alert. After the Americans contracted their blockade line, the Russians had a political decision to make. Did they really want to trigger World War III?
Ironically, Putin is taking a page out of the American playbook from 1962. Putin has given the Americans a little more time to think about their course of action. Similar to JFK, he has contracted his “blockade line” so to speak. He has extended Obama, or whatever bankster is pulling his strings, 72 more hours to make a decision on far the Americans are willing to go to try to coerce Ukraine into joining the European Union (EU). All the signs are there which suggest that Putin is not going to allow the Ukrainians more time to prepare a Taliban type of defense. He is also not going to allow the massing of NATO ships off of Crimea before invading.
Putin is an ex-KGB Colonel, that subsequently morphed into the brutal Russian mafia, and he will not posture. It is not in his nature. Unlike Obama, he is determined and focused. Putin knows exactly what he is doing. Compromise is not Putin’s nature. He is willing to go to war in order to build his Eurasian empire out of the ashes of the former Soviet Union. By this time next week, the military control over the Ukraine could be all but over.
What About the American Rapid Response Forces?
After 9/11, President Bush did put 10,000 boots on the ground, relatively quickly in Afghanistan. He forced capitulation from Pakistan in support of the Afghan mission. The Americans could and did establish a foothold in the country. So, why can’t the same be done in Ukraine? When I raised this question with my military sources, they all scoffed at the question.
In 2001, the enemy in Afghanistan was a bunch of armed drug dealers who were not as powerful as a national guard unit in Montana. The Americans had control of the air and the Americans faced no mechanized forces in Afghanistan. The Russians, at this point in time control the air, the nearby sea adjacent to Crimea and they have a powerful mechanized force. Any rapid deployment force inserted into Ukraine, without the support of tactical nuclear weapons, would not be sizeable enough to oppose the Russians and would be crushed in less than a week.
NATO’s Response Window
Just how soon could the Americans and their NATO allies be able to successfully oppose the Russians in Ukraine without resorting to nuclear weapons? The earliest it is estimated that the Americans could be deployed in a meaningful manner would be in late June/early July. The Russian military is not the Taliban. Deployment of hostile forces in Ukraine would be opposed by Putin.
My military sources claim that NATO cannot be ready to meaningfully oppose the Russians in Ukraine until as late as July is bolstered by the following information.
Operation Trident
Operation Rapid Trident (2014) is a very large, USAREUR-led multinational military exercise scheduled for July and according to my military sources is still very much alive.
The Trident exercise is to be headquartered in Lviv, Ukraine, near the Polish border. The exercise is a cooperative endeavor between Ukraine and other NATO nations. No doubt that the mere existence of this military exercise pushed Putin to act when he did. Again, Obama and the CIA’s triggering of the coup in Ukraine which led to the ouster of the Russian friendly government, happened too quickly and it gave Putin time to act to prevent NATO any meaningful opportunity to consolidate its forces.
Putin’s Timetable
Ex-KGB Colonel Putin needs less than a week to subdue Ukraine
First, Russian commandos will take down the power grid of airports and surrounding towns and villages. This will cause mass confusion among Ukraine’s military. Ukrainian military communications will be immediately taken out. Almost immediately, Russian paratroopers and helicopters will be deployed to Ukraine’s airports and seize the runways under the cover of early morning darkness. Subsequently, Ukrainian military forces will scarcely know what has hit them. Two of the military strategists that I spoke with think the airports will be seized with a minimal amount of fighting. The seizing of the airports will mark a quick end for Ukraine’s military resistance.
By the morning of the first day, heavy mechanized equipment will be landed in the seized airports, under the protection of the Russian Air Force, and will link up with the Russian paratroopers holding the airports. Simultaneously, the Russian mechanized forces will cross Ukraine’s eastern border and fan out in three directions and immediately seize the major cities. Russians will invade Ukraine’s southern underbelly, from Crimea from two directions to prevent retreat and consolidation of Ukraine’s forces.
It is likely Ukraine will be overwhelmed and fighting will be kept at a minimum. And what about the potential insurgency forces coming from the ranks of the private armies? The chances are is that they have already been bribed by Putin. Ukraine is about to be carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey and there is not a thing that Obama can do about it. Any Ukrainian military defense against a Russian invasion will make Obamacare look well-organized by comparison. Game over!
An invasion of the Eastern third of Ukraine could provoke a missile response from NATO because of the proximity to NATO member nations. This could trigger WW III.
The Loss of Ukraine Is the Least of America’s Problems
The only viable option left to Obama is to invade Syria when Russia invades Ukraine.
The loss of Ukraine as a potential member of the EU is the least of Obama’s worries. My sources tell me that the Russians are showing signs of planning to make Syria, America’s next Vietnam. The Russians have been stepping up their support for Assad. The Russians expect the Americans to attack Syria as the result a contrived false flag event in which Syria is blamed and American military intervention is called for (the missing Malaysian airliner?). The Russians probably expect this event to take place when they invade Ukraine.
In a case of Obama playing a bad game of checkers when Putin is playing chess, Putin will take steps to collapse the dollar if America invades Syria. This will be subject of the next installment on this topic. Russia’s strategy may actually have been revealed in a recent Hollywood movie and in one of the Call of Duty games.
I have said this many times before my fellow Americans, if you do not have guns, ammunition, food and water, you needed to start gathering, yesterday. All signs point to the time being very short with regard to waltzing down to your supermarket to buy eggs and milk.
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Meanwhile, very quietly this was announced:
"Chechen warlord is reported dead" by Lynn Berry | Associated Press March 19, 2014
MOSCOW — Doku Umarov, a Chechen warlord who had threatened to attack the Sochi Olympics and claimed responsibility for some of Russia’s deadliest terror attacks in recent years, was reported dead on Tuesday by the Islamist militant group he led. One of Russia’s most wanted men, he was 49.
He was BEFORE the Olympics, but the propaganda pre$$ kept him on life support until after they ended?!
Umarov’s death has been claimed repeatedly in the past, but this appeared to be the first time such a report has come from the organization he headed.
Oh, I see, it had to be given credibility, huh?
The Caucasus Emirate announced the ‘‘martyrdom’’ of Umarov in a statement posted Tuesday on Kavkaz Center, the website of Islamic militant groups in Russia’s North Caucasus. The region includes the provinces of Chechnya and Dagestan. No cause of death was given.
As the leader of the Caucasus Emirate, a loose alliance of rebel groups seeking to create an independent Islamic state in the region, Umarov was seen more as a spiritual leader than a commander directing terror attacks. The impact of his death on the insurgency was not yet clear.
That is not the impression I was left with earlier!
Umarov fought against Russian troops in the Chechen war of 1994-96, when separatists won a measure of independence, and he took up arms again when the second war broke out in 1999.
In recent years, Chechnya has become more stable under the Kremlin-backed leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, whose security force has been notorious for its brutality, but the insurgency has swept into other Caucasus provinces.
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It will also be quiet here the rest of the day, sorry. I have a lot of things to do this afternoon and have a basketball game to play tonight.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
Only one pile to clean up before I'm done for the day:
"Ukraine bows to Crimea seizure, plans for pullout" by John-Thor Dahlburg and Peter Leonard | Associated Press March 20, 2014
SEVASTOPOL, Crimea — Surrendering to Russia’s inexorable seizure of Crimea, Ukraine announced plans Wednesday for mass troop withdrawals from the strategic peninsula as Moscow-loyal forces seized control of Kiev’s naval headquarters here and detained its commander.
Attempting to face down the unblinking incursion, Ukraine said it would hold joint military exercises with the United States and Britain.
(Blog editor blinking rapidly; that's deescalation?)
Hours after masked Russian-speaking troops forced their way onto Ukraine’s main naval base here, forlorn Ukrainian soldiers streamed out carrying clothing and other belongings in bags. A group of local militia and Cossacks, later joined by officers from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, looked on.
Just how many retreating troops Ukraine will have to absorb was unclear as many servicemen in Crimea have already switched sides to Russia, but....
Humbled but defiant, Ukraine lashed out symbolically at Russia by declaring its intent to leave the Moscow-dominated Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose alliance of 11 former Soviet nations. The last nation to leave the group was Georgia, which lost a brief war with neighboring Russia in 2008 and ended up losing two separatist territories.
I'm tired of symbolism, imagery, and illusion in my insulting whoreporate pre$$.
Vice President Joe Biden, in Lithuania trying to reassure nations bordering Russia alarmed by the sight of an expansion-minded neighbor, said the United States would stand by them.
‘‘We’re in this with you, together,’’ Biden said.
Then head off and enlist, Joe, because this American citizen doesn't want one drop of American blood shed on this. Come home, Joe.
Ukraine has been powerless to prevent Russian troops from taking control of Crimea, which President Vladimir Putin formally annexed Tuesday with the stroke of a pen.
Yeah, yeah, Kerry is still working on that peace deal -- as Israel shells Syria.
Crimea’s absorption came after a hastily organized referendum in which the population overwhelmingly, albeit under conditions akin to martial law, voted in favor of seceding from Ukraine and joining Russia....
AP, NYT, WaPo, BG, it's all the same slanted shit, and I AM tired of reading it.
On Wednesday morning, militiamen under apparent Russian command barged their way into Ukraine’s naval headquarters in Sevastopol, detaining the head of Ukraine’s navy and seizing the facility.
The incursion, which Ukraine’s Defense Ministry described as being led by a self-described local defense force, Cossacks, and ‘‘aggressive women,’’ proceeded with no resistance.
Upon gaining entrance to the base, the storming party raised a Russian flag on the headquarters square.
The unarmed militiamen waited for an hour on the square and, following the arrival of the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, they took over the building.
Unarmed?
By afternoon, they were in full control of the naval headquarters, a set of three-story white concrete buildings with blue trim.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Rear Admiral Sergei Haiduk was detained and a news agency close to the Russian-backed local authorities reported that he had been summoned for questioning by prosecutors.
Later in the day, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered the Crimean authorities to release Haiduk.
A little deescalation there.
Andriy Parubiy, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said the government was drawing up plans to evacuate its outnumbered troops from Crimea back to the mainland and will seek United Nations support to turn the peninsula into a demilitarized zone....
Parubiy also said Ukraine would hold military maneuvers with the United States and Britain, signatories, along with Russia, of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. He provided no details.
Yeah, turns out is the Ukraine thugs and their EUSraeli backers that have violated that agreement.
In Washington, the Pentagon said it would participate as planned in a multinational military exercise this summer in Ukraine. Dubbed ‘‘Rapid Trident,’’ the ground maneuvers have been held annually for a number of years with forces from Britain and other NATO countries and Ukraine, which has a partner relationship with NATO but is not a member.
I was alerted to that yesterday by blogs.
The Pentagon gave no details on the number of US forces expected to participate or when the exercises would be held. Last year, the two-week maneuvers involving 17 nations were held in July.
I'm sure the Russians will notice whenever they occur as well as the buildup of force.
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