Ukraine Crisis 2014
Maybe, just maybe, the people who live there prefer to align with Russians rather than Georgians.
Look at all of the efforts to support local sentiments in Bosnia and Kosovo
I know there's a counter-narrative (usually propagated by RT and others) by which the West imposed its will on the Balkans for its own imperial reasons, but the fact was that we only got involved (and reluctantly at that) to try and prevent a genocide on our own doorstep.
"Them people are nuts from the get go."
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Perth Western Australia
Age: 57
Posts: 808
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Its the old problem of ideology again and how extreme we want to be. Frankly for relatively free countries I would just freeze the borders and go this is what you have. Might even extend that to all countries.
Why? well how far do you go, counties, towns? The world needs to move on, breaking away for purely nationalistic reasons is bullsh!t and should be given utter condemnation. More importantly it encourages outside interference.
One can understand if one particular grouping is getting a shafting, but preferably I would prefer to see that dealt with.
Why? well how far do you go, counties, towns? The world needs to move on, breaking away for purely nationalistic reasons is bullsh!t and should be given utter condemnation. More importantly it encourages outside interference.
One can understand if one particular grouping is getting a shafting, but preferably I would prefer to see that dealt with.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
E. Europe Eyes Conscription Amid Russia Threat
WARSAW — Eastern European countries are increasingly moving to restore conscription as a result of their rising concern over Russia's military activities in the region.
Most recently, Lithuania unveiled plans to reinstate conscription this year in response to Moscow's intervention in Ukraine. The Lithuanian Parliament passed a bill March 19, following a legislative proposal put forward by the country's government, by a majority of 112 out of 141 ministers. The measure will be effective for at least five years, the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said in a statement...........
Lithuania scrapped conscription in 2008. Neighboring Estonia has maintained it, while the government of Latvia has been considering a draft to increase its military numbers. Meanwhile, local analysts say that since 2008, Lithuanian politicians have been increasingly worried by Russia's military policy in Eastern Europe.....
Also in the Czech Republic, the Defense Ministry announced plans to reinstate conscription, and is drafting a bill with this aim. Should the draft law enter into force, conscription will become obligatory for men and women above the age of 18........ Should the draft bill secure the backing of the Czech Parliament, the first call for conscripts would take place in 2017. In addition to this, the ministry is also aiming to introduce voluntary military training in peacetime........
In Poland, where conscription was scrapped by the government in 2009, the government has not announced a return to conscription, although the conflict in Ukraine has spurred increased focus on national defense capabilities by local decision-makers. However, the latest opinion polls indicate that popular support for conscription is rising quickly.......... This month, 80 percent of those polled said they were in favor of re-introducing conscription in Poland, which represented an 8 percent increase compared with November, according to data from local opinion research institute IBRiS Homo Homini............
With the upcoming parliamentary election in Poland scheduled for fall, and representatives of the country's leading opposition party, Law and Justice, announcing they will restore conscription in case of their victory, the new government could opt for following the public opinion, joining the ranks of Lithuania and the Czech Republic, according to various media reports.
WARSAW — Eastern European countries are increasingly moving to restore conscription as a result of their rising concern over Russia's military activities in the region.
Most recently, Lithuania unveiled plans to reinstate conscription this year in response to Moscow's intervention in Ukraine. The Lithuanian Parliament passed a bill March 19, following a legislative proposal put forward by the country's government, by a majority of 112 out of 141 ministers. The measure will be effective for at least five years, the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said in a statement...........
Lithuania scrapped conscription in 2008. Neighboring Estonia has maintained it, while the government of Latvia has been considering a draft to increase its military numbers. Meanwhile, local analysts say that since 2008, Lithuanian politicians have been increasingly worried by Russia's military policy in Eastern Europe.....
Also in the Czech Republic, the Defense Ministry announced plans to reinstate conscription, and is drafting a bill with this aim. Should the draft law enter into force, conscription will become obligatory for men and women above the age of 18........ Should the draft bill secure the backing of the Czech Parliament, the first call for conscripts would take place in 2017. In addition to this, the ministry is also aiming to introduce voluntary military training in peacetime........
In Poland, where conscription was scrapped by the government in 2009, the government has not announced a return to conscription, although the conflict in Ukraine has spurred increased focus on national defense capabilities by local decision-makers. However, the latest opinion polls indicate that popular support for conscription is rising quickly.......... This month, 80 percent of those polled said they were in favor of re-introducing conscription in Poland, which represented an 8 percent increase compared with November, according to data from local opinion research institute IBRiS Homo Homini............
With the upcoming parliamentary election in Poland scheduled for fall, and representatives of the country's leading opposition party, Law and Justice, announcing they will restore conscription in case of their victory, the new government could opt for following the public opinion, joining the ranks of Lithuania and the Czech Republic, according to various media reports.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Hard to know where to post this with all the threads on different threats to Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden etc, so chose here - but this threat is to the Baltic States - all NATO members......
Russia threatens to use 'nuclear force' over Crimea and the Baltic states
Russia has threatened to use “nuclear force” to defend its annexation of Crimea and warned that the “same conditions” that prompted it to take military action in Ukraine exist in the three Baltic states, all members of Nato. According to notes made by an American at a meeting between Russian generals and US officials – and seen by The Times newspaper - Moscow threatened a “spectrum of responses from nuclear to non-military” if Nato moved more forces into Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
The Russians told the meeting, which took place in Germany last month, that an attempt to return Crimea to Ukraine would be met “forcefully including through the use of nuclear force”. And they said if Nato sent arms to Ukraine this would be seen as “further encroachment by Nato to the Russian border” and “the Russian people would demand a forceful response”.
They added that “the same conditions that existed in Ukraine and caused Russia to take action there” existed in the three Baltic states, which like Ukraine have significant numbers of people who regard themselves as ethnically Russian.
Russia was considering taking steps in the Baltics, according to the notes, but this would most likely be “destabilising actions that would be even harder to trace back to Russia than those of eastern Ukraine”.
The notes suggest Moscow would avoid “injections of troops and heavy weapons in favour of other tools”. “Russia would hope slowly to entice those Russian populations towards Russia without giving Nato a pretext to deploy troops,” the document adds.
If Nato then responded, that would make it “a potential co-aggressor against Russian-speaking minorities in Baltic states”, a situation described as “potentially more dangerous than that in Ukraine to the United States”.
Russia threatens to use 'nuclear force' over Crimea and the Baltic states
Russia has threatened to use “nuclear force” to defend its annexation of Crimea and warned that the “same conditions” that prompted it to take military action in Ukraine exist in the three Baltic states, all members of Nato. According to notes made by an American at a meeting between Russian generals and US officials – and seen by The Times newspaper - Moscow threatened a “spectrum of responses from nuclear to non-military” if Nato moved more forces into Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
The Russians told the meeting, which took place in Germany last month, that an attempt to return Crimea to Ukraine would be met “forcefully including through the use of nuclear force”. And they said if Nato sent arms to Ukraine this would be seen as “further encroachment by Nato to the Russian border” and “the Russian people would demand a forceful response”.
They added that “the same conditions that existed in Ukraine and caused Russia to take action there” existed in the three Baltic states, which like Ukraine have significant numbers of people who regard themselves as ethnically Russian.
Russia was considering taking steps in the Baltics, according to the notes, but this would most likely be “destabilising actions that would be even harder to trace back to Russia than those of eastern Ukraine”.
The notes suggest Moscow would avoid “injections of troops and heavy weapons in favour of other tools”. “Russia would hope slowly to entice those Russian populations towards Russia without giving Nato a pretext to deploy troops,” the document adds.
If Nato then responded, that would make it “a potential co-aggressor against Russian-speaking minorities in Baltic states”, a situation described as “potentially more dangerous than that in Ukraine to the United States”.
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Perth Western Australia
Age: 57
Posts: 808
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Whilst you have a spineless maggot in the White house (passion fingers) you are going to get this. Basically Putin has a finite amount of time to get what he wants.
There is only one way to deal with him, and thats man up and call the bluff. But make sure you have a little candy spare to give, so he can save a bit of face. Another words don't completely back him into a corner.
Basically from all the corners of the world, every one is taking advantage of the power vacuum. Surpised nobody's metioned the Chinese and the south China sea.
There is only one way to deal with him, and thats man up and call the bluff. But make sure you have a little candy spare to give, so he can save a bit of face. Another words don't completely back him into a corner.
Basically from all the corners of the world, every one is taking advantage of the power vacuum. Surpised nobody's metioned the Chinese and the south China sea.
Here we get to see where some of our 'little friends' work...
Salutin' Putin: inside a Russian troll house | World news | The Guardian
Salutin' Putin: inside a Russian troll house | World news | The Guardian
Reminds one of the old Goebbels line about "if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth."
Only if it is unchallenged.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
A related issue perhaps.....
Russia Launches Next Deadly Phase of Hybrid War on Ukraine
.......Ukraine’s state security service, the SBU, says Russia has entered into a new phase of its campaign to destabilise Ukraine, with the 22 February attack in Kharkiv just one of a series of bombings orchestrated by Russian spy services, the FSB and the GRU. “It starts with the FSB’s security centres 16 and 18, operating out of Skolkovo, Russia,” says Vitaliy Naida, head of the SBU department responsible for intercepting online traffic. “These centres are in charge of information warfare. They send out propaganda, false information via social media. Re-captioned images from Syria, war crimes from Serbia – they’re used to radicalise and then recruit Ukrainians.”
He takes a suspected three-man terror cell from Dnipropretovsk who are currently on trial as an example and walks Newsweek through the evidence, including photographs and video of weapons with Russian serial numbers and intercepted communications. Passed instructions and weapons via dead-drops, the cell never met their handlers.
“They were recruited by the FSB. Instructions were initially given in private messages via internet and in some cases Vkontakte [a Russian social network],” Naida says. “When they were detained and arrested, in their houses we found explosives, grenades, means of communications and printed messages – where to set explosives, where they should be placed to create panic.” Naida’s unit monitors roughly 600 “anti-Ukrainian” social network groups with hundreds of thousands of members. So far it has intercepted communications between 29 prolific group administrators and individuals using accounts linked to the Russian security services.
A cursory internet search reveals separatist groups are no longer just Ukraine’s problem. This year Armenia, the Baltic countries, Moldova and Poland have suddenly acquired new “People’s Republic” pages on social media, some overtly pro-Russian, others simply stoking ethnic tensions between majority and minority populations in the same city or country – be they Russians and Latvians, or Poles and Lithuanians.........
Russia Launches Next Deadly Phase of Hybrid War on Ukraine
.......Ukraine’s state security service, the SBU, says Russia has entered into a new phase of its campaign to destabilise Ukraine, with the 22 February attack in Kharkiv just one of a series of bombings orchestrated by Russian spy services, the FSB and the GRU. “It starts with the FSB’s security centres 16 and 18, operating out of Skolkovo, Russia,” says Vitaliy Naida, head of the SBU department responsible for intercepting online traffic. “These centres are in charge of information warfare. They send out propaganda, false information via social media. Re-captioned images from Syria, war crimes from Serbia – they’re used to radicalise and then recruit Ukrainians.”
He takes a suspected three-man terror cell from Dnipropretovsk who are currently on trial as an example and walks Newsweek through the evidence, including photographs and video of weapons with Russian serial numbers and intercepted communications. Passed instructions and weapons via dead-drops, the cell never met their handlers.
“They were recruited by the FSB. Instructions were initially given in private messages via internet and in some cases Vkontakte [a Russian social network],” Naida says. “When they were detained and arrested, in their houses we found explosives, grenades, means of communications and printed messages – where to set explosives, where they should be placed to create panic.” Naida’s unit monitors roughly 600 “anti-Ukrainian” social network groups with hundreds of thousands of members. So far it has intercepted communications between 29 prolific group administrators and individuals using accounts linked to the Russian security services.
A cursory internet search reveals separatist groups are no longer just Ukraine’s problem. This year Armenia, the Baltic countries, Moldova and Poland have suddenly acquired new “People’s Republic” pages on social media, some overtly pro-Russian, others simply stoking ethnic tensions between majority and minority populations in the same city or country – be they Russians and Latvians, or Poles and Lithuanians.........
Now they are trying to stir up trouble in the Czech republic
Russian bid for Czech hearts and minds - BBC News
Russian bid for Czech hearts and minds - BBC News
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
I think we're in more trouble than I thought if they've advanced far enough that this is the eastern border....... 
First Air National Guard Theater Security Package Deploys to Europe
The U.S. Air Force deployed 12 F-15 Eagle fighter aircraft and approximately 200 Airmen as the first Air National Guard theater security package in Europe to support Operation Atlantic Resolve this week.........
While in Europe, the unit will conduct training alongside NATO allies with the goal of strengthening interoperability and enhancing regional security. The unit will later forward deploy to locations in Eastern European NATO nations including Leeuwarden, Netherlands.........
First Air National Guard Theater Security Package Deploys to Europe
The U.S. Air Force deployed 12 F-15 Eagle fighter aircraft and approximately 200 Airmen as the first Air National Guard theater security package in Europe to support Operation Atlantic Resolve this week.........
While in Europe, the unit will conduct training alongside NATO allies with the goal of strengthening interoperability and enhancing regional security. The unit will later forward deploy to locations in Eastern European NATO nations including Leeuwarden, Netherlands.........
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Bankruptcy Looms For Moldova
.......The massive expansion of bank lending was funded with heavy borrowing from – among other things – Russian companies. The banks failed when this funding was abruptly withdrawn. Concurrently, there was also a retail bank run triggered by politicians. The timing of the funding withdrawal and bank run does not appear to me to be coincidental, coming as it did less than a week before the parliamentary election. The pro-EU government lost the election: the largest party, with 21.5% of the vote, was the Socialist Party, which is opposed to EU membership and favors Moldova joining Russia’s “Eurasian Union”. An unstable pro-EU coalition government was eventually formed. But it did not last long. The new Prime Minister, Chiril Gaburici, resigned in June after the authenticity of his college diplomas was challenged. Moldova is currently without a government.
It is disingenuous of Jatras to imply that private sector investors “rescued” these banks from a corrupt public sector and were then shafted by politicians. In Moldova, as in Bulgaria, there is no clear distinction between public and private sectors. The country is run by powerful business interests – we in the West like to call them “oligarchs” – who dominate government either directly, by being elected, or indirectly through patronage. They go into politics in order to further their business interests: they gain control of institutions such as central banks and the judiciary in order to protect their business interests: and they take over media channels in order to promote their businesses and discredit their rivals. Ilan Shor is one of them: he was elected mayor of the city of Orhei in June despite being under house arrest. There are no innocent parties in this fraud.
But even more importantly, Moldova is a house divided. A significant part of Moldova’s population is Russian-speaking and/or pro-Russia: an estimated 75% of its banking sector is Russian-owned, as are many of its businesses. Support for EU membership has declined significantly in the last year, partly due to heavy promotion of the Eurasian Union by Russian sympathisers, and is now at best marginal. The enclave of Transnistria openly faces East: Russia has military bases there and in March held military exercises along its border with Ukraine, escalating tensions. Ukraine has now denied Russia access to its Transnistrian military bases. But while the EU is distracted with the Greek crisis, Russia has been distributing Russian passports to Transnistrians.
So although I think Kroll’s report is flawed, I believe it is correct to highlight the involvement of Russians, not only the companies that funded the banks but their shareholders too. What Kroll missed was the geopolitical dimension. Bringing down pro-EU governments fits all too well with Russia’s ambitions in the region. In which case the EU’s denial of budgetary support to Moldova is political suicide. Without that support, Moldova will collapse. And a failed state sandwiched between the unstable Ukraine and fragile Balkans – and featuring a pro-Kremlin enclave described by the FT as a “flashpoint – is the last thing the EU needs. It should think again.
.......The massive expansion of bank lending was funded with heavy borrowing from – among other things – Russian companies. The banks failed when this funding was abruptly withdrawn. Concurrently, there was also a retail bank run triggered by politicians. The timing of the funding withdrawal and bank run does not appear to me to be coincidental, coming as it did less than a week before the parliamentary election. The pro-EU government lost the election: the largest party, with 21.5% of the vote, was the Socialist Party, which is opposed to EU membership and favors Moldova joining Russia’s “Eurasian Union”. An unstable pro-EU coalition government was eventually formed. But it did not last long. The new Prime Minister, Chiril Gaburici, resigned in June after the authenticity of his college diplomas was challenged. Moldova is currently without a government.
It is disingenuous of Jatras to imply that private sector investors “rescued” these banks from a corrupt public sector and were then shafted by politicians. In Moldova, as in Bulgaria, there is no clear distinction between public and private sectors. The country is run by powerful business interests – we in the West like to call them “oligarchs” – who dominate government either directly, by being elected, or indirectly through patronage. They go into politics in order to further their business interests: they gain control of institutions such as central banks and the judiciary in order to protect their business interests: and they take over media channels in order to promote their businesses and discredit their rivals. Ilan Shor is one of them: he was elected mayor of the city of Orhei in June despite being under house arrest. There are no innocent parties in this fraud.
But even more importantly, Moldova is a house divided. A significant part of Moldova’s population is Russian-speaking and/or pro-Russia: an estimated 75% of its banking sector is Russian-owned, as are many of its businesses. Support for EU membership has declined significantly in the last year, partly due to heavy promotion of the Eurasian Union by Russian sympathisers, and is now at best marginal. The enclave of Transnistria openly faces East: Russia has military bases there and in March held military exercises along its border with Ukraine, escalating tensions. Ukraine has now denied Russia access to its Transnistrian military bases. But while the EU is distracted with the Greek crisis, Russia has been distributing Russian passports to Transnistrians.
So although I think Kroll’s report is flawed, I believe it is correct to highlight the involvement of Russians, not only the companies that funded the banks but their shareholders too. What Kroll missed was the geopolitical dimension. Bringing down pro-EU governments fits all too well with Russia’s ambitions in the region. In which case the EU’s denial of budgetary support to Moldova is political suicide. Without that support, Moldova will collapse. And a failed state sandwiched between the unstable Ukraine and fragile Balkans – and featuring a pro-Kremlin enclave described by the FT as a “flashpoint – is the last thing the EU needs. It should think again.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Is A Slow Putsch Against Putin Under Way?
A quarter century after the fall of the USSR, Kremlinologists sense a putsch in the air, despite Vladimir Putin’s overwhelming approval ratings. The tea leaves say that the Kremlin elite, dubbed by some as Politburo 2.0, is currently deciding whether Putin should go before he makes a bad situation worse. The founder of the respected daily Kommersant predicts that a dramatic change is about to take place and advises Russians who have the means to leave the country for a month or so and take their children with them.........
A quarter century after the fall of the USSR, Kremlinologists sense a putsch in the air, despite Vladimir Putin’s overwhelming approval ratings. The tea leaves say that the Kremlin elite, dubbed by some as Politburo 2.0, is currently deciding whether Putin should go before he makes a bad situation worse. The founder of the respected daily Kommersant predicts that a dramatic change is about to take place and advises Russians who have the means to leave the country for a month or so and take their children with them.........
ORAC,
I'm interested in your last 2 posts however, the Corbyn and putsch links both failed and the last link was entirely in Russian. Are you able to re-transmit ones that either work or are readable?
I'm interested in your last 2 posts however, the Corbyn and putsch links both failed and the last link was entirely in Russian. Are you able to re-transmit ones that either work or are readable?
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
First link is to Paul Canning, but has ******** in it. Follow the link to his full article in the extract in this piece.
The second link is to Forbes magazine in English. Only the link inside it to Kommersant is to Russian Language article - and if you look at the right hand side of their title bar you will see an "English" button which takes you to their translated version........
The second link is to Forbes magazine in English. Only the link inside it to Kommersant is to Russian Language article - and if you look at the right hand side of their title bar you will see an "English" button which takes you to their translated version........
