Russian Invasion Of Ukraine (Formerly: Democratic Malaise Draws Ukraine Eastwards)

[American Patriot]

So Obama has signed another "Executive Order" to sanction Russia (well, Russia wasn't named either by him or by Kerry now)... but "those who" type phrasing.

Another escalation, but on a tiny scale.

If Obama would do the manly thing and send US Warships into the region... up the number of troops, tanks, planes and bombs it might be a better option.

Then again, Nevel Chamberlain would be very proud I think....

[vector7]

So Obama has signed another "Executive Order" to sanction Russia (well, Russia wasn't named either by him or by Kerry now)... but "those who" type phrasing.

Another escalation, but on a tiny scale.

If Obama would do the manly thing and send US Warships into the region... up the number of troops, tanks, planes and bombs it might be a better option.

Then again, Nevel Chamberlain would be very proud I think....

Indeed!!!!

Department of Peace for Our Time

November 16th, 2013 - 11:27 pm


Neville again.

American healthcare aside (“If you like your plan…”), there are some promises that President Obama has kept. Notably, his promise last year to Russia’s Vladimir Putin — accidentally overheard by the entire world, via an open microphone — that once he’d won the 2012 presidential election, he’d have more “flexibility.” He was true to his word. With this September’s Russia-brokered deal over Syria’s chemical weapons, the Obama administration showed flexibility enough to compete with Cirque du Soleil.

Now, just when it seemed that U.S. policy toward Russia could hardly become more flexible without requiring all Americans to dine daily on borscht (or does the Affordable Care Act already include a provision for that?), here comes a story in the New York Times, headlined“A Russian GPS Using U.S. Soil Stirs Spy Fears.” The gist is that the State Department is gung-ho to allow the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos (which coordinates with Russian military launches), to install on U.S. turf some half a dozen electronic monitor stations for a Russian Global Positioning System. The Times reports that not everyone in the administration thinks this is a great idea. The Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency see this plan as a threat to U.S. security: “They fear that these structures could help Russia spy on the United States and improve the precision of Russian weaponry.”

But does that worry the State Department? Not according to the Times, which goes on to provide the following account of the State Department’s rationale:

For the State Department, permitting Russia to build the stations would help mend the Obama administration’s relationship with the government of President Vladimir V. Putin, now at a nadir because of Moscow’s granting asylum to Mr. Snowden and its backing of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

Come again? I have read that paragraph over, at least half a dozen times, and it still doesn’t make sense. If the Obama administration’s ties to Putin’s regime are at a low, the reason is not that the U.S. has snubbed or damaged Russia, but that Russia’s Putin has mocked and undermined the U.S. First came Russia’s dalliance with American fugitive Edward Snowden. Then came the aborted showdown over Syria, in which Russia, one of Assad’s chief weapons suppliers, walked away with the jackpot, sending warships into the Mediterranean and wielding diplomacy to translate Assad’s use of chemical weapons into a ticket for the Russian-backed survival of his regime and alarming expansion at U.S. expense of Russian influence in the Middle East. Surely, if the U.S.-Russia relationship is to be improved, it is Russia that owes the U.S. some conciliatory moves. Not the other way round.

And yet, there it is — a report that the State Department hopes to woo Russia by answering the Kremlin’s insults and power-and-influence grabs with an invitation to come on in and set up GPS monitor stations for Roscosmos on U.S. soil; never mind the worries of the CIA and Defense Department. I’m not questioning the reporting in this article; in context there is every reason to believe that the reporters are accurately providing information about State Department policy. It’s the policy itself that makes no sense, at least not if the aim here is to protect U.S. interests and national security.


But there’s a lot going on right now that in terms of actually protecting the U.S. makes zero sense. The endless, amnesiac and oh so flexible “reset” with Russia is consistent with the State Department’s zeal, and for that matter, the president’s, to ensure that no new sanctions are imposed on Iran, lest any flexing of U.S. muscle might wreck the chances for a nuclear deal at the talks now scheduled to resume Nov. 20 in Geneva. Call it pre-existing appeasement.

Nor are these independent matters. In Tehran, in Beijing, in Pyongyang and beyond, policy and military elites are reading that article in the New York Times, and drawing their own conclusions about just how thoroughly the U.S. administration will prostrate itself to appease despotic regimes that deride, oppose and threaten America and its allies. This is a policy far removed from the ways of the real world, in which, 26 years ago, to spectacular effect in the cause of peace, President Reagan went to West Berlin and commanded Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev: “Tear down this wall.” Instead, buying deals for our diplomats today at the cost of proliferating threats tomorrow, we are tripping step by step down the trail of “Peace for our time.”



Is The State Department Nuts? Why Would It Allow Russians To Build Facilities In US?

WOULD YOU BELIEVE THE U.S. STATE DEPT IS REPORTEDLY PREPARED TO LET RUSSIA BUILD THESE ON AMERICAN SOIL?

Nov. 16, 2013 8:44pm Dave Urbanski

The CIA and Pentagon have been trying to halt a State Department plan to let Russia’s space agency (Roscosmos) construct within the United States a handful of monitor stations, according to American officials, the New York Times reported.

The fear is that the stations could aid Russian efforts to spy on the U.S. and bolster the accuracy of Russian weaponry, the officials told the Times, adding that the Russians said the monitor stations would dramatically improve their version of the Global Positioning System.


A look inside Roscosmos (Image source: YouTube raw video)

The CIA and other U.S. spy agencies, along with the Pentagon, believe the monitor stations would provide Russia with better accuracy with weapons and an opening to spy on the U.S., the Times noted.

In addition members of Congressional intelligence and armed services committees regard Moscow’s GPS — a.k.a. Glonass (i.e., Global Navigation Satellite System) — with suspicion and want answers from the Obama administration.

“I would like to understand why the United States would be interested in enabling a GPS competitor, like Russian Glonass, when the world’s reliance on GPS is a clear advantage to the United States on multiple levels,” said Representative Mike D. Rogers, Republican of Alabama, the chairman of a House Armed Services subcommittee.

The Times characterizes the State Department’s willingness to let Russia build about a half dozen stations as a way to help repair President Obama’s relationship with Vladimir V. Putin, which took a nosedive after Moscow granted asylum to Edward Snowden and supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Russian push in this direction is part of a larger global race by China and European Union nations, among others, the Times reported, to perfect their own GPS technology and challenge the dominance of the American GPS.

A former senior official in the State Department’s Office of Space and Advanced Technology told the Times that the Russians “don’t want to be reliant on the American system and believe that their systems, like GPS, will spawn other industries and applications. They feel as though they are losing a technological edge to us in an important market. Look at everything GPS has done on things like your phone and the movement of planes and ships.”

Administration officials have held off a final decision until the Russians give more information and U.S. agencies resolve differences, State Department and White House officials told the Times.

You can read the entire New York Times article here.

[American Patriot]

Any predictions on when the shooting war will start?

I give it - 8-10 days from today. The 16th or 17th, something will happen.

Just a gut feeling, guess, whatever you want to call it. But I call those two days.

[vector7]

Gregor Peter ‏@L0gg0l · 5 min
Pravda: "High probability of Russian assault on Crimea this night", air strikes not ruled out -- military source @usairforce: #AirForce deploys additional F-15s & KC-135 to Lithuania in order to augment NATO mission in Baltics.Global Security News ‏@NTI_GSN · 1h

zerohedge ‏@zerohedge · 1 min
Georgia Says Russian Jets Violated Airspace: IFX


Eric Cantor ‏@GOPLeader 16m
The House voted to give the Admin
authority to issue loan guarantees for #Ukraine in a bipartisan 385-23 vote:
pic.twitter.com/u5U6w0ZEeP



Nuclear Kitteh‏@NuclearKitteh2 hrs
Pentagon: #NorthKorea has at least 6 road-mobile ICBM launchers http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2014/03/06/65/0301000000AEN20140306000500315F.html … #missile #DPRK

[American Patriot]

Well, guess my gut feeling will be wrong then. Maybe I should have said "8-10 hours".

[American Patriot]

Russians have sunk one of their own ships to block the Ukrainian navy into a Lake with access to the Black Sea.

US is sending 300 troops and a bunch of F15s...Poland say, US won't confirm. The US is sending two ships to the Black Sea as "part of a routine change out" (whatever).

[vector7]

Russia Threatens to Drop The Dollar and Crash The U.S. Economy if Sanctions Are Imposed - Obama Signs Sanctions Anyway

06.Mar.2014



Is Russia bluffing, or is the world as we know it about to change for ever?

On Tuesday Reuters reported that a Kremlin aid Sergei Glazyev had announced that if the U.S. were to impose sanctions on Russia Moscow may drop the dollar as a reserve currency and refuse to pay off any loans to U.S. banks saying that Moscow could recommend that all holders of U.S. treasuries sell them if Washington freezes the U.S. accounts of Russian businesses and individuals.




"We would find a way not just to reduce our dependency on the United States to zero but to emerge from those sanctions with great benefits for ourselves," said Glazyev.

"An attempt to announce sanctions would end in a crash for the financial system of the United States, which would cause the end of the domination of the United States in the global financial system"

That statement is startling by itself, but the true gravity of this situation is only evident when you consider it in context. China has taken Russia's side in the Ukraine conflict (they are after all allies) and China holds the lion's share of U.S. treasuries. If Russia puts out the call to drop the dollar China would have a choice: either hold on to those treasuries while the dollar slides (losing their shirt in the process) or join Russia and dump their holdings as well. It should be pretty obvious which way China would go.

Related: Russian Smoke Screen - Putin Denies Military Operations As Russia Tests Intercontinental Missile

The effects of a coordinated bond sell off by China and Russia would be earth shattering. This would be the financial equivalent of a nuclear bomb being dropped. It is no exaggeration to say that such a move would mark the end of an era.

You would think that this would prompt some serious reflection and that diplomats would be scrambling to resolve this peacefully, but instead today Obama signed a sanction order anyway and revoked the visas of a number of Russian officials. All of this supposedly in response to the violence in Kiev even though we now have leaked phone conversations that indicate that it was in fact the new coalition government in Ukraine that was responsible for the shootings and that the West knows this. Combine this with the fact that several U.S. officials met directly with known Neo-Nazi leaders prior to the coup in Ukraine and these sanctions are even more non-nonsensical.

Related: Ukraine: Armed Men Seize Crimean Parliament Building & Raise Russian Flag - Russia Scrambles Fighter Jets At Border

[American Patriot]

Folks, this is a step in the escalation process.

It's been so many years for me since I studied this though, I don't recall everything I learned.

However, there were levels of things that would happen.

Some one, a country would have an incident, and eventually other countries, usually superpowers would move in and assist.

In this case, Ukraine has done something, had an incident. Russia has moved in to "assist".

Next because the country moving in was an enemy to another superpower, the second superpower would move ships around.

In this case, Russia and the US are adversaries - enemies in both economic and political frames. The US has sent air planes, ships and men to assist the Ukraine as well. The Ukraine is asking the US to help, NOT the Russians. The Russians are helping themselves.

Now the US has threatened sanctions.

The Russians threaten to crash the US Economy.

Right now, if there were a strong President in the Office instead of this pantywaist Marxist, the Strong President would say - "Russia, you are now crossing the line into an act of war. Sanctions are one thing. Crashing the US Economy is an act of war. Back off or we WILL respond in kind...."

And he would move a million US military personnel into the Ukraine, Naval ships loaded with weapons systems, we'd up the ante with a higher DEFCON, ready nuclear weapons and ready the entire US to go on a war footing.

Instead what we have is a lame duck dumb ass cracker-hating, mulatto-wanna-be-black-gangsta-fuckhead in the White House who has NO foreign policy, no clue about it, no advisers who have ANY experience, training or background in foreign policy. He has fired his best and brightest military (instead of shooting them in the head like Kim Jong-Un), installed Liberal fucktards in the highest offices of his cabinet, the Sec-Def's office, the AG's office and in the military Chiefs of Staff.

The CIA head is another loser fucktard without any balls.

We're treading now on territory so dangerous that a weakling like Obama can't come out ahead and can only give this country over to the Russians in abject surrender, something this country's people will not stand for.

As a matter of fact, Obama... this is a direct warning from an America Patriot - on behalf of a lot of other American Patriots. We will NOT stand for such a thing. Surrender to the Russians is NOT going to happen. We will, however, hand your fucking head over to them if you bring on a nuclear war on this country.

Be warned Congress and all leaders in America.... this is AMERICA, NOT AMERIKA and WE WILL NOT PLAY YOUR GAME ANY LONGER.

This has been precipitated by Obama and Putin as a way to make America LOOK weak, and for our final vestiges of Freedom to be destroyed by Obama and the Commies in office.

We are SICK of your shit. We're sick of you destroying our country.

If you precipitate a nuclear war, or any war with Russia in an effort to seize control of this country you will find that the country will NOT protect you, will not help you, will no longer respect you and will remove you from that office physically if necessary.

Now, before you decide this is a "direct threat" to the President, it's not. Obama - you are not even a legal citizen of the country as far as many are concerned. And I have the HIGHEST respect for that office, but not for you.

Instead, you won't, you'll sit there in that office and hand America over to the Russians, economically, politically and physically. It won't be allowed though.

Any American military person worth his or her salt WILL NOT FOLLOW YOUR ORDERS TO DETAIN OR STOP AMERICAN CITIZENS.

We're in a sticky situation which calls for a man with balls to get us out of it, and it's going to take a military solution or at least a diplomatic solution where the diplomats aren't giving away everything from the farm to grandma's lacy underthings.

What the HELL is Obama doing in this office??????????

You idiots who put him in need to fucking MOVE out of MY country.

[American Patriot]

USS Truckston off Bosphoros Strait this morning. A US Destroyer - passing through the area "on previously scheduled exercises", if you believe anything coming out of the government these days.

[vector7]

Gregor Peter ‏@L0gg0l · 2 min
RUSSIAN STATE DUMA TO CONSIDER CRIMEA ANNEXATION BILL ON MARCH 21

zerohedge ‏@zerohedge 14s
OSCE OBSERVERS TURN BACK AFTER BLOCKED AT CRIMEA BORDER: AFP


OSCE spokesperson says the team of observers from 23 OSCE countries are still at a checkpoint trying to get into Crimea. #Ukraine

Russia's Federation Council, the upper house of #Russia's parliament, will send observers to the #Crimea Referendum - FC press office

lexander Marquardt‏@MarquardtA28 mins
It's getting worse. MT @olgatokariuk APTN attacked in #Simferopol by armed pro-Russian cossacks,employees made lie on ground,equip destroyed


Euromaidan PR‏@EuromaidanPR55 mins
#Ukraine Border Guard Service did not let enter the territory of Ukraine to about 1,500 citizens of #Russia -channel5 |PR News

Brian Whelan ‏@brianwhelanhack2 hrs
CCTV shows pro-Russian paramilitaries in Crimea holding gun to journalist's head http://www.channel4.com/news/russia-cctv-crimea-journalists-attacked-paramilitaries …


Ukraine Reporter‏@StateOfUkraine·36m
#Russian troops are moved from different parts of the #Crimea to the Cape Opuk to polygon of Russian Black Sea Fleet 810th Marine Brigade


Ukraine Reporter‏@StateOfUkraine·16m
Today 18 trucks with #Russian marines came to the landfill Chauda #Crimea and set a field camp. Amphibious assault ship arrival is expected.


18:32 Russian military to build up operational strength - general
http://www.interfax.com/news.asp

Raymond Pritchett‏@Galrahn2m
A lot of military movement across Crimea observed at 5pm local. Speculation is it's a shift rotation of forces.


Michael Cecire‏@mhikaric7 mins
By the way, #Caucasus watchers, if #Russia does annex #Crimea, you can bet it will also annex #SouthOssetia. #Tbilisi

gandalf greybeard‏@gerrydogma7m
DIA : "Paying very close attention" to "key military forces" in Russian Southern Military District. "There is a lot of activity" 1/2

gandalf greybeard‏@gerrydogma8 mins
Watching closely to see if they are just excercises of preperations for actual combat 2/2

Transcript: Interview With Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn

March 07, 2014 6:11 AM

(The following transcript is from an interview with Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, as aired on Morning Edition.)

Greene: What are you picking up right now within the Russian military?

Flynn: Well, I mean obviously the things that we' re watching in the Crimea, some of the naval activities, you know, up around the key bases — we saw, you know, we see some of what has been referred to as an exercise inside of Russia and we are paying very close attention to any additional activities of some of their key military forces that they do have, particularly in the southern military district that is in that region that we are all concerned about right now. So — there is a lot of activity. What we are trying to pay attention to is: are they being true to their word about it's an exercise versus something else.

http://www.npr.org/2014/03/07/287037...-michael-flynn

[vector7]

China opposes sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine


China says sanctions are not the best way for the international community to deal with Russia’s troop deployment in Ukraine.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Friday that it was important that the West and Russia find a political solution to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

“China has consistently opposed the easy use of sanctions in international relations, or using sanctions as a threat,” he said at a daily news briefing.

“In the present situation, we hope that all sides can take steps which avoid a further worsening in tensions and work hard to find a way for a political solution to the crisis. This is the fundamental way out.”

Furthermore, India has expressed support for Russia’s stance toward the Ukrainian conflict, saying Moscow has “legitimate” interests in Ukraine.

India’s National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon noted that New Delhi wants the conflict to be resolved peacefully while highlighting that Russia’s interests should be taken into account.

The development came a day after US President Barack Obama told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in their phone conversation that Moscow’s actions are in violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

According to a statement posted on the White House’s website on Thursday, Obama has also ordered property and visa sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian officials whom Washington says are violating the sovereignty of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, local administration of Ukraine’s strategic Crimea region have called for a referendum on March 16 in order to decide whether the autonomous region should join Russia or not.

MR/NN/HMV

[vector7]

CCTV video show paramilitaries & Russia Cossaks attacking & holding gun to a Bulgarian journalist > http://youtu.be/C-eFCKwP3qI #Ukraine #Crimea

From yesterday - a couple of the comments:


hybaj
4 hours ago

and this is kids why ukraine does not belong to EU.. it does not matter if they were russian or ukrainan.. they're just pure animals.. they need to shed their own blood to cleanse the nation of aggresive idiots.

Taboletka
1 hour ago

this is why you have to read carefully - these cossacks are NOT from Ukraine! so shut up, please. also, people who belong to EU, don't call other people animals or idiots. just saying

Козаки Аксьонова грабують іноземних журналістів. Відеодоказ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-eFC...ature=youtu.be

Published on Mar 6 , 2014

Street Horkoho1 (10 yards from Lenin Square ). Simferopol. In the video, attack on the press center Agency APTN, who began to organize in Simferopol restaurant "Camelot" (second floor). Vmdno on record as white van pulled up without license plates. From it came masked men without. It is also noticeable Cossacks.

According to eyewitnesses , they rushed with hand guns and pistols. People are forced to lie on the ground. Then went the other people (without masks ) taken out of the room and transmitting equipment .

This is seen by Bulgarian journalists. They were interviewed an.crimea.ua. Operator attacked with pistols, laid it on the ground, seized the camera and phone. Then chased the girl - took away her phone and camera.

[American Patriot]

Turkey just (awhile ago) scrambled fighters to "escort" Russian plans away from the coast.

[American Patriot]

Russian attack on a military base in Crimea, happening right now.

[American Patriot]

No reports of shots fired yet.

[American Patriot]

Russian vehicle crashed through a gate into a Command Center area, fortified and well-guarded.

The Russians are attempting to take over the Command Center.

No shots have been fired yet.

Putin is "taunting the West" with smart assed remarks.

[American Patriot]

Despite our various misgivings about the on-going situation in Crimea and Ukraine, and some private discussions running the gamut from "Something bad's gonna happen" to "nothing is gonna happen" I have to stick with the "Something Bad is gonna happen" train of thought here.

I don't see Russia backing off.

I don't see us doing anything really HUGE ourselves because our President is a feckless, impotent imbecilic puppet, and Congress is coming up with rather dumb assed ideas.

Any sanctions we "impose" would come back on us according to Lavrov (hitting us like a boomerang).

Russians are now overtly attacking military targets in Ukraine. The Russians have been attempting to bribe the military to join them. But this is a major escalation, using force (even if shots weren't fired) by crashing military trucks into a gate to take over a building/command post.

There WILL shortly, today I predict, be shots fired, because the Ukraine military isn't going to just turn this shit over to the Russians. At some point, someone is going to get antsy and pull the trigger.

After that, it is anyone's guess what occurs next.

[American Patriot]

15 trucks. (Dozens of men.) Stormed the base.

Demanded Ukraine troops lay down arms and surrender.

Correction above. 20-50 are reports coming out.

Reuters is reporting a good portion of this.

There is a so-called "Air Defense Exercise" going on. The tower being attacked is guarded by Ukrainian military personnel (Airmen).

The Russians are trying NOT to fire weapons, they want to keep the "hearts and minds" of the people there.

There are an estimated 20,000 Russian troops in the area.

[American Patriot]

NO show of force by the Pentagon.

[American Patriot]

Ukrainian PM has stated "We do not want a war, but we WILL STAND AND FIGHT!"