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

[American Patriot]

War College expert gives take on Ukraine, possibility of U.S military involvement


Ukrainian riot police stand at the entrance of the regional administrative building in Donetsk, Ukraine, Friday, March 7, 2014. Donetsk is an ethnic Russian stronghold and on Wednesday evening pro-Russian protesters took over the regional administration building, before police regained control of it on Thursday. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

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By David Wenner | dwenner@pennlive.com
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on March 07, 2014 at 11:06 AM

On Thursday, the situation in Ukraine took a turn that could lead to more volatility, and more tension between the United States and Russia. Leaders within Crimea, which is part of Ukraine, voted to join Russia. A public vote was set for March 16 in the province, where more than half the residents have Russian backgrounds.
Jim MacDougall, the chairman of the department of national security and strategy at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, was paying close attention. He answered some questions about how the situation might impact the United States.
How serious is this?: MacDougall pointed out that residents of the western portion of Ukraine tend to favor closer ties with Europe and the European Union, while residents of the east favor closer ties with Russia. That raises the significant question of what Russia will do if the population of Crimea votes to become part of Russia. Ukraine is already in political turmoil, with a pro-Russia president having been driven out of the country. Russia doesn’t recognize the interim government. The United States, however, is working with the interim government. “How this will be resolved is pretty much an open question,” MacDougall said. “It’s a very tense situation. It could erupt into violence at some point.”
What are the chances the United States will get involved in a war over this?: “I think the chances are low,” MacDougall said. If the United States is involved in any military action to provide security for Ukraine, it would be in conjunction with NATO, he noted.
What’s at stake for the United States?: Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the United States has been among those promoting a “whole and free” Europe, MacDougall noted. There has been an assumption of peace, order and economic freedom in eastern Europe. This has been accomplished through expansion of NATO and the European Union into the region. Russia opposes this expansion. So now there’s a question of whether Europe will include Ukraine. There’s a question of whether this situation amounts to push-back by Russia, and eventually will lead to a new dividing line in Europe. Moreover, it raises the question of what level of outside help will be available, and what the United States will do, if the security of a country in this region is threatened.
What are the options?: MacDougall said the first option, currently underway, involves diplomacy “backed by strength” of NATO and the European Union. The United States is deeply involved — President Obama spoke by phone this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Secretary of State John Kerry has been in Europe participating in talks. MacDougall expects there will be a “unified position” involving NATO and the European Union. These entities can exert pressure by imposing economic sanctions, including freezing bank accounts and imposing travel restrictions, on Russian leaders. An additional option is to provide financial help to Ukraine, which faces severe economic problems.
Background: Ukraine is an economically-troubled country of 46 million people located between Russia and the rest of Europe. It used to be part of the Soviet Union. Now, many of its residents and leaders want to turn away from Russia and connect economically with the rest of Europe. Russia doesn’t want that, and recently sent troops into Ukraine, saying they were needed to protect ethnic Russians living there. But many outsiders, including President Barack Obama, say Russia has invaded Ukraine and violated international laws. The United States, as an international leader, is expected to play a major role in persuading Russia to back off and use diplomacy in its dealings with Ukraine. The situation has caused people all over the world to focus on the actions of Obama and the United States. And it has caused Obama’s political opponents in the United States to criticize his leadership and claim to know a better way to handle the situation.

[vector7]

China:
RT ‏@Galrahn: Japan says 1 Type 052C, 2 Type 054A frigates, & 1 supply ship were located 49 km SE of the Japanese island of Yonaguni at 7am. So China is sending their Navy, not Coast Guard, to the disputed islands. That won't go over well.

ME:
Israel News Feed ‏@IsraelHatzolah 16s
55 Rockets fired from Gaza in past hour towards south most exploded in open field, damages reported as well, IDF preparing major response.IDF southern command mobilising, IDF Gaza Division on heightened state of alert

RT @IsraelHatzolah: FM Lieberman in response of todays rocket attacks: "No Choice we'll have to take over the entire Gaza strip'

Russia:
MERKEL SAYS RUSSIA CAN’T CHANGE UKRAINE BORDER, MERKEL SAYS EXPECTS NO GAS DELIVERY RESTRICTIONS BY RUSSIA.

Hearing chatter that interim PM of Ukraine Yatsenyuk cancels his presser in Washington – unconfirmed.


Found on another board...

I am delaying the first two pretext events in my updated post until the week of the 17th. I got some new information that for the most part nothing major could happen until after the Crimean referendum. This also goes for the 10 yr U.S Treasury or anything financial market related. The week will be relatively quiet except for news regarding the Malaysian plane crash and the Crimean referendum. Once Russia annexes Crimea all hell will start to break loose because diplomacy will not be an option anymore. Russia annexing Crimea will be the trigger for WW3 and the meltdown of the global financial system. Here are some events to expect from the 17th up to the 28th. I will go over the WW3 scenario in a later post
1. The beginning of the collapse of the global financial system
2. European and U.S sanctions against Russia in which then Russia will fire back by cutting off gas supply to European counties and dumping U.S Treasuries. The Chinese will then follow suit soon after
3. U.S 10 yr Treasury will be above 3.2% by the 28th
4. Chinese Lehman moment
5. Gold 1450-1500 or above by the 28th
WW3

1. Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict(Russia will invade Eastern Ukraine)
2. NATO will come to the defense of the Baltic states
3. Hezbollah/Palestinian retaliation against Israel
4. China ADIZ over South China Sea
5. fighter jet show down
6. an attack on a warship
7. Libyan attack on a North Korean oil tanker
8. another North Korean provocation
9. Israel airstrike inside Lebanon, Syria or Gaza
10. NATO intervention in the Ukraine(It will likely begin in the form of Turkey coming to the defense of the Crimean Tatars)

John Schindler‏@20committee10 mins
That's...just super / RT @DrLeoStrauss Putin now claims USSR breakup 'illegal', void. http://echo.msk.ru/news/1277694-echo.html …




Daniel Belin‏@dfbelin5 mins
@20committee @DrLeoStrauss Putin has descended into full on crazy chekist if this is where his head's at...


John Schindler‏@20committee4 mins
@dfbelin @DrLeoStrauss I'm hard to surprise, but...wow


Gregor Peterþ@L0gg0l·1 hr
U.S to release oil from SPR, FT says

[American Patriot]

China:
RT ‏@Galrahn: Japan says 1 Type 052C, 2 Type 054A frigates, & 1 supply ship were located 49 km SE of the Japanese island of Yonaguni at 7am. So China is sending their Navy, not Coast Guard, to the disputed islands. That won't go over well.

Oh, ack, crap... geez.... Naw... the Japanese will kick China's ass. China would have to go nuclear.

ME:

Israel News Feed ‏@IsraelHatzolah 16s
55 Rockets fired from Gaza in past hour towards south most exploded in open field, damages reported as well, IDF preparing major response.IDF southern command mobilising, IDF Gaza Division on heightened state of alert

RT @IsraelHatzolah: FM Lieberman in response of todays rocket attacks: "No Choice we'll have to take over the entire Gaza strip'

Oh, shit in spades... Ryan? the picture you sent me? Maybe it goes here?

Russia:
MERKEL SAYS RUSSIA CAN’T CHANGE UKRAINE BORDER, MERKEL SAYS EXPECTS NO GAS DELIVERY RESTRICTIONS BY RUSSIA.

I really don't think Merkel is bullshitting anyone. She's going to mobilize the German military on this.....

This is the biggest issue. No gas, no fuel... Merkel and a lot of other countries won't stand for that.

Hearing chatter that interim PM of Ukraine Yatsenyuk cancels his presser in Washington – unconfirmed.

I haven't heard this yet. I just heard the meeting was going on shortly, like... nowish...

Found on another board...

I am delaying the first two pretext events in my updated post until the week of the 17th. I got some new information that for the most part nothing major could happen until after the Crimean referendum. This also goes for the 10 yr U.S Treasury or anything financial market related. The week will be relatively quiet except for news regarding the Malaysian plane crash and the Crimean referendum. Once Russia annexes Crimea all hell will start to break loose because diplomacy will not be an option anymore. Russia annexing Crimea will be the trigger for WW3 and the meltdown of the global financial system. Here are some events to expect from the 17th up to the 28th. I will go over the WW3 scenario in a later post
1. The beginning of the collapse of the global financial system
2. European and U.S sanctions against Russia in which then Russia will fire back by cutting off gas supply to European counties and dumping U.S Treasuries. The Chinese will then follow suit soon after
3. U.S 10 yr Treasury will be above 3.2% by the 28th
4. Chinese Lehman moment
5. Gold 1450-1500 or above by the 28th
WW3

1. Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict(Russia will invade Eastern Ukraine)
2. NATO will come to the defense of the Baltic states
3. Hezbollah/Palestinian retaliation against Israel
4. China ADIZ over South China Sea
5. fighter jet show down
6. an attack on a warship
7. Libyan attack on a North Korean oil tanker
8. another North Korean provocation
9. Israel airstrike inside Lebanon, Syria or Gaza
10. NATO intervention in the Ukraine(It will likely begin in the form of Turkey coming to the defense of the Crimean Tatars)

Not sure where you located this....Not sure why the guy is "delaying the first two pretexts" - or whatever. But the week of the 17th, or that weekend our time, the 16th, is my prediction for something to happen. I don't know why I chose that date, it just came to me I guess. But... I can see 1, and 2 having something to do with it.


Dunno about 3. Dunno what 4 is. And gold is at about 1337/oz right now isn't it?

WW3? 4 actually. World War iii was against terrorists. Who cares what we call it though?

The Russians have invaded.
NATO absolutely WILL jump into this.
Number 3 will happen... bet your ass on it.
China will splatter a Japanese vessel and cause a new link in the chain.
I don't see any fighter jets from Russia and US going toe-to-toe, they aren't gonna do that. China and ANYONE ELSE? Yes.

All of those things up there - they were ALL precursors to a nuclear attack in the Cold War. Just change the names, countries slightly and put USSR at the top of the troublemaker's list.

John Schindler‏@20committee10 mins
That's...just super / RT @DrLeoStrauss Putin now claims USSR breakup 'illegal', void. http://echo.msk.ru/news/1277694-echo.html …





Daniel Belin‏@dfbelin5 mins
@20committee @DrLeoStrauss Putin has descended into full on crazy chekist if this is where his head's at...


John Schindler‏@20committee4 mins
@dfbelin @DrLeoStrauss I'm hard to surprise, but...wow


Gregor Peterþ@L0gg0l·1 hr
U.S to release oil from SPR, FT says

Putin said that shit?

I don't think he said it. I looked it up, he did, back in 2005 say something about it being the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century.

I'm doubting he said it right now, so, unless someone can find me a direct quote.....

[American Patriot]

I don't see any evidence IDF is mobilizing at this point.

[American Patriot]

well... maybe

[American Patriot]

1) the interim PM IS meeting with Obama shortly.
2) a few days ago Kerry said he wouldn't meet with Lavrov (now he will...)(?)
3) WH Press Secretary Jay "the" Carney said Monday that the U.S. government is prepared to provide support to Ukraine, under certain conditions (????)


So much vacillation

[American Patriot]

US F-16s, Troops to Poland Over Ukraine Crisis

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Stars and Stripes | Mar 11, 2014 | by Jennifer H. Svan and John Vandiver



KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany – Polish government officials said Monday that the U.S. military was sending 12 F-16 fighter jets and about 300 service members to their country in response to the situation in Ukraine.


Some U.S. aircraft and service members had already arrived in Poland on Monday, with the remainder expected later in the week, a spokeswoman for Poland’s Defense Ministry said.


Where the warplanes and personnel were coming from is not known, however, as U.S. military officials provided few details on the mission.


It’s the second time in less than a week that the Pentagon has ordered combat planes and personnel to countries in Eastern Europe amid mounting tensions over Russia’s incursion into Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula. Last Thursday, the U.S. Air Force sent six F-15C Eagles and more than 60 U.S. airmen from RAF Lakenheath, England, to Lithuania to bolster NATO’s air policing mission over the Baltics.


The Baltic nations and Poland requested the deployments, officials said.
Poland requested to speed up a previous planned rotation of U.S. military aircraft in connection with the crisis on its border, said Arthur Golawski, a spokesman for the Polish armed forces.


Normally, U.S. Air Force rotations in Poland are about two weeks. It’s not clear how long this rotation will last. “If it needs to be prolonged, it can be prolonged,” Golawski said. “It’s up to the Americans and how much they will spend on this rotation.”


The U.S. service members and aircraft that have already arrived in Poland are on the ground at Lask air base, said the Polish Defense Ministry spokeswoman. The base, located about 100 miles southwest of Warsaw, has been home to a U.S. Air Force aviation detachment since November 2012. She said the planes and personnel could be moved to several other military bases in Poland that are prepared to receive them.


The spokeswoman, who declined to give her name because she was not authorized to speak on the matter, said an exercise with U.S. forces “was already planned but not at this scope.” She said Americans “responded very quickly” to Poland’s request to expand the military drills.


Details of the type of joint training to be conducted by the U.S. and Poland would be announced later in the week, she said.


A spokesman with U.S. European Command on Monday confirmed the U.S. military was working with Poland “on increasing activities associated with the aviation detachment” but said details were still being negotiated.


“It is too early to talk specific aircraft or quantity,” Lt. Col. David Westover said in a statement. “We’re in consultations to determine what they’d like, what the airfield can handle, and what we can provide.”


A rotation of three C-130s and about 100 personnel from Ramstein Air Base were scheduled to arrive in Poland in early April for joint training, U.S. Air Forces in Europe officials said last week.


Now, F-16s will be arriving earlier as part of an effort to boost activities in response to the crisis in Ukraine, Golawski said.


Last year, the Air Force did four rotations in Poland, two of which involved F-16s and two of which involved C-130s.


Russian forces have seized control of key areas in Crimea, and a pro-Russian government there plans to hold a referendum Sunday on whether the region should secede and join the Russian Federation. The referendum has been widely denounced by European leaders and the United States.


Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the referendum protested over the weekend, with some rallies turning violent, according to news reports.

[vector7]

Related to "singularly focused on domestc issues" Article:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...g_784657.html#
Obama: 'I Don't Have Time to Waste. The Clock Is Ticking.'
Quote:
At a Democratic fundraiser last night in New York City, President Obama said, "I hope you will all step up because, although I'm very optimistic about our long-term trends, the notion that we would waste two years in further inaction rather than move boldly on a path that I think all of us in this room agree on -- we don't have time to waste.

The president continued, "I don't have time to waste. The clock is ticking. There’s less than two years left -- less than three years left. I want to squeeze every last little bit of work that I can during the remainder of my term



Euromaidan PR‏@EuromaidanPR·4m
Dmitry #Tymchuk: #Russian ship arrived in #Kerch with 38 BTRs and 16 KAMAZs IPR Post #Crimea

3m
White House: A release of crude from the US Strategic Reserve is a test for operational reasons and is not connected to its dispute with Russia over Ukraine - @Reuters

gandalf greybeard‏@gerrydogma17 mins
Ukrainian Buk SAM battery seen in the Donetsk region today : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTpSKUDaw2g …



Euromaidan PR ‏@EuromaidanPR 3m
SOS! Russian troops are storming military base in #Rezervne, near #Sevastopol. Journalists needed! -@MiriamDragina IPR Post #Crimea

Euromaidan PRþ@EuromaidanPR48 mins
#Russia increases the presence of its troops near the border with #Ukraine http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/03/12/7018560/ … IPR News #Crimea pic.twitter.com/B1qg0b4o0F

Gregor Peter ‏@L0gg0l 1m
RUSSIAN TANKS SEEN DRIVING NEAR BELGOROD, 15 MILES EAST OF UKRAINE BORDER pic.twitter.com/B00cUCsZGv (via @rolltidebmz)

Euromaidan PR‏@EuromaidanPR·52 secs
#Rostov, #Russia, near the border with #Ukraine. They’re not hiding anymore http://www.unian.ua/politics/895849-...-ukrajini.html … IPR News #Crimea pic.twitter.com/0jttawlYcX



Zerohedge: Chairman Of Joint Chiefs: US Ready For "Military Response" In Ukraine - http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...sponse-ukraine … #Ukraine #Feldmarschall #Merkel


After Annexing Crimea, Russian Troops Are Piling Up By The East Ukraine Border

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/12/2014 15:26 -0400

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...ukraine-border


zerohedge ‏@zerohedge now
OBAMA REJECTS MARCH 16 REFERENDUM ON CRIMEA JOINING RUSSIA.

Al Arabiya English ‏@AlArabiya_Eng 1m
#Obama tells #Ukraine PM #US backs its territorial integrity

Zaid Benjamin ‏@zaidbenjamin 1m
#Breaking: #Ukraine will never surrender. We depend on the Western support and we are getting it - Ukrainian Int. Prime Minister #ACUkriane


NeugierigS ‏@NeugierigS 1m
#Yatsenyuk: Western world is determined to preserve independence and sovereignty of #Ukraine #ACUkraine


3m
Senate Foreign Relations Committee votes to approve Ukraine aid legislation - @politico
Erik Brattberg‏@ErikBrattberg9 mins
@Yatsenyuk_AP: Putin may consider taking over rest of Ukraine, including Kiev. #ACUkraine

[vector7]

Ukraine warns of 'full scale' invasion as Russia moves its artillery close to the borders... and Kiev security chief says Putin's troops could over-run them within three hours

• Russia has massed tanks, troops and aircraft on the border
• Security official warns Ukraine's defences would be incapable
• Pictures emerge of heavy Russian armoured vehicles on the move
• Tanks have also been pictured carried by rail in Belgorod region
• Russian army's Western Military District has declined to comment

By Will Stewart
PUBLISHED: 09:14 EST, 12 March 2014 | UPDATED: 12:11 EST, 12 March 2014

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Russia could launch a 'full scale' invasion that would see troops overrun Ukraine in hours, a senior security official warned today.

The secretary of Ukraine's National Security and National Defence Committee Andriy Parubiy claimed Russia has 80,000 troops, 280 tanks and 170 aircraft massed on the border ready to invade.

'They are adding to this military potential,' he said. 'We have a critical situation on the entire southeastern border. The Russian army is only two to three hours from Kiev.'

Ukraine's defences would be incapable in the face of a Russian invasion, he said.

Scroll down for video


Whenever you see this image, tap to view all the images in a gallery

Grainy footage apparently shows Russian tanks on the way to the Donetsk region border



Heading to Ukraine? Armoured personnel carriers near Rostov in Russia



Crimean fishermen on a pier as a Russian naval vessel passes them in Sevastopol Bay



A Ukrainian sailor guards on the ship Ternopil as Russian guided missile destroyer Bespokoynyy sails nearby in Sevastopol Bay

It comes as pictures have emerged of heavy Russian armoured vehicles apparently on the move in regions close to the Ukrainian border.

The images and footage - said to have been taken on Monday - include motorised infantry vehicles and tanks. The movements are also said to include Grad BM-21 multiple rocket launch vehicles.

A driver travelling from Donetsk region in Ukraine to Rostov-on-Don region in Russia filmed one of such column, evidently several kilometres in length and heading towards the border region.

More...

• Crimean parliament declares independence from Ukraine ahead of region's referendum... paving the way for the state to join Russia
• Ukraine: Obama to meet country's new leader as Russia steps up the rhetoric over 'lawlessness' and claims far-right militias are operating under orders from Kiev

Tanks have been pictured carried by rail in Belgorod region, reported to be in a village 12 miles from the Ukrainian border.
Other images show Russian military vehicles said to be near the city of Voronezh, which is around 175 miles from the city of Kharkiv in Ukraine, scene of a number of pro-Moscow protests in recent weeks.

Some 200 armoured personnel carriers were seen heading towards Rostov-on-Don, the city in Russia where toppled Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych is now based in exile, said accounts on Facebook and other social sites.



Russia moves tanks by road and rail as Crimea tension rises





On the move: Tanks pictured on the streets of Rostov in Russia



Military vehicles have been picture all over Russia's border regions. Here are APCs in Voronezh region



The moves come as the Russian armed forces have announced a separate huge military exercise by its airborne troops

Rostov is around 105 miles from Mariupol, on the Azov Sea, in Ukraine's Donetsk region. The army's Western Military District has declined to comment.

The moves come as the Russian armed forces have announced a separate huge military exercise by its airborne troops.

The three day military exercises ordered by Russian commander-in-chief Putin - unprecedented in the last two decades

- involve a vast 'landing operation' by paratroopers, said Airborne Troops spokesman Lt. Col. Yevgeny Meshkov.



The movements come amid Western concerns that the Kremlin is seeking to destabilise other regions in the south and east of Ukraine



Tanks at the streets of Rostov, which is around 105 miles from Mariupol, on the Azov Sea, in Ukraine's Donetsk region

'Some 4,000 Airborne Troops soldiers and 36 aircraft belonging to the military-transport and army aviation fleets will take part in the drills,' he said.

The troops, based in Ivanovo, east of Moscow, were put on high alert and moved to unspecified locations to 'check readiness' in simulated combat conditions.

Russian sources said the massive drill was not linked to the seizure of Crimea by pro-Moscow forces, but it comes amid Western concerns that the Kremlin is seeking to destabilise other regions in the south and east of Ukraine.




An armed man in military uniform is seen outside the compound of an Ukrainian military base in the village of Perevalnoye, outside Simferopol, Crimea



Crimea's secessionist authorities said that they have partially closed the region's airspace to 'keep out provocateurs' in the run-up to the Sunday's referendum about joining Russia



The alleged targets of 'Putin's Plan' to invade south-eastern Ukraine



Ukrainian soldiers carry garbage outside the Ukrainian infantry base in Perevalne



A Russian soldier stands next to a machine-gun outside the Ukrainian infantry base in Perevalne

Crimea goes to the polls on Sunday in a referendum expected to lead to the peninsula's secession from Ukraine and re-incorporation in Russia, which it left in the mid-1950s at the behest of then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

A poll yesterday predicted 77 per cent will vote on Sunday to join Moscow.

Former Putin adviser Andrey Illarionov- the first to predict the current Ukraine - has predicted that in addition to Crimea, his ex-boss intends to annex major cities Kharkov, Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye, Kherson and Odessa plus their respective regions.

INJURED UKRAINIANS FLY TO GERMANY FOR TREATMENT



Two dozen Ukrainians who were injured in Kiev protests have been brought to Germany for medical treatment.

A German air force medical evacuation transport touched down Wednesday afternoon in Berlin with the patients, who were to be treated in hospitals in the capital, and Koblenz and Ulm.

The military says the patients were among several hundred injured in protests on Independence Square, which became the center and the symbol of the anti-government protests in Ukraine.

Lt. Col. Matthias Frank told The Associated Press about two-thirds of the patients were being treated for gunshot wounds. Two of the patients are still in need of intensive care treatment.

Frank says Ukrainian officials asked for help in treating the injured because they had run out of space in Ukrainian hospitals.

Such a land grab would deprive Ukraine of any coastline.

It would also create a 'land corridor' to Transdniestria, a breakaway region of Moldova, controlled by pro-Moscow officials.

Illarionov, who served for five years as Putin's chief economic adviser, said Barack Obama and the West's reaction to Putin's alleged strong-arm tactics amounts to 'the Munich Agreement of 2014'.

'Obama gave in to Putin. And gave his green light to annex Crimea, destabilise and later take over eastern and southern Ukraine, (and) overthrow the current power in Ukraine.'

On Wednesday the SBU Ukrainian secret services claimed to have arrested a Russian military reconnaissance group which sneaked into Kherson Region from Crimea.

The group were operating inside mainland Ukraine and were seeking 'information about redeployment and level of readiness of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Kherson region' which directly borders Crimea, reported Ukrainian news agency UNIAN.

The deployment was led by a serving military reconnaissance officer in the Russian army, said the SBU intelligence service.

Russia has denied its troops are actively operating in Crimea.

The alleged officer carried a fake Ukrainian passport issued in the name of Yevhen Serhiyovych Arbuzov, born in 1986.

The SBU claim he admitted to collecting intelligence, including the location of road blocks of the border troops as well as units and subunits of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

------------------------------------

NATOSource‏@NATOSource·3 mins
Belarus to Ask Russia for Warplanes in Response to NATO Drills. #Ukraine #Poland http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs...to-nato-drills … pic.twitter.com/plIUGK1JfO




RT ‏@CooperThales: #RUMINT. Developing. Multiple IL-76 spotted, East Donetsk Oblast avoided by civ aircrafts. Buildup east of Donetsk Oblast border.




PRINCE ROBERT PEFFER ‏@MYREPUBLICUSA 1m

@cspan @Yatsenyuk_AP @AtlanticCouncil IF THIS PRIME MINISTER. HAD BALLS #UKRAINE. WILL DECLARE WAR VS #RUSSIA. NOT HIDE BEHIND A N!GGER.


NeugierigS ‏@NeugierigS 2m

#Yatsenyuk deputy PM of #Ukraine is Jewish thus debunking claims of anti-Semitism #ACUkraine


joe.m ‏@joeman42 2m

#Svoboda Party #Neo-Nazis #Ukraine ..Supported by John McCain & US ..Jews Advised to Leave http://ow.ly/uws9Z ”

From March 5: ^^^^^^^^^^^^


Inner City Press ‏@innercitypress 1m

On #Ukraine, Yatsunyek says a Deputy PM "represents the Jewish community." Anyone'll ask: What of #RightSector? #ACUkraine


Marcus Weisgerber ‏@MarcusReports 2m

Yatsenyuk: The biggest mistake of this century would be the restoring of the Soviet Union #ACUkraine #Ukraine #Russia




Statement of G-7 leaders on #Ukraine http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-...eaders-ukraine … #crimea #maidan

----------


The White House

Office of the Press Secretary



For Immediate Release
March 12, 2014
Statement of G-7 Leaders on Ukraine


We, the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission, call on the Russian Federation to cease all efforts to change the status of Crimea contrary to Ukrainian law and in violation of international law. We call on the Russian Federation to immediately halt actions supporting a referendum on the territory of Crimea regarding its status, in direct violation of the Constitution of Ukraine.

Any such referendum would have no legal effect. Given the lack of adequate preparation and the intimidating presence of Russian troops, it would also be a deeply flawed process which would have no moral force. For all these reasons, we would not recognize the outcome.

Russian annexation of Crimea would be a clear violation of the United Nations Charter; Russia’s commitments under the Helsinki Final Act; its obligations to Ukraine under its 1997 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership; the Russia-Ukraine 1997 basing agreement; and its commitments in the Budapest Memorandum of 1994. In addition to its impact on the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea could have grave implications for the legal order that protects the unity and sovereignty of all states. Should the Russian Federation take such a step, we will take further action, individually and collectively.

We call on the Russian Federation to de-escalate the conflict in Crimea and other parts of Ukraine immediately, withdraw its forces back to their pre-crisis numbers and garrisons, begin direct discussions with the Government of Ukraine, and avail itself of international mediation and observation offers to address any legitimate concerns it may have. We, the leaders of the G-7, urge Russia to join us in working together through diplomatic processes to resolve the current crisis and support progress for a sovereign independent, inclusive and united Ukraine. We also remind the Russian Federation of our decision to suspend participation in any activities related to preparation of a G-8 Sochi meeting until it changes course and the environment comes back to where the G-8 is able to have a meaningful discussion.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-...eaders-ukraine

[vector7]

Belarus Seeks to Host More Russian Jets Amid Ukraine Crisis

Topic: Turbulence in Ukraine


Su-27
© RIA Novosti. Anton Denisov

20:55 12/03/2014
Tags: Su-27, F-16, Alexander Lukashenko, Russia, Belarus
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Multimedia

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MINSK, March 12 (RIA Novosti) – Belarus will ask Russia to deploy up to 15 additional combat aircraft on its territory in response to increased NATO military activity along the country’s borders, President Alexander Lukashenko said Wednesday.

NATO has begun military exercises in Poland near the borders with Belarus and Ukraine amid the current political standoff between Russia and the West over the fate of Ukraine’s Crimea region.

The US Air Force has dispatched at least 12 F-16 falcon fighter jets from its airbase in Italy to take part in the exercises, while two NATO AWACS planes have started reconnaissance flights over Poland and Romania in order to help monitor the crisis in Ukraine.

“There is in fact an escalation of the situation near our borders… We will respond to it appropriately,” Lukashenko told a meeting of the Belarusian Security Council.


su-27

He proposed asking Moscow for additional combat aircraft to reinforce the four Russian Su-27 Flanker fighter jets based at the Baranovichi airbase.

“It could be some 12-15 planes for now… They could be put on patrols,” Lukashenko said.

Russia and Belarus signed an agreement on the joint protection of the Union State's airspace and the creation of an integrated regional air defense network in February 2009.

The network reportedly comprises five air force units, 10 air defense units, five technical service and support units and one electronic warfare unit.

It is part of the integrated air defense network of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose alliance comprising nine former Soviet nations.

The Russian Defense Ministry recently announced plans to deploy a fighter jet regiment in Belarus by 2015. The majority of the planes will be stationed at a future Russian airbase in Lida, a town in northwestern Belarus, near the Polish and Lithuanian borders.

[vector7]

In Ukraine Crisis, China Chooses Russia Ties Over Principles – Analysis

March 12, 2014 Richard Weitz Leave a comment
By Richard Weitz



Russia’s military occupation and impending annexation of the Crimea in Ukraine has put Beijing in a difficult spot, confronting Chinese leaders with numerous competing priorities and principles. Having cultivated good relations with both Russia and Ukraine, they would prefer to avoid antagonizing one party by siding too closely with the other. Yet, China’s recent approach shows how Beijing is now more willing to dilute longstanding foreign policy principles to align with Moscow.

Throughout the months of unrest in Ukraine, Chinese media commentary has generally echoed Russia’s line that Western machinations were contributing to the instability in Kiev, which finally led to the change of regime that triggered Russia’s military intervention in the Crimean Peninsula. Beijing can hardly have welcomed the specter of another mass movement overthrowing a government. In addition to recalling earlier “color revolutions” in which pro-Western factions toppled longstanding pro-Moscow rulers in some of the former Soviet republics, Chinese analysts have warned that these same forces were seeking to overturn China’s communist system.

But the official line of the Chinese government has been much more circumspect. On Feb. 24, the day after former President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted by the Ukrainian Parliament, China’s United Nations mission issued a statement to the media saying, “We respect the choice made by the Ukrainian people on the basis of national conditions.” Days later, when the first reports of Russian military action in Crimea started trickling in, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gang reaffirmed China’s commitment to Ukraine’s “independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” and called for a peaceful resolution “with all sides respecting international law”—including the principle of noninterference in another country’s internal affairs.

Chinese foreign policy resolutely opposes the “three evil forces” of separatism, terrorism and religious extremism. With regard to the first principle, Beijing demands that foreign countries refrain from supporting Uighur separatism in Xinjiang, Tibetan aspirations for political self-determination and Taiwanese actions that would implicitly acknowledge the island’s sovereignty and independence from Beijing. These principles have led Beijing not to endorse Moscow’s 2008 decision to occupy the Georgian separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and declare them independent countries.

In addition, China has long opposed foreign military intervention in a country without the consent of its host government or the explicit endorsement of the U.N. Security Council, where Beijing enjoys the right of veto. For example, Beijing has objected to Western military interventions over the past two decades that were not sanctioned by the council, such as the wars in Kosovo and Iraq, and for the same reason opposes such an intervention in Syria.

Nonetheless, China has been modifying these principles in recent years. Some changes in Beijing’s policies seem only declaratory, such as China’s formal support for the global community’s “responsibility to protect” populations facing genocide or other mass atrocities at the hands of their government. But in some cases events have forced a change in concrete Chinese policies. For example, South Sudan’s successful drive for independence led Beijing to reconcile with the erstwhile insurgents leading Africa’s newest government. More recently, China has had to cope with the Arab Spring regime changes in Libya and elsewhere, in which Beijing has had to accept the removal of former allies in mass popular revolutions.

In the case of Ukraine, Chinese officials have also been bending their principles to reflect changing developments as well as the complexity of the situation. They still have called on all sides “to find a political solution through dialogue and negotiations on the basis of a respect for international law and the principals of international relations,” as China’s ambassador to the U.N., Liu Jieyi, stated. But after the Russian Federation Council on March 1 authorized President Vladimir Putin to use the Russian military to protect Russian citizens in Ukraine, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said that in addition to China’s “long-standing diplomatic principles and basic norms governing international relations,” Beijing must also take into account “the history and complexity of the issue” to base its position on “both principles and facts.”

More recent Chinese statements have downplayed the importance of sustaining Ukraine’s “independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity” and instead have emphasized “the lawful rights and interests of all ethnic communities in Ukraine.” The Chinese government has also refrained from joining other countries in criticizing the Russian military intervention or the decision to hold a referendum on whether Crimea should join the Russian Federation.

After the Obama administration imposed sanctions on those deemed responsible for Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine, including bans on travel to the United States and freezing of their U.S. assets, the Chinese Foreign Ministry reaffirmed Beijing’s long-standing opposition to sanctions and expressed “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.” Media commentators even more explicitly argued that Beijing should back Moscow’s position since that would best advance China’s strategic interests in balancing Western influence in Eurasia.

Nevertheless, China would like to maintain good relations with the current government of Ukraine. The country had become an important military and economic partner in recent years under Yanukovych, providing China with many weapons, including its first aircraft carrier. Perhaps more significantly, Ukraine has helped China circumvent Russia’s defense export controls by transferring key Soviet technologies that have assisted China’s defense industry to produce warplanes and other weapons that China previously had to buy from Russia. Meanwhile, in return for pledges of infrastructure development assistance, the previous Ukrainian government agreed to allow Chinese companies to lease Ukrainian territory to grow food crops and raise livestock for food. Ukraine has also been exporting large quantities of grain to China, which has become Ukraine’s second-largest trading partner after Russia.

In siding with Russia, Beijing has placed these investments at risk. Even so, Russia is a considerably more important partner for Beijing than Ukraine, playing a key role in helping China manage instability on the Korean Peninsula, territorial disputes with other Asian countries and the uncertainties generated by the U.S. pivot to Asia. China has been Russia’s leading trade partner since 2008, and their two-way turnover is currently almost 10 times greater than China’s trade with Ukraine. If Russia annexes Crimea, Chinese economic interests there would be best advanced in partnership with Moscow.

Chinese leaders would undoubtedly have preferred to remain as distant as possible from the Ukraine crisis. But in becoming a great power with worldwide interests, China can no longer maintain a low profile in global crises, and will likely have to manage more such dilemmas in the future.




What Would Chinese Hegemony Look Like?

It is certainly not inevitable, but what form would a Sinic Monroe Doctrine take?

By Robert E. Kelly
February 10, 2014



East Asia is becoming, in the language of international relations theory, “bipolar.” That metaphor, from magnetism, suggests two large states with overlapping spheres of influence competing for regional leadership. The Cold War was a famous global example of bipolarity. Most states in the world tilted toward the United States or the Soviet Union in a worldwide, zero-sum competition. Although analysts have hesitated for many years in applying such strong language to East Asia, this is now increasingly accepted. A lengthy twilight struggle between China and Japan, with U.S. backing, seems in the offing.

Until recently, Asia was arguably “multipolar”—there was no one state large enough to dominate and many roughly equal states competed for influence. China’s dramatic rise has unbalanced that rough equity. China is now the world’s second largest GDP. Although its growth is slowing, it is still expanding at triple the rate of the U.S. economy and six times the rate of Japan’s. By 2020 China is predicted to be the world’s largest economy. Its population, 1.35 billion, is enormous. One in seven persons on the planet is Chinese. Were China’s GDP per capita to ever reach Japanese or American levels, its total GDP would match that of entire planet today. These heady numbers almost certainly inspire images of national glory or a return to the “middle kingdom,” in Beijing. They help account for China’s increasingly tough claims in the East and South China Seas.

Until recently, China pursued a “peaceful rise” strategy, one of accommodation and mutual adjustment. This approach sought to forestall an anti-Chinese encircling coalition. China’s rapid growth unnerves many states on its perimeter, from India, east to Vietnam, Indonesia and Australia, north to Taiwan, Japan, and Russia. Were these states to align, they might contain China in the same way the Japan, China, and NATO all worked to contain the U.S.SR. The peaceful rise seemed to work, especially in southeast Asia, where Chinese generosity has successfully blocked a united ASEAN position on South China Sea issues.

Since 2009 however, China has increasingly resorted to bullying and threats. The 2008 Olympics appears to have been read in Beijing as a sign of China’s newfound might and sway. In the South China Sea it has pushed a very expansive definition of its maritime zone of control, and it recently faced down the Philippines in a dispute over the Scarborough Shoal in that sea. Indeed, one possible explanation for China’s expansion of its air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea is that a hard line seems to be working in the South China Sea. But China’s northeast Asian neighbors are far stronger and more capable than its southeast Asian ones. Most observers expect Japan, South Korea and the U.S. to push back, as indeed they have. The U.S. flew bombers through the new ADIZ without warning, and both Japanese and South Korean civilian airlines have been instructed by their respective governments not to comply.
All this then sets up a bipolar contest between China and Japan, in the context of China’s rapid rise toward regional dominance.

Chinese Hegemony?

A common theme in the literature on China’s rise is its apparent inevitability. Westerners particularly tend to get carried away with book-titles such as Eclipse (of the U.S. by China), When China Rules the World, or China’s New Empire.

History is indeed filled with the rise to dominance of powerful states. China and Japan both sought in the past to dominate Asia. Various European states including the U.S.SR, Germany, and France did the same. But frequently these would-be hegemons collided with a counter-hegemonic coalition of states unwilling to be manipulated or conquered. Occasionally the hegemonic aspirant may win; Europe under Rome was “unipolar,” as was feudal Asia now-and-again under the strongest Chinese dynasties. But there is nothing inevitable about this. Hegemonic contenders as various as Napoleon or Imperial Japan have been defeated.

To be fair, it is not clear yet if indeed China seeks regional hegemony. But there is a growing consensus among American and Japanese analysts that this is indeed the case. By Chinese hegemony in Asia we broadly mean something akin to the United States’ position in Latin America. We do not mean actual conquest. Almost no one believes China intends to annex even its weakest neighbors like Cambodia or North Korea. Rather, analysts expect a zone of super-ordinate influence over neighbors.

For example, in 1823, U.S. president James Monroe proclaimed the Monroe Doctrine, which warned all non-American powers to stay out of the Western Hemisphere on pain of U.S. retaliation. This has worked reasonably well for almost 200 years. The U.S. has variously used force, aid, covert CIA assistance, trade, and so on to eject foreign powers from what Washington (condescendingly) came to call “America’s backyard.” Today, of course, such language seems disturbingly neocolonial, but many assume that the fundamental illiberalism of such spheres of influence do not worry non-democracies like China. A Sinic Monroe Doctrine would likely include some mix of the following:

- the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Japan and Korea,
- U.S. naval retrenchment from east Asia, perhaps as far back as Hawaii,
- a division of the Pacific into east/U.S. and west/China zones with a Chinese blue-water navy operating beyond the so-called second island chain running from Japan southeast to New Guinea,
- an RMB currency bloc in southeast Asia and possibly Korea,
- a regional trading zone,
- foreign policies from China’s neighbors broadly in sync with its own.
- the isolation, if not absorption, of Taiwan

This is not going to happen soon of course. This is a project for the next several decades, just as U.S. power over Latin America came slowly through the nineteenth century. But such goals would broadly fit with what we have seen in the behavior of previous hegemons, including Imperial Japan and China, Rome, the British Empire, the U.S. in Latin America, and various German plans for Eastern Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. The era of U.S. preponderance in Asia is coming to an end.

Robert E. Kelly (@Robert_E_Kelly) is an associate professor of international relations in the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy at Pusan National University. More of his work may be found at his website, AsianSecurityBlog.wordpress.com.

[American Patriot]

absolute fucking bullshit lies. LIES:


White House: A release of crude from the US Strategic Reserve is a test for operational reasons and is not connected to its dispute with Russia over Ukraine - @Reuters

[American Patriot]

Absolutely, this will be a shooting war in less than three days.

[AGEUSAF]

Absolutely, this will be a shooting war in less than three days.

Agreed...Ukraine decided to try and be passive here and not provoke the big dog. You see what that got them they are piling in by the thousands with plenty of heavy stuff now, not just some guys and guns. From the pictures and video I see you don't bring in that kind of hardware and not use it. We didn't do that for Iraq. To me its straight out of our play book just keep piling it in, setting up getting all the support in place and everyone just watches and can't believe it......then you get the go order and overrun the place.

They were doomed from the begining if they tried to stop them in the very begining then they would have got the same result Putin would have come in anyway with the wind in his sails. Now hes gonna do it anyway and they are gonna be that much closer to the western border. I figure once this starts and he blitzes up the eastern parts that are easy with all the shooting he might as well just take the whole country.

I think this has all the potential to get very serious...it's gonna be hell for the Ukrainians for sure but if he goes beyond the Russian majority areas and on to Kiev then Poland for example will get very nervous and they aren't going back to the way it was.

If he just stays in Crimea I don't see Ukraine doing anything now and why would you they know they got handed their hat on this if they escalate they lose it all. Big question is Crimea enough for Putin.

[vector7]

Ukraine surveillance footage 'shows Russian troops digging in'


Published on Mar 10, 2014
Ukraine's Border Guard Service has published a video it says was filmed from one of its surveillance planes showing Russian troops digging in outside the town of Armyansk in Crimea. Duration: 00:42





Olga Tokariuk ‏@olgatokariuk 24m
They are getting closer. Russian military vehicles on the way to #Ukraine border,
#Kharkiv region
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtmS0C5G9KM … #Ukraine #Russia





The Vineyard of the Saker

A bird's eye view of the vineyard
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.se/


Wednesday, March 12, 2014

The Chairman of the US JCS makes some completely irresponsible threats (UPDATED!)


This from Zero Hedge:

With diplomacy having failed miserably to resolve the Russian annexation of Crimea,
and soon East Ukraine (and with John Kerry in charge of it, was there ever any
doubt), the US is moving to the heavy artillery. First, moments ago, the US DOE
announced in a shocking announcement that it would proceed with the first draw
down and sale of crude from the US strategic petroleum reserve, the first since June
2011, in what it said was a "test sale to check the operational capabilities of system
infrastructure", but is really just a shot across the bow at Putin for whom high
commodity prices are orders of magnitude more important than how the Russian
stock market performs. And now, as Bloomberg just reported, the US has escalated
even further, citing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin
Dempsey, who "has claimed that in the case of an escalation of unrest in Crimea,
the U.S. Army is ready to back up Ukraine and its allies in Europe with military
actions."

So much for those peaceful hour long phone calls between Obama and Putin.

From Bloomberg:

According to the Web site of the Atlantic Council, Dempsey said that
"he's been talking to his military counterparts in Russia, but he's also
sending a clear message to Ukraine and members of NATO that the
U.S. military will respond militarily if necessary."

"We're trying to tell [Russia] not to escalate this thing further into
Eastern Ukraine, and allow the conditions to be set for some kind of
resolution in Crimea. We do have treaty obligations with our NATO
allies. And I have assured them that if that treaty obligation is
triggered [in Europe], we would respond," Dempsey said.

According to the General, the incursion of Russian troops into the
Crimea creates risks for all the countries of Europe and NATO allies.

"If Russia is allowed to do this, which is to say move into a sovereign
country under the guise of protecting ethnic Russians in Ukraine, it
exposes Eastern Europe to some significant risk, because there are
ethnic enclaves all over Eastern Europe and the Balkans," Dempsey
said.

I have to say that I am appalled by the sight of a Chairman of the Joint Chief seriously implying
that NATO has treaty obligations towards a country which is not even member of NATO, seriously
implying that Russia is a threat to NATO or seriously suggesting that NATO forces could be used
against Russia. Yes, Dempsey did put quite a few "ifs" around this statements, but the general
impression is, of course, of a direct military threat to Russia.

How is Russia likely to respond?

There is a Russian popular saying which exactly covers this kind of situation. It goes like this:
"Пугать ежа голой задницей" which can roughly be translated as "to scare a hedgehog with a
naked butt".

If anything, Dempsey's threats will only serve to make the US and NATO look weaker to the
Russians. Culturally, Russians have always looked down on threats which they typically see as a
sign of weakness. If you are strong - why would you need to make threats? Did you notice that
during the first 10 days of the crisis in the Ukraine Putin did not make a single TV appearance?
And then, he took action before he decided to speak (sending the Polite Armed Men in Green to
Crimea). In the Russian mentality a barking dog is far less dangerous than a quiet one and all that
Dempsey will achieve with his latest outburst is to trigger even more contempt for the western
elites than before.


The Kremlin already knows that Obama is a clown. Now they have a confirmation that Dempsey is
another clown. Who does this leave? Biden? He is a complete buffoon. Kerry? Smart man, but a
pathological liar who simply cannot be trusted. Not Susan Rice - she is a warmongering maniac
(see her track record on Syria). And EU politicians are, frankly, no better.

So, in my opinion, this is one of the biggest dangers the world faces today: the western leader are
not only evil and immoral, they are also hopelessly stupid, incompetent and arrogant. As a result -
there is really nobody in the western capitals which Russia can talk to. Having put their full
political credibility and weight behind a sad and nauseating gang of neo-Fascist insurgents, the
western leaders are now stuck with the consequences of their own actions and not a single one of
them has the courage or moral probity to admit that they completely FUBARed the situation.

As I have written recently, the US and NATO have no rational military options in the Ukraine. But a
combination of arrogance stupidity can trigger clearly unwinnable wars as was the case in the
2006 Israeli attack on Hezbollah and in the 2008 Georgian attack on Russia (both of which were
100% backed and even directed from the USA).

Is there really nobody who can stop these maniacs?

Frankly, this is as sad as it is frightening.

The Saker

UPDATE: "S.E." has just contributed a very interesting comment (thanks!) which I think is
important enough to be placed here in-extenso. He wrote:

Dempsey: this is actually from his interview on friday with PBS Newshour, but with
a slight twist from Bloomberg that makes it seem like he threatens military
intervention in Crimea. On Sic Semper Tyrannis, which might be well known to
some of the readers of this blog, the interview was interpreted at a push AGAINST
war fever, see http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2014/03
/dempsey-pushes-back-against-war-fever-harper.html#more

I will ignore the fact that Dempsey seems to think that its the Russians which are reneging on the
February 21st agreement, and point out the real key sentence here:

"Our role, as the military, is to seek ways to influence this without it being
escalatory. And, by the way, I do have this open line with my Russian
counterpart. So, everything that we have done, I tell him, here's what were
doing. Here's why were doing it. We disagree fundamentally about your claim
of legitimacy, but, as militaries, let's try to avoid escalating this thing."

That is *exactly* what I would hope the top US and Russian military commanders to do. So it
appears that Bloomberg took Dempsey's statements at least out of context and that Zero Hedge
and myself should have been far more cautious about this. Well, all I can say is "kudos to SE!!"
for pointing this out to me. At the very least, this makes me breathe easier :-)

Guys, please make sure to read the post on Sic Semper Tyrannis. I will to find a video link to the
full interview (if you have it - please post it in the comments section).

Thanks and kind regards,

The Saker
Posted by VINEYARDSAKER: at 12:42

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/ne...s?page=122#122

Ukraines Alexander Muzychko leader of the (Right Sector) movement and one of the Maidan's most prominent leaders

Tuesday this creep thug went to the regional parliament meeting where he threatened the regional MPs with a machine-gun, then pulled a gun out of his pants as he made his demands

“Who wants to take away my machine-gun? Who wants to take away my gun? Who wants to take away my knives? I dare you!” Muzychko said.



and here's the photo to go with your video of him attacking the Prosecutor in your video...



Here's the video mentioned:

A video has surfaced online of Alexander Muzychko, a former mercenary who fought in Chechnya, and current leader of the ultra nationalist group known as the Right Sector. It shows his method of dealing with the remaining authorities. Muzychko barged into a prosecutor’s office in Central Ukraine and attacked an employee while demanding to see the prosecutor, who was not there. He then began to terrorise staff members, assaulting one of them and threatening to tie him up and drag him out, quote, “like an animal”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlKE...ature=youtu.be




-----------------------------------------


Gregor Peterþ@L0gg0l·2 hrs
Russia's 98th Airborne Division in Ivanovo put on high alert, moved to unspecified locations for "readiness check" http://en.ria.ru/military_news/20140...ote-Nears.html …

Russian Paratroopers Hold Massive Drills as Crimea Vote Nears

Topic: Crimea’s Fate


Russian airborn troops
© Photo Russian Airborne Troops press-service
17:44 11/03/2014

Clashes in Ukraine’s Crimea

MOSCOW, March 11 (RIA Novosti) – An airborne division based in central Russia began large-scale exercises Tuesday against the backdrop of an ongoing political and security crisis in Ukraine.

The Defense Ministry said units of the 98th Guards Airborne Division, based in Ivanovo, a city east of Moscow, were put on high alert and moved to unspecified locations to “check readiness” in simulated combat conditions.

Four thousand troops, 36 military transport aircraft and an unspecified number of combat vehicles are taking part in the exercises, which will run until March 14.

The drills will include a massive simultaneous paradrop involving 3,500 servicemen, the ministry said.

The drills come in the wake of a number of military exercises in Russia’s western regions in the past days, including air defense drills, combat readiness snap checks and a launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Russia says the exercises are not linked to the development in Crimea.

The turbulent political crisis gripping Ukraine has led to a standoff between Russia and the West over the fate of Crimea, an autonomous Ukrainian region with a narrow ethnic Russian majority.

Crimean authorities have refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new central government in Kiev, which was installed after the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych in late February.

Local officials announced last week that they intended for the peninsula to become part of Russia.

A referendum on the issue has been set for March 16. Authorities in Kiev and international leaders have condemned the referendum as illegitimate.

Ukraine has lost control over Crimea in recent days as thousands of heavily armed troops without insignia and traveling in military vehicles with Russian plates swarmed the area, taking control of administration buildings and taking over military bases.

The Kremlin has denied the troops are Russian and has instead described them as “local militias.”



gandalf greybeard ‏@gerrydogma · 1h
CNN : "The military part of the equation was discussed in depth at a White House meeting on Tuesday"

gandalf greybeard ‏@gerrydogma · 59m
CNN : intensive discussions across national security agencies about a variety of military options to increase the U.S. presence in region.

gandalf greybeard ‏@gerrydogma · 59m
CNN : The United States believes Russia has established a strong line of command and control into Crimea




Missilito ‏@Missilito 1h
Ukraine: Russian build-up 80,000 men, 270 tanks, 180 APC's, 380 artillery, 18 MRLS,
140 jets, 90 helos & 19 warships pic.twitter.com/HSGFHQiZjc





Missilito ‏@Missilito 43m
#Russia is planning to deploy mobile security robots in 2014
to protect its strategic #missile facilities
http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140313/188...ile-Bases.html …



Missilito ‏@Missilito 35m
PHOTO: Russian "Leer-2" Mobile Electronic Warfare System
based on Tigr-M Vehicle reportedly spotted at Crimea pic.twitter.com/uiFWdR5DuO


Lisa Desjardins ‏@LisaDCNN 40m
BREAKING here:
Source familiar w/ the mtg tells me #Ukraine's PM just told senators
he believes Putin wants to return to Soviet borders







@RealCrimea 2m
20 unidentified gunmen seize Kiev bank

Munteanu ‏@Munteanu20 2h
U.S. Senator John McCain called for faster integration of Georgia and
Moldova in NATO amid the ongoing crisis in Ukraine's Crimea region.


#Russia Said to Get Ready for Iran-Style Sanctions http://bloom.bg/1i7oGiN via @BloombergNews #Ukraine #Crimea
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0...orst-case.html

[American Patriot]

Agreed...Ukraine decided to try and be passive here and not provoke the big dog. You see what that got them they are piling in by the thousands with plenty of heavy stuff now, not just some guys and guns. From the pictures and video I see you don't bring in that kind of hardware and not use it. We didn't do that for Iraq. To me its straight out of our play book just keep piling it in, setting up getting all the support in place and everyone just watches and can't believe it......then you get the go order and overrun the place.

They were doomed from the begining if they tried to stop them in the very begining then they would have got the same result Putin would have come in anyway with the wind in his sails. Now hes gonna do it anyway and they are gonna be that much closer to the western border. I figure once this starts and he blitzes up the eastern parts that are easy with all the shooting he might as well just take the whole country.

I think this has all the potential to get very serious...it's gonna be hell for the Ukrainians for sure but if he goes beyond the Russian majority areas and on to Kiev then Poland for example will get very nervous and they aren't going back to the way it was.

If he just stays in Crimea I don't see Ukraine doing anything now and why would you they know they got handed their hat on this if they escalate they lose it all. Big question is Crimea enough for Putin.

What you stated MUST be a lesson to Americans.

If you stand by passively, as we have since the 1960s and laugh at the Hippies, the Hippies turn into grown up Communists.

If you stand by passively while the Russians infiltrate your country, once the door is open they run into the crack like rats and cockroaches.

The difference with fighting in the beginning is that even if you lose, you lose with courage. Now, they look like cowards.

Crimea is NOT enough. Putin wants it all. Look at the whole country, the map, the Black Sea, the passage... this is a very, very strategic location for them. Hell, their own songs in Russia talk about them being an "Empire with Ukraine".

[American Patriot]

I have to say that I am appalled by the sight of a Chairman of the Joint Chief seriously implying
that NATO has treaty obligations towards a country which is not even member of NATO, seriously
implying that Russia is a threat to NATO or seriously suggesting that NATO forces could be used
against Russia. Yes, Dempsey did put quite a few "ifs" around this statements, but the general
impression is, of course, of a direct military threat to Russia.

Sorry, who the fuck is this guy?

[American Patriot]

Sorry.... I don't believe the fucking media for one second. The "Right Sector" is NOT "neofascist". They are the people who DO NOT WANT the God damned Russians there, and they don't want to be involved with the EU either. They want to be free from that crap.

Gosh, just like Americans.

[vector7]

Ulana Pidzamecky‏@StaryiSambir50m
RT @grasswire: The scene 8 km from the Ukrainian border in the Sumskaya region #Crimea #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/1JmygqhECa #digitalmaidan



gandalf greybeard‏@gerrydogma1 hr
Russian armor being transported on the M23 highway close to border of SE Ukraine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfcrhdzTW60 … … @Galrahn @ThreatWatch1

Hmmm….


http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2014-03/13/c_133184520_2.htm

[American Patriot]

Vector, some of us can't get to Chinese news, twitter, facebook... etc. Can you copy and/or summarize the images, news etc in those links?

Thanks!