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

[Ryan Ruck]

Silence is rarely a good sign.

Putin Stops Talks With White House

April 25, 2014

Since the invasion of Crimea, President Vladimir Putin and President Barack Obama have had regular phone calls in an often half-hearted attempt to deescalate the ongoing crisis inside Ukraine. But as the U.S. and EU prepare to unveil new sanctions against Russia, Putin has decided the interactions should stop. The Kremlin has ended high-level contact with the Obama administration, according to diplomatic officials and sources close to the Russian leadership. The move signals an end to the diplomacy, for now.

“Putin will not talk to Obama under pressure,” said Igor Yurgens, Chairman of the Institute for Contemporary Development, a prominent Moscow think tank, and a close associate of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. “It does not mean forever.”

Obama and Putin last spoke over the phone on April 14, a call that the White House said was initiated at Moscow’s request. Obama urged Putin in the call to end Kremlin support for armed, pro-Russian activists creating unrest in eastern Ukraine. Obama also warned that the U.S. would impose more “costs” on Russia if Putin continued his current course. According to the Kremlin’s readout of the call, Putin denied Russian interference in eastern Ukraine and said “that such speculations are based on inaccurate information.”

Obama and Putin have spoken to each other about Ukraine regularly over the past weeks, including calls on March 28, March 16, and March 6. But that these calls are now on hold for the indefinite future, due to their lack of progress and frustration on both sides.

On Friday, Kerry warned that new round of American financial assaults on Russia were on the way. “We are putting in more sanctions, they will probably come Monday at the latest,” said in a private meeting in Washington, according to an attendee. Russian businesses and individuals close to Putin would be on the sanctions list, he added.

Diplomatic sources close to the process confirmed that Putin is not interested in speaking with Obama again in the current environment. The two leaders might talk again in the future but neither side is reaching out for direct interaction, as they had been doing since the Ukraine crisis began. The failure of the agreement struck last week in Geneva between the contact group of the U.S., EU, Russia, and Ukraine has made further direct Washington-Moscow interactions moot.

Other top U.S. officials are also now out of direct contact with their Russian interlocutors. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is also getting the cold shoulder from his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoygu. Pentagon officials have reached out to Russia on Mr. Hagel’s behalf within the past 24 hours but have not gotten any response, according to Pentagon Spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren.

That leaves the channel between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as the only semi-functioning high-level diplomatic channel between Washington and Moscow. But even that often-frosty relationship has further chilled as the two sides hurled insults and accusations this week.

After speaking over the phone Monday and then again Tuesday about the now defunct Geneva agreement on Ukraine, Kerry and Lavrov are now conducting diplomacy through the press—and leveling harsh and undiplomatic charges against one another.

Kerry appeared at the State Department press room Thursday afternoon to declare publicly that Russia was not keeping its word.

“For seven days, Russia has refused to take a single concrete step in the right direction,” Kerry scolded. “Not a single Russian official, not one, has publicly gone on television in Ukraine and called on the separatists to support the Geneva agreement, to support the stand-down, to give up their weapons, and get out of the Ukrainian buildings. They have not called on them to engage in that activity. “

Kerry also lashed out at Russia Today, the Kremlin-sponsored television network, which Kerry said spends all its time “to propagandize and to distort what is happening or not happening in Ukraine.”

“Instead, in plain sight, Russia continues to fund, coordinate, and fuel a heavily armed separatist movement in Donetsk,” Kerry accused.

Lavrov publicly responded, “The U.S. is trying to pervert everything that is going on in Ukraine.”

On Friday, Kerry summed up his recent interactions with his Russian counterpart” “I’ve had 6 conversations with Lavrov in the last few weeks. The last one was Kafka-esque. It was bizarre.”

U.S. and Western European officials, echoing Kerry, told The Daily Beast that new sanctions against Russia could come as early as Monday, following an EU meeting to endorse a list of 15 Russian individuals that will be targeted for new sanctions. The U.S. could also unveil new individuals for targeted sanctions on Monday, but while the U.S. list overlaps the EU list, the two lists are not identical.

The decision to move ahead with new sanctions, thereby pronouncing the death of the Geneva agreement and the current diplomatic process with Russia, was agreed on a Thursday night video conference call between President Obama (from Tokyo), Prime Minister Cameron, Chancellor Merkel, President Hollande and Prime Minister Renzi, several officials said.

“While they continued to hold open the door to a diplomatic resolution of this crisis, based on the Geneva agreement, the five leaders agreed that in the light of Russia’s refusal to support the process, an extension of the current targeted sanctions would need to be implemented, in conjunction with other G7 leaders and with European partners,” a spokesperson for Cameron’s office said.

Those targeted sanctions will still fall short of what many in Washington, including leading Democrats, are calling on the Obama administration to do. During a stop in Kiev Thursday, Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin said that the U.S. “should make more robust use of the powers established in Executive Order 13661, which authorizes sanctions against the Russian financial, energy, metals, mining, engineering, and defense sectors… and we should use this authority to sanction Russian banks… and to take on Russia’s manipulation of energy prices and supplies, which it uses to coerce not only Ukraine, but also many of its neighbors.”

Obama said Thursday there is a limit to the harm he wishes to see imposed on Putin. Asked during his stop in South Korea if he would save Putin from drowning, Obama said. “I absolutely would save Mr. Putin if he were drowning. I’d like to think that if anybody is out there drowning I’m going to save them.”

[Ryan Ruck]

Moving heavy armor now (just a couple), along with a number of support vehicles. Filmed 4/24.

[Ryan Ruck]

Pro-Russian Activists Detain Foreign Military Observers In Eastern Ukraine

April 26, 2014

A pro-Russian insurgency leader in eastern Ukraine said Saturday that foreign military observers detained as suspected NATO spies could be released in exchange for jailed pro-Russian activists.

Outside Slovyansk, a city some 90 miles west of Russia, Ukraine government forces continued operations to form a security cordon as it attempts to quell unrest threatening to derail planned elections on May 25.

Vyacheslav Ponomarev, self-proclaimed people's mayor of Slovyansk, described the detained observers as "captives" and said that they were officers from NATO member states.

"As we found maps on them containing information about the location of our checkpoints, we get the impression that they are officers carrying out a certain spying mission," Ponomarev said.

Ukraine's state security service said the observeRs were being held in "inhuman conditions in the basement of the terrorists' headquarters," according to Reuters, further indicating that one needed medical attention.

The German-led, eight-member team was traveling under the auspices of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe when they were detained. Germany's Defense Ministry said it had had lost contact with the team, which it said included five Ukrainians.

Tim Guldimann, the OSCE's special envoy for Ukraine, told German public radio WDR on Saturday that "efforts are being made to solve this issue." He declined to elaborate.

A German government source reportedly told Reuters "a negotiating team from the OSCE is on the way to the region," but would not specify exactly where the team was headed.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov late Friday to press for the release of the observers. A Russian embassy official was also called into the German Foreign Ministry to receive the same message.

In a statement released on Saturday, Russia's Foreign Ministry said it was taking "all measures to resolve the situation," but blamed the authorities in Kiev for failing to secure the safety of the team.

"The security of the inspectors is wholly entrusted to the host party," the statement said. "Hence it would be logical to expect the current authorities in Kiev to resolve preliminary questions of the location, actions, and safety of the instructors."

Kiev blamed a Russian special forces operative for the kidnapping and said the detainees are being used as a "human shield," Reuters reported.

"We are urgently checking their activities, where they were and what they are doing," Yevgeny Gorbik, a separatist, told Reuters of the detainees, later adding that "it's not up to me to decide," what will happen to the team members.

The United States and other nations in the Group of Seven said in a joint statement released Friday night by the White House that they plan to impose additional economic sanctions on Russia in response to its actions in Ukraine.

The West has accused Russia of using covert forces to encourage unrest in Ukraine and says Moscow has done nothing to pressure pro-Russian militias to free police stations and government buildings in at least 10 cities across the region.

"Instead, it has continued to escalate tensions by increasingly concerning rhetoric and ongoing threatening military maneuvers on Ukraine's border," G-7 leaders said in a statement.

"We have now agreed that we will move swiftly to impose additional sanctions on Russia."

Condemning Russia's earlier annexation of the Ukrainian Black Sea region of Crimea, the G-7 said: "We will now follow through on the full legal and practical consequences of this illegal annexation, including but not limited to the economic, trade and financial areas."

An EU source said ambassadors from 28 European Union member states would meet Monday in Brussels to agree on a "list of 'Stage 2' sanctions" to add to the list of Russian officials and pro-Russian leaders in Ukraine who have already been sanctioned with EU asset freezes and travel bans.

Ukraine's acting prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, traveled to Rome on Saturday to meet with Pope Francis and Italian Premier Matteo Renzi. Francis gave Yastenyuk a fountain pen, telling him, "I hope that you write 'peace' with this pen."

Yastenyuk replied: "I hope so, too."

Yatsenyuk went on to the basilica in Rome popular with Ukrainian Catholics. He lit a candle and held a moment of silence for those killed in Ukraine's unrest.

In a briefing with reporters, he lashed out at Moscow, saying Russian military aircraft violated Ukrainian air space late on Friday.

"The only reason is to provoke Ukraine to strike a missile and to accuse Ukraine of waging a war to Russia," he said, and asked Russia "not to provoke and not to support Russian-led terrorists... in eastern and southern Ukraine. We ask Russia to leave us alone."

The Russian Ministry of Defense denied claims, first raised by the U.S. on Friday, that its aircraft had crossed the border with Ukraine, a spokesman told state news agencies on Saturday.

Two Ukrainian military helicopters circled overhead as a column of at least five armored personnel carriers patrolled country roads north of Solvyansk Saturday.

On one road leading west of the nearby town of Sviatohirsk, more than two dozen troops in black fatigues unloaded from the vehicles and stopped drives in the passing traffic, frisking passengers and inspecting vehicles for weapons.

Ukraine's acting president this week ordered security forces to resume operations in the country's east after the bodies of two people allegedly abducted by pro-Russia insurgents were found and a military aircraft was reported to have been hit by gunfire.

That came despite an international agreement calling for all sides in Ukraine to refrain from violence and for demonstrators to vacate public buildings. It did not specifically prohibit security operations, but Ukraine suspended an earlier so-called "anti-terrorist operation" after the accord.

Washington deployed 150 paratroopers to Lithuania on Saturday. A total of 600 U.S. troops have now arrived in Poland and the former Soviet Baltic states.

"As threats emerged, we see who our real friends are,'' Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said as she greeted the troops at the Siauliai air base.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said the presence of U.S. troops would "repel those who encroach on stability in Europe and peace in the region."

[American Patriot]

Silence is dangerous in a war footing.

[Avvakum]

Silence is dangerous in a war footing.

The lull before the storm. But the Communists are infinitely malleable and adaptable enemies; the next few days will determine if Putin and company are Russian Imperialists, Russian Nationalists, or Communists, depending on their actions. The Bolsheviks are quite capable of surrendering flat-out Russian territories for a time for strategic and tactical advantage later, like when they signed the treaty of Brest-Litovsk surrendering much of Czarist Russia in the West to the Germans in order to end WWI, in 1917. They concentrated on holding areas they could control easier, and won support from the public for ending the dreadful war for Russia.

[Avvakum]

From RT; Right Sector of Ukraine wants to 'fight the Kremlin infection';

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Ukraine’s far-right leader moves HQ to the east, forms new squadron

Published time: April 24, 2014 04:02
Edited time: April 24, 2014 05:21 Get short URL

Dmitry Yarosh.(Reuters / Valentyn Ogirenko )



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Ukrainian radical neo-fascist Right Sector group has moved its main headquarters from Kiev to Dnepropetrovsk to “closely monitor” the developments in the east, its leader said, announcing the formation of yet another paramilitary squadron in Ukraine.
“I moved my headquarters to Dnepropetrovsk. The purpose is to prevent the spread of the Kremlin infection,” Ukrainian presidential candidate and Right Sector leader Dmitry Yarosh announced at a press conference in Dnepropetrovsk.
He says the vital industrial city in Ukraine, Dnepropetrovsk provides a better platform to observe the situation in Donbass where pro-federalization protests are flourishing, after the coup in Kiev.
Yarosh, placed by Russia on an international most wanted terrorist list, also announced that he started forming a special squad of fighters called “Donbass.”
“We coordinate all of our actions with the leadership of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Security service of Ukraine,” Yarosh said.
Local media reports that the unit will comprise about 800 fighters. Any military trained adults could volunteer to join the unit, as long as they meet the requirements.
The move follows a similar announcement in Dnepropetrovsk region, whose Kiev-appointed governor and oligarch Igor Kolomoysky recently formed a special battalion “Dnepr” formed of “local patriots of Ukraine.”

Members of the Ukrainian far-right radical group Right Sector.(Reuters / Valentyn Ogirenko)

Both battalions are part of the special force which is being formed to stabilize and take the situation under control in the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine, as announced earlier by Ukraine’s coup-installed millionaire turned Interior minister Arsen Avakov.
“The new structure of special divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is the answer to saboteurs, ‘green little men’ and to the other gangs tasked with attacking statehood and integrity of Ukraine,” Avakov said earlier in April, stating his ministry was ready to employ and legalize as many as 12,000 volunteers across the country.
On Wednesday, in an exclusive interview to RT, Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, once again reiterated the worrying expansion of the Right Sector. He sees the existence and the expansion of the neo-Nazi group as a violation of last week's Geneva accords.
“In Geneva we agreed that there must be total rejection of extremists and the Right Sector is still very active, and after Geneva the Right Sector staged provocations killing several people in the vicinity of Slavyansk during Easter Sunday. So nothing which was agreed in Geneva and which certainly is for the authorities in Kiev to start implementing was done by them,” Lavrov said.
In response to Yarosh's announcement, the mayor of Slovyansk Vyacheslav Ponomarev told Gazeta that formation of such a battalion “could lead to a fratricidal war.”
The leader of the Ukrainian radical group, Right Sector Dmitry Yarosh, was placed on an international wanted list in March and charged with inciting terrorism.
Yarosh, who leads the far-right militant Right Sector group, has always been anti-Russian in his statements, calling for the destruction and division of the “Moscow Empire” and openly supporting Chechen militants and Georgian aggression. Yarosh believes that Russia is Ukraine’s “eternal foe” and that a war between the two countries is “inevitable.”
The Right Sector was formed in November 2013 soon after the anti-government protests in Ukraine began. Members of the radical movement were very active in the violent events which led to the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovich.
The group has been referred to as the most active, the most radical and the best organized group in the Ukrainian unrest. Many of its violent acts have been well-documented by media and in videos posted on YouTube.

[Avvakum]

Romanian Military headed to Ukrainian border;

Romanian military units moving towards Ukrainian border


Screenshot: Youtube


According to information available, in Romania military units are moving towards the eastern borders - a military echelon loaded with anti-aircraft guns, trucks and ground -to- air missile systems has moved via Bucharest towards the Black Sea port of Constanta. The military units are needed for conducting joint military exercises with the participation of the US servicemen and four American F-16 fighter jets, according to the Romanian Defense Ministry officials told newsmen.



"The maneuvers will be held in compliance with the plan on strategic partnership existing between Romania and the US," Romanian Minister of National Defense Mircea Dusa announced.
Earlier Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Estonia asked NATO to strengthen its military presence in their countries because of the Ukrainian crisis. As soon as it broke out, the AWACS planes started their daily flights over the southern part of Romania, taking off from the NATO air base Gellenkirchen in Germany in order to conduct radar intelligence operations which covered the southern part of Ukraine, Moldova and Crimea.
At the same time, Romanian President Trian Basescu satisfied Washington’s request to increase the number of marines on the NATO air base in Germany from 1,000 to 1,600. In addition, the Romanian authorities asked official Washington to deploy a squadron of US fighter jets on their territory for the period until 2017.
The plans of an increase in the US military presence in Romania are being criticized by both politicians and the public in the country. An adviser to Romanian Prime Minister Ionel Blanculescu voiced his fears, saying that the US had turned Romania into a "good target" in case of military escalation in the region.
From the other hand, a number of Romanian political analysts believe that in view of the events in Ukraine, Bucharest must be well prepared for bringing its troops into the territories of the Odessa and Chernovtsy regions. "Intervention to the north of the Bukovina region, to the south of Bessarabia and Transnistria is becoming inevitable and even necessary, especially in case Ukraine is unable to maintain public order on the territories where the Romanian population lives," an analyst of the popular Romanian newspaper "Adevarul", Dinu Zare, wrote in his article, TASS reports.
Romania starts to relocate anti-aircraft artillery and rockets
A train loaded with anti-aircraft guns, trucks and surface-to-air missiles was spotted in Bucharest, the Ukrainian National News (UNN) agency reports.
The echelon was reportedly bound for Constanza ahead of joint military exercises due to be held by Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and the United States in the south of Macedonia.

World, Ukraine, NATO, US, Romania, border, political crisis, Russia
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_0...n-border-2722/

[Avvakum]

Shadowy commander is face of insurgency in Ukraine

By PETER LEONARD 7 hours ago

SLOVYANSK, Ukraine (AP) — When shadowy commander Igor Strelkov appeared before the cameras recently in green combat fatigues and a clipped mustache, he did more than reveal the face of the insurgency rocking eastern Ukraine. He strengthened the case that Russia is behind the turmoil.

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The commander did not address Ukraine and European Union assertions that he is a Russian intelligence officer. But he told journalists that he and his men entered Ukraine from Crimea, which Russia annexed in March after an insurgency that Russian President Vladimir Putin now admits involved Russian troops. Strelkov's assertion that many of the insurgents are not locals undermines rebel claims that the insurgency is a spontaneous uprising, rather than a coordinated operation backed by outside forces.
"The militia is of course strongly sprinkled with volunteers from other regions," Strelkov said in a taped interview with Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. He estimated that a third of the fighters are not Ukrainian. He backtracked Tuesday in an interview with Russian TV, claiming 90 percent of the militiamen were Ukrainian.
The EU on Tuesday included Strelkov among 15 new people targeted by sanctions. EU documents identify him as a member of the Russian military intelligence agency GRU, as do Ukrainian authorities. The commander himself was cryptic about his origins in the weekend interview.
In Moscow, a flurry of drama surrounded Strelkov's emergence, as camera crews swarmed around an apartment building that Ukrainian TV reported to be home to his mother. Neighbors told The Associated Press that a "fancy black car" had turned up Tuesday morning to whisk the woman away.
Equally murky are the origins of Strelkov's insurgents, their operations and their weapons. They have proven themselves to be ruthless and effective, running their campaign with unerring foreknowledge of Ukrainian security operations.

This image taken from Associated Press video shows Igor Strelkov, military commander of pro-Russian …

Strelkov said his forces obtained their weapons partly from police buildings they had taken over, adding that his men also took arms and vehicles from Ukrainian forces they fought when they entered eastern Ukraine last month.
"Russia so far hasn't supplied us with a single machine gun or bullet," he said.
It wasn't clear why Strelkov has chosen to go public now.
The insurgents are seeking more autonomy from Kiev — possibly even independence or annexation by Russia. Ukraine's acting government and the West have accused Moscow of orchestrating the unrest, which they fear could be used as a pretext for a Russian invasion.
The belief that the Kremlin is directing the insurgents — whose mysterious origins and green fatigues have won them the moniker "little green men" — gained credence when Putin last month dropped his denials that the Russian army had been deployed in Crimea during the uprising in that region.

Pro-Russian activists storm an administration building in the center of Luhansk, Ukraine, one of the …

But there are differences between that situation and eastern Ukraine. The pro-Russian fighters here are substantially less numerous than they were in Crimea. And they fall into two broad categories: men in uniform who have the skills of professional soldiers, and less-organized local militiamen.
The former, comprised of men dressed in balaclavas and a variety of military-style fatigues without insignia, have been deployed in rapid seizures of government offices. On Monday, a gang of about 15 such men carrying Kalashnikovs took over a building housing the city hall and city council in Kostyantynivka, 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of the Russian border. At least one was carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
Strelkov said his own militia force is made up of battle-hardened fighters: "Many are Ukrainian citizens who have fought in the ranks of the Russian armed forces — in Chechnya and Central Asia. There are also those who fought in Iraq and Yugoslavia in the Ukrainian army. There are even those who have managed to be in Syria."
A clearly less professional crew patrols checkpoints in and around the city of Slovyansk, the insurgent headquarters. Typically dressed in civilian clothing, these local men are mostly armed with simpler weapons. Some carry hunting guns; others just have sticks.
In one of the rare instances in which Ukrainian government troops moved in on the insurgents — at a checkpoint at the northern entrance to Slovyansk — the people defending the position dispersed quickly.

A Ukrainian journalist shows a photograph of Igor Strelkov, a military commander of pro-Russian mili …

But these locals can also be effective: Mobs of stick-wielding men and fiery civilian crowds have played important roles in seizing government offices and, in one case, snatching armored vehicles from Ukrainian troops.
Estimates of the insurgents' numbers are hard to come by, but a variety of witness accounts suggest the low hundreds.
Harder to pin down is a clear link to Russia. Putin denies his forces are in eastern Ukraine and his foreign ministry calls such claims "flimsy insinuations."
But several journalists have reported militiamen letting slip that they are Russian citizens, and U.S. and NATO officials insist there is strong evidence linking events in eastern Ukraine to Russia.
And the eerie skill with which the green men anticipate Ukraine's every security move offers strong circumstantial evidence of Russian involvement.

A Ukrainian journalist shows a photograph of Igor Strelkov, a military commander of pro-Russian mili …

On April 13, Ukrainian special forces poised to launch a strike on the town of Slovyansk were preemptively attacked by a handful of suspected pro-Russian troops. Then, this past weekend, three Ukrainian special services agents were kidnapped and spirited away to Slovyansk, where they were presented to Russian journalists with signs of heavy beatings. As the reporters harangued the bloodied men, stripped of their trousers, Strelkov crowed about his ability to outfox his opponents.
Both Western and Ukrainian experts say the events suggest that Ukrainian security services have been infiltrated by Russian intelligence.
"We have our own agents who have been recruited, who are working for the adversary," said Vasil Krutov, head of Ukraine's anti-terrorist center.
U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO's supreme commander in Europe, argues that the conclusion to be drawn from observations on the ground is inescapable.
"What is happening in eastern Ukraine is a military operation that is well-planned and organized," Breedlove wrote on the NATO website, "and we assess that it is being carried out at the direction of Russia."

[Avvakum]

Damned Idiots, they still think that the West is dealing with the Russian Military of 20 years ago, when the Communists deliberately drained and collapsed the economy of the Former Soviet Union so they could siphon all the money out to bribe the Western leadership, create a 'warchest' to get us totally dependant on them. Anyway;

Russia’s Military Bear Is a Paper Tiger

By David Francis 1 hour ago

.View photo

Russia’s Military Bear Is a Paper Tiger



In a telephone call yesterday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu has reportedly assured Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that Russian forces will not invade Ukraine.



The call was an attempt to get Russia to clarify the intentions of the 40,000 Russian troops amassed at the Ukrainian border. But given Russia’s recent lies about its actions in Ukraine, the promise isn’t worth much.
Related: Putin Divulged His Plot to Reunify the USSR Years Ago
This news also supports the growing conventional wisdom that the Russian military is a Cold War behemoth that could charge all the way to Berlin before being turned back by NATO. This, however, is simply not the case. Russia’s current military strength is a myth, just as it was when the Berlin Wall fell.
Russian Special Forces are capable. They showed that in Crimea, which they annexed in a matter of days. But Special Forces don’t invade a country. Well-trained and disciplined conventional troops and modern equipment are needed to do that, and Russia’s 2008 military adventure in Georgia showed they have neither.
Russian forces invaded South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two breakaway provinces in Georgia, in August 2008. The fighting lasted just five days, and the Russian forces eventually defeated an outmatched Georgian military.
Related: How Obama’s White House Lost Ukraine in a Few Stupid Steps
The Russians were victorious in less-than-impressive fashion. Russian commanders were forced to communicate via cell phones because their radios didn’t work. An EU after action report found that Russian troops were poorly organized and undertrained.
“[I]t must be concluded that the Russian military action outside South Ossetia was essentially conducted in violation of international law,” the EU found.
The only reason the Russians won is that the Georgian army was so weak that it had no chance of victory. If Russia were to invade Ukraine, it would meet a smaller fighting force. But that right force would be well armed, because an invasion would likely lead to a proxy war between NATO and Russia. That means Ukrainian troops would be armed with the best equipment in the world.
Related: Putin’s Obsession to Reunite the USSR Can Destroy Russia
The Russians, on the other hand, are using outdated equipment. Its military is in the middle of a $700 billion upgrade, but its completion is years away.
Even if Russia does take Ukraine, it would not likely continue into Eastern Europe where it would meet NATO forces. If that were to happen, Russia’s military bear would be exposed as a paper tiger.

[vector7]

Anti-Southern professor notes League’s support for Crimea’s secession

April 16, 2014

By Michael

Southern blogger and Lincoln apologist Dr Brooks Simpson of Arizona State University notes in a recent post that the League of the South has invited President Vladimir Putin to speak at its national conference this summer near Montgomery, Alabama. Dr Simpson also points out that the League issued a press release expressing support for Crimea’s secession from the Ukraine. The Left-wing professor does not say in the post if he supports the US position against the right of self-determination for the people of Crimea. He does use the term ‘Southern nationalist’ though, which is now far more widely used and accepted than it was only a few years ago.

Click here for Simpson’s post

Update: Dr Simpson has responded to this post by claiming that he is not anti-Southern, but rather is ‘anti-white supremacy and anti-Confederate apologist.’ Notice that the professor uses the language of the Left, as one would expect, in promoting his anti-Southern and anti-White views.

[American Patriot]

Ukraine says military on full alert for possible Russian attack

Posted on May 2, 2014 by News • Tagged Oleksander Turchinov • Leave a comment

“I once again return to the real danger of the Russian Federation beginning a land war against Ukraine,” Oleksander Turchinov told a meeting of regional governors in Kiev, Interfax-Ukraine reported.


“Our armed forces have been put on full military readiness,” he said.

Russia says it has no plan to invade eastern Ukraine following its annexation of the Crimean peninsula in March, but Turchinov’s remark made clear the pro-Western government in Kiev saw no reason to reduce the readiness of its armed forces.

Kiev, however, accuses Moscow of orchestrating an armed uprising in the industrial east by Russian-speaking separatists who have seized government buildings in a strong of towns and cities, largely unopposed by police.

SOURCE

[Avvakum]

Anti-Southern professor notes League’s support for Crimea’s secession

April 16, 2014

By Michael

Southern blogger and Lincoln apologist Dr Brooks Simpson of Arizona State University notes in a recent post that the League of the South has invited President Vladimir Putin to speak at its national conference this summer near Montgomery, Alabama. Dr Simpson also points out that the League issued a press release expressing support for Crimea’s secession from the Ukraine. The Left-wing professor does not say in the post if he supports the US position against the right of self-determination for the people of Crimea. He does use the term ‘Southern nationalist’ though, which is now far more widely used and accepted than it was only a few years ago.

Click here for Simpson’s post

Update: Dr Simpson has responded to this post by claiming that he is not anti-Southern, but rather is ‘anti-white supremacy and anti-Confederate apologist.’ Notice that the professor uses the language of the Left, as one would expect, in promoting his anti-Southern and anti-White views.

I support Dr. Simpson, about these Neo-Confederates and their confused love affair for Putin.

We should keep that in mind when these get involved in other domestic situations. Historical and truly Nationalist and Orthodox Russia supported the Union during the Civil War, and Putin knows that too, as should Neo-Confederates. I'm White and Southern and proud of both (But NOT a 'White Supremacist'), but i'm an American Unionist first and foremost.

[American Patriot]

` President Alexander Turchinov Signs a Decree Reviving Army Conscription for Men in the Ukraine ‘

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#AceWorldNews – KIEV – May 01 – Parliament-appointed acting President Alexander Turchinov on Thursday, May 1, signed a decree reviving army conscription in Ukraine over the crisis in the south-eastern regions of the country.

The decree will apply to young men aged 18-25 who are not entitled to exemption or deferment from military service.
In October 2013, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich signed a decree that ordered the last conscription campaign in the country, after which the Armed Forces were supposed to move on to service on a contractual basis.
Under that decree, 10,800 young men were drafted into the army, bringing the overall numeral strength of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to about 168,000 personnel.
An army reform plan worked out by that time called for their dramatic reduction from 180,000 to 70,000 personnel within five years.
In February 2014, Yanukovich was removed from power as a result of a coup.
The parliament appointed its speaker Turchinov acting president.
On April 30 he ordered the Ukrainian Armed Forces to be put on high alert over the deteriorating situation in the South-East of the country.
BBC News
#ANS2014

[Avvakum]

` President Alexander Turchinov Signs a Decree Reviving Army Conscription for Men in the Ukraine ‘

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#AceWorldNews – KIEV – May 01 – Parliament-appointed acting President Alexander Turchinov on Thursday, May 1, signed a decree reviving army conscription in Ukraine over the crisis in the south-eastern regions of the country.

The decree will apply to young men aged 18-25 who are not entitled to exemption or deferment from military service.
In October 2013, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich signed a decree that ordered the last conscription campaign in the country, after which the Armed Forces were supposed to move on to service on a contractual basis.
Under that decree, 10,800 young men were drafted into the army, bringing the overall numeral strength of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to about 168,000 personnel.
An army reform plan worked out by that time called for their dramatic reduction from 180,000 to 70,000 personnel within five years.
In February 2014, Yanukovich was removed from power as a result of a coup.
The parliament appointed its speaker Turchinov acting president.
On April 30 he ordered the Ukrainian Armed Forces to be put on high alert over the deteriorating situation in the South-East of the country.
BBC News
#ANS2014

If the Neo-Soviets had waited, the Ukrainians would've really been in trouble;


"An army reform plan worked out by that time called for their dramatic reduction from 180,000 to 70,000 personnel within five years."

[Ryan Ruck]

Russian Rebels Shoot Down Two Ukrainian Helicopters

May 2, 2014

Russian rebels shot down two Ukrainian helicopters on Friday, killing two crew, as troops tightened their siege of separatist-held Slaviansk in what Moscow called a "criminal" assault by Kiev that wrecked hopes of peace.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said the Kremlin was "extremely worried" that it had not heard from an envoy Putin had sent to the eastern city to help free foreign hostages. He said the "punitive operation" mounted by Ukrainian forces had destroyed a peace plan agreed with Western powers two weeks ago.

The Ukrainian Defence Ministry said in a statement that two Mi-24 helicopter gunships were shot down by shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles while on patrol overnight around Slaviansk, a city that rebels have turned into a heavily-fortified stronghold. Two airmen were killed and others wounded. The attack helicopter normally has two crew but can carry more.

Other Ukrainian officials and the separatist leader in Slaviansk had said earlier that one airman was taken prisoner.

A third helicopter, an Mi-8 transport aircraft, was also hit and a serviceman wounded, the Defence Ministry said. The SBU security service said this helicopter was carrying medics.

Eight hours after Reuters journalists in Slaviansk heard shooting break out and saw one helicopter opening fire, the city of 130,000 was quiet, with shops shut and armed separatists in control of the streets while Ukrainian forces in armoured vehicles had taken up positions on the outskirts of town.

Ukrainian officials said troops overran rebel checkpoints around the city in an operation launched before dawn and it was now "tightly encircled". They pointed to the heavy fire that hit the helicopters as proof of the presence of Russian forces, despite repeated denials from Moscow that it has troops on the ground or is controlling the uprising.

Putin's spokesman heaped blame on the Ukrainian government, which took power two months ago after pro-Western protests forced the Kremlin-backed elected president to flee to Russia.

Noting that Putin had warned before that any "punitive operation" would be a "criminal act", Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies that this was what had now happened at Slaviansk, where separatists seeking independence or annexation by Moscow are holding seven foreign European military observers.

Saying Putin had sent an envoy, Vladimir Lukin, to southeast Ukraine to negotiate their release, Peskov said that Lukin had not been heard from since the Ukrainian operation began.

"While Russia is making efforts to de-escalate and settle the conflict, the Kiev regime has turned to firing on civilian towns with military aircraft and has begun a punitive operation, effectively destroying the last hope of survival for the Geneva accord," he said, referring to a deal on 17 April signed by Russia, Ukraine, the United States and the European Union.

Under that agreement, separatists were supposed to lay down their arms and vacate the public buildings they have seized in about a dozen towns they have seized across the Russian-speaking east. Since then, however, they have tightened their grip.

Barricades

Gunmen in Slaviansk said they were holding their ground against Ukrainian forces that have struggled to assert control over the past month. Some threw up new barricades of felled trees. And dozens of civilians blocked a road against a unit of Ukrainian armoured vehicles, telling troops to go home.

Reuters journalists in the city heard shooting from shortly after 4 am (0100 GMT) and saw a military helicopter open fire. Towards midday, the city was quiet, shops were shut but rebel gunmen appeared to be still in tight control of the streets. Ukrainian troops were at a halt in the suburbs.

The SBU said the deadly use by the separatists of shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles was evidence that "trained, highly qualified foreign military specialists" were operating in the area "and not local civilians, as the Russian government says, armed only with guns taken from hunting stores".

Russia denies involvement but has massed troops on the border and threatened to intervene to protect the Russian-speaking majority in eastern Ukraine from what it calls an illegitimate, Western-backed government in Kiev. Alarmed Western powers believe President Vladimir Putin is set on asserting Moscow's influence over its former Soviet neighbours.

Armed groups seeking union with Russia have seized a number of government buildings in towns in eastern Ukraine. The action in Slaviansk appeared to mark the heaviest military response by Kiev since it tightened a cordon around the city a week ago.

"They wanted to carry out some small-scale tactical operations just to scare the people," said a militant manning a checkpoint leading to the army-held airfield. "But so far things have not worked out the way they wanted."

On his Facebook page, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov posted: "The goal of our anti-terrorist operation and, at the same time, our demands to the terrorists are simple: Free the hostages, lay down weapons, vacate administrative buildings and get municipal infrastructure back to normal."

He added: "We are ready to negotiate with the protesters and their representatives. But terrorists and armed separatists (will get) only inevitable retribution."

He urged local people to stay indoors and said Ukrainian forces, from the Interior Ministry, National Guard and the armed forces, had orders not to fire on residential buildings.

Support for the separatist movement is patchier in eastern Ukraine than it was among the majority ethnic Russian population of Crimea, which Moscow seized and annexed in March. However, many are fearful of the new authorities in Kiev and have little faith in Ukraine after 23 years of post-Soviet independence marked by rampant corruption and poor living standards.

"Shells came into my garden," said one local man, Gennady. "They say that they have come to defend us. But who from?" he said of the Ukrainian forces. "Civilians must stop them."

On the town's southern outskirts, eight Ukrainian armoured personnel carriers cut off the road but faced a cordon two deep of local residents shouting at them to go home.

May Day

The clashes around Slaviansk came only hours after Russia staged a huge May Day parade on Moscow's Red Square on Thursday - its first since the Soviet era - with workers holding banners proclaiming support for Putin after the seizure of territory from neighbouring Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Ukraine's leaders - who came to power in February when the previous Moscow-backed president was toppled after months of protests - conceded they were "helpless" to counter the fall of government buildings and police stations in the Donbass coal and steel belt. Donbass is the source of up to a third of Ukraine's industrial output.

Separatists had also stormed the prosecutor's office in the city of Donetsk on Thursday, throwing rocks, firecrackers and teargas at riot police defending officials they accused of working for the Western-backed government in Kiev.

Rebels in the city, capital of a province of 4.3 million, have declared a "People's Republic of Donetsk" and called a referendum on secession for May 11, undercutting a planned presidential election in Ukraine two weeks later.

Having seized buildings in the capital of the easternmost province, Luhansk, on Tuesday, gunmen took control at dawn on Wednesday in the nearby towns of Horlivka and Alchevsk.

The International Monetary Fund warned that if Ukraine lost territory in the east it would have to redesign a $17 billion bailout of the country, probably requiring additional financing.

Citing the situation in the east, acting Ukrainian President Oleksander Turchinov has signed a decree reinstating compulsory military service for men aged between 18 and 25.

The Kiev government, along with its Western allies, accuses Moscow of orchestrating the uprising. The United States and European Union have imposed sanctions in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea and involvement in eastern Ukraine.

The intervention in Ukraine has been enormously popular in Russia. One opinion poll on Wednesday showed 82 percent support for Putin, his highest rating since 2010.

[American Patriot]

Saw that about 30 minutes ago.

Sucks.

Saw this too (I think yesterday)

Russia and China Announce Joint Naval Drills as NATO Declares Russia an Enemy

Image | Posted on May 2, 2014 by tomfernandez28

Today NATO’s second in command, Alexander Vershbow, declared that Russia is now to be categorized as an enemy.


“Clearly the Russians have declared NATO as an adversary, so we have to begin to view Russia no longer as a partner but as more of an adversary than a partner,” said Alexander Vershbow, the deputy secretary-general of NATO.


This statement comes as China and Russia announced that they will be carrying out joint Naval drills in the South China Sea. This show of unity sends a message on multiple levels.


Last week the Obama administration vowed to defend Japan against China in their territorial dispute over the Senkaku islands.


Related: Ukraine Sliding Towards Civil War as Kiev Desperately Clings to Power


Our commitment to Japan’s security is absolute and article five [of the security treaty] covers all territories under Japan’s administration, including the Senkaku islands,” Obama said during a joint press conference with Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe.


China, is obviously not happy about that. Nor are they happy about Washington’s overall push to contain them militarily in the region. Though the Obama administration publicly denies that the recent drive to shore up alliances with China’s neighbors is geared towards containment, no one is fooled (especially not Beijing).


Russia’s show of military solidarity obviously can’t be separated from the Ukrainian crisis. This week China made a number of statements criticizing the latest round of ‘sanctions’ against Russia.


We believe that sanctions are inconducive to the solution of problems. On the contrary, they will escalate tensions,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Monday.


So if NATO has declared Russia to be an enemy, and the U.S. is openly provoking China by injecting itself into territorial disputes, and beefing up its military presence in the South China Sea, how long until we start hearing the official war mongering rhetoric expanded to encompass all parties in the ‘axis of evil’? Answer: ASAPE (As Soon As Politically Expedient).

[MinutemanCO]

Is it possible to predict impending timing of escalation in Ukraine/World War III with Obama administration's plans with the American populace. It would be naive to think they weren't somehow connected.

[American Patriot]

Is it possible to predict impending timing of escalation in Ukraine/World War III with Obama administration's plans with the American populace. It would be naive to think they weren't somehow connected.

I would say that some things are going to happen first.

1) Some kind of internal conflict (see the Bundy situation as an example, which in this case failed. Perhaps they tried to trigger it too early?)

2) Watch the key indicators heading for a nuclear war; things like "build up" of forces, local conflicts erupting in the disputed area (Ukraine, happening now), and threats (happening now, Russia threatens the US, the US threatens back), movement of military forces into the conflicts (final phases) and a clear intent to harm to the other side.

3) Declaration of "war".

4) An attack on the US by foreign forces (Russia/Chinese, perhaps North Korea or Cubans involved).

5) Sudden declaration of "martial law" in the US or in specific cities.

So - prediction becomes, at least in my mind, an equation of where we are on the above time line (which, by the way is far from complete and probably not completely accurate) and what stage in the time line has come next.

I would say that the change from 3 to 5 will be in terms of hours or days, instead of weeks.

The change from 1 & 2 (taken together as requirements) to 3 will be weeks to months, not years.

As things stand right now, making a prediction that a world war will trigger, and the United States will be dragged into it - and at the same time the "plans of Obama" (whatever those might be at present) are not as far off as we might imagine.

[Avvakum]

I would say that some things are going to happen first.

1) Some kind of internal conflict (see the Bundy situation as an example, which in this case failed. Perhaps they tried to trigger it too early?)

2) Watch the key indicators heading for a nuclear war; things like "build up" of forces, local conflicts erupting in the disputed area (Ukraine, happening now), and threats (happening now, Russia threatens the US, the US threatens back), movement of military forces into the conflicts (final phases) and a clear intent to harm to the other side.

3) Declaration of "war".

4) An attack on the US by foreign forces (Russia/Chinese, perhaps North Korea or Cubans involved).

5) Sudden declaration of "martial law" in the US or in specific cities.

So - prediction becomes, at least in my mind, an equation of where we are on the above time line (which, by the way is far from complete and probably not completely accurate) and what stage in the time line has come next.

I would say that the change from 3 to 5 will be in terms of hours or days, instead of weeks.

The change from 1 & 2 (taken together as requirements) to 3 will be weeks to months, not years.

As things stand right now, making a prediction that a world war will trigger, and the United States will be dragged into it - and at the same time the "plans of Obama" (whatever those might be at present) are not as far off as we might imagine.

Well, I think you're right, absolutely. What happened with Russia before 1917's Bolshevik Revolution could serve as a template.

Russia was already in a disasterous World War with the Germans and Austro-Hungarians, and losing. People were going hungry as Russia was effectively blockaded by the Central Powers. America was brought to that point with a ruinous economic collapse in 2008. It was economic warfare.

Russia then saw a new government under Alexander Kerensky, a Socialist who continued the Czar's war with the Central Powers, but fought it in such a way that Military and Public morale collapsed, while he brought all the exiled Revolutionaries and Terrorists home and his Provisional Government allowed a second rival Government, the Worker's and Soldier's Council (the 'Soviet'), to form. Then, when they were ready, the Soviet took over in a near bloodless Coup and Kerensky fled into a comfortable exile in New York, living as a ordinary Lawyer and dying in 1940 I think.

America has seen Obama fight the 'War on Terror' in such a way that America's enemies-contrary to propaganda-are actually winning, and military and public morale has collapsed. We just want out of any new wars or hint of the same. In America, the old Revolutionaries and Terrorists of the 60's and 70's never left and funded by people like George Soros, form a 'Parallel Government' in which whole Federal Agencies answer to the people in this Network, instead of Congress or our usually vacationing 'President'.

You tell me; I'm I drawing too close of a parallel? After all, things in Russia in 1917 were alot worse than America in 2014..... Wait, yeah, we aren't in another World War that our Government wants us to fight to lose in.

Yet.

[American Patriot]

*BREAKING NEWS* Ukraine: Helicopter Shot Down Over Slavyansk

2 Votes

A Ukrainian helicopter has been shot down over the pro-Russian stronghold of Slavyansk as fighting there continues to worsen.
Ukraine’s defence ministry said the pilots had survived but elsewhere in the east of the country four paramilitary policemen were shot dead in fighting.
A number of other rebels and civilians are also thought to have been killed or injured, according to Sky’s Stuart Ramsey, who is in eastern Ukraine.
The helicopter, an Mi-24, came under fire from a heavy machine gun and crashed into a river.
The ministry said in a statement the crew were evacuated to a nearby camp but did not give any detail of their condition.
At least three other helicopters have been shot down by pro-Russian rebels in the violence that is increasing in eastern parts of the country.
Pictures shot by news wires showed pro-Russia rebels carrying rocket launchers and rocket propelled grenades.
The four police officers were killed in fighting near Slavyansk after Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said they were ambushed by separatist rebels on the outskirts of the city of 118,000.
The fighting has been intensifying since the Ukrainian forces began an operation to remove the rebels from the strongholds in a number of eastern towns and cities.
Reuters reported that cars were ferrying the wounded from the sites of the clashes but there were no figures for fatalities on the side of the separatists.
One civilian woman in Slavyansk was reported to have been hit in the head by a bullet, and pictures showed the funeral of a 21-year-old nurse Yulia Izotova, in Kramatorsk, who was said to have been killed in fighting in the surrounding area in the days before.