It's official - Russia enters Crimea

Re: It's official - Russian enter Crimea

Didn't the ethnic Russian separatists inaugurate a President in Lugansk and Donetsk after last weekend's election?
That looks to me like a step towards annexation a la Crimea.

Re: It's official - Russian enter Crimea

crimsonaudio said:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30025138

Click to expand...

Well, der Fuhrer was a little more overt. That probably won't wash in today's environment.

Re: It's official - Russian enter Crimea

American soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade at Camp Ederle in Vicenza, Italy, are expected to be leaving the base once again soon to head to Ukraine to help train soldiers for their fight against Russia, an Italian newspaper reports.

---

The same newspaper earlier this week suggesting that American soldiers may already be on the ground in Ukraine and helping the government of Kiev.

In a post that covers a purported Jan. 24 attack on the Black Sea port city of Mariupol by troops from the People's Republic of Donetsk, a Ukrainian reporter questions a soldier wearing a Ukrainian uniform, and claimed he used perfect English when he told the reporter to leave him alone.

Click to expand...

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/airborne-american-troops-ukraine/2015/01/31/id/621896/

Re: It's official - Russian enter Crimea

formersoldier71 said:

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/airborne-american-troops-ukraine/2015/01/31/id/621896/

Click to expand...

I saw the video. Not sure what to make of it. Dude spoke English with an American accent. Wearing non-US fatigues, and carrying an AK-74.
The Russian language caption said "American mercenary in Mariupol."

Re: It's official - Russian enter Crimea

Tidewater said:

..."American mercenary in Mariupol."

Click to expand...

They misspoke...it's a contractor.

Re: It's official - Russian enter Crimea

Obama's Ukraine policy at crossroads as fighting rages on.

Opponents of arming Kiev say Putin will be able to more than match any escalation; advocates say the Russian leader risks increased casualties and discontent at home if he does so.

Click to expand...

Goods points, well presented.

"The truth is I don’t think we know yet ... how successful this United States last year committed more than $118 million in training effort will be," a senior State Department official [with poor English skills] said. "There is a sense that there’s still some big issues left to be resolved" ...

Click to expand...

... Like how to construct a coherent, understandable sentence in the English language. Once he's figured that out, he will move on to solving the problem in Ukraine.

Overall, a fairly well-written article. I wondered how an American journalism organization had produced it. Then I saw it was from Reuters.

Re: It's official - Russian enter Crimea

It appears Putin approved the invasion before Yanukovich left Kyiv.
If reports out of Moscow are true.
On the other hand, if Novaya Gazeta editor ends up dead before next week, then never mind.

Displaced Bama Fan said:

3,000 US troops to train in Eastern Europe with Estonian, Latvian & Lithuanian forces.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/3000-us-troops-head-eastern-europe-exercises-29501996

Click to expand...

Last month, US troops (and Stryker armored vehicles) participated in an Estonian Independence Day parade in Narva, Estonia, 300 meters from the Russian border.

Of the three, Lithuania has the least to fear. They do not share a border with Russia (except the little enclave of Kaliningrad). Latvia, in the middle, has some towns that are overwhelmingly ethnic Russian. Estonia, the northernmost of the three, also, has a large Russian population. In fact, Narva (where the US troops took part in the Estonian Independence Day parade), is 80% ethnic Russian.
The Baltic States have to walk a fine line between unifying their countries around being Lithuanian/Latvian/Estonian, without alienating their ethnic Russian minorities (who would then cry out to Putin to come "protect" them).
There are some signs of hope, however. Some of the best football players in Estonia are ethnic Russians, who helped Estonian earn their way into the EUFA playoff. Estonians call them "our Russians." Also, even though Narva is 80% Russian, very few of hem have availed themselves of the opportunity to get Russian passports.

Re: It's official - Russian enter Crimea

Russian "Doctor of Military Sciences says nuke Yellowstone, and cause the supervolcanoe to erupt.
Terrifying.
Points for "outside the box" thinking, but terrifying.

Re: It's official - Russian enter Crimea

Displaced Bama Fan said:

Yep, I read that as well. That's scary. Does he realize the overall global impact from a super volcano eruption such as Yellowstone though? It may throw us into a new Ice Age and well, Russia isn't what I call a "southern" country.

Click to expand...

Yes, but it would hurt the U.S. worse, I suppose.
Here's a joke that shows the Russian mentality a bit.
A Russian finds a bottle, rubs it and out pops a genie. He offers the Russian one wish, so the Russian says, "I want my neighbor's cow to die."

Re: It's official - Russian enter Crimea

Russia whips up separatist sentiment in Ukraine.

A group of "Bessarabian" separatists met in Odesa, Ukraine.
A real journalist (something we seem to be short of in the US) did some research and found out something curious about the separatists web page:

The [Bessarabian People's Rada] “BPR” emerged practically overnight, its website’s domain name being registered in the City of Moscow (rada-bessarabia.org).

Click to expand...

Then the author waxes political:

Russian support seems to have plucked this group out of nowhere.

Click to expand...

So the Russian plan is find some disgruntled members of some splinter organization somewhere in a country where you want to stir up some trouble, feed them some seed money, and see what sprouts.
The Ukrainians scarfed 20 of these "Bessarabians" up and put them in the cooler.

Re: It's official - Russian enter Crimea

Longish article in The National Interest.
Allison is a Democratic national security guy (Carter, Clinton, Dukakis).
The article suggests Russia is owed a wide berth in Ukraine and the West had better tread carefully, or we will have another August 1914 on our hands.

Re: It's official - Russian enter Crimea

Tidewater said:

Longish article in The National Interest.
Allison is a Democratic national security guy (Carter, Clinton, Dukakis).
The article suggests Russia is owed a wide berth in Ukraine and the West had better tread carefully, or we will have another August 1914 on our hands.

Click to expand...

*thanks*

Not sure Putin is viewed as a moderator instead of a hard liner like this portrays him. Estonia does scare me in that it could be the flash point. I have personal friends there that are very nervous. This excerpt is very sobering:

Putin has talked publicly about his willingness to use nuclear weapons to repel any effort to retake Crimea—noting that he relied on Russia’s nuclear arsenal during the Crimean operation. In these debates, many ask whether President Obama would risk losing Chicago, New York and Washington to protect Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius. It is a troubling question. If you want to either dumbfound or silence a table next to you in a restaurant in Washington or Boston, ask your fellow diners what they think. If stealthy Russian military forces were to take control of Estonia or Latvia, what should the United States do? Would they support sending Americans to fight for the survival of Estonia or Latvia?

Click to expand...