daveakl Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 All that being said JMS, a cornered Putin could be a very dangerous thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 http://www.aa.com.tr/en/headline/298078--turkey-not-to-quot-leave-crimean-tatars-in-the-lurch-quot Turkey not to "leave Crimean Tatars in the lurch" Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey would support Crimean Tatars in maintaining their political rights amid the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. "We will not leave Crimean Tatars in the lurch,” Erdogan said during a rally in the central Anatolian city of Eskisehir before the local elections on March 30. “I have talked to Russian President (Vladimir) Putin on the events in Crimea and told him that Russia should protect the rights of Crimean Tatars as they do with the Russian majority and other minorities in Crimea," he said. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/07/britain-s-kgb-sugar-daddy.html Britain’s KGB Sugar Daddy To understand Britain’s cowardice in standing up to Vladimir Putin, just follow the money. On Monday, a freelancer photographer called Steve Back snapped a photograph of a document being carried cavalierly in the open by British officials entering Downing Street. The document was a list of suggested countermoves by Westminster to play against the Kremlin for Russia’s recent invasion of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. Some of the items tracked with what other European and American counterparts were thinking. Let’s not fuel up the NATO jets quite just yet; let’s send a monitoring team from the UN and/or OSCE to Crimea (Robert Serry, a UN envoy was nearly kidnapped earlier this week by armed gunmen in Simferopol); let’s draw up financial and energy contingency plans to help the embryonic new government in Kiev. But one item stuck out above the rest: “Not support, for now, trade sanctions… or close London’s financial centre to Russians.” Two of Britain’s finer Russia-obsessed journalists, Ben Judah and Oliver Bullough, have dealt admirably with why London has all of a sudden gone wobbly on Putinist aggression in Europe. The flow of Moscow gold to the sceptr’d isle, they argue, has now become so steady, so dependable and so relied-upon that no act of geopolitical thuggery can ever again lead to a Churchillian showdown with the Kremlin. The Cold War may be over in the Western imagination for a number of reasons, but the triumph of cold hard cash is one of them. Russians have bought nearly five percent of the premium London properties in 2013. They’ve kept the tills full at Harrods during an “austerity” economy. They’ve sent their children to elite boarding schools and Oxbridge colleges, paying full tuition fees. And they’ve shoved their questionably-gotten gains into British tax shelters or financial institutions. In return, the political establishment, be it Labour or Tory, has only asked for more. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_UKRAINE_OLIGARCHS_TO_THE_RESCUE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-03-07-04-11-31 Ukraine oligarchs get key posts in bid for unity In a surprising move after Russia flexed its military might in the Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine's new leadership has reached out to oligarchs for help - appointing them as governors in eastern regions where loyalties to Moscow are strong. With their wealth, influence and self-interest in preventing further conflict, the oligarchs could be the key to calming tensions and maintaining Ukraine's control in areas where pro-Russian activists have stoked separatist tensions. But the decision to appoint the country's richest men as regional administrators has its risks. Some believe the oligarchs, who have a history of manipulating governments, may become too entrenched in their new jobs and could use their posts for personal gain. http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/forbes-embroiled-in-billion-dollar-ukrainian-corruption-scan Forbes Embroiled In Billion-Dollar Ukrainian Corruption Scandal Forbes magazine’s Ukrainian edition is embroiled in fresh controversy after Ukrainian police and the European Union moved against its fugitive owner on suspicion of stealing more than $1 billion from state coffers. The scandal around 28-year-old oligarch Sergey Kurchenko may stretch as far as the U.S. and Forbes family scion Miguel Forbes, who approved Kurchenko’s controversial purchase of the magazine’s Ukrainian edition last summer and signed on as an informal business adviser. Arsen Avakov, Ukraine’s acting interior minister, announced 11 criminal investigations Thursday into the VETEK group and Kurchenko, its secretive owner, for importing and “re-exporting” oil in violation of tax and customs regulations. Two other investigations allege that VETEK defrauded state gas company Naftogaz, and charge a company owned by a former driver reportedly linked to Kurchenko with not paying for gas. The total sum that police accuse Kurchenko and his alleged affiliates of stealing totals about 10 billion hryvnias (more than $1 billion). Kurchenko released a statement Thursday through VETEK expressing his “surprise” at the sanctions and denying the allegations against him. “I am an honest Ukrainian businessman who has always invested in Ukraine and practically all my business is concentrated here,” Kurchenko said. He accused rival oligarchs and their political lackeys of concocting the corruption allegations against him and claimed that no criminal charges had ever been filed against him or his company, apparently unaware of Avakov’s allegations. “And I am certain that the misunderstanding that has arisen will be resettled.” http://www.businessinsider.com/american-executives-working-for-putin-2014-3 Here Are The American Executives Who Are Working On Behalf Of PutinVladimir Putin has a network of lobbyists and lawyers working for him here in America. These executives can be identified through disclosure forms required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which mandates people who work "as agents of foreign principals in a political or quasi-political capacity" document these relationships with the Department of Justice. Business Insider went through these records and identified the American executives who are working with Putin's regime. https://twitter.com/mchancecnn With OSCE mission in Ukraine. They will try to enter Crimea in next few hours. 1:41 AM osce mission to ukraine set to be "assertive" at crimea checkpoints today, according to spokesman. 3:42 AM osce observer: Safety catches were flicked off pro Russia guards weapons as we approached crimea checkpoint yesterday 4:54 AM https://twitter.com/cstreib 43 osce observers from 22 countries in 2 coaches + 1 police escort pic.twitter.com/rkcGYxWD4Q 4:37 AM osce observer pitstop at gas station in southern Ukraine, 50km away from crimea pic.twitter.com/xqFoHcFZkg 6:07 AM Fresh supplies for hungry osce observers before they head to the crimea frontier pic.twitter.com/9XF3FsoEUM 6:29 AM osce observers just passed Ukrainian checkpoint at Azov Sea 7:51 AM https://twitter.com/mchancecnn 3 times osce has asked to pass through crimea checkpoint. All refused. ukraine 11:13 AM As we drove into crimea, masked police shot out tires of another car. No idea why 11:13 AM We just left osce behind and entered crimea. watch my exclusive report later 11:13 AM https://twitter.com/cstreib osce observers refused entry at the Crimea crossing point pic.twitter.com/kc4lhpe7Xb 9:36 AM Negotiations btw osce and armed and hooded guards manning the checkpoint pic.twitter.com/sScIGuRKoh 11:41 AM https://twitter.com/BSpringnote Cemilev, one of the leaders of Crimean Tatars moves from Kiev to Simferopol to be with his people. Good man 11:42 AM Self appointed Donetsk separatist governor Gubarevy arrested for two months 11:45 AM http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2014/03/07/nr-watson-turkey-us-warship.cnn.html U.S. warship crossing into Black Sea Added on March 7, 2014 CNN's Ivan Watson reports from Bosphorus Strait on a U.S. warship headed to the Black Sea on a routine deployment. Simferopol Residents Rally For Ukrainian Unity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKY_lYGenQI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMS Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 All that being said JMS, a cornered Putin could be a very dangerous thing. It's not that he's particularly dangerous today, it's that he's attacked a country where the cost of our responding is greater than our motivation to respond militarily. And it seems economically for Europe. The problem is while he's not that dangerous a thing today, this is how dangerous people are created... They amass power as the world takes their acquisitions lightly. They get bolder and bolder and the leaders who can respond just try to ignore them until finally a crisis occurs. But that wasn't my point above.. My point was this is really Putin's worst nightmare. A month ago Putin had a friendly neighbor in Ukraine and a secure 40 year lease on his most important port free and clear. The world was his oyster.. hosting the Olympics, conducting trade talks with Germany and the US, hosting the G8. Today he's committed troops, making ridiculous claims on global TV... ( no troops in Crimea). Has been condemned by the 7 largest economies in the world who are weighing whether to crush him economically, might have lost his nest egg invested in the west.. and it looks like he's in for what could be a damaging confrontation, and he still has to militarize Crimea in order to dominate it and keep it from slipping back to Ukraine. Putin didn't want this path... His xenophobic paranoia imposed it on him. Putin's not happy about this. How could he be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcsluggo Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 yeah... Putin better remember the international beating he took when Russia invaded, occupied, and all but annexed Ossetia and Abkhazia! oh...wait a second..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 http://news.yahoo.com/ukrainian-soldiers-life-under-siege-175057022.html;_ylt=AoEtg60YxPG04d_q.kTUDN_QtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTBsaGVqY3E0BGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHNlYwNzcg-- A Ukrainian soldier's life under siege It's seven in the morning and the alarm clock buzzes: a new day dawns for Oleksandr -- a Ukrainian soldier in Crimea living under siege from a foreign army. For the past week, this 27-year-old aviation mechanic has been stuck at his base in Belbek, Sevastopol's military airport, surrounded by Russian forces and kept away from his wife and six-month-old baby. "I usually work eight to five," says the blue-eyed young soldier as he stares out from behind the gates of the base. "I refuel planes but since the Russians arrived we all sleep here in the barracks," says Oleksandr, whose family lives off base. "We're on sentry duty. Nobody knows how long this is going to last. For the moment, they're allowing food supplies through." https://twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak Reuters: Russian President Putin's spokesman says calls for Russia to start talks with Ukraine under western mediation "make us smile" 12:41 PM https://twitter.com/APDiploWriter Putin, looking pleased, formally opens SochiParalympics 12:38 PM https://twitter.com/MaximEristavi Standing ovations in Moscow today for Crimea separatist PM AP pic pic.twitter.com/1yJzdq2aFA 12:53 PM https://twitter.com/shustry BREAKING: Crimea TV reporting that Russians have begun storming Ukraine air-force base on the peninsula, ramming the gates with a truck 2:02 PM CONFIRMED: Russian forces storming Ukraine base near Sevastopol, home of anti-aircraft commander center Crimea http://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2014/03/7/7018108/ 2:08 PM 20 Russian troops inside, moving toward command post of Crimea base, guarded by 100 Ukrainian troops, reports @ukrpravda_news 2:13 PM 15 trucks of Russian troops descend from Black Sea fleet warship, report Ukraine media, citing Ukraine MoD pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2014/03/7/7018113/ … 2:28 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 https://twitter.com/AnshelPfeffer Rabbi Kapustin is wearing a Ukraine Israel lapel pin. A brave thing to do this week in Crimea pic.twitter.com/Txlx7N9zSL 9:23 AM The "cossacks" & Russia troops are attacking the Ukraine army base at 5th kilometer from Sevastopol (anti-aircraft) 2:28 PM According to early reports members of pro-Russia militia used a truck to break thru the gate of the base. No shots so far Crimea 2:34 PM More details from 5km base. Truck stuck at gate, Russia soldiers climbed over it. 70 Ukraine soldiers still holding out in the bunkers 2:50 PM Roadblocks on the roads leading to 5KM base under Russia army attack. Small group of local journos inside. Sevastopol 2:54 PM https://twitter.com/shustry Ukraine MoD spoxman confirms storm of air force base in Sevastopol. Russian troops already seized part of base. Says unaware of shots fired 2:44 PM Ukraine air force Colonel tells to TIME that Russian commander in charge of siege now demanding Ukraine forces lay down arms and surrender 2:53 PM https://twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak Reuters: armed men enter Ukrainian military post in Crimea and take control with no shots being fired 2:57 PM https://twitter.com/mpoppel REU: UKRAINIANS AND FORCES THOUGHT TO BE RUSSIANS HOLD NEGOTIATIONS AFTER MILITARY POST TAKEN, NO ARMS SEIZED - REUTERS REPORTER 2:57 PM https://twitter.com/mpoppel ABC News: Ukrainian troops at stormed Sevastopol base have gone into a bunker, says deputy commander of nearby Belbek base 3:10 PM https://twitter.com/shustry Ukraine Colonel tells me the stormed base is large and sprawling, Russians only seized a small part. MoD spoxman says 100 Ukrainians inside 3:10 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 https://twitter.com/shaunwalker7 Hearing that a couple of journalists have been quite badly beaten up by the self defence units near the Sevastopol base being stormed. Grim. 3:19 PM https://twitter.com/shustry Cossacks and other military irregulars preventing reporters from getting near the stormed Ukraine base, thus no video or photos 3:26 PM https://twitter.com/bishopk Feeling unsafe here so we're pulling away. Never good to try to find out what's happening when it's dark and angry men have guns 3:24 PM Colleagues are reporting than journalists maybhave been beaten up tonight - we can't confirm that but we're pulling away just in case 3:27 PM https://twitter.com/PeterShuklinov In Crimea RUS sldrs brutally beat journalists including women. Some tried to escape but RUS overtook. 1 of jrnlst by phone shout "save me" 3:46 PM https://twitter.com/jenanmoussa I am on my way to Sevastopol where Russians R reportedly storming a ukranian base. Not sure how close I can get but ill do my best. 3:39 PM Still driving in dark to Sevastopol. Road quite. No traffic. I hear journos were beaten up close to UKRAINE army base. Fingers crossed. 3:53 PM Just passed 2 military vehicles that have no number plates. These 2 mini APCs are driving in the dark towards Sevastopol. 3:56 PM https://twitter.com/AnshelPfeffer Didn't arrive on time before they blocked the road. Collecting info via journos inside 3:19 PM The Ukraine & Russia officers were discussing terms of surrender/truce when local Crimea militia and began roughing up journos. standoff 3:44 PM At least one Russian journalist needed treatment after being beaten over head by pro-Russia militia at 5KM base 3:50 PM Attack on 5KM base was well-planned in advance but the Crimea militia seem to have screwed up the Russia Army plans. 3:59 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMS Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Doesn't it just make you mad at our European allies for being such wussies? I mean what are we even doing in Europe anyway. If Europe, ( Germany, Italy, France, and UK) want to compromise and empower Putin, we all know where that is going to end up. Why not just leave them to it... If that's all the will they have, let their own population put a little backbone into their leaders.. Let's pull out and leave them on the front lines and see what they do then. Why taint ourselves with that stink. It's like Neville Chamberlain is running every meaningful government in Europe. I'm starting to think maybe we should put sanctions on Germany too. Too timid to spend the tens of billions sanctions would cost us, and thus condemning us to spend trillions down the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 http://bigstory.ap.org/article/armed-men-confiscate-ap-equipment-crimea Armed men confiscate AP equipment in Crimea Armed men in Crimea's capital city have confiscated equipment from Associated Press employees and contractors working there. AP's Global Media Services, a division of the news cooperative that provides services to broadcasters, said a crew was setting up a satellite uplink for a live camera position above a Simferopol restaurant Thursday. They were approached by unarmed men who asked them to turn off their broadcast lights and prevented them from leaving the building. Two other men then came and took photos of AP's equipment, including protective jackets, and accused the crew of being spies. Later, armed men showed up and ordered the crew to put their hands against the wall while they cut cables and took the equipment away. Some of the equipment has been recovered, but much is still missing. The contractors and employees were kept at the building for about two hours before being released unharmed. https://twitter.com/shustry Ukraine MoD spoxman confirms that Russians have pulled back. "The base is now in complete control of Ukraine armed forces." 4:28 PM Now the bad news: A crew from Ukraine TV channel Inter badly beaten by armed irregulars outside the base, Ukraine Defense Ministry says 4:29 PM https://twitter.com/jenanmoussa Just stopped at a checkppoint on way to Sevastopol. Have no clue who these armed men are. 4:11 PM Thats an experience. Huge checkpoint 20 kms b4 Sevastopol manned by ethnic Russians &at least 4 serbs. They searched us &let us go 4:18 PM Luckiy @HaraldDoornbos driving car speaks serbian. Serbs at checkpoint told us: we came 2 help Russian brothers. Will stay till referendum. 4:22 PM We just met 4 serbs at checkpoint leading to Sevastopol in Crimea. One originally from Pristina Kosovo. One from Bosnia. 2 from Serbia. 4:27 PM Atmosphere rather tensed in streets of Sevastopol. Young guys walk in small groups thru town. We will go into a hotel till things clear up. 5:06 PM https://twitter.com/NBCNews Russia is ‘entrenched’ in Crimea and has ‘no intention of leaving’, defense official tells NBC News 5:06 PM https://twitter.com/jimsciutto US to send 300 troops in addition to dozen F16s to Poland in response to Ukraine Crimea 5:14 PM https://twitter.com/MaximEristavi Crimea govt has no authority to decide where Ukraine's sovereign territory starts & ends - OSCE's @danbbaer pic.twitter.com/thrRq5zbFo 5:23 PM https://twitter.com/HodaAH Crimean PM tells me Yanukovic welcome as private citizen but has no more political role. He's done too many mistakes ukraine 5:25 PM Crimea PM tells me self defense units & Russian Cossacks coordinated by Russia Black Sea fleet but Russia not invaders or occupies 5:28 PM https://twitter.com/RAGreeneCNN Ukraine military's Vitaly Onishenko in Crimea now telling CNN base was never overrun - gate rammed by Russians but held. 6:15 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMS Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Canada expels Russian soldiers in response to Ukraine crisis CBC.ca-by Trinh Theresa Do-4 hours ago The Canadian government is imposing a travel ban against individuals deemed a threat to Ukraine as it continues to denounce the Russian ... http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ukraine-crisis-leads-to-canada-expelling-russian-soldiers-1.2563620 Canada expands travel bans over Ukraine crisis International-Toronto Star-2 hours ago http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/03/07/canada_expands_travel_bans_over_ukraine_crisis.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Doesn't it just make you mad at our European allies for being such wussies?OT joke, but I remember a joke from back during the run up to our invading Iraq. You know the world has changed when ..... The best rapper is white. The best golfer is black. The tallest player in the NBA is Chinese. The French are calling us arrogant. The Germans don't want to start a war. And the three most powerful men in the world are named Bush, Dick, and Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 http://www.channel4.com/news/russia-cctv-crimea-journalists-attacked-paramilitaries Crimea: paramilitaries shown with gun to journalist's head CCTV footage has been released showing the moment a masked paramilitary holds a gun to the head of a Bulgarian journalist. The shocking scenes played out on the streets of Simferopol, near the parliament building, after a camera crew was told to stop filming by a group of masked an armed men. According to eyewitness account, the crew were beaten at gunpoint and had their equipment loaded into a white van. The paramilitaries then turned their attention to two photographers on the opposite side of the street. In an interview posted to the crimea.ua news site one of the journalists attacked stated; "We were sitting in a restaurant when masked gunmen entered the building opposite and began to take out the equipment. "This was clearly television studio equipment. I quickly took a few photos on my phone, as they carried the equipment. One of the masked men approached me, put me on the ground, put a gun to his head to me and just took my phone and my friend's camera. "Then they returned to the van, the vehicle had no licence plate, and they left." He added; "Here now, the military situation there is no law. People who do this, clearly are not subject to any laws." https://twitter.com/Kateryna_Kruk Among journos beaten by Russ.soldiers during storm of UA military base,were Russians.so Russians r beating Russian in Crimea. 6:44 PM https://twitter.com/WilliamsJon Now journalists targeted in Ukraine. Reporters attacked, AP intimidated, shut down. Got something to hide Vladimir? 6:50 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Sounds like a great environment in which to have fair and accurate elections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFromYellowstone Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Crimea PM tells me self defense units & Russian Cossacks coordinated by Russia Black Sea fleet but Russia not invaders or occupies So do you agree with me now JMS lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 8, 2014 Author Share Posted March 8, 2014 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/08/world/europe/ukraine.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0&gwh=B607B28C48DAD8F1AA9B83F3EB1D58CF&gwt=pay Kremlin Signals It Will Back Crimean Secession The Speaker of Parliament on Friday said that Russian legislators will endorse the move, which is opposed by Ukraine and Western governments. Western governments. Reports of Russian troops invading southern Ukraine today, taking a town called Chongar, and laying down mines. http://www.interpretermag.com/ukraine-liveblog-day-19-nerves-of-steel-tested/#1610 http://www.osce.org/hcnm/116180 Developing situation in Crimea alarming, says OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Astrid Thors is alarmed about the situation in Crimea. On her return to Kyiv today, she said: “I am alarmed about the risk of violent conflict on the Crimean peninsula and the effects this could have on all communities, particularly the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar groups.” Thors said the situation remains precarious. “Rash decisions on the future status of Crimea are a major source of tension and expose divisions between the peninsula’s communities that have been left unaddressed for decades. Like the Ukrainian community, Crimean Tatars have taken a different position to the majority population, which increases their vulnerability. Relations between ethnic groups on the peninsula are characterized by a growing climate of fear,” she said. “I remind the authorities in effective control of the Crimean peninsula that they are obliged to ensure security and respect for human rights, including minority rights, for all those present on the territory, regardless of whether they are of Russian, Ukrainian or Crimean Tatar or other origin.” “There is a real risk of bloodshed. All decisions on essential issues, such as the status of Crimea, language policy or national minority policy, must be taken in dialogue with all parties and be consistent with international law,” said Thors. During her visit to Kyiv and Crimea, the High Commissioner found no evidence of violations or threats to the rights of Russian speakers. https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPR OSCE condemned continuous closure of television channels and attacks on journalists in Crimea. https://www.osce.org/fom/116240 |PR News 12:12 PM http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jgmvox_LbSoJyGf_rTRc-xvStIbA?docId=7af140cd-5f07-401d-ba93-3c397b663154 Concern mounts over attacks on media in Crimea Concern was mounting Saturday over the safety of journalists in Crimea after reports that Ukrainian reporters were beaten by pro-Russian militants and an international television crew had its equipment seized. Ukraine's Channel 5 television reported that its journalists were among several beaten by pro-Russian militants late Friday as they covered a confrontation at a Ukrainian air force base in Sevastopol. The channel said journalists from the Inter and STB channels were also beaten at the base, where the militants reportedly smashed through the gates with a truck but eventually left. An AFP reporter later saw five male journalists in hospital who had been severely beaten, their faces covered with blood, and who were being treated for head wounds. Pro-Russian militia in Crimea have often been confrontational with Ukrainian and international journalists, whom they accuse of working for foreign powers against Moscow. The Associated Press news agency said in a report Saturday that armed men in the Crimean capital Simferopol had seized equipment from one of its crews on Thursday. It said the crew had been setting up a live camera position above a restaurant when they were approached by unarmed men who took photos of their equipment and "accused the crew of being spies". Armed men later showed up, ordered the crew to put their hands against the wall and took their equipment away, the agency said. Other reports have emerged of journalists being attacked, including an incident that reportedly took place outside parliament in Simferopol on Thursday. Closed-circuit video footage, posted on YouTube and first aired by a Ukrainian channel, showed a masked paramilitary running toward a Bulgarian journalist, throwing him to the ground and holding a pistol to his head. Rights group Amnesty International said journalists and activists were "facing increasing harassment and intimidation in Crimea". It called for military observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to be allowed in to monitor the situation. The monitors were unable to enter the peninsula for the third time in three days on Saturday, with warning shots fired as the convoy including their buses approached a checkpoint manned by pro-Russian forces. https://twitter.com/mpoppel REU: UKRAINE BORDER GUARDS SAY ONE OF THEIR OBSERVATION PLANES COMES UNDER FIRE ON PATROL ON CRIMEA REGIONAL BORDER, NOBODY HURT 12:17 PM https://twitter.com/mpoppel REU: Obama spoke with Cameron, Hollande and Italy's Renzi about Ukraine, White House says 12:30 PM http://es.redskins.com/topic/377195-bbc-ukraine-sanctions-imposed-amid-kiev-clashes/page-10#entry9751343 Russia may halt U.S. inspections over sanctions Russia is considering a freeze of U.S. military inspections under arms control treaties in retaliation to Washington's decision to halt military cooperation with Russia, news reports said Saturday. Russian news agencies carried a statement by an unidentified Defense Ministry official saying that Moscow sees the U.S. move as a reason to suspend U.S. inspections in Russia in line with the 2010 New START treaty on cutting U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals and the 2011 Vienna agreement that envisages mutual inspections of Russian and NATO military facilities as part of confidence-building measures. A Defense Ministry spokesman wouldn't comment on the reports, which are a usual way in Russia to carry unofficial government signals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RansomthePasserby Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Reports of Russian troops invading southern Ukraine today, taking a town called Chongar, and laying down mines. http://www.interpretermag.com/ukraine-liveblog-day-19-nerves-of-steel-tested/#1610 If that report is true, does that mean Russia is extending its invasion into larger Ukraine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 8, 2014 Author Share Posted March 8, 2014 https://twitter.com/mike_giglio If reports of Russian troops + mines in Chonhar, S. Ukraine, are true, it's likely to defend position in Crimea, not move further mainland 12:33 PM pt: Chonhar is a village bordering Crimea. it's in Kherson region, but reports of troops in Kherson have been limited to Chonhar so far 12:35 PM https://twitter.com/mpoppel Ukraine: Readout of Obama calls with Cameron, Hollande, Renzi and other leaders http://bnowire.com/inbox/?id=2221 1:52 PM https://twitter.com/IvanCNN Obama spoke w/leaders of Latvia, UK, Lithuania, France, Estonia, Italy. White House: all reject Crimea referendum as violation of constitution 2:03 PM https://twitter.com/APDiploWriter SecKerry to Lavrov: Military escalation, provocation/steps to annex Crimea will "close any available space for diplomacy." Per StateDept 2:22 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGoodBits Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Great, minefields. Nothing like children getting their legs blown off to make sure people know you're serious about annexing Crimea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Boy, these people who aren't Russian troops, and who aren't planning on conquering Crimea, sure did buy a whole bunch of hardware at the Army Surplus store. Edit: I kinda understand that it's an urge that really shouldn't be given in to, but dang, I wish we would declare war and go in there full force. I would really love for an American President to declare The Obama (or whoever is in office at the time) Doctrine. (Or, heck. Call it the Bush Doctrine, and claim that Desert Storm was the first application. Might get some Republican votes, that way.) "If you invade and attempt to conquer somebody else's country, then the full force of the US military will be used to oppose you." I don't care if you're Russia, China, or Israel. Yeah, it's a strong, bold, (and probably reckless) position to declare. (We gonna try to defend Tibet?) But, dang, I would love the notion that our military actually stands for something morally good. I would love for the world to see some high moral principals, actually backed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 8, 2014 Author Share Posted March 8, 2014 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/03/06/do-crimeans-actually-want-to-join-russia/ Do Crimeans actually want to join Russia? Now that the first shock of the events in Ukraine and Crimea is starting to subside, many in the policy world on both sides of the Atlantic are wondering what happens next. Central among the questions is whether the Russian army will stop in Crimea, or whether Donetsk, Kharkiv or Odessa and even areas with substantial Russian minorities outside Ukraine are next? If you are looking for the answer to that question, you can stop reading now. We have no idea. As we have seen once again in the last few days, political science as a discipline is not very good at prediction, especially about the actions of particular individual leaders or states. Nevertheless, there are some things that we can be pretty confident about. One of these, as we’ll see in a minute, is that however this dispute works out between Kiev and Moscow, whoever ends up running Crimea and eastern Ukraine in the coming years will face a massive challenge in pulling together a very divided group of citizens. While there may be relatively small differences in some political values, as Pippa Norris argued here Monday, there are very real and highly consequential differences in political identities that make the road ahead in Ukraine in general, and in Crimea in particular, extremely difficult. The picture of political identity in Ukraine that emerges is one of tremendous variation in the degree of commitment to Ukraine as a state. Figure 1 goes to the heart of the issue. Asked an open-ended question about where respondents considered their “homeland” to be, Crimeans, unlike easterners or other southerners, showed fairly little affiliation with the Ukrainian state. More than half of Crimean respondents replied by naming Crimea, while almost no one else mentioned their own region. Some 35 percent of Crimeans did volunteer Ukraine, and while allegiance to Ukraine was higher — around 50 percent — among ethnic Ukrainians and Tatars living in Crimea, these figures were considerably below the support in eastern Ukraine. In short, levels of attachment to Ukraine in Crimea are noticeably out of line with the rest of the country. However, it is worth noting that only only 1 percent of Crimeans mentioned Russia as a homeland and only 10 percent mentioned the Soviet Union. This suggests that even though Crimeans have much stronger pro-Russian geo-political preferences than other Ukrainians (see Figure 2) these preferences did not translate into a strong emotional identification with Russia. Moreover, in a more recent Razumkov Center survey (from December 21-25 2013), while substantial minorities endorsed either Crimean independence (35 percent) or joining “another state” (29 percent), a majority (56 percent was opposed to either of the political options involving Crimea’s separation from Ukraine. Of course, it is anyone’s guess how these proportions have been affected by the events of the past two months in the context of a highly partisan political and informational environment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ixcuincle Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 9, 2014 Author Share Posted March 9, 2014 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26503476 Ukraine gripped by rival rallies They sprung up quickly and quietly across this rugged peninsula: impromptu roadblocks, well-manned and at times aggressive. We pulled up to one on the road from Sevastopol to the Crimean capital, Simferopol. Cars were opened to ensure that nothing - or nobody - was being transported from western Ukraine, the seat of what many here call the "illegal revolution". The checkpoint was under mixed command - Ukrainian police who had defected from Kiev to Crimea's pro-Russian autonomous government, heavily-armed soldiers wielding AK-47 rifles and a group of Cossacks - one of whom was ready to talk. "I've come from Russia," he said. "We have the right to be here because the local people asked for our help, to protect them from the fascists of western Ukraine." Beside him stands a man with the Serbian national emblem on his uniform: four Cyrillic "s" letters - the Serbian abbreviation for "Only Unity Saves the Serbs". Having been based in Belgrade, I strike up conversation in Serbian. "Yes, I'm from southern Serbia," he tells me. "I've come to help my Russian Orthodox brothers - we are the same and it's normal that I'm here." He denies being a paramilitary - but it's clear he's a Chetnik, the nationalist Serbs who fought in the Yugoslav wars and now sporadically appear elsewhere as mercenaries. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5itXJDd-kAGn_VuB1x58OW8q2p0Aw?docId=5cb29b87-4113-4a82-9469-fc411cbfc030 Russian flags flood Crimean capital as thousands back takeover Russian flags flooded Lenin Square in the centre of Crimea's capital Simferopol Sunday as thousands rallied in support of Moscow's takeover of the peninsula -- vastly overwhelming a smaller pro-Ukraine demonstration nearby. The rival rallies in Simferopol were peaceful, in contrast to the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, where about 100 pro-Russians with clubs and whips attacked some 20 people who were guarding a pro-Ukraine rally. Some 10,000 people joined the pro-Russia rally in Simferopol, chanting "Russia! Russia!" as a navy band played patriotic Russian songs and dancers twirled on stage. "We will overcome all adversity, all obstacles and we will restore historic justice," the newly installed pro-Russian prime minister of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, told the crowd. "Together with Russia we will build our future!" he cried, prompting shouts of "Hurrah! Hurrah!" from the crowd. Standing amidst signs reading "Crimea is not in Ukraine" and "With Russia, Peace in Crimea," 60-year-old Olga said restoring Crimea to Russian rule would undo a historical injustice. "We don't want to be with those Ukrainian fascists any more," said Olga, who declined to give her surname. A few kilometres (miles) away, a much smaller crowd of about 1,000 gathered for a more sombre demonstration in support of Crimea remaining within Ukraine. Standing under a bronze bust of Taras Shevchenko -- the Ukrainian poet and national hero whose birth 200 years earlier was marked on Sunday -- the demonstrators read poetry and sang the national anthem, many with their hands on their hearts. "We are here to honour the great Shevchenko and Ukraine," said Svyatoslav Regushevsky, a 46-year-old who brought his two-and-a-half-year-old son, wearing a ski jacket with the Ukrainian flag colours, to the unity rally. "They cannot seize Crimea, (it's an) illegal occupation," he said, as around him unity supporters waved yellow-and-blue balloons marked: "We are for peace in Ukraine". http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/world/europe/developments-in-Ukraine.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimesworld&_r=0 Pro-Russia Leader Warns Ukrainian Troops to Leave Crimea Amid new reports of Russian reinforcements in Crimea, one of the region’s leaders on Sunday recommended that Ukrainian troops remaining there should “quietly and peacefully” leave the territory unless they were willing to renounce their loyalty to Kiev and serve the region’s new administration. The remarks by Vladimir Konstantinov, a pro-Russian figure who was in Moscow on Sunday, suggested an attempt to clear roughly 3,500 Ukrainian forces from the territory after a tense, weeklong standoff. Another official, speaking to reporters in Simferopol, the regional capital of Crimea, announced plans to build railway bridges connecting Crimea with mainland Russia, bypassing Ukraine. Russia, meanwhile, made clear that it planned to move forward with some form of recognition after Crimea’s referendum vote March 16 on the regional assembly’s move to secede from Ukraine. In a conversation with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia made a forceful case for the legitimacy of Crimea’s referendum, telling them, “The steps taken by the legitimate leadership of Crimea are based on the norms of international law and aim to ensure the legal interests of the population of the peninsula,” according to a statement from the Kremlin on Sunday. Although President Obama has made it clear that the United States does not want to escalate the Crimean crisis, the Pentagon has stepped up training operations in Poland and sent fighter jets to patrol the skies over Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, three former Soviet republics with sizable populations of ethnic Russians. In Kiev, Ukraine’s new foreign minister, Andrii Deshchytsa, said some small progress had been made to form a “contact group” of foreign diplomats to mediate the country’s confrontation with Russia after the occupation of Crimea by Russian soldiers and local “self-defense” groups more than a week ago. Washington has sought to establish the contact group — which would include Russia, Ukraine, Britain, France and the United States — as a way to bring Moscow and Kiev to the negotiating table. http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ukraine-crisis/crimeas-tatars-fear-long-simmering-tensions-will-explode-n47331 Crimea's Tatars Fear Long-Simmering Tensions Will Explode Despite the Crimean parliament voting to secede from Ukraine and join Russia Thursday, there is a restive minority ethnic group who could rock these plans: the Crimean Tatars. The Tatars, a Turkic ethnic group who make up about 12 percent of the approximately 2 million people in the Crimean Peninsula, are not supporters of the March 16 referendum to align closer to Russia. The speaker of the Tatar National Assembly, Refat Chubarov, has gone so far as to call for a boycott of the referendum, which he said, “completely ignores the opinion of the peninsula’s native population – the Crimean Tatars.” https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam Obama pushing ahead on Ukraine. Meeting New Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk at White House on Wednesday. 12:39 PM https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPR Tomorrow the Navy forces of US, Romania & Bulgaria will start holding naval exercises in the northwestern part of BlackSea near Ukraine 12:45 PM https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPR Kharkiv today! Glory to Ukraine! pic.twitter.com/JyMQmW9Jtk 2:23 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted March 9, 2014 Author Share Posted March 9, 2014 http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/Voting-fraud-secured-pro-russian-majority-in-Crimean-parliament-7496130.html#.UxzTqCyYYqT Voting fraud secured pro-Russian majority in Crimean parliament Member of the Crimean parliament Nicolay Sumulidi voted for the proposal to hold a referendum on joining Russia. At least this is what the official voting records say. The problem is, however, that he was never present. It was 04:30 in the morning on Thursday last week that several dozens of masked soldiers, armed with Kalashnikov-rifles, stormed into the regional assembly in Simferopol. At dawn, the Russian tricolor was flying over the parliament building. Russia’s president Vladimir Putin says he has no plans to annex the Crimea, but maintains that the citizens must be allowed to decide for themselves. Aftenposten’s correspondent interviewed a dozen members of the regional assembly, and talked to a number of central players and eyewitnesses. The conclusion is that the people’s will is far from deciding events in the Crimea. It was just after 9 in the morning when Sumulidi received a telephone call. He was told to come to the parliament as soon as possible. If he didn’t, it would have bad consequences for himself and his family. Sumulidi put the receiver down. - I had no intention to go. During the last months we have seen more and more clearly what direction events are taking, he said. After the demonstrations had continued for several weeks, the masked soldiers entered the Crimean parliament building. The elected representatives who showed up were stripped and had their cell phones confiscated. No journalists were allowed in. Behind closed doors – while armed soliders were watching – they sacked the government, announced a referendum on independence from Ukraine and elected Sergey Aksyonov to be prime minister. In the elections in 2010, Aksyonov’s party, Russian Unity, won only 4 per cent of the votes and 3 of the 100 seats in the assembly. Rules require that at least 51 representatives be present in order to hold a qualified vote. The new goverment says 61 members of parliament took part. Aftenposten’s research shows, however, that only 36 were present. - The system which registers who voted, and what we voted for or against, shows I did cast a vote. But I was not there. Neither were a large majority of my colleagues, says Sumulidi. Representative Irina Klyuyeva also participated in the vote, according to the official records, but she was not present either. http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2014/03/who-will-protect-the-crimean-tatars.html Who Will Protect the Crimean Tatars? At first, Rustem Kadyrov could barely make out the mark outside his house, in the Crimean town of Bakhchysarai, but it filled him with terror. It was an X, cut deep into the gray metal of the gate, and its significance cut even deeper, evoking a memory Kadyrov shares with all Crimean Tatars. Kadyrov, who is thirty-one, grew up hearing stories about marks on doors. In May of 1944, Stalin ordered his police to tag the houses of Crimean Tatars, the native Muslim residents of the peninsula. Within a matter of days, all of them—almost two hundred thousand people—were evicted from their homes, loaded onto trains, and sent to Central Asia, on the pretext that the community had collaborated with the Nazi occupation of Crimea. Kadyrov’s grandmother, Sedeka Memetova, who was eight at the time, was among those deported. “The soldiers gave us five minutes to pack up,” she told me, when I visited the family on Thursday. “We left everything behind.” Memetova still has vivid memories of her journey into exile: the stench of the overcrowded train carriage, the wailing of a pregnant woman who sat next to her, and the solemn faces of the men who had to lower the bodies of their children off of the moving train—the only way, she said, to dispose of the dead. Four of her siblings were among the thousands of Crimean Tatars who never even made it to their final destination, Uzbekistan. Starting in the nineteen-sixties, the Soviet Union began to allow survivors of the deportation to return. Memetova and her family came back to Crimea almost three decades ago, in 1987. This weekend, at around 3 P.M. on Saturday, Memetova’s forty-four-year-old daughter, Ava, looked out the window and saw four young men, strangers to the neighborhood, walking down the street, armed with batons. The men were also carrying pieces of paper, Ava told me—which she believes were lists of homes belonging to Crimean Tatars. Seventy years after Memetova’s deportation, her house had been marked once again. “Just as we thought we finally had a future,” she said. “How could anyone do this in the twenty-first century?” When I walked up Chiisty Istochniki Street from the Memetovas’ house, I saw similar marks on four other houses, all of them residences of Crimean Tatars, Kadyrov said. The houses of their Russian neighbors, however, had not been touched. Similar markings have been reported in other parts of Bakhchysarai, and in some areas of the regional capital, Simferopol. Kadyrov told me that he called the police, who came out see his gate, but they refused to register a case. He was not surprised. “The police will not help us,” he said. “They told me Crimean Tatars are not a priority for them. Of course not—they are punishing us because we do not want Putin here.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilmer17 Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Im still not sure why we should give two ****s about Crimea. If the people there WANT to be part of Russia, why is that ours or an international problem? Would Russia get pissed if people in the border towns of Mexico voted to join the US and we went there with military to help them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Im still not sure why we should give two ****s about Crimea. If the people there WANT to be part of Russia, why is that ours or an international problem? You seem to be skipping over his pointing out that they DON'T want Russia there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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