Crisis in Ukraine

[Unhappy438]

he wants to tell you that the so called "invasion" will never happen.

I dont recall anyone offering up the opinion that an invasion will happen, seems hes just chatting schit again.

 

[LazyLion]

LAWMAKERS RUSH TO PASS BILL TO AID UKRAINE
Associated Press

Lawmakers are rushing to get a bill to the president's desk that would provide $1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine and sanction those who had a hand in Russia's takeover of Crimea.

The House and Senate were poised to pass versions of the legislation on Thursday. Both sides said they want to get one bill to President Barack Obama's desk before the end of the week, but it was unclear whether the work would be finished by then.

The Senate bill authorizes $1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine and an additional $100 million in direct aid. It would codify sanctions the U.S. already has levied against some of Russian President Vladimir Putin's close friends and associates, members of his inner circle, government officials, some of the richest men in the country and a major bank. The sanctions freeze any assets those being sanctioned currently hold within U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit Americans from doing business with those targeted.

The Senate bill also included a proposal from one of Obama's fiercest critics, Republican Sen. John McCain, enabling the president to impose economic penalties on Russian government officials for corruption even within Russia's own borders.

The House bill also authorizes sanctions, loan guarantees and millions in direct aid. The House bill includes money for the Voice of America and other broadcast networks to counter what the House says is propaganda from Russian-based sources, and funds to bolster Ukraine's law enforcement and judicial systems. The House bill also urges Obama to greatly expand the number of Russian officials and others sanctioned for human rights violations and compels the president to report to Congress on sanctioning a broad range of senior Russian officials.

Republican House Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday that both sides were discussing ways to get a bill out of Congress as soon as possible. Asked whether he expected problems reconciling the two bills, Boehner said, "You never know. But there's an awful lot of cooperation and discussion underway to try to avoid that."

Republican Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he hoped the Senate would embrace the House bill without requiring negotiations to work out differences. "Our goal is not to go to conference because of the urgency of the situation," he said.

McCain stressed the importance of providing additional defense equipment and military training to countries in central and eastern Europe, including Ukraine.

"Vladimir Putin is on the move," McCain said in a floor speech in which he called Russia a "gas station masquerading as a country."

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham agreed, asking rhetorically on the Senate floor: "Should the U.S. and our NATO partners, at the request of the Ukrainian people, supply them with defensive weapons to rebuild the military gutted by pro-Russian elements? To me the answer is yes because if you want to make Putin think twice about what he does next, he's got to pay a price greater than he has for the Crimea. If he gets away with this and he doesn't pay any price, he's going to be on steroids."

The Ukraine aid bill gained momentum this week after Democrats backed down and stripped International Monetary Fund reform language from the bill. The move signaled a retreat for the Democrats and the Obama administration, which had promoted the IMF provisions.

But with tens of thousands of Russian troops massed on Ukraine's eastern border, Senate Democrats decided it was more important to denounce Russia, codify sanctions against Putin's inner circle and support Ukraine rather than push now for the IMF changes.

Worried that Moscow was planning more land grabs, eight Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee wrote to Obama on Wednesday urging him to work with NATO allies to share with Ukraine any intelligence on Russian troop movements. They also urged Obama to improve the readiness of U.S. military forces in the region and pursue additional measures to bolster the security of U.S. allies in eastern and central Europe.

In a meeting with NATO's secretary-general on Wednesday in Brussels, Obama pledged to defend U.S. allies and said every NATO partner needed to "chip in" for mutual defense. He said members should examine their defense plans to make sure they reflect current threats.


Source : Sapa-AP /avb
Date : 27 Mar 2014 08:10

 

[Garson007]

I dont recall anyone offering up the opinion that an invasion will happen, seems hes just chatting schit again.

Don't be so sensitive.

 

[Unhappy438]

Don't be so sensitive.

Lol ok then, why dont you answer the initial question in that case?

 

[zippy]

He (Obama) also warned of the possibility of further sanctions against Russia if it encroached further into Ukraine.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26746106

I think you are too simple .....
EU and US, they are already accepted the fact and will not do anything IF russia will not do anything "further".
understand?



what?

you don't need to be a condensing arse. Just stick to the issues.

The EU have already stated that they accelerating alternatives to their imports of Russian oil and gas. So there is more to come. Once these alternatives are secured, they will stop the import of Russian and gas. In other words. There is more to come. In addition, all NATO countries are reconsidering their defence spending. All military co-operation with Russia has been suspended. The British Forces Germany is reconsidering scaling down their presence in Germany. Full withdrawal was planned by the end of 2019.

And NATO is beefing up defences in the Baltic

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/24/cameron-nato-baltics-states-defences-ukraine-crisis

 

[DreamKing]

you don't need to be a condensing arse. Just stick to the issues.

The EU have already stated that they accelerating alternatives to their imports of Russian oil and gas. So there is more to come. Once these alternatives are secured, they will stop the import of Russian and gas. In other words. There is more to come. In addition, all NATO countries are reconsidering their defence spending. All military co-operation with Russia has been suspended. The British Forces Germany is reconsidering scaling down their presence in Germany. Full withdrawal was planned by the end of 2019.

And NATO is beefing up defences in the Baltic

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/24/cameron-nato-baltics-states-defences-ukraine-crisis

sure sure ......

I am waiting.

 

[DreamKing]

if russia is going to shut down the supply from tomorrow, I have no idea how those EU countries are going to survive from tomorrow.

but anyway, I don't think russia will do that and I am also very confident EU they are also not that stupid to do that.

What they are doing now that is just publicity stunt for some potential future NATO members.

 

[LazyLion]

UKRAINE'S TYMOSHENKO TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT

Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has announced she will run for presidential elections set for May 25.

Tymoshenko, who was released from jail last month following the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovcyh, said Thursday that she has earned the moral right to say she will combat corruption.

She said she would become a candidate for Ukrainian unity.

Her renewed ascent to the forefront of public life marks the return of the most polarizing figures in Ukraine's political scene. She is variously admired as an icon of democracy and detested as a self-promoting manipulator with a shady past.


Source : Sapa-AP /mr
Date : 27 Mar 2014 15:18

 

[LazyLion]

RUSSIA TO CREATE ITS OWN NATIONAL PAYMENT SYSTEM: PUTIN

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said Russia should create its own national payment settlement system, in a bid to reduce economic dependence on the West amid the controversy over Moscow's seizure of Crimea.

"In countries such as Japan and China these systems work, and work very well," Putin told lawmakers in televised remarks.

"Initially, they started out solely as national systems limited to their own markets, their own territory, their own population but they are becoming more popular right now."

"Why should we not do it? We should definitely do it and we will do it," he said, noting that Russia's Central Bank and the government have been looking into the matter.

Last week the United States hit more than 20 Russian officials, including some of Putin's closest allies, with sanctions over Moscow's takeover of Ukraine's peninsula of Crimea. A lender described as a "crony bank" for the Russian elites, Bank Rossiya, was also blacklisted.

As a result of punitive measures, several banks last week saw their customers barred from using Visa and MasterCard credit cards prompting talk among officials and lawmakers that Russia should create its own operational network.

"It's a great shame that some companies have taken a decision on certain restrictions," Putin said.

"I think it will simply lead to a loss of certain segments of the market for them, and a rather profitable market at that."

"We should protect our interests and we will do it."

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Wednesday that the government had no plans so far to ditch Visa and MasterCard.

"But at the same time we are beginning to pay more attention to the creation of our own payment settlement system."

US President Barack Obama has threatened to target the broader Russian economy if Moscow moves into east Ukraine after its takeover of Crimea.

This week, Washington and its partners in the G8 club of leading industrialised countries cancelled an upcoming summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in a bid to punish Russia further.

Putin has shrugged off the sanctions, insisting Moscow will conduct an independent foreign policy and would not take orders from the West.

Ratings agencies Standard and Poor's and Fitch last week revised Russia's outlook to negative from stable, citing the direct and anticipated impact from the sanctions and the country's increasing isolation.

Some Russia officials dismissed the revision, claiming the move was politically motivated.

Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev warned earlier Thursday that the country risked growth of just 0.6 percent this year with capital flight expected to reach $100 billion.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mr
Date : 27 Mar 2014 15:14

 

[LazyLion]

'NAKED' YANUKOVYCH EXPOSED AT UKRAINIAN ANTI-CAFE

First he was stripped of his presidency, then his lavish mansion and opulent tastes were laid bare, and now ousted Ukraine leader Viktor Yanukovych has been exposed even further, in an infamous nude painting on display in central Kiev.

A burly and grim Yanukovych slouches in an unflattering position, with no detail left to the imagination, in the painting called "The Naked King" which swept to accidental fame during the revolution that forced him to flee the country in February.

Olga Oleynik, 25 was -- and still is -- just a struggling artist painting what she calls "unusual" pieces, when she scored a lucky break: a friend working for a local television station got her a spot on air to show her painting of the reviled president.

But her opportunity coincided with rapid-fire change in Ukraine after months of protests reached a bloody zenith, leaving around 100 dead, prompting parliament to oust Yanukovych.

On the same day Yanukovych's arch-rival Yulia Tymoshenko was freed from prison and Oleynik was sidelined by the breaking news.

"So I'm taking the painting and start to leave, but all of a sudden a photographer takes a picture of me holding the art piece in the corridor," she told AFP in an interview.

As opposition protesters and ordinary Ukrainians discovered with horror the opulence at Yanukovych's lavish mansion Mezhygirya, the picture went viral as many said it had been found along with luxury cars, a private zoo and golden toilets.

"I came home and in the morning the picture was all over the Internet already and saying that the picture was from Mezhygirya," said Oleynik.

"Now we understand the nature of this man. This painting just shows it physically... this man did much evil to our country, so people are happy to see this man in a compromising situation."

In reality the image was painted in 2012 as part of a series of nudes of well-known politicians called "I am a man".

Appreciation of the artwork ranged from amusement to awe and outrage.

"The artist might be crazy, very strange masterpiece," one Facebook user commented on the picture.

Another called Yanukovych a "renaissance victim" while another suggested the picture be "nailed to the refrigerator to spoil an appetite".

The now-famous painting has taken up residence in a corner of an "anti-cafe" owned by Oleynik in a basement in the heart of Kiev.

A concept which originated in Moscow, but has spread to London and Paris, an anti-cafe is a hangout where coffee and snacks are free and you pay per minute or hour for time spent in a cosy living room type atmosphere.

She opened the venue a year ago as both an anti-cafe and a place to show her nude art, as well as unusual dolls "like in horror movies" that typical galleries would balk at.

"Here in Ukraine unusual and interesting cafes are rare. This venue was opened to give Kiev some art, lightness, make (it) less glamorous."

Despite its online fame, the painting of Yanukovych has only prompted one request from a potential buyer, but it didn't go through.

Yanukovych was not Oleynik's only high-profile target.

At her home she keeps a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin which she admits she is "still a bit afraid" to show in public, but hopes in future she could show her pieces in Europe where she could have "some feeling of immunity."

"Everyone asks about Yanukovych, why does he have a small (penis). This way (people) can see how important he was politically."

In this respect, the portrait of Putin is "quite different."

"It also shows his political size because Putin is a very strong man on the world scale.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mr
Date : 27 Mar 2014 15:06

 

[Flip-Flop]

And so the Iron Curtain starts to go back up

*waves bye bye at Russians*

 

[Unhappy438]

Some worrying signs detailed in this article, the full article is here

A part of the article i thought was pertinent was this

From local sources, VOA has learned that the Russian military has established a field hospital in the Bryansk region, about 20 kilometers from the Russia-Ukraine border, that some 60 train cars have arrived near the border with supplies and that the frontier is being patrolled by more than a dozen Russian drones.

Although it does say

The information provided to VOA could not be independently confirmed.

 

[snoopdoggydog]

Obama vs. Putin: The mismatch

“The United States does not view Europe as a battleground between East and West, nor do we see the situation in Ukraine as a zero-sum game. That’s the kind of thinking that should have ended with the Cold War.”

Should. Lovely sentiment. As lovely as what Obama said five years ago to the United Nations: “No one nation can or should try to dominate another nation.”

That’s the kind of sentiment you expect from a Miss America contestant asked to name her fondest wish, not from the leader of the free world explaining his foreign policy.

The East Europeans know they inhabit the battleground between the West and a Russia that wants to return them to its sphere of influence. Ukrainians see tens of thousands of Russian troops across their border and know they are looking down the barrel of quite a zero-sum game.

Obama thinks otherwise. He says that Vladimir Putin’s kind of neo-imperialist thinking is a relic of the past — and advises Putin to transcend the Cold War.

Good God. Putin hasn’t transcended the Russian revolution. Did no one give Obama a copy of Putin’s speech last week upon the annexation of Crimea? Putin railed not only at Russia’s loss of empire in the 1990s. He went back to the 1920s: “After the revolution, the Bolsheviks . . . may God judge them, added large sections of the historical South of Russia to the Republic of Ukraine.” Putin was referring not to Crimea (which came two sentences later) but to his next potential target: Kharkiv and Donetsk and the rest of southeastern Ukraine.

Putin’s irredentist grievances go very deep. Obama seems unable to fathom them. Asked whether he’d misjudged Russia, whether it really is our greatest geopolitical foe, he disdainfully replied that Russia is nothing but “a regional power” acting “out of weakness.”

Where does one begin? Hitler’s Germany and Tojo’s Japan were also regional powers, yet managed to leave behind at least 50 million dead. And yes, Russia should be no match for the American superpower. Yet under this president, Russia has run rings around America, from the attempted ingratiation of the “reset” to America’s empty threats of “consequences” were Russia to annex Crimea.

Annex Crimea it did. For which the “consequences” have been risible. Numberless 19th- and 20th-century European soldiers died for Crimea. Putin conquered it in a swift and stealthy campaign that took three weeks and cost his forces not a sprained ankle. That’s “weakness”?

Indeed, Obama’s dismissal of Russia as a regional power makes his own leadership of the one superpower all the more embarrassing. For seven decades since the Japanese surrender, our role under 11 presidents had been as offshore balancer protecting smaller allies from potential regional hegemons.

What are the allies thinking now? Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines and other Pacific Rim friends are wondering where this America will be as China expands its reach and claims. The Gulf states are near panic as they see the United States playacting nuclear negotiations with Iran that, at best, will leave their mortal Shiite enemy just weeks away from the bomb.

America never sought the role that history gave it after World War II to bear unbidden burdens “to assure the survival and the success of liberty,” as movingly described by John Kennedy. We have an appropriate aversion to the stark fact that the alternative to U.S. leadership is either global chaos or dominance by the likes of China, Russia and Iran.

But Obama doesn’t even seem to recognize this truth. In his major Brussels address Wednesday, the very day Russia seized the last Ukrainian naval vessel in Crimea, Obama made vague references to further measures should Russia march deeper into Ukraine, while still emphasizing the centrality of international law, international norms and international institutions such as the United Nations.

Such fanciful thinking will leave our allies with two choices: bend a knee — or arm to the teeth. Either acquiesce to the regional bully or gird your loins, i.e., go nuclear. As surely will the Gulf states. As will, in time, Japan and South Korea.

Even Ukrainians are expressing regret at having given up their nukes in return for paper guarantees of territorial integrity. The 1994 Budapest Memorandum was ahead of its time — the perfect example of the kind of advanced 21st-century thinking so cherished by our president. Perhaps the captain of that last Ukrainian vessel should have waved the document at the Russian fleet that took his ship.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...-11e3-8cb6-284052554d74_story.html?tid=pm_pop

 

[LazyLion]

PUTIN SAYS CRIMEA SHOWED 'NEW CAPACITIES' OF RUSSIAN ARMY

President Vladimir Putin on Friday congratulated the Russian armed forces for their role in the takeover by Moscow of Crimea from Ukraine, saying they had showed the new capacities of the Russian army.

"The recent events in Crimea were a serious test. They demonstrated the new capacities of our armed forces in terms of quality and the high moral spirit of the personnel," he said, quoted by Russian news agencies, for the first time confirming the direct involvement of the Russian army in the seizure.


Source : Sapa-AFP /nsm
Date : 28 Mar 2014 13:31

 

[zippy]

if russia is going to shut down the supply from tomorrow, I have no idea how those EU countries are going to survive from tomorrow.

but anyway, I don't think russia will do that and I am also very confident EU they are also not that stupid to do that.

What they are doing now that is just publicity stunt for some potential future NATO members.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...ce-on-Russia-offers-Ukraine-military-tie.html

If Russia shutdown the supply to the EU, they would also shutdown their own revenue. The EU isn't 100% reliant on Russia. Europe gets 40% of its gas from Russia. That is going to steadily decrease now. All contracts to add additional pipeline capacity from Russia has been cancelled. Over the next decade, EU is going to get their their gas from elsewhere and Russia is going to lose the revenue. Remember that US has become a net exporter of gas.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/26/europe-asks-obama-increased-exports-shale-gas

 

[LazyLion]

OBAMA SAYS RUSSIA MUST 'MOVE BACK' TROOPS

President Barack Obama in an interview aired Friday said Russia must "move back" its troops back from the Ukraine border and start negotiating with the international community.

Obama told CBS News that Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to assemble forces on the border may "simply be an effort to intimidate Ukraine, or it may be that they've got additional plans."


Source : Sapa-AFP /nsm
Date : 28 Mar 2014 13:37

 

[noxibox]

ndeed, Obama’s dismissal of Russia as a regional power makes his own leadership of the one superpower all the more embarrassing. For seven decades since the Japanese surrender, our role under 11 presidents had been as offshore balancer protecting smaller allies from potential regional hegemons.

Right, and if you believe that I have some excellent beach front property in Kansas to sell at bargain prices.

 

[Fulcrum29]

OBAMA SAYS RUSSIA MUST 'MOVE BACK' TROOPS

President Barack Obama in an interview aired Friday said Russia must "move back" its troops back from the Ukraine border and start negotiating with the international community.

Obama told CBS News that Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to assemble forces on the border may "simply be an effort to intimidate Ukraine, or it may be that they've got additional plans."


Source : Sapa-AFP /nsm
Date : 28 Mar 2014 13:37

Rather interesting how the USA dictates what another world power may do within their own borders when US have strike groups deployed on near every border. This would be better should a body like the UN stated their opinion on the matter. Perhaps Russia is deploying troops to prevent a possible Ukrainian motive… who really knows.

Under the current condition, both the Ukrainians and Russians will be on alert.

 

[zippy]

Rather interesting how the USA dictates what another world power may do within their own borders when US have strike groups deployed on near every border. This would be better should a body like the UN stated their opinion on the matter. Perhaps Russia is deploying troops to prevent a possible Ukrainian motive… who really knows.

Under the current condition, both the Ukrainians and Russians will be on alert.

Which US strike groups are near which borders ?

 

[DreamKing]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...ce-on-Russia-offers-Ukraine-military-tie.html

If Russia shutdown the supply to the EU, they would also shutdown their own revenue. The EU isn't 100% reliant on Russia. Europe gets 40% of its gas from Russia. That is going to steadily decrease now. All contracts to add additional pipeline capacity from Russia has been cancelled. Over the next decade, EU is going to get their their gas from elsewhere and Russia is going to lose the revenue. Remember that US has become a net exporter of gas.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/26/europe-asks-obama-increased-exports-shale-gas

be honest, US and russia both can't be trusted.

PS: how much do you think US will charge? more expensive / cheaper than russia?

I guess more expensive.
you?