From Roger Cohen in NYT (a man whose insight I respect):
"It was a time of aggression. The leader of the largest nation on earth pronounced his country encircled, even humiliated. He annexed part of a neighboring country, the first such act in Europe since 1945, and stirred up a war on further land he coveted. His surrogates shot down a civilian passenger plane. The victims, many of them Europeans, were left to rot in the sun for days. He denied any part in the violence, like a puppeteer denying that his puppets’ movements have any connection to his. He invoked the law the better to trample on it. He invoked history the better to turn it into farce. He reminded humankind that the idiom fascism knows best is untruth so grotesque it begets unreason."
“After realizing that it's impossible to create Novorossiya, the Kremlin will move to a new tactic for destabilization of Ukraine. It will bribe the military officers, special services and police with the aim of organizing a military coup to remove the legally elected government in Ukraine.
Simultaneous protests of servicemen of the National Guard (the special police unit) on Oct. 13 and at the same time in two different capitals, the capital of independent Ukraine Kyiv and the Soviet-era capital, Kharkiv, and another attempt at a protest in Chernihiv is a rehearsal by the Russian special forces before organizing a military coup in Ukraine.
The rehearsal of an attack on the Verkhovna Rada on Oct. 14 that followed, belongs to the same category. All political forces that took part in that day's celebrations (of creation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the UPA), denied any involvement in the attack.
Chief commander of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko shares this view. He said that the meeting of draftees from the National Guard outside of the presidential administration was a provocation of foreign special services.
“It was a pity to watch adult men who fell for a provocation of the foreign special services and took part in this not-so-numerous action and attempt to discredit the Ukrainian army,” Poroshenko was quoted by lb.ua as saying in Zaporizhya. …………..”
Putin warns spat with US over Ukraine threatens global stability It isn't a spat it is international terrorism and mass murder. Putin sent in thugs outside the rules of engagement and without insignia and anyone that in collusion with him is just as guilty, a weak and self serving narcissist as well. Russia is an outlaw state until they cast him out. That is clarity!!!
America thought they where so clever getting rid of sadam and now look at the joint .
to get rid of putin .... whats the point in that ? so some worse nutter can take his place .
its time America just stfu and stay out of everyones way
they are the reason the world is like it is now .
putin does a damb good job of running things why rock the apple kart.
poppy
Member
 send PM
block PM
 add to buddies
 Send: 8/26/2014 8:59:22 PM
You cant help but to be proud of putin . The guy does an amazing job . I cant imagine tony abbot running a place like russia . Russia is just russia its full of problems it takes someone like putin to run this joint . Instead of crying about it just think how worse it could be if some loonatic took the job . A huge country with rich criminals and lots of poor angree people . What do people expect .
Putin runs russia he will continue to run russia . Suck it up your opinion wont change anything . Why fill this forum with cut and paste news from google news that any person who wants to know can find. How many war posts are needed .
Ukraine a waste of space that not to many people care for . What happens in ukraine shouldnt even make the news . Whats good in ukraine.
Fish net stockings high heels and short skirts .still plenty of them in russia .
From about 10 days ago ... I put off posting this story, which is probably of no deep significance. But it brings a little smile, anyway.
On 9 October, Ukrainian and Belarussian football (soccer) teams competed in a qualifying match for Euro 2016, in a town not far from Minsk, the capital city.
Apparently, neither of the teams was in top form, but it was a different story with the fans. Belarussian fans were vocal in support of their troubled neighbors to the south, repeatedly shouting "Glory to Ukraine! To the heroes glory!" A large contingent of Ukrainian fans responded with "Long live Belarus!"
Eventually, football fans from both countries sang "Putin Khuilo" together.
Belarus police arrested dozens of the attendees (typical for Belarus -- demonstrations are not allowed, unless the government organized them). On the other hand, police treatment of the fans was rather light by Belarus standards (the country is under a highly repressive dictatorship).
________________________
What is significant about this, is that Putin's deranged policy is in effect a gun pointed at ALL former Soviet countries -- and they understand this very deeply.
In every country that has suffered under the grinding Russian boot-heel, distrust and distaste for the arrogance of Russian power runs deep.
Sergei Pugachev is a former oligarch, who lost most of his vast fortune when Putin turned against him and seized his business holdings. He now lives in London.
Obviously, Pugachev is not a disinterested observer: Putin is his enemy. However, he was a close associate of Putin's starting when Putin was a minor city official, and says that for an extended period, he and Putin met almost daily. And of course, the guys who are still in Putin's circle won't say anything against him -- they can't, can they?
The essence of the article is Pugachev's assessment that Putin has no grand strategic plan, nor deep interest or understanding. Pugachev describes him as a rather shallow person who loves to sit quietly (not reading, mind you) or watch TV, who lives only in the present day.
Highlights that caught my eye:
FIRST MEETING WITH OLIGARCHS
In 2000, a few months after Putin became president, fellow oligarchs were worried about Putin's intentions, and asked for a meeting. Putin was reluctant, but eventually agreed to meet them -- at the dacha (country house) of mass-murderer Josef Stalin. According to Pugachev, there was no flow of conversation:
“Afterwards I said: ‘Why didn’t you ask him anything?'” Pugachev says. “They replied: ‘What could we have asked? He’s a KGB agent. He took us to Stalin’s dacha. It’s enough that he let us leave. What else were we going to ask for?’”
WHAT PUTIN WANTS, PUTIN GETS
“If Putin says he wants to buy something, you cannot say that you do not want to sell. If he says ‘I want to buy something’ then you say, ‘Thanks for saying you want to buy it, and not just taking it,’” Pugachev says.
Putin German people in an attempt to convince them that ethnic cleansing will begin in Ukraine. The only thing that is true about that is the death and destruction is all from his hands and the only thing needs to be cleansed is his mouth with all the shit he is spewing from it. We will see if the offspring of "Hitler's Children" are in fact superior in mind and body or just inbred, mind-numbed cowards bowing their head with greed. Though the roles are reversed a similar non-aggression pact was a disaster for the whole world.
Russia's annexation of Crimea in March "called the whole of the European peaceful order into question, and it has continued by Russia exporting its influence to destabilise eastern Ukraine."
"Who would've thought that 25 years after the fall of the Wall, after the end of the Cold War, after the end of the division of Europe and the end of the world being divided in two, something like that can happen right at heart of Europe?"
"Old thinking, thinking in terms of theories of influence, where international law is violated, this must not be allowed to prevail. I'm convinced it will not prevail."
"We need to have the necessary patience for an uphill battle. My personal experience from the history of the German Democratic Republic [communist East Germany] is that one should not lose hope too quickly."
"The biggest danger is that we allow ourselves to be separate, to be divided, that a wedge will be driven between us."
A young man from the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic (sometimes called KBR, a federal subject in the far south of the Russian Federation) has been sentenced to four years in prison for fighting in Syria against that country's government.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Russian citizens are fighting in Ukraine against Ukraine's government, and are hailed as heroes by Putin's Russia.
There are legal reasons for this, from Russia's view. The man from Kabardino-Balkaria (a republic in Russia) fighting against Syria's government, is fighting against a Russian ally. President Bashar al-Assad of Syria is supported by Russia (and Iran, China, and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas).
Iran and Hezbollah support Assad mostly because he is an Alawite - a sect from Shia Islam. Russia's support for Assad involves several reasons important to them, although religion is not one of them.
So the young man from KBR fighting against Assad is similar to European or American Muslims going to Syria and Iraq to fight with ISIS/ISIL - who are enemies of USA and Europe. In theory this is illegal and punishable by law here too.