WANT TO HOLD A FRAUDULENT ELECTION? HIRE FRAUDULENT ELECTION MONITORS
The self-proclaimed "Peoples' Republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk held their illegal elections today.
Putin's Russia has promised to recognize these elections.
As some of you may be aware, for decades now there has been a system of international election monitors who travel to countries around the world, to survey and report on the quality of the electoral process.
Of course, tin-pot dictators don't welcome these monitors. For example, when Putin resumed the office of president in 2012, international monitors were ready to inspect the election. But days before the election, they were informed that their visa applications were denied.
So now, Putin uses sham monitors to "legitimate" his sham votes. These supposed monitors, from such famous bastions of democracy as South Ossetia and Ghana, made sure that everything was fair, free and open when supposedly 97% voted to join Russia (an impossible result).
Taking things a step further, Putin's fascist friends have now created a sham monitoring organization for today's elections, ASCE (easy to confuse the legitimate OSCE, get it?) But the founder of ASCE seems confused whether the A stands for "agency" or "association".
This is a review on a sort of "military geek" website of a very recent book on the purely military dimensions of Russia's war against Ukraine.
Not surprisingly, it is more than a little depressing. But it contains advice that Ukraine's government would do well to consider.
One interesting highlight: in the first days after Russia began its invasion of Crimea, the Russian forces were (according to one of the book's authors) so weak that the Ukrainian forces already on station in Crimea had the capacity to overwhelm them.
President Francois Hollande leading France into a righteous move in denying Russia the Mistral Class ships. Russia in stating it will sue for that action is like Iran screaming Geneva Conference when Saddam Hussein gassed them in 1980 after they had taken over the U.S. Embassy and murdered Marines during captivity. Do not give weapons of mass destruction to animals!!!!
I don't know if anyone saw the news report, most probably from Russia, when the oil price first started falling. It said that it was a conspiracy between the Saudis and the US to punish Russia.
Recent news says that Russia is planning to invade Europe. Fat chance. They are struggling in Ukraine. (But still, they persist).
The "fine gentleman" Rand Paul has stated that with U.S. Congress Resolution 758 no evidence of Russian invasion of Ukraine has been provided. Hey "Genius" , do a departure/arrival search for SIP (Simferopol airport code) for flights to Simferopol,,,,, no flights except through Russia,,,,, Your clothes are made with such fine thread that only the worthy can see the fabric. I am not worthy and see "you're" nuts. ("Crazy") ("Your" would be vulgar) Over 4000 dead, some acquaintances,,, I find that vulgar. Stand up and signify on what is right. You all are traveled and understand tyranny when you see it, regardless of what you believe is the correct path and not outsider's choice and an occupying force and murder of peaceful and innocent people is wrong . Ukraine's sovereignty has been negotiated and agreed upon. Russia is the aggressor !!!! Russia out of Ukraine!!!
If you've been following the war news, you probably know that the Donbass town of Debaltseve, which contains a reportedly important railway junction, has been the scene of intense fighting in recent weeks.
This has continued in spite of the supposed cease-fire agreed to begin last Saturday morning. Donbass rebels have recently taken control of most of the territory around Debaltseve, nearly encircling thousands of Ukrainian soldiers there.
Vladimir "Russia has nothing to do with this war" Putin has repeatedly demanded that Ukraine withdraw from this town.
A few minutes ago, the Washington Post reported that Ukraine's forces are now leaving Debaltseve.
Aside from the general enlargement of rebel territory (about 200 square miles, since the failed cease-fire of September), I don't have a picture of Debaltseve's practical or strategic importance -- that is to say, I don't know how much this is a symbolic matter, versus one with implications for Ukraine's situation in coming weeks and months.
Debaltseve is very important to the Russian-backed rebel fighters because it is a railway hub - it links the two self-declared republics' cities of Lugank and Donetsk. There are also Ukrainian military headquarters there. Debaltseve was in rebel control between April and July, but Ukrainian forces recaptured it, until now where they are surrounded by rebels, and losing ground. It is clearly not part of rebel-held territory under the recent Minsk agreement.
In recent days, Ukraine's government had admitted relatively small losses of its soldiers (perhaps in the dozens) in its ultimately failed defense of the town of Debaltseve.
Latest government reports suggest a likely minimum of perhaps two hundred, with the tally sure to rise.
Rebel leaders claim to have killed at least three thousand Ukrainian soldiers. It remains to be seen whether the best estimate of lives lost will be in the hundreds, or in the thousands.
The retreat was carried out in great haste, and large quantities of materiel were certainly left behind. These probably include large numbers of armored and military transport vehicles, as well as quantities of weapons and ammunition, all now in the hands of Ukraine's enemies.
The Poroshenko administration is likely to come under severe public pressure and criticism for these losses, which might have been prevented by a more realistic strategy.
Almost certainly, the continued pro-Russian aggression in the days since the latest sham "cease-fire" has caused the heaviest slaughter in Ukraine since the Nazi aggression of the 1940s.
I have been watching 'Judgment at Nuremburg", the scene, the defense lawyer cross examining the witness played by Judy Garland, accusing and haranguing her a girl of 16 of having relations with a elderly Jewish man,,, a crime under the Third Reich's "Nuremburg Laws". The defendant played by Burt Lancaster stood and shouted "Enough" and saying the specter would not be held up again in the court room . Well, now it has been lofted by Herr Putin ............... Then as I wrote the previous paragraph he went on to speak no one standing against neighbors being taken to the concentration camps. Just days ago, President Sisi of Egypt did stand and as their president, neighbor and countryman. Now I think, how many of the profiles of women on these sites that bind us together here are now ghosts,,,,,, dead and buried,,,,,,,, somewhere on the steppes.
“What you are about to watch is an actual event. Our forces filmed this in actual time.”
“What you are about to see is a fully armored Syrian tank being hit by an Israeli laser-guided, steel-penetrating, phosphorous-filled "hand held" rocket. The rocket is small, very portable and is a tightly controlled weapon, each one is accounted for when they are checked out and back in. There must be no fewer than 2 soldiers present to verify the use, one must be a senior officer with a minimum of 10 years military service. This tank was headed for one of Israel 's settlements, there were four more tanks one mile to the rear of this tank. (They turned around before getting to this area). You can hear the ammunition going off after the strike. No tank member survived this event. This event did not make the news, it is an everyday event for our forces and we do not "embed" news sources with our armed forces. This is for our survival, not for "news" entertainment!”
Putin's agents in Ukraine are using traditional terrorist tactics.
This has been little reported in the Western press, which seems very strange to me. For example, there have been several bombings in Odesa in recent months.
Fortunately, most of the terror bombings in Ukraine have until now not taken lives.
Today, however, two were killed by a bomb in Kharkiv as they participated in a march to celebrate the anniversary of the ejection by Ukraine's parliament of Viktor Yanukovich from the office of president.
Those of us who are US citizens should press our government to investigate these bombings. If the US Department of State were to conclude that the Russian Federation is a State Sponsor of Terrorism, then US organizations would be prohibited from categories of trade with Russia, probably going well beyond current sanctions.
The countries already on this list are Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria.