New Russian ships have added reinforcements to their positions in the Crimea, unloading some 200 military vehicles and bringing the estimated number of troops there around the limit under treaty of 25,000.
The deployments come just a week before the planned Crimean referendum on secession from the Ukraine. Russia is backing the referendum, and Russian parliament has expressed support for annexing Crimea should the voters demand it.
The Ukraine interim government, itself only installed a couple of weeks ago, has condemned the referendum as an “inexcusable provocation,” and insists that they will never give up control of the Crimea, no matter what the Crimeans themselves say.
Ultimately, they may not have a choice. Rhetoric of invasion aside, the Russian deployment has effectively precluded Ukraine’s much smaller military, deeply divided by recent regime change, trying to reconquer the Crimea militarily. Many have already defected to Crimea’s own fledgling military, and once the referendum passes, which is all but assured by the ethnic Russian majority in the peninsula, it will be a fait accompli.
ah yes a bunch of illegitimate foreign backed lunatics running the ukraine now refuse and deny the democratic process. and i suppose putin will be the bad guy when he crushes them like the insects they are? as if we wouldn't do the same or 1000 times more if we had a strategic interest and a base somewhere for 200 years.
This what happens when the DC regime that has corrupted itself trying – without much success – to beat up on countries that can't defend themselves suddenly decides that the bully methods will work on a country that not only can defend itself, but given enough provocation, could wipe the corrupted DC regime out of existence.
"The Ukraine interim government, itself only installed a couple of weeks ago, has condemned the referendum as an “inexcusable provocation,” and insists that they will never give up control of the Crimea, no matter what the Crimeans themselves say".
On e again the Ukrainian self proclaimed government will not respect what people are saying or demanding, which brings us to ask this question, what happened to democracy, I mean Scotland is about to depart from the rule of English and Scottish people will vote for that, but Crimean people don't have the same right because EU Neo liberal fascism are saying so?
It's a Na2i thing: its leaders are suicidally obsessed with occupying Russian territory.
Hah! Good one! I hope Putin orders his T-80s to roll all the way to the Polish border, in the process giving those Nazis and neo-Nazis the ass-kicking they've been asking for since at least 1941 (if not earlier).
Come to think of it, why stop at the Polish borders? Roll eastward all the way to Elbe. Dare Merkel, Cameron and Hollande to stop him.
Hah! Good one! I hope Putin orders his T-80s to roll all the way to the Polish border, in the process giving those Nazis and neo-Nazis in Ukraine the ass-kicking they so richly deserve and for which they've been asking since at least 1941 (if not earlier).
Come to think of it, why stop at the Polish borders? Roll eastward all the way to the Elbe. Dare Merkel, Cameron and Hollande to stop him.
Here here ! The above are the facts of this SITUATION. Amerika on it's present WARMONGERING 'COLLISION' COURSE–IS IN FOR A TERRIFIC & HORRIFIC-BIG BLOODY NOSE. Pity the POOR DUPED TROOPS..
Here's what the people of Crimea can expect from the fascist government installed in Ukraine by US State Dept. neoconservative / neoliberal "diplomats."
"Kiev’s newly-appointed deputy head of south-eastern Ukraine has shared his recipe of how to calm protesters in Crimea opposing the self-proclaimed country’s government: “Give the scum promises, guarantees and then hang them.”
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com/2014/03/nato-troops-shot-both-sides-in-ukraine.html
Russian troops seem like a pretty good alternative.
Who is that deputy head? I wonder if he will show the same bravado looking down the barrel of a Russian T-80?
BTW, your link doesn't work. Possible typo?
You're right. Sorry about that. It seems to be dropping the colon after http, even though it shows it in the link. If you add the colon back in on your address bar it seems to work.
The guys name is Boris Filatov, lawyer and businessman. Many of those appointed so far are ultra wealthy business people just waiting to begin the loot and pillage. This guy is testy because one of the richest provinces may avoid his clutches. This link at RT seems to work, and has more info: http://rt.com/news/ukraine-dnepropetrovsk-crimea-…
Many thanks for your reply. You original link seems to be working properly now.
Official's name is 'Boris Filatov.' Although I was unable to ascertain his political party, Wikipedia lists him as belonging to an EU-tilting front group, the so-called 'European Association of Ukrainians').
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=Boris+…
Thought you might enjoy my latest blog excursions into the Ukrainian morass:
http://ayearatvenicebeach.blogspot.com/2014/03/wh…
I'm okay with that.
Can we move on to the important subject of rump Ukrajinia?
Crimea is NOT YOURS. It has been part of Russia for 3 centuries. In 1954 the drunk Khorouchev
put it under INFLUENCE of Ukraine, because Ukraine was part of the soviet Union. You DID NOT fight for crimea, Cathrene the great did.
Russia can only be pushed so far before they react. This incessant prying and backstabbing by the US can lead only one place: a Russian pre-emptive nuclear strike.
And who could blame them?
I fully support President Putin, Prime Minister Medvedev and the DUMA. But I could only approve of a Russian first use of nukes if Russia's very existence were threatened by our imperialist meddling. OTOH, I also fully approve of Putin's ordering his tanks to roll at least to the Polish borders. Time is way, way overdue for Ukraine to get some karms for its collaboration with the Nazis in World War II.
I agree that Ukraine won't have a choice. Be careful though of the Russian "majority". It's only 58%, with 24% Ukrainian and 12 % Tatar. In a free and fair vote (which. of course, is not going to happen!), the Russians would have to be near unanimous (which according to, inter alia, the BBC, they are not) to win the vote. It appears that, in fact, most Russians just want more autonomy within Ukraine.
Ukraine says they won't give up Crimea to Russia? Good luck with that. You and who's army? Not ours.
If Crimeans vote for becoming part of Russia, Russia's position in the other Ukrainian regions it might be interested in annexing or separating from Ukraine will weaken considerably and I doubt anything short of direct military intervention could bring those regions under its influence somehow. While Crimea is very important, Russia's security would be seriously threatened with the rest of Ukraine finding itself firmly under Western control. It is simply unacceptable for Russia from a geopolitical & strategic point of view. Look at the map, it is the bear's soft underbelly.