Having spent the last several months hyping their intended military training operation in Ukraine, US military officials in Europe are now confirming the plan is indefinitely on hold.
“The US government would like to see the Minsk agreement fulfilled,” a Pentagon statement said by way of an explanation, adding that the military “is prepared to carry out the mission if and when our government decides to move forward.”
With the Pentagon reportedly pushing hard to arm and train Ukraine, the move was likely made by the administration over their objections. It also is the first indication that the administration is actually supportive of the Minsk ceasefire, after having spent the last couple of weeks grousing about it.
The ceasefire was reached with pushing from Russia, Germany, and France. At the time, British and US officials were critical of the move. Britain already sent its troops to Ukraine for their portion of the training operation. Now, it seems, they’ll be doing it solo.
It is unclear if the US not sending trainers will definitely mean that arming Ukraine is off the table, but it seems unlikely that any particularly advanced weapons shipments would come without boots on the ground to oversee it.
A step in the right direction, establishing that we Western humans are not so hell-bent on wars of plunder as to give Empire USA a free license to commence World War Three.
"With the Pentagon reportedly pushing hard to arm and train Ukraine, the move was likely made by the administration over their objections."
Uh…who takes and who gives orders here? Too much pushing should be first given a warning by the CiC, and then summary firing for insubordination. Obama probably has to walk carefully lest too many hawks start complaining. Of course, he could go on the counterattack and explain to the people directly that we have no national interest in Ukraine, and it's not really worth frying our children in a thermonuclear war, but he won't do that.
What the Administration needs to do now is to start retiring some of the Generals who publicly voice "official" opinions that are contrary to the CIC…starting with Breedlove. These guys obviously need to be reminded of the chain of command they took an oath to obey. Besides, he'll make more money on the Faux News speaking tour – might even get a cushy job giving their opinions on the air with the airheads.
Essentially, they're giving Putin no excuse to break the ceasefire but enough rope to hang himself if he chooses to do so. Given the ridiculous-looking "sausage" of land the mercenaries hold, that's no disadvantage to Ukraine. I would guess the British will continue with their part and, of course, Poland and Lithuania are involved as well.All this seems to be very well co-ordianted, so I would doubt if arming Ukraine will be "off the table" as long as Putin's attempts to grab Ukrainian territory by force or by rigged votes isn't off the table. I don't think Putin himself will ever be trusted again, so I would expect nothing much to change until he leaves power. The big loser, of course, is Israel. If Putin wins, its American protector is discredited and perceived as capitulating to nuclear blackmail. If Putin loses, the neocons, Israel's most virulent American supporters, are discredited.
> All this seems to be very well co-ordianted
That must be the only "well-coordinated" thing the western freakshow since 9/11 then.
> If Putin loses, the neocons, Israel's most virulent American supporters, are discredited.
The stupid, it burns.
What makes me laugh about American spinners of fantasies and wishful thinking such as yourself is, they love giving you the dirt on Russia, their economy, the ruble, how the people are suffering so terribly because of USSA financial sanctions, how Putin has his political opponents killed and disappeared, how awfully corrupt they are, this, that, the other thing, blah blah blah endless hot air…and these same toolbags expect us to somehow conveniently forget that the Ukraine and all their similar problems, by comparison, are far, FAR worse than in Russia. The Ukraine is EPIC FAIL on steroids. The Ukrainian State of Mass Confusion and Corruption is f*cking broke. No one who has any brains is willing to fight for Poroshenko's govt. or pay for it. Kids are on the run to escape conscription and they are taking now 40-60 year olds. (I suggest you join up immediately.) Their kleptomaniac oligarchy and glorified crony warlordism ran rampant for 20 years and now is out in the open for all to see. All Putin wants is NATO to not plant missiles in the Ukraine pointed at them. This is a Ukrainian/EU/USSA mess, let them clean it up.
If I had a choice (like Crimea) between Russia and the Ukraine, I would easily choose Russia. The Ukraine is a filthy, broken toilet beyond cleaning in comparison. Maybe USSA finally realized this, eh? Even faster than you did.
Obama govt. said they were going to gun for Putin if he won the election in 2012, and this is exactly what they did, punishing the Russian people for their democratic choice, going thru the Ukraine to do it.
If brainlessness were next to Godliness, you would be the Jesus Christ of stupid.
Antiwar.com needs to open up a slot for humor. Let's call it MK's corner of humor. Even though you kinda know what this guy will say, you can't help but read his comments just for laughs.
Or the US has actually realized that the Mercenaries on the Kiev Governments side are a serious worry with Chechen Rebels funded by ISIS, and the Various neo Nazis that have their own agenda and are not subject to the command of Kiev and are also FULL of foreign fighters!
That's too sophisticated an analysis for anyone in the USG to make, I'm afraid.
Halleluyah! Occasionally the good guys in the government get to win. There's hope, however small.
So we just keep telling the world everything we are doing or in this case not doing. Stupid is as Stupid does and it seems we does a lot of it!