Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said Thursday that Russia has “has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.”
A series of explosions were reported across Ukraine, including near the capital Kyiv. Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to Ukraine’s interior ministry, said there were “missile strikes on Kyiv.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Russian military is attacking Ukrainian military facilities and is not targeting cities.
In another statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said it crippled Ukraine’s air defenses with “precision” attacks. It also claimed that Ukrainian border guards are not resisting the advancing Russian troops.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special operation” in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. He said the operation was meant to defend people living in the republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (DPR and LPR), which Russia recognized on Monday. After ordering the operation, Putin said that he has “no plans to occupy the Ukrainian territories.”
President Biden released a statement condemning Putin’s operation and said he would announce on Thursday “further consequences” that the US and its allies will “impose on Russia.”
Putin’s order was preceded by the separatists in the DPR and LPR asking Russia for military assistance to help in “repelling the aggression” of the Ukrainian military. Putin recognized the breakaway republics amid a spike of ceasefire violations along the line of control in the Donbas.
The DPR and LPR first declared independence after the US-backed coup in Kyiv in 2014. Under the Minsk agreements, which were signed in 2014 and 2015, Ukraine agreed to cede some autonomy to the breakaway republics and hold elections. In exchange, the Donbas would be demilitarized and the region would remain part of Ukraine. But the accords were never fully implemented. After recognizing the republics, Putin said the Minsk agreements no longer exist.
Putin’s operation in Ukraine came after months of security talks between the US and Russia. Russia submitted a list of security proposals to the US, and chief among them was a demand to promise that Ukraine would never join NATO, which was ignored.
So… this is bad. Can we all agree on that?
Yes, we can.
It is bad for NATO and the EU; they may not survive in present form. It will cost Biden the election. Ukraine of course is gone, poof of smoke.
Actually it gives NATO reason to exist. Biden would have lost election anyway.
You haven’t been paying attention. NATO has been making up its own reason to exist for twenty years now.
Yeah, and it turned out to be justified! By Russia!
Probably the dumbest comment I’ve seen on this issue here or elsewhere. Retroactive justification. Brilliant.
That’s one way to look at it: NATO was created as a defense against Russia and, see, Russia attacked the only neighbor country not covered by NATO. This therefore justifies NATO.
The other way to look at it would be to note that Russia wanted to integrate into the common European economy and military alliance but was shoved out and kept out by the US and its NATO satraps. As a major nation, Russia cannot allow neighbor nations to host its adversaries if she can help it. Thus, when NATO would not guarantee that Ukraine would not be allowed in (which is the main thing Russia demanded), Russia moved to neutralize it. In this way of looking at it, NATO’s existence and expansionism was the cause of this current action.
I think that the other way you mentioned is the correct way to look at this. And now Putin is doing what he has to do to keep nuclear armed missiles out of Ukraine.
Spot on. Correct. Russia has been complaining about this for thirty years. Russia actually floated the idea of joining NATO years ago but was rebuffed.
Well said. (!!!)
I don’t know about Ukraine being completely gone but I agree with everything else you said.
The Biden Administration is now toast. However, the Republicans are ramping up their own hatreds for Russia while at the same time most Americans do not want the US to engage militarily.
This may be the defeat of America many Americans have been hoping for with its out of control federal government, which does nothing for the people but everything for the corporations and the military.
Hopefully, Russia and China will not have to sink an American fleet to get their points across…
I agree with Mark. Russia will come out of this OK, militarily and economically. It’s everyone else who will take the hit of the US/NATO miscalculations.
If they plan to keep Ukraine (which they seem to be planning) it will bring Russia to brink of economical collapse. But I am doubtful that it will deter Putin anyway.
Russia almost certainly has no intention of “keeping” Ukraine. Once they clear out the Nazis and disarm the Ukrainian military, as I have been advocating for years, and assist the new republics in organizing their defense against whatever is left of Ukraine, Russia will no doubt go back home. Russia doesn’t do “nation building”.
Say that to Chechens
Funny you say that. There was a report that some Chechen military units are in on this operation.
Chechens fought in a mountainous area, more amenable for insurgency warfare.Ukraine is flat,amenable for armored combined arms warfare.
Russia will install a puppet government and keep military forces there.
I wonder about that. I’ve spent all day watching live video on various global networks, and it looks to me like the Russian forces are composed for “get the f*ck in, blow some sh*t up, get the f*ck out” rather than for taking cities. Heavy on armor, but not a lot of artillery and infantry. Non-armor troops seem to be mostly airborne/special forces hitting specific targets, not securing corridors for mass troop movements toward e.g. Kiev.
But I could be wrong, and/or the live feeds I’m coming across could, for whatever reason, not be very representative of the actual force composition.
Ukraine is one of the world’s best grain producing areas in a world that will soon face hunger problems.Russia faces negative demographics-add more Christian,Slavic brothers.Protect Russia’s underbelly, and restore pride of empire. Ukraine is to Russia what India was to Britain-the gem in crown.
I think it’s a mix of objectives.
1) Encircle the main force at the contact line, offer them a chance to surrender, if they refuse, wipe them out. My guess is they’ll surrender.
2) Encircle Kiev, wait for surrender, hunt down the Nazis. This is what the paratrooper landing at the airport and the incursion from Belarus is all about.
3) Take cities in the eastern region for the LDPR. Supposedly artillery and infantry are moving up behind the armor advances from Crimea and Russia. Looks like Russia has not committed the bulk of its forces yet, probably waiting to see how the LDPR does on its own and the results of its Kiev and Donbass operations.
We know they don’t want to get bogged down in urban warfare, so this seems like the appropriate operations to avoid that.
I am in agreement with what you have said… my concern is this possibly spiraling out of control by other exterior elements…
Frankly I don’t think US/NATO will have time. This thing was almost over in four hours! Actually was over in the first hour as the Ukrainian command and control froze in Kiev, and then the LDPR took out the front line command headquarters with supposedly most of the front line commanders. Air defenses down, Ukrainian Air Force planes fleeing to Romania, Ukrainian troops laying down arms, Russian tanks, helicopters, paratroopers everywhere.
History will call this “The Four-Hour War.” Of course, the cleanup will take days or weeks.
I most certainly hope that you are right Richard….
Russia has no intention of keeping Ukraine. Ukraine is an economic basket case with little to offer Russia.
I don’t know how this will come out, but absent US/NATO going full idiot and committing to total war, it seems like there are three general options for Putin:
1) Secure the LPR/DPR and probably a corridor connecting them to Crimea along the Azov sea coast (giving him contiguous lines/borders), then simmer down and let US/Ukraine/NATO stew over the fait accompli.
2) Treat Ukraine like the US treated Iraq after 1991 — declare and enforce a no-fly zone, ruthlessly suppress any obviously developing Ukrainian military formations, cut off Russian gas, etc., but otherwise let it work out its own internal politics.
3) Treat Ukraine like the US treated Iraq after 2003 — occupy, fight a counter-insurgency war, insist on the equivalent of “de-Baathification,” etc.
The first would, to my mind, be smartest, but the second wouldn’t be surprising. The third would be idiotic.
Right. There’s no chance of the third option.
Option 1: add in a “Nazi hunt”. This is why Kiev is going to be encircled.
Option 2: What the political end game will be after that is unclear. Meaning it’s not certain Russia will impose a puppet regime or just arrest the current leaders and let the rest sort it out on their own. If Russia simply installs a puppet regime, that will work for a while, but it’s not a long-term solution. Not sure there even is a “long-term solution.”
Some people think Russia intends to break up Ukraine – seize the eastern half, let the Western half be a “rump state” with no access to the sea. Then let Poland seize the rest. As Mercouris said, the temptation for Poland might be too much to resist.
I have no clue what will happen in that regard.
“Option 1: add in a ‘Nazi hunt.’ This is why Kiev is going to be encircled.”
That’s in Option 3.
As is taking Kiev.
Putin showed how these things are done in 2008 with Georgia: Go in, kick some ass, make sure the opponent understands that’s what happens, get out.
If he lets his forces get bogged down in block-by-block fighting in the cities, he goes from military victory that’s translatable to some kind of political victory, to utter political self-defeat.
Maybe he’s that stupid. But his history doesn’t indicate it. He seems to have learned the lessons of Afghanistan and Grozny.
Indeed. That’s why the Russians are letting the LDPR take the lead in the Donbass area while they concentrate on the outlying areas of Odessa and Kiev. Once they clean house in Kiev, they’ll undoubtedly withdraw from that area. I don’t know how they’ll handle the urban environment of Kiev, but I suspect they plan to encircle the city, cut off logistics and maybe wait until they surrender. I’m not sure that will work, but maybe. I haven’t thought that part through, but I’m sure the Russians have.
Grain-a true breadbasket., gas pipelines,vast land mass, fresh population to offset decreasing Russian births,control of the Black Sea, and salving wounded Russian pride through Slavic reunification.
It’s bad when cooperation fails. Hopefully though this will be resolved with few casualties unlike most of the world’s conflicts which the media ignores.
Didn’t expect this to happen after the recognition.
Check out my posts in previous threads. This was definitely in the cards because the republics want to regain control of the whole of Donestk and Luhansk. Only way to do that is throw the Ukrainian military back. Russia didn’t even bother to give the time to deny they would – although I think Zelensky did say that.
It serves no purpose, Russia had everything going with just recognizing dpr and lpr. by simply recognizing the territory of dpr and lpr that was still under Ukrainian
control means Ukraine has disputed border thus stopping Ukrainian entry into nato. Also the previous limited escalation of recognizing the territory showing intent and threatening escalation elsewhere (like giving Iran s400) they could have stopped nato going in setting up structures like they were doing (even without Ukrainian being in nato). This invasion is an overreach.
What part of increased shelling (after eight years of the same) did you miss? Not to mention that it is likely Russia had intelligence that a Ukraine offensive was being planned, which is why Ukraine moved half its army to the contact line in spring, 2021. There is every reason to believe that Ukraine intended a new offensive, if not now, then eventually once it thought it had enough US backing. Not to mention that Ukraine’s President is under constant pressure from the US CIA and neocons and Ukraine’s own hardliners.
As for NATO, perhaps you aren’t aware of the following (which I only just learned the other day):
Granted, that was unlikely under the conditions at the time. But the fact that NATO granted Ukraine the status of Enhanced Opportunities Partner indicates that clearly NATO was not *that* concerned about Ukraine having an ongoing internal conflict.
Note also the increasing size of NATO military exercises inside Ukraine. It wouldn’t matter if Ukraine was an actual member of NATO if NATO started treating them as if they were a member, in terms of stationing weapons systems and other “military development” programs which are part of being a NATO Enhanced Opportunities Partner.
As for recognizing the territory alone, that would not have stopped anything. In fact, it would have exacerbated the situation.
Bottom line: the only way to deal with Ukraine is as Russia is doing: secure the independent republics, eliminate the neo-Nazis, disarm the Ukraine military, and leave the rest of Ukraine to stew in its own juices.
I read all the responses given to my points, the reason I didn’t respond to one of ur earlier post is simple, I personally think after every machinations of nato that u described it was still not possible to bring Ukraine in the nato camp because the other side is Russia and rules always come into play when the other side can enforce it with force. Although other nato partners like Germany r almost us vassal state in 2008 they vetoed Georgian entry into nato and they would’ve stopped any covert or overt encroachment into Ukraine because of the ground reality like tyranny of border, Russian military prowess, successful efforts of Russia to build a sanction proof economy and european need for cheap Russian gas for competitive edge. there would’ve been some face saving yearly exercises but no structures or fast strike options would have been installed in Ukraine. Sweden and Finland would also have gotten the message.
It is in antiwar that I truly discovered that reasonable people with even more or less same worldview can come to almost opposite conclusions while looking at the same facts.
All the reasons you cite are correct. What I’m saying is that in the case of Ukraine, it seems to me that NATO (or at least the US neocons) was much more interested than they were in Georgia, and NATO might have bent its rules to allow it – or at least act like Ukraine was a member. In any event, we’ll never know now. Russia obviously did not want to take the chance.
This is what a blunder looks like. This is on the scale of MacArthur’s blunders in the Philippines 1941 and Korea 1950.
Is it one side blundering, or both?
It shows what empire building looks like.
No, it isn’t.
Apparently,Ukraine sees themselves as a separate peoples, we should respect that.Russia has been an expansionist power for 1100 years,seizing Moslem lands in the south, Asian lands in the east, and Nations after WW2.
Here are some further points gleaned from Tass and elsewhere.
Russia is evacuating its Embassy and Consulate personnel from Ukraine.
Ukraine disconnected from the Russian and Belarus energy grids – supposedly to test the system for future connection to the European power grids.(that’s a laugh, although after this they may have to.)
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) foiled a terror act in an Orthodox church in Crimea plotted by supporters of Ukraine’s Right Sector extremist group (outlawed in Russia) and detained six people. (Take that with as much salt as you like.)
Russia’s Investigative Committee has identified 85 individuals from among the personnel of the Ukrainian army and other structures complicit in the bombardments of the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics. (Andrei Martyanov says war crimes trials will be coming for these guys, See below on cars leaving Kiev going west.)
Ukraine is ready to talk on security with everyone, including Russia, President Vladimir Zelensky said in his video address posted by the presidential administration. (Good luck with that, Volodymir – time for talk is over.)
Ukraine demands that security guarantees are provided to it by Russia and other countries – signatories to the Budapest Memorandum, President Vladimir Zelensky said in his video address posted by the presidential administration. (Ditto)
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he had made the decision to hold a special military operation in response to the address of leaders of Donbass republics. “People’s republics of Donbass approached Russia with a request for help. In connection therewith, <…> I made the decision to hold a special military operation. Its goal is to protect the people that are subjected to abuse, genocide from the Kiev regime for eight years, and to this end we will seek to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine and put to justice those that committed numerous bloody crimes against peaceful people, including Russian nationals,” Putin said in the television address.
Direct attack against Russia to result in overthrow of any potential aggressor — Putin. This is Putin giving an explicit warning to NATO and the US. Needless to say, he’s deadly serious about that.
Civil defense sirens being sounded in Kiev — TASS correspondent – Explosions are periodically being heard outside the city. (Looks like Russia has decided to hit the “command and control”, although apparently not – yet – in the city proper.
Russia closed airspace on western border with Ukraine, Belarus According to the source, the Rostov flight zone will be closed until March 2. (Gives you an idea of how long they think this is going to take – one week.)
NBC journalist claims Russian troops landed in Odessa – Matt Bradley also claimed that the Russian troops were crossing the border into Kharkiv (I’d wait for confirmation on that one, given NBC’s record of BS. But it is possible, even likely.)
LPR army won’t harm civilians in Kiev-controlled part of Donbass — LPR head. (No doubt – they’re Ukrainians like them for the most part.)
Always ask the next question. Once it’s over, the two questions are: 1) how much of Ukraine’s regime will be left, and 2) now that the republics are independent states, will NATO claim that the rest of Ukraine now meets NATO membership requirements? Needless to say, Russia won’t allow that, either.
This part seems BS:
“Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) foiled a terror act in an Orthodox church in Crimea plotted by supporters of Ukraine’s Right Sector extremist group”
FSB usually is not in the business of foiling terror acts, but more in the business of allowing them to happen or staging them.
Citations, please. Otherwise I call BS.
I wrote a long answer and only then checked that you basically just copy/paste Russian propaganda all the time. So, I suppose, I am the fool here, by trying to reason.
And would your long reply contain any US propaganda? “Not one inch eastward” and Victoria Nuland are facts.
I don’t think anyone would dispute that the Russian spies would lie just like any others … it’s almost a part of the job requirements. In this case? Who knows … it’s a data point.
One correction: Ukrainians, especially the western Ukrainians who tend to make up the partisans like these, are Catholic, not orthodox … This is one of their few differences with russians.
https://www.amazon.com/Blowing-Up-Russia-Secret-Terror/dp/145873160X
I suppose you know what happened to Litvinenko?
How effective where they in Nord-Ost theater attack?
Rescue operation gassed (killed) 130 of hostages – no emergency services to help those who were poisoned with gas, all attackers where shot while asleep, so no one of importance was prosecuted? – it doesn’t sound as foiling of terror act.
And Beslan, of course.
In short, as with every intelligence agency, they are created to push agenda, create confusion and lies, I would not believe their claims. A lot of people here were dismissive of U.S. intelligence claims about Russia, I would suggest looking at FSB statements with even more suspicion.
And of course, the claim seems ridiculous on surface – Right sector is supposed to be Christian leaning, I doubt their choice of attack would be Orthodox church, but such claims would for sure swell anger in Russian population.
In essence Ukrainians are also orthodox, so terror attack on orthodox church would re-assure Russian voter, that they are not the same orthodox, because they are attacking our churches.
And how would a right-wing extremist brigade get into Crimea?
OK, you believe the Litvinenko story. Since you’re repeating Western talking points, I guess where your head is at is apparent. To quote Larry Johnson below:
I realize by writing this article I am immediately accused of being a tool of the Russians. I have one response, пошел на хуй. (Look it up.)
Ask the CIA about all the ways they freely admit to about how they planned to assassinate Castro. Then ask them about how many they’ve assassinated that we *don’t* know about.
Those were hypersonic missiles that got through undetected by the US/Ukrainian missile system. Putin made clear Russia will not tolerate like the Ukrainian ‘blood and soil’ Nazi militias that Canada has been training within the ranks of the UKR National Guard thast the US is belligerently supporting..Its horrible how the western commercial media is oligarchic and tamed.. Putin is calling the west’s bluff..The western oligarch’s don’t want to lose their shirts from their share prices highly leveraged by free Fed money for buybacks to maintain share prices..Biden et all are going to take some heat for going to far..The US financiers won’t risk the capital equity losses when they watvh the markets tomorrow. I suspect that Putin’s people knew about the liquidity problem in the US owing to the US over reliance on fiat money to prop up the dollar..The US imperialism has gone too far using sanctions illegally to bully people around the world..Putin has as much ‘right’ to protect his country from Biden’s ring around Russia with missile systems that were just proved ineffective hours ago..
Putin and Biden – and their respective cabals – are scumbags. The weak will suffer what they must. Again. A pox on both their houses.
In the end, American hypocrisy in countless disastrous incursions around the world destroyed its credibility before this current furor began. Euromaidan and that disgusting leaked phone call included. Russian violent aggression destroys the small amount of credibility they had in Donbass over Ukraine and NATO expansion. There’s no good outcome when mechanised death begins grinding up a civilian population.
On the contrary, the Russian action solidifies their credibility as people who can’t be pushed into a corner.
“Those were hypersonic missiles that got through undetected by the US/Ukrainian missile system.”
Got a citation for that? Not saying it isn’t true, but I haven’t seen anything to indicate that.
Look for the end of fourth paragraph. Clearly shows where the authors head is at.
I missed that! Quite funny, it’s just what we’ve come to expect the last 21 years.
True enough. Looking at his articles, seems that being in constant mental state that USA=bad, somehow creates subconscious mental state that Russia≠bad, even though Russia is 100% bad in this case.
I think Russia is only 75% bad in this case, they have legitimate grievances, it’s just that invading it is the wrong way to try to resolve them.
Bullcrap. It’s obviously a typo.
Has the author gone absolutely mad? Does anyone else think that we are being co
erced into a hysterical state by the press?
We are coerced in hysterical state by tanks crossing borders and missiles shot at cities.
The hysteria has been going for four months (or a year if you count back to the spring, 2021, crisis). Which is a lot longer than “tanks and missiles.”
To whom are you referring? Ah, I see. That is obviously a typo.
I just read the article and the typo had been corrected.
“In another statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said it crippled Ukraine’s air defenses with “precision” attacks. It also claimed that Ukrainian border guards are not resisting the advancing Russian troops.”
“…are not resisting the advancing US troops”. US troops? Is that a typo?
No doubt.
We’re just used to seeing that, so …
NATO in emergency session as Russia attacks Ukraine
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-business-europe-russia-vladimir-putin-71bf9d3687e1a04f11dfb895639a13ca
Let’s hope so…
More updates from Taas – take them as you wish, remembering the “fog of war.”
Defense Ministry debunks reports of ‘downed’ Russian plane over Ukraine
https://tass.com/politics/1409549
Ukraine’s emergencies service reports Lutsk TV tower blast, army depots ablaze
The Ukrainian Emergencies Service also reported fires at military units in the Vinnitsa and Kiev Regions
https://tass.com/politics/1409575
Ukrainian troops leaving their positions, dropping weapons — Russian Defense Ministry
The ministry emphasized that no strikes are being carried out on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ units that have laid down their arms
https://tass.com/politics/1409609
Ukraine plotting to stage psyop using doctored civilian deaths, says Russian top brass
The Ukrainian Security Service plans to stage and is already staging provocations based on patterns used by the White Helmets, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov noted
https://tass.com/world/1409865
Ukraine’s combat command reports strikes on HQs, airfields, Guardian says
According to the correspondent, the initial wave of strikes appeared to involve cruise missiles, artillery and airstrikes
https://tass.com/politics/1409623
Center of Kiev’s miliary operation in Donbass “practically destroyed” — Pushilin
It can be stated that no strikes are dealt against the DPR’s territory along the whole engagement line anymore, the DPR leader said.
https://tass.com/politics/1409629
Ukrainian military not laying down weapons, intensity of shelling mounting — DPR official
Eduard Basurin noted that the situation is very complicated, since the military grouping is very large
https://tass.com/politics/1409693
Note the contradiction in the above two reports!
Ukrainian soldiers abandoning frontline positions, says Lugansk official
According to Ivan Filiponenko, the Ukrainian army’s servicemen have been refusing to obey orders on the massive scale
https://tass.com/politics/1409725
Ukrainian army keeps shelling Donbass cities, civilians killed — Russia’s top brass
The DPR and LPR forces have switched to a counter-offensive with the support of the Russian armed forces, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov informed
https://tass.com/world/1409797
Russian forces do not rocket, bomb, or shell Ukrainian cities — Defense Ministry
Igor Konashenkov also noted that the positions of Ukrainian military units that had agreed to lay down arms were not being attacked
https://tass.com/defense/1409801
Pepe Escobar @RealPepeEscobar ·1h
The (nuclear) straw that (nearly) broke the Bear’s back was the 404 comedian coming back from the Munich Security Conference and saying that the 1994 Budapest memorandum should be revised and Ukraine should be nuclear-rearmed.
[RSH Note: Personally I think the renewed shelling was the tripwire, but Putin did note the threat to rearm Ukraine with nukes.]
LOL
Pepe Escobar @RealPepeEscobar ·2h
The Goddess – who dwells in a higher realm – has been sanctioned by a bunch of scurrying rats.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2a0352334c8a5e90b0830b9808bef3077fab2e54ebbefd588f4e6af017efa811.jpg
Pepe Escobar @RealPepeEscobar
The full Russian list of War Crime Ukros actually has 5,000 NAMES.
“To be captured dead or alive”.
Spans everything from the 2014 Maidan coup to the Odessa massacre and the shelling of civilians in Donbass over the years.
There WILL be a War Crimes Tribunal.
Pepe Escobar @RealPepeEscobar ·2h
WE HAVE YOUR NAMES
The Russian Investigative Committee made sure they have ALL the names of the Ukro political/military who gave orders to shell the Baby Twins.
Over 400 criminal cases are already opened on war crimes. Those include 85 top officials.
They better run – NOW.
Pepe Escobar @RealPepeEscobar ·3h
VERY important.
It was the artillery of one of the baby twins, the DPR, that hit the HQ of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbass.
The HQ actually housed the ENTIRE Ukrainian military command.
Which means the Ukrainian General Staff instantly lost control of all its troops.
[RSH Note: This is going to be called in the history books “The One Hour War.”]
Pepe Escobar @RealPepeEscobar
The WHOLE 7th tactical aviation brigade of the Ukrainian Air Force, crammed with Su-24M bombers, was blown up to smithereens.11:32 PM · Feb 23, 2022
Pepe Escobar @RealPepeEscobar ·4h
NATOstan clowns, this is what you get in only four hours in a precision war against a Bear still with one paw behind his back.
Air Defense – destroyed
Air Force – destroyed
Navy – destroyed
Drones – destroyed
[RSH Note: OK – “The Four-Hour War” – not “The One Hour War” – although basically it was over in the first hour.
Ex-CIA Larry Johnson over at Pat Lang’s blog:
The Wisdom of Dr. Stephen Cohen and Avoiding War With Russia
https://turcopolier.com/the-wisdom-of-dr-stephen-cohen-and-avoiding-war-with-russia/
I have the same attitude as the first 3 sentences of that paragraph.
Address by the President of the Russian Federation (from this morning)
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843
WATCH: Tanks enter Ukraine via Belarus border
Livestream video shows tanks and other armored vehicles entering Ukraine through a border crossing with Belarus.
The video was taken at the Senkivka, Urkaine crossing with Veselovka, Belarus, shot around 6:48 a.m. local time.
https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-news-02-23-22/h_f8a7fa62cab251685fd0c3903f4585fb
Ukraine’s Air Force fleeing the country…
Romania intercepts Ukrainian fighter jet
The Sukhoi Su-27 was forced to land at a military base, the NATO member’s defense ministry said
https://www.tbsnews.net/world/romania-intercepts-ukrainian-fighter-jet-375466
Video of an incident in Lutsk: https://t.me/mig41/13068
Google Translation:
Ukraine attacks two Russian civilian freighters with missiles. That will endear them to the Russians.
Two Russian Civilian Cargo Ships Hit by Ukrainian Missile Strike in Sea of Azov
https://sputniknews.com/20220224/two-russian-civilian-cargo-ships-hit-by-ukrainian-missile-strike-in-sea-of-azov-1093331781.html
https://www.rt.com/russia/550467-ukraine-asks-turkey-ban-ships/
Possible closure of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits.
‘Kiev’s govt literally has no cards to play’ – Scott Ritter on Donbass escalation
Asked if the US would be sending any more weapons into Ukraine, Scott said, “There won’t be any more weapons going into Ukraine. It’s over.” Good interview, worth checking out.
Very good interview – Thanks.
So what ya gonna do about it, Biden? You’re playing with the big boys now.
You’ll enforce “sanctions” because Amerikkka will happily bomb third-world nations without a care in the world, but is too chickenshit to declare a war on a nuclear-powered nation.
NATO, the EU and Ukraine could have entirely avoided this by abiding by the Minsk Agreements, with some prodding from Bye-Done.
So Putin ran out of patience. One could make an Analogy if there were large Amerikkkan communities in Mexico…
A pox on both their houses. The weak suffer what they must. Yet again.
American hypocrisy destroyed its credibility before this current furor began. Russian violence now destroys the credibility they had in Donbass over Ukraine government shenanigans and unjust NATO expansion.
When mechanized death begins grinding up a civilian population, there’s no good outcome until the violence ends.
So what is the secret weapon that Putin claims Russia has in its military that no country in world has…?!
Intelligence?
I think he’s referring to the incident where a US destroyer was in the Black Sea and a Russian jet did a flyby – and all the electronics went out in the ship. I don’t recall the details. It was a while back.
They did totally cripple a US destroyer in the Black Sea without firing a shot or killing a soul.
Address by the President of the Russian Federation
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843
For reference, this is Article 51:
The US/NATO has already showed its hand: Neither will engage Russia directly unless a NATO member nation is attacked. Putin, I strongly suspect, has no intention of crossing that ‘red line’, so essentially all the US/NATO is going to do is stand on the sidelines and waggle their finger in a united, disapproving manner. Once you take the stick out of the equation, carrots are pretty easy to deal with. Putin wants a clean, ie, non-nuclear and non-NATO, Ukraine (with a government more pro-Russian) and he’s going to get it whether we like it or not.