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Hey any French Mistral assault ships ready yet to land Russian troops in southern Ukraine?? Looks to me Central Europe could be a 'passport-free' zone for Russian troops on holiday any day now! Lovely that the French would help out. Some warped thinking going there in East-West relations. And the Baltics...glad they know what kind of bear they're dealing with. Have to say Mr. Putin is keeping them on their toes.
Mr. Putin under some pressure now is now getting quite restless and pushing through some real good 'expansionism'. And the Russian people are on this??? Lies and distortion will only go so far. I wonder if they will be able to deal with the blowback.
Next up...Rossiyan troops traipsing over the Bering Strait. That'll divert more attention from the Sea of Azov., eh?.. ..;-).....
The Donetsk People's Army is right now liberating Mariupol ont the Azov sea, the courageous local population is rebelling, soon the Azov sea will be a Russian lake, I'm positively elated (and sorry kuulguur , you will never see a self- respecting Frenchman bashing Sister Russia!)
As predicted, Russia will eventually at some point start directly intervening into Ukraine if Petro did not negotiate with the rebels a peace, the force peace that was pursued with Petro did not work because Petro wants none of it, so Petro through his arrogance will end up losing it all, and will eventually hope Kiev will not be next, either through rebel/Russian action, or his own people overthrowing him.
Also, as mentioned hundreds of posts ago, already one "secret" meeting was held between Russia and the US, and many more have also. I will say this; the US/West already have talked with Russia, I will almost guarantee (but still have doubt), that Russia's actions have already been negotiated, and the US/West is going to let Russia take the course of action that was agreed to. The whole media face is pure BS, this stuff has already had backroom deals done, details to be seen in 50 years or after another national security leak.
Fact is, no one cares about Ukraine, this is something some Ukrainians and their supporters just cannot seem to understand. The US/West have much more important issues on their plate, and need Russia's assistance, at least absence, from these issues. Ukraine is not strategically important for the US/West, however, it is for Russia. The Middle East is not strategically important for Russia, however, it is for the US/West. I would bet the farm the US/West has negotiated with Russia in regards to actions in the Middle East and Ukraine; we (the US/West) give you what you want from Ukraine, you (Russia) assist and give us what we want in the Middle East.
About a thousand posts ago, I mused that among Russia's goals would be to secure, not only a contiguous land corridor to Crimea, but as much of the northern coast of the Black Sea as possible to the Romanian border which could imply an offensive, eventually, as far as Odessa (remember the outburst there about three months ago), which would also provide, or come close to providing, a land corridor to Transnistria.
For about the past month, until these last few days, I was thinking that the Russians had given up, but then just a day or two before this latest offensive, I read a very interesting article - don't remember which publication - on how Mr. Putin is employing a back-and-forth approach so as not to trip a load of sanctions all at once. It seems to be working in forth mode right now, and it appears that a critical mass of western European countries has no margin for mass sanctions without causing an even deeper triple-dip recession that some of them have already fallen into, and now just a few months before the onset of winter.
Russia shares a maritime border with Iran, it has maritime access to Syria, and as the crow flies its southern most borders are not that far away from the seemingly autonomous group that has taken power in eastern Syria and northern Iraq. Russia is the oil & gas powerhouse in much of northern arc of the Eurasian continent and the Artic circle, and it is a major oil & gas force to be reckoned with throughout the world, including trade and investment with Latin America (China too, and even more so).
Sure, sanctions may impair some Russians' ability to consume the latest industrial goods and free travel to the consumption capitals of the west, as well as impede mutual direct investment, but only a global blockade could really hurt it. Would China, India and Iran go along?
Would the west try to impose a global blockade if Russia tried to extend its invasion as far as Odessa? What if Russia does it in fits and starts, back and forth, like it is apparently doing on the Azov seaboard right now?
The west has its own problems domestically and around the globe, they picked a helluva time to pick a fight with Russia in what it considers its own backyard.
There may be some tacit backroom negotiations and deals going on, but I don't think it is as simple as this one for you, that one for me.
It's more like a dance ... I encircle you, you encircle me ...
I live near where there is some student flats, and people usually linger around the corner store. Today, there was a group who I think spoke Russian, and returning home I raised my fist from a safe distance and shouted "SLAVA UKRAINI", and they responded "HEROYAM SLAVA". Every single one. I said "thank you" in English and walked home.
RT, Johan Bäckman(oh don't get me started on this scum), Maksim Reva(Russian version of Bäckman) all together in a Russian propaganda video. Now to your 'brain', or a resemblance of a brain, this might make a sound argument to back up your chauvinistic world view, when in reality children in the 4th form could do better than this. You are just a mouthpiece for Russian lies, whose voice will never matter.
Johan Bäckman is not a political figure and nothing more but a joke here. He is a persona non grata in the Baltics, because of his beliefs that the Baltic States don't deserve to be independent. He's an agitatior, who got some 500 votes in the last elections. He also participated as an observer in the Crimean "rjeferendum", though mentioned as a Bulgarian.
Bäckman is frequently referred to in the Russian media because his pro Russian imperialist opinions, and as an academic he had some "credibility", but he was kicked out from the University of Helsinki. Only tin foil hats believe in him.
About a thousand posts ago, I mused that among Russia's goals would be to secure, not only a contiguous land corridor to Crimea, but as much of the northern coast of the Black Sea as possible to the Romanian border which could imply an offensive, eventually, as far as Odessa (remember the outburst there about three months ago), which would also provide, or come close to providing, a land corridor to Transnistria.
For about the past month, until these last few days, I was thinking that the Russians had given up, but then just a day or two before this latest offensive, I read a very interesting article - don't remember which publication - on how Mr. Putin is employing a back-and-forth approach so as not to trip a load of sanctions all at once. It seems to be working in forth mode right now, and it appears that a critical mass of western European countries has no margin for mass sanctions without causing an even deeper triple-dip recession that some of them have already fallen into, and now just a few months before the onset of winter.
Honestly, I don't think that it was "a plan," this "back-and-and forth" approach. I believe that Putin and Co didn't have a unanimous decision, a firm plan on how to deal with whole "South East" ( of Ukraine) issue. Russian society is not unanimous on this issue either.
Quote:
The west has its own problems domestically and around the globe, they picked a helluva time to pick a fight with Russia in what it considers its own backyard.
There may be some tacit backroom negotiations and deals going on, but I don't think it is as simple as this one for you, that one for me.
It's more like a dance ... I encircle you, you encircle me ...
Cute, right?
But I think it was obvious from the very beginning that Russia won't let go of the West without dragging its down in the bottomless pit with it, when being pushed to the edge.
No matter how much denial is out there, the two are directly related and connected if not out in the open, then by very intricate ties.
I live near where there is some student flats, and people usually linger around the corner store. Today, there was a group who I think spoke Russian, and returning home I raised my fist from a safe distance and shouted "SLAVA UKRAINI", and they responded "HEROYAM SLAVA". Every single one. I said "thank you" in English and walked home.
Warms my heart.
They could have been from Ukraine (we all know that many of them speak Russian,) or they could have been so-called Russian "liberals" - they oppose Russian intervention in Ukraine.
If you ever heard about the latest case with an old-timer, a popular musician who openly defied Russian involvement in Ukraine, that should tell you right there that Russians are not unanimous on this issue either.
The Finnish air force has now the Hornet fighter jets on stand by a the Helsinki main airport after repeated violations of Finnish air space by Russians.
Sweden has stepped up their defence as well.
Doesn't look good.
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