Posted on 04/02/2021 12:32:45 PM PDT by Mariner
While the world is focused on OPEC news and Easter preparations, the Ukrainian crisis is heating up and there is a real threat of a military confrontation involving Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. Currently, the Ukrainian military is fighting Moscow-backed separatists in the Donbas region. At the same time, heavy clashes with Russian-backed forces in and around Shymy have been reported. International pressure has been building on Russia to force a direct ceasefire, but no moves have been made. In recent weeks, analysts warned of a possible full-scale military confrontation as they considered the military moves in the region as provocations by Moscow. At the same time, most confrontations were localized, with no real regional impact yet.
The military stalemate, however, could well be coming to an end. A growing amount of reports have emerged showing not only largescale Russian military movements towards the Ukrainian border but also Moscow’s only regional supporter Belarus has deployed new troops to the Ukrainian border. As Julian Ropcke, a German Bild reporter, said on Wednesday, large amounts of Belarus’ military hardware, including BTR-80 armored vehicles and military trucks are moved to the border region. Kiev has already reacted to the growing threat perception by calling up reinforcements. Ruslan Khomchak, Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief, stated to the press that Russia is building up armed forces near Ukraine’s borders in a threat to the country’s security.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Better get Kamala ready for the 3AM phone call,she can record a message on the answering machine,Joe is getting his beauty sleep,will discuss situation with Vladimir in the morning
The dems do have plenty of interest as the level of corruption coupled with the amounts of our money flowing in have made it a wellspring of illicit cash for the connected.
Nonsense, one of the early Russian separatists, Colonel Igor Girkin said locals don't want to fight for the Russian side.
"In a nearly nine-minute video recorded in a spare office with a paper-strewn desk and a local map hung on the wall, Girkin – using his nom de guerre Igor Strelkov (Igor “the Shooter”) – berates the men of Donetsk province for refusing to fight. Because of their cowardice, he says, he has no choice but to humiliate them by publicly inviting the women of Donetsk province to take roles in the liberation of eastern Ukraine that properly belong to real men...
The few local men who have joined his militia are those aged over forty who were raised in Soviet times, and there is a complete absence of youth in his rebel ranks, Girkin says. “Where are the young people?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIHdrSm6jrU
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/russian-separatist-commander-appeals-for-volunteers-says-he-is-short-of-fighters/
You think Biden will stop them?
Yes. Agree. They wan’t Yeltsin’s Russia.
Rhine River barges. Operation Sea Rion.
About as much to do with the government in Ukraine as President Trump with BLM Marxists rioting in the US.
Doesn’t the Putin KGB propaganda get tired?
Guess not.
During World War II, many French conservatives, disgusted at leftist rule in Paris, had a saying: better Hitler than Blum, the latter being the head of a leftist regime in Paris before the war.
Maybe they didn't want to be part of Ukraine, either, and that why the created their own republic.
https://www.crisisgroup.org/europe-central-asia/eastern-europe/ukraine/254-rebels-without-cause-russias-proxies-eastern-ukraine
The result is three distinct groups in the east: a proxy leadership financially and politically dependent on Moscow but with no clear policy goals or local base of its own; ideological separatists whose hopes of joining Russia have been dashed; and the majority of the population, worn out by war and frustrated at the seeming indifference of both Kyiv and Moscow.
The point is that is a mess we should stay out of it with no clear moral distinction between the sides.
This was not a situation created by Putin or Russia. It was mess created by failed leadership in Ukraine.
Yes, poor Pukey. He’s a victim.
With a demented senile puppet in the White House, he has to step up his plans for additional aggression, attack Ukraine and try to rebuild his KGB sadness seeing the Soviet empire reborn.
Poor, poor Pukey.
Russia is freer and more conservative nation than we are now. Anyone can go on YouTube and see what life is like there.
I see no evidence that Putin would invade or annex a nation or part of one unless it was in self-defense or unless the people there wanted to become part of Russia.
Yes, in his state and with his bravado talking, there’s no telling.
Yes, Putin was picked by Yeltsin - when the latter realised his position was under threat. But that was only to block the likes of Bereszovsky, Safra and who knows else?
OMG, you are completely clueless or dishonest to reality in Russia. How is Russia freer than the US when you have no right to assembly and speech in Russia? Its almost impossible for the opposition to get a permit to protest in Russia.
Freedom of religion in Russia does not exist. The Russian government is harassing Protestants, Evangelical Christians and Orthodox that do not follow the Moscow Patriarch.
"In practice, however, this right is severely limited both de jure and de facto by federal legislation, an array of regional and local regulations, and an opaque system of bureaucracy. As IMR’s March report on protest trends noted: “Today, there exists a web of criminal and administrative laws that punish participation in unsanctioned protests while also making it incredibly difficult for organizers to receive a permit for protests.”
https://imrussia.org/en/analysis/3205-more-limits-proposed-on-freedom-of-assembly-in-russia
"Now even those staging peaceful, one-person pickets are regularly detained in Russia."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46702417
"Six-year prison sentence for Jehovah's Witness in Russia sparks outcry" https://religionnews.com/2019/02/08/six-year-prison-sentence-for-jehovahs-witness-in-russia-sparks-outcry/
"Russia's Newest Law: No Evangelizing Outside of Church" https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2016/june/no-evangelizing-outside-of-church-russia-proposes.html
No, YOU ARE. I watch YouTubers from Russia show what life is like there everyday. Some of them even brutally go after Putin and are critical of the government.
Putin directly is involved with Russian Orthodox Church. The number one attraction in "Golden Ring" of cities in Russia are churches.
There are even Americans that have moved to Russia with their spouses and eight kids to become Orthodox priests there.
Russia has allowed gay marriage and has banned the promotion of homosexuality. No gay pride parades or activists harassing business owners to bake gay wedding cakes there.
You're the one that believes the Deep State lies about Russia. Deep State lied about Russian collusion and tried to use it to overturn the election results. But, you just can't believe you're being lied to about Russia, can you?
The U.S. Armed Forces Solution:
#StandWithCrimea #StandWithTiawan #NoMoreCorporateWars
... and that’s about it.
- jimjohn
They are not harassing the Orthodox church. Putin openly attends Orthodox services and promotes the Orthodox church. Look up all the videos of Putin in attendance at one.
The worst that can be said is that the Russian government favors the Orthodox church over other denominations but the government bends over backward to accommodate it and defend laws that protect Judeo-Christian morality.
As I said, Americans have moved to Russia to become Orthodox priests. Father Joseph Gleason moved there with his eight kids because Russia prevents gay marriage, homosexuality from being promoted and because it was easier there to homeschool his eight kids than in the US:
https://www.pravmir.com/us-orthodox-priest-wife-and-8-children-move-to-russia-rostov-the-great-interview/
We didn’t want our children studying in government schools, so we homeschooled them. The USA is a good country in many ways, with many good people. But for various reasons, my family and I no longer felt good about living there. I was looking for a different country where we could live, and I began to research countries with strong Orthodox traditions: Serbia, Georgia, Greece, and of course Russia.
In Russia it is possible to find people who practice the homosexual lifestyle, but it is not promoted by the Government. And as St. Paisios says: When an individual sins, God punishes the individual, but when the government sins, God punishes the whole nation. I don’t know if it will take 10 years, or if it will take 50 years, but if America does not repent, then the nation will fall. The second reason was related to foreign policy. They put hundreds of military bases around the world, and have supported numerous unjust wars. And whenever they bring war to Orthodox lands, it seems that they are always attacking Christians, rather than protecting them.
However bad the leader of Iraq may have been, at least he protected the Christians who lived there. But after war was forced upon Iraq, the Christian populations were mercilessly exiled or slaughtered. There were around one million Christians there prior to the war, and today there are virtually zero.
And, he is free speak out against evils like Black Lives Matter in Russia:
https://orthodoxyindialogue.com/2020/06/15/from-russia-with-love-white-privilege-does-not-exist-black-lives-matter-is-ignorant-hypocritical-by-priest-joseph-gleason/
In fact, I just saw a video recently from Russian YouTube showing a mosque that had been constructed in Moscow. So, even Muslims are allowed to worship in Russia.
***************
Yet all Christian denominations, other than Russian Orthodox, are prohibited from inviting anyone to church or sharing threir faith. The Russian Orthodox Church has returned to the same status, that it had prior to the 2017 revolution.
No, they are being prevented from promoting their churches. But, that is no better or worse than being harassed by homosexual activists and the government in blue states in the US. And, you're able to homeschool your kids without being harassed by the government as well. And, you're free to speak out on homosexuality and other moral ills without risking losing your job.
I'd say the level of freedom if you're not Russian Orthodox is about on the same level as a blue state here.
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