Posted on 02/28/2014 6:07:27 PM PST by kristinn
A day after U.S. intelligence said there would be no Russian invasion of Ukraine, Putins troops started coming over the border.
On Thursday night, the best assessment from the U.S. intelligence communityand for that matter most experts observing events in Ukrainewas that Vladimir Putins military would not invade Ukraine. Less than 24 hours later, however, there are reports from the ground of Russian troops pushing into the Ukrainian province of Crimea. Its hardly a full-blown invasion. But its not quite the picture U.S. analysts were painting just a day before.
There was good reason to think Putin wouldnt do it. Russias Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov told Secretary of State John Kerry that Russia respected the territorial integrity of the Ukraine. U.S. intelligence assessments concluded that the 150,000-man Russian military exercises announced by Putin on Wednesday were not preparations for an invasion of Ukraine because no medical units accompanied the troops. And Russian and U.S. diplomats were still working on Iran and Syrian diplomacy. All of this followed a successful Winter Olympic games for Putins Russia.
Yet private security contractors, working for the Russian military, seized control of two airports in Crimea on Friday. And Ukrainian border officials said that Russian cargo planes had landed inside the province, and that 10 military helicopters flew into Ukrainian airspace.
U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence on the fast moving situation in Ukraine tell The Daily Beast that analytic products from the intelligence community this week did not discount the prospect of Russian provocations and even light incursions in the Russian majority province of Crimea, the home of Russias fleet in the Black Sea.
Nonetheless, until Friday, no one anticipated a Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory."Nobody thought Putin was going to invade last night, one Senate aide who works closely on the Ukraine crisis. He has the G8 summit in Sochi coming up, no one really saw this kind of thing coming." This source also stressed that events are still moving quickly on the ground. There is still a question about whether this is Russian troops coming across the border or Russian troops moving around the installations in Crimea.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast...
Our government is a sad joke. Unprepared (see Benghazi, et al). Whiners in a wimpy administration making a genius move in troop cutbacks. Revolution of some sort is needed.
Hey Obama get your head out of Reggie Love’s lap and start drafting another sternly worded letter!
Or better yet... go over there and bend over for Putin and just get it over with.
aka It's never Obama's fault
If the EU really cared about bringing Ukraine in, would they go to war?
It's what happens when imbeciles are enfranchised.
The fall of the American Republic occurred in 1865.
The fall of the "democracy" instituted over the last 100 years will soon follow.
Putin is blowing off the G8 Summit, he does not need them any longer. The mostly European Union Countries need Russia’s gas in the winters. Can’t afford to cross Vlad.
Other predictions have been more prescient:
After the Russian Army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obamas reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence, the kind of response that would only encourage Russias Putin to invade Ukraine next, Palin told Foreign Policy in 2008.
It’s not a fail. It’s what was expected by these liars upstairs.
The Washingtonians are an existential threat to the USA.
No surprise here. "Obama admin" and "epic fail" are synonyms. We know that. Putin knows that. Everybody (except the mainstream media) knows that.
Ping
Our enemies have, at least, a three year window to completely take advantage of US interests. To not do so, would be utterly foolish.
Obama gets no blame for anything bad that happens...
and all the credit for everything bad that doesn’t.
The minute Kerry put his warning over the wires this was assured. Hagels announcement that we want to neuter the Army was fuel on the Ukrainian fire
Russia is now a superpower again courtesy of Barack the Stupid.
Pimp slapped again. Anyone remember the Pristina International Airport. Where the Russians showed up
before the ailed forces. Oh yea they are moving in
and Obama better watch his 6 because the Russians are
in Cuba. This may turn into a double or even a triple
slap down for him and F’in Kerry.
Even a child would know that Putin won’t give up Ukrainian gas and oil control - it supplies half of Europe!
CIA didn’t know? LOL, Putin probably CLEARED it with all the major powers to avoid any misunderstandings!
Even Stevie Wonder could see the Russians were going to invade the Ukraine.
They moved to protect their port at Sevastopol, and the military and civilian airports they secured are for a future pincer move to the north to link up with an invasion of ground forces to the west into Eastern Ukraine. This is a region of mostly ethnic Russians, so this will be like Austria 1938 all over again.
Russia is moving to take back Crimea.It can easily be defended, it is strategic, and the Ukraine is not going to move into the peninsula to take it back—it has geographic pinch points which will be hard to traverse.
“US intelligence” is a joke, like President Obama is a joke.
Obama goes on TV to announce about the situation, and then devolved into a joke about 5:30 pm being Democrat happy hour.
What an a-hole.
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