Posted on 03/18/2014 10:18:58 AM PDT by AU72
Multiple outlets are reporting that Russian troops stormed a Ukrainian military base in Simferopol, Crimea today. At this point, Reuters is reporting one Ukrainian soldier was killed; this De Welt report says the soldier was wounded.
Troops stormed a Ukrainian base on the outskirts of Simferopol on Tuesday, according to a Ukrainian military spokesman.
One Ukrainian officer was reported to have been wounded in the neck. There was no immediate indication of who was behind the incident, although Kyiv soon afterwards said Russia was responsible for the attack.
Immediately after the incident, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said the conflict had moved from a political to a military stage.
Today, Russian soldiers began shooting at Ukrainian servicemen, said Yatseniuk. This is a war crime.
The storming of the base in Simferopol comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered an address to his rubber-stamp parliament. In that address Putin called Crimea an integral part of Russia. Putin also accused Ukraines current leaders of being controlled by anti-Semitic radicals, and stated that Russia had no choice but to intervene in Crimea once Yanukovych was ousted. Putins address sets the stage for the annexation of Crimea, and lays down the logic by which he will eventually move into eastern Ukraine.
Readers of a certain vintage will likely recall the oleaginous, Brooklyn-accented Vladimir Pozner, an American citizen domiciled in Moscow who regularly popped up on television in the waning days of the Cold War, propagandizing on behalf of the Kremlin. Pozner was a rather impressive practitioner of whataboutism, the debate tactic demanding that questions about morally indefensible acts committed by your side be deflected with pettifogging discussion of unrelated sins committed by your opponents side. Soviet tanks lumbering through the streets of Prague? Yes, but what about the mistreatment of the Native Americans? East Germanys reluctant citizens penned in by an imposing cement wall, ringed by trigger-happy border guards? A necessary anti-fascist protection barrier, sure, but...what about Hiroshima?
Yeah, why are these little countries picking-on poor, defenseless Russia? Georgia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia . . . .
I saw a report that said the Russians had caught one of the snipers and the other one was still on the run. If thats true, they’ll find out soon enough who was behind the shooting.
And I remember Vladimir Pozner. The guy had no central core values except one. Rationalize everything about his Soviet government.
Even this is out there..."Ukrianina leader threatens to blow up gas pipelines"....and like him to do so..but true? or not? Who can really say...too much dust in the air...
The first casualty of war....
Journalist on tweeter are getting frustrated....one claimed all western and euro media is saying the same thing, word for word,...and Russia media likewise. Doubt there’s much truth in the thick of it now.
I could live with that! LOL....such a thug!
State Department has put up a counter propaganda sight now, they said.....in order to “correct’ media.
Mentioned Putin didn’t use the word ‘gun’ in his speech as media has been reporting.....rather Putin really said,... U.S. guided by the rule of the dumb in foreign policy.
Oh yeah, there's a bastion of truth for ya.
I knew you’d appreciate hearing right from the top...lolol
Putin is purging the Ukrainian military personnel who refused to join the russians.
Harvest it? How?
This does not look like an action of organized military forces. It looks like another agent provocateur trying to shoot at both sides of the conflict, hoping that they will attack each other. The same was seen in Kiev.
“It looks like another agent provocateur trying to shoot at both sides of the conflict, hoping that they will attack each other. The same was seen in Kiev.”
And now ask yourself, WHO PROFITS from a shooting war between Ukraine and Russia? Both the Russians and the non-insane not-Nazi Ukrainians understand just how short that war would be.
Yes, yes, and yes. The Security Assurance to Ukraine (in return for them giving up 5000 nukes) was reaffirmed as recently as 2009 (ie., by Obama, he can’t even claim this was some mistake by a previous Pres.) Look it up on Wikipedia. It was actually one of the best things Clinton did (except perhaps for not actually been made a Treaty), because the alternatives were so bad.
I believe this (because it was / is so major, and is, er, was, a formal Security Assurance) is the final straw. No U.S. ally can depend on us any more, they will develop their own nukes, that will ratchet up the global arms race, and with so many players, a nuke war of some form is inevitable now. If lucky, maybe it will only involve 100 warheads or so. I don’t know what that much radiation floating around the globe will do, but if one looks thoroughly at the aftermath of Chernobyl and the large area affected, to this day, it is pretty scary. (And I’m still pro-nuclear electric power!) A dust-up between, say, a nuclear armed Taiwan and China will affect us big time, even if we are not directly involved. Shoot, in most bodies of water in the US, the fish have more mercury from China in them than they do from the US.
We have posters on here saying it’s not worth our while to honor our FORMAL commitments. Bah! I suppose we will get what we selfish bastards-with-no-honor deserve...
In a conventional war, yes (it would be short, although perhaps not as short as some might think, as the Russians, despite their firepower, aren’t really very good.)
In an unconventional war, if the Ukrainians are willing to accept high casualties*, and if someone supplies arms to the Ukrainians, the Russians will wish Putin had stayed home.
Ukraine is a country that was basically totally razed, and had ~19% of its population killed, in WW2, and for this they got Round II of subjugation a la Stalin. Now, under 1% would get them independence for most of the existing territory for the forseeable future. (And, probably, a tough generation of recovery.) The question is, do they have the will?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.