Posted on 04/16/2014 12:09:40 PM PDT by kronos77
(Reuters) - Separatists flew the Russian flag on armored vehicles taken from the Ukrainian army on Wednesday, humiliating a Kiev government operation to recapture eastern towns controlled by pro-Moscow partisans.
Six armored personnel carriers were driven into the rebel-held town of Slaviansk to waves and shouts of "Russia! Russia!". It was not immediately clear whether they had been captured by rebels or handed over to them by Ukrainian deserters.
Another 15 armored troop carriers full of paratroops were surrounded and halted by a pro-Russian crowd at a town near an airbase. They were allowed to retreat only after the soldiers handed the firing pins from their rifles to a rebel commander.
The military setback leaves Kiev looking weak on the eve of a peace conference on Thursday, when its foreign minister will meet his Russian, U.S. and European counterparts in Geneva.
Moscow has responded to the overthrow of its ally Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich in February by announcing its right to intervene militarily to protect Russian speakers across the former Soviet Union, a new doctrine that has overturned decades of post-Cold War diplomacy.
Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula last month, and its armed supporters have now taken control over swathes of Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland.
It has massed thousands of troops on near the Ukrainian frontier. A Reuters reporting team that visited the border area late last week and again on Wednesday said Russian military activity had increased markedly over the past few days, with more troops and vehicles on the roads.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
“Russia is not a threat to the US or Europe.”
I wouldn’t go that far, but the threat is long-term strategic/Economic, and not immediate, or military.
Russia is emerging as an Economic competitor to Europe. The Euro dependence on Russian gas, and wrecking their own energy sources to pacify the Green Socialists, shows us that.
To everyone but a Russian, that’s actually a good thing.
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I think to everyone but an agitator it is a good thing.
Same like in Ukraine - IV Reich (EU) ousted Yanukovich when he refused to enter EU....
Who stands to gain the most from "agitation?" Remind me.
Again, it would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. Conspiracies in every direction, and only Russia pure as the wind-driven snow.
Funny video...
Former Ukrainian, now Pro-Russian militia BMD-2 “Drifting”, and doing donuts in the steets of Slovyansk this afternoon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtfL54BLV7s
Well, they’ve wormed their way into the WH...
My favorite tank drifting video.
Who stands to gain the most from “agitation?” Remind me.
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It would seem the putschists in Kiev, who initiated all of this and are impotent to finish it. Unless they are carried of course.
If Alaska got fed up with the Federal Government and, with popular support, declaired itself independent—electing Sarah Palin as their president—would people on the Free Republic Cheer? If The Republic of Alaska signed a treaty with Putin’s Russia for aid and protection—would people cheer Putin? Maybe. But things would have to get a whole lot worse. Say, obama cancels elections? Runs for a 3rd Term. Bans the Tea Party as a “hate group”? Uses drones to strike Fox News or take out Ted Cruz? Would people support the USA then? Under these events—People might see Putin in a different light.
Only if the BLM took over first. lol
Only if the BLM took over first. lol
Nice.
"Everything a little Bolshi baby should be."
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