Posted on 02/10/2017 5:26:04 AM PST by elhombrelibre
On January 29, the fighting in Avdiivka, a town in eastern Ukraine within Ukrainian government-controlled territory, seriously escalated.
The fighting began close to the demarcation line and six kilometers north of Donetsk (see map), and continued until at least February 3.
According to official reports, 13 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 93 were wounded since the fighting intensified. Three civilians were killed and one wounded, and a British journalist was wounded and later operated on in the Dnipro hospital.
Heavy shelling from the separatist-controlled territories also affected nearby residential areas. The town was cut off from electricity, heat and water supplies, and repairs could not begin immediately due to continued hostilities, despite the brutally cold temperatures.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
And we are supposed to react to a Newsweek article?
I could have sworn people on the right didn’t read these publications, yet FR is FULL of stories from them.
Well informed people read a variety of news sources. Parochial people who merely want their bias to be reconfirmed stick to single sources.
“Well informed people read a variety of news sources”
That’s adorable.
But I don’t care to get “news” from leftist sources as some attempt to fake being “well-rounded”. It’s like saying you read coloring books because you want to balance out all of that 19th century classics that make you biased to actual writing.
“well informed”. That’s a laugh.
I doubt that the Russians would ask Trump if he wants to party.
I have been reading foreign correspondents as well and find very questionable the reporting by American outlets.
By SOMINI SENGUPTA
Feb 2, 2017
UNITED NATIONS — Nikki R. Haley, the new American ambassador to the United Nations, condemned Russia on Thursday for its recent “aggressive actions” in eastern Ukraine.
“We do want to better our relations with Russia,” Ms. Haley said during her first remarks to an open briefing of the United Nations Security Council. “However, the dire situation in eastern Ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnation of Russian actions.”
She made it clear that American sanctions imposed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea would remain in place.
During her Senate confirmation hearing last month, Ms. Haley also expressed support for continuing the sanctions and accused Russia of committing war crimes in the Syrian conflict. But her strong criticism of the government of President Vladimir V. Putin put her at odds with President Trump, who has expressed a desire for warmer relations with the Kremlin. ...’
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/world/europe/nikki-haley-trump-ukraine-russia-putin.html?_r=0
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Also from the Oct 5, 2016 first VP debate...
QUIJANO (Moderator): I want to turn now to Syria. Two hundred fifty thousand people, 100,000 of them children, are under siege in Aleppo, Syria. Bunker buster bombs, cluster munitions, and incendiary weapons are being dropped on them by Russian and Syrian militaries. Does the U.S. have a responsibility to protect civilians and prevent mass casualties on this scale, Governor Pence?
PENCE: The United States of America needs to begin to exercise strong leadership to protect the vulnerable citizens and over 100,000 children in Aleppo. Hillary Clinton’s top priority when she became secretary of state was the Russian reset, the Russians reset. After the Russian reset, the Russians invaded Ukraine and took over Crimea.
And the small and bullying leader of Russia is now dictating terms to the United States to the point where all the United States of America — the greatest nation on Earth — just withdraws from talks about a cease-fire while Vladimir Putin puts a missile defense system in Syria while he marshals the forces and begins — look, we have got to begin to lean into this with strong, broad-shouldered American leadership.
It begins by rebuilding our military. And the Russians and the Chinese have been making enormous investments in the military. We have the smallest Navy since 1916. We have the lowest number of troops since the end of the Second World War. We’ve got to work with Congress, and Donald Trump will, to rebuild our military and project American strength in the world.
But about Aleppo and about Syria, I truly do believe that what America ought to do right now is immediately establish safe zones, so that families and vulnerable families with children can move out of those areas, work with our Arab partners, real time, right now, to make that happen.
And secondly, I just have to tell you that the provocations by Russia need to be met with American strength. And if Russia chooses to be involved and continue, I should say, to be involved in this barbaric attack on civilians in Aleppo, the United States of America should be prepared to use military force to strike military targets of the Assad regime to prevent them from this humanitarian crisis that is taking place in Aleppo.
There’s a broad range of other things that we ought to do, as well. We ought to deploy a missile defense shield to the Czech Republic and Poland which Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama pulled back on out of not wanting to offend the Russians back in 2009.
QUIJANO: Governor, your two minutes are up.
PENCE: We’ve just got to have American strength on the world stage. When Donald Trump becomes president of the United States, the Russians and other countries in the world will know they’re dealing with a strong American president.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/06/us/politics/vice-president-transcript.html
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And...
PENCE: What we’re dealing with is the — you know, there’s an old proverb that says the Russian bear never dies, it just hibernates.
And the truth of the matter is, the weak and feckless foreign policy of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has awakened an aggression in Russia that first appeared a few years ago with their move in Georgia, now their move into Crimea, now their move into the wider Middle East.
And all the while, all we do is fold our arms and say we’re not having talks anymore.
To answer your question, we just need American strength. We need to — we need to marshal the resources of our allies in the region, and in the immediate, we need to act and act now to get people out of harm’s way.
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March 26, 2015
What do you expect next from Russia?
Sessions: Well, there's a danger that they may continue this overreach. They just solidified power in Georgia, in South Ossetia. That was I think in the last week. Pressure is still on Ukraine. We don't know whether the Minsk Agreement will hold, I don't think it's holding very well now.
We have the Estonians, the Lithuanians, the Romanians, they're very worried. This is reality, I wish it weren't, but I'm afraid it is. It needs to be clear that Russia knows that there will be a high price to pay if this behavior continues.
If Minsk breaks down, at what point does the president have to act and supply Ukraine with lethal weaponry? What is the breaking point? We know from what Victoria Nuland said that the administration hasn't decided yet.
Sessions: From what I understand from this conference, I think it's clear that Germany has said publicly that they will support harsher sanctions and more military support if the Minsk Agreement fails. And that will be key.
Merkel has worked very very hard to establish a relationship with Putin and Russia. It's been a good-faith effort. If it fails, I would hope that Europe and the United States would have to unify and push back more firmly against Russian overreach. ..."
or,
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"In a Montgomery speech in March 2014...he [Sen Jeff Sessions] called for international scorn toward Russia for its aggressive actions in Ukraine and, before then, Georgia.
"I believe a systematic effort should be undertaken so that Russia feels pain for this," Sessions said then. "Because if you don't act now to make some sanctions against Russia then why will they believe in the future that we're going to impose sanctions or do anything aggressive if they move forward to take all of Ukraine, all of Georgia?""
Sessions, not that long ago, was calling for more sanctions against an expansionist Russia that was rattling U.S. allies in Europe. And he regularly blamed the Obama administration for what he argued was an overly optimistic and weak foreign policy, including a decision to scale back planned missile defense sites in the Czech Republic and Poland.
“There’s no good solution now. The bottle of milk has shattered on the floor and you can’t put it back together,” the Alabama senator said about relations with Russia in the aftermath of the annexation of Crimea.
Sessions has also pointed to Russia’s record as justification for a robust missile defense system, which has deep roots in north Alabama.
“Russia’s recent actions in Georgia remind us that country, which we once hoped was on a path to greater integration into the global world community, might again be seeking to restore old Soviet ideas of dominance throughout their neighbors and in Eastern Europe, all of which should serve as a motivation to move ahead with the necessary capabilities to defend ourselves and our allies from missile attack, in particular,” Sessions said on the Senate floor in 2008.
Two years later, Sessions voted against the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia, in part because he thought Obama conceded too much ground to the Russians.
“Just signing an agreement on a piece of paper does not create security,” Sessions said. “A consistent, principled, just approach to our legitimate national defense, advocated clearly and forthrightly without misunderstanding, is the best way to have security in this dangerous world.”
or,
https://web.archive.org/web/20161115103421/http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/08/15/sen-jeff-sessions-backs-donald-trump-russia-policy/88796584/
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2014
WASHINGTON – Sen. Dan Coats’ efforts to punish Russia because of Moscow’s move to annex the Crimea region of Ukraine has gotten him banned from the country.
“While I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to go on vacation with my family in Siberia this summer, I am honored to be on this list,” the Indiana Republican said after Russia’s announcement Thursday. ...”
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2014/03/20/sen-coats-banned-entering-russia-retaliation-sanctions/6661473/
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"President-elect Donald Trump intends to nominate former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats to serve as National Intelligence Director"
"Dan Coats of Indiana has served on the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committees."
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Donald Trump slammed President Obama Thursday on TODAY for failing to take a stronger line against President Vladimir Putin in dealing with Ukraine, saying he feared Obama would now make up for lost time with imprudent moves to "show his manhood."
The real estate mogul and reality-TV star, who has criticized Putin for sending military troops into Crimea, said Obama must now take fierce steps to prevent the situation from escalating further.
"We should definitely do sanctions and we have to show some strengths. I mean, Putin has eaten Obama's lunch, therefore our lunch, for a long period of time," Trump said. ..."
http://www.today.com/news/donald-trump-putin-has-eaten-obamas-lunch-ukraine-2D79372098
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Here’s the interview w/ Matt Lauer on YouTube...
Donald Trump (2014): ‘Vladimir Putin Has Eaten Obama’s Lunch’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzURUENf1ns
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LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said NATO was obsolete because it had not defended against terror attacks, but that the military alliance was still very important to him, The Times of London reported.
“I took such heat, when I said NATO was obsolete,” Trump told the newspaper in an interview. “It’s obsolete because it wasn’t taking care of terror. I took a lot of heat for two days. And then they started saying Trump is right.”
Trump added that many NATO members were not paying their fair share for U.S. protection.
“A lot of these countries aren’t paying what they’re supposed to be paying, which I think is very unfair to the United States,” Trump said. “With that being said, NATO is very important to me. There’s five countries that are paying what they’re supposed to. Five. It’s not much.”
"We can redouble our efforts to develop the defensive weapons that neutralized the offensive Soviet threat -- particularly missile defense, which has seen a 25% budget reduction under Obama, according to an analysis from the conservative Heritage Foundation, and has been constrained by bad arms deals like New START.
We should not only move quickly to install the canceled interceptor sites Putin opposed in Poland and the Czech Republic, but also to develop the next generation of systems that will only increase his discomfiture.
These options do not entail a ground war in Syria, yet would effectively shake us free from the failed policies that have brought us to our current impasse.
These options set us on a new path that puts Putin on notice that the United States is reclaiming our traditional role as leader of the free world."
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/09/opinions/cruz-syria-putin/index.html
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"What we're seeing Putin in Russia do is a direct response to the profound weakness of Obama over six and a half years.
Putin views Obama as weak, as ineffective, and frankly, as a laughingstock. And, as a result, he is moving in, he is invading his neighbors, like Ukraine, he's kidnapping Estonians, and he's moving into Syria to gain a stronger foothold in the Middle East."
https://www.tedcruz.org/news/icymi-cruz-we-have-no-business-getting-in-the-middle-of-the-syrian-civil-war-goal-should-be-to-defeat-isis/
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Ted Cruz:
"We need a coherent plan to address both the specific crisis in Syria and the challenge posed more broadly by Putin's resurgent Russia.
The good news is that America still has options, if our leaders can summon the will to exercise them.
For starters, in Syria we can't double down on the failed strategies that have given Putin his opportunity to intervene.
We are now two years out from President Obama's proposed intervention after al-Assad used chemical weapons against his own people. ..."
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/09/opinions/cruz-syria-putin/index.html
Now that you’ve read the fake news version of what’s going on, here’s a more accurate account: Ukrainian government launches failed attack on separatist areas and now both sides are shelling each other.
https://southfront.org/artillery-duels-in-eastern-ukraine-propaganda-and-reality/
Fat chance that will happen. Esp not with something in return, ie, back off on your support of Iran, and second you knock off hostilities against Ukraine.
It’s like this. “Putin, My Friend, you really don’t have much to negotiate here. Attack Ukraine again, and you’ll have the whole world against you.”
This doesn’t even make sense. The DPR isn’t even remotely worried about Ukraine’s military. Why would Putin say anything at all?
Name some of your favorite sources - RT, Sputnik, and what else is it that you like?
You can’t fight an enemy unless you know what their tactics are.
Isn’t Ukraine part of Russia?
Esp[ecially when written by 5 members of a Ukrainian activist group.
That’s even more adorable.
“What? You don’t like leftist news sources!? Well then that means you must love (insert Russian news sources here as some sort of shaming tactic).
No, simpleton, I prefer a mix of non-American sources like the Times of India, news sources out of Japan, a small dose of France24 English, some Sky News, Rebel Media, and otherwise Breitbart, a mix of good YouTube channels I support financially that are great at finding the truth behind the crap you gladly read and post here.
I would rather drink Drain-O than read Newsweek, HuffPo, Washington Post, and that other garbage, as if that’s a step up from freaking RT. LOL!
“You can’t fight an enemy unless you know what their tactics are.”
After 25 years, I’m well aware they lie.
Elhombrelibre is a long time idiot on all things UKRAINE so don’t be surprised by the posting of this ridiculous article.
I understand what you are saying, but...
One of the main purposes of Free Republic is not only to bust the monopoly the mainstream media had over the country but to be able to look at their propaganda and tear it apart, with lots of input from smart, informed, logical conservatives.
The Left always makes and attacks straw men and we were the first to point this out and knock them down.
I remember in the Reagan era, reading these rags and writing letters to the editors trying to take on their lies, innuendo and just plain wrong facts. I did this a lot, and got only 3 actually published. I was proud to do at least that.
I still like to observe the lies and counter them, and do that on the various comments sections (where provided) and now get to directly challenge Libtards over their stupidity before everyone there. It is a very rewarding experience in my mind.
However, having the article posted on Free Republic, and then seeing all the brilliant replies are arrows in my anti-Libtard quiver I can use in various ways.
We should be grateful, not disdainful of that! I was in military intelligence for MANY years. “Know your enemy” is a founding principle.
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