Posted on 02/11/2015 7:16:40 AM PST by McGruff
A top U.S. military commander in Europe says the U.S military is to train Ukrainian soldiers who are battling Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
U.S. Army Europe Commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said Wednesday that in March a battalion of U.S. soldiers would train three battalions of Ukrainians from the Ministry of Interior. The training is to take place at the Yavariv training center in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.
(Excerpt) Read more at bigstory.ap.org ...
It would sure be nice if President Fumblebutt would get on the television and explain this.
Jeez. First we say we’re going to send weapons, then we send “advisers” to train indigenous soldiers (and presumably assist in issuing the weapons and equipment we’re sending). What’s next, sending in counterinsurgency troops, and then finally sending in the actual army? Didn’t we try that once before, and look how well that one turned out.
“Let’s kick it up a notch.”
Yah, what the hell, we’ll come out the other end of thermonuclear war with a big smile on our faces.
The Ukranian military is nothing more than a rag-tag remnant of the old Soviet Military and is undermanned, ill-equipped and has no chance against the Russians. Providing arms and training is nothing more than a political move. Eventually, Russian Separatists will control Donetsk, Luhantz, Odessa and Mariupol and the borders of Ukraine and Russia will be redrawn. Eventually, Ukraines economy will collapse and they will once again become a sattelite state of Russia. This is their sphere of the world and we can’t do a thing to change that.
There are at least a dozen folks on FR that believe we should risk existential war with Russia to protect Ukraine from Russian aggression.
As the smarter among us knows, that's a fools errand.
Russia CAN prevent US power projection into Ukraine.
Not the mention, there is NO US INTEREST IN UKRAINE.
I have repeatedly challenged folks to cite one. The closest I get is "We have to Stop Russia".
Really. This is insane.
Minsk talks going on right now, with wildly conflicting info coming out of it.
Yarosh has already said publicly that the Nazi’s will not honor any peace agreement, so IMHO, this is already dead-on-arrival. It was Yarosh’s Right Sector Militia that took over Donetsk Airport after the Ukrainian Army pulled out in compliance with the last ceasefire, leading to months of fighting and hundreds of deaths.
That said, we shall see.
Poroshenko is supposed to meet with the DNR’s Zakharchenko soon, so that should tell the tale.
No.
Slippery slope. What happens if/when the Russians kill one or some of the American trainers?
This can't be repeated enough. Ukraine and Crimea are Europe's problem, not ours.
Budapest Agreement.
Now, that wasn’t such a long set of words.
I do not see a risk of existensial war. I do see the very real possibility of bleeding Russia, possibly preserving the largest country in Europe, keeping critical military related industries out of Russian control and furthering unrest within Russia against Putin.
Well put.
Supposedly Russia isn’t invading Ukraine and trying to move their invasion forces up to NATO’s border, so why would they be killing Americans in Ukraine?
We are friends with Ukraine and just conducted military exercises there a few months ago.
“WHAT IS RAPID TRIDENT?
Rapid Trident 2014 is a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff directed, EUCOM scheduled, USAREUR conducted, Ukrainian led Situational and Field Training Exercise held at the International Peace Keeping and Security Center (IPSC) in Yavoriv, Ukraine. The exercise will be conducted September 15-26, 2014.
Rapid Trident supports interoperability among Ukraine, US, NATO and Partnership for Peace member nations. 15 countries are taking part in the exercise with participation of approximately 1,300 personnel.
Participating nations’ forces include Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, and the U.S.
It’s all about Syria.
When Putin outmaneuvered Obama and forced the cancellation of the US cruise missile strike on Assad that is when Obama became enraged and decided to pay Putin back by meddling in Ukraine.
Obama wanted his buddies to control Syria.
It really is that simple.
When Putin outmaneuvered Obama and forced the cancellation of the US cruise missile strike on Assad that is when Obama became enraged and decided to pay Putin back by meddling in Ukraine.
Obama wanted his buddies to control Syria.
It really is that simple.
Indeed, it is that simple. We have a president who conducts foreign policy with a petulant child's level of insight, understanding and finesse.
Ukraine is "getting even" for Syria. Which was a misbegotten concept in the first place...
He still has almost two years to screw things up and get a lot of people killed.
So Palin and Cruz are pushing Obama to arm Ukraine, because of Syria?
Go peddle the nonsense elsewhere.
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