- Joined
- Feb 26, 2012
- Messages
- 56,981
- Reaction score
- 27,029
- Location
- Chicago Illinois
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Private
"no recognizable uniforms" - but they are uniformed. Cannot believe Putin would openly back any Ukraine territory - but Crimea is unique, so paramilitary operating wouldn't be out of the question.
Anyone here know what it says on the backs of those armed, uniformed men?
Just because they're in uniform, doesn't mean they're russian soldiers. They are most certianly a paramilitary group, a pro-russian one, but operating in ukraine. For crying out loud, Ukraine has about 8 paramilitary organizations. Or better say: There are 8 or so paramilitary groups operating in Ukraine. So don't jump the shark. There were 3 paramilitary groups on the protesters side in Kyiv. You don't think there are 1-2 in Crimea that are pro-russian?
Mornin RM. :2wave: Well they made sure they let all know who they are riding with. As the Russian Flags fly over the Crimea Government Buildings.
Ukraine on alert after gunmen seize buildings
Ukrainian troops and police officers are on high alert, after armed men seized government buildings in the Crimea region of the country and raised a Russian flag over a barricade, shortly after reports suggested that Moscow was sheltering ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich.
Acting president Oleksander Turchinov told parliament on Thursday he had given an order for security structures to take "all measures" needed to protect citizens.
Part of Russia's Black Sea fleet is based in Crimea, in the port of Sevastopol. Turchinov told Russian forces in Crimea not to leave their base, saying any movement would be considered a "military aggression".
Breaking his five-day silence on Thursday, Yanukovich insisted that he is still the head of state, saying that he wants Russian to protecting him for the "actions of extremists" and called the new leaders of Ukraine "illegitimiate", Russian news organisations have reported.
There have also been reports in Russian media that Yanukovich had fled to Moscow.
Pictures from Twitter posted on Thursday showed the Russian flag raised above the Crimean parliament building. Up to 50 men with weapons marched into the buildings during the night.
"They're still there ... Then the police came, they seemed scared. I asked them (the armed men) what they wanted and they
said 'To make our own decisions, not to have Kiev telling us what to do'," said Khazanov.....snip~
Ukraine on alert after gunmen seize buildings - Europe - Al Jazeera English
Look, the pro-EU protesters put EU flags on all the govt buildings they occupied. All that means is that some butthurt russians are so butthurt that they're willing to get themselves imprisoned or shot to make a statement. Putin won't intervene on behalf of radicals. he just won't. He cares too much to be seen as a "reasonable" guy in the world, the guy who is against violence, against terrorism, against diplomatic bullying, to go full retard and start supporting crimean independence or that crimea becomes part of Russia.
Yanukovych has no support left even in his own party. Most of the people that supported him now cut their losses and are thinking of either how to make a quick retirement exit or evade justice long enough to escape and live happily ever after with all the millions and billions of $ they stole from the people while they were in office. His own party voted against him to dismiss him from power and to throw him to the ICC. The opposition doesn't have a majority parliament, the party of regions is still the majority. He can say whatever he wants to say, since 5 days ago, he's a nobody... well hes' a thief and a murderer but politically, he has no power left in his pen.
However... one wrong move... one Russian citizen getting "shot" or injured in the conflict between pro-russian and pro-EU forces and the table turns. A russian navy guy wondering the streets of Sfimvestopol and gets the crap beaten out of him by the anti-Russian protesters... and things can change dramatically. So far, this hasn't happened.
until then, it's just ukrainians fighting ukrainians for the future of ukraine. Whatever they think that future should be.
The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming.
Update RM. Looks like Yanukovich will speak out Friday.
Ukraine's Yanukovich to hold news conference in Russia: reports.....
Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich plans to hold a news conference in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Friday at 5 p.m. (1300 GMT), Russian news agencies reported, citing people close to Yanukovich.
The three main Russian news agencies, state-run RIA and Itar-Tass as well as privately owned Interfax, all carried similar reports citing unnamed sources close to Yanukovich.
Earlier on Thursday, the same agencies carried a statement quoting Yanukovich as saying he was still president of Ukraine and railing against what he said were "extremists" who had stolen power.....snip~
Ukraine's Yanukovich to hold news conference in Russia: reports
Reuters – 1 hr 55 mins ago
So what do you think about Reuters using 3 Russian media sources to validate and reference this story? Do you think Reuters knows about their propaganda machine?
Idk. There really isn't a lot to chew on
We'll have to wait and see what he says today.
-- Wouldn't it make sense to simply divide Ukraine? --
Uhm ... just asking out of curiosity:
Wouldn't it make sense to simply divide Ukraine? As I gathered, 90% of the Russian speaking Ukrainians feeling Russian live in the east and south-east of Ukraine, while those in the west and north-west feel European and want to get closer to the EU.
The West pretends this is a political conflict, but it at least seems to have very deeply rooted ethnic causes. Maybe we should respect that?
Mornin' German G. :2wave: Well thats what those in the West want to Prevent. They are already at the point that any incidents of violence coming on.....is going to cause this whole situation to explode open.
I think this is more complicated than just a local ethnic strife, its clear that there are people and governments behind the scenes actively fostering this conflict since its clear Putin will want to keep at least part of the Ukraine as a satellite region friendly to Russia by supporting Yanukovich and any breakaway factions in the Crimea. We have to remember that Russia has always looked at this region as their backyard since god knows when and will do what they can to keep it firmly in their zone of influence; thats the reason why Stalin forced marched much of the population eastwards after World War 2 and put in a lot of Russian immigrants to the region, he wanted it as a bulwark in case of any future encroachments by the West.Uhm ... just asking out of curiosity:
Wouldn't it make sense to simply divide Ukraine? As I gathered, 90% of the Russian speaking Ukrainians feeling Russian live in the east and south-east of Ukraine, while those in the west and north-west feel European and want to get closer to the EU.
The West pretends this is a political conflict, but it at least seems to have very deeply rooted ethnic causes. Maybe we should respect that?
The simplest solutions are not always the ones people will go for.
I have a horrible feeling there will be conflict and it will end either in a repressive coup and armed government or a civil war and split in Ukraine into two.
How much is to the claim that Ukraine is just another proxi conflict in the "new Cold War" between the West and Russia, btw? Is it really like Brzezynski said, that Russia can forget all its imperial ambitions without Ukraine, which is why the West must do everything it can to get Ukraine on its side?
Is the "moral superiority" argument from the side of the West legitimate or rather hollow?
Just asking, because I'm really not deep enough into the subject to know.
What I am trying to figure out is how people are calling this the start of WWIII? Then there are those citing biblical reference to Gog and Magog or something like that. Plus the Conspirists have started up.
Still all keep reporting this as masked armed men and reporting they don't know who they are. What do you think that says when they have been reporting this same statement for over 24hrs?
Not sure what you're getting at, but yeah, there are lots of conspiracy theories as well as disinformation from different sides.
However, I'm wondering how serious the situation *really* is, and how far Russia and the West are willing to go (and capable of going) to maintain/expand their influence on Ukraine.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?