Civil war in Ukraine

[jackprince]

Your EU and US bashing is really something... Is it my fault that you tackle with problems we got rid of 100 years ago. Then on top of all you blame others on your problems... You are so brave... I looked at Indian military history, there is nothing to write home about for the last 100 years at last. Your "wars" with Pakistan are just some border skirmishes when compared to our fights. Instead of using your long peacetime to develop you are still at the bottom on most charts measuring development. But still you brag..

You are an idiot, and if you are the prime example of your nation, I doubt your collective intelligence! Not knowing history is okey - but flaunting it is an act by an utter moron.

Lets educate you:
British Indian Army - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Indian Army during World War I - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Indian Army during World War II - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


compared to what your nation, the contribution by Indian soldiers during world wars were huge and it actually always meant something greater in Global context.

Also, only a ignorant fool ever calls wars in which over 10s of thousands soldiers died, 100s of aircrafts and tanks destroyed - as border skirmish - not to mention a border skirmish which divided a nation.

You are not even funny in your stupidity.

Also, development is a relative matter and scale of it depends from which standard a nation rises and what are the burdens, including availability of resources to population size. But then a man from a tiny nation with an economy which have been based mainly service industry benefiting from inflated value of Dollar due to close relationship with western nations like Finland can hardly be expected to understand that.

 

[sorcerer]

US Scolds Allies Who Don't Buy US Weapons
As I've said before, the number one export of the US is war. Trillions of dollars are made by the US Military-Industrial Complex, and a large sized chunk of change is made by selling instruments of war to countries considered allies.

US-defense-chart

Even though the US spends more than the next 10 highest defense budgets combined, allies are dogged to buy military systems from the US. This is why, in NATO, the US requires a country to spend 2% of its GDP on its military.

Earlier this March, it was reported that America "no longer can rely on Britain as a military partner."

The U.S. Army once relied on the United Kingdom to contribute a division-size force—around 10,000 men—to any conflict it was involved in. Now, it must plan for Britain to contribute half that. This means the British Army is no longer able to work alongside the U.S.A. as a separate unit; instead it is only able to supplement U.S. forces.

Understand that the US has not declared war on any country, officially, since June 5, 1942. While the US enjoys charging around the globe like a bull in a china shop, whacking moles in various Muslim countries, aside from this, who would the US even go to war with necessitating the enormous spending the US currently tries to justify?

Yet, here we have the US rubbing UK's nose in it, like scolding a bad dog, for not spending enough money on its military. How odd is it that the US is keeping tabs on the military spending of its allies, and getting them to enlarge their military by threat or embarrassment? The true reason for this public shaming of UK, by the US, is to get the UK to buy more weapons from the US Military-Industrial Complex.

The above photo mocks European NATO members who don't spend their 2% GDP on building up their war machine.

Next, we have our favorite propaganda paper, the BBC, helping the US scold Britain and other NATO countries for not meeting their 2% GDP NATO spending requirements. Note that Britain, even though it met it's NATO requirement of 2% GDP spending, is still getting scolded by the US:

Britain currently just meets the 2% target, but the government is committed only to continuing that target until the end of this Parliament.

Europe's failure to pay its way in Nato is seriously worrying the US, which already provides 75% of all Nato defence expenditure (the US spends 3.8% of its GDP on defence).

US To The Rescue! New Budget Weapon Plan!

Last month, the US launched an easy-payment plan for NATO countries to get their weapons at a better price.

WASHINGTON — The US State Department and the Pentagon's office for selling military equipment to foreign allies announced on Wednesday that they are embarking on a program that will for the first time allow NATO members to acquire and share American military hardware among members of the alliance.

Don't bother reading the entire article, read the below quote and you know the entire intent of the US and content of the article:

and in part to make sure that the US defense industry remains a major player in the European defense market.

Here we have a viscous cycle of the US stirring up problems with Russia, in an attempt to get Russia to up its military preparedness, thereafter badgering NATO countries to meet the new Russian threat by purchasing arms from the US. The US military-industrial complex profits by developing weapons systems, paid for by the American taxpayer, and gets even more by selling these weapon systems to allies. To justify the spending, to the American taxpayer as well as to NATO country members, the US has thrown over the legitimately elected democratic government of Ukraine, and replaced it with a fascist regime.

In fact, the war in Ukraine meets many goals of the US. First, it allows the US to sanction Russia, holding the Russian economy back as a way of creating an unfair advantage. The next is that the US gains access to the 9 trillion dollars worth of natural resources wound up in Ukraine. Lastly, it gets to scare NATO countries with the fabricated "Russian threat" so that they buy more weapons from the US. May the average American citizen realize what is going on and do something about this tragedy.

US Scolds Allies Who Don’t Buy US Weapons | Thick Toast
===


Soon the EURO ARMY will be born which will help Europe pool their money(US knows individual countries cant pay for them toys) and buy US mil. hardware .

:bathbaby:

 

[sorcerer]

IMF Country Report No. 15/69
UKRAINE
REQUEST FOR EXTENDED ARRANGEMENT UNDER THE EXTENDED FUND FACILITY AND CANCELLATION OF STAND-BY ARRANGEMENT—STAFF REPORT; PRESS RELEASE; AND STATEMENT BY THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR UKRAIN

[pdf]http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2015/cr1569.pdf[/pdf]

==
Reality of Ukranian economy

 

[arpakola]

Colonel Cassad - Ситуация в Мариуполе на начало апреля 2015 года

Оперативная ситуация в Мариуполе на начало апреля 2015 года.

После подписания очередных Минских соглашений Мариуполь начал усиленно укрепляться, особое внимание уделяется направлению с моря. Так, с 18 марта, начались отрываться окопы на пляже поселка Песчаный (являющегося продолжением города в западном направлении) в непосредственной близости от частных домов. Восточное направление так же стало получать стройматериалы. В то же время северное и западные окраины города, пока еще не защищены фортификациями. Это означает, что возможность осады города, пока еще не рассматривается как наиболее вероятная.

Ð’ Мариуполе, расположены части 93й механизированной бригады ВСУ (37 отдельный бат.) 17й танковой бригады и 95 аэромобильной ВСУ. Отдельные подразделения НацГвардии, милицейские батальоны из Ивано-Франковска, Львова и Винницы. Полк «Азов», усиленный танками, отдельные роты батальона «Донбасс»», «Днепр», «Святая Мария» и 8я рота ДУК ПС «Аратта». Оценочно, до 2500-3000 личного состава, около 60-80 ББМ. С недавних пор стали заметны машины с эмблемой разгромленного под Дебальцево 40го тербата «Кривбасс» По перемещениям техники в городе. Отмечаются такие артсистемы как Д-30 (около 15 фиксаций в течении 2Ñ… недель), 2С19 – МСТА-С (не подтверждено) и грузовики с установленными в кузове минометами «Василек» (до 10 единиц), танки Т-64БМ, Т-72А, БТР-4Е, БТР-70.
Танковое подразделение «Азова» расположено на территории завода «Азовжелезобетон» по адресу ул. Таганрогская 1 (пересечение с ул. Первого Мая). Гостиницы и другие объекты муниципальной собственности отданы под расквартирование личного состава. Ð’ частности, гостиница «Дружба» по адресу пр. Металлургов 211. (напротив киоск-пиццерия – место вечером очень людное, военные с оружием делают покупки) ДК «Молодежный» улица Харлампиевская, 17/25 – место регулярных заседаний и совещаний как гражданского Штаба Обороны города, так и собраний полка «Азов».

Село Агробаза, на выезде из города по направлению на Мангуш, используется как большой склад артбоеприпасов. Блокпосты на выезде из города ослаблены, и охраняются силами от 8 до 12 солдат с 1 БМП или БТР. Следует обратить большое внимание на две недостроенные многоэтажки в районе окраины города на мкр Восточный, как наиболее вероятные места нахождения наблюдателей и корректировщиков. В то же время, морской порт видимо стал менее насыщен войсками, часть зданий оставлена. То ли после проведения организационных мероприятий было определено необходимое количество войск для охраны, то ли минирование обусловило его непригодность для высадки.
На улицах города наблюдаются усиленные патрули, от 4 человек с автоматами. Активно патрулируют центральные улицы, но довольно редко заходят в проулки. Так же, активно производится проверка автотранспорта в черте города. Согласно оперативным данным, сотрудники МВД и СБУ в штатском постоянно присутствуют в местах скопления людей, где отслеживают подозрительных, на их взгляд, граждан. Периодически, такое наблюдение заканчивается задержанием выбранного ими человека. С февраля 2015, большая часть радиопереговоров стало вестись в цифровом формате, что требует дополнительного времени на расшифровку.

В здании СБУ, по адресу Георгиевская 77, кипит жизнь. Два верхних этажа, ранее пустовавшие, сейчас заняты аналитическим отделом, который занимается прослушкой телефонных переговоров и анализом интернет трафика. На всех крупных провайдерах Мариуполя иностранными специалистами было установлено специальное оборудование (криптосвитчи), предназначенное для расшифровки криптованного траффика.
Массово продолжается вручение повесток рабочим на предприятиях. А также, парней призывного возраста могут просто задержать на блокпосте, и отправить в военкомат без всякого вручения повестки.
Агрессивные и навязчивые формы принимает политика насаждения официальной идеологии.

Теперь, по указанию мэра, каждый день в 12.00 из динамиков, установленных по центральным улицам города проигрывается гимн Украины и другие «патриотические» песни. Очень большое внимание стало уделяться школе. Обязательные уроки «Мужества», где приглашенные нацисты рассказывают о необходимости воевать за Украину. К сожалению, подобная политика приносит свои плоды, что станут заметны в будущем. В случае освобождения города, задача денацификации образования будет столь же важна, как и осуждение преступников и пособников хунты.
Среди взрослого населения отмечается молчаливая ненависть к оккупантам. Отсутствие работы, заоблачные цены на продукты питания, многократные случаи насилия и преступные действия украинских военных, создают благоприятную почву для деятельности подполья и гарантируют лояльность мариупольцев после освобождения.

 

[sorcerer]

Question to Soros: What are the 'European Values' Ukraine Is Defending?
Off Guardian is a new volunteer project by 5 readers of the Guardian who were blocked from commentating in the paper's online comments section.

In his tired, rambling, repetitive screed for the EU to apparently save Ukraine from itself — or, more accurately, as one realizes reading between the lines of Soros's latest intervention in The Guardian, to help it provoke a continent-wide war with Russia, which Soros for some reason believes would be a good thing — among many of the fictions he's attempting to pass off as reality, George Soros tells us this, too:

The principles that Ukraine is defending — the very principles on which the EU is based

Since Soros omits to expound what he might mean by this, let's see if we can unpack that phrase for him here. What principles would those be exactly?

Would they include the extreme nationalism we find espoused by Kiev and Lvov, according to which everybody speaking the "wrong" language is deemed inferior and required to either leave Ukraine, or to submit to ridicule, mockery, dispossession, and even outright violence, all of which have been meted out to Ukraine's ethnic Russian minority of some 6-7 million people. (So far, ATO has managed to displace between one and two million people in a refugee crisis the size of which Europe hasn't seen since World War II.)

Would such common values include the notion that violence is a perfectly good way to deal with differences and political disagreements in a society? Would they also have space for the use of political repression, as has been going on all over Ukraine for the past 14 months?

Does this common Ukrainian–EU ethos Soros sees mean the sort of widespread corruption and thievery that are now rampant in Ukraine at every social and political level? Does it espouse the carving up of the economic and political sphere of a country among a dozen or so robber-barons, a.k.a. oligarchs, each with his or her own militias and enforcement gangs? Does it include the suppression of dissent in any form, with the brutalization of the public sphere, with fist fights in the parliament and thuggery in courthouses as well as in media editorial offices?

Does the EU political and cultural ethos also tolerate the use of Nazi symbols and does it accommodate open proclamation and celebration of Nazi values?

Which of these practices, common to Ukraine today, was the EU founded on? Which of them does it stand for — and which does it reject as incompatible with the elementary principles of democracy and the universalism of human rights?

offguardian.org/2015/04/04/another-cri-de-coeur-from-soros/

===
oh Well!!
I read a few debates on DFI along this line.

 

[Mad Indian]

I second this. @Mad Indian, it was inappropriate of you to call him a scumbag. No name-calling, please. You are in the forum for a long time. Please review the rules.

P.S.: I do not second the f-word.

@jouni and @Mad Indian, if you want to debate Indian democracy vis-à-vis democracy elsewhere, please continue in the appropriate thread.

OK. Done. But will you guys make sure he does not pollute other threads?

 

[jouni]

Finnish expert in fighting widespread corruption in Ukraine
They want money and power, therefore, warn examples are important in the fight against corruption, says Mika Aalto, who is currently working on anti-corruption work as an expert in Ukraine.

Kiev's market vendor
In Ukraine, corruption and the shadow economy are ubiquitous Photo: Kerstin Kronvall / Yle
Mika Aalto vakivirka in Finland is the Ministry of Justice of Senior Advisor, but right now he is working on anti-corruption, special advisor to the EU mission in Kiev in Ukraine.

Anti-corruption work of the expert Mika Aalto
Anti-corruption work of the expert Mika Aalto. Photo: Sergi Lavor / YLE
- No one wakes up in the morning thinking that today I will do the crime of corruption. The authors would like to achieve something useful, money or power. If caught is high, they may, however, in the morning to think about what you could lose if caught.

In Ukraine, corruption is ubiquitous, high-level political, administrative and on the street.

Everyday corruption can, for example, means that the need to pay separately to get basically a free clinic doctor. Also, schools, day care centers and transport Ukrainians will pay the extra money, which often goes directly to the principal, director or militia into their pockets.

At the administrative level of corruption comes in a variety of applications for authorization. Ukraine is the actual regulation and licensing authorities of the jungle, and everywhere need to pay for the black market in order to obtain the necessary authorization stamp paper.

Corruption is an instant loss

Specialist Mika Aalto says that fighting corruption is a slow process, but he is an optimist. In Ukraine, legislation has been amended and now it is the turn of the new application of the laws. The country has set up anti-corruption agency, which this spring is selected from the Executive Director and staff.

The Agency's work is going to be dangerous, the counterparty is an extremely rich and influential people, who are corruption-related offenses have gained through their huge profits. Therefore, staff have to be very professional, honest and motivated, says Mika Aalto. It is also important that citizens value their work and consider it important. In order to do so would be transparency and the ability to tell you what the Agency does, play a key role.

- Citizens have a right to know what is happening is to build the confidence of citizens and decision-makers, says Mika Aalto.

Such confidence will bring Aalto, inter alia, credible investigation into the chain, the prosecutor and the court action. The guilty must be punished, and also losing the proceeds of crime. When people begin to trust the authorities and see that the criminals will be caught and will be judged, wake up confidence in the system. Then everyone starts to think about their own business models and feels aversion to corruption.

One important thing to work against corruption is that the cooperation between the authorities. When Finland started to eradicate the gray economy, the authorities were limited to exchange information with each other. In this way, could be verified in many aspects of any particular company's operations.

What is corruption?

Corruption is not a general definition, but the definition depends on each country's legislation. Sure, there are international agreements to which it has been agreed what activities are permitted, but each country has to import it into their own legislation.

Mika Aalto defines corruption activities in which someone tries to illegal means to get themselves the power or money. The gray economy, in turn, means that the company aims to get the benefits of turning laws. Leave for example, VAT unpaid or paid in undeclared wages, then you can give cheaper contract deals like to be able to honestly competitors.

Kiev street scene
Corruption is deeply rooted in Ukrainian society. Photo: Kerstin Kronvall / Yle
The relevance and trust are the key to

Mika Aalto can not comment on Ukraine's emergency agency leaders against alleged corruption, because he does not know the details. His is also not the virtue of his office to comment on individual cases. The Agency's two leaders were spectacularly onto a board meeting. They are suspected of systematic corruption. It has been reported that it would fuel the dark shops and bribery.

- It is important that such cases are properly investigated. If there is sufficient evidence of the prosecutor and the court must act as openly as possible. This is the only way in which to get the confidence of the citizens. At the same time provide a good example of a warning to other authorities that the risk of being caught for corruption is real, Mika Aalto says.

To his work, Mika Aalto says that he feels it rewarding, even if it is difficult. There must be a good thing the data, it is understood how the business world, the police, the prosecutor and the court work and must have knowledge of human nature. He feels that he will do patriotic work, which is also useful for Finland


http://yle.fi/uutiset/suomalainen_asiantuntija_taistelee_ukrainan_laajaa_korruptiota_vastaan/7895401

 

[pmaitra]

I bring top source from Indian Ministry about the BS Statement you Claimed

again you claiming utter nonsense BS Sources to prove your Point

See the Tweet,

Delay, tell me which of the Defence Project running on correct Schedule

When you get time off from writing a load of rubbish, read my previous post.

Those 5 planes were untraceable as of 28th, and it was confirmed that Antonov did not have them. So, the article is not BS.

MoD gave a clarification two days after that report, and it was corroborated again that Antonov did not have those planes. Again, the article is not BS.

If anything is BS, it is your post. I will explain why. Read on:

Don't ask me which defense project is not delayed. That is not the point. The point is that those planes were untraceable, and after this news was flashed out, diplomatic channels finally traced those planes, and those planes were found, not with Antonov, but with some other facility.

The Kiev regime has been cannibalizing a lot of its military hardware, and India should be concerned whether it will get its planes back at least in the condition they were sent to Ukraine. This should concern all Indians. Ukraine is in the middle of a civil war and the country is on the verge of sovereign default. This is very different from other defense projects getting delayed.

 

[sgarg]

Inflation in Ukraine in March 2015 rises to 10.8 percent, reaches 45.8 percent in annual terms

Inflation in Ukraine in March 2015 rises to 10.8 percent, reaches 45.8 percent in annual terms

Inflation in Ukraine in March 2015 was 10.8 percent compared to 5.3 percent in February, 3.1 percent - in January, 3 percent - in December and 1.9 percent - in November last year, the State Statistics Service has reported.

The figures show worsening economic conditions in Ukraine despite IMF loans.

Please check out picture in the news item that shows USD-UAH rate. Compare with official rate.

 

[sgarg]

Soros accuses the EU of ignoring Ukraine's financial situation

Soros accuses the EU of ignoring Ukraine's financial situation - The latest world news - mw.ua

The EU ignores Ukraine's financial situation and is too busy with solving Greece's problems, while it had to provide an additional funding to Kyiv, announced the billionaire and investor George Soros.
"Here is a country with over 40 million people who want to be Europeans and who really want to stand and fight, sacrificing their lives, and Europe ignores them. This is a terrible, terrible mistake on the part of Europe. That is why Europe must wake up until it is too late," – quotes BBC investor's words, who notes about the need to support Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.

 

[sgarg]

Ukraine's IMF Agreement Could Worsen the Country's Problems


Ukraine's IMF Agreement Could Worsen the Country's Problems | Op-Eds & Columns

President Viktor Yanukovych in February with help from Western governments. Yanukovych, who tried to balance his government between the competing interests of the U.S./EU and Russia, never really had a chance. If he had agreed to the IMF conditions, his government would probably have become at least as unpopular as it did when he turned to Russia for a desperately-needed $15 billion dollar loan.

Which brings us to today: the new government of the Chocolate King is committed to those same conditions, now spelled out in an IMF agreement released at the end of April. I would not want to be in his shoes. After two years of almost no economic growth, the IMF is now projecting a steep recession for this year, with the economy shrinking by 5 percent. This is largely because of budget tightening that the government has committed to, amounting to about 3 percent of GDP over the next two years. (For comparison, think of the U.S. government cutting $500 billion, roughly the equivalent of the Pentagon's annual base allocation, from its budget over two years.) The economy is supposed to recover next year, but we have heard that before – think of Greece, or Spain, or eurozone austerity generally over the past four years.

This article was published originally in Chicago Tribune. The article is removed from Chicago Tribune website now. Censorship in the land of the free perhaps.

 

[SajeevJino]

The point is that those planes were untraceable, and after this news was flashed out, diplomatic channels finally traced those planes, and those planes were found, not with Antonov, but with some other facility.

Did the Indian or Ukrainian Ministry or the Antonov said this ..?

 

[sgarg]

Britain 'at mercy' of Putin in a war against Russia, former defence chiefs warn

Britain 'at mercy' of Putin in a war against Russia, former defence chiefs warn - Home News - UK - The Independent

Former defence chiefs have questioned whether the UK's air defences would be adequate in the event of a conflict with Russia.

The warning comes days after RAF jets were scrambled to intercept two Russian strategic bombers flying in international airspace off the coast of Cornwall.

Sir Michael Graydon, a former chief of the air staff, told The Times newspaper: "They have got us more or less at their mercy. We only have two bases where we have got Typoons. One is in Scotland, one is in Lincolnshire.

 

[sgarg]

Britain 'at mercy' of Putin in a war against Russia, former defence chiefs warn

Britain 'at mercy' of Putin in a war against Russia, former defence chiefs warn - Home News - UK - The Independent

Former defence chiefs have questioned whether the UK's air defences would be adequate in the event of a conflict with Russia.

The warning comes days after RAF jets were scrambled to intercept two Russian strategic bombers flying in international airspace off the coast of Cornwall.

Sir Michael Graydon, a former chief of the air staff, told The Times newspaper: "They have got us more or less at their mercy. We only have two bases where we have got Typoons. One is in Scotland, one is in Lincolnshire.

 

[sorcerer]

President Zeman Tells Washington That The Czech Republic Is Not An American Protectorate


As readers know, I have emphasized for years that European governments are regarded by Washington as vassals who behave according to Washington's wishes. It has been 70 years–two or three generations–since former world powers, such as Great Britain and Germany had an independent foreign policy.

In addition to this ignobility, European governments are also vassals to the EU, so on the sovereignty front European countries are twice damned. They simply have no sovereignty.

This is why it is so easy for Washington to spin a web of lies and drive its vassals into a "crisis" with Russia that does not serve the interests of Europeans. Washington's European puppets don't count. Only Washington counts.

Next month is Russia's Victory Day celebration over Nazi Germany. Washington has told its puppets not to attend, and many including German chancellor Merkel have complied with their overlord's demand. But not the President of the Czech Republic.

When the US ambassador to the Czech Republic, Andrew Schapiro, advised President Milos Zeman to cancel his participation in the Russian celebration, President Zeman threw the Obama fundraiser out of the presidential castle . The Czech people, President Zeman said, were next in line for extermination by the Nazis, and it was the Red Army that saved the Czech people. :clap:

Of course Washington and its corrupt court historians are at work revising the history of World War II in order to cleanse the record of Russia's victory over Germany. Of course, everyone in Europe knows that this is just another Washington attempt to control all explanations regardless of the facts, but vassals are accustomed to vassalage and its humiliations. Proud peoples are not what Europeans any longer are.

Petr Hajek, who served as an advisor to former Czech president Vaclav Klaus, said that the US ambassador thinks he is the governor of a conquered territory issuing orders to the locals and that previous ambassadors from Washington had the same idea:

"President Zeman's position rejecting the advice of the US ambassador is the only possible adequate response. Our country's leader has carried himself as the President of the Czech Republic, and not as the head of a protectorate of the United States."1


Paul Craig Roberts is an American economist, author, columnist, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, and former editor and columnist for corporate media publications. He is the author of The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism. Read other articles by Paul, or visit Paul's website.


President Zeman Tells Washington That The Czech Republic Is Not An American Protectorate | Dissident Voice

 

[sgarg]

Putin must be stopped. And sometimes only guns can stop guns
by Timothy Garton Ash
Putin must be stopped. And sometimes only guns can stop guns | Timothy Garton Ash | Comment is free | The Guardian

Vladimir Putin is the Slobodan Milošević of the former Soviet Union: as bad, but bigger. Behind a smokescreen of lies he has renewed his drive to carve out a puppet para-state in eastern Ukraine.

Innocent bystanders are killed in the Black Sea port of Mariupol. In besieged Debaltseve, a woman scoops water from a giant puddle in the road. The rubble that was once Donetsk airport recalls a scene from martyred Syria. About 5,000 people have already been killed in this armed conflict, and more than 500,000 uprooted. Preoccupied by Greece and the eurozone, Europe is letting another Bosnia happen in its own front yard. Wake up, Europe. If we have learned anything from our own history, Putin must be stopped. But how?

In the end, there will have to be a negotiated solution. German chancellor Angela Merkel and foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier have been right to keep trying diplomacy, but even they concluded in mid-January that it wasn't worth going to meet Putin in Kazakhstan. On Saturday another attempt to agree a ceasefire failed in Minsk. Diplomacy's time will come again, but it is not now.

We should ratchet up the economic sanctions against Russia. Combined with the impact of the fallen oil price, these are already having a significant effect. Despite a small wobble from the new Greek government, the EU last week kept its unity on extending sanctions. Won't that feed a siege mentality in Russia? Yes, but then the Putin regime is stoking that mentality with its nationalist, anti-western propaganda. If the threat did not exist, Russian television would invent it.

Like Milošević, Putin is prepared to use every instrument at his disposal, with no holds barred
Like MiloÅ¡ević, Putin is prepared to use every instrument at his disposal, with no holds barred. In his war against the west he has deployed heavy military equipment, energy-supply blackmail, cyber-attack, propaganda by sophisticated, well-funded broadcasters, covert operations and agents of influence in EU capitals – oh yes, and Russian bombers nosing up the English Channel with their transponders off, potentially endangering civilian flights.

There is a Polish saying which translates roughly as "we play chess with them, they play kick-arse with us". (Dupniak, or kick-arse, is a Polish game in which people try to identify who kicked them from behind.) This is the problem of the democratic west in general and the slow-moving, multi-nation EU in particular. It was recently exemplified in a woefully unrealistic chess paper on strategy towards Russia prepared for Federica Mogherini, the EU's new high representative for foreign and security policy.

In the long run, Putin will lose. The people who will suffer most from his folly will be the Russians, not least those in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. But the long run for skilful, ruthless dictators in large, well-armed, resource-rich and psychologically bruised nations can be quite long. Before he goes, more blood and tears will flow unquietly down the river Donets.

 

[sorcerer]

Here's Where Russia Shipped Oil Last Year As Ukraine, Europe Diversified
Russian oil companies are diversifying slowly away from their dependence on the European Union, just as the E.U. does the same with its long-time supplier of oil and natural gas. As a result, Russian exports to Germany — its most important market — fell between 2014 and 2013. And Ukraine shipments have fallen by nearly half.

Ukraine and Russia have been going through a bitter divorce. Europe is picking sides, and they've chosen Kyiv. A slower economy in Ukraine and the E.U. are also to blame for weaker Russian oil exports to these markets, but no one can deny that the West is trying to replace Russia with someone else.

Russia's total crude oil exports declined by 5.6% in 2014. Energy exports are imperative to the Russian economy. Oil and gas account for nearly 70% of Russian exports.

The decline in shipments coupled with the steep oil price drop since the middle of last year, led to an 11.4% decrease in export revenues in 2014.

The price of Urals crude, which is the benchmark for Russian oil, went from $108.93 per barrel in June 2014 to $46.58 per barrel by January 2015.

The ruble devaluation helped out a bit, however. Oil is priced in dollars and euros, of course. So when companies like Gazprom , Rosneft and Lukoil, Russia's big three exporters, got paid in hard currency, they were able to exchange that for a whole lot of rubles.

The exchange rate accounted for increasing ruble-denominated federal budget revenues from foreign trade of oil and gas, absorbing the pressure on the federal budget that resulted from lower export volume, CEIC analyst Alexander Dembitski says.

Federal government revenues from export customs duties on crude oil amounted to 2.6 trillion rubles in 2014 compared with the 2.3 trillion rubles in 2013. That was the largest amount recorded in recent history thanks to forex, CEIC data shows.

Former Soviet states in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) accounted for 10.8% of the total crude oil export volume of 223.4 million tons in 2014. In terms of value, however, crude oil export revenue from non-CIS countries totaled $145.6 billion or almost 95% of the total crude oil revenues in 2014.

The main ex-Soviet consumers of Russian oil have traditionally been Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. The balance is changing in favor of Belarus, which increased its consumption of Russian oil by 73.1%, from 3.4 million tons in the first quarter of 2011 to 5.9 million tons in the third quarter of 2014.

On the other hand, oil exports to Kazakhstan significantly diminished in 2014 from 2.3 million tons in the fourth quarter of 2013 to a mere 100,000 tons in the third quarter of 2014 as the country increasingly relies on its own resources, according to CEIC.

Oil exports to its "frenemy" Ukraine contracted to minimum levels and have remained close to zero during the past three years.

Since sanctions were placed on Russia last year due to its support of separatists in eastern Ukraine, the country's oil giants have been frantically turning to China for market share. But it is not only China that has increased its demand for Russian hydrocarbons.

Russia has been leaning more on Asia since 2009. Most of that is due to the fact that oil transportation capacities have grown in Siberia, streamlining Russia's oil exports to its Asian partners — Japan, China and South Korea.

The initial phase of the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline construction was completed in 2009, and expanded to the Pacific coastline by 2012 to reach maximum capacity this year.

As a result of logistics, China is now the second largest single consumer of Russian oil after The Netherlands, replacing Germany.

China imported 8.2 million tons of Russian crude oil in the third quarter of 2014, or 16.2% of the total non-CIS exports, according to CEIC data.

Oil exports to South Korea hit a record 3.2 million tons in the third quarter of 2014.

And oil exports to Japan reached 2.1 million tons in the same period, placing it in the top-10 importer list for the first time.

"Given the deteriorating relations with European partners, Asian markets are becoming increasingly important for Russia and new contracts with China are critical for further growth," says CEIC analyst Dembitski.

Oil and gas exports have been the main source of revenue for Russia and are a contentious topic due to the country's total dependence on oil and gas trade.

Here's Where Russia Shipped Oil Last Year As Ukraine, Europe Diversified - Forbes

 

[arpakola]

Re: Civil war in Ukraine - South stream is reborn !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Îœ.Τρίτη "αναστήθηκε" ο South Stream – Ο "νότιος διάδρομος" που φέρνει το ρώσικο αέριο στην ΕΕ | 7 IMERES.GR

South Stream ir reborn..
Turkey - Greece - Skopia(so called macedonia) - Serbia and Hungury just sighned the rebirth of South Stream passing from Turkey - Greece - Skopia / Serbia Hungury to Europe.

F..ck U Nuland and MERKEL .. :taunt1:

 

[arpakola]

hellooo
who wants to speak for more sunctions..?

 

[sgarg]

Never-ending war: What might a more serious conflict in Ukraine look like?


What might more serious conflict in Ukraine look like? - CNN.com

Yet despite 17 hours of talks in the Belarus capital of Minsk, during which President Vladimir Putin was seen breaking pencils on his desk in frustration, some of the agreement's most important provisions have yet to be clarified.

And although German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande proclaimed themselves satisfied with the deal, both should know the chances of a durable settlement remain slim.

Were the bloodshed to resume -- or, as is more likely, never stop -- what happens inside Ukraine largely depends on Putin; barring direct Western military involvement which remains unthinkable, the Russian leader maintains what strategy experts call "escalation dominance," namely the ability to decide how much or little he wants to apply pressure, in the re knowledge that, even if Moscow miscalculates, Russia will not pay a heavy price.

The reality is that Ukraine's military does not need Western-made military equipment; it operates Russian or Soviet-made one. So the chances are high that, once Western governments -- and especially the U.S. one -- decide to supply Ukraine with lethal military equipment, the supplies will come from the stocks of Soviet-made weapons which are in Poland and Romania, eastern Europe's biggest nations. Both border Ukraine, which makes the delivery of such weapons easy and unobtrusive, something U.S. President Barack Obama may prefer, in order not to foreclose any opportunity for a future diplomatic dialogue with Moscow. Although details of such planning are being kept under wraps, Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak has already acknowledged the possibility that his country's military stocks may be used for this purpose.

And, as is often the case in such situations, the longer the conflict goes on, the less chances anyone has in controlling its protagonists. Russia is already finding it increasingly difficult to control ethnic Russian rebels in Ukraine, and that difficulty will only increase as times goes by. A large influx of weapons into Ukraine will also mean an expansion in the already considerable domestic black market for such weapons and a further boost for a variety of right-wing Ukrainian militias, many of which are already fighting alongside Ukrainian regular soldiers. Russia's allegation that Ukraine is under the control of "fascists" is nonsense but, if Ukraine seeks deeper into violence, extremists will increasingly come to the fore.

It is this sort of ghastly, ghoulish fate which the deal that France and Germany brokered is designed to avoid. But the chances are that what was agreed is simply too little and too late to postpone a looming Ukrainian nightmare.