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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
File this under "not my problem".

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Originally posted by second:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
File this under "not my problem".

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You picked Trump, so it is your problem. Expect your man to handle your problem: Is Russia about to invade Ukraine again? That may depend on Trump.

It has been five weeks since Russia assaulted Ukrainian Navy ships that were passing through international waters near the occupied Crimean Peninsula. Though the world’s attention has moved on, Russian forces have not: On the contrary, they are massed near Crimea’s border with eastern Ukraine, prompting warnings from the Ukrainian government as well as independent observers that the regime of Russian President Vladi­mir Putin may be planning a new attack on the country. Rather than await the Russians’ next move, the Trump administration should be working with allies to actively deter further aggression.

It could well be that Mr. Putin can accomplish his aims simply by raising the level of tension and by showing he can strangle Ukrainian ports with impunity. But whatever his intentions, the United States and its NATO allies should be acting to punish Mr. Putin for his coast guard’s actions in the Kerch Strait and to deter an escalation. There are a number of steps that could be taken, BY MR. TRUMP, ranging from dispatching warships to the Black Sea, with a stop in the Ukrainian port of Odessa, to stationing NATO or European Union observers in eastern Ukraine. There have, as yet, been no sanctions against Russia specifically linked to its seizure of the Kerch Strait; there should be.

Mr. Trump still aspires to friendly relations with Mr. Putin. That won’t be possible if the Russian ruler initiates more aggression against Ukraine or other neighbors. It is consequently in Mr. Trump’s interest to make clear to Moscow that any further attacks will trigger a strong response from the United States.

More at www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/is-russia-about-to-inv
ade-ukraine-again-that-may-depend-on-trump/2018/12/30/7cc5fd42-0ad8-11e9-88e3-989a3e456820_story.html

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Stupid people can't or won't embrace the whole picture second, and jack is stupid people. A good amount of the Trumpets are. Hey, are we officially calling jack snowflake now?

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Originally posted by THG:

Stupid people can't or won't embrace the whole picture second, and jack is stupid people. A good amount of the Trumpets are. Hey, are we officially calling jack snowflake now?

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Originally posted by second:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
File this under "not my problem".

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You picked Trump, so it is your problem. Expect your man to handle your problem: Is Russia about to invade Ukraine again? That may depend on Trump.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by second:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
File this under "not my problem".

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You picked Trump, so it is your problem. Expect your man to handle your problem: Is Russia about to invade Ukraine again? That may depend on Trump.

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Ukraine is not my problem. It wouldn't be my problem if Hillary were president either.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Anybody remember the days when the Democrats were the party that was against war?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
So what you're saying is that the Democratic party sold out?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
So what you're saying is that the Democratic Party sold out?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Michael MacKay, Radio Lemberg, 02.01.2019

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

This wouldn't have anything to do with the upcoming elections in March, and Poroshenko having something like an 8% approval rating, would it?

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Michael MacKay, Radio Lemberg, 02.01.2019

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Radio Lemberg. "Lemberg" is the German name for Lviv, AKA Lvov, AKA Lwow.

Lviv is the largest city in western Ukraine,

So, some Ukrainian radio is telling us ... AGAIN ... that Russia is going to "invade"?? I've been hearing about that anticipated "massive invasion" since 2014.

This wouldn't have anything to do with the upcoming elections in March, and Poroshenko having something like an 8% approval rating, would it?

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Originally posted by second:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
So what you're saying is that the Democratic Party sold out?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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No! The people who have sold their votes in exchange for nothing are the average American voters, not the politicians. (Side note: the Top 1% know exactly what they want and they untiringly and clearly communicate that very short and simple list to Congress, which is why they get it, while the lower 50% don't get too many of their complex, difficult requests.) Average Americans don't get what they want from Congress because the majority of voting Americans both want far too much and yet don't know what they want in detail, except when it is war. That they get from both parties and the President. The voters don't know what they want about Ukraine, so they will get whatever Trump feels like dishing up.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Originally posted by captaincrunch:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Michael MacKay, Radio Lemberg, 02.01.2019

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Radio Lemberg. "Lemberg" is the German name for Lviv, AKA Lvov, AKA Lwow.

Lviv is the largest city in western Ukraine,

So, some Ukrainian radio is telling us ... AGAIN ... that Russia is going to "invade"?? I've been hearing about that anticipated "massive invasion" since 2014.

This wouldn't have anything to do with the upcoming elections in March, and Poroshenko having something like an 8% approval rating, would it?

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You sure do know a lot about that part of the world.

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This wouldn't have anything to do with the upcoming elections in March, and Poroshenko having something like an 8% approval rating, would it?- SIGNY

You sure do know a lot about that part of the world.-

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Signym, do you sense a conspiracy where Poroshenko, to improve his approval rating, orders Ukraine ships to capture Russian ships?

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I know a lot more about Afghanistan and Brazil than you do, too. It doesn't mean I live there.
Or, as the old saying goes ..."Don't mistake your ignorance for my intelligence".

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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This wouldn't have anything to do with the upcoming elections in March, and Poroshenko having something like an 8% approval rating, would it?- SIGNY

You sure do know a lot about that part of the world.-

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I know a lot more about Afghanistan and Brazil than you do, too. It doesn't mean I live there.

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. You only know what your Russian boss tells you to know.
- REAVERSHIT

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I know a lot more about Afghanistan and Brazil than you do, too. It doesn't mean I live there.- SIGNY

Or, as the old saying goes ..."Don't mistake your ignorance for my intelligence".- GSTRING

Did I say you lived there?- GSTRING

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Btw - That's a pretty lame saying - did you just make it up? Or is it Russian?

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
So much blah blah blah. Think tanks have all kind of opinions ... and all kinds of agendas.

Kiev claims that they control large parts of the "gray area" ... the area that was supposed to be demilitarized under the Minsk agreements ... so Poroshenko is clearly in a mood to provoke a response from Russia. But whatever Kiev says or whatever provocations Poroshenko pulls, he will be out by March most likely. Now, if I were Putin I'd simply wait it out, or respond indirectly (like cutting off gas supplies, or something). Responding militarily to Kiev provocations would simply give Poroshenko an excuse to re-impose martial law and delay elections ... something that he's itching to do, seeing as he has single-digit approval ratings right now. Yulia Tymoshenko is the next likely President of Ukraine, they say. So why derail Poroshenko's ouster by making him a "wartime President"?

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Ukrainian Petro Poroshenko is only listed as a potential candidate. He is not running as President-for-Life. It is Putin who has gone to war, not Poroshenko

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and Putin who has repeatedly rewritten his country's Constitution

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not Poroshenko

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Putin is the one who will never leave, not Poroshenko.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Putin is the one who will never leave, not Poroshenko.

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That remains to be seen.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
So all of your blather about "Putin rewriting the constitution" was just that: blather.

Thanks for confirming that you're so stupid you can't even make up a decent lie.

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and Putin who has repeatedly rewritten his country's Constitution- SLOPPY

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

But yanno, Putin is 70 years old and would probably like to retire. More importantly (and unlike Trump) he has an incredible advisory committee behind him. They thrash out all of the possible consequences and come to a consensus decision. Putin is a key figure but not the only one. He could retire to an advisory position and the Russian state would still go forward.

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Russia moves for a second invasion of Ukraine

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It’s the end of the world as we know it — and Munich feels nervous

MUNICH — Cut through the haze of hoary proclamations emanating from the main stage of the Munich Security Conference about Western solidarity and common purpose this weekend, and one can’t help but notice more than a hint of foreboding just beneath the surface.

Even as Western leaders congratulate themselves for their generosity toward Ukraine, the country’s armed forces are running low on ammunition, equipment and even men. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who opened the conference from Kyiv on Friday, urged the free world to send more help — and fast. “We need speed,” he said.

...

The outlook in Asia is no less fraught. Taiwan remains on edge, as the country tries to guess China’s next move. Here too, the news from Munich wasn’t reassuring.

“What is happening in Europe today could happen in Asia tomorrow,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi did nothing to contradict that narrative. “Let me assure the audience that Taiwan is part of Chinese territory,” Wang told the conference when asked about Beijing’s designs on the self-governed island. Taiwan “has never been a country and it will never be a country in the future.”

For some attendees, the vibe in the crowded Bayerischer Hof hotel where the gathering takes place carried echoes of 1938. That year, the Bavarian capital hosted a conference that resulted in the infamous Munich Agreement, in which European powers ceded the Sudetenland to Germany in a misguided effort they believed could preserve peace.

“We all know that there is a storm brewing outside, but here inside the Bayerischer Hof all seems normal,” wrote Andrew Michta, dean of the College of International and Security Studies at the Germany-based Marshall Center. “It all seems so routine, and yet it all changes suddenly when a Ukrainian parliamentarian pointedly tells the audience we are failing to act fast enough.”

The only people smiling at this year’s security conference are the defense contractors. Arms sales are booming by all accounts.

Even Germany, which in recent years perfected the art of explaining away its failure to meet its NATO defense spending commitment, promised to reverse course. Indeed, German officials appeared to be trying to outdo one another to prove just how hawkish they’ve become.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to “permanently” meet NATO’s defense spending goal for individual members of 2 percent of GDP.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to “permanently” meet NATO’s defense spending goal for individual members | Johannes Simon/Getty Images

Germany’s new defense minister, Boris Pistorius, a Social Democrat like Scholz, called for even more, saying that “it will not be possible to fulfill the tasks that lie ahead of us with barely 2 percent.”

Keep in mind that at the beginning of last year, leading Social Democrats were still calling on the U.S. to remove all of its nuclear warheads from German soil.

In other words, if even the Germans have woken up to the perils of the world’s current geopolitical state, this could well be the moment to really start worrying.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

So, what happened to this "second invasion"? Just more paranoia on your part?

****

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Originally posted by THG:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

So, what happened to this "second invasion"? Just more paranoia on your part?

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Originally posted by captaincrunch:

http://radiolemberg.com/ua-articles/ua-allarticles/almost-100-000-russ
ian-troops-poised-for-offensive-against-ukraine

What with Trump sitting with his thumb up his ass seems like a good time for Vlad to make another tiny chess move.

Michael MacKay, Radio Lemberg, 02.01.2019

What is certain is that the Russian Federation is ready to launch an offensive against Ukraine and Putin will “pull the trigger” on a massive invasion if he believes other Western democracies will not come to the defence of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s 30-day state of martial law has ended but the threat of a military offensive by the Russian Federation hasn’t. By the start of 2019, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have increased troops levels near the borders and “lines of control” of Ukraine to nearly 100,000. These Russian soldiers are not for defence but poised to attack Ukraine.

The press service of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine reports that 28 Russian army battalion-scale tactical groups are now in the Russian Federation near the international border with Ukraine and also on Ukraine’s territory of Crimea which is temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation. The total number of service members of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in these areas is estimated to be around 53,000.

The Russian Federation’s invasion-occupation force in Donbas in eastern Ukraine is made up of Russian regular troops, mercenaries, contract soldiers from private military companies, and local auxiliaries. Ukrainian military intelligence estimates as many as 45,000 combatants loyal to the Russian Federation are in Donbas, with about 11,000 of that number made up of Russian regular troops. There are known to be over 1,000 military vehicles in the Russian occupied zone of Donbas, amongst which are more tanks than Germany, France and the United Kingdom combined possess.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak presented the information that the Russian Federation has deployed a powerful military force adjacent to Ukrainian international borders and Ukrainian administrative boundaries with Crimea and part of Donbas. It is Minister Poltarak’s belief that this is a sign that the Russian Federation in not giving up on its attempts to seize all of Ukraine.

Russian forces attacked three Ukrainian Navy vessels on 25 November 2018. The Russians rammed the boats as they were attempting a peaceful and normal passage from Odesa, Ukraine to Mariupol, Ukraine through the Kerch Strait. The Russian Federation committed this act of war without warning and for no reason. The three Ukrainian Navy boats were pirated by the Russians, and 24 Ukrainian Navy sailors were taken hostage.

After this open act of war, Ukraine adopted a war state legal regime in 10 oblasts (regions) adjacent to the Russian aggressors, to last for a 30-day period. Martial law allowed Ukraine to carry out a partial mobilization, test its readiness to face a wider war, and take measures to deter the anticipated Russian offensive.

The 30-day period of the war state legal framework has expired, martial law has ended, and no Russian offensive has taken place. But the danger from the Russian aggressor remains. Kremlin anti-Ukrainian hate propaganda has reached a frenzied level not seen since the 2014-15 peak of fighting in the initial Russian invasion of Ukraine. Fake news like predicting a “Ukrainian chemical attack” is spread by Kremlin information warriors and amplified by social media and inattentive Western news media. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are staging large numbers of troops and equipment suitable for offensive close to the borders of Ukraine.

53,000 Russian soldiers are near the Ukraine-Russian Federation border and in Crimea, Ukraine (Russian-occupied) ready to launch an offensive. As many as 45,000 more are in Donbas, Ukraine (Russian-occupied) along with a formidable tank army. The Russians will try to make a “provocation” out of any event to spark a large military offensive against Ukraine whose objective will be to annihilate the country. The Putin regime does not care if this “provocation” is the granting of a tomos of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine or the conduct of presidential elections in Ukraine or something unanticipated. What is certain is that the Russian Federation is ready to launch an offensive against Ukraine and Putin will “pull the trigger” on a massive invasion if he believes other Western democracies will not come to the defence of Ukraine.

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