The Situation in the Ukraine. #9

magnumcromagnon wrote:

Morpheus Eberhardt wrote:Not really of-topic, as ...


Guys, does anybody think that the quality of Google Translate has been downgraded over the last several months?

I noticed that too, and Google search engine has been known to "kill" certain stories from their search engines.

Regular wrote:If there weren't for Strelkov there would be only LNR existing. Give him some credit.

The summit in Minsk of the presidents of the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose cluster of 11 former Soviet constituent republics, was doomed to attract attention; Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was conspicuously absent. The head of the Commonwealth’s second-most populous member state preferred to visit the Italian city of Milan instead.

The presidents, quite predictably, saw Poroshenko’s move as a snub;  two of them, Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus and Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, personally scolded Poroshenko for failing to respect his neighbors and for his heavy-handed approach to the war on his own territory. The fact that Poroshenko was criticized not by Russia’s Vladimir Putin, but by two of Russia’s NEIGHBORS, calls into question the main narrative of the Western press regarding the war in Ukraine and the way it is viewed by other post-Soviet states. During the past six months or more, the Western newspapers have been full of reports about other post-Soviet countries, especially ones with sizable Russian minorities, being all jittery because of the possibility of Russian “aggression” under the pretext of protecting these minorities.

The problem of possible new Russian “aggression,” however, was nowhere to be seen at the summit in Minsk. Uzbekistan’s Islam Karimov, whose country also has a Russian minority, lashed out not at Putin, but at Poroshenko. “If Mr. Poroshenko had not missed the opportunity to meet us and had provided his vision of the events [in Ukraine], this would make the situation a lot more clear to us,” Karimov said at the plenary session of the CIS summit. “Who among us have had the opportunity to see Mr. Poroshenko face to face recently? Very few. But he found time to visit Brussels in Belgium several times, as well as several other countries, which I would not like to name,” Karimov said, clearly referring to Poroshenko’s meetings with the anti-Russian leaders of several EU countries, as well as the US and Canada.

President Alexander Lukashenko, the host of the summit in the Belarusian capital Minsk, was almost equally caustic. “If the problems of Ukraine – economic ones, political ones, etc. - can better be resolved in Milan or Berlin, why do you [Mr. Poroshenko] need to ask for our help? Obviously, you need to solve these problems in Milan and Berlin,” Lukashenko said, clearly referring to Poroshenko’s recent suggestion that the CIS countries “participate” in the reconstruction of  war-torn Donbass.

In fact, the clearly pro-Russian (and anti-Maidan) leanings of the CIS summit in Minsk shows where the leaders see the real (and not imagined) dangers for their countries. These dangers do not include Russian “aggression”, but rather internal destabilization, poverty and the possibility of violent Western-sponsored “regime changes.” If anyone is “isolated” (the most frequently used word in the Western discourse on Russia), it is not Russia, but rather Poroshenko’s regime – at least, inside the Commonwealth of Independent States (of which Ukraine formally remains a member).

Here are the facts which The Washington Post and other Western media, who love to talk about Russia’s “isolation,” simply do not notice. At the recent Caspian summit in Astrakhan, Russia agreed with its three CIS partners (Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan) on the future legal status of the Caspian Sea – a thorny issue the four countries hadn’t been able to resolve for 20 years. Before the end of the year, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will all ratify the agreement on the creation of the Eurasian Economic Union, a document signed in Astana last May which will create a joint economic space linking Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and in the near future – also Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.

Economically and technologically, members of the Eurasian Economic Union are doing better than the pro-EU Ukraine.

This year Kazakhstan is going to show 4 percent economic growth (the European Bank for the Reconstruction and Development expected Kazakhstan to post 5.5 percent growth, but the forecast was downgraded in May because of the EU’s sanctions against Russia, which also adversely affected Kazakhstan). Russia’s economy is expected to grow 1.3 percent.

“This is not much, but this is the same result as Poland, and no one is assessing the Polish situation with economic growth as tragic,” commented Ben Aris, the head of Business New Europe – a center for the intellectual analysis of economic developments among the former members of the Soviet bloc. “And certainly, this is a better result than in Ukraine.”

A recent Global Forum on e-government held in Astana confirmed Kazakhstan’s rating as the 28th country in the world in terms of Internet services for the population. For some people, this result is a much greater reason for joy than the “revolution” on Maidan, with its corpses, charred buildings and ruined relations with Russia.

Ukrainian checkpoint commanders at various locations to the north and north-east of Mariupol (113 km south of Donetsk city) told the SMM of shelling directed at the checkpoints the previous evening. The SMM – whilst at the checkpoints – neither observed nor heard shelling, nor saw any indication that shelling may have recently taken place.

Whilst in Debaltseve (75 km north-east of Donetsk city), the SMM was informed by a senior Ukrainian military officer that there had in the previous 24 hours been 76 “ceasefire” violations – 42 by the separatists and 34 by the Ukrainian Army – in the Debaltseve area, resulting in one fatality and 13 injuries. The SMM observed no incidents in the area, and saw nothing that would substantiate the allegations made by the officer.

TheArmenian wrote:The Novorossian armed forces (Vostok battalion) have displayed the BTR-4K they captured from the Ukrainian Nazguard.
It is the command version and is similar to the ones supplied to Iraq.

Support from Public to Ukropy army? From whom? Cities like Lviv?

The game the EU is playing with this "hatred as a weapon" is very dangerous

Werewolf wrote:Support from Public to Ukropy army? From whom? Cities like Lviv?

Regular wrote:

Werewolf wrote:Support from Public to Ukropy army? From whom? Cities like Lviv?

Plenty of people actually. They are buying scopes, uniforms and all that. Cause their gov doesn't give a fuck about equipment. They send batches in 1000s.

Ukrainian propaganda is doing it's job and seps are not winning hearts and minds in Ukraine. Oh and I forgot, there are no independent media in Ukraine. So here You go.

Regular wrote:

Werewolf wrote:Support from Public to Ukropy army? From whom? Cities like Lviv?

Plenty of people actually. They are buying scopes, uniforms and all that. Cause their gov doesn't give a fuck about equipment. They send batches in 1000s.

Ukrainian propaganda is doing it's job and seps are not winning hearts and minds in Ukraine. Oh and I forgot, there are no independent media in Ukraine. So here You go.

Ukrainian National Guard troops are protesting outside the presidential administration office in Kiev as they demand demobilization. They are refusing to return to their barracks outside the capital.

About 200 soldiers have surrounded the building claiming they have served six months longer than their contracts stipulated.

They have demanded that they either receive better pay or are allowed to return home. One of the soldiers has told TASS news agency that they were paid roughly $11 per month, adding that there has been no hike in wages since their contracts expired.

100s of Ukraine soldiers protest in front of presidential administration

magnumcromagnon wrote:

Ukrainian National Guard troops are protesting outside the presidential administration office in Kiev as they demand demobilization. They are refusing to return to their barracks outside the capital.

About 200 soldiers have surrounded the building claiming they have served six months longer than their contracts stipulated.

They have demanded that they either receive better pay or are allowed to return home. One of the soldiers has told TASS news agency that they were paid roughly $11 per month, adding that there has been no hike in wages since their contracts expired.

100s of Ukraine soldiers protest in front of presidential administration

Regular wrote:People who sent these cakes support the war


Nah, Ukrainian people are doing right thing supporting troops, who else will do it?
Only thing is they should take responsibility for this conflict on themselves too, it's not good and evil fight. Ukrainian stubbornness made this conflict what it is now.

Firebird wrote:

magnumcromagnon wrote:

Ukrainian National Guard troops are protesting outside the presidential administration office in Kiev as they demand demobilization. They are refusing to return to their barracks outside the capital.

About 200 soldiers have surrounded the building claiming they have served six months longer than their contracts stipulated.

They have demanded that they either receive better pay or are allowed to return home. One of the soldiers has told TASS news agency that they were paid roughly $11 per month, adding that there has been no hike in wages since their contracts expired.

100s of Ukraine soldiers protest in front of presidential administration

Hopefully they'll end up in a shootout with Shite Sektor and the Maidenmaggots.

Regular wrote:Any chance of Ukraine getting exhausted to wage war any further? Surely, IMF funds can be used for military only.

Mike E wrote:

Regular wrote:Any chance of Ukraine getting exhausted to wage war any further? Surely, IMF funds can be used for military only.

Nope, they are steadily increasing their military budget and funding. Unless their (already bad) economic situation gets even worse, they will continue to fund the fighting.