News from Ukraine Conflict

[GDS_Starfury]

Its not even that.  The whole process is a giant pain in the ass.  Check in, baggage limits, delays, traffic, parking, time of flights, age of aircraft, no food  Etc etc.

[endfire79]

I have no desire to travel by air anywhere.  from start to finish its just become an inconvenient mess.

You're in Miami, why would you want to travel?  Sounds like paradise    Wish I had a contract on that side of the state!
Got used to the work travel in the last few years, haven't had any run in's with Homeland Security/Airpot security people yet - usually we have lawyers to prepare our work visas in US, and that answers 99% of the inane questions.   The Nexus pass can help.

[JasonPratt]

Needing lawyers to avoid the hassle of air travel...  :))

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

"He is no romantic who came to fire a few shots. He knows what his tasks are. Just as he did in Transdniestria," he said. "Antyufeyev knows how to operate in such situations, how to suppress opposition and dissent... create an atmosphere of fear in which people will support any action by the separatists."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/27/us-ukraine-crisis-rebels-insight-idUSKBN0FW07020140727

[Yskonyn]

3rd day in a row that the investigators cannot reach the crash site of MH17, because it is unsafe and lots of fighting is going on in the vicinity of the crash site.
Porosjenko claims he is 'doing everything he can' to make access possible, but at the same time it was a few days earlier that suddenly Ukranian forces went on the offensive right in that area. It has been violent around the site ever since.

Prior to them going on the offensive, our prime minister had trouble convincing the parliament and department of defense of the reasoning behind sending in unarmed military police to assist the investigators.
The fact that these people were military police was to be ignored as such. They just needed more able bodies at the site to help and these police personnel come closest to being suitably trained for the investigation mission. (why there is no option to support the investigators already at the scene with a bigger international investigation crew is anyone's guess at this point, IMO).
They need to be unrecognisable as military police and they need to be unarmed as to not provoke any hostilities and show the rebels they are just there to investigate. Nothing more. Defense wasn't happy about it until it was made clear that the fact these men and women are military police by profession, but are not going to be at the site as such... they are just investigators. Defense agreed, though not very willingly.

So now these people are in a war zone. Ukraine decided to take the war to the rebels after the fact and nobody can get to MH17.
This stinks.

[Staggerwing]

The US gov't needs to get off it's ass and start flooding the international media with all the evidence it's accumulated showing Russian culpability in the shoot-down as well as more than just a few pix of scorch-marks in a field proving that Russia has taken an active combat role in the ongoing fight. The media blitz needs to be relentless if we want to actually worry the Putin about what will happen to his economy as a result of this 'adventure' of his.

[Gusington]

It feels like the Russians are again prepping the area for an invasion.

[LongBlade]

It feels like the Russians are again prepping the area for an invasion.

Will the Russians pull back a second time?

Theory would say "no." (See the role of mobilization prior to WWI)

One might argue that, having pulled them back once, we can't see what might prevent him from pulling back again.

OTOH, why send them back into an offensive position unless you intend to use them? Whatever "deterrence" the west showed causing him to pull back the first time apparently wasn't enough to encourage him to stay pulled back. Ergo, expect bad things to follow. My gut tells me that the west provided an insufficiently strong showing to prove the cost wouldn't be worth the benefit. I mean, seriously? The Russians are sending troops and heavy weapons. We're sending MREs. How does the old saying go? "Never send canned peaches to an artillery barrage." 

[BanzaiCat]

It's okay, guys. I'm sure the White House will send a strongly-worded letter of condemnation to Russia, which will certainly make them think twice!

[TheCommandTent]

Why wouldn't Putin continue to push his luck?  I think we can all agree that Russia was involved in shooting down a civilian airliner for crying out loud and there was barely a coherent international reaction to that!

[Windigo]

Call me cynical of human nature when there's Billions of dollars at play economically, but we're whoring out to the financial interests. [when has that ever not been the case?]

If Yeltsin decides to go in, it'll be when summer is almost over and the EU starts to ramp up demand for natural gas and oil for heating.

[Staggerwing]

If Yeltsin decides to go in, it'll be when summer is almost over and the EU starts to ramp up demand for natural gas and oil for heating.

Yeltsin is dancing a vodka dance at somebody's wedding in the hereafter somewhere.

Putin, otoh...

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Call me cynical of human nature when there's Billions of dollars at play economically, but we're whoring out to the financial interests. [when has that ever not been the case?]

If Yeltsin decides to go in, it'll be when summer is almost over and the EU starts to ramp up demand for natural gas and oil for heating.

I agree. Financiers will be out to make a buck now, they will be out to make a buck even if a war is threatening NATO, even if the city around them burns. Fuck them. Only a fool listens to them.

That timing may even be early, this is all warmup practice of moving large numbers of troops. When it comes for real into Ukraine, probably the fall, their troops will have done it several times, no biggie. It will be fast and hard. Half the country will be under russian control before the weekend is out. The question is will they stop there?

[GDS_Starfury]

I have yet to see a talking head bring up the point that a Cold War part two is only possible if the west lets it happen.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

I have yet to see a talking head bring up the point that a Cold War part two is only possible if the west lets it happen.

Are you saying you think a cold war is a good solution? My feeling is russia will laugh at a cold war. they will say you give us cold shoulder while we take country x, and y, and z.