Posted on 03/02/2014 6:17:11 AM PST by Corporate Democrat
(Reuters) - Ukraine mobilized for war on Sunday, after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared he had the right to invade, creating the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.
"This is not a threat: this is actually the declaration of war to my country," said Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, head of a pro-Western government that took power when Russian ally Viktor Yanukovich fled last week.
Putin obtained permission from his parliament on Saturday to use military force to protect Russian citizens in Ukraine, spurning Western pleas not intervene.
Russian forces have already bloodlessly seized Crimea - an isolated Black Sea peninsula where Moscow has a naval base. On Sunday they surrounded several small Ukrainian military outposts there and demanded the Ukrainian troops disarm. Some refused, although no shots were fired.
Russia has staged war games with 150,000 troops along the land border, but so far they have not crossed. However, pro-Russian demonstrators have marched in the east of the country and have raised Russian flags over government buildings in several cities, in what Kiev says is a move orchestrated by Moscow to justify a wider invasion.
Ukraine's security council ordered the general staff to immediately put all armed forces on highest alert, the council's secretary Andriy Parubiy announced.
The Defense Ministry was ordered to conduct a call-up of reserves - theoretically all men up to 40 in a country with universal male conscription, though Ukraine would struggle to find extra guns or uniforms for significant numbers of them.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
The ship in Havana didn’t look like a destroyer to me but more like an auxiliary with a Shilka mount forward and an impressive array of aerials.
Ukraine defense minister also knows that most of his troops will not fight Russia and that many will switch sides if push comes to shove.
Well there you have it, he’s got his sleeves rolled up! He should have had his smart glasses on to really let them know he’s serious!
Stupid liberal doucheweed poseurs.
I think they're just going to settle in Crimea for now. Perhaps more a year or so down the line.
Very possible, but it won’t be because they are concerned about obama retaliation.
About as much as the Polish army meant in the face Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht.
Nazis lost 15,000 in the September campaign. Poland only capitulated because the Soviets moved in from the East. If not for that, they could have held out longer than France ultimately did.
>>>The Typhoons are a memory. All six have been retired and 3 have been scrapped. The other three are sitting with empty missile tubes as the R-39’s have been retired from service. They may get the new Bulava missile, they may not. Probably depends on how successful the new Borei-class boomers are. Three are built, two are in active service. The remaining Typhoons will probably be scrapped.<<<
7 Delta IV boomers are still in service with Russian Navy too.
What’s left out of most Western analyses of Putin’s brazen military intervention is the Crimea’s complete economic dependence on the mainland, which provides nearly all of its electricity and water and about 70 percent of its food.
Most of the Crimea is basically a desert, with less annual rainfall than Los Angeles. It is impossible to sustain its 2 million people—including agriculture and the substantial tourist industry—without Ukrainian water. Current supplies aren’t even enough.
In Sevastopol, home of the Black Sea Fleet, households get water only on certain days. In fact, on Feb. 19, when snipers were shooting protesters on the streets of Kiev, Sevastopol applied for $34 million in Western
aid (note the irony) to improve its water and sewer systems.
Crimean Tatars. Some 300,000 have returned from exile and their numbers are growing, with continued migration and birth rates higher than either Russians or Ukrainians. They strongly oppose any separatism, and they will not go peacefully into a Russian-controlled, authoritarian
“Yanukistan” along the lines of Transdnistria. Not only are they extremely well organized, they are Muslims with friends. Representatives from Russia’s Tatarstan region are already supporting them. Turkey, which controlled the Crimea for much longer than Russia ever did and has close ties with the Crimean Tatars, is watching. So are Chechen rebels.
The Crimea could explode into bloodshed. To prevent if from happening, maybe turning off the power for 15 minutes will force a reboot in Putin’s aggressive, misguided, and ultimately doomed scheme.
Yeah, what if? I doubt the Ukranian people have forgotten their historically bad treatment from the Russians. I wouldn't blame them a bit for retaining some insurance, and wouldn't be too surprized to see it put to use, soon.
When was the last time one went on patrol with a well-trained, experienced and sober crew? And did so without a Los Angeles or Virginia class boat stalking them.
One well-aimed nuclear-tipped cruise missile up its stern would end that presence.
The Israeli’s “don’t have nukes” either...
No; but those who pull his strings - like Jaret and Soros - THEY ARE both insane sociopaths
I was just wondering what all the distraction was about. Thank you for reminding me. Fukushima.
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