I agree about putting competent people in important places, one of the great indictments of free government is that we end up with people like Clinton, Bush, and Obama in charge.
But I disagree with you about Ukraine being able to do anything about the Russian invasion without outside help. Sometimes brains and cojones are not enough. It is nearly impossible to win a war against an enemy with vastly superior forces and better technology. Sure, they can do as the Chechens, Syrians, and Afghans, but I understand a civilized nation not wanting to go the route of a million corpses.
Ukraine is civilized? You know what the Ukraine is? It's a sitting duck. A road apple. The Ukraine is weak. It's feeble. Putin thinks it's time to put the hurt on the Ukraine.
I don’t know how accurate this is, but much of it seems to fit, and it does describe well the difficulties Kiev faces...
April 14, News on situation in Ukraine.
KARGO-200, in Russian GRUZ-200 was code name for a zinc coffin with bodies of Soviet soldiers killed in Afganistan war. 200 because weight of coffin with body was about 200 kgs.
Today first two Cargo 200 have been loaded for Russia. Among terrorists killed two Russian militants. How many Cargo 200 will go to both sides in the future? Can be many.
Kiev is launching a full scale anti-terrorist operation. It will be slow because local police are total scam, in army many locals, they won’t shoot separatists. Border guards too will let Russian troops in.. this is the problem with area where half of population ethnic Russians. They ignore commands they receive from president, unless president is from their region, like was Yanukovich.
So what do we do? to begin combat with potential traitors by you side is risky. That’s smart of Kiev to start anti-terrorist operation with moderation. Another smart move is to send folks army, every region of Ukraine will send one battalion. Alltogether will be 12.000 troops. They all patriots, they won’t betray but the danger is they can easily turn in punitive force.
The action taking place in Donetsk region with population 4,4 million people, Luhansk area 2,9 million people. Could be some parts of Kharkiv regional area affected too. Good news is that neighboring regions of Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhya although Russian speaking are very pro-Ukrainian. People living there historically very militant, war like and very willing to go fight separatists in Donbass (name for Luhansk and Donetsk) Donbass itself is divided 50/50. Half loyal to Kiev and half looking to Moskov.
One don’t have to be very great strategist to see there is perfect condition for civil war. I’d say civil war is looming which will turn into war with Russia and it will be disaster for millions of people living in the area. Kiev already flooded with refugees from Crimea who keep coming every day. Tens of thousands Tatars and military men with families live in tents on Maydan. Now people start leaving Donbass so we have new wave of refugees and they almost all Russian speaking. I have to remind that Putin say his business in Ukraine was helping out Russian speaking population and this days in downtown you can see people with posters- I am ethnic Russian living in Ukraine, Putin, please don’t help us.
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/maydan/updateapril14.html
“It is nearly impossible to win a war against an enemy with vastly superior forces and better technology.”
If Russia was using superior forces, or better tech, I might agree with you, but they aren’t.
They are putting a few key people in key places, and taking advantage of the already existing unrest. And winning by doing so.
The coup government, on the other hand, can only rely on a few forces in the western part of the country, and their version of the skinheads. They can’t project influence much beyond Kiev. Ukraine is even more lawless now, than it was before, which isn’t helping. Kiev is losing control over events, badly.
The Obama dministration destabilized yet another country, and got their picked people in charge, but it isn’t working out the way they had planned, because the Russians have decided that they get a vote, too.