Cartoon

Kyiv Post ^ | April 25, 2014, 12:14 a.m. | Kyiv Post

[WhiskeyX]

On April 17, billionaire and Dnipropetrovsk Oblast governor Ihor Kolomoyskiy announced that he would pay $10,000 for any captured armed separatist from the east of Ukraine who will be handed over to the nation’s special forces.

[mosesdapoet]

I don’t understand why this isn’t a priority. Where Ukraine forces knocked out those three road blocks the report is they fled taking the wounded with them. That along with pointing out Russian penetration is toward the eastern Ukrainian oil fields.

[WhiskeyX]

“I don’t understand why this isn’t a priority.”

The Ukrainian Government recognizes a need to bend far far over backwards to avoid bloodshed as much as possible to avoid giving Russia a propaganda leverage to justify the invasion of the Ukraine under the pretext of stopping bloodshed. The recent bloodshed at the Sloviyansk roadblock may have been the Russians staging a false flag attack on the pro-Russian insurgents, because the Ukrainian governmnet was doing such a good job of avoiding just those kinds of incidents.

The Ukrainians have already captured a number of Russian military officers and soldiers, spies and saboteurs, and an assortment of ethnic Russian Ukrainian insurgents. Since the Russians are flatly denying the existence of these captives, the media and governments unfavorably disposed towards the Ukraine are simply dismissing the significance of who these captives are and what they are doing in the Ukraine. Consequently, the Ukrainian government is unable to make such captures worth the risk versus the reward when considering the troubles resulting from the bloodshed that would result from such acts. So, the Ukraine is walking a very dangerous tightrope in the hope that international assistance will be more forthcoming the less bloodshed results from their defensive operations.

[exDemMom]

Oh, my. Trying to follow all that is nearly as difficult as pronouncing Russian names.

Wishing all the best to the Ukrainians, however. It seems the Russians are always looking for an excuse to invade their neighbors.

[mosesdapoet]

Thanks for the reply
In it is probably some of their reasoning along with not mentioning the Ruskys are going after the Ukrainian shale oil. But it’s got to be obvious it’s not working. Just look at the Pukehead posts we’re getting here in FR’s feeding US the Kremlin line. Time for a show and tell plus that exposure might not play that well back in Peoriatofsky. There’s been grumblings about the cost of these operations there. Plus the effect on the dependence of Russia for energy supplies by some of its customers. Those who have shale fields are going to exploit them.

[WhiskeyX]

When Saddam Hussein invaded, occupied, and annexed the independent nation of Kuwait, the Russians, pro-Russians, anti-American, anti-Republican, anti-Bush, and faux anti-war agitators all managed to ignore how the war was all about the aggressor Iraqis and their Russian backers wanting to control and influence a major part of the world’s developed petroleum and natural gas exports located in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. Given the world governments’ demonstrated ability to ignore the significance of those realized aggressor threats to the world economies, what chance does the Ukraine have of alarming the world governments over what little undeveloped petroleum and natural gas it may or may not have to offer to the world?

[mosesdapoet]

In the News/Activism forum, on a thread titled Cartoon, WhiskeyX wrote:
When Saddam Hussein invaded, occupied, and annexed the independent nation of Kuwait, the Russians, pro-Russians, anti-American, anti-Republican, anti-Bush, and faux anti-war agitators all managed to ignore how the war was all about the aggressor Iraqis and their Russian backers wanting to control and influence a major part of the world’s developed petroleum and natural gas exports located in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. Given the world governments’ demonstrated ability to ignore the significance of those realized aggressor threats to the world economies, what chance does the Ukraine have of alarming the world governments over what little undeveloped petroleum and natural gas it may or may not have to offer to the world?

Thought you were aware of “company” policy where we convinced the Saudi’s to increase oil production to lower oil prices that reduced Russian share of the market. As far as Iraq and Kuiwait goes that war was about who controls oil. It did keep the market open.

Doesn’t matter if the whole world knows even, (and they do,) if, and at this time haven’t seen what the potential of the Ukrainian fields, (even if it’s only a barrel period) are. It is Ukrainian oil not Russian. If the Russians move in neither US or the Ukrainians will see a drop flow. And if it does that payment will go to Russia and Putin’s pocket not to the people of the Ukraine.

[WhiskeyX]

“Thought you were aware of “company” policy where we convinced the Saudi’s to increase oil production to lower oil prices that reduced Russian share of the market. As far as Iraq and Kuwait goes that war was about who controls oil. It did keep the market open.”

My reference to Saudi Arabia was in regard to Saddam Hussein's original intention to overrun and seize Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen along with their oil and natural gas production in 1990. His original planning for the military campaign was to invade and quickly overrun Kuwait and immediately proceed through Khafji and down Route 95 to Dammam in Bahrain. His intended campaign faltered when his offensive was stalled for too long by the Kuwaiti defenses, his weakened armored columns were repulsed by some elements of the Saudi border defense units, and the United States response with air forces and airborne troops closed the window of opportunity. Absent the quick and forceful U.S. intervention in support of the Saudi defenses and failures of his military, Saddam Hussein could very well have captured a large fraction of the world's exports of oil and gas. Yet, most of the world stood around and dithered, equivocated, and otherwise pontificated while a sizable fraction of the world's sources of oil and gas were being threatened with capture by Saddam Hussein. Russia assisted Saddam Hussein to pursue this military adventure while knowing full well what it could do to the world economies and its won position in supplying European energy requirements. Yet, much of the world and many of the Europeans faltered in the call to prevent this gambit from being unsuccessful.

Likewise now, we and the Ukrainians can see the same reticence of much of the world to confront the threat from Russia and its proxies, while Russia's nuclear arsenal is used to threaten everyone’s security with the risk of a World War Three and Russia's nuclear arsenal. Consequently, the unproven reserves of oil and gas being considerably less in worldwide importance than the supplies at risk in the 1990-1991 Gulf War provides the Ukraine with little if any leverage with potential worldwide allies.

“Doesn't’t matter if the whole world knows even, (and they do,) if, and at this time haven’t seen what the potential of the Ukrainian fields, (even if it’s only a barrel period) are. It is Ukrainian oil not Russian. If the Russians move in neither US or the Ukrainians will see a drop flow. And if it does that payment will go to Russia and Putin’s pocket not to the people of the Ukraine.”

That is all quite true, but it is of little to no assistance to the Ukraine Government until and unless the Europeans can be motivated to act upon the truth. At this point it is also the Bulgarian, Romanian, Slovakian, and Polish oil, gas, and coal production which are threatened as well in the long term strategies. The European governments are well aware of this strategic threat. Poland is one of the few Europeans reacting to the long term threat, but they are seeing minimal support so far from their Western allies. Tymoshenko is now proposing immediate Ukrainian membership in NATO, which many of the NATO members already regard as beyond consideration at the present time because of the risk of World War Three. Knowing all of this, most of the European governments are still hoping they can somehow escape the threat without a direct confrontation with the Russian military forces. This European reluctance is the problem the Ukraine faces in securing allies for its immediate defense of its territorial integrity, its people, and its energy resources.

Another possible approach to arresting the Russian invasion and annexation of the Ukraine would be to bring in a credible Third World military force as a UN peacekeeping force in the Ukrainian Oblasts where the Russian led insurgents are operating. The problem is finding a credible Third World military force. Even then we know Russia would use its veto power in the UN Security Council to veto any UN peacekeeping force other than its own.

[mosesdapoet]

Good analysis and that insight into Saddam’s desires and intentions was never discussed now or then even though key players were informed and knew what the hell was going on including the media like the NYT or Wapoo.

[WhiskeyX]

FWIW, Saddam Hussein’s intentions to invade the rest of the Arabian peninsula has been disputed. The Battle of Khafji, however, is one of many indicators which are at odds with such conclusions.

“At Doha, the Kuwaiti special forces offered some resistance as well, while the single battalion of Chieftains from the 35th Mechanized Brigade did cause some delays in advance of Iraqi units in the west. But, this unit was soon encircled and then run out of ammunition. Its surviving elements then retreated into the neutral zone between Iraq and Saudi Arabia: the Iraqi units that pursued them into this area were later wrongly perceived to have been deployed as a spearhead of a possible invasion of Saudi Arabia.”

http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_213.shtml

Ten to fifteen years ago there were a number of websites that provided detailed information about the events in the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Some of these accounts included first person witness descriptions about these events. One of them was from a member of the Kuwaiti 35th Mechanized Brigade. Others were from foreign residents in Kuwait. Unfortunately, they seem to be missing now.