Pure Genius.
Posted on 05/03/2014 1:32:57 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
"....Like the Moscow rallies two years ago, this winter’s Maidan protest was supported by the urban middle class and young people who came of age after the fall of communism. Together with backers from western Ukraine—which became part of the Soviet Union only after World War II—the demonstrators in Kiev made up a broad coalition not just against Yanukovych’s Moscow-sanctioned kleptocracy, but the country’s Soviet legacy. It’s no wonder that the toppling of Kiev’s Lenin monument in December was so symbolic.
In eastern Ukraine, where ubiquitous Lenin statues are seen as a sign of Russian identity, feelings toward the Soviet past are more ambivalent. The industrial complexes and slag heaps that dot the Donetsk region have given rise to a gritty, working-class ethos. Locals looked down at the “good-for-nothings” who protested on the Maidan, as civic activism has never been writ large here.
All the more surprising, then, were the pro-Russia demonstrations that began in Donetsk and other eastern cities in March. The Kiev government accused Russia of sending in busloads of provocateurs. The rallies attracted a mix of “angry babushkas,” aggressive, unkempt young men,and middle-aged conspiracy theorists—in other words, the losers of Ukraine’s transition to capitalism. Everybody assumed that they were being paid by Yanukovych’s henchmen,just as the thugs,the so-called titushki, who attacked the Maidan protesters had been.
The danger today is that Putin’s fake separatist movement could take on a life of its own. The alarming footage on Russian TV of “Kiev’s punitive action against its own people” may force people in eastern Ukraine,who never even considered secession,to take sides. The Kremlin’s main goal is to rush through a referendum on independence on May 11 and undermine Ukrainian presidential elections scheduled two weeks later.
If there’s bloodshed among the separatists before the referendum,Putin has reserved his “right” to intervene militarily in Ukraine......"
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Funny he is this predictable, yet nobody in the White House or State Department can anticipate his next move.
Or....whose taking lessons from whom?
Putin is basking in the sun and really enjoying the thrill of punching Obozo in the nose. This is the unintended consequence of having a limp wristed fool as POTUS.
>> Funny he is this predictable, yet nobody in the White House or State Department can anticipate his next move.
The White House hasn’t yet found an excuse on YouTube
A left to the nose..A right to the mouth ;)
"..Obama also will receive the Ambassador for Humanity Award from the USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education that Spielberg founded. Last year’s winner was actor George Clooney. Obama heading to Calif. to raise money for Democrats, receive award from Spielberg
No matter how anxious the Kremlin may be, the Kiev gang are far more anxious than they are over how to delay the scheduled elections or to deny some regions the right to vote in that election.
Were they honestly interested in democracy there was no reason for the people now in power not to defuse the situation in Kiev over the past few months and just wait for the already scheduled elections rather than egging on the mob.
Having a mob surround the Parliament then telling Parliament to appoint you as the "interim government", though, gets around the pesky problem of there being eighty or more parties with candidates in the coming election, very few if any of which would have supported the people now in power.
Just my (and no doubt unpopular) humble opinion.
“...Were they honestly interested in democracy there was no reason for the people now in power not to defuse the situation in Kiev over the past few months and just wait for the already scheduled elections rather than egging on the mob....”
Putin has no intention of defusing his mob. I believe that you have the dog and the dog’s tail confused.
The people now in charge defused their mob? Putin put the Madian crowd in the streets of Kiev and put people in power now instead of waiting on elections?
I know who the dog is and who started the tail wagging. The dog is named "Brussels", and the wagging tail is people who couldn't win an election getting into power with the help of the EU. That's why the fumble butts in Kiev call off operations in the East, then several days later when the EU says they better use the Army to get control of the East the Kiev crowd sends the Army east instantly.
Putin is taking advantage of a situation the people now in power in Ukraine caused. Is he a nice guy or doing anything other than taking advantage of the mess? No, why the Hell would he? He had a completely legal deal in his pocket signed and ratified in a completely legal way according to Ukrainian law and the EU preferred to 'go to the streets" the same way they did in Libya and Egypt.
In Libya it worked out, almost, but in Egypt it didn't. The EU figured the Ukraine not having a military that would confront whoever they put in power was a major factor in their favor and now they're having to deal with reality instead of their own fantasy land theories. Funny, egotistical jerks in Brussels can't see the forest for the trees, they couldn't look at the situation realistically and didn't try to. Of course, the same people can't see that Muzzies flooding Europe is destroying Europe from the inside (or can they?).
When the EU and their supporters changed games, Putin switched to the same game instead of just going in a corner to sulk over the good deal that got away. Anyone who thought he would do otherwise was living in a fantasy world and obviously the pro-EU crowd now in power and their EU backers were living in that fantasy world. They're losing at the game they chose and started.
The people in the "interim government" could have avoided every bit of this by waiting on the alread scheduled elections. They preferred the mob and power now instead of waiting on the already scheduled elections so, let them live with the consequences of their own actions. If a mob can put their people in power nationally now instead of waiting on elections, why can't people in a city or county put their people in power now instead of waiting for elections?
The EU offered a package that had limited benefit to the Ukraine, a lot of austerity dictates for the Ukraine, and a lot of benefits for the EU. Russia offered a deal that had one Hell of a lot of benefits for the Ukraine and not much more than the status quo for Russia. The EU didn't say, "I see your offer and raise you", they said, "we don't want to play anymore, we know how our people in power now without waiting on those silly elections".
No, Putin has no intention of defusing his mob. Whichever game the EU/US want to play he'll play and now the EU/US started the mob rule game and they're losing that one just like they lost at the poker game of deals to the Ukraine. The Ukraine has known Russia was on their border ever since they became an independent country but they've cut their military to the point it's a bad joke compared to their real requirements in part for fear of the Army intervening in the corrupt politics that have been the norm.
Let them deal with the consequences of their own actions, the corruption, the resorting to mob rule to avoid legitimate elections, and the lack of a reasonable military in light of their situation.
Pure Genius.
What can you expect from dolts like that except failures and foundations for future failures?
So, do you believe we should let the dominoes fall unchecked into Putin’s eager embrace; that due to the providence of this “mess” we need to sit by, unconcerned and inept - incapable of influencing world affairs - like a sitting duck, ready and waiting for the inevitable plucking?
The Kremlin Borscht Brigade of Useful Idiots are in the wire at FR.
Putin is running circles around all the leftists and will soon have engineered plausible reason to take heavy action in the Ukraine while the "stunned" world looks on and gnashes its teeth.
The domino theory....what a poor choice of words unless you were trying to be ironic.
Irony is so ironic.
The last time I checked ‘communist’ Vietnam had a peaceful stable economy and neighboring ‘democratic’ Thailand was in chaos.
Now you’re suggesting we borrow more money from the original “domino” to defend some botched CIA operation in eastern Europe.
Ironic doesn’t begin to describe that notion.
Yeah, if we’re going to cherry-pick from mid-20th century US international geopolitical theories, why not “spheres of influence” as well?
One of the impassioned Weakly Standard-types here the other day was recommending that we might put US warships in the Black sea and intercept Russian landing craft.
Absolutely incredible neo-con nonsense.
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