Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has told Ukrainian forces in Crimea to surrender by 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Tuesday or face a military assault, Interfax news agency quoted a source in the Ukrainian Defence Ministry as saying.
(If you Google “current GMT” it will show up in large bold print at the top of the page.)
From Ukraine Live at the Telegraph, which is a good source for updates:
“(Putin) smiled as he walked towards the command centre where he watched tanks, barely visible in thick fog, and listened to artillery fire. It is the first sighting of Putin in several days.”
Russia has said China is largely “in agreement” over Ukraine, after other world powers condemned Moscow for sending troops into the country.
Telegraph editorial: It is time for the West to stand up to Putin.
Feel free to add your own links/updates and comments as the situation unfolds.
A bully doesn’t bully because he’s a happy and confident child usually. But to say this is bullying or chess playing muscle flexing are exaggerations. Crimea is ten times as Russian as Ukrainian. What it comes down to is Putin saying he’s lost Ukraine and will have to take what he can get.
“Take” being the operative word.
Refresh your knowledge of history before jumping to biased conclusions.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/22-maps-that-explain-the-centuries-long-conflict-in-the-ukraine
We learned that too while sitting under our desks in school in the 60’s waiting for them to push the button.
Thank goodness it’s Obama in power and not Bush. Dubya would have been in a panic, enacted the Patriot Act II, declared a ‘War on International Aggression’ and promptly invaded Iran as a response.
I’ll be very surprized if Russia doesn’t take all of Ukraine, if not within the month then soon.
Thank goodness it’s Obama in power and not Bush. Dubya would have been in a panic, enacted the Patriot Act II, declared a ‘War on International Aggression’ and promptly invaded Iran as a response.
best comment on this incident I’ve seen on the blogs
Government fueled mass hysteria, and they all fell for it.
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. H. L. Mencken
Obama is an ineffective excuse for a leader, however Bush would have enacted Patriot Act III, declared a War on International Aggression, and invaded Iran in response.
If that’s your view, then please explain why Bay of Pigs in 1961 was any different than Crimea today.
But the real giveaway line in the Telegraph link was this:
“It is generally accepted that there is little that we or our allies can do on the ground in Ukraine, beyond supporting the new government as best we can.”
“As best we can” seems to be limited to talk about not sending the athletes to Sochi and making threatening noises about tossing Russia out of G8. In the past 48 hours, has Ukraine received even one firm declaration from any nation in terms of substantive support? Not a one. Ukraine is standing alone.
Absolutely everything said by the western nations thus far is mere hot air. If they won’t do or say anything of substance in the immediate event, the chances of any future concrete action recede greatly and increasingly as time goes by. Given how Ukraine has been abandoned by everyone, the only remaining option for the country is to negotiate with Putin over a partition.
It’s over, it’s done. Turn out the lights.
This Is The Gas Pipeline Map That Shows Why The Crisis In Ukraine Affects All Of Europe
http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-one-economic-reason-russias-invasion-of-crimea-pulls-in-europe-2014-3
T minus ~80 minutes until WWIII kicks off. I’ve set my pvr to Fox and I’ll be preparing the bunker.
Be sure to gather up your Unicorns and Yetis too.
The violence and bloodshed that had so many here wrapped in fascination has stopped since Russia intervened. If Canada had done it they would call it a ‘peacekeeping mission’.
Nothing against your comments John, but do you ever wonder why your posts always appear with the broken line format instead of a free-flowing text? Are you doing something different?
I find the structure tends to lose coherence somewhat.
Sorry for the off-topic.
I won’t be jumping on any Russia-bashing bandwagon at the moment.
Ukraine’s actual hold on the Crimea has been extremely weak since the break up of the Soviet Union. A pretty strong case could be made that it really should have gone to Russia back then, or at least they should have held a referendum. I fully expect Russia’s move will shortly be fully ratified by a referendum and all this bluster will look pretty stupid.
Defending Ukraine would be one thing if they were building democratic institutions and developing some semblance of a western oriented economy. But they haven’t been in the last 20 years. They’ve been as corrupt and dysfunctional as Russia and any of the Trashcanistans.
I should note that within the territory of Ukraine it is this new government that is facing demonstrations, open rebellion among lower levels of government and accusations of illegitimacy, especially in the eastern territories. Meanwhile, the Russian troops chat amiably with the people strolling by in Crimea, facing no opposition whatsoever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhCh4wkYlCQ&feature=player_embedded
In 2008 Stupid Insipid Woman Predicts Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Mocked mercilessly by media know it alls. Apparently has the last laugh.
RT forgot to mention that many of these Ukrainian demonstrators were also the grandchildren and great grandchildren of the those millions who died in the Holodomor or in the Siberian gulags.
At this point I would not believe anything RT or any other Russian news outlets says.
Brian Mallard >
Yup Sarah Palin nailed it.
But what about her dress? – CNN
The Russians are imaginary? Who knew!!!!
Obama’s skirt is so short, his vergina is showing. (Intentional
misspelling you liberal trolls.)
Putin has nothing to fear from our president. He can take half the
world, and Obama will do nothing!
The violence and bloodshed that had so many here wrapped in fascination had stopped BEFORE Russia intervened.
If Canada had done a peacekeeping operation they would have sent in legitimate soldiers clearly marked by Canadian insignia with the prior knowledge of the UN and both sides of the conflict plus an open discussion in the Canadian parliament PRECEDING the troop deployment.
FIFY
And NO they wouldn’t be occupying government buildings, communications hubs, and airports for a peacekeeping mission.
Are you a Russian agent or just a lone nutbag?
have you stopped beating your wife and kids?
If you want constructive and polite discourse stop being a jerk.
You’re flat out lying on a number of threads here. The violence stopped BEFORE the Russians invaded you SOB, but you credit the Russian invaders.
The violence stopped when the Ukrainian President fled the capital and was no longer in command of the security forces firing on the protesters.
Putin asks the Russian parliament if Russian troops can enter Ukraine 2 DAYS after he has secretly infiltrated Russian forces wearing uniforms scrubbed of any insignia(hint: legitimate security forces don’t wear unmarked uniforms) and you compare these to Canadian peacekeeping troops?
Then you call me the jerk? You sack of dirt. Who feeds you these lies as talking points and how much are you being paid?
Crimea has declared independence from Ukraine once as I’ve read, however it also voted for independence along with Ukraine. Russia may take it and maybe it would prefer that to being in the EU but certainly RT’s picture of the situation is a whole lot less accurate even than those which assume Crimea is an inviolate piece of Ukraine. Ukraine gave over its nuclear weapons in return for territorial promises from us and the Russians which makes it a big deal even given that non-proliferation is a bit of a dead letter lately.
It bothers me that we have made assertions that no military action will be taken. It seems an invitation to take more, perhaps it is an indication that there will be other responses and Russia won’t be backing down from a military confrontation in their own back yard if or when they make a turn on this.
It bothers me too. But politicians are liars and western betrayal of Slavs is nothing new. What’s more bothersome, to me, is the cacophony of specious pro-Russian “analyses” floating around. People are so fscking stupid.