“Russia is the only country in the world realistically capable of turning the United States into radioactive ash,” anchor Dmitry Kiselyov said on his weekly news show on state-controlled Rossiya 1 television.
Kiselyov made the comment to support his argument that the United States and President Barack Obama were living in fear of Russia led by President Vladimir Putin amid the Ukraine crisis.
More: Russia’s Special Ops Invasion of Ukraine Has Begun
Thanks, Victoria Nuland!
If this had happened anywhere else it would be triumphed as “Democracy in Action”.
Instead the condemnation posturing merely makes the West look like lame hypocrites.
Russia plays chess while the West fumbles at checkers.
Absolutely right. If there is any country that can reduce the Socialist United States of America to a pile of radioactive ash that is Mother Russia. And this is not a matter of which American president is in the White House. There is nothing any other American president could do differently. Dubya would have been reduced to the bumbling idiot that he is just the same. If we are going to pick sides here, I would much rather align myself with uncle Vlad. Am I supposed to throw myself behind a bunch of megalomaniac CIA types deciding to play poker with the lives of millions of people all over the world by throwing coups and installing puppet regimes from the confort of their secluded lives at an underground bunker? All of this being financed by indebting the American taxpayer to China in the trillions of dollars just so that these morons can satisfy their God complex? These imbeciles at the CIA are only a group of spoiled children with expensive toys and they are no match for the brilliant strategist and leader that Vladimir Putin is. They can only be reduced to throwing temper tantrums.
P.S. This is NOT an invasion. Russian troops have been in Crimea since 1783. Crimea has always been Russian until Nikita Krushev gave it away to the Ukranians probably in a robfordian night of drunken stupor. The inhabitants of Crimea are overwhelmingly Russian or Ukranian russophone and they have spoken. The socialist Yankees operating in the shadows can go home now. This is all their making. They started this and there is nothing they can do now.
I guess my comment was held by the filter. I cannot figure out what was the offending word. I would appreciate if it was pointed to me.
“If this had happened anywhere else it would be triumphed as “Democracy in Action”.”
NO, it wouldn’t.
a) people of good faith understand that REAL “Democracy in Action” doesn’t take place after a referendum is announced immediately following the invasion and occupation of a sovereign country by a foreign ARMY.
b) prior to a referendum, there is a reasonable period(exceeding 2 weeks) whereby BOTH sides of the referenda question have the opportunity to influence the outcome of the vote, the people of Crimea were subjected to a one-sided propaganda onslaught the like of which has never been seen since the end of the USSR, with the vote occurring less than 2 weeks following INVASION by a Foreign Power.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/13/russian-propaganda-ukraine-fascist-protesters-euromaidan
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/03/15/russias-propaganda-war-on-ukraine-reaches-soviet-levels-ahead-of-crimea-vote/
That said, I stated at least a week ago that the unidentified troops which were occupying important strategic points in Eastern Ukraine were likely Spetsnaz due to their specialized equipment and mode of operation.
The Spetsnaz specialty is blending in with the local populations. They have training centres where they get immersed in the language, culture, dialects, cuisine, etc etc of their assigned target areas. Some even spend time in those target areas, posing as students or traders. The squad leadership is by target area, but some of the specialists in the group can be interchanged amongst the geographically assigned units. They have no qualms about Geneva convention niceties and other sissy stuff, and like the spontaneously violent mohammed fan club,they wear no uniforms. And they have been training like mad in the last few months for this mission, count on it.
Putin does not get to conduct referenda in Ukraine. Of course it is not valid. Having said that majority of people in Crimea probably want to join Russia. Too bad. Traitors should not be negotiated with. All those who do not renounce Russia should be deported at gun point if they do not move fast enough. And that goes for all former Soviet republics.
Obama shot down the malaysian flight so it would make front page news and would keep his bungling and weak knee’ed approach to putin and russia out of the media spotlight as much as possible. Just another case of white boy bullying black boy and the black boy running home to hide .
Dear Leader skipped his national security briefing again on Saturday. Let’s be honest people – deep down, this man child doesn’t give a flying you-know-what about some pasty white people in Eastern Europe.
I actually agree with NO60 on this. It was the Ukrainians, egged on by the EU (and Germany) who overthrew the established government.
Russian armed forces have always been in The Crimea. The Russians have a naval base there.
Oz >
“people of good faith understand that REAL “Democracy in Action” doesn’t take place after a referendum is announced immediately following the invasion and occupation of a sovereign country by a foreign ARMY.”
There goes Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq…………….
Colonialista >
“Of course it is not valid. Having said that majority of people in Crimea probably want to join Russia. Too bad. Traitors should not be negotiated with…”
I don’t recall any of them joining in to overthrow the prior Ukrainian government in the first place.
You mean to say that anyone disagreeing with a coup to over throw a government is a traitor?
Is it just me or has anyone else noticed the similarities between Putin’s actions and Marois in Quebec. The situation in Ukraine is not that much different than Quebec, a split in the population and a dictatorial leader imposing their vision. Let’s hope that Marois has the same results as Putin seems to be having.
Another told ya so moment for me. Back when everyone was dancing in the streets about the soviet union/communism being dead, I told anyone who would listen that Russia had become more dangerous than ever, because now it had a grudge to settle with the west which bankrupted it.
Putin is a soviet with a grudge and he has secured his power over military bureaucrats and legislature. Russia swims in natgas capital and is using it to rearm and go hegemonic in the vacuum left by a bankrupt EU and declining US.
Putin is the new Khrushchev, Ukraine is the new Hungarian/Polish invasion and Obama is the new Jimmy Carter.
Mark Steyn’s “after America” predicted this – a coalition of America’s old enemies snapping up territory as America pulls back from the world protector of democracy roll.
The hasty referendum seems more Democratic to me than the ousting of Yanucovych in a context where elections were to happen in less than 12 months. Rent a protestor was also going on, and it appears that the protestor shootings were not from the government side. At least the referendum gives token opportunity for people to state a preference in this mess. I think it’s a power struggle and slicing the Ukraine is about the only option to resolve the competing factions.
Occam;
To a large degree what Putin is doing is responding to a geopolitical need to secure Russia’s borders. It has been going on in that area for centuries. Perhaps, to a degree philosophical, but grounded in security and economic needs.
For the same reason Euros want to ‘liberate’ old eastern bloc countries who have seen the ‘democratic light’. No? Are they simply trying to establish themselves the same way the Russians are? Usually the EU defends themselves using Euros but in some cases such as Libya they use actual force.
The Euros were warned when Putin moved into Georgia and did much of nothing. It is happening again in Ukraine and the Euros will do nothing much. A counter to this inevitable move was needed years ago and it appears nothing has been prepared. What message are other previous Soviet satelites to conclude? Poland has been a leader trying to cobble a eastern European defensive alliance outside of Nato. Will it be tested and will Europeans support it?
The USA has an interest in containing Russia but at what price? The free ride Euros are trying their usual gambit of having the Americans foot the bill. PMSH can support containing Putin but not at our expense. Canada has a bigger interest in establishing its energy export globally and OPEC, Russia and the USA are trying to prevent that. Hopefully Harper is having blunt talks with the Americans and the Euros at this time.
Oh Geez.. Crimea was a part of Russia for years – since 1783. It was a member of the old Soviet Union, and was upgraded to a full Soviet Republic – on its own, not as part of Ukraine – in 1991.
There has been a lot of turmoil within Ukraine for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the Tatars (Muslims), who like Muslims everywhere, seem unable to live in peace with anyone who disagrees with their antiquated philosophy. Since Crimea is the home of the Russians’ only year-round deep water port, they felt it important to take steps to ensure it remained in Russian hands.
I’m fast forwarding into speculation here, but what if Quebec decides to separate, and a huge majority of Montrealers voted to stay within Canada. Would we sit back and abandon more than a million Canadians, or would we take steps to help them secede from the new Quebec and welcome them back into Canada? I’d hope we do the latter, and I’d also hope that if the US or France tried to stick their noses in, we’d tell them to p*ss off, it’s none of their business. To me, what’s going on in Ukraine is almost exactly this scenario. It’s the business of Russia, Crimea, and Ukraine, and we should let them sort it out. I am not in favour of risking a single Canadian life, or spending a single Canadian dollar, by getting involved in this.
Putin could badly overstep here, getting bogged down in a war in the Ukraine, similar – although not as bad of course – as the USSR in Afghanistan. His economy is too dependent on energy exports, and Russia is a borderline 3rd world country. His strong support at home will sustain him of course, but Russia will be badly damaged by an all out assault on the Ukraine.
Ukraine should have kept the nuclear arsenal on its soil after the U.S.S.R. collapsed. Nothing like a nuclear deterrent … All the promises made to the Ukraine by the West to persuade it to give up the nuclear weapons are like so much dust in the wind now. Russia’s going to regain its satellite states one by one — the country’s always wanted buffer zones. And the U.S. won’t stop it.
So, the elections are illegitimate because they were held at the point of a gun, according to the unelected (to the presidency) leaders of the Ukraine. Despite the fact 16000 Russian troops were permanently stationed there.
Therefore, how legitimate were elections in Iraq and Afghanistan, which were held in the presence of troops which had travelled thousands of miles?
Double standard, anybody?
Or is this just a large melodrama, where Putin takes on the role of the guy in the top hat an moustache and every action he takes is assumed to be evil.
Rush in to the rescue, good guys of the EU with its military arm, NATO, surrounding the evil Putin to the west and the south.
All that’s missing is the piano music.
Sadly i am with you Kevin B,
I just don’t think, we have a dog in this fight,or Libya,or Syria. I think it is appalling to see Assad destroy his own people (makes me love Canada even more and our ally to the south) But Assad is no different then the north Korean dictators of the last 70 years. And we do NOTHING to stop it.
I believe the USA (outside of 9/11) invaded Iraq, and all of these ME places for more than just humanitarian reasons. Otherwise how is Syria any different than North Korea, Ill tell you China!
So yes when it suits American interests they will roll out. And i don’t like that or the fact that we run along side them.
America swore to protect Ukraine if they gave up there Nukes. That was a Promise written using the same Pen Hitler used it was full of disappearing ink.
I say we are not safe to be so naive in Canada anymore We know that The current American admin is against us exporting our oil to others. We know there are private interests in America that want to stop us from doing so as well (buffet,Soros,Rockefeller s) And we need a strong military, and a secured boarder.
Britain will do nothing to protect Canada especially since the attitude in Canada is to flip the Brit’s the finger (more to the queen and monarchy)It would suit America to let us be invaded or to invade. We are alone now, We need to accept that and prepare for that. If i was Ukrainian and i was getting the response i was getting for the promise America made to me i would be look for a seller of nukes right now.
The world has always been in a perpetual turmoil. But it is getting worse and we need to be prepared as we can see by the American attitude and promise to Ukrainian don’t trust the gov of USA at least not this one. And I cannot believe Sarah Palin still get’s mocked, and mitt Romney was made fun of that’s great Obama it won you an election but what now? You looked cool for about 30 seconds during a debate but were completely wrong.
Well, frankly I am surprised that most of the comments this morning on this thread would apparently have no problem with Putin invading and taking over the left bank of the Dnieper or even all of Ukraine.
The Baltic states, Poland, Slovakia, and the other more southern states have good reason to be concerned.
Both sides recognize that Ukraine is really two countries and that it is going to be split apart in the end. The political posturing is to try to move the eventual border line one side or the other. There is no moral right or wrong here just a lot of good old politics, propaganda, hypocrisy and lies.
“‘Russia is the only country in the world realistically capable of turning the United States into radioactive ash,’ anchor Dmitry Kiselyov said on his weekly news show on state-controlled Rossiya 1 television.”
Never mind the reciprocal nature of the US capability of course.
The people have spoken, like they did in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It’s dirt simple, folks: Find out what side the Muslims are on, then root for the other side.
Go Putin!
I’ll go you one better: If Quebec decides to separate? Rupert’s Land…off the bloody table!
“There has been a lot of turmoil within Ukraine for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the Tatars (Muslims) …”
Who knew it was the Muslims all along responsible for the turmoil in the Ukraine — constituting about 0.6 % of the population! And we thought the prime culprits were the fifth column of outside settlers more loyal to Mother Russia than to the Ukraine, as well as their outside enablers trained by the former KGB.
Who Are the Crimean Tatars?
“No other Soviet nationality suffered the decline imposed on the Crimean Tatars; between 1917 and 1933 half the Crimean Tatar population had been killed or deported.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_Tatars
Saw an interesting article in the National Geographic:
Behind the Headlines: Who Are the Crimean Tatars?
Could the Tatars face the nightmare of repression from Russia again?
“Refat Chubarov, head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, the representative body of the Tatars, has called on his people—there are now approximately 300,000 Tatars in Crimea—to peacefully boycott the referendum. Nevertheless, some Crimean Tatars have vowed to oppose secession, with force if necessary.”
Read more at: news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/03/140314-crimea-tatars-referendum-russia-muslim-ethnic-history-culture/
This is uncanny.
You must have read many uncountable times when macho American commentator or a “journalist” would say exactly the same thing about the US being capable of frying Russia into greasy spot on the map.
Bombastic comments from everywhere are common. The Russky commentator is no different. What is different is that in earlier times a Russian commentator absolutely would not do such thing.
Does not add up to anything other than Russians are feeling freer to shoot the sheet and US is being target of deserved ridicule.
It does not follow that Putin is right in what he is doing and the US president is nowhere to be found.
Who are the Tatars?
Descendants of the Mongol Hordes, who kept Kievan Rus subjugated for several centuries.
http://www.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2014/03/15/putin-the-mask-comes-off-but-will-anybody-care/
Putin has played on western illusions very successfully for a very long time. Remember all those ‘experts’ (many, alas, in government service) who thought that the Medvedev presidency represented a real shift in Russian politics? How shocked and disappointed people were when Putin stepped smoothly back into the top job? It is the oldest trick in the book: bait and switch. Humiliate John Kerry by making him cool his heels for three hours in the Kremlin, and then dangle hope of a cooperative relationship. Hold out a ‘helping hand’ when the Obama administration has gotten itself into an embarrassing predicament over its Syria red line, then kick Uncle Sam in the teeth at Geneva.
There was never a good reason to believe any of Putin’s talk of peace and cooperation. After the Cold War, America and its allies jammed NATO expansion down Russia’s throat. The European Union worked to expand right up to Russia’s frontiers while making it crystal clear that Russia could never be a member. Putin is no Hitler, but neither is he a Konrad Adenauer, determined to accept defeat and to cooperate wholeheartedly in building his country’s future within the lines drawn by the victors. And the US made Adenauer’s Germany a much better offer than it made Putin’s Russia. You would have to be living in what the Germans call das Wolkenkuckkucksheim, cloud-cuckoo-land, to believe that a man like Putin would passively accept the post-Cold War order.
But cloud-cuckoo-land is exactly where many westerners live, in a resolutely post-historical world where foreign policy is about development, human rights, non-proliferation and trade. If Putin tells us he lives there too, we are hungry to believe him. We don’t want to live in a difficult world. Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers were having a fabulous time in cloud-cuckoo-land back in the 1930s and many of them clung to their illusions until the last possible moment. We want to live in a stable and secure world order but we don’t want to make the sacrifices world order requires—and so we will gaze deeply into the eyes of anybody who is willing to tell us what we most want to hear.
Cheers
Hans Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
Did they invent the steak and the fish sauce as well
Heh, my bad, forgot the golf course.
Could be 🙂
Not to worry, if Quebec has a referendum and votes to separate, Harper will just take a bunch of Alberta’s oil money and bribe the Quebec oligarchs into sticking around.
Let’s see
1917 Imperial Russia comes to an end. By 1919 Poland, Finland and the Baltic States all declare independence after decades of Russian rule.
1939 Russia conquers half of Poland, invading on Sept 16th. The Wehrmacht and Red Army hold a joint victory parade on the 22nd in Brest. In November Russia invades Finland but is driven back with heavy losses. In June 1940 Russia conquers the Baltic States. By war’s end the USSR controls Poland, the Baltic States, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania. The last four were new acquisitions so the communist Russian Empire was now larger than the Czarist Russian Empire ever was.
1989-91 The USSR falls apart. Every eastern European nation that is now out from under their thumb declares independence.
2008 Russia invades the former Russian territory of Georgia
2014 Russia invades the former Russian territory of Crimea
It doesn’t matter who rules Russia, a Czar, a Party Secretary, or a President for Life. The Russian borders will expand unless stopped by force of arms as the Japanese proved in 1905, the Finns proved in the Winter War and the Afghani jihadis proved in the ’80s.
Could you provide a similiar list on NATO expansion?
NATO never sent tanks to Paris when De Gaulle pulled France out. Compare that to Hungary in 1956 or the Prague Spring of 1968.
“The Russian borders will expand unless stopped by force of arms …”
1. The Velvet Revolution was non-violent. The Soviets decided to downsize their empire and vacate Eastern Europe.
2. At times the Soviets have elected to pull back their troops peacefully: Austria, Yugoslavia, Romania and Manchuria for instance. (They quit Iran and West Berlin in 1948 when they realised HST meant business, nuclear business. Those were the days the US enjoyed a monopoly on the atomic bomb and the ability to deliver it globally.)
They are the geopolitical equivalient of Breitbart’s “default liberals” on this issue. They might come around eventually.. don’t hurt them too bad.
These recent shenanigans will likely consolodate a flavour of Ukrainian nationhood most unfavourable to Russia, or rather the Putin regime, in the long term. And I can’t shake the feeling that we’ve reached Peak Putin. Taking Crimea this way, in the midst of Olympic glory, looks more like a reflexive ego-driven attempt to save face at home than anything else.
As for the borders moving around in Ukraine proper.. we’ll see. I can’t see it happening without gasflows to Europe physically halted. That’s the card Ukraine has and they will play it if need be. And nobody really wants that. BTW .. bonus – the main gas storage facilities are in western Ukraine. Actually regional gas pipeline specialists probably have a more accurate picture of what’s next for Ukraine than anyone else.
So, getting back to today’s situation.
Did you see reports of any tanks in Crimea, an area close to Russia, much closer than Canada and the U.S. is to Crimea, for example?
I haven’t heard of any Russian expansionist activity near New Orleans.
Once Ukraine pays the $1.8 billion it owes Russia for natural gas and oil, then they may be able to assert their independence.
According to my information, all other countries are current on their payments to Russia.
I know several people who recently moved here from that region and one of them predicted Ukraine would not exist within a year. Not sure about that, but is Ukraine’s current leadership sidling up to the EU because it believes it will bail them out like it did Greece?
Also not sure how long the German taxpayer will put up with their money going to unstable European neighbours. The EU was reportedly close to unravelling, so in the long run Ukraine will have nowhere to go until it’s able to pay its bills.
My friend may be correct. Ukraine will collapse, if not in the next year, shortly thereafter … all fantasies of independence aside.
Well there, you’ve got a friend who told you something! Wave your hands around some more and reroute Ukrainian pipelines and maybe you’ll have something. But what you won’t have is anything other than the independant, sovereign nation state of Ukraine.
Let’s review some of our favourite 1980’s words:
glasnost, perestroika, MASKIROVA
Yanucovych was seated by rigged election and it appears the protestor were shot by Russian snipers, whether Yanucovych ordered it or Yanucovych’s boss Putin ordered it.
knight99, I agree with you that the elections in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq were not legitimate because of occupation by foreign armies.
kevinB “Crimea was a part of Russia for years – since 1783.”
And it was therefore so O’Kay for Russia to invade that they:
a) Lied to the world about having maneuvers next to the Russia-Ukraine border saying they were scheduled in advance but would not invade Ukraine
b) Sneaked unmarked troops and accompanying equipment into Ukraine
c) Still deny Russian troops are in Ukraine to this day
Yeah, very legitimate claim to Crimea. Is it your opinion that that is how Canada would occupy a piece of land it had a legitimate claim to?
Lots of huff and bluster in here today, would do a LIBERAL blog justice. Tho I think SYF is out huff and blustering No60 in here. God, one has to luv “guess-it-experts”!!
Max, I agree. Ukraine stopping the gas flow would hurt Putin’s cash flow and Europe’s energy supply. I doubt that Ukraine would do this until after a Russian invasion of mainland Ukraine took place. A piecemeal takeover of eastern Ukraine could also prompt this retaliation.
Ukrainian military forces are greatly outnumbered, but I cannot see that they will just roll over without a fight. Twenty thousand men were called up on the weekend to man a newly created National Guard to support the regular forces.
SYF, there have been many videos, complete with tanks,from various sources that show there are Russian armoured troops in Crimea.
Contrary to some views here, the Tatars want to remain a part of Ukraine, so they might well have to relocate. depends on their level of hatred of the Russians. They have good memories of Stalin relocating them right after his troops “liberated” the Crimea in 1943. Various articles give evidence of which state the Tatars would like to be in. SunNews had a Tatar fellow on this morning and he said much the same thing.
Just on SunNews, commie Ontario labour boss Sid Ryan tweeted his support for Putin, and against the fascist Harper and his crony fascists in the new Ukrainian government.
OK, so who’s going to pay Ukraine’s $1.8 billion debt to Russia?
I could be independently wealthy by this example.
All I’d have to do is stop paying my bills a la Peter Pocklington.
Would anybody here then consider me to be independent?
I tend to believe the viewpoint of the people who recently arrived to Canada and understand all the underlying issues.
Ukraine was being propped up by Russia while $14 billion went missing since it gained ‘independencd’ in 1991.
One person I know (who arrived here more than a decade ago) said he woke up one morning and his money was worth one-tenth what it was the previous night. That’s why he decided to move from Ukraine to Canada.
What used to be the bread basket of Europe is now an economic basket case and most of that damage was self-inflicted, not from the Moscali.