"Come on, Russia is not going to invade Ukraine. It's fake news."
The bigger question is whether Putin is really just looking to annex a couple of majority ethnic Russian areas to build a buffer with NATO, or whether this is just a Sudetenland pretext for taking the whole ball of wax in a week or three.
 |
| "Ukraine? Nyet. Now is MYkraine!" |
One is rational self-interest, and the other is naked aggression.
And as before, only time will tell.
But maybe next time, grant me a tad more analytical ability. The commenter in question wasn't so much wrong, as they were simply unlucky at guessing.
And Confirmation Bias is never your friend.
 |
| Images h/t: C.W. |
18 comments:
Russia's wheat forecast was to have 10% less than last year. East Ukraine has some of the best black earth topsoil for growing wheat. Win-Win for Pu-Tin.
I was one of those who didn't think Putin was actually planning to do anything. Don't know if I was just flat wrong, or if President Asterisk's bumbling precipitated this newest wrinkle, or if something else is going on.
Either way, our troops absolutely should not be sent to fight for eastern Ukraine. Sucks for the Ukrainians--I don't have anything against them--but there it is.
I’m just glad I could provide a wee bit of content for you
Word is the warmonger side were killing people in that area. Putin has said supposedly the minsk agreement no longer exists. I do not know the details of this agreement.
Protecting people who support him is okay by me but it gives the warmongers bigger excuses. Wars have begun from situations like this.
Wish video proof of what was going on there, like Canada was available. Still no guarantee it would be the truth.
To be fair, Gator, I didn't expect it would be that fast.
But there was no way Putin was going to do all this build up as a mere head-fake.
And fake news isn't about outright lies (though there is plenty of that) as much as helpful misdirection.
Ukraine now means the media can go on ignoring the cratering stock market, inflation to the moon, Turdoo going full Stalin, the Durham/Shrillary spying revelations, anything to do with the US trucker's convoy, and Epstein's buddy arkanciding himself in max security. And when gas goes to $6/gal. this summer, Poopypants and Co. can now scapegoat the Russians, instead of taking the blame right in the pants themselves.
Mark my words, by Easter, they'll start openly blaming Trump for colluding with Putin to make the Ukraine invasion happen, for the hat trick.
This tempest in a teapot scratches so many itches it had to happen.
For all intents and purposes, the Eastern half of Ukraine is populated by mostly Russian speaking people, while the Western half is populated by mostly Ukrainian speaking people. Traditionally Russia and Ukraine have been pissing in each others Wheaties since the 1500's. The Ukraine has traditionally been considered the breadbasket of most of that portion of Europe. Ukraine is also the home of the Cossacks from the way I've been reading history, whom are descendants of Genghis Khan with influence from the Ottoman Turks, and other Slavic influences. Which is why they are considered exceptional horsemen and warriors, often fighting on the side and against the Russians as well as for and against the Germans of WWi & WWII as well as previous countries skirmishes.
Well, Russia still hasn't invaded, and the rest of the Ukraine is a basket case, thanks to NATO interference..These two ethnically Russian provinces have been seeking Russian affiliation ever since US State hired neonazi mercs to attack them...
"Russia's wheat forecast was to have 10% less than last year. East Ukraine has some of the best black earth topsoil for growing wheat. Win-Win for Pu-Tin."
Good to know! Quality Agricultural land is becoming more and more valuable...
Aesop @11:30:
When you look at it that way, it almost makes you wonder if Putin is "controlled opposition."
Biden just called a halt to the Nordstream 2 pipeline, so that means Putin gets the funds from the sale of natural gas cut off. As for Eastern Ukraine, low intensity conflict has been going on there for at least five years, and it's a good bet that US special forces have been a part of it, as well as Russian troops on the ground there. Western Ukraine is a big, fat money loser for Russia, the previous dictator who got sacked by the Maidan Revolution was up to his eyeballs in debt to the Russians. The parts of Ukraine that Putin wants are the industrial areas in the Donbass - that's a big underground (in old coal mines) military-industrial complex, and the warm water naval base at Novorossisk. Putting Russian occupation troops in Western Ukraine would be a quagmire, because there's lots of irregular militias, including outright Nazi militias, and they don't mess around. US special forces are like nothing compared to those guys, they've been at it for generations.
Putin is a snake-eyed killer, but he is not making his current moves in an irrational manner. So, back to the instant question:
Ukraine has a population of 43 million and is as large as the state of Texas. It is the largest country wholly in Europe. Ukraine is an agricultural country and can meet the food needs of 600 million people. Ukraine is an industrialized country.
1st in Europe in proven recoverable reserves of uranium ores;
2nd place in Europe and 10th place in the world in terms of titanium ore reserves;
2nd place in the world in terms of explored reserves of manganese ores (2.3 billion tons, or 12% of the world's reserves);
2nd largest iron ore reserves in the world (30 billion tons);
2nd place in Europe in terms of mercury ore reserves;
3rd place in Europe (13th place in the world) in shale gas reserves (22 trillion cubic meters)
4th in the world by the total value of natural resources;
7th place in the world in coal reserves (33.9 billion tons)
1st in Europe in terms of arable land area;
3rd place in the world by the area of black soil (25% of world's volume);
1st place in the world in exports of sunflower and sunflower oil;
2nd place in the world in barley production and 4th place in barley exports;
3rd largest producer and 4th largest exporter of corn in the world;
4th largest producer of potatoes in the world;
5th largest rye producer in the world;
5th place in the world in bee production (75,000 tons);
8th place in the world in wheat exports;
9th place in the world in the production of chicken eggs;
16th place in the world in cheese exports.
1st in Europe in ammonia production;
2nd in Europe, and 4th largest natural gas pipeline system in the world (142.5 bln cubic meters of gas throughput capacity in the EU);
3rd largest in Europe and 8th largest in the world in terms of installed capacity of nuclear power plants;
3rd place in Europe and 11th in the world in terms of rail network length (21,700 km);
3rd place in the world (after the U.S. and France) in production of locators and locating equipment;
3rd largest iron exporter in the world
4th largest exporter of turbines for nuclear power plants in the world;
4th world's largest manufacturer of rocket launchers;
4th place in the world in clay exports
4th place in the world in titanium exports
8th place in the world in exports of ores and concentrates;
9th place in the world in exports of defense industry products;
10th largest steel producer in the world (32.4 million tons).
The Bear is an omnivore, and will eat what is available.
>>Mark my words, by Easter, they'll start openly blaming Trump for colluding with Putin to make the Ukraine invasion happen, for the hat trick.<<
NeverTrump are already doing it.
-brian
Certainly, Russia has achieved the goal of pulling Western investment out of Ukraine. What other goals does Vlad have? Dunno. He's certainly holding a lot of cards . . . .
That's a bit of a stretch, don't you think? How is recognizing the independence of a couple city states an "invasion", let alone an "annexation" (latter being the military invasion and occupation of an adjacent territory to forcibly join it to your own)?
This is like if Vancouver Island, after a decade of operating independently, finally got fed up with Castro Jr's soy dictatorship, threw its hands in the air, and said "we're done, we're going to be our own country now." And then, after another half-decade passed with US diplomats trying and failing to stop Castro Jr. from unnecessarily bombing and terrorizing said island, they finally said "okay, we acknowledge Vancouver Island's sovereignty, and we'll back that up if we have to."
That is what happened with the Donbass city states, plus or minus some annoying details. Unless you want to draw parallels between Castro Jr's administration and the crumbling puppet government installed in the Ukraine under Obama's sponsorship... in which case, fair enough, it's an even better metaphor.
But "invasion"? Nah. The unintelligentsia were telling us last week that Putin planned to send in forces from Belarus to attack Kiev. That was his plan, and they were dead certain of that. It didn't happen. It might yet, if Ukraine is idiotic enough to press the attack against Lugangsk and/or Donetsk, but that would be a level of stupidity so epic I'm not sure even the Biden admin could inspire it.
Right. It's not an invasion when Russian military forces cross the border of a neighboring sovereign country after recognizing the independence of portions of it militarily convenient to them. Y'know, like they do every day, and like happens around the world every week.
By that logic, Mexican Army troops occupying Laredo, San Diego and L.A. would be no big deal either.
You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.
With the troubles OUR OWN Gov.com is causing with encouraging (And Shipping) illegals across our non-existent Southern Border WE NEED TO WORRY ABOUT Ukraine?
HELLO, part of the reasons Putin has done his move was BECAUSE our country is nearly falling into the Civil War 2.0 Ethnic Cleansing Edition. He sees Emperor Poopypants the 1st as a nothing.
Our House is Burning, maybe we should fight our OWN Fires before we get into Ukraine's problems?
Russian troops have been there for years, it's just that they have stopped pretending they aren't Russian troops.
> By that logic, Mexican Army troops occupying Laredo, San Diego and L.A. would be no big deal either.
This is a fair counter-point.
On the other hand... If the US was, say, a failed state in advanced stages of collapse, barely held together by a Chinese-installed puppet government in pursuit of China's economic interests rather than out of any particular care for the US as a nation, and San Diego, etc. were majority Mexican nationals who had democratically voted to secede from that failed state, maybe that wouldn't be a big deal.
Wait, that sounds pretty close to reality again. Only Russia didn't stage a civilian invasion of Ukraine aided and abetted by the Ukrainian government. The Russian nationals were just already there. That and the US is - or was - a bit more than an accident of bureaucratic history posing as a nation.
I'll concede that it is an invasion. Annexation is not how I would describe it.
I don't see this as a serious situation, except insofar as it's a sign of the US & NATO's failing credibility and influence. That's a serious thing, but not unexpected given who's running this show.
It gets serious if NATO decides to interfere. Which would be a huge mistake, but one we might not have much time to regret.
Post a Comment