My view of the war

[Anotherkiwi]

Apparently neither one of you can read.  "Hunter" is fighting for the pro-Russian separatists, in the Vostok Battalion, against Ukraine.

Am I the other one you're referring to?  If so, I'm well aware of which group "Hunter" is part of.  So is Belvis.

[fathertime]

It appears that the former leader of Germany Gerhard Schroeder and many other Germans believe that Russia has cause enough for their actions.  He also believe there should be a deescalation.  I'm sure the 'war hawks' will disagree:    Here is the link:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-01/schroeder-says-germany-should-expand-energy-ties-with-russia.html


Fathertime!   

[lordtiberius]

Schroeder is an employee of the Russian Federation.

[Boethius]

The ordeal of Ukrainian playwright Pavel Yurov, who was held prisoner and tortured by the terrorists-

"It was real fascism and it came from the Soviet Union. This whole evil comes from there – from that distant past.” . .

Yurov's views, on the other hand, have only hardened as a result of his ordeal. He's currently reshaping what he calls the hypocrisy of the separatists into a play.


Yurov says he's heard many of them push the idea that there’s one huge Slavic nationality, which should inhabit a single Slavic world. He's also heard them insist that they're offering safety from evil, such as “the demon America and gay European Union.” It's all material for his new work.“Our answer to that is quite simple,” Yurov said. “Do your Russian world in your Russia and that’s it.”

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2014/10/1/ukraine-slovyansktorture.html

[calmissile]

The ordeal of Ukrainian playwright Pavel Yurov, who was held prisoner and tortured by the terrorists-

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2014/10/1/ukraine-slovyansktorture.html

I read a much longer article today on him today and found it very interesting.

Also there was an interesting article on the oligarch that pissed off Putin and went to prison.  He is now livng in Switzerland.

[lordtiberius]

My relatives are preparing for a cold winter.

Can these Western diplomats explain to us how one party to a truce gains territory?

[Muzh]

It appears that the former leader of Germany Gerhard Schroeder and many other Germans believe that Russia has cause enough for their actions.  He also believe there should be a deescalation.  I'm sure the 'war hawks' will disagree:    Here is the link:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-01/schroeder-says-germany-should-expand-energy-ties-with-russia.html


Fathertime!

This comment shows you have no farging clue as to what is happening in that neck of the woods.


Can anyone elucidate the gentleman about who is Schroeder and what is he doing as of today?


FT, sure google can be your friend. However, for someone who is just learning what is happening out there, you should expand your search and read not only the stuff that will inflate your ego, but also the stuff you don't agree with. That should give you a better perspective and may make you sound knowledgeable about the topic at hand.


For example, I'm a liberal and I read the Wall Street Journal every day.

[fathertime]

This comment shows you have no farging clue as to what is happening in that neck of the woods.


Can anyone elucidate the gentleman about who is Schroeder and what is he doing as of today?


FT, sure google can be your friend. However, for someone who is just learning what is happening out there, you should expand your search and read not only the stuff that will inflate your ego, but also the stuff you don't agree with. That should give you a better perspective and may make you sound knowledgeable about the topic at hand.


For example, I'm a liberal and I read the Wall Street Journal every day.

So Schroeder is working with Russia now.  He was a recent leader of Germany and still has a following.  He doesn't have a soiled reputation and has made reasonable points.  I see that there are some reasonable people that don't agree with the west's handling of this.  I've been reading the other side of the story and don't agree with a lot of it.

Fathertime!

[Muzh]

So Schroeder is working with Russia now.  He was a recent leader of Germany and still has a following.  He doesn't have a soiled reputation and has made reasonable points.  I see that there are some reasonable people that don't agree with the west's handling of this.  I've been reading the other side of the story and don't agree with a lot of it.

Fathertime!

LMFAO


You want to see reasonable people? Of course you may disagree with them. But that is because you live so many thousands of miles away.


Alarm Over Russia Draws Volunteers to Defend Estonia

But these weren’t professional soldiers: They were some of the hundreds of edgy Estonians who have flocked to a volunteer army in the months since neighboring Russia annexed part of Ukraine to the south.
 
Recruitment in the first half of this year doubled to 600 compared with 300 in the same period last year. The Estonian Defense League, or Kaitseliit, now has around 14,500 members in its fighting units, compared with around 3,800 in the professional military.
 
The surge is a sign of how Russia’s newly aggressive foreign policy is rattling people across Eastern Europe. It is echoed in the rising popularity of similar paramilitary forces like the Riflemen’s Unions of Lithuania and Poland and Latvia’s home guard.
 
The Kaitseliit is run by the Defense Department and its members are expected to report for duty in the event of a national crisis.
 
 
“I want to defend my homeland, my family,” said Kevin Ungro, an 18-year-old student, during a break in training. “The more people who know how to handle a gun, the better our chances of defending ourselves.”

Wall Street Journal


Notice what this unreasonable man said? How selfish. He should just bend over and take it like a man. After all, that would be a win-win situation for them, right?

[Muzh]

Oh, and talking about reasonable German leaders...


Angela Merkel's Putin Problem
Hoping a shaky cease-fire holds in Ukraine, because backup plans are scarce.

When Vladimir Putin first moved on Ukraine in late February, Ms. Merkel urged caution on sanctions and reached out to Moscow. Russia accelerated the annexation of Crimea and moved on to eastern Ukraine. You now hear regret from Merkel aides. "We have been late to recognize what Putin's up to," says a senior official.
 
Germany's long romance and business links with Russia, its war guilt, the traditions of Cold War Ostpolitik are the usual excuses. It took revulsion over the Malaysia Airlines shootdown in July to stir action. Ms. Merkel, whose East German upbringing makes her naturally hostile to Putin-style autocracy, acted on her more hawkish instincts. Last month she pushed through the toughest EU sanctions on Russia to date. "We had to send a message we don't trust the guy," the German official says. As for the Ukrainians, Berlin "is ready to support them as much as we can."
 
 
The qualifier is the problem. The new realism on Moscow comes with many of the same limits. Raising the option of weapons for Ukraine or permanent NATO bases in Poland prompts the inevitable response: "There is no readiness to go to war with Russia," as this official puts it. At each step the past six months, the caution born of this fear has only encouraged Russia in Ukraine. This is the odor of appeasement.

BTW, you know who was a reasonable but misunderstood man? Neville Chamberlain
Wall Street Journal

[fathertime]

LMFAO


You want to see reasonable people? Of course you may disagree with them. But that is because you live so many thousands of miles away.


Alarm Over Russia Draws Volunteers to Defend Estonia

Wall Street Journal


Notice what this unreasonable man said? How selfish. He should just bend over and take it like a man. After all, that would be a win-win situation for them, right?

You seem to misunderstand win-win and equate it to everybody being happy and completely free.  That isn't realistic and never was. This is not UTOPIA!   if a devastating wide war comes of this, many would  probably wish for the 'good old days' when Russia merely wanted to retain some influence in a portion of a neighboring country with a significant Russian  population.  Ukraine is considered a pawn by larger powers and isn't going to get a fair shake.

Insofar as Estonia and other neighboring countries building up their own defense. ..that is not a bad thing.

Fathertime!

[Boethius]

The ethnically Russian population of the Donbas is not particularly significant.  In Donetsk oblast, it is less than 2 million.


This was never about protecting ethnic Russians, and if you believe that, you are woefully misinformed.

[fathertime]

This was never about protecting ethnic Russians, and if you believe that, you are woefully misinformed.

If that was your takeaway from the discussion you would be woefully mistaken.

Fathertime!

[Gator]

Oh, and talking about reasonable German leaders...


Angela Merkel's Putin Problem
Hoping a shaky cease-fire holds in Ukraine, because backup plans are scarce.

Not one EU country or the US is willing to enter  military conflict against Russia.  So the question remains of whether sanctions will work.


Sanctions should be a form of economic coercion, not a method to punish.  History shows what happened when the US proposed harsh sanctions against Japan.   


Independent of the EU-US sanctions, the business world is implementing its own sanctions by exiting Russia.  I caught the end of a CNBC report saying that private capital inflow to Russia amounted to $80 Billion in 1Q2013 and are now estimated at a negative $10 Billion for the current quarter.   That portends a decline in the Russian economy.  Will people continue to support Putin if the economy declines?


Such is a result of many factors, one of which is the price of oil.   [size=78%]Question:  why is oil declining in price?  The largest oil-producing areas are facing a crisis:  Middle East and ISIS, Libya and civil war, west Africa and ebola, even Venezuela. [/size]

BTW, you know who was a reasonable but misunderstood man? Neville Chamberlain

Misunderstood?      On 29 September 1938 Neville Chamberlain in Munich signed a treaty with Hitler.  A day later Chamberlain returned to London and said, "I have returned from Germany with peace for our time."   Stalin felt that England and France would do nothing to stop Hitler, so he signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler.   Soon thereafter the two carved up Poland.


[/size]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_for_our_time[/color]

[lordtiberius]

Good news for Ukraine.  Bad for Putin
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL6N0RY2UC20141003?irpc=932

[calmissile]

Good news for Ukraine.  Bad for Putin
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL6N0RY2UC20141003?irpc=932

That is good news.

[lordtiberius]

[fathertime]

The recent US intervention in several locations (and financial warfare regarding Russia) seems to have sped up the group of nations moving away from the dollar.  I've been reading for years and years that this could happen, and that the consequences would be felt here.   We shall see in the next few years if it makes a difference.  Some of the largest and fastest growing nations such as India and China are a part of this pact.


http://www.examiner.com/article/russia-ratifies-economic-union-and-readies-trade-currencies-other-than-dollar


Fathertime! 

[lordtiberius]

http://www.examiner.com/article/russia-ratifies-economic-union-and-readies-trade-currencies-other-than-dollar


Good luck with that.

I have found Ron Paul's economic prophesies about the strength of the dollar persuasive in spite of himself.  But people all over the world still want our buck.

The recent US intervention in several locations

President Barack Obama wants everyone to know "how we roll": The US always takes the lead in international crises.

In a "60 Minutes" interview Sunday evening, Obama was asked why the US is contributing such a significant portion of the military coalition against the jihadist group known as the Islamic State or ISIS. Obama responded by arguing that other countries were not stepping up.

"When trouble comes up anywhere in the world, they don't call Beijing, they don't call Moscow. They call us. That's the deal," he quipped.

When CBS' Steve Kroft pressed Obama on the relatively small contributions from some of the US' coalition partners, Obama insisted such arrangements were expected.

"That's always the case. That's always the case. America leads. We are the indispensable nation," he said. "We have capacity no one else has. Our military is the best in the history of the world."

In quoting Lincoln, President Nixon said of America:

We all remember what he said: that the United States of America was man’s last, best hope on earth. But listen to when he said it. America then was far from being the strongest nation in the world; it was far from being the richest nation in the world; and it was sorely stricken and divided by a civil war, the most brutal war, perhaps, of the 19th century in terms of the casualties that were suffered.

Yet Lincoln, this man who could see beyond war and beyond strife and beyond weakness to the periods ahead, stood tall and said America is man’s last, best hope on earth.

Some people are welcome to disagree.  I am guilty of contrarian trolling myself from time to time.  I can think of some who would disagree with these sentiments:

(and financial warfare regarding Russia)

Warfare?  Warfare is about killing and destroying things so that others do not kill you.  Choosing to or not to trade with someone is not killing, though the architects of Obamacare will disagree with that sentiment.

[fathertime]

Good luck with that.

I have found Ron Paul's economic prophesies about the strength of the dollar persuasive in spite of himself.  But people all over the world still want our buck.

It may be that enough people do want the dollar going forward...that will remain to be seen.  If these large markets such as India, China, and Brazil, among others do start trading in there own currency and bypass the dollar...I will be curious to see how exactly that impacts us.  It does appear our interventions have hastened this day. 


Fathertime!   

[Doll]

Good news for Ukraine.  Bad for Putin
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL6N0RY2UC20141003?irpc=932

Why is it bad for Russia?

[lordtiberius]

It may be that enough people do want the dollar going forward...that will remain to be seen.  If these large markets such as India, China, and Brazil, among others do start trading in there own currency and bypass the dollar...I will be curious to see how exactly that impacts us.  It does appear our interventions have hastened this day. 


Fathertime!

If they back their currency with gold, then all bets are off.

[lordtiberius]

Why is it bad for Russia?

Did you read the article?

[AC]

Did you read the article?

I suspect "Doll" behaves deliberately obtuse.  Take a closer look at her posts.  She asks the same questions over and over.  A few days later, she will act as if a subject has not even been covered.  Overall, you're wasting your time responding to her, FT or GQblues.  They all follow similar tactics. 

In the case of Doll and fathertime -- just plain dumb.  Fathertime in particular can never keep up with any thing substantive.  GQblues sets the bar impossibly high.

Nothing anyone here says will change the reality on the ground.  There is a separate reality over there, away from anyone here trying to "care".

Worldwide opinion is already made up; and that's good enough for me.  Conspiracy theories aside, most of the World has a free press who can write what they want to write.  Compare that to the other side. 

[lordtiberius]

I agree.

You can map out what Russian military units are in Ukraine by tracking them on Social Media:

http://lostivan.com/