The Russia We'd Like To See

[Doll]

Maidan supported Poroshenko

[Doll]

It wasn't the U.S.

Nor was it Russia

[Boethius]

No, Maidan activists were made up of numerous factions, and individuals with various interests.  The ones who kept order were from Pravy Sekhtor (which is how they came to prominence), and they did not support Poroshenko, although with the war now on, they do not oppose him.

Poroshenko announced he would run as president and was the Americans' favourite candidate because he had experience in government as a minister, both in the Party of Regions dominated Rada and in the Our Ukraine/Batkivshchyna coalition.  No other candidate had his experience.  However, the U.S. did not elect him.  Ukrainians did.  Overwhelmingly.

Nor was it Russia

I never stated it was.  However, there is plenty of evidence that the troubles in many parts of Eastern Ukraine re "mova, mova" were orchestrated by Russia.

[AkMike]

Nor was it Russia

 History may well say differently. Yanku was a sock puppet for Huilotin.  Why else would he have helped him escape and stopped extradiution as well as give him and his band of merry thieves Russian citizenship? (All this is confirmed by Putin)

[Boethius]

I don't believe Yanukovych was a sock puppet for Russia.

[AkMike]

That's not what I saw and heard of. Why else would he have canceled the EU deal and caused the Maidan Ouster. It wasn't in the best interests of Russia for UA to lean further west.

[Boethius]

The deal with Russia was good, in the short term.  Given what has been learned about the Yanukovych clan's massive thievery since he left office, that decision is understandable.

[sleepycat]

It shows that he is VERY strong and doesn't care

So strong that huilo can't function the next day without getting his beauty sleep first!

Meanwhile the Chinese president stayed in Australia after the G20 because he is a welcomed guest and signed some trade deals that benefits his country.

I guess we now know which head of state had a successful trip and which head of state had a failure of a trip...

[Muzh]

They certainly ARE NOT speaking for all Americans.  Much if not a majority of Americans would like for us to disengage in this part of the world. 

Links, citations please.

I think quite a few Americans aren't interested in really paying attention to a 'non western' perspective on things, many would rather blindly hear what they want and leave it at that.


Fathertime!   

As long as it is YOUR opinion, I'm fine with that.

[Muzh]

I don't believe Yanukovych was a sock puppet for Russia.

Agree. Yanukonvict was for Yanukonvict.

[Muzh]

That's not what I saw and heard of. Why else would he have canceled the EU deal and caused the Maidan Ouster. It wasn't in the best interests of Russia for UA to lean further west.

Because he would have to explain to the EU how he stole the money while Russia would look the other way. It was in Russia's best interest to keep a thief in power so they could step all over it.

[Doll]

That's not what I saw and heard of. Why else would he have canceled the EU deal and caused the Maidan Ouster. It wasn't in the best interests of Russia for UA to lean further west.

Then go back I see and hear. Make sure you "see and hear" it with good translation. Maidain was actually ANTI Russian.

[Doll]

I don't believe Yanukovych was a sock puppet for Russia.

He wasn't

[Doll]

So strong that Putin  can't function the next day without getting his beauty sleep first!

 

Listen, first of all the strength of a President in not his sleeping or not. Putin stands for Russia and this is it.
"Beauty sleep" is just an excuse to stay away from the open disrespect.
I am telling you- all Russians say that FINALLY we have a strong president.
You know that, Obama knows that, Europe knows that.

[Doll]

Because he would have to explain to the EU how he stole the money while Russia would look the other way. It was in Russia's best interest to keep a thief in power so they could step all over it.

How stupid is this! (Sorry)

[AkMike]

Then go back I see and hear. Make sure you "see and hear" it with good translation. Maidain was actually ANTI Russian.

 Wrong Sweetie..

[AkMike]

He wasn't

 He was, Still wrong Sweetie

[Brasscasing]

Listen, first of all the strength of a President in not his sleeping or not. Putin stands for Russia and this is it.
"Beauty sleep" is just an excuse to stay away from the open disrespect.
I am telling you- all Russians say that FINALLY we have a strong president.
You know that, Obama knows that, Europe knows that.

Ah, and herein lies the crux of the matter.

Putin is not a strong president, he's an opportunist. Do not confuse the current vacuum in Washington and lack of action by foreign leaders as strength by Putin as your confidence would be (is) sorely misplaced.

The bottom line in this matter is without the go ahead/support/deployment (in other words the say so) by the US the rest of NATO will not act unless attacked.

Putin knows this and is taking advantage of it. Putin would never have dared the invasion and disruption of Ukraine or the games he's been playing with the rest of NATO if there had been a strong or even competent POTUS at the helm.

When the cat's away the mice will play, so to speak. Strength or intelligence are not Putin's strong suits, he is devious though. He's simply taking advantage of an opportunity that's presented itself much like a common thief finding a home unlocked and the residents not home.

Brass

[Boethius]

Then go back I see and hear. Make sure you "see and hear" it with good translation. Maidain was actually ANTI Russian.

No, it wasn't.  It was never about Russia at all.


Real Maidan activists (not those funded by oligarchs) wanted to see change from the rampant corruption that is common in Ukraine.  Maidan activists wanted a tie to the EU not because they opposed Russia, but because they assumed that EU governance would help rid the country of corruption.

[mendeleyev]

The last few months of my life have been spent traveling back and forth in Russia and Ukraine and I am deeply discouraged. There has been no ceasefire in reality, brother Russians and Ukrainians are at each others throats, and a beautiful country has been torn apart by a neighbor. By this time next year, Russia will have carved out a land bridge down to Crimea. And, Putin will goggle up Odessa as well.

To hear Mr. Putin say that there is no Russian army makes me livid. All one has to do is go on YouTube or RUTube and there are plenty of videos for viewing. Some videos are made by ethnic Russians in Ukraine who cheer the columns of tanks and armoured carriers filled with Russian troops, without insignia, but clearly organized. Other videos are made by ethnic Ukrainians hoping to document the invasion of their country. Take your pick, the evidence is there.

I thank God for the Canadians who to my knowledge are the only Western civilization who have stepped up and provided real fighting equipment to Ukraine in the form of armoured carriers. Last week a fleet of new style of field ambulance, equipped to withstand small to medium enemy fire, was received in Ukraine, thanks to Canada. I have no idea if these are gifts, purchased, or lend-lease, but the fact that matters is that they are here.

Russia is slowly waking up. A combination of sanctions, plunging ruble, and inflation are beginning to take a toll. Despite the government's insanely stupid labeling of the primary group of Mothers of Russian Soldiers as a so-called "foreign agent," those mothers whose sons are buried in shallow Ukrainian graves, scattered in cemeteries in the Rostov area, strange burials at night in Pskov, etc, are taking a toll. There can only be so many "training incidents" along the southern border before parents of dead young sons begin to ask more questions.

The president of a country who would tell another president that he can't remove troops from Ukraine because "they aren't there," but then go on German TV to declare that "Russia won't allow" Ukraine to defeat the breakaway regions, is either a pathological liar, or the best actor that Hollywood has never seen.

There is a pattern: In the 2008 Georgia war, Russia denied that it provoked events. In 2010 however, several top Russian generals took credit for initiating the action on the orders of the Kremlin, supposedly in order to protect Russian speaking civilians in the region. As part of his election campaign to return to office, Mr. Putin himself on TV (simulcast on RT and Rain TV) took credit or ordering the action, saying that he had evidence that Georgia was preparing to plant Islamic terrorists inside Abkhazia as a terror base for the 2014 Sochi Olympic games. Really, Vald? Georgia, the oldest Christian country on the planet was going to plant whom, and where?

In Crimea the pattern continued. Despite being a signatory to the Budapest agreement (wherein Russia, the US, the UK, China and France guaranteed the sovereign borders of Ukraine, including Crimea, in exchange for Ukraine giving up all Nukes and becoming a non-nuclear nation), Russia denied the presence of troops. Those paratroopers dropping out of planes and helicopters were "volunteers" but not from Russia. Those "little green men" were from? Certainly not Russia, the world was told. All that modern equipment with no markings? Ah, those were old trucks taken from rusting Ukrainian bases. In a national news conference he had the audacity to tell journalists that those tanks and armoured carriers were simply surplus that local dudes had found on sale at the corner army surplus store.

Today Crimea is a different story. Putin proudly points to those "little green men" and admits they were his. He needed them there to protect the Russian speaking population we are now told.

Russians don't want to believe, but are coming around to understand, albeit slowly. The evidence slowly mounts. Как в Россию из Украины везут груз 200. Ростов превратился в логистический центр для цинковых гробов.

As to that half empty humanitarian convoy that always seemed a step ahead of frustrated Red Cross inspectors? It turns out that those trucks returned home more full than when they arrived. Many carried "Cargo 200" the zinc coffins of young Russian boys who had died in the fighting. Oh, but I forgot. Those are volunteers, just weekend warriors. Funny, but in what civilized country can "volunteer weekend warriors" take tanks and GRAD rocket launchers with them for a few days holiday in Ukraine?! Sort of like an executive taking the company car on vacation, I guess.

As for respecting referendums and a people's right to choose their country, what about those Chechen referendums? Odd, despite overwhelming results at the polls in favour of independence, two wars were fought to keep those folks from leaving Russia.

The pattern continues. While arguing for a smaller Ukraine, and a federalized one with great autonomy among regions (something he refuses to allow back home in Russia), he will eventually do as he has done before and admit that those were his boys and all those schools, hospitals, and apartments were blown to bits and thousands killed in the process -- supposedly was done in order to protect Russian speaking civilians.

[AC]

Putin knows this and is taking advantage of it. Putin would never have dared the invasion and disruption of Ukraine or the games he's been playing with the rest of NATO if there had been a strong or even competent POTUS at the helm.

When the cat's away the mice will play, so to speak. Strength or intelligence are not Putin's strong suits, he is devious though. He's simply taking advantage of an opportunity that's presented itself much like a common thief finding a home unlocked and the residents not home.

Brass

 

[Boethius]

Thanks for the report, Mendy.

[AkMike]

  Thank You Mendy 

[Anotherkiwi]

Thank you, Mendy.  Please keep up the good work.

Hopefully you haven't become so discouraged that you will leave Russia, although I imagine that you have must have been on the FSB's watchlist for quite some time.

Keep safe!

[Gator]

Mendy, Thanks. 

Finally a report from a dissenting resident of Russia.