Ukraine Riots

[Michchamp]

If I make a threat assessment that deems it is better to escape from my home initially and then return to target someone who does not belong there, that's what I will do to take back what is rightfully mine. Keep in mind we are not talking about an area under righteous law like the US. I would obviously call the cops for them to arrest or take out someone here. We are talking about an area under occupation and the cops are non-existent.

I get it. But unless you're planning on taking back all of Crimea yourself there, Rambo, your house is gone. Sneaking back with a sniper rifle to kill someone nearby isn't really justifiable self defense given these circumstances.

I guess you could make the case that you're a partisan or irregular fighter for Ukraine but your scenario sounds more like murder to me

 

[Thumb]

Don't forget he was going to soak the place with gasoline and toss Molotov cocktails while squatters were inside too.

But yeah, defensing you home/life when someone is trying to remove/harm you is one thing, coming back later and finding it occupied then just going Steven Segal on people is another.

 

[zyxt9]

Don't forget he was going to soak the place with gasoline and toss Molotov cocktails while squatters were inside too.

But yeah, defensing you home/life when someone is trying to remove/harm you is one thing, coming back later and finding it occupied then just going Steven Segal on people is another.

LOL...you make the squatters sound like simple homeless people who are innocently living there as opposed to a gang of Russian POS thugs. Let the fuckers cook.

 

[Gulo Blue]

http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/100000-yes-ballots-for-referendum-intercepted-2-347222.html

A group of armed Kremlin-backed rebels in possession of a 100,000 ballots already marked with a ‘yes’ vote for the May 11 referendum in Donetsk

I'd be all for voter ID laws in Ukraine.

 

[Michchamp]

there's a big concern now that if this referendum thing picks up steam, or the fighting otherwise delays the presidential vote set for the end of the month, the whole country could disintegrate.

what a mess.

 

[Gulo Blue]

Elon Musk must be doing a happy dance right about now.

http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL6N0NZ4EA20140513

"Russia will bar the United States from using Russian-made rocket engines for military satellite launches, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Tuesday, retaliating for sanctions on high-tech equipment which Washington has imposed over the Ukraine crisis."

 

[Michchamp]

Elon Musk must be doing a happy dance right about now.

http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL6N0NZ4EA20140513

"Russia will bar the United States from using Russian-made rocket engines for military satellite launches, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Tuesday, retaliating for sanctions on high-tech equipment which Washington has imposed over the Ukraine crisis."

good news for NASA as well, right? We have to have some space presence, and if we can't outsource some of that capability to Russia, we'll have to spend domestically to do so.

 

[Gulo Blue]

I hope it's good for NASA. It would be nice. We'll see.

Also, it's conspiracy theory time.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/vp-bidens-son-joins-ukrainian-gas-companys-board-23699275

"Hunter Biden, the younger son of Vice President Joe Biden, is joining the board of a gas company operating in Ukraine, the company announced Tuesday, as the West seeks to help Ukraine wean itself off its dependence on Russian energy."

 

[Thumb]

Good. Let JPL and ULA put some Americans to work picking up the slack.

 

[Michchamp]

this is an interesting development: "Steelworkers help keep uneasy calm in eastern Ukraine" Link.

I wondered where some of these billionaire oligarchs in Eastern Ukraine stood on the issue of secession. Akhmetov is by some accounts considered the richest oligarch in Ukraine, and presumably has a lot of political power and muscle he can flex.

I would think that for some of the oligarchs that control businesses in Ukraine, as much as they'd want to steer clear of tougher regulations and a stronger rule of law that would come with association with the EU, they recognize the potential profit that comes from having a bigger share of exports to the EU, and what a disaster it would be for them if that market is closed or reduced by signing the Putin's customs agreement.

 

[Gulo Blue]

Disagreement on the veracity, but Ukraine claims there are 300 pro-Russian separatists dead, 500 injured in clashes.

http://time.com/2821792/ukraine-russia-slaviansk/

As it fades from our media, it escalates in real life.

 

[Michchamp]

Disagreement on the veracity, but Ukraine claims there are 300 pro-Russian separatists dead, 500 injured in clashes.

http://time.com/2821792/ukraine-russia-slaviansk/

As it fades from our media, it escalates in real life.

because our media knows the real scandal... BENGHAZI!!!!

 

[vincymull]

As always, I think it is none of "our" business (as in the USA).

 

[Michchamp]

there's an interview with one of the "separatists" fighting in eastern Ukraine, i.e. an Armenian living in Moscow, recruited by some nameless guy in Russia to go fight in eastern Ukraine, along with a number of other guys from Russia who were never told eachother's names. (I take the article with a grain of salt, since the Atlantic employs Jeffrey Goldberg and David Frum.)

it came out a few days ago, before the Malaysian airliner was shot down. the interviewee sounds like a pretty big idiot to go along with this scheme:

"About 10 guys showed up at a meeting somewhere near VDNKh [the All-Russian Exhibition Center in northern Moscow]. We spoke in the entrance arch of a residential building there. A Slavic man in civilian clothes who didn't give his name met with us. ​

First, he asked us whether we knew how to handle weapons. He warned us that we would be going to [the eastern Ukrainian city of] Slovyansk, that we were heading to certain death, that the punishment for looting was execution on the spot?which, by the way, I saw was true several times while I was in Ukraine. Two men immediately walked away.

Did they promise you money?

They didn't promise a per diem or payment. Only free food, clothing, weapons, and a guarantee that they would transport our bodies to Rostov-on-Don and give them to our relatives. If, of course, they found them."
​

sounds like a great deal.

 

[Michchamp]

Uh oh spaghetti-o.

 

[Monster]

uh oh spaghetti-o.

ww3.

 

[Gulo Blue]

NATO spokeswoman says Russia is operating in Ukraine. Russian artillery. Russian troops.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/23/w...gNews&contentID=19352436&pgtype=Homepage&_r=0

 

[zyxt9]

Putin just keeps making things worse. The Russian people need to stage another revolution, but I don't think they want to, at least not in enough numbers. Those who would have been probable revolutionaries already moved out of Russia is my bet, and those remaining still buy into Putin's antics.

I think Obama has been playing this one with a calm head and knows his options are very limited even if Russia did admit they were mounting a full scale invasion of Ukraine.

Sure is interesting though the timing of ISIS coming into such a strong position. It just would not surprise me to learn Russia was funding them to help pull the focus to that region. Not saying I definitively believe it, just the timing is very convenient at a minimum, and ISIS sure appears to have acquired a great deal of strength which generally requires large amounts of money to accomplish, especially to make such dramatic advances so quickly. They also have pretty solid strategic understanding, such as taking over dams and energy resources. They appear to be much more skilled in such strategic maneuvers. Something is amiss IMHO.

Hopefully the EU can hold their own for now and make our involvement microscopic. .

 

[Michchamp]

I've read that Putin is incredibly popular right now in Russia.

it's akin to George W. Bush's approval ratings in the immediate aftermath of the Iraq invasion. The rest of the world was looking at us thinking "What the fuck is wrong with you?" while Bush was high-fiving and chest bumping with the troops.

 

[Gulo Blue]

It just would not surprise me to learn Russia was funding them to help pull the focus to that region.

Don't forget this spilled out of Syria. Russia was supplying Bashar al-Assad and we were trying to figure out how to support the other side while acknowledging the other side had groups that were more similar to al Qaeda.