Again a 3 post day. Sigh.....Actually started working on this one early in the mornin' but got sidetracked by poster comments and linksSo my 3rd contribution for the day below 1st- Op-ed from Israel Shamir The Spectacle In Kiev: The Brown Revolution2nd-Excellent Interview -William Engdhal with James Corbett: The Western Agenda in the UkraineWhat is going on in the Crimea? The western backed regime change government in the Ukraine is making all sorts of crazy claims- From "Russia has invaded" Ukraine pleads for help after Russian 'invasion' including asking for UN Security Council attention Ukraine’s parliament asks for UN Security Council session on crisis and onto the latest which sees reporting using the word 'provocation'
Ukraine’s acting president urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop “provocations” in Crimea and pull back military forces from the peninsula.
Definitely a climbing down from the over the top claims of invasion. Did NATO install a bunch of drama queens?I thought this article from early this morning, after one gets through the spin, an interesting perspective- No plans to invade but perhaps a plan B
The deployment of trained gunmen in strategic positions like the parliament and airport—whether they’re Russian or just from sympathetic pro-Russia groups—signals an organized mind at work. It allows for a Plan B.
What might be at play is simply a move to secure the region of Crimea. William Engdhal mentions the moving of Maidan fascists into Crimea, so, this is likely preparation in case of untoward moves backed by the WestCrimeaThe Crimea appears to be pretty much an island. Makes sense to secure access to it. I think that what went on at the airport was more then likely ethnic Russian Crimeans being proactive. With some guidance, perhaps?Moving along....After the western backed regime change, the war mongering media is somewhat explaining why the Ukraine matters to a number of nations. Including the EU and the US. If you read here, you knew that anyway.... But now that masses think the Ukraine is a done deal .You know the will of the people, freedom, democracy and are no longer paying attention the media will allow the tiniest bit of reality to pass through their filtersThe New Great Game: Why the Ukraine matters to So Many NationsWhy the Ukraine matters to so many Nations? Who knew? During the Olympics we were supposed to believe it was only Russia that wanted the Ukraine.... that was not true, of course. But, that was all the war mongering media was spinningLies being lies and all that kind of stuff...........Ukraine being torn apart
Ukraine is also a breadbasket, a natural gas chokepoint, and a nation of 45 million people in a pivotal spot north of the Black Sea. Ukraine matters—to Russia, Europe, the U.S., and even China. President Obama denied on Feb. 19 that it’s a piece on “some Cold War chessboard.” But the best hope for Ukraine is that it will get special treatment precisely because it is a valued pawn in a new version of the Great Game, the 19th century struggle for influence between Russia and Britain
The great game. Not my wording. Not when lives are at stake
Russia, which straddles Europe and Asia, has sought a role in the rest of Europe since the reign of Peter the Great in the early 18th century. An alliance with Ukraine preserves that. “Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire,” the American political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote in 1998.
In case you missed it that ZB quote has been featured here previously. And in full reads like this
"without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be an empire, but with Ukraine suborned and then subordinated, Russia automatically becomes an empire."
Russia’s Black Sea naval fleet is headquartered in Sevastopol, a formerly Russian city that now belongs to Ukraine.
Sevastapol does not ‘belong’ to the Ukraine- Sevastapol is in the Crimea. Crimea is an autonomous republic- Business week being kind of muddy
Last year Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom (OGZPY) sold about 160 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe—a quarter of European demand—and half of that traveled through a maze of Ukrainian pipelines. Those pipelines also supply Ukrainian factories that produce steel, petrochemicals, and other industrial goods for sale to Mother Russia. “Ukraine is probably more integrated than any other former Soviet republic with the Russian economy,” says Edward Chow, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
And China, like Syria, has a trade agreement with UkraineRelated: Syria and Ukraine: Kindred Nations?
China looks to Ukraine as a secure source to satisfy its ravenous appetite for food and energy. It’s lending the country billions of dollars to upgrade farm irrigation and develop coal gasification. In December, Yanukovych and Chinese President Xi Jinping gripped and grinned while signing a “treaty of friendly cooperation.” According to the official China Daily, in addition to agriculture and energy, they agreed to collaborate on infrastructure, finance, high-tech, aviation, and aerospace
China lent billions of dollars in a loan for grain agreement. Yet, the news as of late reports- China sues Ukraine for breach of 3 billion dollar loan agreementDefinitely related to -Ukraine: Cargill acquires stake in UkrLand Farming/food control = people controlAlert business week baloney below!
Western nations want to keep Ukraine from becoming a failed state and to discourage Putin from retaking the nation by force
I can't help but laugh out loud when reading that. China has agreements with Ukraine. Syria has agreements with Ukraine. Russia made the Ukraine a sweetheart deal and we are supposed to believe that Western nations wanted to keep Ukraine from becoming a failed state? Not credible. Western nations are going to turn Ukraine into a failed state and there was zero reason to believe that “Putin would retake Ukraine by force” Nonsense. Utter and shameless nonsense.
Repeating- “Ukraine is probably more integrated than any other former Soviet republic with the Russian economy,” says Edward Chow, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington”
Ukraine is integrated with Russia. Ukraine and Russia have a very, very long history togetherRussia had no need to use force when it came to Ukraine. All it had to do was make deals, supply gas and conduct trade. Which it was. Same as China. Same as Syria. Those agreements the Ukraine had with Russia, China, Syria and likely others are exactly why the US and other western nations connived to overthrow the democratically elected government. Then, as always, there is the private banking scum:
“The Institute of International Finance, which represents big banks, estimates that with no change in policy Ukraine would need $30 billion in foreign assistance this year alone. The IIF predicts that the International Monetary Fund will insist as a condition for aid that Ukraine cut natural gas subsidies to consumers and industry, and allow its currency, the hryvnia, to fall further, shrinking the trade deficit. The problem: Those measures will be so unpopular that they will jeopardize any new government”
This too has been addressed here previously- Debt enslavement of the Ukrainian peopleThe IMF’ing of the Ukraine will be so harsh, that no government could put the banker demands in place without serious repercussions from the masses. So, get all the debt enslavement measures in place before any elections-
The risk is that Ukraine will disintegrate. Opposition parties united only in their hatred of Yanukovych range from Europhile democrats to rightist nationalists. If the West doesn’t manage to stabilize Ukraine, Putin could plausibly present himself as the nation’s savior a year or two from now.
And the very last little bit that tells us so much about what is really going on in the Ukraine-
For those who want a free and democratic Ukraine, says Timothy Ash, chief emerging-market economist at Standard Bank in London, “it’s now or never.”
An economist at Standard Bank in London, speaking of ‘free and democratic’?One final digression- Ukraine and the West's monopolization of the nuclear industry