Monday, March 03, 2014
Putin's War on Ukraine
As I write this, Putin's invading forces are occupying Crimea and less than 20 minutes from the deadline they've set for attacking the Ukrainian naval vessels Ternopil and Slavutych.
Russian tanks, APCs, and artillery are massing just across the border from Kharkiv, Luhansk, and Donetsk.
Putin is preparing to invade Ukraine. My guess is that he will do it, and will try to take Kyiv and to break through in the south to TransDniestr. I have no inside knowledge at all, but if he's going to invade I wouldn't expect him to do it in a pussy-footing half-arsed American style. The costs of taking the bulk of Ukraine aren't that much higher than if he limits himself to the east. I would also suppose he leaves Lviv, Ivano-Fkankivsk, Rivne, and other major western centers alone, just because they aren't worth holding for him. At least, this is what I would do if I were a KGB man intent on rebuilding the Soviet empire.
One other thing I'll note is that the phony "libertarians" associated with Lew Rockwell are showing their true colors. They are beside themselves with hysteria over the American threats to start a war, even though no such threats exist. Yet there's not a peep from them about Putin's invasion and open threats of war, nothing about Yanukovych's criminality and murderous oppression, nothing about the censorship going on in the Russian news media or the shutting down of free press and free speech in Crimea. I'll be posting something on these pseudo-libertarian thugs soon.
Meanwhile, I've also been writing my friends and former students in Ukraine, people who actually have been fighting for liberty. They are in great danger, as is all Ukraine.
From Kyiv Post:
Russian tanks, APCs, and artillery are massing just across the border from Kharkiv, Luhansk, and Donetsk.
Putin is preparing to invade Ukraine. My guess is that he will do it, and will try to take Kyiv and to break through in the south to TransDniestr. I have no inside knowledge at all, but if he's going to invade I wouldn't expect him to do it in a pussy-footing half-arsed American style. The costs of taking the bulk of Ukraine aren't that much higher than if he limits himself to the east. I would also suppose he leaves Lviv, Ivano-Fkankivsk, Rivne, and other major western centers alone, just because they aren't worth holding for him. At least, this is what I would do if I were a KGB man intent on rebuilding the Soviet empire.
One other thing I'll note is that the phony "libertarians" associated with Lew Rockwell are showing their true colors. They are beside themselves with hysteria over the American threats to start a war, even though no such threats exist. Yet there's not a peep from them about Putin's invasion and open threats of war, nothing about Yanukovych's criminality and murderous oppression, nothing about the censorship going on in the Russian news media or the shutting down of free press and free speech in Crimea. I'll be posting something on these pseudo-libertarian thugs soon.
Meanwhile, I've also been writing my friends and former students in Ukraine, people who actually have been fighting for liberty. They are in great danger, as is all Ukraine.
From Kyiv Post:
March 3, 8:37 p.m. -- According to EuroMaidanPR, the official information service of the revolution that toppled Viktor Yanukovych as Ukraine's president on Feb. 22, Russian troops movements have been spotted about 10 kilometers from Ukraine's northern border in Chernihiv Oblast. Officials said tanks were seen. The sightings came a day after interim Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov later informed that a no-fly zone over the country had been initiated for military aircraft.
On March 3, the State Border Service of Ukraine announced that Russian forces were accumulating forces, including artillery and armored carriers, along the country’s eastern borders along the Donbas regions of Luhansk, Donetsk and Kharkiv. Russian border services have also closed the border for Russian citizens traveling into Donetsk, while the governor of neighboring Rostov-on-Don ordered the set up of the refugee camps, according to the EuroMaidanPR's Facebook page.
In response, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has said that Russian troops will not be allowed into the eastern regions of Ukraine. “I am convinced that no Russian military contingents will be allowed into (Ukraine's) eastern regions,” he said. See this link: http://ukrainianpolicy.com/russian-invasion-of-ukraine#mainland -- Brian Bonner
