Thread: Russian troops storm three Ukrainian warships as Putin's plan to 'unleash full blown

Russian troops storm three Ukrainian warships as Putin's plan to 'unleash full blown military intervention' sends shockwaves around the world

• Pro-Russian forces also took control of three Ukrainian navy ships today
  
• Ukraine's ambassador to the U.N has expressed fears Russia may be planning a further military incursion into Ukraine's territory
• 'Russia is on its way to unleash a full blown military intervention' - he said
• Russian defence officials denied this in telephone call with Pentagon
  
• EU leaders met in Brussels today to discuss their response to crisis
• Placed travel bans and asset freezes on 12 more people with total now 33
  
• 'Some of them are really high-ranking' - EU President Herman Van Rompuy
  
• Russia imposed entry bans on U.S. lawmakers and officials in retaliation
  

By SUZANNAH HILLS and LIZZIE EDMONDS
PUBLISHED: 04:41 EST, 20 March 2014 | UPDATED: 05:45 EST, 21 March 2014
489 shares
317 View comments

6 Videos at the Page Link:

Ukraine has started to withdraw its troops from Crimea to the mainland amid fears Russia plans further military incursions into their territory after militiamen seized three Ukrainian ships today.

Russian troops have majority control of the Black Sea peninsula after storming three Ukrainian warships following the takeover of several military bases.
Shots were fired and stun grenades as the Ukrainian corvette Khmelnitsky was seized in Sevastopol while another ship, the Lutsk, was also surrounded by pro-Russian forces.
Ukrainian servicemen were also seen disembarking a third ship, the Ternopil corvette. There were not thought to be any casualties, however.

The action came hours before European Union leaders agreed to widen the list of Russian officials subject to personal sanctions over the seizure of Crimea - while asking the European Commission to prepare for broader economic sanctions if the crisis escalates.

Scroll down for video


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Takeover: A man in an unmarked uniform and wearing a mask holds a gun as he climbs aboard the Ukrainian corvette Khmelnitsky in Sevastopol, Crimea



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Raid: Pro-Russian militiamen seized three Ukrainian navy vessels in Crimea on Thursday - including the corvette Khmelnitsky in Sevastopol



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Surrender: Ukrainian crew members pictured lying on the deck of the Khmelnitsky after it was seized in Sevastopol by pro-Russian troops



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Men in unmarked uniforms stand guard during seizure of the corvette Khmelnitsky



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A crew member of the Khmelnitsky leaves the ship with a collection of his belongings

Earlier today, the U.S. expanded economic sanctions against Moscow over its actions in Ukraine, targeting President Vladimir Putin's chief of staff and 19 other individuals. President Obama also warned of more costs to come is the situation worsens.
Ukraine said its troops are being threatened on the ground in Crimea today as naval headquarters in Sevastopol were taken over as was another naval facility 30kms away in Bakhchisaray.
Extraordinary scenes followed as downcast Ukrainian servicemen, unarmed and in civilian clothing, began abandoning the bases, some with 'nowhere to go' while others were reported to have already defected to Russian forces.


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Masked men holding guns climb aboard the Khmelnitsky while two other warships were also seized



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A man in an unmarked uniform stands guard during the seizure of the warship



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Pro-Russian forces hang up a Russian flag after seizing ship in the peninsular



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Ukrainian crew of Pridniprovya, right, leaves the ship after it was taken by pro-Russian forces

Out of Ukraine's 25,000 troops in Crimea, it is estimated there are still thousands who remain trapped in the region as Russian troops close in around them.

'We are working out a plan of action so that we can transfer not just servicemen, but first of all, members of their family who are in Crimea, quickly and effectively to mainland Ukraine,' said Andriy Parubiy, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council.
Terms and conditions of the withdrawal have yet to be agreed but Ukrainian border guards in Crimea, under the control of Russia's military, have started redeploying to regions on the mainland.

'We have started the gradual redeployment of our servicemen to the territory of Kherson and Mikolayiv regions,' Pavlo Shysholin, deputy head of the state border guard service, told a news conference.


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Packing up: A Ukrainian air force officer carries his bags out of the Belbek airbase, outside Sevastopol, Crimea, on Thursday as Kiev announced plans to withdraw 25,000 troops from the peninsula



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Evacuation: Ukrainian air force officers are pictured removing their belongings the Belbek airbase, outside Sevastopol, on Thursday as many troops have reportedly defected to Russian forces



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Time to go: Ukrainian air force officers leave the Belbek airbase, outside Sevastopol, Crimea, with their belongings on Thursday as pro-Russian troops close in on the peninsula



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Shut out: A soldier closes the gate at the Belbek airbase in Crimea on Thursday as thousands of Ukrainian troops and sailors remain trapped in the region

PICTURED: THE FIRST SOLDIER KILLED IN THE CRIMEA CRISIS


Victim: Ukrainian Warrant Officer Kokurin Serhiy, 37, became the first fatal casualty of the Crimea crisis when he was shot on Monday

Warrant Officer Kokurin Serhiy, 37, became the first fatal casualty of the Crimea crisis when he was shot dead on Tuesday.
The chief of logistics, who was born in Simferopol, was at his post in a watchtower at a military base in Simferopol, Crimea, when he was shot through the heart and in the head.

The Ukraine Ministry of Defence claimed he was fired upon by a militiamen who were wearing military uniform of Russian servicemen but without any insignia.

His death prompted the Ukraine Ministry Of Defence to allow troops the use of arms to defend themselves.

Officer Kukurin's fellow soldiers today paid tribute to the 'realiable friend' who leaves behind a four-year-old son and seven-month pregnant wife.

A statement read: 'He was modest and handsome, a hard-working and skillful specialist, and reliable friend.

'Kokurin Serhiy was many times awarded distinctions by the Minister of Defense, Chief of General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine.

'He was a strong support for his mother, good brother, kind husband, attentive father for his son. His wife is waiting for birth of baby in two months.

'The personnel of the 13th Photogrammetric Center of Central Directorate of Operations Support of Armed Forces mourns for decease of their friend Serhiy Kokurin.'

Shysholin also said about 1,000 civilians had so far left the peninsula.
Meanwhile Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Yurii Klymenko, has also expressed concerns that Russia may be intending a further military incursion into Ukraine territory.
He said: 'There are indications that Russia is on its way to unleash a full blown military intervention in Ukraine's east and south'.
His statement was widely supported by other ambassadors, but challenged by a Russian diplomat, who read a prepared statement justifying Russia's actions so far.


More...

• Ukraine to hold joint military exercises with U.S. and Britain after announcing troop withdrawal from Crimea
• 'Sit down, you animal': Angry far-right politicians attack Ukraine TV chief and force him to write his own resignation letter

Russia's defense minister assured US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel by telephone that Russian forces along Ukraine's eastern border have no intention of crossing into Ukrainian territory.

A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, said that in an hour-long conversation Thursday, Hagel asked for an explanation of Russian intentions for the thousands of troops positioned near the Ukrainian border.

Kirby said Hagel was told that the troops are there for just one purpose: to conduct training exercises.
Russia says they have no plans to cross into Ukraine





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Another base taken over: A Ukrainian serviceman leaves a military unit in Bakhchisarai, outside Simferopol, on Thursday after it was seized by Russian troops on Wednesday night



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Peaceful: Ukrainian servicemen smile as they peacefully carry their belongings out of a Ukrainian military unit taken over by Russian soldiers in Bakhchisarai



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Concerns: A Russian soldier patrols the entrance to the Ukrainian military unit in Perevalnoye, outside Simferopol, amid fears Russia may push further into Ukraine territory



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Civil: Russian and Ukranian soldiers talk at the gate of a Ukrainian military unit in the village of Perevalnoye, outside Simferopol, on Thursday

This morning, Ukrainian troops at Belbek airbase in the wine-growing country near Crimea's southwestern coast were leaving with large bags containing their belongings.

They weren't evacuating, they said, just transferring their things to a safe place as they were worried that pro-Russian mobs might loot the facility, which they heard happened the day before in nearby Sevastopol.
Since the Russian forces took charge in Crimea, Ukrainian-enlisted personnel and officers have been bottled up in barracks and other buildings at one end of the Belbek base, with the Russians in control of the airfield.
'We're waiting for what Kiev, our leadership, tells us,' said one major, who declined to give his name.

The major said he expected about half of the personnel still at the base to accept the Russian offer to stay and join the Russian armed forces since they are Crimea natives.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today told Russian President Vladimir Putin that he was 'deeply concerned' by the situation involving Ukraine and Russia.

Ban is on a visit to both nations to encourage all parties involved in the crisis over Ukraine and its Crimea region, which Western nations say Russia has illegally annexed, to find a peaceful solution.
Ukraine's parliament calls on countries not to recognize Crimea





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Talks: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow on Thursday



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Concerned: Ban Ki-moon told Putin on Thursday he is 'deeply concerned' by the stand-off between Russia and Ukraine

EU leaders met in Brussels today to discuss how to deal with the developments in Crimea.
Travel bans and asset freezes were placed on 12 more people, closing in on President Vladimir Putin's inner circle to punish him in the escalating crisis over the Russian annexation of the Crimea peninsula.

The move brought the number of Russians and Ukrainians facing EU sanctions to 33, and French President Francois Hollande said it included a lot of crossover with the people the United States is targeting with similar measures.

'We added 12 people, in concert with the Americans,' Hollande said.

The 28-nation bloc said the names of the sanctioned would be published Friday. 'Some of them are really high-ranking,' said EU President Herman Van Rompuy.

Germany's Angela Merkel said the EU was ready to support Ukraine's new government financially, provided it reached a deal with the International Monetary Fund, which she said talks had made substantial progress and a deal was expected soon.

RUSSIA IN RETALIATION

Russia slapped a travel ban Thursday on nine U.S. lawmakers and officials - the first retaliation against the United States for its sanctions against Russia for annexing Crimea. They were:

- Caroline Atkinson, a deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs.
- Daniel Pfeiffer, a senior adviser to Obama.
- Benjamin Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser.
- John Boehner, a Republican congressman from Ohio.
- Harry Reid, a Democratic senator from Nevada.
- John McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona.
- Robert Menendez, a Democratic senator from New Jersey.
- Dan Coats, a Republican senator from Indiana.

She told a news conference after the first day of the summit the EU was prepared to send an observer mission to Ukraine but would prefer the pan-European security watchdog OSCE to send monitors if Russia will agree on a mandate.

Merkel declined to say how many names would be added to the EU blacklist of people subject to visa bans and asset freezes on Friday but said they were of the same level as the 21 mid-ranking Russian and Crimean officials sanctioned last week.

Ahead of the EU leaders' meeting, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the European Union will impose more sanctions on Russia and that the G8 forum has been suspended indefinitely.

The United States and its G7 allies will gather next week in The Hague without Russia to consider a further response to the Kremlin's moves in Crimea.
But President Barack Obama HAS already stepped up pressure on Russia by announcing further sanctions on Russia on Thursday.
The U.S. expanded economic sanctions against Moscow over its actions in Ukraine, targeting President Vladimir Putin's chief of staff and 19 other individuals.
The new American sanctions hit close advisers to Putin. They include Sergei Ivanov, the Russian president's chief of staff and a longtime associate.

Also targeted were Arkady Rotenberg and Gennady Timchenko, both lifelong Putin friends whose companies have amassed billions of dollars in government contracts.

Finally, Bank Rossiya, a private bank that is owned by Yuri Kovalchuk, who is considered to be Putin's banker was also sanctioned.

Obama, warning of more costs to come for the Kremlin if the situation worsens, said he also signed an executive order that would allow the U.S. to penalize key sectors of the Russian economy.


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Announcement: President Barack Obama reveals additional sanctions against Russia on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Thursday



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President Barack Obama announced a new round of economic sanctions on individuals in Russia, both inside and outside the government, in retaliation for the Kremlin's actions in Ukraine

Officials said Obama could act on that authority if Russian forces press into other areas of Ukraine, an escalation of the crisis in Crimea.

The president said the latest penalties were the result of 'choices the Russian government has made, choices that have been rejected by the international community'.

'Russia must know that further escalation will only isolate it further from the international community,' Obama said, speaking from the South Lawn of the White House.



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Yuri Kovalchuk is thought to be Putin's banker who was also sanctioned by the US today



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Surrounded: Russian naval vessels block the Ukrainian ship Slavutich (pictured left) at her mooring in Sevastopol, Crimea, on Thursday


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A boat transporting the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Aleksandr Vitko moors up alongside Slavutich, the command ship of the Ukrainian Navy


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Shaking hands: Russian officers meet Ukrainian colleagues on the ship Slavutich in Sevastopol


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Going nowhere: The Ukrainian ship Slavutich was left trapped at her mooring in Sevastopol after being cut off by Russian vessels


Russia then announced retaliatory sanctions on nine U.S. officials and lawmakers on Thursday, warning the West it would hit back over 'every hostile thrust'.

Deputy national security advisers Ben Rhodes and Caroline Atkinson and senators John McCain, Harry Reid and Mary Landrieu, Dan Coats and Robert Menendez were among the Americans barred from Russia, the Foreign Ministry said.

The others were House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner and Dan Pfeiffer, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama.

'We have repeatedly warned that sanctions are a double-edged instrument and would hit the United States like a boomerang,' the Russian Foreign Ministry said. 'There must be no doubt: We will respond adequately to every hostile thrust.'

It comes after Obama ruled out U.S. military involvement in Ukraine on Wednesday night - emphasizing the need for diplomacy in the U.S. standoff with Russia over Crimea.

'We are not going to be getting into a military excursion in Ukraine,' Obama told KNSD, San Diego's NBC affiliate, in an interview.

'We do not need to trigger an actual war with Russia,' he told KSDK, a St. Louis station owned by Gannett in a separate interview.

Obama, who imposed sanctions on 11 Russian and Ukrainian officials on Monday, said the United States will push diplomatic efforts to bring pressure on Russia to loosen its grip on the Crimea region of southern Ukraine.

'There is a better path, but I think even the Ukrainians would acknowledge that for us to engage Russia militarily would not be appropriate and would not be good for Ukraine either,' Obama told KNSD.

His comments coincided with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden reassuring Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia that America will defend any NATO member against aggression.


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Trapped: The Ukrainian ship Ternopil is seen in the harbour in Sevastopol as a Russian ship blocks its exit


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Supplies: A Ukranian sailor carries bread on board the Ternopil ship still moored in the dock at Sevastopol which is now under Russian control


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Ukrainian sailors pictured collecting bread for their ship the Ternopil in Sevastopol. It comes as the legal process required to make Crimea part of Russia will be completed this weekJohn Kerry meets with Slovak Foreign Minister on Ukraine




The three countries - which like Ukraine were all parts of the old Soviet Union - have expressed growing apprehension over Moscow's intentions.
Poland has decided to speed up its tender for a missile defence system, a defence ministry spokesman said on Thursday, in a sign of Warsaw's disquiet over the tension between neighbouring Ukraine and Russia.

Russia signaled concern on Wednesday at Estonia's treatment of its large ethnic Russian minority, comparing language policy in the Baltic state with what it said was a call in Ukraine to prevent the use of Russian.

Russia has defended its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula by arguing it has the right to protect Russian-speakers outside its borders, so the reference to linguistic tensions in another former Soviet republic comes at a highly sensitive moment.

But Vice President Biden assured the Baltic republics: 'We're in this with you, together.'
The three countries were overrun by Stalin during the Second World War and only won their freedom with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Biden added: 'Russia cannot escape the fact that the world is changing and rejecting outright their behaviour.'

Heavyweight boxing champion Vladimir Klitschko urged Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday not to 'repeat the mistakes of history' in his confrontation with Ukraine, the boxer's homeland.

Klitschko is the younger brother of Vitaly Klitschko, a member of parliament in Ukraine and a leader of the opposition that helped topple Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovich last month.

'You cannot repeat the mistakes of history and there were a lot of mistakes,' the 37-year-old boxing champ told reporters in his training camp in Hollywood, Florida, where the side of a ring was draped with a Ukrainian flag.

'Every country, every former Soviet republic has its own desire and will to look in the direction they want to look - east, west, south, north. It's their own decision,' he said.



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Out in force: Russian soldiers patrol the area surrounding the Ukrainian military unit in Perevalnoye, outside Simferopol, on Thursday



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A civilian drives past Russian soldiers patrolling Perevalnoye, outside Simferopol, near a Ukrainian military base. Russian forces now control much of the regionl



It comes after masked Russian-speaking troops forced their way onto Ukraine's main naval base in Sevastopol yesterday morning, detaining the head of Ukraine's navy and seizing the facility.

The incursion, which Ukraine's defence ministry described as being led by a self-described local defence force, Cossacks and 'aggressive women', proceeded with no resistance.
Upon gaining entrance to the base, the storming party raised a Russian flag on the headquarters square.

The unarmed militiamen waited for an hour on the square and, following the arrival of the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, they took over the building with the support of armed Russian-speaking troops.

By afternoon, they were in full control of the naval headquarters, a set of three-storey white concrete buildings with blue trim.
There was nothing we could do against the crowd,’ said one Ukrainian officer. ‘Everything happened spontaneously.’ Another officer said they had ‘no orders and no weapons.’
The Ukrainian defence ministry said Rear Admiral Sergei Haiduk was detained, and a news agency close to the Russian-backed local authorities reported that he had been summoned for questioning by prosecutors.


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Response: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced the EU will impose further sanctions on Russia



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German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses lawmakers at the lower house of parliament in Bundestag, Berlin, on Thursday ahead of a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels

Later in the day, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu ordered the Crimean authorities to release him. He was let go this morning.

Russian troops also seized another Ukrainian naval facility in Crimea late on Wednesday in Bakhchisaray, about 30 km (20 miles) southwest of the regional capital, Simferopol.

With thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and sailors trapped on military bases, surrounded by heavily armed Russian forces and pro-Russia militia, the Kiev government said it was drawing up plans to evacuate its outnumbered troops from Crimea.

Just how many retreating troops Ukraine will have to absorb in what amounts to a military surrender of Crimea was unclear.


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David Cameron speaks at the EU Summit - where Ukraine will not doubt be high on the agenda



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World leaders, including David Cameron and Angela Merkel speak during an EU summit



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Cameron talks with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at the start of the summit

Many servicemen have already switched sides to Russia, but authorities said they were prepared to relocate as many as 25,000 soldiers and their families to the Ukrainian mainland.

Humbled but defiant, Ukraine last night lashed out symbolically at Russia by declaring its intent to leave the Moscow-dominated Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose alliance of 11 former Soviet nations.

But Ukraine has been largely powerless to prevent Russian troops from taking control of Crimea, which President Vladimir Putin formally annexed on Tuesday with the stroke of a pen.

Crimea's absorption came after a hastily organised referendum in which the population overwhelmingly, albeit under conditions akin to martial law, voted in favour of seceding from Ukraine and joining Russia.


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'We do not need to trigger an actual war with Russia': President Barack Obama has ruled out military involvement in Ukraine instead calling for diplomacy



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'We're in this with you': U.S. Vice President Joe Biden vowed America will defend any NATO member from aggression as ex-Soviet states expressed concerns over the developments in Crimea



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Talks: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden met with Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite (centre) and Latvia's President Andris Berzins (left) on Wednesday

Russia's Constitutional Court chairman, Valery Zorkin, said yesterday the treaty signed by Mr Putin has been ruled valid.

Ukraine now plans to seek U.N. support to turn the peninsula into a demilitarised zone.

Andriy Parubiy, secretary of Ukraine's national security and defence council, also announced Ukraine would hold military manoeuvres with the US and Britain, signatories, along with Russia, of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. He provided no details.

The document was designed to guarantee Ukraine's territorial integrity when it surrendered its share of Soviet nuclear arsenals to Russia after the Soviet Union broke up in 1991.

Ukraine has accused Russia of breaching the agreement by taking over the Crimean Peninsula.

In Washington, the Pentagon said it would participate as planned in a multinational military exercise this summer in Ukraine.

Dubbed 'Rapid Trident,' the ground manoeuvres have been held annually for a number of years with forces from Britain and other Nato countries as well as Ukraine, which has a partner relationship with Nato but is not a member.

The Pentagon gave no details on the number of U.S. forces expected to participate or when the exercises would be held. Last year, the two-week manoeuvres involving 17 nations were held in July.

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Sending a message: Russian flags fly at the top of a chimney near the territory of a Ukrainian military unit in Sevastopol on Wednesday



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Waving goodbye: Ukrainian servicemen leave a Ukrainian military unit after it was taken over by Russian forces in Sevastopol, Crimea, on Wednesday



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Going home: Ukrainian soldiers left the base with their belongings after being forced out of the building on Wednesday


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A Ukrainian officer leaves as Russian soldiers take over the Ukrainian navy headquarters in the Crimean city of Sevastopol

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this morning said the legal process required to make Crimea part of Russia will be completed this week.

'Practical steps are being taken to implement the agreements on the entry of Crimea and (the Crimean port city of) Sevastopol into Russia,' Itar-Tass news agency quoted Lavrov as saying. 'The legal process will be completed this week.'

Russia's lower house of parliament ratified the treaty on Thursday to make Crimea and Sevastopol regions of Russia. Only one deputy in the State Duma voted against the treaty.
The upper house is also expected to accept the treaty on Friday.
'From now on, and forever, the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol will be in the Russian Federation,' pro-Kremlin lawmaker Leonid Slutsky said in an address before the vote.

It comes as European Union leaders are likely to extend asset freezes and travel bans on key members of the Russian regime, as they meet in Brussels today to discuss tougher sanctions in response to the annexation of Crimea.

In a two-day summit, the EU is also expected to reaffirm its support for the new administration in Kiev by signing political elements of an association agreement with Ukraine.
Boxing Champion Klitschko gives Putin warning





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Flying the flag: A soldier holds up a Russian flag on the roof of Ukraine's naval headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimean, on Wednesday morning after the base was stormed by pro-Russian forces



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Taking control: Pro-Russian self-defence force members break through an entrance to the Ukrainian Navy headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimea, on Wednesday



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Being cut out: A member of the Pro-Russian self-defence force reaches for a knife as he takes down a Ukrainian Navy flag at the Ukrainian Navy headquarters in Sevastopol



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Transformation: Ukrainian Navy flags and insignia are removed from inside the Ukrainian Navy headquarters



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Ejected: Ukrainian soldiers fold a Ukrainian flag removed by the Crimean pro-Russian self-defence force after they were forced to leave Ukrainian Navy headquarters

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...es-Crimea.html

Another DAMN BANKSTER WAR; the BORG is Desperate and BROKE for that matter

US, EU Escalate War Threats Against Russia over Crimea Annexation

By Johannes Stern and Alex Lantier
Global Research, March 20, 2014
World Socialist Web Site

Region: Russia and FSU
Theme: US NATO War Agenda
In-depth Report: UKRAINE REPORT

Continuing its well-prepared campaign to exploit the Ukrainian crisis as a pretext for a vast expansion of imperialist operations in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, Washington and its European Union (EU) allies responded yesterday to Russia’s official annexation of Crimea by calling for a military buildup that would put NATO on a perpetual war footing against Moscow.
Speaking yesterday at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said: “Ladies and gentlemen, we live in a different world than we did less than a month ago… The annexation of Crimea through a so-called referendum held at gun point is illegal and illegitimate.”
Were it not for the potentially catastrophic consequences of NATO’s actions, Rasmussen’s statements would have a grotesquely farcical character. Nothing he said bore any relation to reality.
The portrayal of NATO as a peaceful opponent of Russian aggression is a political fraud. The majority-Russian Crimean population voted overwhelmingly to join Russia principally due to fear of the anti-Semitic, anti-Russian forces the West unleashed in Ukraine when it backed the February 22 fascist-led putsch in Kiev. This regime now rules Kiev with appeals to anti-Russian chauvinism and by relying on violence to intimidate its opponents.
Rasmussen is outlining a policy of continually stoking war hysteria against Russia, in order to isolate Moscow and shift US and European politics dramatically to the right. This includes increasing military spending and the US military presence in Europe—a continent already bankrupted by five years of budget cuts and austerity measures.
Rasmussen told the Washington Post there is now “no doubt that Europe has to invest more in defense and security.” He added that “many Europeans would like a reaffirmation of the US commitment to European security… Developments in Ukraine are a stark reminder that security in Europe cannot be taken for granted,” Rasmussen said. “We need to focus on the long-term strategic impact of Russia’s aggression on our own security.”
This policy is being closely coordinated with Washington. Before his speech, Rasmussen attended a “working dinner” hosted by US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, together with Secretary of State John Kerry and National Security Advisor Susan Rice. Hagel is preparing for a meeting with the Business Roundtable, an influential US business lobby, to discuss Ukraine and US military spending.
These policies aim to transform NATO into an anti-Russian military alliance, with outposts in ex-Soviet states all along Russia’s borders in a campaign of permanent military pressure on Moscow that threatens to escalate into war. US Vice President Joe Biden outlined a policy of militarily isolating and threatening Russia in his remarks delivered to officials of the Baltic states in Vilnius, Lithuania. He also had a phone call with the prime minister of the Kiev regime, former banker Arseniy Yatseniuk.
Biden stressed the broad military guarantees Washington is offering Eastern European regimes amid the ongoing US military buildup in the region—which involves surveillance flights over Poland and Romania, warplane deployments to Poland and the Baltics, and stepped-up training exercises in the region.
He said, “We stand resolutely with our Baltic allies in support of the Ukrainian people and against Russian aggression. As long as Russia continues on this dark path, they will face increasing political and economic isolation.”
He added, “The reason I traveled to the Baltics was to reaffirm our mutual commitment to collective defense. President Obama wanted me to come personally to make it clear what you already know, that under Article 5 of the NATO treaty, we will respond. We will respond to any aggression against a NATO ally.”
According to Article 5 of the NATO treaty, member states “agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.”
These moves to inflame military tensions reflect a broad, aggressive shift in imperialist policy that finds fullest expression in escalation of the military operations of Germany—the power that, together with the United States, is pushing most aggressively for a confrontation with Russia over Ukraine.
The German media is unleashing a campaign for harsh economic sanctions and a more aggressive military build-up against Russia. Today’s lead comment in the Süddeutsche Zeitung calls upon Obama to take “a lesson in Cold War history,” lamenting: “The world will not improve by itself, simply because Obama extends his hand to everyone. And crises like in Syria or Ukraine do not disappear simply because they bore Obama.”
The Süddeutsche then praises NATO as the “foundation of a basic international order. Whoever, like Ukraine, belongs neither to NATO nor exactly either to the West or to the East rapidly becomes a victim of the appetites of neighboring autocrats. The Baltic states and Poland, on the other hand, can be fairly sure that they are protected from Putin’s Special Forces.”
For the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, NATO’s response is not nearly enough. It complains, “Putin knows that NATO is not a threat to Russia; in the Crimean crisis, only the Fiji Islands could have reacted in a more restrained way than the NATO leadership.”
The level of aggressiveness, distortions and outright lying in the German media has not been heard since Goebbels ran the propaganda ministry under Hitler. The media is supporting an increase in German military activity called for by President Joachim Gauck at the Munich Security Conference earlier this year.
The Ukrainian crisis, which Chancellor Angela Merkel and other key figures in the German state played a major role in instigating, provides the pretext for the implementation of a carefully planned militaristic reorientation of the country’s foreign policy.
Almost exactly one month ago, on February 21, 2014, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a major Washington think tank, published a statement, “Is Germany Ready to Lead?” It explained: “For over a year, senior German officials have been carefully preparing the way for a shift towards a more assertive foreign and security policy.”
The analysis noted that the removal of former Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle had been necessary to implement the new policy. The CSIS also welcomed the signs in the “public debate” conducted in the media—that is, the unending stream of militaristic propaganda—“that a new consensus may be emerging among the German elite,” and expressed the hope that “over time, the public may follow.”
Now, after Berlin played a leading role in orchestrating the fascist-led putsch in Kiev on February 22, the German ruling elite feels that the time is right to repudiate the military restraints placed on Germany after the end of the Second World War and the horrible crimes of the Nazis. It is fueling the conflict with Russia to resume its traditional role as the dominant power in Eastern Europe.
Ahead of the EU summit taking place today and tomorrow in Brussels, the German cabinet has approved the EU Association Agreement with Ukraine that, according to its preamble, seeks “Ukraine’s gradual integration in the EU internal market…and to support Ukrainian efforts to complete the transition into a functioning market economy.”
That is, Berlin and the EU are deepening their ties with outright fascists in the Ukrainian government to turn the country into a cheap labor platform for European finance capital and an outpost of the EU and NATO for military provocations against Russia.


http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-eu-e...xation/5374463

Putin Grateful To China, India For "Support" Over Crimea

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/20/2014 23:01 -0400

While the most vocal mouthpieces of the western world's nations are loudly condemning Vladimir Putin's actions in Crimea - despite Ukraine itself suggesting he can keep it for a price - it appears the rest of the world is less voracious in its condemnation. As Putin noted this morning "we are grateful to all those who understood our actions in Crimea,” Putin said. “We are grateful to the people of China, whose leadership sees the situation in Crimea in all its historical and political integrity. We highly appreciate India’s restraint and objectivity.”

It would appear there are a number of nations that are "supportive" of Russia's actions...Via Voice of Russia,

“We are grateful to all those who understood our actions in Crimea,”
...

Moscow vetoed the resolution, while Beijing abstained.

This step wasn’t seen by mass media as clear support for the Crimean reunification and even deemed as a ‘slap in the face’ for Russia by Western diplomats.

Yet, the step by Beijing was considered as clever and politically far-seeing.

China wasn’t able to veto the resolution on Crimea alongside Russia as it has its own domestic issues like Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan. But it has now deepened its relations with Moscow and gained a potential ally for the future when Beijing will have to make hard political decisions.

India also remembers the support Moscow showed in 1975 when New Delhi had the same situation with Sikkim, a landlocked state located in the Himalayan Mountains. At that time India was under heavy diplomatic pressure from the West, especially from the United States.

Sikkim became 22nd state of India, when 97.5 % of residents voted in favor of reunification with New Delhi.

Argentine leader Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner also showed her support for the Russian Federationrecalling that “the UN Charter stipulates the right of people to self-determination, which means that this rule should be applied to all countries without any exception”.

She compared the situation in Crimea with the one around the Falkland Islands, where a referendum was also held a year ago. The UN did not question the legality of the vote at that time, Kirchner reminded.

While we would be surprised to see China or India take up sanction-retaliating arms against the west, they are powerful and large nations to have on your side if the rest of the world cuts off trade or economic ties.


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...rt-over-crimea

Russia slapped a travel ban Thursday on nine U.S. lawmakers and officials - the first retaliation against the United States for its sanctions against Russia for annexing Crimea. They were:

- Caroline Atkinson, a deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs.
- Daniel Pfeiffer, a senior adviser to Obama.
- Benjamin Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser.
- John Boehner, a Republican congressman from Ohio.
- Harry Reid, a Democratic senator from Nevada.
- John McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona.
- Robert Menendez, a Democratic senator from New Jersey.
- Dan Coats, a Republican senator from Indiana.

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That's a good short list. Was hoping they would take them and not give them back ...

But Vice President Biden assured the Baltic republics: 'We're in this with you, together.'

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Has anyone ever heard more comforting words? And from a more reliable and dependable person with impeccable integrity?

Here ya go Joe ..


A Forgotten Treaty Could Mean WWIII

With the president’s troops poised on the Ukrainian border, the country’s parliament has unearthed the Budapest Memorandum which can plunge everyone into WWIII.

As each day passes and war is not declared, the world breaths just a little easier, but all that changed with Kiev activating the all but forgotten memorandum. With the two super powers unable to say no to a request from the Ukrainian government, it seems that it now it is now Russia’s move.

has the world forgotten Benghazi ... these Incompetent Boobs leave people to die all the time and think it's Normal.... I'd tell Joe to kiss my backside where the Sun Dont Shine before they get you knocked off

Originally Posted by AirborneSapper7

has the world forgotten Benghazi ... these Incompetent Boobs leave people to die all the time and think it's Normal.... I'd tell Joe to kiss my backside where the Sun Dont Shine before they get you knocked off

----------------------------------------------------

The GIANT BLACK HOLE of corruption is so huge in our own government, you can see it FROM MARS . . .

You Have No Idea How Screwed You Are... the Term Dirt Broke should become very common in your New AmeriKan Vocabulary

Petrodollar Alert: Putin Prepares To Announce "Holy Grail" Gas Deal With China

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/21/2014 09:41 -0400

If it was the intent of the West to bring Russia and China together - one a natural resource (if "somewhat" corrupt) superpower and the other a fixed capital / labor output (if "somewhat" capital misallocating and credit bubbleicious) powerhouse - in the process marginalizing the dollar and encouraging Ruble and Renminbi bilateral trade, then things are surely "going according to plan."
For now there have been no major developments as a result of the shift in the geopolitical axis that has seen global US influence, away from the Group of 7 (most insolvent nations) of course, decline precipitously in the aftermath of the bungled Syrian intervention attempt and the bloodless Russian annexation of Crimea, but that will soon change. Because while the west is focused on day to day developments in Ukraine, and how to halt Russian expansion through appeasement (hardly a winning tactic as events in the 1930s demonstrated), Russia is once again thinking 3 steps ahead... and quite a few steps east.
While Europe is furiously scrambling to find alternative sources of energy should Gazprom pull the plug on natgas exports to Germany and Europe (the imminent surge in Ukraine gas prices by 40% is probably the best indication of what the outcome would be), Russia is preparing the announcement of the "Holy Grail" energy deal with none other than China, a move which would send geopolitical shockwaves around the world and bind the two nations in a commodity-backed axis. One which, as some especially on these pages, have suggested would lay the groundwork for a new joint, commodity-backed reserve currency that bypasses the dollar, something which Russia implied moments ago when its finance minister Siluanov said that Russia may regain from foreign borrowing this year. Translated: bypass western purchases of Russian debt, funded by Chinese purchases of US Treasurys, and go straight to the source.

Here is what will likely happen next, as explained by Reuters:

Igor Sechin gathered media in Tokyo the next day to warn Western governments that more sanctions over Moscow's seizure of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine would be counter-productive.

The underlying message from the head of Russia's biggest oil company, Rosneft, was clear: If Europe and the United States isolate Russia, Moscow will look East for new business, energy deals, military contracts and political alliances.

The Holy Grail for Moscow is a natural gas supply deal with China that is apparently now close after years of negotiations. If it can be signed when Putin visits China in May, he will be able to hold it up to show that global power has shifted eastwards and he does not need the West.

More details on the revelation of said "Holy Grail":

State-owned Russian gas firm Gazprom hopes to pump 38 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per year to China from 2018 via the first pipeline between the world's largest producer of conventional gas to the largest consumer.

"May is in our plans," a Gazprom spokesman said, when asked about the timing of an agreement. A company source said: "It would be logical to expect the deal during Putin's visit to China."

Summarizing what should be and is painfully obvious to all, but apparently to the White House, which keeps prodding at Russia, is the following:

"The worse Russia's relations are with the West, the closer Russia will want to be to China. If China supports you, no one can say you're isolated," said Vasily Kashin, a China expert at the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) think thank.

Bingo. And now add bilateral trade denominated in either Rubles or Renminbi (or gold), add Iran, Iraq, India, and soon the Saudis (China's largest foreign source of crude, whose crown prince also happened to meet president Xi Jinping last week to expand trade further) and wave goodbye to the petrodollar.
As reported previoisly, China has already implicitly backed Putin without risking it relations with the West. "Last Saturday China abstained in a U.N. Security Council vote on a draft resolution declaring invalid the referendum in which Crimea went on to back union with Russia. Although China is nervous about referendums in restive regions of other countries which might serve as a precedent for Tibet and Taiwan, it has refused to criticize Moscow. The support of Beijing is vital for Putin. Not only is China a fellow permanent member of the U.N. Security Council with whom Russia thinks alike, it is also the world's second biggest economy and it opposes the spread of Western-style democracy."
This culminated yesterday, when as we reported last night, Putin thanked China for its "understanding over Ukraine." China hasn't exactly kept its feelings about closer relations with Russia under wraps either:

Chinese President Xi Jinping showed how much he values ties with Moscow, and Putin in particular, by making Russia his first foreign visit as China's leader last year and attending the opening of the Winter Olympics in Sochi last month.

Many Western leaders did not go to the Games after criticism of Russia's record on human rights. By contrast, when Putin and Xi discussed Ukraine by telephone on March 4, the Kremlin said their positions were "close".

The punchline: "A strong alliance would suit both countries as a counterbalance to the United States." An alliance that would merely be an extension of current trends in close bilateral relations, including not only infrastructure investment but also military supplies:

However, China overtook Germany as Russia's biggest buyer of crude oil this year thanks to Rosneft securing deals to boost eastward oil supplies via the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline and another crossing Kazakhstan.

If Russia is isolated by a new round of Western sanctions - those so far affect only a few officials' assets abroad and have not been aimed at companies - Russia and China could also step up cooperation in areas apart from energy. CAST's Kashin said the prospects of Russia delivering Sukhoi SU-35 fighter jets to China, which has been under discussion since 2010, would grow.

China is very interested in investing in infrastructure, energy and commodities in Russia, and a decline in business with the West could force Moscow to drop some of its reservations about Chinese investment in strategic industries. "With Western sanctions, the atmosphere could change quickly in favor of China," said Brian Zimbler Managing Partner of Morgan Lewis international law firm's Moscow office.

Russia-China trade turnover grew by 8.2 percent in 2013 to $8.1 billion but Russia was still only China's seventh largest export partner in 2013, and was not in the top 10 countries for imported goods. The EU is Russia's biggest trade partner, accounting for almost half of all its trade turnover.

And as if pushing Russia into the warm embrace of the world's most populous nation was not enough, there is also the second most populated country in the world, India.

Putin did take time, however, to thank one other country apart from China for its understanding over Ukraine and Crimea - saying India had shown "restraint and objectivity".

He also called Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the crisis on Tuesday, suggesting there is room for Russia's ties with traditionally non-aligned India to flourish.

Although India has become the largest export market for U.S. arms, Russia remains a key defense supplier and relations are friendly, even if lacking a strong business and trade dimension, due to a strategic partnership dating to the Soviet era.

Putin's moves to assert Russian control over Crimea were seen very favorably in the Indian establishment, N. Ram, publisher of The Hindu newspaper, told Reuters. "Russia has legitimate interests," he added.

To summarize: while the biggest geopolitical tectonic shift since the cold war accelerates with the inevitable firming of the "Asian axis", the west monetizes its debt, revels in the paper wealth created from an all time high manipulated stock market while at the same time trying to explain why 6.5% unemployment is really indicative of a weak economy, blames the weather for every disappointing economic data point, and every single person is transfixed with finding a missing airplane.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...gas-deal-china