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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Russian 'peacekeeper' troops enter Russian controlled east Ukraine |
| 2022-02-22 |
| [ArmyTimes] Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered forces Monday to "maintain peace" in separatist regions of eastern Ukraine in a further escalation of tensions that followed the Kremlin’s recognition of the areas’ independence despite warnings of sanctions and international condemnation. In response to his earlier move recognizing separatist republics of Luhansk and Donestk, a senior Biden administration official said that the White House is assessing those moves and will determine what additional actions, likely in the form of sanctions, it will take, in the coming hours. "We will continue to consult with our allies and partners about both diplomatic solutions and the consequences we will impose on Russia, should it further invade Ukraine," said a senior administration official during a Monday evening press call. There are already more than 150,000 Russian troops surrounding Ukraine. The official pointed out that Russian troops have repeatedly entered the region since Russia invaded in 2014, during which time more than 14,000 people have been killed in fighting. But he declined to set a red line on what further incursions would prompt an additional U.S. response. "Just in the last hour, we’ve seen Russia or troops to deploy into the DPR and LPR for so called peacekeeping functions," said the senior administration official, who declined to confirm reports by the Russian Interfax news agency and social media posts showing additional Russian forces entering the Donbas. A Ukraine military official told Military Times Monday night that a new wave of Russian troops had entered the Donbas in the wake of Putin’s order. |
| Posted by:Lord Garth |
| #28 Welcome to Putin-fan boys drooling over his every move. |
| Posted by: Clyde Untervehr8732 2022-02-22 21:30 |
| #27 Yes. Harsh on Americans. Another crisis that won't be going to waste if the leftists get their way. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-02-22 19:09 |
| #26 And now the kabuki begins, with "harsh" sanctions. Which have never had the slightest impact on Putin's calculations or conduct and won't now -- except of course for cementing the new Russia-China alliance. Brilliant. But American Pravda laps it up: NYT flooding the zone with a dozen screaming headlines and articles, as if this comical, useless theater were another D-Day landing. |
| Posted by: Merrick Ferret 2022-02-22 18:46 |
| #25 We expect that sort of thing from Putin but we thought Trudeau was just an annoying liberal weenie. We'll see how long Trudeau can get away with it. |
| Posted by: Jatle Sinatra9653 2022-02-22 17:02 |
| #24 I think Putin is a ruthless dictator and a scary thug Trudeau is just warming up. You get more of what you tolerate. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-02-22 16:37 |
| #23 WaPo columnist Eugene Robinson wrote yesterday that the move by Putin was a victory for Biden So far he is the only hack doing this but who knows maybe all the high status opinion types will follow, even though this opinion borders on insanity |
| Posted by: Lord Garth 2022-02-22 16:37 |
| #22 Whatever credibility we had there got shot right after Qaddafi. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2022-02-22 15:00 |
| #21 Except we told them we'd guarantee their security if they gave up their nukes. This and the cave towards Iran will kick off a world-wide nuclear arms race. Unless it was part of a treaty endorSed by the US Senate those promises are meaningless. |
| Posted by: badanov 2022-02-22 14:52 |
| #20 We have no strategic interest in Ukraine. Except we told them we'd guarantee their security if they gave up their nukes. This and the cave towards Iran will kick off a world-wide nuclear arms race. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2022-02-22 14:20 |
| #19 Last night CBS News reported that Putin had launched into a tirade about Ukraine on Russian TV. But, of course, neither CBS nor any other mainstream outlet would report on what the man actually had to say. So I went to Al Jazeera and found highlights. I posted it for tomorrow's Opinion section. They say there are two sides to every story but you'd never know it from watching CBS. I'm sorry if people in Donbass are suffering. I don't like all the tension. Yes, I think Putin is a ruthless dictator and a scary thug and I have no way of knowing whether his tanks will roll into Kiev or not. But, at this point and from where I sit, I'm more afraid of Brandon and his media friends than I am of Putin. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2022-02-22 13:12 |
| #18 COVID brought us the "we are all in this together" mantra. It's nonsense, but it's what the leftist elite are selling. It's an expansion on the R2P bullship... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-02-22 11:08 |
| #17 We have no strategic interest in Ukraine. By the actions of Nato and the EC, they don't either. |
| Posted by: The Walking Unvaxed 2022-02-22 10:49 |
| #16 * Thanks to the idiotic sanctions, At least Siri didn't render my speech as chiliastic |
| Posted by: Merrick Ferret 2022-02-22 10:13 |
| #15 #10 Russia continues to call for talks despite the State Department acting as though they don't need to talk, just impose sanctions. As with their COVIDiocy, our elites are just mindlessly thrashing now. "It failed -- so let's do more of the same." Sanctions are the stupidest of our many retarded policies. They failed vs Saddam. They failed vs Iran. They've failed every damned place they've ever been tried, simply ending up punishing ordinary people and turning them against us. Before our pointless and futile sanctions were. Applied to Russia in 2014, the Russian people and we had a favorable view of the United States and its policies. Thanks for the chili attic sanctions, the Russians now have an overwhelmingly negative view of the United States and its policies. So now they're talking about sanctions again -- when Russia has $650 billion in the bank and $130 billion worth of signed oil and gas deals with its new ally, China. Which has THREE TRILLION $ in reserves. We Are Ruled By Flailing Morons |
| Posted by: Merrick Ferret 2022-02-22 10:11 |
| #14 Alas, all those shrewd and clear-eyed Russia hands who predicted Russian revenge on NATO were ignored. Alas, the most eloquent and learned voices have departed the scene: George Kennan, Stephen F. Cohen, Bill Bradley traveled around Russia in the mid-1990s with liberal politicians and heard an earful about NATO from ordinary Russians -- long before anyone ever heard of Putin. But no one listened to Bradley in 2008 when he warned of this. No one listened to two of our greatest IR theorists, Mearsheimer of Chicago or Schweller of OSU. The former explained it with crystal clarity 6 years ago. No one in our arrogant, mindless foreign policy establishment heeded him. |
| Posted by: Merrick Ferret 2022-02-22 10:05 |
| #13 Bidet and Blinkey "have the Bear right where it wants them" now. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-02-22 09:51 |
| #12 There's nothing to negotiate. There was nothing left to negotiate when the German Wehrmacht entered Prague. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2022-02-22 09:49 |
| #11 The people who actually won the cold war are mostly gone now. The office boys and girls that were there when it happened imagine themselves "old Russia hands" now. They couldn't be more wrong. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-02-22 09:46 |
| #10 Everything Putin has done this week has been 100 percent predictable. I knew Georgia Part II was on the table. If our "elite" had been paying attention they could have achieved a long lasting diplomatic solution. But no. Wew have old cold warriors applying the only thing they know about Russia thinking it will apply in reality. Russia continues to call for talks despite the state department acting as though they don't need to talk, just impose sanctions. |
| Posted by: badanov 2022-02-22 09:40 |
| #9 WRT Taiwan, the gummint better pay whatever it takes to fast track Intel and Samsung's new chip fabs on US soil. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2022-02-22 09:32 |
| #8 This is a bargaining chip. Or if you prefer шахматы, Putin moving the Queen into striking position: check. Magoo has to negotiate now. If someone in his admin is listening to reason, that is. "Independence" for Ukraine... with no NATO membership. A Ukrainian version of the sleight of hand formula we use vis-a-vis Taiwan |
| Posted by: Merrick Ferret 2022-02-22 09:30 |
| #7 From (call sign) Igor Strelkov: According to the press secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov, the Russian Federation recognizes the DPR and LPR within the borders "in which they proclaimed themselves," TASS reports . Journalists asked him if these borders include Mariupol. "Nothing to say. Within the limits in which they exist and have been proclaimed. And they were proclaimed, and they exist, ”Interfax quotes Peskov. He also commented on the possibility of introducing troops into the Donbass. According to him, the decision to send Russian troops to the DPR and LPR will be made depending on the situation and in the case of appeals from the heads of the republics. Peskov added that a break in diplomatic relations with Ukraine is highly undesirable, it will make relations between the two countries and peoples even more difficult. |
| Posted by: badanov 2022-02-22 09:24 |
| #6 Irregulars |
| Posted by: Merrick Ferret 2022-02-22 09:23 |
| #5 Russian troops are not in Donetsk and Lugansk. They may be sent in the future, but for now, no Russian ground formations are in Donetsk and Lugansk Link FTA: Russia will not yet send troops to the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, the recognition of which President Vladimir Putin announced the day before, said Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko. At the same time, Moscow expressed its readiness to provide military assistance to the republics in the event of a threat. “Military assistance is provided for by the treaty. But let's not speculate. So far, no one is going to enter anything anywhere. If there is a threat, then we will provide assistance in accordance with the ratified treaties, ”he said (quote about TASS ). |
| Posted by: badanov 2022-02-22 09:18 |
| #4 Even the Polish leaders and the EU Foreign Minister admit the obvious and refuse to call this an "invasion." These are disputed lands already occupied by Russian troops. Putin is yet again wrongfooting our sadsack, incompetent leaders. |
| Posted by: Merrick Ferret 2022-02-22 09:12 |
| #3 And then there's this where Zhirinovsky tells us the exact date and time that Russia would begin operations in Ukraine. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2022-02-22 08:41 |
| #2 He's sending 'peacekeepers' in already occupied territory. Just like the KGB followed the Red Army as it 'liberated' areas '42-post'45. Now watch carefully how incompetent the Western leadership is. If they tell the Ukraine to accept this grab as a defacto event, their diplomatic war against Israel collapses when dealing with West Bank issues. No principle, not that they had any principles anyway. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2022-02-22 06:07 |
| #1 79th anniversary of Manstein's masterpiece: the Third Battle of Kharkov... |
| Posted by: borgboy 2022-02-22 01:05 |