Ukraine General

[mistyronin 1181]

(NY Times) Putin and the 'Mariupol Test'

As the West remains divided over providing defensive lethal weapons to Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin of Russia is pondering whether to move on the strategic Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. The West needs to unite and deter him.

Russia has already violated the Minsk II cease-fire agreement by seizing the strategic transportation hub of Debaltseve a few days after the accord was reached. Although Western intelligence reports that Moscow is moving in more heavy weapons, the rest of the cease-fire line still seems to be holding, for now.

(Business Insider) Ukraine says rebels attack near Mariupol, NATO deploys Baltic troops

Ukraine accused pro-Russian separatists Monday of using mortars and a tank to fire on government positions near the eastern port of Mariupol in clashes that lasted several hours, violating a nearly month-old ceasefire.

The militants fired on Ukraine's positions and were attempting to "force our contingents from Shyrokyne," a village about 10 kilometres east of Mariupol on the Azov Sea coast, the headquarters of the army's operations in the east said in a Facebook post

[oxmox 73]

(Al Jazeera) Russia was 'ready for nuclear alert' over Crimea

Some of the german media report it similar and they did include a link to the source, thats the story:

Nevertheless, there was a question - whether the West will intervene militarily?

It could not be understood at once, so I'm on the first phase of work had to properly orient our armed forces. And not just to orient and give direct orders, orders over the possible behavior of Russia and our armed forces in any scenario," - Putin said.

He added that Russia at that time could lead to combat readiness and nuclear power: "We were ready to do it. ......."You are where? Thousands kilometres away?†Mr Putin said, addressing the US in the broadcast. “We are right here. This is our land . . . We were ready for the worst possible scenario.â€

"This is an honest and open position. And so I do not think that someone had the desire to expand some of the world conflict", - said the president of Russia. He said he was ready "to the most unfavorable developments."

Later, the Defense Ministry said that in those days, some military experts suggested Vladimir Putin as the supreme commander to use all available means to demonstrate Russia's readiness to defend its national interests.

--> The President said: "Despite the complexity and drama of the situation, the Cold War ended, and we do not need international crises like the Caribbean. Moreover, the conditions do not call for such action, and it would be contrary to our own interests." "As for our nuclear deterrent - added the president then - and so they are always in a state of combat readiness."

vesti.ru - google transl.

ft.com

---------- Post added 03-17-2015 at 12:41 AM ---------- Previous post was 03-16-2015 at 11:49 PM ----------

3-page Report about agriculture and investments in the Ukraine.

Scramble for Black Earth in the Ukraine (Die Zeit - March 16th 2015 - only small part posted)

The Ukraine fields are precious and coveted; the interest of Western agribusiness and Russia's enormous. It creates a new East-West conflict.

For Frederic Mousseau the matter is clear: The West wants the Ukrainian country - and this is not just a metaphor. Mousseau's strategy director of the California Oakland Institute, a company specializing in food security and climate issues and a think tank. In two reports, he and his colleagues have documented how enormous is the interest of Western companies in the fields of Ukraine.

Among them is because of his business with controversial genetically modified seed company Monsanto, the agricultural company Cargill and the chemical company DuPont.

Most recently, the company would have increased their investments significantly, says Mousseau - so much so that it is tantamount to a "takeover of Ukrainian agriculture by Western companies".

And the financial institutions of the West, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, supported the interests of capital through its policies.

Then Mousseau has even more. The struggle for "control of the agricultural sector" was "a crucial factor in the biggest East-West conflict since the Cold War," he explains.

Popular Black Earth

Ukraine has the nutrient-rich black soil , and in large quantities: About a quarter of the most profitable so-called Chernozem -floors located on their territories worldwide. Approximately 32 million hectares of farmland there is; which is about one-third of the arable land across the European Union.

Even today, the Ukraine is the third largest corn and seventh largest wheat exporter in the world.

Above all, the countries of North Africa and the Middle East buy grain there. The global food crisis of 2007 and 2008 also had to do with the fact that the Ukrainian government then temporarily exported stopped - then bread was more expensive in many countries of the world, there were food riots .

"We are seeing in Ukraine a competition between Russian and Western interests," he says. Some of the powerful Ukrainian oligarchs have very good contacts with Russia, and traditionally care for the east of the country close trade relations with Russian partners, says Mousseau. "But that is very different than what Western corporations do. They drive their interests ahead very aggressive."

"All aspects of Ukrainian agricultural supply chain - from production agricultural inputs to the export of goods - are increasingly controlled by western companies in this way," writes Mousseau.

This is also the view of a database that scientists at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA) maintain in Hamburg. In their country matrix collect information about land deals worldwide. Around 1.7 million hectares of Ukrainian farmland, according to the database are in foreign hands - only seven countries in the world, most of them in Africa, catching foreigners more floors.

Eventually, the free purchase and sale of farmland in Ukraine will be allowed. The concentration of land ownership will then continue to expand, fears Plank: to the detriment of ordinary country people. The war could actually accelerate the opening, recently reported Reuters .

Lifting restrictions on land sales

President Petro Poroshenko, elected last May after protests ousted previous Russian-backed leader Viktor Yanukovich, had considered lifting restrictions on land sales during "long discussions" with World Bank officials, Strubenhoff said.

Jean-Jacques Hervé, counsellor to the board for agriculture at France's Credit Agricole Bank in Ukraine, said local people don't have enough money to buy the land.

"Speculators with access to foreign currency would be the biggest winners (if the land market was opened)," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "There is a big chance in the crisis for the Ukrainian government," Strubenhoff said.

Complete 3-page report from Die Zeit - google transl.

Edited March 17, 2015 by oxmox

[astral4eg 10]

[RT] Ukraine cops get ‘shoot-to-kill orders’ amid unrest over army hit & run killing of 8yo

[St. Jimmy 272]

[RT] Ukraine cops get ‘shoot-to-kill orders’ amid unrest over army hit & run killing of 8yo

That sounds pretty bad for the Ukraine side. Opening fire on unrest civils don't usually end well for the shooters side.

[Tonci87 163]

Is there any independent confirmation for these incidents or is RT pulling something out of their ass again?

[mistyronin 1181]

Is there any independent confirmation for these incidents or is RT pulling something out of their ass again?

Knowing RT, most probably the second. RT is as trustworthy as Hello Magazine.

[jakerod 254]

Is there any independent confirmation for these incidents or is RT pulling something out of their ass again?

That sounds pretty bad for the Ukraine side. Opening fire on unrest civils don't usually end well for the shooters side.

I felt the same way too but this backs it up: http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv-post-plus/riots-in-kostyantynivka-after-armored-vehicle-hits-and-kills-a-child-383664.html

Not sure how reliable that site is though. There are a few other news sites that mention the 8 year old being killed but I didn't check all of them for the "open fire" part.

[mistyronin 1181]

(ABC News) Ukraine Scrambles to Avoid New Unrest Flashpoint in the East

Residents in the eastern Ukrainian town of Kostyantynivka angrily confronted police Tuesday after an armored military vehicle struck and killed an 8-year-old girl, showing the tensions still simmering in the war-torn region.

Although now under government control, Kostyantynivka was held by rebel forces for almost three months last year. Attitudes toward the Ukrainian authorities vary widely and many residents retain sympathies for the Russia-backed separatists the government is fighting.

On Monday night, hours after the accident, clashes broke out in front of a dormitory commandeered by soldiers fighting the separatists. Enraged crowds turned over a police car and set fire to a bus. Authorities said they detained the ringleaders of the unrest.

(Radio Free Europe) Unrest In Ukrainian Town After Girl Killed By Armored Vehicle

Authorities in a government-held town in eastern Ukraine have made arrests after violence that followed a road accident in which an armored vehicle struck and killed a young girl.

Angry residents of the Donetsk region town of Kostyantynivka threw stones at a barracks, torched two cars, and overturned a third after servicemen apparently lost control of an armored vehicle on March 16, killing a girl who was about 7 years old and injuring her aunt and a toddler.

I felt the same way too but this backs it up: http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv-post-plus/riots-in-kostyantynivka-after-armored-vehicle-hits-and-kills-a-child-383664.html

Not sure how reliable that site is though. There are a few other news sites that mention the 8 year old being killed but I didn't check all of them for the "open fire" part.

I think the accident part is true, I've also seen it in other sites, the carte blanche to kill is the one that is fishy.

BTW I find interesting this part of the link you posted:

Meanwhile, videos of unrest in Kostyantynivka have become viral in social networks. Most of them showed people shouting in the streets and fires burning. The local office of the interior ministry said protesters burned tires in the streets.

Also, propaganda machines on both sides geared up and pumped out scores of tweets about the incident. On one side, trolls issued warnings that the Right Sector “punishers" were coming into town to rein in the local population. On the other side, numerous tweets warned that somebody was using the accident to incite riots.

As the situation escalated by the evening, the Ukrainian authorities allowed police officers to use weapons in case of mass riots, Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, told 112 TV channel.

Edited March 18, 2015 by MistyRonin

[oxmox 73]

Ukraine and Romania has decided to help unfreeze the Transnistrian conflict

Ukraine and Romania have agreed to coordinate actions by the Transnistrian region in order to facilitate the defrosting of the conflict.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said during a joint press conference with Romanian President Werner Johannis:

Special attention has been paid to the events in the Republic of Moldova, particularly in Transnistria.

"We have agreed to coordinate our actions on Transnistria in order to facilitate the unfreezing of the given conflict and help sovereign and independent Moldova regain its territorial integrity and reintegrate the Transnistria region," Petro Poroshenko informed.

Also, the Presidents have reached an agreement on the necessity of substantial modernization of the security system in the Black Sea region.

http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/32494.html

UNIAN press agency

Iam not sure if it is the right time for such political actions currently...........

Edited March 18, 2015 by oxmox

[Tonci87 163]

These peope are totally fucked up in their heads.....
The Serbs beeing the most ridiculous bunch.

"We are here to fight fashism and Imperialism...yeah Ratko Mladic is our Hero" FPDR Edited March 18, 2015 by Tonci87

[aleksadragutin 9]

These peope are totally fucked up in their heads.....

The Serbs beeing the most ridiculous bunch.

"We are here to fight fashism and Imperialism...yeah Ratko Mladic is our Hero" FPDR

Excuse me, but all of the former Serb leadership was accused for genocide and crimes. There were some Croats, but they got released. The Hague was a prison for Serbs with the famous case of Vojislav Seselj, who got detained for more than a decade (they couldn't convict him). So being accused of genocide doesn't really say much.

What exactly does western imperialism have to do with Ratko Mladic?

[ProfTournesol 956]

If they want to fight against Fascism, they should look for the right enemy, a little Eastward.

[Tonci87 163]

Excuse me, but all of the former Serb leadership was accused for genocide and crimes. There were some Croats, but they got released. The Hague was a prison for Serbs with the famous case of Vojislav Seselj, who got detained for more than a decade (they couldn't convict him). So being accused of genocide doesn't really say much.

What exactly does western imperialism have to do with Ratko Mladic?

Wait a second, what again did he fight for? Greater Serbia? Together with ethnic cleansing? Damn, that sound an awfull lot like fashism and imperialism :rolleyes:

[aleksadragutin 9]

Wait a second, what again did he fight for? Greater Serbia? Together with ethnic cleansing? Damn, that sound an awfull lot like fashism and imperialism :rolleyes:

Does he have an official site where he says he's fighting for ethnic cleansing and greater Serbia? Really, the only fault of any of our generals back then (besides strategic stupidity) was that they were fighting for Serbia, and not against it.

And it doesn't sound like imperialism at all (fashism maybe, if we were to say that he really was fighting for ethnic cleansing and greater Serbia, but you and I don't know his motives well enough to claim one or the other).

[Tonci87 163]

Well he himself made his motives pretty clear when he butchered his way through Bosnia.

[aleksadragutin 9]

Well he himself made his motives pretty clear when he butchered his way through Bosnia.

Let's leave this to the court (which is bias, but what you gonna do) .

[Tonci87 163]

Oh, so it will be blamed on "the court is biased" when he gets convicted.....

[oxmox 73]

Play nice, guys. Both, Serbs and Croats are fighting in the Ukraine and it seems in the historical form with symphatizer of Ustaša and Četnici. But I did read that allegedly on both sides are Serbs fighting and therefore maybe also Croats, the numbers of fighters altogether are probably not that high.

Croatian volunteers fighting alongside Ukrainian army; Serb counterparts helping pro-Russian rebels

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/02/12/world/croatian-volunteers-fighting-alongside-ukrainian-army-serb-counterparts-helping-pro-russian-rebels/

Other sources and no idea if the reports are correct:

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/croatia-calls-citizens-to-return-from-ukraine

http://rt.com/news/231915-eu-mercenaries-ukraine-tusk/

http://inserbia.info/today/2014/08/serb-against-serb-in-ukraine/

Edited March 18, 2015 by oxmox

[Tonci87 163]

Croatian volunteers fighting alongside Ukrainian army;

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/02/12/world/croatian-volunteers-fighting-alongside-ukrainian-army-serb-counterparts-helping-pro-russian-rebels/

Those guys are stupid too! From their own experience they should know better than to go to war.

[ProfTournesol 956]

Yep, and those French, with what are they sympathizing ?

[oxmox 73]

Yep, and those French, with what are they sympathizing ?

You are from France, tell us :p.

When they are comming back some will maybe say: "Once I was an adventurer, than I took an Arrow in the knee" :o

Edited March 18, 2015 by oxmox

[mistyronin 1181]

When they are comming back some will maybe say: "Once I was an adventurer, than I took an Arrow in the knee" :o

I think there's a bit of everything, like in most of the armies and wars.

Ukraine's Eastern war has it share of idealist people, people that seek fame or fortune, people that just want to say that they were there, and even those who just want to cause troubles no matter where, etc.

On the idealism bunch, it's quite funny because some are right wing fascists that idolater Putin and his imperialism and traditionalism policies (like the Serbs, French or Swedish volunteers) and others are left-wing fools that think that Russia is trying to bring back communism and build a second USSR Empire in Eastern Europe (like the Spaniards)...

[Tonci87 163]

The bit about them getting permission to live there if the war is won is very interesting though

[mistyronin 1181]

The bit about them getting permission to live there if the war is won is very interesting though

Think that there's a lot of people who have nothing to lose, being because they committed some crimes in their homeland, they are broke because of some business gone bad, or they live in a dangerous country, they are only good at fighting etc. so having a minimum salary a place to sleep and the future influence in the making of a new country, it's engaging for them.

That remembers me when after WW2 a lot of Nazis went to Latin-America and became assistance of the dictatorships there, or when after the Yugoslavian wars, there were a lot of bands of Serbian, Kosovan, Croatian, etc. that moved to other European countries to commit robberies and others using the methods and equipment they learnt during the wars.

All that backgrounds are also the main ones in "foreign units" like the French Foreign Legion, that receive their fare share of ex-fighters from other conflicts around the World, people that had no future, etc.

[oxmox 73]

I think there's a bit of everything, like in most of the armies and wars.

Ukraine's Eastern war has it share of idealist people, people that seek fame or fortune, people that just want to say that they were there, and even those who just want to cause troubles no matter where, etc.

On the idealism bunch, it's quite funny because some are right wing fascists that idolater Putin and his imperialism and traditionalism policies (like the Serbs, French or Swedish volunteers) and others are left-wing fools that think that Russia is trying to bring back communism and build a second USSR Empire in Eastern Europe (like the Spaniards)...

Yeah, you will find such kind of people on both sides in this conflict.

One instructor and recruiter of the Azov Batallion is from France, Gaston Besson. You will also find french fighters on both sides, same story like with other nations.

found something........good read about several countries:

BBC Report - August 2014

French, Spanish, Swedish or Serb, the foreigners fighting for both sides in east Ukraine's bloody conflict hail from across Europe and come with a bewildering array of agendas.

The non-mercenaries among them are motivated by causes which can stretch back to the wars in the former Yugoslavia - and even further still, to the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s.

France

Some 20 French citizens have gone to Ukraine to fight on both sides, French public radio station France Info said in a report (in French) on 11 August.

Four of them, including two former soldiers, went to Donetsk to fight for the rebels. They were filmed by Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda posing with guns.

Their spokesman is Victor Lenta, 25, who earlier told France's Le Monde newspaper (article in French) he had been a corporal in the Third Marine Infantry Paratroop Regiment and had served in Afghanistan, Ivory Coast and Chad. Another member of the group is Nikola Perovic, also 25 and with Serbian ancestry, who likewise reportedly fought in Afghanistan as a corporal in France's 13th Mountain Infantry Battalion.

They told Le Monde they were the founders of an ultra-nationalist movement called Continental Unity, which has organised demonstrations in France and Serbia in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Serbian war crimes suspect Vojislav Seselj.

In their view, according to Le Monde, Russia is the final bulwark against liberal globalisation which they consider "responsible for the decline in national values and loss of French sovereignty".

Their main role among the rebels, apparently, is to provide combat training for recruits from West European countries.

Gaston Besson, on the other hand, has been fighting for the Ukrainian government as a member of its Azov volunteer battalion, a unit known for its far-right associations.

Aged 47, he nonetheless describes himself as a "leftwing revolutionary", according to France Info. Reported to be a former paratrooper, he is said to have fought in previous conflicts ranging from Croatia to Colombia

He is known for his efforts to recruit other foreigners and, according to a Eurasianet article, wrote in June: "Every day I receive dozens of requests to join us by email, especially from countries like Finland, Norway and Sweden."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28951324

Edited March 18, 2015 by oxmox