Putin concludes that only war can now save him

Jason Easley (right) reports that,

"Donald Trump’s presidential campaign woes have gotten bigger as his campaign manager Paul Manafort’s name has turned up in a ledger of illegal payments that were made by a network in Putin’s sphere of influence in Ukraine." PoliticusUsa : Sun, Aug 14th, 2016) (my emphasis)

As also reported by Andrew E. Kramer, Mike McIntire and Barry Meier,

“Paul Manafort is among those names on the list of so-called ‘black accounts of the Party of Regions,’ which the detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine are investigating,” the statement said." (New York Times : Aug. 14, 2016) (my emphasis)
They also report that these,

"..handwritten ledgers show $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments designated for Mr. Manafort from Mr. Yanukovych’s pro-Russian political party from 2007 to 2012, according to Ukraine’s newly formed National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Investigators assert that the disbursements were part of an illegal off-the-books system whose recipients also included election officials." (ibid Kramer, McIntire, and Meier) (my emphasis)

Let us also remind ourselves that  Josh Rogin (right) reported that,

"The Trump campaign worked behind the scenes last week to make sure the new Republican platform won’t call for giving weapons to Ukraine to fight Russian and rebel forces, contradicting the view of almost all Republican foreign policy leaders in Washington." (Washington Post : July 18, 2016) (my emphasis)


Meanwhile, as these direct links between Paul Manafort and corrupt payments by the Yanukovich Party of Regions continue to emerge,

"Ukraine's Defence Intelligence warn that combined Russian-separatist forces, operating in the occupied territories of eastern Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions, are plotting massive provocations along the whole contact line." (UT : Aug. 12, 2016)

Even the OSCE, with Putinversteher Walter Steinmeier (left) now its Chairperson,

"... is ready to establish nine control bases along the fragment of Ukraine-Russia border in the occupied Donbas region." (UT : Aug. 12, 2016) to monitor the provocations of Putin's Russian soldiers and rebel proxies in the Donbas.

 

That Putin is beginning to run scared is, as Jill Dougherty (right) explains,

"...the consensus among Russia-watchers at the Lennart Meri security conference is summed up by Fiona Hill, director of the Brookings Institution’s Center on the United States and Europe. 
“We talk an awful lot now about our feelings of insecurity towards Russia,” she says, “but I think it’s a pretty obvious fact that the Kremlin is also running scared, and we really have to start to inspect why is that the case?”

The Kremlin is frightened about its grip on the political situation at home - and the geopolitical situation abroad. Russia is trying to deter the West in a very aggressive way because it realizes it is weaker - economically, militarily, and in terms of soft power." (Wilson Centre : Jul 18, 2016) (my emphasis)

This is perhaps best illustrated by Putin's glove-puppet, Dmitri Medvedev, announcing last Friday (12 Aug., 2016) that, Russia may completely break diplomatic ties with Ukraine, thus consigning the current Minsk2 agreements to the dustbin of history.

Unlike before, Putin cannot use the current Olympics in Rio as a smokescreen to avert the eyes of the world away from his preparations for war with Ukraine in both Ukrainian Crimea and the Donbas.

Nor can he disguise the fact that,

"Russians are feeling more indifferent towards President Vladimir Putin than at any time before the Ukraine crisis, according to independent pollster the Levada Center.
.....
Putin’s biggest flaws continue to be his administration’s fight against corruption and failing to raise living standards. Nearly a third of Russians (29 percent) agreed his position on corruption was his biggest failure, while 27 percent felt the inability to increase wages, pensions and living standards was his major problem in the last year." (Damien Sharkov: Newsweek :  8/8/16) (my emphasis)

Under these circumstances Putin will lash out. 

War, he concludes, is the only way that he can save himself.

(to be continued)

Is Putin stepping into the abyss?

As inevitably as the sun will rise to-morrow morning, Putin is repeating his pretext for escalating the war between Russia and Ukraine that he did when he was head of the FSB in 1999, and oversaw the Moscow apartment bombings that he used as a causus belli to start his war with Chechnya.

Let us for a moment remind ourselves that those 1999 apartment bombings in Moscow led to the deaths of 293, and injured more than 1000 people, whilst at the same time spreading a wave of fear across the country. (cf Wikipedia)

There is enough evidence that exposes the fact that these bombings were staged by the then FSB under Putin. (cf Wikipedia)

This is best illustrated by the failed Ryazan bombing attempt by the FSB.

And now we have Putin attempting to use the very same FSB tactic to provoke a full scale war with Ukraine. 

As reported by Andrew Osborn and Gleb Stolyarov,

"Russia's FSB security service said two people were killed in clashes and its forces had dismantled a Ukrainian spy network inside Crimea. Kiev denied the assertions, calling them an attempt by Moscow to create an excuse to escalate towards a war.
...
"Russian accusations towards Ukraine of terrorism in the occupied Crimea sound as preposterous and cynical as the statements of the Russian leadership about the absence of the Russian troops in Donbass (region of Ukraine)," Poroshenko [President of Ukraine] said." (Reuters : Wed Aug 10, 2016) (my emphasis) 

This time, however, the world is not being fooled by Putin.

As reported by EuroMaidan Press,

 

"In the last few weeks, Moscow commentator Aleksandr Nemets says, the leading media in the United States – Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and London’s Economist as well – have focused on Putin’s odious methods because of his backing of Donald Trump in the American election.
...
[Nemets continues] ... “the situation in the Russian Federation is extremely bad and getting still worse.” But despite that, “the Putin regime has as before one powerful resource: its willingness to use the most odious means and to exploit the chaos connected with them.” Those are the only things saving Putin and Company just now." (EuroMaidan Press : 11/08/2016) (my emphasis)

Not only are Putin's troop movements in Crimea and in the Donbas glaring indicators of his impending and dangerous escalation of his war with Ukraine.

More significant is the fact that,

"Straightaway, Mr Putin said more internationally-backed talks, due in the next few weeks, had been proved "pointless". So Russia has a reason to stall again on the Minsk peace process, maintain the unstable status quo in Ukraine and to blame Kiev for all of it." (Sarah Rainsford (left): BBC News : 11/08/2016) (my emphasis)

By referring to the Minsk2 peace process as "pointless, Putin is trying to LEGITIMISE the dangerous escalation of his war with Ukraine. 

This is the equivalent of his pronouncing in 1999 that he will "kill" those Chechen rebels who allegedly blew up those Moscow apartments, even if they are in the toilet, whilst KNOWING full well that his FSB were responsible for those bombings.

Let us also remind ourselves that a few days ago it was reported in the Moscow Times that,

"Largely Unnoticed, Full-Scale War May Be Returning to Ukraine. July was the deadliest month in the Donbass for over a year." (Ola Cichowlas and Matthew Bodner : Moscow Times : Aug. 04 2016) (my emphasis)

 

Also that, as reported by Jill Dougherty (left) on 18 July,

"... At the office I ask a Russian employee about the mood in his working-class Moscow neighborhood. The old people are buying salt, matches and “gretchka,” (buckwheat) he tells me - the time-worn refuge for Russians stocking up on essentials in case of war. In the past two months, I’ve traveled to the Baltic region, to Georgia, and to Russia. Talk of war is everywhere." (Wilson Centre : Jul 18, 2016) (my emphasis)

 

As Jill Dougherty also writes,

"The Kremlin is frightened about its grip on the political situation at home - and the geopolitical situation abroad. Russia is trying to deter the West in a very aggressive way because it realizes it is weaker - economically, militarily, and in terms of soft power." (ibid Wilson Centre) (my emphasis)

 

Putin is re-living 1999, and the tragic and desperate actions he took to present himself to the people of Russia as someone who would ruthlessly hunt down those Chechens alleged to have caused the deaths and suffering of Russian people.

Now it is the deaths, in Ukrainian Crimea that he invaded and annexed, of a Russian soldier and an FSB employee that he is vowing to avenge, alleging that Ukrainian military persons are responsible for those deaths.

 

And just as he vowed in 1999 to "chase the terrorists at the airports or in the toilet and waste them in an outhouse", now he is vowing, in characteristically bellicose language,

“We obviously will not let such things slide by,” the Russian president said on Wednesday. Ukraine had “resorted to the practice of terror”, he said. ( Shaun Walker (left): The Guardian : Wednesday 10 August 2016) (my emphasis)

 

Shaun Walker further reports that,

 

"Oleskandr Turchynov, the head of Ukraine’s national security and defence council, also dismissed the claims. “The hysterical and false statement by Russia’s FSB has no purpose other than an attempt by occupiers to inflame the situation on temporarily occupied Ukrainian lands,” he said." (ibid Shaun Walker) 

 

As in the case of the invasion and occupation of Ukrainian Crimea by Putin's "little green men", an invasion that was planned BEFORE the Maidan revolution, we can expect that this phoney 'tantrum' of Putin is yet another part of a pre-planned 'maskirovka' strategy, the time for implementing which has now arrived.

 

 RUSSIAN "MASKIROVKA" STRATEGY (aired BBC Jan 2015)

 

(to be continued)

Putin preparing the Russian people for war

Three days ago Alexander Mercouris (left) wrote that,

"Since Zurabov was dismissed the Russians have proposed Mikhail Babich as their ambassador to Ukraine." (The Duran : 6/8/2016)

Who is Mikhail Babich (right)? As Mercouris points out, Mikhail Babich is,

•  a former paratrooper who obviously still has connections to the military
•  he participated as recently as 2005 in higher command courses at Russia’s General Staff Academy
•  an elected deputy in Russia’s parliament the State Duma
• the Presidential Envoy to the Volga Federal District where a significant part of Russia’s defence industry is located (ibid Mercouris) (my emphasis) (an interesting list of his awards can be found at Wikipedia)

In other words, Mikhail Babich is a High Ranking military man in the civilian clothes of a deputy of the Russian Duma.

Is it therefore any wonder that,

"Ukraine has rejected Russia's proposed candidate [Mikhail Babich] for its next ambassador to Kiev, a senior Ukrainian foreign ministry official said.

.....

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin (left) said the rejection was "not a question of the candidates or anything concrete, but about creating a positive dynamic in what's happening within the context of Russian aggression." (Natalia Zinets : Reuters: Thu Aug 4, 2016) (my emphasis)

And what is "happening within the context of Russian aggression" is that,

"Witnesses report large amounts of Russian military hardware have been massed near the towns of Dzhankoy and Armyansk in Crimea's north, close to the administrative border with mainland Ukraine.

.....

At about 07:00 local time today [Sunday, August 7], the Russian occupying authorities suspended, for unknown reasons, the handling of citizens and vehicles crossing the administrative border with Crimea..." (UNIAN : 07 August 2016) (my emphasis)

At the same time,

"Russia has deployed 70 replacement troops to reinforce the 9th separate assault motorized rifle regiment of the Marines Corps (militant-held Novoazovsk) of the 1st Army Corps (Donetsk) of Russia's Armed Forces and 50 replacement troops to enhance the 7th separate motorized rifle brigade (militant-held Luhansk ) of the 2nd Army Corps (Luhansk) of Russia's Armed Forces" (UT:  Aug. 8, 2016) 

whilst 

"Militants reportedly use the banned artillery in Donbas.

 
Combined Russian-separatist forces attacked the Ukrainian army positions in eastern Ukraine 47 times in the past 24 hours, including 20 times in the Mariupol sector, 16 times in the Donetsk sector and 11 times in the Luhansk sector, according to the military press canter.." (UT : Aug. 9, 2016)

And now we have that dyed-in-the-wool Soviet foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov (below), ostesibly bemoaning the fact that,
 

"The Russian government is “seriously concerned” by an uptick in fighting in Ukraine’s easternmost regions, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

....

“We are, of course, seriously concerned about what is happening in the Donbas,” Lavrov said. “The current wave of verbal and practical military activity is of course contrary to the spirit and letter of the Paris agreements and the Minsk accords.” (Ilya Arkhipov and  Jake Rudnitsky: Bloomberg : August 8, 2016) (my emphasis)

But is it a co-incidence that the Moscow Times is now also reporting that, 

"Largely Unnoticed, Full-Scale War May Be Returning to Ukraine. July was the deadliest month in the Donbass for over a year." (Ola Cichowlas and Matthew Bodner : Moscow Times : Aug. 04 2016) (my emphasis)

just as 

• Putin wants the High Ranking military official, Mikhail Babich, to become his ambassador in Kiev, 
• Putin's dyed-in-the-wool Soviet foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, says that Putin is "seriously concerned" by the uptick of fighting in the Donbas 
• large amounts of Russian military hardware have been massed near the towns of Dzhankoy and Armyansk in Crimea's north, close to the administrative border with mainland Ukraine,
• More than 100 people arrived in Donbas from Russia to replenish the combined Russian-separatist forces, and
• Combined Russian-separatist forces attacked the Ukrainian army positions in eastern Ukraine 47 times in the past 24 hours?

Let us remind ourseleves, as reported by Jill Dougherty (left) on 18 July, that,

"... At the office I ask a Russian employee about the mood in his working-class Moscow neighborhood. The old people are buying salt, matches and “gretchka,” (buckwheat) he tells me - the time-worn refuge for Russians stocking up on essentials in case of war. In the past two months, I’ve traveled to the Baltic region, to Georgia, and to Russia. Talk of war is everywhere." (Wilson Centre : Jul 18, 2016) (my emphasis)

As Jill Dougherty also writes,

"The Kremlin is frightened about its grip on the political situation at home - and the geopolitical situation abroad. Russia is trying to deter the West in a very aggressive way because it realizes it is weaker - economically, militarily, and in terms of soft power." (ibid Wilson Centre) (my emphasis)

Let us also remind ourselves that Putin has now surrounded himself with a Praetorian Guard of more than 400,000 men.

As reported by Tom Balmforth,

"The Kremlin has cast its new National Guard force as a timely move to combat terrorism and organized crime, but wary observers liken the agency to a "Praetorian Guard on steroids" to protect President Vladimir Putin and his hold on power, particularly as elections loom." (RFERL : Monday, July 25, 2016) (my emphasis)

Which all points to the fact that Putin seems to be on the verge of a possible FULL SCALE invasion of eastern Ukraine not only as a means of deflecting the eyes of the Russian people away from their current economic hardships, but also as a means of trying to ensure that the upcoming Russian Duma elections in September are either postponed or that ANY protests by the Russian people are spiked under the banner of being "unpatriotic".

(to be continued)

Putin, the US Presidential elections, and Ukraine

Christopher Massie and Andrew Kaczynski (left) report that,

Trump called [Putin's] Invasion of Ukraine “So Smart” in 2014

"“Well, he’s done an amazing job of taking the mantle,” Trump said of Russian president Vladimir Putin in an interview with Fox News’ Eric Bolling. “And he’s taken it away from the president, and you look at what he’s doing. And so smart. When you see the riots in a country because they’re hurting the Russians, okay, ‘We’ll go and take it [Ukrainian Crimea] over.’ And he really goes step by step by step, and you have to give him a lot of credit.” (BuzzFeed News : Aug. 1, 2016) (my emphasis)

 

Fast forward from 2014 to 2016 and we have Trump categorically stating that,

“He’s [Putin's] not going to go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down. You can put it down. You can take it anywhere you want,” Trump said." (Elizabeth McLaughlin: ABC News : Aug 1, 2016) (my emphasis)

But let the CNN interview below speak for itself.

Even more disconcerting we have Paul Manafort a Putin and Yanukovich admirer, and one of Trump's senior strategists, on the CBS 'Face The Nation' interview desperately trying to extricate Trump from his remark that,

" ..... He’s [Putin's] not going to go into Ukraine, all right?"  (ibid  Elizabeth McLaughlin)

even though Putin himself has told the whole world that he invaded and annexed Ukrainian Crimea, and the whole world knows that there are up to 10,000 Russian soldiers currently waging war against Ukraine in the Donbas even as I write.

It is rather interesting that Manafort tries to make the interviewer focus on Hilary Clinton's emails, without daring to mention the recent and sudden publishing by Julian Assange of WikiLeaks of the emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee.

As Peter Stone, David Smith, Ben Jacobs, Alec Luhn and Rupert Neate report,

"Thousands of Democratic National Committee emails, meanwhile, were hacked and published by WikiLeaks on the eve of the party’s convention in Philadelphia this week.

...

The FBI is investigating, with all signs pointing to Russian involvement, though Moscow rejects this but experts argue Vladimir Putin has attempted in the past to damage western democracy, saying Russian security agencies have made cyberattacks on French, Greek, Italian and Latvian targets during elections. " (The Guardian : Saturday 30 July 2016) (my emphasis)

It is known that Julian Assange hopes to harm Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the presidency.

As Charlie Savage reports,

"Mr. Assange told a British television host, Robert Peston (left) of the ITV network, that his organization had obtained “emails related to Hillary Clinton which are pending publication,” which he pronounced “great.” He also suggested that he not only opposed her candidacy on policy grounds, but also saw her as a personal foe." (New York Times : July 26, 2016) (my emphasis)

  

It is also reported that,

"Analysts suggest three primary motivations for the WikiLeaks email dump, quite probably overlapping: 

• doing harm to the US political process to undermine its credibility;
• doing harm to Clinton (WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is no friend);
• and boosting Trump, who has heaped praise on Putin ..."(ibid Peter Stone, David Smith, Ben Jacobs, Alec Luhn and Rupert Neate)

No-one could have forseen that EuroMaidan, which began on the night of 21 November 2013, and which gave Putin the excuse to invade and annex Ukrainian Crimea, and then start the Ukrainian-Russian war by invading Ukrainian Donbas, now also has centre stage in the 2016 US Presidential elections.

And this is all thanks to none other than Donald Trump himself, an admirer and "friend" of Putin.

And then there are the links between one of Trump's senior advisers, Paul Manafort, and Yanukovich and three top Ukrainian oligarchs, some of them with ties to organised crime.

"For his part, Paul Manafort has been closely tied to Ukraine over the past decade, making millions from consulting work. He worked for Rinat Akhmetov, Dmitry Firtash and Oleg Deripaska, three major pro-Russia oligarchs, as an adviser.

Much of Manafort’s relationship with Firtash was exposed in a 2011 racketeering lawsuit that was later dismissed. It described Manafort as aiding the mogul in moving his wealth out of Ukraine and into overseas assets. Firtash is now under indictment in the US, and Deripaska is banned from entering the country due to ties with organised crime." (ibid Peter Stone, David Smith, Ben Jacobs, Alec Luhn and Rupert Neate) (my emphasis)

(top) Manafort and Deripaska (bottom) Akhmetov and Firtash

 

 

We can expect Trump's connection to Putin to continue to unravel, as will those of BOTH of his senior advisers, Paul Manafort and Carter Page, the investment banker with close links to Gazprom, and who has long been an outspoken supporter of Putin.

And to Putin's dismay, these connections between himself and the Trump camp will continue to ensure that his war with Ukraine, and his invasion and annexation of Ukrainian Crimea, remains centre stage during the US Presidential elections.


(to be continued)

Is Putin beginning to loose his grip?

In the very first entry of this blog I wrote that,

"It is always easy to start a story with, “It happened when” …. or “It was a sunny day” … or any of the myriad opening lines that authors are so fond of using. But how do you begin a story that is simply a part of your life. If you believe in coincidences you simply hang the beginning of your story on a coincidence. But that is cheating. There are really no coincidences in life. Life is not simply a series of random coincidences." (blog entry : Tuesday, 10 June 2014)

The same can be said of political events.

So can it be a coincidence that,

"Geoffrey Pyatt (left), who currently heads the American Embassy in Ukraine, will become the next US ambassador in Greece, the US Senate confirmed Friday.

Pyatt is to replace David D. Pearce who is to depart from Athens in September.

The US Embassy in Athens confirmed the appointment on Twitter on Friday. " (Ekathimerini : 15.07.2016) (my emphasis) 

and that within two weeks of Ambassador Pyatt preparing to leave the American Embassy in Kiev,

"Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree releasing Mikhail Zubarov (right) from his post as Russian ambassador to Ukraine on Thursday, according to a statement on the Kremlin's website.

Zubarov has been Russia's ambassador to Ukraine since 2009, having previously served as a presidential advisor. His firing was part of a significant governmental reshuffle on Thursday." (Moscow Times : Jul 29, 2016) (my emphasis)

 And on the war front in Donbas between Putin's Russian soldiers, together with his rebel proxies, and the Ukrainian army,

"According to Ukraine's military intelligence, the leaders of the so-called “DPR-LPR” terrorist organizations urgently recalled all militants from holidays and vacations and banned them from leaving their bases, TSN news service reported." (Unian : 22 July 2016) (my emphasis)

whilst, in his last few days as US Ambassador to Ukraine,

"Pyatt noted that the United States had pledged to provide more than $600 million dollars in aid to Ukraine in the field of security.

According to him, another batch of equipment is to be delivered to Ukraine this week, mentioning a big delivery of UAVs and more night vision devices expected to follow in the coming days." (Unian : 26 July 2016) (my emphasis)

This escalation of events on the Ukrainian war front precipipitated a call between President Obama and Angela Merkel.

As reported by Ukraine-Interfax,


"The president and the chancellor discussed the situation in Ukraine and reiterated the urgent importance of durably ending the violence in eastern Ukraine and of full and rapid implementation of the Minsk agreements," reads a posting on the website of the White House." (Ukraine-Interfax : 28.07.2016) (my emphasis)

 A further call took place between Ukrainian President Poroshenko and Angela Merkel.

"President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko had phone conversation with Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel.

[Poroshenko] expressed deep concern over the drastic escalation of the situation in Donbas and the increased number of casualties caused by the intensification of artillery shelling by Russian militants and continuation of armament supply from Russia." (1492News : Wednesday, July 27 2016) (my emphasis)

In line with the discussion that Merkel had with President Obama, Merkel and Poroshenko also,

"... discussed the elaboration of the clear roadmap of the Minsk agreements implementation, which should include the fulfillment of the security component by Russia." (ibid 1492News) (my emphasis)

The change of US and Russian ambassadors in Kiev, an escalation of the war between Russia and Ukraine in the Donbas, and those calls between Merkel and President Obama and Merkel and Poroshenko, all seem to indicate that a sea-change is taking place.

This sea-change is coming just prior to the September Duma elections in Russia, as well as the November presidential elections in the US.

No doubt Putin already has a 'blueprint' of what the Duma election results should be.

As we already know, to protect himself from any backlash against his 'blueprint' results of the Duma elections, Putin has readied his Praetorian Guard, whose duty it will be to ruthlessly deal with any popular Russian sentiment against his Duma results spreading onto the streets of Moscow, or anywhere else in Russia.  

Now, more than ever, Putin is praying for a Trump victory in the US Presidential race in November. 

Unlike his "blueprinted" Duma elections, all that he can do is to surreptitiously aid Trump in his battle with Hilary Clinton.

Maybe, just maybe, Trump inadvertently spilled the beans about Putin helping him in his presidential race when he called upon Putin to,

"..... if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Mr. Trump said during a news conference here in an apparent reference to Mrs. Clinton’s deleted emails. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.” (Ashley Parker and David Sanger : Washington Post : July 27, 2016) (my emphasis)

(to be continued)

Putin staring into the abyss ....

UAwire reported on Saturday that,

"In a letter to the President of the United Nations Security Council, Koro Bessho, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin (left), addressed the UN, demanding that they “influence Kiev to prevent the disastrous development of events,” referring to the situation in Ukraine." (UAwire : Saturday, July 23, 2016) (my emphasis)

And on Sunday, Amy La Porte (right) reported that,

"A slow simmer of conflict between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian forces has mushroomed into a deadly 24 hours in Ukraine's war-torn east.

Six Ukrainian soldiers have been killed during fierce fighting with separatist rebels over the past day, according to a spokesperson from Ukraine's military operation." (CNN : July 24, 2016) (my emphasis) (cf. also: OSCE reports)

Vitali Churkin's Saturday demand at the UN, and this sudden and rapid escalation of Putin's Russian soldiers and  rebel proxies attacking Ukrainian forces on the following day, cannot be mere co-incidence.

Neither can it be a co-incidence, as reported by Jill Dougherty (left), that,

"... At the office I ask a Russian employee about the mood in his working-class Moscow neighborhood. The old people are buying salt, matches and “gretchka,” (buckwheat) he tells me - the time-worn refuge for Russians stocking up on essentials in case of war. In the past two months, I’ve traveled to the Baltic region, to Georgia, and to Russia. Talk of war is everywhere." (Wilson Centre : Jul 18, 2016) (my emphasis)

Nor can it be a co-incidence, as reported by Jamie Seidel, that,

"Putin has taken a page out of Joseph Stalin’s book — and sacked every commander in his Baltic fleet.

As many as 50 senior officers including a Vice Admiral have been purged by Vladimir Putin amid reports they refused to confront Western ships." (The Sun : 12th July 2016) (my emphasis)

 

These developments indicate, as Gen. Sir Richard Shirreff and Maciej Olex-Szczytowski argue,

"[Putin's] strategic  aim  is  to  restore [Russia's] status as a great power, allowing it to dominate what it sees as its sphere of privileged interest. Military strength and a willingness to use force is instrumental to the achievement of this ambition. Furthermore, military adventures  abroad  also  serve to deflect attention from Russia’s ongoing economic meltdown and the regime’s  growing  repressiveness,  and to raise its domestic popularity." (Atlantic Council : July 19, 2016) (my emphasis)

As Jill Dougherty also writes,

"The Kremlin is frightened about its grip on the political situation at home - and the geopolitical situation abroad. Russia is trying to deter the West in a very aggressive way because it realizes it is weaker - economically, militarily, and in terms of soft power." (ibid Wilson Centre) (my emphasis)

Let us also remind ourselves that Putin has now surrounded himself with a Praetorian Guard of more than 400,000 men.

As reported by Tom Balmforth,

"The Kremlin has cast its new National Guard force as a timely move to combat terrorism and organized crime, but wary observers liken the agency to a "Praetorian Guard on steroids" to protect President Vladimir Putin and his hold on power, particularly as elections loom." (RFERL : Monday, July 25, 2016) (my emphasis)

Which brings us back to that chilling demand of Vitaly Churkin that the UN should,

“influence Kiev to prevent the disastrous development of events..”

Let us remind ourselves that in April 2015, John Hall reported that,

"Vladimir Putin is planning to exploit the threat of nuclear war to force Nato out of countries bordering Russia, it has been claimed.

A secret meeting between intelligence figures in Moscow and Washington reportedly revealed Putin will consider any attempt to return the Crimean peninsula to Ukraine as declaration of war and will take any necessary step - including using nuclear weapons - to retain control of the region." (Mail Online : 2 April 2015) (my emphasis)

Foreward to July 2016 and Patrick Christys reports that,

"Russian defence minister Sergey Shoigu (right) said NATO forces on Russia’s doorstep had “more than doubled” in recent weeks.

He said: “Such moves of our Western colleagues lead to erosion of the strategic stability in Europe and force us to take counter measures, primarily in the Western theatre of operations.”

He warned Russia would take action to “neutralise potential threats”. (Express : Fri, Jul 1, 2016) (my emphasis)

Is the dangerous escalation of the war between Putin's Russian soldiers, together with his rebel proxies, and the Ukrainian forces in the Donbas, the firing of his first warning shots against NATO forces?

Is this really what Vitaly Churkin was referring to?

(to be continued)

Putin and Trump .... Joined at the hip?

In my blog entry of Wednesday, 25 May 2016 I wrote that,

"It is therefore no wonder that Putin's most fervent and wishful hope of a Trump success in the US presidential elections also stems from the fact that Trump's current main political advisor, Paul Manafort, was also political advisor to none other than Victor Yanukovich  himself, as revealed by Prof. Timothy Snyder. (left to right: Manafort, Trump, Yanukovich)

Furthermore,

"As Timothy Snyder points out,

"... Trump has indicated, in his selection last month of Carter Page (right) as a foreign policy adviser, that American policy to Europe will be guided by Russian interests. 

Page, heretofore known as an adviser to Russia’s state gas company, has been among the prominent Americans spreading Russian propaganda about Ukraine’s revolution in 2014 and the Russian invasion that followed. In his writings he has questioned Ukraine’s status as an independent state, which is precisely the line that Moscow took to justify its invasion. (New York Review : April 19, 2016) (my emphasis)

And at last week’s Republican National Security Committee platform meeting in Cleveland, Josh Rogin (left) reports that,

"The Trump campaign worked behind the scenes last week to make sure the new Republican platform won’t call for giving weapons to Ukraine to fight Russian and rebel forces, contradicting the view of almost all Republican foreign policy leaders in Washington." (Washington Post : July 18, 2016) (my emphasis)

He further reports that,

"Trump’s view of Russia has always been friendlier than most Republicans. He’s said he would “get along very well” with Vladimir Putin and called it a “great honor” when Putin praised him. Trump has done a lot of business in Russia and has been traveling there since 1987. Last August, he said of Ukraine joining NATO, “I wouldn’t care.” He traveled there in September, and he told Ukrainians their war is “really a problem that affects Europe a lot more than it affects us.” (ibid Josh Rogan) (my emphasis)

"Since the 1980s, Trump and his family members have made numerous trips to Moscow in search of business opportunities, and they have relied on Russian investors to buy their properties around the world."  (Niraj Chokshi : Washington Post : December 17, 2015) (my emphasis)

Diana Denman (right), a platform committee member from Texas, had proposed at the Republican National Security Committee platform meeting in Cleveland,

".... a platform amendment that would call for maintaining or increasing sanctions against Russia, increasing aid for Ukraine and “providing lethal defensive weapons” to the Ukrainian military.

“Today, the post-Cold War ideal of a ‘Europe whole and free’ is being severely tested by Russia’s ongoing military aggression in Ukraine,” the amendment read. “The Ukrainian people deserve our admiration and support in their struggle.” (ibid Josh Rogan) ( my emphasis)

Is Trump's dramatic change in the Republican position on Ukraine a payback to Putin?

This foreign policy development within the Trump camp comes close on the heels of Putin's Russia who will,

"... deploy its most advanced S-400 air defence systems to the annexed Crimea peninsula in August, a military official said Friday.
...
"In August 2016 the (S-400) systems are expected to be unloaded in Feodosia where they will be permanently located," Yevgeny Oleinikov, deputy commander of the Russian army's 18th surface-to-air missile regiment, told RIA Novosti state news agency, referring to an eastern Crimean town." (NDTV (AFP) : July 15, 2016) (my emphasis)

Furthermore, that,

"On July 16-17, the jack-up-rig 'Sivash' was towed off the port Chornomorske (the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea) to the Holitsyno gas field, which is located in Ukraine's exclusive (maritime) economic zone.

Ukraine's State Border Service reported, it is the jack-up-rig (belonging to Ukrane's company Chornomornaftogaz) that was illegally seized by Russia during its annexation of Crimea in 2014.

"This is related to Russia's illegal offshore drilling operations in Ukraine, which grossly violates the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and Ukraine's Law "On the exclusive (maritime) economic zone of Ukraine", said the statement. (UT : Jul. 17, 2016) (my emphasis)

These are the criminal actions of Putin in Ukrainian Crimea that Paul Manafort and Carter Page, Trump's Foreign Policy advisors, together with Trump himself, seem to be fully at home with.

As Trump himself has said,

" ... he would “get along very well” with Vladimir Putin and called it a “great honor” when Putin praised him." (ibid Josh Rogan)


No doubt they have also turned a blind eye to the breaking news that,

"Calls are growing for Russia to be banned from the 2016 Rio Olympics after a damning report found state-sponsored involvement in a widespread doping program that began in 2011." (ABC Aus (AFP, Reuters) : 19 July, 2016) (my emphasis)

(to be continued)