dagblog - Comments for "Russia Executes De Facto Takeover of Crimea Region"

Following Putin's lead,

artappraiser — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 18:27:29 +0000

In reply to Okay, now that we have that

Following Putin's lead, "those are not our guys" is the new Russian state narrative:

Russia’s Defense Minister Calls Evidence of Troop Presence in Crimea ‘Complete Nonsense’
By Robert Mackey, The Lede @ nytimes.com, March 5

Russia’s defense minister and foreign minister both denied on Wednesday that there were any Russian troops among the large contingent of masked men in armored vehicles with Russian military plates blockading government buildings and Ukrainian military installations in Crimea.

The defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, dismissed visual evidence — including numerous photographs and video clips taken by foreign correspondents and residents of the region — as “an act of provocation,” the state news agency Itar-Tass reported. Asked about viral video said to show soldiers on the Crimean side of the Kerch Strait, at the peninsula’s closest point to southern Russia, admitting that they were Russian, the minister said anyone who made such a claim was uttering “complete nonsense.”

The defense minister also said that he had “no idea” where the groups of mostly silent soldiers in unmarked uniforms the Kremlin calls local “self-defense units” got military vehicles with Russian plates, including trucks and armored carriers known as Tigers [....]

continued and has pix and videos.

Okay, now that we have that

artappraiser — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 23:18:41 +0000

In reply to Putin on Ukraine: What he

Okay, now that we have that fine and useful summary, The Lede points out a couple of mighty strange and otherworldly details, like:

At one point in the long exchange, Mr. Putin denied that the thousands of masked soldiers who occupied the Crimean peninsula in recent days were Russian soldiers.

QUESTION: Mr President, a clarification if I may. The people who were blocking the Ukrainian Army units in Crimea were wearing uniforms that strongly resembled the Russian Army uniform. Were those Russian soldiers, Russian military?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Why don’t you take a look at the post-Soviet states. There are many uniforms there that are similar. You can go to a store and buy any kind of uniform.

QUESTION: But were they Russian soldiers or not?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Those were local self-defence units.

QUESTION: How well trained are they? If we compare them to the self-defence units in Kiev…

VLADIMIR PUTIN: My dear colleague, look how well trained the people who operated in Kiev were. As we all know they were trained at special bases in neighbouring states: in Lithuania, Poland and in Ukraine itself too. They were trained by instructors for extended periods. They were divided into dozens and hundreds, their actions were coordinated, they had good communication systems. It was all like clockwork. Did you see them in action? They looked very professional, like special forces. Why do you think those in Crimea should be any worse?

QUESTION: In that case, can I specify: did we take part in training Crimean self-defence forces?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: No, we did not.

Kevin Drum linked to a

EmmaZahn — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 21:05:54 +0000

In reply to MOSCOW (The Borowitz

Kevin Drum linked to a similar frame Putin Lets It All Hang Out at Press Conference | Mother Jones spinning the press conference as surreal and questioning Putin's grasp of reality. Looks like that is the spin a certain segment of the media going with. Even if true, which I doubt, it is a mistake that is more likely to enhance Putin's stature than diminish it. My guess is that his behavior was intended to convey a degree of contempt of the media that they are now returning. Problem for them is that Putin's approval ratings are higher than theirs.

I missed that, thanks, I will

artappraiser — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 20:52:58 +0000

In reply to I see what you mean about the

I missed that, thanks, I will probably be checking out some of those names as well...

I see what you mean about the

EmmaZahn — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 20:51:01 +0000

In reply to In one of those moments of,

I see what you mean about the synchronicity.

I do, however, wish someone would ask Putin what he thinks a people should do when their own government attacks them as viciously as Yanukovych did except wrest power from him a quickly as possible and as forcefully as necessary.

BTW, did you see David Brooks column yesterday on Putin and the people he is influenced by? I think I have a lot of reading to do.

Putin Can’t Stop - NYTimes.com

... as he has been throwing his weight around the world, Vladimir Putin has been careful to quote Russian philosophers from the 19th and 20th centuries like Nikolai Berdyaev, Vladimir Solovyov and Ivan Ilyin.

Putin doesn’t only quote these guys; he wants others to read them. As Maria Snegovaya pointed out recently in The Washington Post, the Kremlin recently assigned three philosophic books to regional governors: Berdyaev’s “The Philosophy of Inequality,” Solovyov’s “Justification of the Good” and Ilyin’s “Our Tasks.”

MOSCOW (The Borowitz

artappraiser — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 20:45:52 +0000

In reply to Putin on Ukraine: What he

MOSCOW (The Borowitz Report)—Russian President Vladimir Putin received “strong, unqualified words of support” last night in a ninety-minute conversation with himself, Mr. Putin confirmed today.

The invasion of Crimea was the main topic of the conversation, which Mr. Putin described as “extremely collegial and enthusiastic.”....

In one of those moments of,

artappraiser — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 20:09:32 +0000

In reply to All very interesting and some

In one of those moments of, not serendipity, but of incredible synchronicity, Evan Osnos is talking about remarkably similar things in an essay which I just posted over @ the China Knife Attack Thread, like this:

....For a generation of senior Community Party members, the attack is a sensational confirmation of what has become the most neuralgic issue of their time: the sense that the greatest threat to the country as they know it is the loss of territory. Shortly after taking office, in November, 2012, Xi Jinping, in a speech to Party members, asked, “Why did the Soviet Communist Party collapse?....In 1986, when protesters in Kazakhstan took to the streets, declaring, “Kazakhstan belongs to Kazakhs,” Mikhail Gorbachev sent in troops, but he also made efforts to appease the rioters by appointing a Kazakh apparatchik and by relenting on unpopular laws about language....

All very interesting and some

artappraiser — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 19:57:50 +0000

In reply to Putin on Ukraine: What he

All very interesting and some will no doubt bring some of it up when switching the topic to Syria, at the U.N. and elsewhere....

Putin on Ukraine: What he

EmmaZahn — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 19:49:21 +0000

In reply to Russia Executes De Facto Takeover of Crimea Region

Putin on Ukraine: What he said, and what he meant - CSMonitor.com

@ Bloomberg Businessweek,

artappraiser — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 19:42:57 +0000

In reply to And the markets are saying:

@ Bloomberg Businessweek, Sarah Topol concurs on the "don't worry, be happy" message for many and sundry reasons;

@ Financial Times: "Risk appetite back as Russia fears ease" ....Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, said in a televised news conference that the “tense” situation in the Crimean peninsular – which could have led to military intervention in Ukraine – had “dissipated”. He added that while the use of force remained an option, there was no need for it for now....