Russia preps for WWIII against US...or maybe not...Hegelian Dialectic?

[Mark]

Deployment of US missile shield in eastern Europe is leading to arms race and Russia is forced to respond, Putin says in phone-in - @Reuters
Negotiations on US missile shield will continue, Putin says he will do everything necessary to ensure Russian security - @Reuters

Obama brought back the Cold War Arms race. 

[Mark]

Russia and China forge closer ties, as EU explores sanctions

Russia is rolling out two major projects – a gas pipeline and a Crimea deep water port – with China, as EU countries and the US weigh options on economic sanctions. Russia’s ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, told EUobserver on Wednesday (16 April) that work on the “Power of Siberia” pipeline and the Chinese construction of a 25-metre-deep port in Crimea are proceeding as normal despite the Ukraine crisis.   
http://euobserver.com/foreign/123879


EU countries to boost defence budgets in light of Ukraine

Military chiefs have said the Ukraine crisis is a “wake-up call” for EU countries’ defence spending, as the US backed Ukraine’s use of force in eastern regions. ...the deputy chief of the EU’s external action service, Maciej Popowski, said: “We’ve had 70 years of peace now [in Europe], but we see that power politics is back with a vengeance, so it’s a wake-up call and now we need to get serious about defence.”   
http://euobserver.com/defence/123868


Obama warns of "consequences" for Russian actions destabilizing Ukraine

President Obama put Russian President Vladimir Putin on notice Wednesday evening, warning that further actions to destabilize the interim Ukrainian government will result in consequences from both the United States and Europe. ...Mr. Obama said it was "absolutely clear" that Russia had violated Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity...and they continue to do so by supporting "non-state militias" in southern and eastern Ukraine.   
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-warns-of-consequences-for-russian-actions-destabilizing-ukraine/

[Mark]

Ukraine army's humiliations pile up as eastern push fizzles

The humiliation Wednesday of the Ukrainian army in its much-vaunted "anti-terrorist" push into separatist eastern territory makes an embarrassing string of failures even worse.

Allowing pro-Russian rebels to seize six of its armoured personnel carriers and disarm its servicemen was evidence of a poorly planned and executed operation, analysts said.

They pointed out that the region, the Donbass, is hostile to Kiev's new, pro-EU leaders, and home to magnates and police reluctant to face down the separatists.

"It was a mistake to launch an 'anti-terrorist operation' in the Donbass where the overwhelming majority is against the government. Targeted operations against armed groups is one thing, but when there are tanks in the street, people block them," said a Ukrainian political analyst, Volodymyr Fesenko.

A military expert at the Razumkov think-tank in Kiev, Oleksiy Melnik, criticised the government for hesitating to use force and in the end sending in a smaller force than the one implied when it announced its "major operation" on Sunday.

"The arguments that 'We mustn't provoke Russia' are absurd in the current situation, because Russia needs no pretext to carry out its plan. The reason behind what happened is government inaction," he said.

- Demoralised army -

"The armoured vehicles were stopped by unarmed civilians, who they cannot shoot. That showed how badly thought-through the operation was, Melnik said.

"These sorts of defeats are demoralising the army, whose fighting spirit has already been undermined by the events in Crimea," where Ukrainian soldiers ended up abandoning their units without offering any resistance to the Russian forces, he said.

Under-funded and possessing outdated weapons, the 130,000-strong Ukrainian army is easily overshadowed by the Russian one, which is six times bigger -- and which currently has 40,000 men massed on Ukraine's eastern border, according to NATO.

Kiev asserts that the armed, pro-Russian rebels are being managed by Russian military intelligence officers on the ground. Several hundred trained military personnel carrying the sort of weapons used by Russia's elite forces and wearing uniforms stripped of any insignia can be seen in the region, but Moscow denies they are its soldiers.

Another military expert, Mykola Sungurovsky, said Ukraine has sent its best men and equipment to the border to protect it.

"But they are only capable of rebuffing a first assault. After that, they would need to turn to guerrilla actions because the balance of forces is not in our favour."

Several analysts observed that Ukraine's military is the main force loyal to Kiev's government in the east; the police, they said, did nothing to stop the pro-Russian assaults on public buildings and police stations in several towns in the region.

In Donetsk, the main city in the east, "the situation is very complicated," the interim first deputy prime minister Vitaliy Yarema acknowledged on Wednesday. "Some police officers are at the command of the separatists."

But Mykhaylo Kornyenko, a former deputy interior minister, said the police should not be blamed.

"Police stations were attacked by men with combat experience whereas they lack such experience. If they had used their weapons, the consequences could have been catastrophic."

Olexandra Rudneva, an analyst at the Strategic Studies Institute, said, however, that many police are also bitter towards the new authorities for not punishing those responsible for the deaths of more than 100 people during the mass protests in Kiev early this year, and for being used as scapegoats for that bloodshed.

"In this situation, whoever is in power in Kiev would have a tough time exerting influence over the police, especially in Donetsk," she said.

http://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-armys-humiliations-pile-eastern-push-fizzles-211406122.html

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/putin-says-impossible-europe-stop-buying-russian-gas-111213973.html
Putin says impossible for Europe to stop buying Russian gas
4/16/14

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday it would not be possible for Europe, which is trying to cut its reliance on Russian energy, to completely stop buying Russian gas.

Putin also said that the transit via Ukraine is the most dangerous element in Europe's gas supply system, and that he was hopeful a deal could be reached with Ukraine on gas supplies.

Russia meets around 30 percent of Europe's natural gas needs. Moscow's actions in Ukraine have spurred attempts by the continent to reduce its dependency on oil and gas supplies from the former Cold War foe.

"Of course, everyone is taking care about supply diversification. There, in Europe, they talk about increasing independence from the Russian supplier," said Putin.

"It's just like we begin to talk and take action towards independence from our consumers," he added. Russia has made efforts to forge closer ties with Asia.

Reuters calculations suggest Europe's efforts could slash imports from Russia by around 45 billion cubic meters (bcm) by 2020, worth $18 billion a year, equivalent to a quarter of what Russia currently supplies.

"We sell gas in European countries which have around 30-35 percent of their gas balance covered by supplies from Russia. Can they stop buying Russian gas? In my opinion it is impossible," he said during an hours-long televised question and answer session.

[Mark]

NATO sending part of its naval rapid reaction force to the Baltic Sea as part of measures to step up the defense of its eastern European allies in response to the Ukraine crisis, the alliance says - @Reuters

Russian Foreign Ministry demands clarification from Ukraine and says it will consider retaliating after Kiev said it would impose restrictions on entry into the country by Russian men - @Reuters

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel: US moves not meant to 'provoke or threaten Russia' - @sangwonyoon
But that is all you have been doing this whole time


President Obama approves sending helmets, sleeping mats and water purification systems to the Ukrainian military, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says - @margbrennan
See, your now supplying their Army with equipment. ehh, they will probably take it with them when they switch sides. 

Ukraine invites the International Criminal Court to open an investigation into any serious international crimes that may have been committed on its territory in late 2013 and early 2014, the court says - @Reuters
Sure you want that? Records have already came out it was the first "rebels" un US leadership that were helping the snipers.

[Mark]

Ukraine imposes severe entrance restrictions on adult Russian males

Russian men aged 16 to 60 entering Ukraine without their families will only be allowed in if they have close relatives or an invitation, according to Ukrainian officials. Previously, all Russians could travel to Ukraine with just their internal IDs.

“The restrictions concern physically fit men, who can influence the political situation in the country,” a Ukrainian border agency official told RIA news agency.

"We are imposing these controls at all border posts."

The Russian foreign ministry has demanded an official explanation for the move, and said that it will consider counter measures.

Thirty people were already made to disembark from a train crossing Ukraine on a route between Russia and Belarus, according to Interfax news agency.

Russian national carrier Aeroflot published the new restrictions - issued by the Ukrainian border service for all forms of transport - on their website. One set concerns travelers from mainland Russia, and another even stricter set of limitations for those from Crimea, which seceded from Ukraine last month.

Mainland male adult Russians will have to present documents confirming that their relatives live in Ukraine, or have recently died there. This may be substituted with a personal notarized invitation from an individual or an organization, or special permission from the Ukrainian border service.

Those traveling from the mainland with women and children will remain unaffected.

Men crossing the border from the Crimean peninsula will have to prove that they are either traveling to the funeral of a close relative, or to show tickets and hotel vouchers for the duration of their stay. Women between the ages of 20 and 35 will be subjected to unspecified “filtering and verification checks.”

Unrestricted travel between the two countries was a holdover from the Soviet Union, and millions of nominally Russian and Ukrainian citizens have lived in their neighboring country and crossed the border freely for decades.

Authorities in Kiev considered imposing visas following the toppling of Viktor Yanukovich in February, but instead have been conducting discretionary checks, barring 'undesirable' Russians from entering at will. Several Russian journalists have also been stopped and turned away under the pretext of lacking the finances to support themselves.

Ukrainian border authorities said this week that they have refused entry to more than 12,000 Russians since February.

Kiev has accused the Kremlin of sparking and controlling the protests and occupations of government buildings that have plunged the East of the country into chaos, and interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has said that he has “incontrovertible evidence” that there are Russian citizens involved in the stand-off between special forces and protesters.

During Thursday’s televised hotline, Vladimir Putin flatly denied that Moscow had sent anyone to the east of Ukraine.

Aleksandr Kots, a journalist working for Russia's Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper told RT that peaceful pro-Russian activists protesting in - though not in control of - Donetsk airport say they "will not take orders" from Kiev over the new restrictions. Instead, demonstrators have called for direct negotiations with the government.

http://rt.com/news/ukraine-entrance-restrictions-russia-168/

[Mark]

Jews Ordered To Register Religion And Property In Donetsk, Ukraine – False Flag?
its a false something, but then again, if you go back through this thread we have evidence of n@zi's putting up flags. Dont buy this story

 According to YNet, a leaflet was handed to Jews in Donetsk, Ukraine, ordering them to register their religion and property or be deported. The claim is that this came from the pro-Russian faction in Donetsk, but that allegation has been vehemently denied by Russia.

    Fear replaced communal atmosphere in Donetsk's Jewish community as armed men handed out a leaflet Passover eve calling on Jews register their religion and property with the interim pro-Russian government or face deportation and loss of citizenship.


Via IBTimes: The Denial

    The role of Right Sector in post-revolution Ukraine was exploited by Russia to justify its intervention in Crimea, arguing that Kiev had been taken over by fascists and neo-Nazis. Russian president Vladimir Putin said the Maidan uprising had been hijacked by Jew-haters and Nazi sympathisers.


    UPDATE: Pushilin has denied the Novosti Donbassa's report and assured reporters that the flyer is not from his organisation.


Russian President Vladimir Putin may not be a boy scout, but as an ex KGB war expert, there is no way he is this stupid, this is obviously an attempt by the West to turn the tide in the Ukrianian conflict....... or is it?  Is Putin actually arranging things so he can now come in and save the day and "save the Jews."

http://wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com/2014/04/jews-ordered-to-register-religion-and.html

[Mark]

Secretary of State John Kerry: Responsibility lies with those who finance, support, clothe and guide those armed groups in Ukraine - @sangwonyoon

That would be YOU, as the US financed and instigated the first revolt, well it never ended so you are responsible.

[Mark]

Russia, West reach surprise deal on Ukraine crisis

I GIVE IT HOURS

Russia, Ukraine, the US and EU reached a surprise deal Thursday on de-escalating the worsening Ukrainian crisis, in a ray of hope for the former Soviet republic that has plunged into chaos.
Related Stories

    Lavrov says no US-Russia deal, 'constructive' talks to continue AFP
    Russia denies it wants to take more Ukrainian territory Reuters
    Russia sees no need for Ukraine incursion, Lavrov to meet Kerry Reuters
    Kerry heads for crunch Ukraine talks as tensions mount AFP
    US, Russia talks fail to end Ukraine deadlock Associated Press

The agreement reached in Geneva comes as a strong contrast to earlier hawkish comments made by Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who left the door open for intervention in Ukraine.

A ban by Kiev on all Russian males aged 16 to 60 from entering Ukrainian territory had also ratcheted up the tensions, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov calling the measure "disgusting".

But after half a day of talks, the four parties agreed on steps to "restore security for all citizens", including a call to disband armed groups that have taken over buildings in Ukraine "illegally".

While not spelt out in the agreement, these groups could refer to pro-Kremlin separatists who have seized control of government buildings and taken over parts of Ukraine's southeast, destabilising the country.

"All illegal armed groups must be disarmed, illegally seized buildings returned to their rightful owners," Lavrov said as he briefed reporters about the deal reached with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Ukraine's Andriy Deshchytsya and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
View gallery
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (C) leaves alongside …
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (C) leaves alongside European Union High Representative Catherine …

Washington and Kiev have accused Russia of supporting the militants who have occupied buildings such as police stations and government bases, but Moscow has always categorically denied this.

Lavrov also said Russia had "no desire" to send troops into Ukraine, toning down earlier comments by Putin.

Warning that Ukraine was plunging into the "abyss" just hours after three separatists were killed in a gunbattle with troops in eastern Ukraine, Putin had stressed he hoped not to have to use his "right" to send Russian troops into its western neighbour.

"I very much hope that I am not obliged to use this right and that through political and diplomatic means we can solve all the acute problems in Ukraine," he said in his annual televised phone-in with the nation, in a signal the option was on the table.

- 'Additional sanctions' -
View gallery
Map of eastern Ukraine locating deadly clash
Map of eastern Ukraine locating deadly clash (AFP Photo/)

The upper house of parliament on March 1 authorised the Russian leader to send troops into Ukraine after pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted, and Moscow later went on to annex Ukraine's Russian-speaking Crimean peninsula.

Russia has now massed tens of thousands of troops at the border and has warned Kiev's untested new leaders -- whom it does not recognise as legitimate -- not to unleash force in Ukraine.

Accordingly, Kerry warned Russia that if there was no progress on de-escalating the crisis in Ukraine, "there will be additional sanctions, additional costs."

The United States and European Union have already imposed punitive sanctions on key Russian and Ukrainian political and business officials, including members of Putin's inner circle.

And the European Parliament on Thursday said the European Union should act "against Russian firms and their subsidiaries, especially in the energy sector, and Russia's EU assets".
View gallery
Ukrainian people hold up a large national flag and …
Ukrainian people hold up a large national flag and shout slogans as they take part in a nationalist  …

So far, though, any further sanctions appear to have been put on hold.

Russia's annexation of the Crimea peninsula last month escalated a crisis that has shaped up to be the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War.

On Thursday, Kerry said the West is "not giving up" on peninsula, "but we did not come (to Geneva) to talk about Crimea."

Each side came to the Geneva talks armed with a very specific set of demands, and the West and Kiev had aimed to persuade Moscow to demobilise the militias.

Ukraine's Security Service said it was detaining 10 "Russian spies" arrested over the past six weeks on suspected missions to stir up unrest in the country, further implying Russia's role in the destabilisation of the country.

But Russia has blamed Kiev's interim leaders -- installed by Ukraine's parliament in February after the overthrow of Yanukovych following months of protests -- for pushing the country dangerously close to a civil war.

The agreement also called on all sides to refrain from violence, intimidation and provocation, as well as to reject extremism in all shapes.

Kerry told reporters that notices were sent to Jews in a Ukrainian city believed to be in the east, asking them to identify themselves as Jews -- a move he condemned as "grotesque".

"In the year 2014, after all of the miles travelled and all of the journey of history, this is not just intolerable, it's grotesque. It is beyond unacceptable," he said.

Separately, the European Union announced Thursday it had agreed to hold talks with Russia on its gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine, warning Moscow its reliability as an energy source was at stake.

The announcement came even as Putin ramped up pressure on Ukraine by setting a one-month deadline for Kiev to settle its debt for gas imports from Russia.

http://news.yahoo.com/high-stakes-ukraine-talks-open-putin-warns-abyss-100240547.html;_ylt=AwrBJSB7DVBTqRQA6gPQtDMD

[Mark]

5 killed as gunmen attack checkpoint manned by pro-Russian separatists near Ukrainian city of Slaviansk, Russian state TV reports - @Reuters

Russia says fatal attack near Slaviansk testifies to Ukrainian government's lack of will to disarm extremist militants - @Reuters

Russia is indignant about attack on civilians near Ukrainian city of Slaviansk, Russia's foreign ministry says - @Reuters

Ukraine's right sector nationalists deny involvement in Slaviansk shooting in east Ukraine, blame Russian special forces - @Reuters


Ukraine crisis: Slavyansk shooting threatens Easter truce



At least two people have been killed after a gunfire battle erupted between pro-Russian separatists and far-right militiamen in the eastern Ukraine town of Slavyansk on Sunday.

The incident comes just hours after Kiev declared a truce coinciding with the Easter holidays in an effort to de-escalate tensions in the volatile region where pro-Russian groups have seized government buildings calling for the interim government to resign.

Pro-Russian separatists said the battle broke out at a checkpoint at around 2am when Ukrainian nationalists opened fire, killing at least five, according to Russian television citing correspondents on the ground.

In a statement, Russian's foreign ministry said a group of innocent civilians were shot dead in an attack led by the Right Sector, a far-right paramilitary group which played prominent role in the ousting of former president Viktor Yanukovych. The group denied being involved in the Slavyansk shooting and blamed Russian special forces for the attack.

"Russia is indignant about this provocation by gunmen, which testifies to the lack of will on the part of the Kiev authorities to rein in and disarm nationalists and extremists," the statement said.

Ukraine's interior ministry confirmed one person was killed in the attack and three were injured. It said police is investigating the incident

On Saturday, a senior mediator with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) set off for eastern Ukraine to try to persuade pro-Russian groups to lay down their arms.

Separatists have remained in the buildings in defiance to an agreement reached between the interim government in Ukraine, Russia, the United States and the European Union.

Washington has threatened further sanctions on Russia if it does not work to use its perceived influence over the separatists to get them to  leave the buildings.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-crisis-slavyansk-shooting-threatens-easter-truce-9271991.html

[Mark]

Russia 'outraged' at deadly shootout in east Ukraine

 Russia's foreign ministry said on Sunday it was outraged by a deadly shootout in eastern Ukraine that breached an Easter truce, urging Kiev to abide by the terms of an international accord and de-escalate the situation.

"The Russian side is outraged at this provocation by the fighters," the ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies.

"The Russian side insists on Ukraine's strictly fulfilling the obligations it took on to de-escalate the situation in south-eastern Ukraine."

Four people were reported killed on Sunday in a gun battle in restive eastern Ukraine, shattering a fragile Easter truce in the crisis-hit former Soviet republic.

Three pro-Russian militants and one attacker were killed in a deadly firefight at a road block close to the separatist-held town of Slavyansk, local leader Vyatcheslav Ponomarev said.

The identity of the assailants was not known. Kiev's interim government had pledged a halt to military operations to oust the rebels until the end of the Orthodox Easter holidays on Monday.

A pro-Russian militant at the scene told AFP that roughly twenty attackers in four cars had opened fire with automatic weapons on the rebel post early on Sunday. He could not, however, confirm any casualties.

The reported violence came as the United States was pressing Russia to persuade the pro-Kremlin rebels to abide by an international accord calling for them to surrender their weapons and leave occupied public buildings.

Overnight, Orthodox leaders in Kiev and Moscow traded barbs over the Ukraine crisis as politics overshadowed traditional Easter observances.

Patriarch Filaret thundered to the faithful in pro-West Kiev that Russia was an "enemy" whose "attack" on Ukraine was doomed to fail because it was evil and contrary to God's will.

In Moscow, the patriarch of the Russian Church, Kirill, delivered a prayer for Ukraine in which he called on God in turn to put "an end to the designs of those who want to destroy Holy Russia".

Kirill said that while Ukraine was "politically" separate, "spiritually and historically" it was at one with Russia, and he prayed that it would benefit from authorities that are "legitimately elected".

In comments to be broadcast on US television on Sunday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk lashed out at Russian President Vladimir Putin — whom Kiev and Washington accuse of masterminding the insurgency in Ukraine — for having a "dream to restore the Soviet Union".

Yatsenyuk, speaking to NBC's "Meet the press", also condemned those who reportedly handed out pamphlets demanding Jews register or be expelled in the east of Ukraine as "these bastards" who should be brought to justice.

The United States on Saturday was reported to be flexing its military muscle in a warning to Russia, which has tens of thousands of troops massed on Ukraine's border.

Washington Post said that the US was about to deploy ground troops to Poland and maybe Baltic states to expand NATO's presence in eastern Europe.

Poland's defence minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, was quoted saying that Poland, a NATO member, would be taking a lead role in the operation.

Washington has warned Moscow that Ukraine is in a "pivotal period" as the pro-Russian rebels refuse to comply with the Geneva accord reached on Thursday by Russia, the US, Ukraine and the EU to disarm.

US secretary of state John Kerry told Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov that "full and immediate compliance" was needed within "the next few days".

The Kremlin has snapped back by stressing its troops' deployment on Ukraine's doorstep — an apparent warning that the situation could rapidly deteriorate if Washington follows through with a threat to impose further sanctions.

Putin has switched stances on the crisis between threatening — saying he "hoped" he would not have to invade Ukraine — to conciliatory, saying "no obstacle" existed to better relations with the West.

But thus far there have been no concrete moves de-escalating the worst East-West confrontation since the Cold War.

The separatist leaders in the self-declared eastern Donetsk Republic say they will not vacate public sites until the "illegal" government exits state buildings in Kiev.

If no change happens soon, a spike in tensions could occur when US vice-president Joe Biden makes a scheduled visit to Kiev on Tuesday.

He will be meeting leaders who have taken charge since the February ouster of pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych, after months of street protests that turned increasingly deadly.

Russia refuses to see the new Kiev government as legitimate, and the turmoil in Ukraine's southeast could prove an obstacle to a planned May 25 presidential election.

In concessions to the Russian-speaking militants, Ukraine's interim president and prime minister have vowed to protect the Russian language, decentralise power and hold off further military action against the separatists until at least Tuesday.

Ukraine's military has so far proven woefully inept in its efforts to dislodge the separatists. On Friday, the army said it recovered two of six armoured vehicles captured by rebels during a disastrous military operation earlier in the week.

A poll published on Saturday suggested the majority of inhabitants in Ukraine's restive east, while suspicious of Kiev's authorities, had no desire to be subsumed into the Russian Federation.

The Russian-language Weekly Mirror newspaper said 52.2 percent of those surveyed for a poll in the separatist hub of Donetsk by Kiev's Institute for International Sociology were against coming under Russian rule while 27.5 percent were in favour.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/Russia-outraged-at-deadly-shootout-in-east-Ukraine/articleshow/34001781.cms

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/19/uk-russia-northkorea-debt-idINKBN0D502V20140419?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
4/19/14
Russia writes off 90 percent of North Korea debt, eyes gas pipeline

Reuters) - Russia's parliament has agreed to write off almost $10 billion of North Korea's Soviet-era debt, in a deal expected to facilitate the building of a gas pipeline to South Korea across the reclusive state.

Russia has written off debts to a number of impoverished Soviet-era allies, including Cuba. North Korea's struggling communist economy is just 2 percent of the size of neighbouring South Korea's.

The State Duma lower house on Friday ratified a 2012 agreement to write off the bulk of North Korea's debt. It said the total debt stood at $10.96 billion as of Sept. 17, 2012.

The rest of the debt, $1.09 billion, would be redeemed during the next 20 years, to be paid in equal instalments every six months. The outstanding debt owed by North Korea will be managed by Russia's state development bank, Vnesheconombank.

Russia's Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak told Russian media that the money could be used to fund mutual projects in North Korea, including a proposed gas pipeline and a railway to South Korea.

The two Koreas remain technically at war and are separated by one of the world's most militarised frontiers. Parts of the international community have been seeking to re-engage with North Korea amid hopes that the reclusive state's government would seek ways to end years of isolation and poverty.

Russia's state-owned top natural producer Gazprom, has long planned to build a gas pipeline via North Korea to South Korea with a view to shipping 10 billion cubic metres of gas annually.

Moscow has been trying to diversify its energy sales to Asia away from Europe, which, in its turn, wants to cut its dependence on oil and gas from the erstwhile Cold War foe. Moscow aims to reach a deal to supply gas to China, after a decade of talks, this May.

[Mark]

President Putin approves amendments to law to allow Russian-speakers in former Soviet Union to acquire Russian citizenship, Kremlin says - @Reuters

Russia's Lavrov says Kiev authorities are taking steps which crudely violate Geneva accord - @Reuters

Ukraine's government is failing to remove illegal protests from squares in Kiev, Lavrov says - @Reuters

Killings in Ukraine's Slaviansk was a crime, shows Kiev does not want to control extremists, Lavrov says - @Reuters

[Mark]

Tactical advantage: Russian military shows off impressive new gear
Tanks-to-troops modernization

Elite Russian troops are displaying a new arsenal of body armor, individual weapons, armor-piercing ammunition and collar radios — a menu of essential gear that gives them a big tactical advantage against a lesser-equipped Ukrainian army.

If President Vladimir Putin orders an invasion, the new-generation body armor, in particular, would provide exceptional protection against small arms if Russian troops go street by street to capture Kiev and other cities.

“What we saw and what was dangled in front of the West was a clear indication that Putin is on a roll,” retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Robert Scales said. “It just seems to me from watching the films that their arrows are pointing up and ours are sadly pointing down.”

Weapons specialists such as Gen. Scales have been studying images of Spetsnaz, Russia’s ubiquitous special forces, and airborne troops since they conquered the Crimea region and mobilized to strike eastern Ukraine.

What they see are the fruits of a modernization plan begun in 2008, not just in tanks and vehicles but all the way down to the individual warrior. Russia now has the world’s third-highest defense budget, at over $70 billion.

“They’ve got better equipment than they had five years ago,” said Scott Traudt, an executive with Green Mountain, a Vermont gun manufacturer. “They’ve got new grenade launchers that are awesome. The helmets are better than our helmets. The body armor is better than our body armor. They’re doing a lot of things right. I’m pretty amazed at it.”

Mr. Traudt is paying special attention to the body armor because it presents a big challenge to rifle and munition makers. It might be able to deflect NATO’s basic 5.56 mm rifle round. If so, Ukrainian soldiers face a daunting task because their AK-74 assault rifles fire a similar munition.

The Russians, in their new 6B43 model body armor, issued chest and back plates made of titanium and hard carbide boron ceramics.

“The stuff they have is impervious to 5.56, whereas our body armor is not completely proven against their weapons,” Gen. Scales said.

Gen. Scales said the Russians carry AK-74s whose magazine is loaded with 5.45 “steel core” ammunition — a round that on April 8 the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives banned from importation because the agency deemed it armor-piercing.

Gen. Scales described the 5.45 as “extremely lethal against any kind of body armor.”

While some national leaders focus on big defense issues, Mr. Putin has taken a personal interest in one of the smallest: the rifle. Last year, his government consolidated rifle manufacturing into one new firm, the Kalashnikov Corp., named after the AK’s famous inventor, Mikhail Kalashnikov.

“Putin actually goes out and shoots these things,” Gen. Scales said.

U.S. soldiers have complained that their main rifle and round, the M4 carbine and its 5.56, lacked lethality in Afghanistan against a Taliban enemy that does not often wear body armor. Without a shot to the head, the enemy could take several 5.56 hits and keep going, soldiers said in surveys.

“If the Russians are coming across mechanized, with airborne and infantry units wearing their body armor, it basically means the Ukrainian rifles have no ability to penetrate the body armor worn by the Russian troops, meaning you’re talking about having to shoot somebody six, seven, eight times, in the chest,” Mr. Traudt said. “They’re going to get bumped, but there’s no lethality involved.”

In all, Russian fighters, including Mr. Putin’s hired guns of ex-military commandos who wear civilian clothes, have displayed a new inventory of rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers and rocket-propelled grenades. The Russians claim the RPG can kill a tank.

Photographs of masked Spetsnaz troops in Crimea show them with what might be U.S.-designed sights and silencers on their assault rifles.

Jacob Kipp, a former director of the Army’s Foreign Military Studies Office at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., said what stands out to him are new mobile communications.

Spetsnaz commandos carry collar, or helmet-mounted, radios that enable them to talk to one another and to the battalion level overseeing the operation.

“A couple things stand out, and one of them is the radio equipment attached to the uniform up by the face so he doesn’t have to use his hands to communicate,” Mr. Kipp said. “That’s real new. There is also a helmet version that also has ‘commo’ gear inside. It basically allows you not to have to do hand signals to move people around.”

The Russians have employed a different communication tactic than the United States.

“There is a whole different culture about ‘commo’ in the Russian army than there is in ours,” Mr. Kipp said. “We tend to want everyone to report in whenever they do something. The Russians lay out an assignment and tasks and give it a timeline and you report in if you are not on your timeline, or if you run into unexpected opposition.”

Gen. Scales said Mr. Putin is displaying for TV cameras his best forces: Spetsnaz, airborne, naval infantry (akin to U.S. Marines) and interior security forces, or about 30,000 of the 860,000 active military force.

“We don’t know what shape the Russian military is in, really,” he said. “It would be like us highlighting a foreign adventure by only showing Delta, SEALs and Special Forces and Rangers. We’d look a lot more intimidating if we only showed that face of our force.”

On the conventional side, Gen. Scales said, the Russians do not have an answer to U.S. Apache gunship helicopters and armored vehicles.

Still, the better-equipped Russian soldier is bad news for the smaller and budget-strapped Ukraine military, which numbers about 160,000.

The wide gap in capability is spelled out in a report by retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, NATO’s former top commander who directed the 1998 air war against Belgrade, and Phillip Karber, a former Pentagon adviser to Caspar Weinberger.

Financed by the nonprofit Potomac Foundation, the two spent time in Ukraine this month interviewing government officials and visiting troops on the front lines.

In a report outlined in The New York Times, they said the Ukrainian army badly needs at least four essential items: American body armor, night-vision goggles and sights, radios, and aviation fuel.

“What little Ukrainian body armor available, is only designed for smaller caliber lower velocity projectiles,” the report said. “Given that Russian troops are universally equipped with high-quality body armor, it is both militarily untenable and politically ridiculous to deny symmetrical protection to the victim of aggression.”

For now, that is just what the Obama administration is doing. It has rejected Ukrainian requests for lethal, and most nonlethal, military gear, except packaged food, blankets, sleeping bags, helmets and generators.

Mr. Clark and Mr. Karber said the administration needs to assemble a team of active or retired American officers to advise the Ukrainian army in-country.

They note that Ukraine has become a U.S. ally by sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet its military is having trouble persuading the Obama administration to provide any aid, even bedding.

“As of last week, U.S.-promised sleeping bags had not arrived in Ukraine,” the Clark-Karber report said. “Troops in the rain and mud at the front build fires to keep themselves warm and dry their wet blankets. But the fires give away their positions to Russian snipers and infiltrators.”


Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/20/tactical-advantage-russian-military-shows-off-impr/#ixzz2zWeIjD4k

[Mark]

US could potentially impose sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin himself over the crisis in Ukraine, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki says - @Reuters

act of war anyone?



This Means War: US To Target Putin's Personal $40 Billion Stash

While the White House has continually threatened further sanctions against Russia for non-de-escalation (even as it un-de-escalates itself), the specifics of the additional sanctions have been sparse. German CEO warnings over blowback from economic sanctions... the "nonsense" of replacing Russian gas with US gas... the Russian warnings of "interdependence" and "boomerangs"... all reduce the West's arsenal of financial sanctions. But, as The Times of London reports, perhaps the US has found a crucial pain point for Putin - a sanctions regime that would target Putin's personal wealth, which includes a reported $40 billion stashed in Swiss bank accounts.

As The Hill reports,

    The White House on Friday refused to comment on reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin's personal wealth could be targeted if the West were to move ahead with additional sanctions over Ukraine.

    "I'm not going to get into foreshadowing particular individuals or entities that the United States may target," national security adviser Susan Rice told reporters at the White House. "But let me just say we've been clear that there are additional individuals, officials, close associates of senior leadership, oligarchs and those entities that they are associated with that remain very much potential targets of additional sanctions."

The Times of London reported Friday that the U.S. was preparing a sanctions regime that would target Putin's personal wealth, which includes a reported $40 billion stashed in Swiss bank accounts.

    Putin's actual holdings are a tightly held secret, and the extent of his holdings are difficult to estimate. But a threat of trying to freeze the Russian president's personal assets could have played a role in a deal brokered Thursday by foreign ministers from the U.S., Ukraine, Russia and European Union.

Perhaps it is worth remembering Putin's response from last week's Q&A...

    Putin was asked why the US can do whatever it wants and no one punishes them, while attempts are being made to punish Russia.

     “The US is certainly one of the world’s leaders. At some point it seemed that it was the only leader and a uni-polar system was in place. Today it appears that is not the case. Everything in the world is interdependent and once you try to punish someone, in the end you will cut off your nose to spite your face,” he said.

Though we are sure Obama and his team have considered all the intended and unintended consequences of any such actions.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-04-20/means-war-us-target-putins-personal-40-billion-stash

[Mark]

Russia and Iran End Times War

The battle wheels are turning in Russia and the world sits unaware of the possibilities of an end times war between a middle eastern alliance with Russia, including modern day Iran and Israel. In fact, according to Omega Shock.com, a Christian website dedicated to end times prediction, the Ukraine is mentioned specifically. In the Bible, Ukraine is identified as Rosh. The Bible says that man should beware of the predictions based on Gog, in the land of Magog, who is prince of Rosh, Tubal and Meshech, in the chapter of Ezekiel verse 38:2

The word Rosh is very similar to the original name for Ukraine, Rus (its exact pronunciation is debatable). Not only does the Bible predict a Russian alliance with Ukraine but also with Meshech and Tubal which includes many of the former Russian nations. Gog is the chief prince of Magog or Russia. According to the website Tracking Bible Prophesy, the chief prince may not be the leader of Russia but rather an official high up in the government who is led by a demonic spirit in order to take over the world.

The most recent attempt by Russia to invade and occupy Ukraine is not the only sign that Russia would like to take back its former territories. According to Tracking Bible Prophesy, the 2008 invasion of Georgia by Russia was significant. This attempt to reintegrate South Ossetia in Georgia was evidence of a desire to possibly reunite the old Russian Empire.

So it would the war with Gog and Magog has been a long time in the making as Russia would like to accomplish taking over and ruling of all its old territories. However it is a bit disconcerting that the Bible predicted a Russian take over of its old territory while the world watches as Ukraine is possibly being reintegrated into Russia.

The Bible allegedly predicted an end times war between Russia (Magog), Lybia (Put), Iran (Persia), Former Soviet States (Mechech and Tubal), Turkey (Togarmiah), Eastern Europe, (Gomer), Sudan (Cush), and  Israel. This war would be followed by a rapture in which all the Christians of the world would ascend into heaven. Finally the world will see a period of tribulation in which it would be subject to famine, flood, pestilence and disease for many years.

There seems to be evidence that some of the teachings in the Bible have come true. The climate change and disease that is being experienced as well as the emergence of a  Israel, a free Jewish state are both predicted in the Bible in the end times. Time will tell if the rest of the scriptures prove to be accurate.

Are these prophesies hog wash or should they be examined scientifically? The world should not sit uninterested or in disbelief of these predictions due to a difference in belief. Regardless of one’s faith, predictions that have some merit should be heeded. It might be prudent for the United States and other countries to study them as part of their military strategies. There are many clues that are outlined in the Bible that predict an end times war between Russia, Iran and Israel. Perhaps they could shed some light on future events in the world.

http://guardianlv.com/2014/04/russia-and-iran-end-times-war/

[Mark]

U.S. Conducts Spy Flight Over Russia
Moscow confirms it canceled flight last week

After a tit-for-tat series of delays, the United States conducted an Open Skies Treaty intelligence flight over Russian territory on Monday, a State Department official said.

The spy flight originally was scheduled for April 14 but was canceled by Russia after a U.S. team for the flight failed to arrive near Moscow on time and Moscow refused temporarily to reschedule it.

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman also expressed anger on Monday over U.S. delays in certifying a new high-tech Russian aircraft to be used for spying missions over the United States under the Open Skies Treaty that permits limited legal spying over U.S. and Russian territory.

The State Department official said, however, that last week’s delay was the result of bad weather – despite radar images showing mostly clear skies over of Russia during the period of last week’s planned flight.

“The U.S. Open Skies mission dated April 14 was delayed due to weather conditions beyond the time permitted by the treaty,” the official said in a statement. “The flight was rescheduled and on April 21, the U.S. Open Skies Treaty aircraft began its mission in the Russian Federation.”

The official said the treaty permits the country conducting the surveillance flight to postpone the flight for 24 hours, “after which the host country is permitted to cancel the mission.”

Earlier, the official did not mention that Russia had canceled the April 14 flight or the reasons for the cancelation.

In Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich on Monday defended Moscow’s decision to cancel the flight and criticized the United States regarding the treaty, calling the U.S. position “highly non-constructive.”

Lukashevich said Russia canceled the April 14 flight by a joint U.S.-Czech Republic team after the team failed to arrive at a meeting point in Kubinka, a town about 40 miles west of Moscow.

Lukashevich made no mention of Monday’s U.S. flight, however.

“At the request of the American side of the mission the arrival time was postponed for 24 hours,” Lukashevich told state-run ITAR-TASS news agency.

“However, neither the Americans nor the Czechs showed up in Kubinka,” he said. “When a new request for a postponement came, we rejected it for good reason, taking into account, among other things, the fact that Russia had already sustained certain costs while waiting for the American observation plane.”

Lukashevich said the costs of using Russian resources to support the mission were part of the decision to cancel the mission last week.

The spokesman also noted the U.S. refusal to certify a new Russian Open Skies aircraft for use over the United States as one reason for Moscow’s anger at the U.S. overflight last week.

“We have to state with regret that the American side, the only of the parties to the Treaty on Open Skies, has long been adhering to a highly non-constructive position on the examination of our digital observation equipment by putting forth requirements that are not provided for in the treaty,” he said.

The Russians want “implementation of the treaty will be safeguarded against the negative impact of considerations of expediency and that its members will strictly abide by their obligations,” Lukashevich said.

U.S. intelligence officials and members of both congressional intelligence oversight committees want the Obama administration to block certification of the new Russian surveillance aircraft that are equipped with digital sensors, including advanced radar that allows the aircraft to see through structures.

The White House National Security Council (NSC) deputies committee, a group of senior security officials, met on the issue last week.

An NSC spokesman declined to comment on whether the Russian aircraft had been certified for future Open Skies flights over the United States.

The aircraft are part of a 1992 agreement among 34 nations that allows parties to the treaty to conduct intelligence-gathering flights over national territory. The treaty is a so-called confidence-building measure.

Pentagon and U.S. intelligence officials are concerned the new equipment on the Russian aircraft will permit spying on new and advanced U.S. military capabilities, weapons, and facilities.

The cancellation of the flight last week coincided with the crisis over Ukraine where some 80,000 Russian troops, along with tanks and armored vehicles, are massed near Ukraine’s eastern border.

A U.S. official said the cancellation of the flight last week appeared to be part of an effort by Moscow to deny U.S. surveillance of Russian force deployments that appear being readied for a large-scale military intervention in eastern Ukraine.

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/u-s-conducts-spy-flight-over-russia/

[Mark]

its on now...

Report: Ukraine military plane hit by gunfire over town of Sloviansk, held by pro-Russian militants, defense ministry says - @BBCBreaking
https://twitter.com/BBCBreaking


More: Ukrainian military aircraft hit by gunfire while on a reconnaissance flight over the eastern city of Slaviansk, which is in the hands of armed pro-Russian separatists, Defense Ministry says - @Reuters

https://twitter.com/Reuters

[Mark]

Ukraine's acting President Oleksandr Turchynov calls for relaunch of an anti-terrorist operation in the east after body of a local politician from his own party was found showing signs of torture - @Reuters

imagine that...

[Mark]

the US escalates once more, please remember that the US isnt mentioned in end times prophecy.

US to send 600 soldiers to Baltic nations for training over next week in response to Ukraine crisis - @NBCNews

Russia expels Canadian diplomat from Moscow in retaliation for Ottawa kicking out a Russian military attaché earlier this month - @CBCAlerts

Leader of Crimea's Tatars, in Kiev to meet Vice President Joe Biden, says there 'will be bloodshed' if the region's problems are not solved - @BBCNewshour

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/egypt-signs-unprecedented-military-deal-with-russia/2014/04/22/
4/22/14

Ehud Ya’ari of Israel’s Channel 2 News reported on Tuesday night, that Egypt and Russia will be signing an unprecedented military agreement.

In this agreement between Cairo and Moscow, Egypt will receive 24 of Russia’s advanced Mikoyan MiG-35 fighter jets, along with military and strategic advisers, as well as training for the Egyptian Air Force.

The deal is worth $3 billion.

It follows in the footsteps of a $2 billion arms deal that Egypt signed with Russia in February, and was primarily funded by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The deal itself has been in the works since November, as JewishPress.com reported when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Cairo and Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and developed in response to decreased US military aid to Egypt.

This deal is a major setback to US policy and diplomacy in the Middle East, and is a direct slap in the face for U.S. President Obama.

In related news, the U.S. is sending 600 troops to Eastern Europe for an exercise, to try to reassure its NATO allies, following Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

[Mark]

http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/egypt-signs-unprecedented-military-deal-with-russia/2014/04/22/
4/22/14

Ehud Ya’ari of Israel’s Channel 2 News reported on Tuesday night, that Egypt and Russia will be signing an unprecedented military agreement.

In this agreement between Cairo and Moscow, Egypt will receive 24 of Russia’s advanced Mikoyan MiG-35 fighter jets, along with military and strategic advisers, as well as training for the Egyptian Air Force.

The deal is worth $3 billion.

It follows in the footsteps of a $2 billion arms deal that Egypt signed with Russia in February, and was primarily funded by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The deal itself has been in the works since November, as JewishPress.com reported when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Cairo and Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and developed in response to decreased US military aid to Egypt.

This deal is a major setback to US policy and diplomacy in the Middle East, and is a direct slap in the face for U.S. President Obama.

In related news, the U.S. is sending 600 troops to Eastern Europe for an exercise, to try to reassure its NATO allies, following Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

must be why the US is giving Egypt these, that will be used against Israel


US to lift suspension on the delivery of Apache helicopters to Egypt after concluding Cairo has upheld its peace treaty with Israel - @AFP
read more on yahoo.com

[Mark]

Russia's Lavrov says Russia would retaliate if Russian citizens' interested threatened - @RT_com via @Reuters

An attack on Russians is an attack on Russia, Lavrov says in interview - @RT_com via @Reuters

[Mark]

Germany Helped Prep Russia for War, U.S. Sources Say

Over the past few years, NATO countries have helped Russia revolutionize its armed forces. Now questions are arising about a German defense contractor that trained the Russian military.

The world was shocked when Russian special operations forces invaded Crimea with advanced technology, drastically improved operations, and with so much operational security that even agencies in the U.S. intelligence community didn’t see it coming. In Washington, government and congressional leaders are wondering how the Russian special operations forces got so good, so fast, without anyone noticing. Some are wondering how much help Russia had from the West.

In 2011, for example, the German defense contractor Rheinmetall signed a $140 million contract to build a combat simulation training center in Mulino, in southwest Russia, that would train 30,000 Russian combat troops per year. While the facility wasn't officially scheduled to be completed until later this year, U.S. officials believe that Germany has been training Russian forces for years.

Rheinmetall defended the project even after the invasion of Crimea, up until the German government finally shut it down late last month. But many tracking the issue within the U.S. government were not happy with Germany's handling of the Russian contract, and worry that some of the training may have gone to the kind of special operations forces now operating in and around Ukraine.

“It’s unfortunate that German companies were directly supporting and training Russia’s military even during the attacks against Ukraine,” one senior Senate aide told The Daily Beast. “The U.S. government should call on our NATO allies to suspend all military connections with Russia at this point, until the Russians leave Ukraine, including Crimea.”

According to the Congressional Research Service, Rheinmetall’s partner in the deal was the Russian state-owned Oboronservis (“Defense Service”) firm. The training center, modeled after one used by the German Bundeswehr, was to be “the most advanced system of its kind worldwide.” Reinmetall saw the contract as a precursor to several more projects “in light of the plans to modernize the equipment of the Russian armed forces.”

U.S. officials, now looking back, are privately expressing anger and frustration about the German work with the Russian military. While definitive proof is hard to come by, these officials look at the radical upgrade of Moscow’s forces–especially its special operations forces–experienced since they last saw major action in 2008's invasion of Georgia. The U.S. officials believe that some of the German training over the last few years was given to the GRU Spetsnaz, the special operations forces that moved unmarked into Crimea and who can now be found stirring up trouble in eastern Ukraine.

“People are pissed,” one U.S. intelligence official told The Daily Beast. “The chatter inside the Pentagon is that the training they were providing was going to Spetznaz.”

Rheinmetall did not respond to a request for comment.

Russia maintains close economic ties with many NATO states–especially Germany. By some estimates, the country exported nearly $50 billion in goods to Russia in 2013. Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of German jobs depend on Russian trade.

The armed forces of NATO members have also been working with their counterparts in the Russian military, on and off, for years. Russia has held joint military exercises with both Germany and the U.S., for example. America has bought Russian helicopters to use in Afghanistan. And Moscow allows NATO equipment to pass through Russian territory as the gear comes into and out of the war zone.

    “It’s unfortunate that German companies were directly supporting and training Russia’s military even during the attacks against Ukraine.”

To the Congressional Research Service, “Rheinmetall’s construction of an army training center could be viewed in the context of the broader bilateral defense cooperation between Germany and Russia,” the service writes in its report. “The German…  government’s approval of the contract to construct a training center also appears to be in line with long-standing German policy to promote military training and joint exercises with partner countries.”

But some on Capitol Hill see the Rheimetall contract as only one example of the folly of several NATO countries that rushed to sign lucrative defense contracts with Russia after President Obama declared a new “reset” policy with the Russian Federation. Lawmakers have tried to halt the French sale of the Mistral, an amphibious warship, to the Russian Navy. Some are also unhappy about the Italian sale of Lynx armored personnel carriers to Russia.

A Senate aide said that one of Rheinmetall’s contributions was to help the Russian army and GRU Spetznaz upgrade their gear. Reports show that the Russian military units both inside Ukraine and amassed on its eastern border are sporting brand new communications equipment, body armor, personal weapons, and ammunition. Taken together, it gives them a huge tactical advantage over the beleaguered Ukrainian armed forces.

Top defense officials are now acknowledging that Russia’s military has been revolutionized in recent years. This month, Vice Admiral Frank Pandolfe, the director for strategic plans and policy for the military’s joint chiefs of staff, told Congress in open testimony that in recent years Russia has created regional commands that “coordinate and synchronize planning, joint service integration, force movement, intelligence support, and the tactical employment of units” in what he deemed “snap exercises,” or military training missions that can be ordered at a moment’s notice.

In the testimony, Pandolfe also said Russia has placed greater emphasis on the use of Special Operations Forces as well as information and cyber warfare.  Experts said that Russian military doctrine was dramatically updated in the past few years and clearly set out Russia’s plans for modernization and a focus on highly trained rapid reaction special forces. But in the West, the papers were not well read, much less understood.

The Russians also changed their doctrine to reflect that they viewed the threat as not coming from a conventional war, but from the need to protect Russian populations in unstable states facing what they deemed to be Western aggression.

“This wasn’t just about implementing lessons learned from [the 2008 invasion of] Georgia, it was about giving them a basis for a different kind of operations,” said Fiona Hill, a former top intelligence official on Russia, now with the Brookings Institution. “We should have been paying more attention to this. There have been these signals for a long time, but we have been misreading them.”

Western and NATO countries believed they could tie Russia into greater military cooperation through engagement, but now have realized that Russian was probably never really interested in that. The Russian military is now organized to respond to conflicts caused by such things as popular revolutions, political crises, and domestic insurgencies.

“Everyone was looking for a way to cooperate with the Russian military and rushed to find ways to do it, including us,” said Hill. “Whatever we do now, we have to be mindful that the Russians have been preparing for something else.”

Andranik Migranyan, a past member of Russia’s Presidential Council and currently an adviser to the Vladimir Putin administration, told reporters that ever since the Georgia war, Russia has been spending to radically upgrade its military, but that the West has only itself to blame for not following along.

“We have new armament, new army, new training,” he said. “It’s very strange you are not following what’s happening.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/22/germany-helped-prep-russia-for-war-u-s-sources-say.html

 

[Mark]

Pentagon deploying troops to thwart Russia

The Pentagon is sending about 600 troops to Eastern Europe in response to Russia's incursion into Ukraine, Rear Adm. John Kirby announced Tuesday.

The first contingent of 150 soldiers from the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade, based in Italy, will arrive in Poland on Wednesday to conduct infantry exercises. Another 450 soldiers will be deployed to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for similar duty. The American forces will be replaced to ensure a continual presence in the region.

"Russia's aggression in Ukraine has renewed our resolve to strengthening NATO's defense plans and capabilities, and to demonstrate our continued commitment to collective defense in reinforcing our NATO allies in Central and Eastern Europe," Kirby told reporters at the Pentagon.

The move drew measured praise from Rep. Buck McKeon, a California Republican and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

"This as a small step in the right direction," McKeon said. "By rearranging U.S. forces already deployed in Europe, the president is doing something, however incremental, to reassure our allies. It might have more deterrent value if he included the Ukrainian military in the exercises. It remains to be seen if this move of 600 troops comes in time to make an impression on the tens of thousands of Russian troops on Ukraine's borders."

Russia annexed Crimea, taking control of key port facilities on the Black Sea, and has been accused by U.S. officials of sending forces elsewhere into eastern Ukraine to destabilize the country.

The token presence of U.S. troops in Poland, a NATO ally bordering Ukraine, and the Baltic nations, also NATO allies, could not repel a Russian invasion or eject them from Ukraine. Russia has massed about 40,000 troops on Ukraine's eastern border.

"What would be very helpful is if they removed their forces off that border and took concrete actions to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine," said Kirby, the Pentagon's press secretary.

The presence of U.S. soldiers raises the stakes for Russia in Poland and the other countries if it moves against them militarily. Wounding or killing an American soldier there could risk a major war.

There are about 67,000 U.S. troops in Europe and 12,000 civilians, according to U.S. European Command. The Cold War peak was 400,000 troops, in 1955 and it dropped to about 100,000 several years ago.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/22/russia-ukraine-crimea-pentagon/8022747/

[Mark]

Brink of war: Russia begins new military drills on border after Ukrainian special forces shoot dead up to five militants in dramatic 'anti-terrorist' assault on illegal checkpoints

    Armoured personnel carriers and helicopters backed up heavily armed commandos in the assault in Slovyansk
    Russian president Vladimir Putin said attack constitutes 'a very serious crime' and warned Kiev of 'consequences'
    In response to the attack Russia started new military drills near the Ukrainian border
    Barack Obama accused Moscow of not honoring an agreement to ease tensions and says more sanctions are 'teed up'
    He said, however, that the U.S would need allied support to apply more sanctions
    British, Dutch and Danish fighters scrambled to intercept Russian bombers that encroached on restricted airspace
    U.S troops arrive in Poland to take part in joint military exercises in move to reassure eastern European countries
    Ukrainian troops repelled an overnight raid by about 70 armed men on a base at Artemivsk
    WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOW


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2611946/Obama-issues-stark-warning-Russia-new-economic-sanctions-teed-unrest-continues-grow-Ukraine.html#ixzz2ztKtVZyE

[Mark]

Ukraine PM: Russian attempts to start conflict in Ukraine will lead to military conflict in Europe - @Reuters

Ukraine FM: Russian troops conducting exercises close to Ukrainian frontier this week came within 1km of border but did not cross - @interfaxua

Russian President Putin: Russia should increase production of anti-missile systems - @ria_novosti via @Reuters

Barack Obama says he will talk to key European leaders today about events in Ukraine and may be ready to impose sectoral sanctions on Russia - @SkyNewsBreak

Military officials: Ukrainian helicopter hit by gunfire whilst on the ground and caught fire, wounding pilot - @Reuters

Obama says the targeted sanctions against Russian individuals might not 'necessarily solve the problem'. More measures might be needed - @BBCGavinHewitt

[Mark]

Russia says Kiev will face justice for 'bloody crime' in Ukraine

Russia warned Kiev on Friday that it would face justice for a "bloody crime" in eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces killed up to five pro-Russian rebels a day earlier, while Washington said Moscow was running out of time to defuse the crisis before facing further sanctions.

"They (Kiev) are waging a war on their own people. This is a bloody crime, and those who pushed the army to do that will pay, I am sure, and will face justice," Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told a meeting of diplomats.

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's also provided a reminder of the costs of the dispute to Moscow, as it cut the country's ratings, forcing Russia's central bank to raise its key interest rate to reverse a drop in the rouble.

Lavrov said Moscow was committed to implementing an agreement struck in Geneva on April 17 between Ukraine, Russia, the United States and the European Union to ease tensions in Ukraine and disarm illegal groups but accused Washington of distorting it with "one-sided demands".

The Defence Ministry said it was ready for "unbiased and constructive" talks with the United States to stabilise the situation.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who accuses Moscow of sending agents to coordinate the unrest in the east, as it did before seizing Ukraine's Crimea region in February, is planning to call allies in Europe later in the day to nudge them towards tougher sanctions.

"The window to change course is closing," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said late on Thursday, citing Obama's earlier comments that Washington was ready to impose new sanctions, on top of those imposed after Crimea was annexed.

Kerry said Russia was using propaganda to hide what it was trying to do in eastern Ukraine - destabilise the region and undermine next month's Ukrainian presidential elections - and denounced its "threatening movement" of troops up to Ukraine's border.

"If Russia continues in this direction, it will not just be a grave mistake, it will be an expensive mistake," Kerry said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has scoffed at the sanctions so far imposed, which have been limited to travel bans and overseas assets freezes on individuals.

Ukraine said Russian troops conducting exercises had approached to within 1 kilometre (1,100 yards) of the border and that aircraft had also taken part in the manoeuvres. It said it would treat any incursion as an invasion.

Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said Russia wanted to start World War Three by occupying Ukraine "militarily and politically" and creating a conflict that would spread to the rest of Europe.

Ukrainian special forces launched a second phase of their operation in the east of the country on Friday by mounting a full blockade of the rebel-held city of Slaviansk, an official on the presidential staff said.

One of its military helicopters was hit by rocket fire and exploded while on the ground at an airport near the city, the Defence Ministry said.

Interior minister Arsen Avakov insisted every care was being taken to avoid non-combatant casualties, after Moscow warned it may act if Kiev used the army against civilians.

German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier meanwhile suggested that the United States, the EU and Russia should make a joint high-level trip to hotspots in Ukraine with local officials to signal political backing for the Geneva agreement.

A German government spokesman told reporters on Friday that Russia had done nothing to implement the agreement, and Chancellor Angela Merkel had called Putin to urge action.

During that call, Putin called for urgent talks between Russia, the EU and Ukraine on Russian gas supplies to Europe, which are now under threat over the crisis in Ukraine, through which much of the gas is piped.

ODESSA CLASH

Seven people were injured overnight at a pro-Ukrainian checkpoint near the Black Sea port of Odessa when an explosive device blew up, police said on Friday.

Residents in the town have built several such checkpoints near the town aimed at stopping pro-Russian separatists entering from Moldova's breakaway territory of Transdniestria.

Interfax news agency quoted witnesses as saying a bomb was thrown at the checkpoint from a passing car, though this was not confirmed by police.

Transdniestria, home to Russian peacekeepers and Russian troops guarding a Soviet-era arms stock, declared independence in the early 1990s.

NATO warned last month of a possible Russian military grab for Transdniestria following its annexation of Crimea.

Ukrainian forces killed up to five pro-Moscow rebels on Thursday as they closed in on the separatists' military stronghold in the east, and Russia launched army exercises near the border in response, raising fears its troops would invade.

The Ukrainian offensive amounts to the first time Kiev's troops have used lethal force to recapture territory from rebels who have seized swathes of eastern Ukraine since April 6 and proclaimed an independent "People's Republic of Donetsk".

The Kremlin, which says it has the right to invade its neighbour to protect Russian speakers, has built up forces - estimated by NATO at up to 40,000 troops - on Ukraine's border.

ECONOMIC DAMAGE

Though the direct financial impact of sanctions has been limited, Russia's economy is being damaged by the crisis.

Central bank data released earlier this month showed an estimated $63.7 billion in net capital outflows in the first three months of 2014, the same as for the whole of 2013. The World Bank has said this year's total could reach $150 billion.

S&P cut Russia's foreign currency sovereign ratings to reflect the risk of further outflows, hitting Moscow stocks and weakening the rouble.

Russia's central bank then raised its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 7.5 percent to address the currency weakness, which it said was raising inflation expectations.

Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, slid into unrest late last year when Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovich rejected a pact to build closer ties with Europe. Protesters took over central Kiev and he fled in February. Days later, Russian troops seized control of Crimea.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/04/25/uk-ukraine-crisis-russia-lavrov-idUKBREA3O0IA20140425

[Psalm 51:17]

http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Russia-India-Planning-30-Billion-Oil-Pipeline-Through-Xinjiang.html
4/23/14
Russia, India Planning $30 Billion Oil Pipeline Through Xinjiang

Russia is changing its energy export policy vector as strong demand for hydrocarbons in both in China and in India continues to grow. The recent unease in both the U.S. and Europe over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s March 17 annexation of Crimea has only added to Moscow’s efforts to diversify its markets beyond Europe.

Now Russia and India are planning to construct a $30 billion oil pipeline through China’s restive Xinjiang province. If successful, the pipeline will be the most expensive in the world.

The groundwork for the project was laid on October 21, 2013, during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Moscow for the 14th India-Russia Annual Summit. Singh and Putin issued a joint statement that said, “Russia and India have agreed to establish a joint group to study the possibility of direct ground transportation of hydrocarbons.”

That announcement reaffirmed the two countries’ joint commitment to implement the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of India on the Enhancement of Cooperation in Oil and Gas Sector, which was concluded on December 21, 2010.

The project has been on the drawing boards for nearly a decade, as Russia and India first began discussing it in 2005.

Four years later, in 2009, the foreign ministers of Russia, India and China agreed to enhance energy cooperation. Sergei Lavrov, S.M. Krishna and Yang Jiechi met in Bangalore to discuss energy security, the fight against terrorism and climate change. In a joint declaration, the diplomats said, “India, Russia and China are seeking to intensify international energy cooperation on a new basis to help make the energy market more open, transparent and competitive and reflect the common interests of all the parties involved.”

At the end of last year, India's biggest oil and gas company, Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) confirmed its interest in the pipeline project, saying, “The pipeline from Russia seems appropriate. The details of the project will be clarified with the Russian partners.”

India currently buys very little crude oil from Russia. According to the Indian Embassy in Moscow, fuel and oil imports from Russia in 2012 were only $176 million even as bilateral trade increased by 24.5 percent to $11 billion. Indian exports accounted for $3 billion while Russian exports, primarily weaponry, were valued at $8 billion.

Political support in Russia for the Xinjiang pipeline project has increased in the wake of worsening relations with the U.S. and EU over Crimea. On February 26, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin observed, “This is one of the major infrastructure projects that can be implemented.” But he also added, “I think it has a right to exist, but we should make calculations to see how profitable it can be.”

The pipeline also has political support in China. China’s Center for Strategic Studies in Energy Director Xia Yishan recently said, “The project is beneficial for both India and China, as it would allow China to become an oil transit in addition to its ‘status’ of recipient of the Russian oil.”

The pipeline project will strengthen India’s intention to become a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), of which Russia and China are charter members.

The pipeline still faces substantial impediments, aside from its astronomical price tag. Up to 35 percent of its route runs through mountainous terrain, a factor that has set back completion schedules to 2020-2022.

Any pipeline to India through China would also become subject to the two states’ complex relationship, which is fraught with border disputes and mutual suspicion.

As Russian Center for Current Politics expert Dmitry Abzalov observed, “If a significant portion of the pipeline passes through the Middle Kingdom, there is a risk that it could be used to exert pressure on India.”

But evolving political relations may yet hasten the pipeline’s development. Russia is seeking to broaden its energy markets, India remains a major energy exporter, and China would strengthen its relations with both countries should the pipeline be built. While the last couple of years have seen major pipeline projects such as Nabucco abandoned, rising political and security considerations in this case may trump costs and end up propelling the project forward.

[Mark]

The West escalates again, virtually declares war

White House: US is prepared to impose targeted sanction to respond to Russia's latest actions - statement via @Reuters

White House: Obama, Hollande, Merkel, Renzi agree to work together to 'coordinate additional steps to impose costs on Russia' - @Reuters

White House: Obama, other leaders agree Russia has escalated tensions in eastern Ukraine, but say 'Russia could still choose a peaceful resolution to the crisis' - @Reuters

Russia's refusal to support Geneva process for Ukraine means extension of current targeted sanctions would need to be implemented, spokesman for British Prime Minister Cameron says - @Reuters