Putin puts troops in western Russia on alert in drill

[Deleted]

Anyone got an English language transcript of Putin's radio phone-in yesterday? The BBC picked up on one thing he apparently said - that it was strange that cities like Donetsk, Kharkov and Odessa were not part of Russia. It sounds like he was playing bad cop to Lavrov's good cop in Geneva.

[Shalcker]

Anyone got an English language transcript of Putin's radio phone-in yesterday? The BBC picked up on one thing he apparently said - that it was strange that cities like Donetsk, Kharkov and Odessa were not part of Russia. It sounds like he was playing bad cop to Lavrov's good cop in Geneva.

http://eng.kremlin.ru/transcripts/7034 - Direct Line question (not a lot of interesting things, mostly local Russian stuff)
http://eng.kremlin.ru/transcripts/7036 - Journalist questions after direct line (starting with oh-so-persecuted Dozhd btw).

[Deleted]

The day after Geneva, there's no indication the separatists will vacate the government buildings they've seized. A BBC journalist on the barricades in Donetsk said the separatists there described the Geneva talks as "illegitimate". I think Geneva has acted to reduce tensions and hopefully stop escalation of the conflict, but we are not out of the woods yet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27076226

That's very true.
The agreement is in place and Russia isn't backing them up anymore though. I'm pretty convinced separatists will back down eventually.

[Deleted]

Could someone explain to me one thing, why do all pro-Russian protesters and even Russian Federation soldiers always cover their faces? Is it purely because they want to avoid identification?

Same reason terrorists cover their faces.

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As this series of events show us, best way of preventing any "adventuring" is making Russia dependent on our trading agreement.

Because that worked so well in your imagination.

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What do you try to say? I say something about pro-Russian separatists and in reply you start about Russian soldiers. It's logical that I think you claim that pro-Russian separatists are Russian soldiers then.

Only logical if you forgot what you wrote, which apparently you did. You said something about Russia and the terrorists in Eastern Ukraine; I pointed out that Russia is reponsible for Russian soldiers. It is common knowledge by anyone who isn't blind to facts that Russian soliders have taken part in the unrest.

It doesn't remotely mean all of the protestors must be Russian soldiers, but you're so eager to deny reality that apparently you couldn't help being extremely defensive about it. It's okay, in another month Putin would admit it was his soldiers that stormed those government buildings.

[BreathTaker]

Could someone explain to me one thing, why do all pro-Russian protesters and even Russian Federation soldiers always cover their faces? Is it purely because they want to avoid identification?

I find it really counter intuitive, since there has been studies that show that soldiers find it easier to shoot at targets that lack certain human features, such as recognizable facial features.

You must have missed a lot. People in eastern UA all protest with open faces, unlike the bandits of maidan. Look videos one more time and see.
There are, however SOME guys who cover their faces - mostly militia/police who switched sides and does not want to get punished.
Also those guys who make official statements from their side - are all open faced. Even those who proclaimed createion of Donetzk independent republic (and this is kinda the most unforgiving thing!)

[TooMuch]

Only logical if you forgot what you wrote, which apparently you did. You said something about Russia and the terrorists in Eastern Ukraine; I pointed out that Russia is reponsible for Russian soldiers. It is common knowledge by anyone who isn't blind to facts that Russian soliders have taken part in the unrest.

It doesn't remotely mean all of the protestors must be Russian soldiers, but you're so eager to deny reality that apparently you couldn't help being extremely defensive about it. It's okay, in another month Putin would admit it was his soldiers that stormed those government buildings.

I love this aggressiveness that's based on nothing. You can join ranks with Gabriel, Rukentuts, Bakis... I am not denying anything, show me any post were I did that. Secondly show me any defensive post I wrote? I just asked you a question if you thought all pro-Russian separatist are Russian soldiers and you go into a tantrum. Really, it's YOU that need to learn to read and YOU that has no reason to be that aggressive...

[Deleted]

Same reason terrorists cover their faces.

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Because that worked so well in your imagination.

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Only logical if you forgot what you wrote, which apparently you did. You said something about Russia and the terrorists in Eastern Ukraine; I pointed out that Russia is reponsible for Russian soldiers. It is common knowledge by anyone who isn't blind to facts that Russian soliders have taken part in the unrest.

It doesn't remotely mean all of the protestors must be Russian soldiers, but you're so eager to deny reality that apparently you couldn't help being extremely defensive about it. It's okay, in another month Putin would admit it was his soldiers that stormed those government buildings.

I don't know what the fuck you're talking about when you say "imagination", but Russia eu and USA just agreed on a set of measures to calm shit down. This is achieved only thanks to the way eu and Russia are interconnected through economy.

[Puupi]

I don't know what the fuck you're talking about when you say "imagination", but Russia eu and USA just agreed on a set of measures to calm shit down. This is achieved only thanks to the way eu and Russia are interconnected through economy.

The only reason EU tolerates Russia's actions is because EU is dependable on Russian energy. If this wasn't the case, there is no way in hell EU would just sit back and watch Russia playing this imperialistic oppression game.

You are saying "thanks interconnected economy".

That's like saying you made an agreement with your enemy thanks to him having a gun pointed at your head.

[Shalcker]

The only reason EU tolerates Russia's actions is because EU is dependable on Russian energy. If this wasn't the case, there is no way in hell EU would just sit back and watch Russia playing this imperialistic oppression game.

The only reason Europe tolerates US actions is because EU is dependable on US/NATO for safety; If that wasn't the case they would not sit back and openly support us instead :P

That's like saying you made an agreement with your enemy thanks to him having a gun pointed at your head.

US are quite adept at making enemies out of thin air, yes.

[Puupi]

The only reason Europe tolerates US actions is because EU is dependable on US/NATO for safety; If that wasn't the case they would not sit back and openly support us instead :P

US are quite adept at making enemies out of thin air, yes.

Not that I agree with you, but why did you pull out the USA card again.

WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT USA, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT RUSSIA.

"But USA...." is not an excuse, answer or reason for anything.

[Rukentuts]

Not that I agree with you, but why did you pull out the USA card again.

WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT USA, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT RUSSIA.

"But USA...." is not an excuse, answer or reason for anything.

Not to mention it's just plain wrong.

[Shalcker]

Not that I agree with you, but why did you pull out the USA card again.

WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT USA, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT RUSSIA.

We're talking about Europe, actually. Russia is only "enemy" of US; it makes much more sense for Russia to have Europe as ally, same for Europe. Existing commitments prevent it, but like everything else they might change eventually.

[Rukentuts]

it makes much more sense for Russia to have Europe as ally

Yes, because Russia is getting increasingly desperate for markets. Hence why Putin is in the process of building his own "union".

same for Europe.

You can't compare the markets of the USA and Russia. Russia is purely natural resources. USA is resources and high tech.

It makes sense to pay other countries for natural resources that aren't currently in the process of recreating the USSR.

[Shalcker]

Yes, because Russia is getting increasingly desperate for markets. Hence why Putin is in the process of building his own "union".

It's good tactics for middle-long term plan to have better economic weight in future negotiations.

You can't compare the markets of the USA and Russia. Russia is purely natural resources. USA is resources and high tech.

And that makes US competitors to Europe, not "natural allies"; while in case of Russia + EU we mostly complement each other

[Rukentuts]

And that makes US competitors to Europe, not "natural allies"

Is that why they're negotiating one of the largest trade agreements ever with us (as per my last link)?

I do find it funny that a citizen of a country that occupied Eastern Europe for about 50 years insists they're better allies than the United States.

[malgin]

Is that why they're negotiating one of the largest trade agreements ever with us (as per my last link)?

I do find it funny that a citizen of a country that occupied Eastern Europe for about 50 years insists they're better allies than the United States.

Heh, US with its NATO-frankenstein is enslaving more and more countries right now.

[Belize]

Ok so Politics and History aren't exactly my areas of expertise, but...

Does anyone else get a massive pre-WW2 vibe here? I mean the pattern is so fucking similar.

"Oh, we're putting troops on your border to HELP you (haha *coughcough* suckers)
Oh yeah. and the Jew have to fucking REGISTER their house/belonging/family to the government now? Golly, we haven't seen that before either...

[Deleted]

The only reason EU tolerates Russia's actions is because EU is dependable on Russian energy. If this wasn't the case, there is no way in hell EU would just sit back and watch Russia playing this imperialistic oppression game.

You are saying "thanks interconnected economy".

That's like saying you made an agreement with your enemy thanks to him having a gun pointed at your head.

"Enemy"?!...

[Shalcker]

Ok so Politics and History aren't exactly my areas of expertise, but...
Does anyone else get a massive pre-WW2 vibe here? I mean the pattern is so fucking similar.

More like pre-WWI really.

WW2 is better known though.

"Oh, we're putting troops on your border to HELP you (haha *coughcough* suckers)

"EU got you agreement with opposition, Yanukovich, just sign it here and withdraw your forces! ...haha, sucker, it didn't even last a day, and we're not even going to chide new government for that!"

Oh yeah. and the Jew have to fucking REGISTER their house/belonging/family to the government now?

Similar claims were made for Western Ukraine during maidan; except there people asked to mark jew houses with stars for later... Likely provocation in both cases.

Don't forget that even if true it would make UKRAINE "nazi country", supporting Kremlin propaganda of "Nazies everywhere!" and need for intervention before it's too late :P

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Speaking about "EU vs Russia vs US", i would like to point to this humorous video:
(sadly, it only has russian subtitles and german original, so you got to understand one of those to get humor)

Satire, sure... but as one Russian saying goes "every good joke is only partially joke".

[Skullslasher]

And after crying about it with Ukraine, the US realizes it loves breaking international laws.

Hypocrisy is a spinning table in these situations. But of course we only point out one side.

To be fair, the U.S hasn't been going around annexing territories like they're Spaniards or Englishmen in the New World.
But you are right, it is hypocrisy. And hypocrisy does alter the truth in something quite a bit; in fact because the U.S is being a hypocrite, it justifies Russia.

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We're talking about Europe, actually. Russia is only "enemy" of US; it makes much more sense for Russia to have Europe as ally, same for Europe. Existing commitments prevent it, but like everything else they might change eventually.

I don't know what planet you live on, but where I'm from Europe and Russia hold very different core political beliefs;aka not founded upon liberalism. Also, proximity is more often than not a factor for tension and disagreement...