Russia admits that it has moved troops in Ukraine
 

From the Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...n-Ukraine.html

More Ukraine reporting from the Daily Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...urope/ukraine/

Also, updates from RFE/RL can be found here: http://www.rferl.org/contentlive/cla.../25267783.html

BBC coverage: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26270866

Gee, didn't see that coming. How long before they move into Ukraine proper to protect ethnic Russians.......

LOL, wtf is Russia going to protect the fleet from? Molotov cocktails and bb gun wielding opposition with riot shields?

What if we had a force that could go in and help the Ukranians resist the invaders?

If only....

TR

7th Army? Oh I forgot, it doesn't exist anymore (thanks Clinton), and anyway the Russians would never have caused any problems. :rolleyes:

The troops with no marking that took control over two airports in Crimea are apparently Russian PMCs.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...e-airport.html

I suppose there are more than a few Ukrainians wishing Ukraine had kept its part of the Soviet nuclear deterrent.

That said, if it hits the fan, I am not sure how reliable the Ukrainian Armed Forces are, leaving aside the capabilities gap between them and the Red Army -- sorry, Russian Army.

Since coming into office, Yanukovych had been moving non-ethnic Ukrainians into key positions in the security forces, but I don't know how effective that was down the ranks. When I worked with the Ukrainians in 1996, their officer corps still had a large percentage of Soviet holdovers from other parts of the USSR. However, they had been making progress reintegrating Ukrainians from other former Soviet military districts and increasing the percentage of Ukrainian-born officers (not necessarily ethnic Ukrainians all, but at least from Ukraine).

Yanukovych's defense minister and army and air force commanders were Russians, and his navy commander, also promoted to chief of the general staff of the armed forces a week ago, was a Belarussian who had been a Soviet Navy officer in the Crimea when the USSR collapsed. I know the defense minister and Adm. Ilyin have been removed, but I don't know about the others.

But how much this goes down the ranks, and whether they have to worry if some troops will refuse to fight if called upon, or even turn on their comrades, seems like a big unknown to me.

So Palin was right after all
 

Palin Mocked in 2008 for Warning Putin May Invade Ukraine if Obama Elected

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2...cted-President

"During the 2008 presidential campaign, Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin warned that if Senator Barack Obama were elected president, his "indecision" and "moral equivalence" may encourage Russia's Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine....."

so it seems like it isn't actually Russian troops, but a Russian PMC, well, the "Russian-made-Blackwater" move is sheer fucking genius on the part of the Russians.

...I fucking hate the Russian, but damn.
"These are just PMC forces.... you know, like the folks you had in Iraq, and Afghanistan, and Africa, and New Orleans.

...they are just pulling high risk security so nobody has to commit troops. Just like Blackwater and Custer Battles and Four Horsemen etc etc etc, rinse and repeat.
Nothing to see here, just contractors pulling security, move along....


Any thoughts?

...the problem is, the libs' will say Al Gore is wrong on global warming before they credit Sarah Palin with being correct in her opinion that water is wet and the sky is blue

Just another reason to downsize the Army to pre WWII days.

If no one saw this coming you don't know anything.

TR who are you talking about?