Here is a screen shot of most of what remains of the Ukraine after losing Crimea.
Notice how it is conveniently bifurcated north to south by the Dnieper River.
The Dnieper River ˈniːpər is one of the major rivers of Europe (fourth by length), rising near Smolensk and flowing through Russia, Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and Belarus. The total length ranges between 2,145 km (1,333 mi)[1] and 2,201 km (1,368 mi)[2][3][4][5] with a drainage basin of 504,000 square kilometres (195,000 sq mi). The river is noted for its dams and hydroelectric stations. The Dnieper is an important navigable waterway for the economy of Ukraine and is connected via the Dnieper-Bug Canal to other waterways in Europe.
The Russians are going to take the eastern side. Watch. Kiev will be something like Berlin before the wall fell. The river will function as the wall.
Watch.
Betcha.
Who’s gonna stop it?
NATO?
Really?
How?
Watch.
AG
I don’t deny that the Russians are already stirring up trouble and that a partition of Ukraine is a possible outcome. I’m not sure what I think the US and other governments should do in response.
Sorry about that. Glad there are no Ukrainians hanging around my place of residence, reading over my shoulder.
I don’t know what the NATO powers should do, but I’m pretty sure about what they are going to do. They are going to do nothing but mouth off, carefully skirting the whole “invasion of a sovereign country” thing. After all, Iraq is still a relatively fresh
nightmare…errr, ahhhh…memory for most of the world. The current Ukrainian government is of course a nest of thieves, but then so are the governments of Russia, the U.S. and the rest of the NATO countries, so that’s a wash. Maybe they will throw some “sanctions” Russia-ward, but not anything as effective as what the U.S. did to Cuba. A wrist-slap in comparison.I liken the situation w/Eastern Ukraine/Russia to something like this:
Say U.S. history had worked out a little differently and…oh, maybe New England and New York State had ended up Canadian. And Canada had ended up French-speaking. Over the years the southernmost parts of that parcel of land had maintained English as a first language and American culture as its main cultural preference. Then came some very rough times. The Canadian government seemed not very interested in the needs and welfare of the English speaking contingent, and meanwhile the U.S. saw New York, Connecticut and eastern Massachusetts as very valuable commodities. Plus Canada had basically no real armed forces while the U.S. was essentially a military dictatorship posing as a democracy (Like it isn’t now, of course. Riiiight…) and most of the New England English speakers…who were a large majority in that area…wanted to rejoin the U.S.
Who’s gonna argue if the U.S. stepped over the NY border (after fomenting much mischief by using spooky-spook-spook tactics, natch) saying “We must protect our American brethren from Canadian neglect!!!”
Same deal, only Western Europe is heavily involved as well. They want to keep a good, solid buffer zone between themselves and the Russian bear.
The bear eats Eastern Ukraine and all the NATO powers run around in circles doing their patented Chicken Little thing. “The sky is falling!!! The sky is falling!!!” But of course it doesn’t…not immediately, anyway…and they go back to doing what they are best at. Economic imperialism with a minor in false moralization.
Like dat.
Then everybody waits around to see who wins the 2016 presidential election in the U.S.
Yawn.
Business as usual.
SNAFU Inc.
Situation normal…all fucked up.
So it goes.
As an old friend often used to say:
“It must be awful to be a human being!!!”
Yup.
Over and out.
Gotta go watch some basketball.
Later…
S.
“I don’t know what the NATO powers should do,…”.
Given that, maybe you could have stopped there instead of engaging in your own kneejerk bashing. Since you don’t provide an alternative course of action you would like NATO to pursue, what’s the point?
My point is that the very last thing they should do is mealymouth around when it is perfectly plain that they basically have no effective recourse other than some self-injuring “sanctions.” So they go the blue smoke and mirrors route.
I’ll tell you what I think that they should not have done…they shouldn’t have gotten involved in meddling with Ukrainian politics with the aim of cashing in. But they did do that and now the various cats are all out of the various bags. Where’s the profit in that? What should they do given their massive original fuckup? In a perfect world? They should…the U.S. above all…stop electing pro-corporate PermaGov officials to positions of power. Stop the whole economic imperialist routine and dig down into their own business. Would that create “austerity?” Yes, it would. Real austerity, as in no ill-gotten profits from military adventures. Eventually things would even out. They wouldn’t return to massive, gas-guzzling SUV or two in every garage (“SUV”=Stupid Ugly Vehicle), but hey…McMansionville sucks anyway, plus half of it is already for sale to the lamest bidder
The whole scene has stopped working. Do you know that popular definition of insanity?
That has been the very picture of the U.S. since the Vietnam War.
The United States of America
U.S.A.?
No,
U.S.I.!!!
United in a State of Insanity.
Bet on it.
AG
have articles.
Ukraine vs. The Ukraine is a debate that can only occur in a language like English that does. So this is really a bullshit issue. Why is it being stirred?
–Gaianne
For a more realistic view of what is happening in Ukraine, two blogs stand out.
THE VINEYARD OF THE SAKER
moonofalabama
More realistic?
We shall see.
Watch.
AG
Yes, the wheel is still spinning and the fascistic, MIC, nazi, NATO, zionist, oligarchical f*ckheads are nothing if not persistent.
But Russia has played their gas card, giving the EU a cause for pause. Russia has been bailing Ukraine out for a while now but that’s over. Russia’s proposal for a non aligned, federated structure for Ukraine is quite obviously sensible, thus anathema to our Nuland neocons. But Europe will be thinking about keeping warm and running their industry. This could provoke a nice split among the white masters on opposite sides of ‘the Pond’.
If the neo-nazis get their act together and try to establish ‘law and order’ in eastern Ukraine, then certainly Russia will move, beyond the ‘Polite Men In Green’ level seen in Crimea. I’m feeling that it won’t reach that point, but that’s what makes horse races.
The tension keeps racheting up. Vitaly Churkin…Russian Ambassador to the U.N…warned of “extremely significant consequences” if Ukraine’s government follows through with orders to use military force, “In just a few hours’ time, things might take an irreversible turn for the worse,” he said. (Please bear in mind that the following is from the
Jeff Bezos/Amazon-in-financial bed w/CIAWashingtoon Post. If you look around you can find the other side of the hustle from pro-Russian sites. The truth liese somewhere in the middle, but you won’t find that anywhere in the media. Bet on it. The truth would ruin the hustle. Or…as Ron Paul so succinctly put it… “Truth is treason in the empire of lies.”):I repeat:
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.”
Bet on it.
Later…
AG
I think we have reached a turning point that inverts Teddy R’s famous quote. We’re entering a time where the old tricks and dog whistles are not getting the rise out of the public that the oligarchies need to proceed. They are being stymied by their narratives being exposed at once by alert truth tellers on the ground. Once Russia woke up from the delusion of trying to work with the neocon West after the Libya fiasco, a balance of energy emerged. “Cohesive Force” is what the Chinese call Syria’s Assad. This speaks to keeping one’s ‘chi’ centered and alert on defense. Staying home and not going out on wild escapades. Putin and the Russian Bear are also of the same mind. It’s also strong with Iran and Hizbullah. The cohesive force of sane(r) reality is establishing itself. The hysteria level among neocons, as shown in your WP piece, is exploding. Obama is mouthing the rhetoric, (What to bet who gave him that ‘red line’ line?), but his heart just isn’t into it. He loses a lot of power when he is so obviously lying. He avoids the blowbacks that would otherwise be bubbling up, however. He’s learning. Distract them by ‘doing the donkey’ and saying all the right words but on the ground the job isn’t quite getting done. Hence the ‘weak Obama’ memes.
So now it’s…..
Speak loudly and carry a small stick.
From today’s diary, once again the Obama administration pushing the Neocon agenda on expansion of NATO for imperialistic goals …
Putin is a neo-Soviet.
You people really can’t stand it that the Ukrainians want their own country, can you?
Awwww c’mon, Voice. “We people” mostly don’t really care whether the Ukrainians have their own country, have half a country, join Russia and/or NATO or move to Brighton Beach, Brooklyn and open a pierogi shop. We wish them all well. Except of course the hustlers who want to force people living in the western Ukraine to remain tied with to eastern Ukraine. Ask the majority of people east of the Dnieper River and they will deny that they are Ukrainian. They speak Russian and identify with Russia. So nu? All the rest is bullshit posturing between two empires. Let ’em be whoever they want to be.
If given a chance I’d flush all three or four sides of this little standoff right down the toilet and let the remaining people vote freely. However, I can’t even get that in my own country so…what the fuck. Let’s watch the dumbshow until its compromised conclusion and hope that nobody drops a WMD into the mix.
AG
By that logic “Dixie” should be a separate country. Actually, that’s not a bad idea except we would wind up at war with them.
Actually I would be quite happy with that. The U.S. is too damned big and too damned powerful. In fact, unless the PermaGov is defeated in some substantive way…probably by economic collapse caused by predatory financial crime… I expect a breakup of of the U.S. Once it appears no longer in the best interests of the population of a given cultural/geographic area to remain “Americans”… to continue to fund the bureaucratic bloat and incessant economic imperialist wars…then the change will start. When? When it happens. Could be w/in the next several years or it could take longer. In what shape or form? I dunno. Deep South first? Southwest? Pacific Northwest? Midwest? Rust Belt/Great Lakes? New England? Hispanic SoCal? East Coast Megalopolis? Could be any and all of the above. First one goes, then the rest follow.
Watch.
AG
Sort of like the breakup of the Roman Empire into warring kingdoms (former provinces).
Yes. Except the “wars”: would more than likely this time be primarily economic and fought online. The nuclear/WMD thing makes wars amongst truly heavily armed nations…especially in close proximity to one another…too dangerous for both sides.
AG
NOT with AR-15’s?
No. Not between real nuclear powers. Cyberwar/economic war is the real deal at the top of the food chain. The outlying client states take the brunt of the conventionally armed conflict. The so-csalled “Homelands?” They may see some desperate terrorist actions, but
Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia…errrr, ahhh…I mean the NATO powers, Russia and China? None of them are going to throw the first nuclear stone. Or…if they do, we are all through. Bet on it.AG
I was referring to war between the USA and CSA. The AR-15 remark was sort of snark. Only sort of because I know for a fact that some people (all in the Tea Party) believe that citizens with AR-15’s can fight trained soldiers who can call in tanks and airplanes (and drones for that matter).
P.S. Thank you for turning me on to The Vineyard of the Saker.
A man after my own heart.
P.P.S. He says:
I agree, s I stated in this article.
“Realism” does not always have to be insider info. I see things. I collate things. It’s a talent. God knows I have few enough of them. I have grown to trust it. You can too. As the Saker says:
” I am what I am, and I call it as I see it.”
Me too.
I have been actively collating world events for 50+ years now. My references are thus very wide, and wildly disparate things often fall together into extraordinarily precise patterns of understanding. I belong to no party, no religion with which many readers will be truly familiar, and no bordered country except for the planet Earth.
Later…
AG
Saker is cool, isn’t he?
And thanks for stirring the pot. The stew is much more flavorful then.
It’s even better overnight.
AG
.
LOL, from the comment section of the RT post…..
Here’s a pertinent comment from guest77 over at moonofalabama….
Things in Ukraine are still unfolding, but I found an inciteful article that covers a lot of ground over at New Eastern Outlook, Does the CIA plan a Syrian style terror war in Ukraine? From Jim W. Dean, managing editor for VeteranToday.com….
No bet, Arthur. No bet.