And the final signature: http://rt.com/news/russia-parliament-crimea-ratification-293/In other news: - US billionaire Soros suggests US floods the market with its oil reserve thus bringing oil price down. He thinks that would be the most effective sanction against Russia (has he heard about the concept of "cheap coinz, please"?)  The only thing these sanctions are doing is reinforcing the image og the US as the Evil Empire throwing a tantrum when it was denied a juicy bit of land to plant it missionary base on. It just brings Russians closer together, even those who criticized Putin would stop doing so in the face of the common enemy. And hardships is not something Russia unfamiliar with. It endured them before, it will persevere now. - Sweets company Rochen will stop its production in Russia. (It is the same company, who got questioned for dubious use of chemistry in its products. So the only thing Russia has to say to this "sanction" is: Thank you) And a little bit more of Putin making fun of the "sanctions", while promising not to stoop down to the same level and not retaliate: http://rt.com/news/putin-president-sanctions-bank-305/Putin assured that Russia will refrain from retaliatory sanctions against the US and introducing a visa regime with Ukraine.
Putin believes that millions of innocent Ukrainian would suffer should Russia introduce a visa regime with Ukraine. |
|
|
|
Some more news: - Coup government in Kiev signed a partial agreement with EU about Ukrainian integration into EU. ( http://itar-tass.com/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/1064745?utm_medium=rss20) - Medvedev appraises Ukrainian economic debt to Russia to be 16 billion dollars. ( http://www.forbes.ru/news/252625-medvedev-otsenil-dolg-ukrainy-pered-rossiei-v-16-mlrd) - Putin humorously promised to open an account in Bank of Russia, which he described as an "average-sized bank" that got hit by US sanctions. ( http://ria.ru/politics/20140321/1000508084.html) And an interesting report to read at a leisurely pace: http://www.infowars.com/bbc-now-admits-armed-nazis-led-revolution-in-kiev-ukraine/Excerpt: The BBC’s sudden “honesty” regarding brigades of armed Nazis infesting western Ukraine, however, is not the result of the British state propaganda arm examining its journalistic conscience, but rather an attempt to throw off extremist thugs that will only, from now on, become a liability for the West’s ambitions in the Eastern European nation.
The West would most likely prefer to replace armed Neo-Nazis with NATO forces, professional mercenaries, and a proxy force of Ukrainians trained and led by Western special forces and intelligence operatives.
Just as the West has done in Afghanistan, where it used sectarian extremists and terrorists to wage a proxy war against the Soviet Union in the 1980′s, only to end up turning on their “allies” from 2001 onward – the West will use the Neo-Nazis of Kiev only for as long as absolutely necessary before turning on them and dumping them. The BBC’s short piece exposing the repugnant nature of the forces that in fact led the so-called “Euromaidan” uprising is perhaps the first step toward achieving this goal.
|
|
|
|
Are you from Russia, Germany or Greece?
All of them, I own some property there. I guess, it's not Greece, but Cyprus.  |
|
|
|
Sweet!  |
|
|
|
Plus, as I mentioned earlier, the term "Ukraine" means "on the border", "on the edge", which explains that map pretty well - the territories on the Southern borders/edge of what was Keiv Rus, and became Russia, with time stated to be referred to as Украина ("Ukraina"). Not to put down Ukrainians, in Russian there is an everyday derived word, окраина ("okraina"), which means "outskirts", "suburbs".
It didn't become Russia. Russia and Ukraine have been separate countries for a very long time. Yes, in Russian there is a work "okraina" whic means "outskirts," but in Ukrainian there is a word "kraina," which means "country." I suspect Russians have been trying to turn "Ukraina" into something similar to "okraina" for quite some time, but that's not the meaning. Also, when Kievan Rus broke apart in 12th century, Russia was still fairly far away, as a separate country. Only time Kiev or it's borders were considered part of Russia or Poland was when Ukraine was temporarily conquered by them. Otherwise it was still a separate country, before and after (and now). I'm sure Russia would love to clam that Ukraine is just a borderland of their own territory, and take it "back" as it had it under USSR, but, no thanks :/ No one is planning on taking Ukraina anywhere and turning it into "okraina" (sorry, forgot about the US/EU plans there for a second). As for the word games (word history), true, interpretations can vary to suite the needs of the moment. By the way, Russian has a word "kraj", which has two meanings: both "edge" and "place" (as in "rodnoj kraj" - "home place"). You are also right in that Ukraina didn't become Russia, it never seized being it, though the political "elite" tugged and drew people populating these lands in different directions. Still, when people speak of "the mother of all Russian towns", they don't mean Moskva, then mean Kiev. Soviet Union fell apart because of an oversized war machine, where most of country's production went towards feeding that beast Soviet Union collapsed after the crude oil prices nosedived. Don't invent any new theories. I am not inventing a new theory, I am stating the obvious. The oil prices were the death knell, yet over-the-top spendings in the military sector, coupled with total neglect for people's needs (deficit ) over a prolonged period of time created a tension that was waiting for a trigger factor. You should stop trying to teach real history to those whose minds have been infected with rivionist history.
Who give you the monopoly for real history? I don't want any brainwashed Americans to teach me history. Well, non-native Americans seem to think that they have an exclusive right to the history of the land they are living on. They also seem to think that they have an exclusive right to the history of native Slavic people of Eastern and Central Europe. Oh, the irony. In minor news: - VISA and MasterCard stopped without any explanations payment processing for people who use two banks whose owners ended up on the sanctions list. (Now we know that VISA and MasterCasrd are owned by the same people who in tern are owned by the Western governments) - http://rt.com/news/eu-sanctions-russia-ukraine-197/ (Merkel starts sounding desperate) |
|
|
|
Tractor was for the public eye to show as if Ukrainian forces didn't simply surrender, and to save the honour of the soldiers. The most interesting part happened in the second half of the video, where the actual transfer of military power happened. The whole transfer was agreed upon beforehand and didn't come as any surprise to the Ukrainian command of that base. The Ukrainian military amiably agreed with the Russian military. The Ukrainians were given free pass to enter and exit the base as they saw fit. They were also assured that the civilians will not cross the perimeter of the base. |
|
|
|
Well, to clarify. Those prisoners who are citizens of Krym or sevastopol will receive Russian citizenship and will be released. The remainder will be driven to the Ukranian/Russian border and asked to leave the territory of RF. But this only applies to the ones who committed minor crimes. Murderers and serial criminals will be held under lock until the situation is resolved with Ukraine. Interestingly, many prisoners hope to not be extradited to Ukraine. On to something different: Found an interesting journalistic investigation by journalists from Washington: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/how_cold_war-hungry_neocons_stage_managed_liz_wahls_resignation_20140319It was a full 19 minutes before Wahl resigned. Inside the offices of the Foreign Policy Initiative, a neoconservative think tank in Washington D.C., a staffer logged on to the group’s Twitter account to announce the following: “#WordOnTheStreet says that something big might happen on RT in about 20-25 minutes.” Then, at 5:16, exactly 10 minutes before Wahl would quit on air, FPI tweeted: “#WordOnTheStreet says you’re really going to want to tune in to RT: http://rt.com/on-air/rt-america-air/ #SomethinBigMayBeGoingDown” Up until two minutes before Wahl’s resignation, FPI took to Twitter again to urge its followers to tune in to RT. And finally, at 5:26 p.m., at the very moment Wahl quit, FPI’s Twitter account broke the news: “RT Anchor RESIGNS ON AIR. She ‘cannot be part of a network that whitewashes the actions of Putin.’ ” The tweets from FPI suggested a direct level of coordination between Wahl and the neoconservative think tank. Several calls to FPI for this story were not answered. |
|
|
|
When will you realize that the Moscow funded "RT" isn't anywhere accepted as a reliable source of information?!  When will you realize that the Washington funded "CNN" isn't anywhere accepted as a reliable source of information?! When will you realize that the London funded "BBC" isn't anywhere accepted as a reliable source of information?! You just take your information and extrapolate it with your experience. I know that a leader's popularity in Russia rises proportionally with the amount of shit that the outside world pours on him (and, by extension, on every Russian) and with the steadfastness of his position. That's historical, and there's not reason for it to be different this time around. |
|
|
|
Though that article is strong-worded, does it nowhere point out the source that Russia threatened Estonia in any way. If anything this new wave of hysteria comes from Hillary Clinton's lips. As for how Estonia treats its Russian-speaking population... Have you hear the term "niggers"? This bitter term is a play on the word "non-citizens" ( неграждане), applied to the Russian population of Estonia, who are denied citizenship and thus any human rights. If anyone is to be compared to Hitler, it's the Estonian government, who are not far from starting physically branding Russian population. David's star, anyone? |
|
|
|
- call all people at Maidan banderas, fascists etc.
- said that troops with no id are not russian and we do not khow who are they
- said that Berkut has no weapon
- said that Ukrain is not a country
- they were fascists - they are not Russian, they were Ukrainian citizens - the Berkut didn't used any weapons other than batons - "Ukrain" is not a country. May be Ukraine is. A small, but very important correction to the first point: No one called all people at Maidan for Bandera supporters, until Fascists turned up in February. Before the provocations started, the Maidan meet-up was a legitimate form of citizen protest/demonstration for/against EU integration and against corruption in the government. And no one used force against those citizens. Then banderas started mixing in, provocations and beating up of militia started. Same scenario as theone used in arab countries: turn a legal peaceful protest into a violent one. There's and interesting reader comment there: Actually, "the Russians" being nice was the reason the CIA slaughtered people after the Feb. 21 agreement was signed. Just watched a documentary on the Romania revolution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF-LSrsd0fw&list=PL9EB1397CF580EB12. It interviews several CIA and Romanian Securitate describing why snipers were used after Ceausescu fell to give more legitimacy to the incoming government in Bucharest. In the case of Ukraine, when the military and police refused to be provoked by the violence of the protestors victims were created to consolidate a new regime. It would have been hard to give the nationalists security posts otherwise. Both the population and western media might have found them distasteful. Why else would the US veto the Russian demand for an independent inquiry at the UN Security Council? If the former government was responsible it could only help the new government take control of the army and police. Most people aren't fools and if they have an interest in Kiev they are probably quite aware of the CIA's crime. But what would you have them do since we who live closer to these criminal governments don't seem to give a crap? |
|
|
|
I've have been following this thread as I try to follow the progression of the events in Crimea. One thing I don't understand is this strong Russian Patritism expressed here? If you are Russian, why do you feel that your personal honour is at risk here?
ut
It's ok to blaim the US for a lot of things, but why resort to nationalist consciousness as an argument?
Is this a Russian tradition, second WW patriotism? It's like soccer hooligans?
Why is this important to you?
All very good and important questions and I will try to answer them from my standing point. I cannot answer for all Russians (and by that I don't mean just ethnic Russians, but people from other ethnic groups, who identify themselves with Russia). Different individuals would have different views on the matter. First let me to correct some terminology: not "nationalist consciousness", but "national consciousness", or "patriotic pride". Patriotism is good as long as it does not come at the expense of other nations. Russians have a historic, almost genetic, need to stick together. It is rooted much further back in the history than the World Wars, probably starting with Tatar-Mongol invasions. You either stick together in the face of an external threat of you seize to exist as a distinct nation. Russians themselves would love nothing more than being left alone, yet that privilege has always been denied them by constant prodding both military and political. Russians would be the first to admit and highlight the failures and faults of their leaders, criticize them. (I myself was furious with Putin's handling of Pussy Riot girls - they should have got not more than 15 days and a fine for disorderly behaviour!) Yet Russians would not see kindly to an outside power (especially an outside power with its own agenda) doing the same. The ranks would close and it would generally result in the previously-critisized leader getting more internal support. That's a reaction that gives Russians a chance to survive. Finally, there is pride in ones history, in having history, however hard that history was, because a nation without a history, is not a nation. |
|
|
|
Russian citizenship is given to all who ask for it.
Lie. Try yourself to ask it. It would take me about a month or less to receive it. Sorry, I should have been more precise: Any Russian expatriot or Russian national, who ended up outside of the borders of RF after the SU dissolvement is entitled to Russian citizenship using either a "simplified procedure" or a "birth-right procedure". There are also standard procedure for receiving Russian citizenship, but the criteria allowing you to apply for one are pretty wide, and much wider than the ones allowing to apply for US citizenship. For more info: http://www.kdmid.ru/cons.aspx?lst=cnslfunk&it=/%D0%92%D0%BE%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%8B%20%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B6%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B0%20-%20%D0%98%D0%BD%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%8F%20%D0%BE%D0%B1%20%D1%83%D1%81%D0%BB%D1%83%D0%B3%D0%B5.aspxВ гражданство Российской Федерации в упрощенном порядке принимаются граждане и лица без гражданства, проживающие на территории России:
- ветераны ВОВ, имевшие гражданство СССР;
- те, кто родился на территории РСФСР и имел гражданство СССР;
- лица, состоящие в браке с гражданином России не менее трех лет;
- нетрудоспособные иностранные граждане или лица без гражданства, имеющие дееспособных совершеннолетних сына или дочь, являющихся российскими гражданами.
Лицам, проживающим на территории России, по вопросам приобретения гражданства Российской Федерации необходимо обращаться в территориальные органы Федеральной миграционной службы по месту жительства, а те, кто живет за рубежом, обстоятельные разъяснения по всем аспектам приема в гражданство могут получить в дипломатических представительствах и консульских учреждениях Российской Федерации.
In bold: - those who was born on the territory of Russian SSR and had USSR citizenship. There are also programs in place to help people return to Russia. |
|
|
|
Seeing as BBC and CNN saw fit to edit down Putin's address to wrap its message in their favour, here is a digest of the quotes, that actually highlight his intended message:
http://rt.com/news/putin-address-ten-quotes-778/Oh, and finally some voice of reason heard from Obama: http://rt.com/news/ukraine-diplomacy-obama-russia-949/I simply love the term "military excursion" used by him. While the illegitimate hunta in Kiev keeps on dreaming that is has any form of clout: http://rt.com/news/urkaine-cis-visa-demilitarized-917/By the way, a visa regime with Russia would mean that quite a lot of day-workers in the Eastern Ukraine, who earn their bread on Russian soil will have it even more difficult than they do now. Not a wise move, if they want to keep the level of unrest in the Eastern regions to the minimum. because of Ukraine everybody sell russian shares(you can look statistic).
And that's fine, it's a good opportunity to get some money from panic. I am buying. Actually sold some BTC to buy Russian equity funds. Well Russia is well known for respecting human rights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ8do57JGLc I love this video because this dude on left is international observer who keep saying how great and democratic elections were. I just hope there wont be war. A budget of about $200 would be needed to create such video anywhere in the world. Oh, and by the way, I almost got my camera confiscated by an armed security guard in a European mall, when I tried to so some stock photography there.
|
|
|
|
"People's will" isn't expressed during an armed invasion at a referendum without supervision and with ballots already filled up.
Three errors in once sentence. Speechless! Highlighted them for you. Now go and do some research, please. Supervised by the Russian Army?  Damn Soviets! Invite a bunch of fellows to play as observers and second the bullshit doesn't count. Any referendum would need a campaign, a free campaign from both sides, public discussion, time for put the observers and prepare the operation. A referendum within 2 weeks with the Russian army around is a plain load of bullshit. Just a Soviet tactic to make it look like "the people's will". It's not exactly the Russian Army, but Spetsnaz. Quoting from Jane's: Russian President Vladimir Putin has consistently denied that what the Ukrainian media widely refers to as the 'little green men' currently controlling key facilities in Crimea are Russian troops, maintaining a pretence that they are instead 'local self-defence groups'. Further to the CPC report, images passed to IHS Jane's by another source close to the OSCE clearly show many examples of equipment specific to the Russian military - and in some cases Russian special forces (Spetsnaz) - being used by the 'little green men' in Crimea. Among these are: Spetsnaz-style muzzle brakes on Russian AK-100 series assault rifles; VSS (Vintorez) suppressed 9 mm sniper rifles issued primarily to Spetsnaz units for undercover or clandestine operations; Russian RPG-26 anti-tank rocket launchers; Russian NVD 1P93 and USP-1 weapon sights; Russian 6B43 bulletproof vests, 6Sh117 tactical vests and ShBM helmets; and Russian R-168-0,5UME tactical radios. Even if there was special ops presence (which I am not saying there was - Ukrainian military uses much the same equipment as the Russian one), the key question is what were they used for? - To coerce local population of Russians to vote? No - no need. The locals have been eager to reunite with Russia for 60 years now, more so after the dissolvement of the Soviet Union, when Crimea's development stopped. Have you been to Crimea? It was like taking a time machine back to the end of 1980-s. - To prevent possible sabotage/provocations from fascist militants? Yes. Quite a large number of weapons were confiscated by self-defence (or however you want to call them) that were attempted smuggled into Crimea prior to referendum. That included explosives, sniper rifles, sidearms, and blunt weapons. - To prevent the more radically inclined elements in local majority from doing anything silly as a result of possible provocations? Quite possible. All we know that there was no blood shed before or during the referendum, which transitioned into peaceful folk street celebrations as the voting stations were closed for the day. If they were indeed special ops, they did their job well in preserving human lives. |
|
|
|
USSR was a democracy too, just too bad the opposition was sent in a one-way trip to Siberia before they can cast any vote.
Why are foreigners afraid of Siberia? I live in the Siberia!! It's not scary  Afraid of Siberia?! Siberia has wonderful women and dogs. Just need some sun to become a paradise  However you define Siberia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia), it stretches quite far South. Temperatures during summer can be as high as 27C (78F) ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia#Climate) |
|
|
|
|
A small addition to one of my previous posts with an analogy.
While I still think my "domestic life" analogy is quite relevant, here is a more political one, geared towards Americans. One thing to remember first, is that individual republics within USSR had the same, if not bigger, level of autonomous government as the individual States of the USA, except for Russia, which de-facto seized to exist, and everyone treated its territories as he saw fit (starting with Lenin, who allowed secession of Finland and gave a part of Russia to newly-formed Ukrainian SSR)
Think of this scenario:
To commemorate New Jersey Constitution, Obama decides to give Manhattan as a present to New Jersey. The decision is presented during an informal dinner party with the Senators, who after having partaken some brandy nod in agreement. Next day this decision is presented to the American Nation as fact accompli.
That's what happened to Crimea in 1954.
|
|
|
|
As for investigations into the sniper killings, Russia is interfering by giving Russian citizenship to the Berkut officers so they could avoid being investigated.
Russian citizenship is given to all who ask for it. As for prosecutions, don't forget to prosecute those 10 militia members gunned down by sniper fire and many Berkut officers stabbed, kicked and bludgeoned to death by peaceful masked men with full body armour. An interesting read. Especially the three concluding paragraphs. The world could have been a much more peaceful place, if not for all the nose-rubbing. Russia is not there yet, but one can take only so much nose-rubbing. History should be remembered. For example what happened with Germany after it lost WWI, and was treated like shit with all the sanctions and humiliation. Nah, I don't think Russia would care. Russia is not about to invade anybody. If someone wants to join Russia, go ahead and vote for it on the local level, and Russia would give you a brotherly welcome. Taking a territory by force never leads to anything good. |
|
|
|
|
Show Posts
