Meanwhile in Ukraine... Revolution.

[blablahblah]

And now Russia claims that the plague is back on Ukraina and of course the army is behind ... what will be the next lie ?

This sentence identifies you as a troll. Welcome to the company of Pagan.

Maybe it takes one to know one?

Mr. "I sincerely believe Russia wants to helpfully wean Ukraine off the cheap gas"? Yeah, and the Arabs recruited Al Qaida to assist the West in transitioning to greener energy.

[Nemo1024]

That sentence was meant as a sarcastic remark, please don't twist it.

It fully covers the impression one gets when watching the gas wars from the sidelines:
Ukraine: Give us cheap gas as in the SU days!
Russia: You'll be paying the market price, live everyone else.
Ukraine: No, you must give the gas for cheap, or we will not like you even more!

See the pattern?

[Nemo1024]

Now, to the reason I was here 

Kiev's ‘indiscriminate shelling of residential areas’ must be stopped – Russia
http://rt.com/news/163204-ukraine-un-resolution-russia/

“Every day civilians get killed, among them women and children,” Churkin said. “Ukrainian military and paramilitary forces impede the peaceful population, leaving besieged cities or sending their children to safe places. Buses of children are turned back.”

Ukrainian Parliament gave green light to arrest deputy Carev (he was a presidential candidate, but was removed from the run by force. Now they are cleaning up)
http://www.interfax.ru/world/379331

[blablahblah]

That sentence was meant as a sarcastic remark, please don't twist it.

It fully covers the impression one gets when watching the gas wars from the sidelines:
Ukraine: Give us cheap gas as in the SU days!
Russia: You'll be paying the market price, live everyone else.
Ukraine: No, you must give the gas for cheap, or we will not like you even more!

See the pattern?

But I thought they wanted to join the Soviets, oops I mean, the "Eurasian Economic Union"? And it's just the evil coup-leaders in Kiev who are stopping them?

Russia is a Mafia. Just selling gas 'honestly' is not enough. They must break the buyer's legs to get him into debt, so that he will spend the rest of his life paying it off, even if he's hardly using any gas at all.

[Nemo1024]

Russia is a Mafia. Just selling gas 'honestly' is not enough. They must break the buyer's legs to get him into debt, so that he will spend the rest of his life paying it off, even if he's hardly using any gas at all.

Hardly using any gas? Ukraine has heavy industry, using gas. All heating id done using gas. All cooking is done using gas.

"break the buyer's legs to get him into debt" - that's just stupid! Stop paying your electricity bill for a few months and see where it gets you.

But I thought they wanted to join the Soviets, oops I mean, the "Eurasian Economic Union"?

In Ukraine there is a love/hate relation to Russia, coinciding to the East/West partition. Plus, the Western part puts a little love over the hate base when the gas is delivered cheaply, and the borders are open, so they can find work in Russia.

[blablahblah]

"break the buyer's legs to get him into debt" - that's just stupid! Stop paying your electricity bill for a few months and see where it gets you.

It's called usury.... Wikipedia usury

Obviously you don't want to completely 'kill' the borrower, just rough them up a little. Think of it as a financial investment.

1) You put in a little bit more effort at the start (breaking legs)
2) It's temporarily more difficult for the borrower to pay off their debt. The debt grows exponentially, and they have to work much harder to pay it off.
3) Profit!


I thought you Russians were "well educated"...

[Nemo1024]

And I though you did you homework on the gas wars history since 1992. you use backwards logic. No one forced Ukraine to each and every time demand cheaper gas. If they wanted to be independent, they should have taken the responsibility.

[bryant.coleman]

This is the latest development from Slavyansk. Don't know how much reliable it is.

East Ukraine militia down fighter plane, helicopter gunship, 4 APCs

http://en.itar-tass.com/world/734484

[Nemo1024]

UN is waking up...

4yo among seven Ukrainian kids wounded in clashes – UN
http://rt.com/news/163288-seven-children-wounded-unicef/

“In one case, a 15- year-old boy was wounded while in a car at a checkpoint,” UNICEF says. “Currently a kid, who got shot in the stomach and had his intestines damaged, is in serious condition.”

"Russian children’s facilities are ready to take and accommodate all of the Ukrainian orphans,” Astakhov said, adding that Russia has already helped evacuate 830 children from the conflict zone in Ukraine and sent them to summer camps in Crimea.

Worries over fate of the children are now part of Russia’s draft resolution on Ukraine, according to Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin.

[bryant.coleman]

Russia has again urged the Kiev junta to allow the distribution of humanitarian aid in the Donbass region.

Ukraine silent as Russia offers humanitarian aid for Donetsk, Luhansk regions

http://en.itar-tass.com/world/734519

[blablahblah]

Russia has again urged the Kiev junta to allow the distribution of humanitarian aid in the Donbass region.

Ukraine silent as Russia offers humanitarian aid for Donetsk, Luhansk regions

http://en.itar-tass.com/world/734519

Russia volunteering humanitarian aid for the Ukraine is like a drug dealer volunteering to hand out some free needles at the needle exchange programme.

[blablahblah]

And I though you did you homework on the gas wars history since 1992. you use backwards logic. No one forced Ukraine to each and every time demand cheaper gas. If they wanted to be independent, they should have taken the responsibility.

Poor Russia, how are they coping with Ukraine's bullying?

[bryant.coleman]

Russia volunteering humanitarian aid for the Ukraine is like a drug dealer volunteering to hand out some free needles at the needle exchange programme.

Already more than 1,000,000 people have fled their homes in the Donbass region. That corresponds to almost one-sixth of the population. The UN is ignoring this massive humanitarian crisis, as the NATO-backed troops are conducting all the atrocities. Russia has every right to deliver the humanitarian aid under these circumstances.

[niothor]

Russia volunteering humanitarian aid for the Ukraine is like a drug dealer volunteering to hand out some free needles at the needle exchange programme.

Already more than 1,000,000 people have fled their homes in the Donbass region. That corresponds to almost one-sixth of the population. The UN is ignoring this massive humanitarian crisis, as the NATO-backed troops are conducting all the atrocities. Russia has every right to deliver the humanitarian aid under these circumstances.

With only 1000 refugees to Crimea and none reported to eastern Russia , where did the rest go?

[Nemo1024]

Russia volunteering humanitarian aid for the Ukraine is like a drug dealer volunteering to hand out some free needles at the needle exchange programme.

Already more than 1,000,000 people have fled their homes in the Donbass region. That corresponds to almost one-sixth of the population. The UN is ignoring this massive humanitarian crisis, as the NATO-backed troops are conducting all the atrocities. Russia has every right to deliver the humanitarian aid under these circumstances.

With only 1000 refugees to Crimea and none reported to eastern Russia , where did the rest go?

Lots of people have moved within the country. Slavjansk is largely evacuated. People move to relatives, friends.

If NATO is involved, it will be because surrounding countries who are part of NATO felt threatened by the Russian-paid forces that are causing trouble in the eastern parts of Ukraine.

It's like this:
1) Russia pays roubles for various extremists to buy guns and cause some shit in Ukraine.
2) Leaders in Kiev and in surrounding countries feel threatened by Russia's shit-stirring, so they get NATO assistance to un-shit the place.
3) Russia sends "Russia Today" and other respectable news agencies to film the shit they caused, and blame it all on NATO, or blame it all on Poroshenko, or the Maidan -- it doesn't matter who they blame it on, as long as everyone can see how great Russia is.

You forgot
0) Pay Nuland, Saakashvili, Baiden, and other friends of Russia in roubles so that they remove the president of Ukraine.

[bryant.coleman]

With only 1000 refugees to Crimea and none reported to eastern Russia , where did the rest go?

Majority of the refugees have arrived in Russia. Some have re-located to more peaceful areas of Donbass.

675,000 Ukrainians pour into Russia as ‘humanitarian crisis’ looms

http://rt.com/news/ukrainians-leave-russia-border-452/

[Nemo1024]

Insignificant red herrings.
Ultimately, Yanukovych fell on his own sword because he was just too corrupt, which angered the average Ukrainian whose living situation was getting worse. And he made newbie mistakes, like threatening the Maidan protesters with 15 years jail -- that was never going to end well.

Was it before or after he agreed to all points and signed the deal with EU and opposition?

Red herrings... I would call them stars-and-striped whales. 

[bryant.coleman]

Was it before or after he agreed to all points and signed the deal with EU and opposition?
Red herrings... I would call them stars-and-striped whales. 

What alarmed the CIA and NATO the most was Yanukovych's interest in the Eurasian Union. The addition of Ukraine would have made the Union state a formidable entity (addition of 46 million people, as well as huge tracts of agricultural land and thousands of heavy industries). But even without Ukraine, Eurasian Union will emerge as the no.1 rival of the USA in the near future.

[Nemo1024]

In the meantime, Poroshenko's inauguration is fast approaching. Russia is invited... on the level of the chargé d'affaires for Ukraine, Andrej Vorobjov:
http://www.forbes.ru/news/259153-na-inauguratsiyu-prezidenta-ukrainy-priglasili-vremennogo-poverennogo-rossii

Nice political move. Not.

[bryant.coleman]

Even Poland's GDP is greater than Ukraine and Kazakhstan's combined GDP.

Since Russia only has about $2T, I suppose Belarus will have to pick up the slack and supply the other $14T ~ $16T to be of comparable scale to the US and the EU.

Yeah.... blablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablablabla.... blablablablabla.....blablablablablablablablablablablablablablabla....blablablab lablablablablablablablablablablabla....blablablablablablablablablablablablablab labla....blablablablablablablablablablablablablablabla....blablablablablablabla blablablablablablablabla....

I was talking about the military and the population. No where in the post I mentioned about the GDP.