First formal sighting on new Russian MBT:
NEW Russian MBT
The first ever photo of the Object 148 'Armata' new-generation MBT, taken today! pic.twitter.com/prRX4LvD9m
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First formal sighting on new Russian MBT:
NEW Russian MBT
The first ever photo of the Object 148 'Armata' new-generation MBT, taken today! pic.twitter.com/prRX4LvD9m
"Fighting ceasefire" --Russia is now attempting to force the Ukraine to formally violate the Minsk 2 by constantly attacking Ukrainian positions.
Today:
#News
We are back to regular #war at the N-W #Donetsk front.
There were attacks "almost every hour" vs. Av.,Pi. & Op. pic.twitter.com/wpbVZkcAPr
Video from March 23rd claiming to show T-14 Armata chassis. Source: http://defence-blog.com/?p=4384 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYhyzJ7jdGE … pic.twitter.com/xMrihssRld
Appears to be near a Russian airborne training area.
For comparison here is a recent 25 minute video of the T90 which has been seen inside eastern Ukraine for what I think is combat field testing purposes as the Armata chassis seems to be a further development of the T90.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLC2eYExinc
Same chassis on a train in Albino. pic.twitter.com/4zTDw5Inqh
#Statement by #Putin's jester "Just Russia"
"The right to send troops to Ukraine should be reinstated in case of U.S. supplies lethal arms."
Russian terrorists haven't pulled back MRLS they just scattered them among civilian houses. Grad 2km from frontline pic.twitter.com/3f5XtGuLQB
Leonid Ragozin @leonidragozin
Kremlin's Markov says on FB Russia should use the conflict between Kolomoysky & Poroshenko to seize Mariupol, Kharkiv & Odessa
#Ukraine Air Force radar vehicle attacked w/RPGs 200 km away fr. #Donbas frontline, in the town of #Milove n. #Russia border - Govr. #АТО
And Milove is about 100 km to "frontline" pic.twitter.com/qcRjjcvFvg
"I will soon go to war". In #Donbass brave Bohdanchyk tells about his life in a war. In pictures of tanks and... http://fb.me/3yBrath71
At night militants fired at Ukr positions 8 times - slightly less than in the last days, used 120mm mortars at Pisky https://www.facebook.com/ato.news/posts/969677223043084 …
Under #Stalin the #Nazis didn't make it to St. Petersburg.
Under #Putin they finally did... and #Russia welcomed them with open arms.
Air Policing jets in airspace near Latvias border identified RU AF 2x Tu-22M, and 2x Su-27 http://liveuamap.com/en/2015/24-marc...airspace-above …
Militants fired Pisky and Avdiivka with heavy weapons http://liveuamap.com/en/2015/24-marc...-heavy-weapons … pic.twitter.com/dg1ZuItIz3
Russian "informational conflict" is alive and well.
Eliot Higgins @EliotHiggins
From War Is A Crime - The Russian Military Asked Me to Publish Its Propaganda
http://warisacrime.org/content/russi...its-propaganda …
MFA of Ukraine ✔ @MFA_Ukraine
#StopFake Top-4 Fakes of the Week abt Ukraine. Fake#2: In Lviv Veterans are Advised not to Wear their Medals on May 9 pic.twitter.com/LLG3SBvpFy
Do we need to add anything?!
#PutinsRussia = #FascistsFavoutire pic.twitter.com/pXtB0aeH6V
While some #brainwashed sheeple dream of #Russia citzship & pensions, #Putin set 2 build a railway 2 detour #Donbas) pic.twitter.com/HJgPCmzAav
How Russia Today is using YouTube - The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...nl_cage&wpmm=1 …
Fighting has picked up again today--Ukrainians hold about 20% of the town but strategically they hold the high ground and the Russians the low ground and the Russians are not making any headway in infiltrating the high ground.
A grinding fight as the Ukrainians are losing manpower both wounded and killed on a daily basis.
Militants fired w/ anti-tank missiles at Chermalyk, used small arms at Shyrokyne, 4 Ukr r WIA http://www.0629.com.ua/news/776488 pic.twitter.com/emVdJBUP8x
Seems that the Russian gangs in Donetsk are having "misunderstandings and or communications problems":
Shootout at night in #Donetsk among illegal criminal groups resulted in 2 killed, 3 cars burnt http://informator.lg.ua/?p=79103 pic.twitter.com/EoeYF6ZHG1
#Donetsk, night skirmish aftermath:
@evergreen_dn: '2 dead, 3 burnt-out cars'
@JuMistress: 'Chechens vs Abkhazian'
pic.twitter.com/0WsZSgDLEv
While I largely agree with the author in his points—I think that he missed the simple fact that right now the US has no defined Strategic Strategy reference Russia and the Ukraine that has either been written about and or voiced. Obama is simply right now tap dancing with several ongoing items—let the Europeans led as it is an European problem, the Ukraine is not a strategic issue for the US foreign policy and lastly Obama and his NSC are not exactly sure what to do as they had set themselves on the path of “softpower” as the way forward as the way to back the US out of having to be the world’s policeman.
Having to revert to using “hardpower” in the mix is actually difficult for them as it requires decisions to be made that would impact the concept of a President’s legacy.
Well worth the read as it brings in several ongoing Russians points of view that is not often heard in mainstream media.
Yuval Weber is assistant professor on the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs at the National Research University, Higher School of Economics in Moscow.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...ng-in-ukraine/
Monkey Cage
Quote:
Why the U.S. does nothing in Ukraine
By Yuval Weber March 18
The ongoing war in Ukraine recently passed the first anniversary of the highly dubious referendum that split Crimea off from Ukraine and eventually saw it attached to Russia. Over the course of the conflict that followed, over 6,000 people have died, large swathes of eastern Ukraine have been destroyed, and Russian support for separatists rendered insecure by the change of government in Kiev has gone from highly suspected to fairly open. Reaction in Washington has been equally vitriolic with politicians and commentators pushing for President Obama either to escalate the challenge to Russia by providing greater amounts of military aid to Ukraine more quickly or to come to some sort of great power accommodation instead, effectively ceding a low-importance country in exchange for an end to the conflict to a much more resolved adversary. Recent expert interviews conducted by my colleague Andrej Krickovic and I here in Moscow on Russian strategic interests, and insights derived from the bargaining theory of conflict, suggest that the current policy – doing little at the cost of watching the collateral damage rise – may best fulfill U.S. foreign policy interests by refusing to give Russia the fight it wants at the time and issue of the latter’s choosing.
For a recent paper, Krickovic and I interviewed a number of foreign policy experts here in Moscow to understand the extent of Russian strategic interests. The interview subjects clearly indicated that the war in Ukraine is a symptom of greater dissatisfaction with the post-Cold War international order. As Evgeny Lukyanov, the Deputy Secretary of Russia’s Security Council, has said, “We need to sit down [with the United States] and renegotiate the entire post-cold War settlement.” The experts further stated that the potential loss of Ukraine directly threatens Russia’s ability to pursue Eurasian integration, which is central to the country’s larger strategic vision of developing a Eurasian bloc (through bolstering the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization) to resist the consequences of U.S. unipolarity and to compete in the multipolar world it expects to emerge.
In terms set out by our interviewees, Russia seeks a “grand bargain” that explicitly identifies the role of the United States in the international order and puts limits on U.S. behavior to make America more predictable in its behavior and to prevent it from overstepping its own authority. Three tenets of this bargain that would assure Russian security include a collective security treaty binding Russia, the United States, and the leading European states; a supranational decision-making body (Security Council of Europe of NATO, the European Union, and CSTO) as previously proposed by Dmitry Medvedev that would end NATO dominance in Europe; and a “Monroe Doctrine” for the post-Soviet space that legitimizes a sphere of influence in the region. These ideas follow along Vladimir Putin’s “collective leadership” offer at the latest Valdai meeting: a new world order based on competing hierarchies of states, mutual non-interference in spheres of interest, and coordinated responses to transnational problems of mutual interest, such as Islamist terrorism. Eventually, all these institutional developments would lead to an “integration of integrations” so that a bigger EEU could associate with the European Union and other Western institutions as a full-fledged partner enjoying the same status as these powerful institutions.
These terms set out exactly why Russia is motivated to fight over the resolution of Ukraine now rather than later. By Russia’s own bloc-oriented view of the future of international relations, the failure to “get” Ukraine means that the Eurasian bloc has roughly reached its apex (Kyrgyzstan will accede in May 2015 while other regional states are seemingly getting cold feet). Facing a negative shift in future bargaining power means that it should fight now before it gets too weak in the future to mount a credible challenge to revise the international order later.
This very well explains what Russia is doing, but how can we explain Obama’s reluctance either to commit greater resources to the conflict or to cut bait and leave? Why has Obama settled on a policy of seemingly strenuous inaction? It is very likely that Obama can observe that Russia’s bloc-oriented strategy has led to the same apex, and that future decline by Russia’s own standards is approaching. Thus, to accommodate Russia in this bargaining framework would not only involve upsetting European allies and the Ukrainians, but would give a lifeline to an adversary by ameliorating the decline. Moreover, to challenge Russia over Ukraine would be to escalate a conflict that the United States is less able and less resolved to win with acceptable costs.
This places Obama in a different position relative to formulating strategy regarding a rising challenger like China that needs to be accommodated or challenged because the latter is dissatisfied with the international distribution of benefits. Russia is instead a declining challenger (by its own standards) that offers the United States a third policy course of maintaining the status quo and waiting to negotiate later from a position of greater strength. If Obama believes that Russia has internal structural contradictions (resource-dominated economy) and is externally at its peak, then he finds himself roughly in the same position as Dwight Eisenhower roughly 60 years ago: confident of prevailing in a long war or arms racing against an adversary with internal structural contradictions (command economy), but wary of entering into short-term conflicts close to Russia. Just as Eisenhower failed to intervene in Hungary in 1956, Obama is failing to intervene decisively in Ukraine and giving Russia a fight at the latter’s time and place of choosing.
This article is extremely important for several reasons:
1. There has been since the Crimea annexation a number of comments coming from Moscow that Putin in fact wants a new "Yalta Agreement" defining the "spheres of influence" and defining that "sphere of influence" for Russia to be it's influence over all former Warsaw Pact countries and or former members of the Soviet Union.
2. It is an attempt to "allow" Russia to appear to be a equal superpower again-equal to that of the US
3. It is and or there is the attempt by Russia to degrade both the EU and NATO by inserting the Russian controls organizations EEU and CSTO as equal partners to the EU and NATO when in fact they are simply creations created by Russia to continue dominance in areas formerly part of the Soviet Union.
Putin's three strategic geo political goals has never changed since 2002--these goals should not surprise the US as they have been mentioned numerous times by Putin and his inner circle since 2002 especially from his Chief Ideologue (often stated in aggressive fascist terms) Dugin ;
1. disconnect the US from Europe
2. discredit and degrade the EU
3. discredit and degrade NATO
Thus ensure Russian influence and dominance over all of Europe at minimum costs to itself and ensuring continued Russian economic growth which is needed to fuel their current military growth.
Reference Minsk 2:
Facts on #Minsk:
5-6 Ukraine soldiers KIA/week by separatists.
GoU passed spec status law. @OSCE_SMM says separatist hinder verification.
Mar 22: @OSCE_SMM observed #Minsk violations, as Russian-backed separatists attacked th Ukrainain village of Pisky.
http://www.osce.org/ukraine-smm/146186 …
President of Ukraine and UN Deputy Secretary General discussed the issue of sending peacekeepers to Donbas... http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/32535.html …
Message not getting thru: Every time @Poroshenko discusses sending @UNPeacekeeping to Donbas, Russia uses it to justify CSTO "peacekeepers".
Extensive Russian social media sources indicate executions of Ukrainian POWs by Russian airborne troops:
Troops from the Russian army's 247th Airborne Regiment upload pictures. (also executed Ukrainian soldiers)
http://censor.net.ua/photo_news/3297...v_fotoreportaj …
Another major example of Russian "altered state of reality":
Russia Duma now threatens again : If US delivers weapons to Ukraine then Russia will have the right to use Armed Forces in Ukraine
Is it not strange that Russia argues it will send in their Army if the US sends in weapons WHEN the US has sent in no weapons and Russian soldiers are constantly posting via Russia social media "they are in fact inside the Ukraine along with their very own photos"?
AND at the same time the Russian FM states "show us evidence of Russian troops in the Ukraine".
Great example of Russian troops contradicting their own FM and their own Duma with extensive photos.
Troops from the Russian army's 247th Airborne Regiment upload pictures. (also executed Ukrainian soldiers)
http://censor.net.ua/photo_news/3297...v_fotoreportaj …
Russian FM asked of evidence of Russian troops inside the Ukraine:
Video: @EliotHiggins @bellingcat present verification of Russia's war against #Ukraine : http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/60147...ghlight/612163 … #skup2015
#News
Some of the Russian ceasefire violations east of #Mariupol yesterday (official account).
4 Ukr troops WIA. pic.twitter.com/gMXhquYLlo
#BREAKINGNEWS
Russian special forces invaded northern #Luhansk last night and destroyed an Ukr air defense system. pic.twitter.com/cgXwdjRPiG
In Ukraine, some Russians take up arms against Putin https://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/uk...ons&soc_trk=tw … via @YahooNews pic.twitter.com/wDxGyul2Pm
Militants' Grads are deployed a couple of kilometers from demarcation line.
Ukrainian drone image
http://24today.net/open/352600 pic.twitter.com/dZ2TUhvBg7
Russian mercenaries tied into Russian military command and control-in German
Ost-#Ukraine. Separatisten, gefangen in Befehlskette aus #Moskau. Ein Ex-Insider berichtet> http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/s...ette-1.2406228 … pic.twitter.com/Bms3vOi6cy
Donetsk airport Ukrainian fighter recalls
BBC News - Ukrainian "cyborg" recounts war and captivity horrorshttp://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32028559 … pic.twitter.com/oXPBvJrhAn
It should be noted that the Minsk 2 agreement called for the release of ALL POWs to include civilians--Russian mercenaries and Russian troops still hold over 400 verified POWs.
The echo of Ilovaisk: new evidence of the Russian Army’s involvement in the Ilovaisk tragedy: https://en.informnapalm.org/evidence...-russian-army/ … pic.twitter.com/FCgzV6Czi5
Yesterdays TASS disinformation repeated again today:
Kremlin lies. TASS quotes DPR (proxies for Russian ground forces under Lentsov): "Kiev’s military breached truce 50 times over 24 hours"
Outlaw:
Remarkable analysis by CIA from 1983 "Soviet Thinking on the Possibility of Armed Confrotation with the United States"Quote:
Putin's three strategic geo political goals has never changed since 2002--these goals should not surprise the US as they have been mentioned numerous times by Putin and his inner circle since 2002 especially from his Chief Ideologue (often stated in aggressive fascist terms) Dugin ;
1. disconnect the US from Europe
2. discredit and degrade the EU
3. discredit and degrade NATO
Thus ensure Russian influence and dominance over all of Europe at minimum costs to itself and ensuring continued Russian economic growth which is needed to fuel their current military growth.
http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/defaul...7/19831230.pdf
I usually post Russian comments that are in the realm of "altered state and or states of reality"--these though have left that realm and are more along the lines of "holy heck what have you been smoking.....?"
#Breaking
Former Russian presidential adviser Alexander Nekrassov demands #Russia to declare #war on #Estonia,#Latvia,#Lithuania and #Poland
Alexander Nekrassov @StirringTrouble
#Russia should declare a state of war with the #Baltics and #Poland and cut off their gas supplies and trade links with them.
Alexander Nekrassov @StirringTrouble
@bloodless_coup This crsisi will not stop until the prostitutes who govern the Baltics and Poland continue to fuel it.
Alexander Nekrassov @StirringTrouble
@bloodless_coup Well, they are providing fighters who kill ethnic Russians in the east of Ukraine. That's war.
Alexander Nekrassov @StirringTrouble
@bloodless_coup You need to take tough measures to stop the bloodshed. The Baltics and Poland are already waging war against Russia
And the best: The #US and #Europe are SUPPORTING most of the Mullahs' territorial grabs across the Middle East.
How the tide has turned ...
Another day of Russian AF activity over the Baltic:
They're all over the place in the Eur airspace, with no transponders, yet NATO is the one threatening Russia? Russian logic
Here we go again. Russian military planes intercepted by Sweden while sniffing around the Baltics with transponders off. Complete lunacy.
Again today, Russian Air Force Il-76 heavy transports fly on the route Voronezh-Kubinka (via @Alexfly35)
#Update
Swedish air force jets intercepted two TU-22M and two SU-27, which were "training" around #Gotland and #Bornholm w/o transponders
Imperialism:Only a bare majority of Russians wants #Russia to stay within its current borders:
http://euromaidanpress.com/2015/03/2...rrent-borders/ … pic.twitter.com/dEADWzpjr9
It's #Ukraine or Bust: https://goupillon.wordpress.com/2015/03/24/rus
So, the #Russia|n's are breaking Minsk by preventing @OSCE inspecting, verifying heavy weapons withdrawal in #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/aKusRSMQEK
WHAT??? FORMER PUTIN ADVISOR SAYS #RUSSIA SHOULD DECLARE WAR ON #BALTICS AND #POLAND http://upnorth.eu/former-putin-advis...cs-and-poland/ …
#Russia wants own international tribunal for war criminals to replace #Hague court "that depends on sponsors of the war crimes in #Ukraine"
Fighting continues close to Mariupol as ‘ceasefire’ fails to stop militant attacks (Video)
http://www.unian.info/war/1059320-fi...cks-video.html …
The Moscow Times ✔ @MoscowTimes
#Russian Imperialism Will Unleash New Yugoslavia http://tmt-go.ru/517977 #opinion
Former MI6 head: #Putin could get more dangerous http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/former-m
Head of #Russia's Foreign Affairs Committee Urges #Obama: 'Don't Be Like George Bush, Forget #Ukraine'
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/a...ne/517932.html …
Information warfare. Internet mentions of "Ukraine fascism" double after Euromaidan's victory
http://euromaidanpress.com/2015/03/2...-putins-enemy/ … pic.twitter.com/8qDqfszy1W
#Russian militants shell #Ukrainian positions at Peski with 120-mm mortars, while UKR army had all the guns withdrawn http://24today.net/open/353479
Ukrainian "Cyborg" Sergeant Major Anatoly Svyryd and his wife survived the battle for Donetsk airport, captivity... http://fb.me/77wUwEsdo
Zacharchenko holds emergency press conference http://liveuamap.com/en/2015/24-marc...ess-conference … #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/EA3jFUNUJl
Zakharchenko Claims Russian General Lentsov, OSCE Monitors And Journalists Fired On Near Shirokino. http://www.interpretermag.com/ukrain...ont-line/#7639 …
DNR confirms Russian general Lentsov "was shelled by Ukrainian forces at Shyrokhyno", while he was "coordinating peace"
Someone at @mfa_russia explain why Russian general is always innocently and coincidentally at place of shelling...
#Analysis #Map
Final evidence, Russian forces control BOTH sides of the Seversky-Donets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbf2GK7kXAk … pic.twitter.com/MVHtHTmAKx
Russian volunteer received 150 dollars for three months in Donbass.
http://orsk.ru/index.php?option=com_...4357&Itemid=74 … pic.twitter.com/EZPDpElunT
Ukrainian soldier killed in fresh militant attacks as fighting continues despite ceasefire http://uatoday.tv/politics/ukrainian...re-417334.html …