Ukraine: military (Aug '14 to mid-June '15) closed

[BrentWilliams]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/wo...ions-bill.html

President Obama has decided to sign legislation imposing further sanctions on Russia and authorizing additional aid to Ukraine, despite concerns that it will complicate his efforts to maintain a unified front with European allies, the White House said on Tuesday.

The legislation calls for a raft of new measures penalizing Russia’s military and energy sectors and authorizes $350 million in military assistance to Ukraine, including antitank weapons, tactical surveillance drones and counter-artillery radar. The bill was approved unanimously by Congress, but Mr. Obama hedged for days on whether he would sign it.

[OUTLAW 09]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/wo...ions-bill.html

But the Ukrainians are saying that even with the signing Obama is indicating he has a lot of lee way in implementing it so they are anticipating seeing any defensive weapons also since NATO General Sec announced today no weapons on the Ukraine ---unless bilateral.

[OUTLAW 09]

Out of the concept of hybrid warfare has come two critical aspects that is not talked about a lot.

1. weaponization of information
2. weaponization of code

Sony Hack Attacks Presage New Warfare: The Weaponization of Code http://ht.ly/2Sb2SB

[BrentWilliams]

But the Ukrainians are saying that even with the signing Obama is indicating he has a lot of lee way in implementing it so they are anticipating seeing any defensive weapons also since NATO General Sec announced today no weapons on the Ukraine ---unless bilateral.

You also have the EU saying that they agree with new sanctions. http://www.interpretermag.com/ukrain...ing-continues/

This isn't gong to well for Russia/Russian backed forces. They aren't holding that much area in Ukraine. They aren't gaining anything by military means currently (See Donetsk airport) And the Russian economy is going down the drain.

Signing the bill gives him manuver space to keep bring Europe along and offers means to continue to hurt Russia.

Who knows what will happen, but I rather be in the position of the US/EU then Russia.

[OUTLAW 09]

You also have the EU saying that they agree with new sanctions. http://www.interpretermag.com/ukrain...ing-continues/

This isn't gong to well for Russia/Russian backed forces. They aren't holding that much area in Ukraine. They aren't gaining anything by military means currently (See Donetsk airport) And the Russian economy is going down the drain.

Signing the bill gives him manuver space to keep bring Europe along and offers means to continue to hurt Russia.

Who knows what will happen, but I rather be in the position of the US/EU then Russia.

The EU sanctions were those previously passed by the EU concerning the Crimea-but not placed into being six months ago--the US was sectorial in nature focusing largely on military industrial plants.

He had to sign the bill which he did not want to do because the new EU sanctions were already decided upon before the US bill was passed and if he had not signed it --it then would have looked odd that the EU was moving ahead and the US was going to do nothing--so here the roles were reversed.

[BrentWilliams]

The EU sanctions were those previously passed by the EU concerning the Crimea-but not placed into being six months ago--the US was sectorial in nature focusing largely on military industrial plants.

He had to sign the bill which he did not want to do because the new EU sanctions were already decided upon before the US bill was passed and if he had not signed it --it then would have looked odd that the EU was moving ahead and the US was going to do nothing--so here the roles were reversed.

The administration shaped the bill. It is designed to give him room to maneuver because that was what was demanded.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/wo...bill.html?_r=0

But under pressure from the Obama administration, lawmakers removed elements that would have tied the president’s hands, including a provision that would have barred lifting sanctions until Russia was not only out of Ukraine but Moldova and Georgia, too, where lingering conflicts are not likely to be resolved soon.

This is not a bill that he was "forced" into. It is a bill the administration wanted, even if it wanted to signal that it was uneasy about getting ahead of Europe. The basic strategy is to get Europe to move as far as possible, given they are the ones with greater economic ties to Russia.