Quote Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09 View Post
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In some aspects the Ukrainian government now has the US/EU over a barrel as well as the Russians---the EU/US have gone on full record they will move to the stage three sanctions against broad sectors of the Russian economy basically gas/oil and the banking system which in the end will result is a collapsing of the Russian internal/external economy if Russia moves into the Ukraine---that is a public statement and one hard to back down from without losing face in their respective countries.

Now along comes the Odessa fire and the Ukrainian government making moves against the cities/towns held by the "separatists" and are actually making headway which in the end will slow down if not stop the "separatist" movements thus a failure of the Russian UW plan for destabilizing the Ukraine.
An interesting analysis. The most interesting thing to me is if it is true, a critical factor will be how well the Ukrainians fight. Despite all the talk of soft power, influence and economic sanctions, a critical factor is how well some small groups of men fight. Just like forever.