"Putin looks east to bolster ties with North Korea" by Eric Talmadge | Associated Press June 05, 2014
TOKYO — Angry with the West’s response over Ukraine and eager to diversify its options, Russia is moving rapidly to bolster ties with North Korea in a diplomatic nose-thumbing that could complicate the US-led effort to squeeze Pyongyang into giving up its nuclear weapons program.
Russia’s proactive strategy in Asia, which also involves cozying up to China and has been dubbed ‘‘Putin’s Pivot,’’ began years ago as Moscow’s answer to Washington’s much-touted alliance-building and rebalancing of its military forces in the Pacific.
It cracks you up, doesn't it?
But it has gained a new sense of urgency since the unrest in Ukraine — and Pyongyang is already getting a big windfall with high-level political exchanges and promises from Russia of trade and development projects.
Moscow’s overtures to North Korea reflect both a defensive distancing from the European Union and Washington because of their sanctions over Ukraine and a broader, long-term effort to strengthen its hand in Asia by building political alliances, expanding energy exports, and developing Russian regions in Siberia and the Far East.
For North Korea, the timing couldn’t be better. Since the demise of the Soviet Union and the largesse it banked on as a member of the communist bloc, the North has struggled to keep its economy afloat and has depended heavily on trade and assistance from China. Sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs have further isolated the country, and Pyongyang has long feared it could become too beholden to Beijing.
Better ties with Russia could provide a much-needed economic boost, a counterbalance against Chinese influence and a potentially useful wedge against the West in international forums — and particularly in the US-led effort to isolate Pyongyang over its development of nuclear weapons.
--more--"
"Russia forges economic union; Three-nation alliance attempts to counter EU" by Neil MacFarquhar | New York Times May 30, 2014
ASTANA, Kazakhstan — The presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus formally signed an agreement Thursday to create a limited economic union, an alliance hobbled by the absence of Ukraine but one long pursued by President Vladimir Putin of Russia to confirm his country as a global economic force.
“Today we are creating a powerful, attractive center of economic development, a big regional market that unites more than 170 million people,” Putin said during the ceremonies. He underscored the significant energy resources, work force, and cultural heritage of the combined nations.
The geography of the group, formally known as the Eurasian Economic Union, meant it had the potential to create a global transportation hub joining the trade flows of Europe and Asia, Putin said, sitting at a table with his two fellow leaders in front of their respective flags.
But the alliance that comes into force Jan. 1 will be a pale imitation of what the members first envisioned, an eastern version of the 28-member European Union.
“Three weak economies getting together and integrating, how much good can come out of it?” said Nargis Kassenova, the director of the Central Asian Studies Center at Kimep University in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and part of a small but vocal opposition to the union in Kazakhstan. “Now it is even worse because one is under sanctions and drifting away from the West,” she added, referring to Western economic sanctions against Russia.
The missing guest at the party was Ukraine. The previous government in Kiev tacked back and forth on whether it would join the EU or the new Eurasian group, eventually prompting enough public anger to bring down the president in February.
“We lost someone along the way; I mean Ukraine,” said President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus. Lukashenko, who received a $2 billion loan and energy concessions from Russia just before the signing, also said the union was less than anticipated. “Unfortunately, it is not the agreement that our partners originally announced,” he told Belta, the official Belarus news agency.
He also called for economic unity to be followed by political and military unity, a concept that Kazakhstan flatly rejected.
“We are not creating a political organization; we are forming a purely economic union,” Bakytzhan Sagintayev, the first deputy prime minister and lead negotiator, said in an interview. “It is a pragmatic means to get benefits. We don’t meddle into what Russia is doing politically, and they cannot tell us what foreign policy to pursue.”
The agreement coalesced with great fanfare — and quickly, with members changing trade laws in a matter of years that required decades for the EU. But in the end it became less about promoting economic development than providing Russia with a diplomatic win, analysts said.
Like the huge gas agreement Russia signed with China earlier this month, the Eurasian Economic Union is a way for Moscow to show that it is pivoting to Asia and that the Western sanctions imposed after Russia annexed Crimea will not succeed in isolating it.
“It is meant to signal that these Western programs and opprobrium are not having an effect on the economy and that Russia is developing into a distinct pole in the multipolar system,” said Alexander Cooley, a political science professor at Barnard College.
Some analysts suggest that the loss of Ukraine as a potential member was the death knell for the Eurasian Economic Union. On a purely economic scale, losing Ukraine meant losing a market of nearly 50 million people. But more important, the use of the military has spooked the other members. At the last moment, some senior figures questioned the idea of the union itself.
“We cannot be in a union with an occupying state,” Oraz Jandosov, a former Kazakh central bank governor and finance minister, said in a March interview with the website Ratel.su. He fretted about Western economic sanctions on Russia reverberating through the Kazakh economy.
Kazakhstan also felt vulnerable in particular because one-quarter of its population is ethnic Russians, concentrated along the northern border. Putin stressed that Russia believed it had the right to safeguard the 25 million ethnic Russians outside its borders.
--more--"
Then he did another pivot and even met with the man:
"Pro-European tycoon claims victory in Ukraine; Poroshenko faces daunting task; Leader’s skeptics include boosters" by David M. Herszenhorn | New York Times May 26, 2014
KIEV — With their country caught in a fierce tug-of-war between Russia and the West over a new security order, Ukrainians elected Petro O. Poroshenko as president Sunday, turning to a pro-European billionaire to lead them out of six months of wrenching turmoil, including a continuing separatist insurrection in the east.
The special election was called by Parliament to replace Viktor Yanukovych, who fled Kiev on Feb. 21 after a failed but bloody attempt to suppress a civic uprising, and whose toppling as president set off Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea.
The election allows Ukraine to open a new chapter in its history, and even President Vladimir Putin of Russia has indicated in recent days that he would accept the result.
But Poroshenko faces the excruciatingly difficult task of trying to calm and reunite a country that has been on the edge of financial collapse and on the verge of tilting into civil war. Among his chief tasks will be to ease tensions with Russia.
“Now we have a state of war,” he said as he arrived at a polling station in Kiev to vote Sunday. “We need to establish peace.”
Early exit poll results showed Poroshenko — a confections tycoon known as the Chocolate King, and a longtime veteran of Ukrainian politics — with a wide lead over his strongest rival, the former prime minister Yulia V. Tymoshenko. He appeared poised to easily clear the simple-majority threshold needed to avoid a potentially divisive runoff.
The polls, conducted by three respected Ukrainian survey agencies, found the 48-year-old Poroshenko getting 55.9 percent of the vote in the field of 21 candidates, the Associated Press reported. Tymoshenko was a distant second, with 12.9 percent. Full results are expected Monday.
Fewer than 20 percent of the polling stations were open in the east after gunmen smashed ballot boxes, shutting down polling centers, and issued threats. Nationwide, about 60 percent of 35.5 million eligible voters turned out, the central elections commission said.
Poroshenko declared victory at an evening news conference at an arts center, where he appeared with the former champion boxer Vitali Klitschko, a leader of the street protests that deposed Yanukovych. Klitschko was elected Sunday as mayor of Kiev, the capital. The arts complex was decked out for a victory party, including cases of Spanish and Italian wine.
“These were the hardest periods in Ukraine’s history, and these elections determine the future of our country,” Poroshenko said. “I would like to thank the Ukrainian people who participated and showed record support, and visited all polling stations in these hard conditions.”
WOW!
After WWII and Stalin's famine!??!
The hyperbolic bullshit knows no bounds!
Despite formidable obstacles in the east, international observers predicted that the presidential vote would receive high marks in meeting standards of fairness.
But Poroshenko faces skepticism even among many of his supporters, who are wary both of his status as a billionaire businessman and because he is a veteran in Ukraine’s notoriously corrupt politics.
He has been a longtime member of Parliament, where he briefly served as speaker, and was minister of trade and economic development under Yanukovych and foreign minister under former president Viktor Yushchenko.
Poroshenko has vowed repeatedly to set Ukraine on a pro-European course, and he has pledged to sign the political and trade agreements with the European Union that Yanukovych abandoned, setting off the uprising last fall.
But Poroshenko has deep business interests in Russia and has previously served in pro-Russia governments, creating some optimism in Moscow that negotiations are possible. The Kremlin has already seized a factory and warehouse in Lepetsk, Russia, belonging to Poroshenko’s company, Roshen Chocolate.
Last year, in the run-up to tensions over the European Union agreements, Russia also barred imports of his chocolate, citing vague health concerns.
Poroshenko has repeatedly called for armed separatists to be brought to justice, but he also ran a campaign focused on the bread-and-butter issues of jobs and the economy, as well as a populist anticorruption message that resonated well with an electorate weary after more than two decades of malfeasance and mismanagement.
Ukraine will be under continuing pressure from Russia, which is demanding billions of dollars for unpaid natural-gas bills, and has made clear that it could cripple the Ukrainian economy at any moment with trade sanctions.
And Europe's.
There is also pressure from the International Monetary Fund, which has laid out strict requirements, including austerity measures, in exchange for $27 billion in emergency credit that saved the country from default.
But blame the Russians! I hope you fool Ukranians enjoy banker rule.
The crisis in Ukraine began six months ago when Yanukovych broke a promise to sign political and economic accords with the European Union. A confrontation between Russia and the West followed, including military maneuvering, economic sanctions, and travel restrictions.
The interim government, led by Prime Minister Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, has already taken steps toward finalizing the agreements that Yanukovych abandoned.
Sunday’s vote had the broad support of leaders in Europe and the United States. In St. Petersburg, Putin, too, expressed support Saturday. “We will respect any choice made by the Ukrainian people,” he said at a round-table interview with international news agencies.
Meaning it was a rigged piece of fraudulent shit.
--more--"
I'm going to do a bit of a pivot myself now. I'm not going to get angry at the endless stream of propaganda in my agenda-pushing, war-promoting pre$$. I've more or less given up on them even though they have all the an$wers and have finally admitted that Moscow is only ‘‘worried about fathers, mothers, wives, and children.’’ The Ukraine is in retreat as the new U.S-backed butcher Poroshenko violates the alleged peace deal. The guy looks like wolf in sheep's clothing to me as he takes on the insurgents (a clear hallmark and give away regarding the propaganda value), although I see the pre$$ got around to Biden's son benefiting from all this (as well as other corporate conglomerates). I suppose a two-month delay in reporting is better than total omission. They finally nailed the target, so to speak.
Well, I've reached the end of the road.
Looks like Putin's pivot has Obama pivoting out of Asia and back to Europe:
"Obama hopes message sways Putin" by Margaret Talev | Bloomberg News June 03, 2014
WASHINGTON — President Obama’s European trip this week is tailored to get the attention of Vladimir Putin, who has done more in recent months to unsettle the continent than anyone since the end of the Cold War.
Obama will use his speeches and meetings with allies to emphasize the Russian president’s choice between further economic isolation, if Russia continues to seek more control in Ukraine and other former Soviet areas, or an easing of sanctions if he changes course.
Starting Tuesday in Warsaw, then in Brussels and Paris, Obama will promote economic cooperation, energy security, and solidarity among NATO and Group of Seven nations. He will meet with Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko, newly elected to become president, and underscore the benefits for Russia if it leaves Ukraine free to pursue its own path.
Putin, who will cross paths with Obama at the June 6 ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of D-day in Normandy, will be making his own priorities known.
‘‘Unless the president is able to coax a more forceful, more unified response from the international community, then Putin will continue to feel he is in the driver’s seat,’’ said David Rothkopf, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and chief executive officer and editor of the FP Group.
The trip follows months of tensions surrounding the February ouster of Ukraine’s pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Russia’s move since then to annex Crimea and back pro-Russia separatist movements in Ukraine triggered sanctions against members of Putin’s inner circle by the United States and Europe.
Russia’s acceptance of the May 25 election of Poroshenko has eased the threat of more punitive sanctions against Russia’s economy — and a deeper freeze in US-Russia relations — for now.
Obama’s options for increasing pressure on Putin are limited. The economies of US allies such as France and Germany are tied more deeply to doing business with Russia, and a wave of parliamentary election victories this year by nationalist candidates may make it more difficult to build a unified US- European approach.
The United States has its own strategic imperatives.
‘‘The United States needs Russia to achieve what it wants to do with Iran, it is going to need Russia to get anything done in Syria,’’ Rothkopf said. ‘‘They have to find ways forward and Putin has known that all along.’’
One of the most intriguing unknowns is if — and how — Obama and Putin will interact. While the White House says there are no plans for a formal meeting between the men, they are almost sure to encounter each other in a group setting during the D-day ceremonies in France.
The timing of the trip lends poignancy to the current tensions.
I'm sorry I'm no longer into the staged-managed imagery and illusion of our leaders brought to you by the mouthpiece of the cla$$ of elites that controls them.
It is taking place over the 25th anniversary, on June 4, of the election win by the Solidarity movement in Poland that brought the first non-Communist leader to power in the Eastern Bloc, and the 70th anniversary, on June 6, of D-day, the pivotal Allied invasion of then-German-occupied Normandy, France.
‘‘In the context of Russia’s intervention into Ukraine’s territory, it’s a very powerful moment to both look back at the history of how Polish democracy was won, but also look at the current moment and the need for the United States and Europe to stand together on behalf of the security of Eastern Europe, and to stand in support of democratic values,’’ said White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes.
These guys are so hypocritical in their chutzpah it has become a farcical embarrassment and outrage.
Who is Ben Rhodes anyway?
--more--"
"US vows to boost Europe security" by Peter Baker | New York Times June 04, 2014
WARSAW — As he began a four-day trip to Europe, President Obama announced new measures intended to bolster security in Central and Eastern Europe in response to Russia’s intervention in the crisis in Ukraine, including its annexation of Crimea.
Obama tried to make a point of demonstrating solidarity with America’s friends in the region as soon as he landed in Poland, the first stop on his itinerary. Striding across the tarmac from Air Force One, he visited a hangar where four US F-16 jets were parked and addressed about 50 US and Polish airmen and soldiers with a message of resolve....
Later he announced that he would ask Congress for $1 billion for a “European reassurance initiative” that would increase the US troop presence in Eastern Europe with additional exercises and training and would send US Navy ships more often to the Baltic and Black seas.
This as we get AUSTERITY here at HOME!
He's got a billion for the Poles, billions for Ukraine, millions to Syria, and on and on, even setting up a special $5 billion general fund to fight the "terrorists." Seems like government has a whole pile of money, American taxpayers; only problem is, NONE of it is GOING to YOU!
The plan would position more equipment in Europe for quicker military responses and dispatch US experts to augment the allies’ capabilities. It would also provide aid to Ukraine and two other former Soviet republics, Georgia and Moldova.
It's called PLANNING for a WAR that you WILL BE INITIATING!
If received history is too be believed, Hitler did the same thing to Russia.
It was not clear whether Obama’s announcement would satisfy leaders in the region, who have so far been unimpressed by the relatively small forces the United States has sent in recent months.
Obama has dispatched about 600 paratroopers to Poland and other allies in the region and rotated more aircraft and support personnel through the area.
Anxious about the threat from Moscow, Polish leaders have been pressing for a more robust deployment and even creation of a permanent base on their territory. NATO reached an agreement with Russia after the Cold War ended, promising to refrain from deploying substantial forces in Eastern Europe, but Polish officials have argued that Russia effectively abrogated that agreement by annexing Crimea.
“For the first time since the Second World War, one European country has taken a province by force from another European country,” Radoslaw Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister, said in a telephone interview before Obama’s arrival. “America, we hope, has ways of reassuring us that we haven’t even thought about. There are major bases in Britain, in Spain, in Portugal, in Greece, in Italy. Why not here?”
Actually, the Crimeans voted the Russians an invitation, but don't let that spoil the propaganda narrative, dear readers.
Joined by Secretary of State John Kerry, Obama met Tuesday with Komorowski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk, reaffirming repeatedly what he called America’s “rock solid commitment” to Polish security. He also met with the leaders of Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Slovakia, all of whom traveled here to hear a similar message.
On Wednesday, Obama is scheduled to meet for the first time with Petro O. Poroshenko, the president-elect of Ukraine, whose inauguration is set for Saturday.
Obama hopes to reinforce US support for the new government in Kiev as it tries to stabilize a rocky economy and quell a violent pro-Russia insurgency in the eastern part of the country, where there was fresh fighting Tuesday.
Just ignore the bombs, shells, and mortars the U.S-installed junta in Kiev is lobbing at the Sovereign State of Eastern Ukraine.
Later Wednesday, Obama plans to address a rally marking the 25th anniversary of elections in Poland that led to the end of Communist rule.
The fresh confrontation with Russia, coming at a time when this part of Europe is commemorating the end of the Cold War and Soviet domination, lent symbolic potency to the event.
For a basically impotent president save for the nuclear dick.
Then Obama plans to fly to Brussels to meet with leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Japan in a Group of 7 format.
That meeting was originally supposed to be a Group of 8 summit in Sochi, Russia, hosted by President Vladimir Putin, but Russia was suspended from the group following its annexation of Crimea.
From Brussels, Obama is to travel to France for meetings in Paris and a ceremony in Normandy marking the 70th anniversary of the D-day landings.
Putin plans to attend the Normandy ceremony as well, setting up his first encounter with Obama since the Ukraine crisis erupted.
--more--"
"Obama pushes allies to remain tough on Russia" by Peter Baker | New York Times June 05, 2014
BRUSSELS — President Obama started his day in Warsaw struggling to convince his friends in Central and Eastern Europe that the United States is being tough enough with Russia. He ended his day in Brussels, still struggling, but this time to persuade America’s core Western allies to stay tough with Russia.
The dizzying contrasts underscored the challenges Obama faces navigating the complicated waters of European politics as he tries to forge a unified stance against Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Did I mention I was also sick of dizzying contrasts and mixed messages meant only to obscure the truth?
On the defensive at home for a prisoner swap, he finds himself pressed overseas by some allies unsatisfied with his reassurances of resolve and others unimpressed with his arguments for action.
Related: Bergdahl Deal Backfiring on Obama
Also see: Hagel Hammered by House Over Bergdahl Deal
He arrived here Wednesday to have dinner with the leaders of the Group of Seven powers, who, at his urging, had excluded President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as punishment for his annexation of Crimea. But Obama’s counterparts from Britain, France, and Germany all ended up scheduling one-on-one meetings with Putin later on. President François Hollande of France even arranged to have dinner with Putin on Thursday just after having a separate dinner with Obama.""
Hey, WHITE HOUSE!
Looks like your European friends just gave it to you!
Not only were they unwilling to snub the Russian leader entirely, as Obama sought, they were also reluctant to go along with other efforts to isolate the Kremlin.
Most notably, the French government repeated that it would go ahead with the $1.6 billion sale of powerful warships to Moscow along with plans to train 400 Russian sailors in France this month. And other European leaders were cautious about setting further red lines threatening additional sanctions against Russia.
And we know how Obomber loves red lines!
Obama’s aides repeated their opposition to the French sale Wednesday but tried to play down the disparate approaches of the leaders.
What a craven and pathetic political cowards who doesn't even have the convictions of their propaganda spew!! ]
If YOU GUYS DON'T BELIEVE IN IT, why should we?
“The question is not whether they’re meeting,” said Benjamin J. Rhodes, the president’s deputy national security adviser. “The question is what people are saying in those meetings. And our belief is that there needs to be a unified message.”
Looks like French such sent a me$$age, Ben!
And did I SAY I'M TIRED of the POLITICAL IMAGERY and ILLUSION to send MESSAGES?
Did I MENTION THAT????!!!!!!!!!!!
The leaders used their dinner Wednesday to discuss what might set off another, more expansive, round of sanctions.
Then they went and reported to Putin on what the AmeriKan a$$hole had to say.
Some Europeans want to keep new sanctions in their pocket, as they put it, to impose only if Russia escalates the situation, while others say Moscow should avoid new penalties only if it proactively works to stop pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.
After a long discussion, the leaders left the question largely unresolved.
That's a unification of sorts, I guess, sorta, maybe, kinda, but still if nonetheless however....
In a joint statement, they again condemned Russia’s actions and called on the country to stop the flow of arms and fighters across its borders. But they did not specify what might prompt them to broaden their sanctions to target entire sectors of the Russian economy. Instead, they threatened “to impose further costs on Russia should events so require,” without elaboration.
Unlike some other Western European leaders, Chancellor Angela Merkel sided with the tougher line in a speech to the German Parliament before flying to Brussels. Putin “has to make his influence felt” with pro-Russian separatists who have attacked and seized government offices in eastern Ukraine and do more to prevent weapons flowing into Ukraine across porous Russian borders, she said.
“If all this does not stop,” she told Parliament, “then we will not shy away from imposing new sanctions.”
But the French government repeated its refusal to cancel the warship sale, saying it would be illegal to break a contract under international law. French officials view the economic imperative outweighing the geopolitical costs.
Since when has the EUSraeli Empire cared about international law?
And YOU $EE WHAT I$ at the BOTTOM of EVERYTHING, right?
Even within the Obama administration, there are cross pressures about how to respond, most recently about sending more troops to bolster the security of Poland and other NATO allies in the east.
Obama sided with aides who advised against a more robust military presence in the east in the short term for fear it would be unnecessarily provocative. But he did promise to spend up to $1 billion if approved by Congress to increase joint exercises, expand military training, and pre-position equipment.
But they won't be using any of it.
Isn't that what war-makers always say? No decision made yet.
--more--"
"Obama sets deadline for Putin; Gives Russian president a month to reverse course on Ukraine crisis" by Peter Baker | New York Times June 06, 2014
What, the chess clock run out on your bluff, Barry!?
BRUSSELS — With the backing of other world leaders, President Obama effectively set a one-month deadline for Moscow to reverse its intervention in Ukraine and help quash a pro-Russian separatist uprising or else he said it would face international sanctions far more severe than anything it had endured so far.
Looks to me like a DECLARATION of WAR, doesn't it?
Obama and other leaders of seven major democracies meeting here demanded that President Vladimir Putin of Russia recognize and negotiate directly with the newly elected leader of Ukraine, stop the flow of fighters and arms across the border, and press separatists to disarm, relinquish seized public buildings, and join talks with the central authorities in Kiev.
Okay, he has, so you can't stop it with the war-inciting spew now!
“Russia continues to have a responsibility to convince them to end their violence, lay down their weapons, and enter into a dialogue with the Ukrainian government,” Obama said at a news conference alongside Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain after a meeting of leaders of the Group of 7 industrial powers. “On the other hand, if Russia’s provocations continue, it’s clear from our discussions here that the G-7 nations are ready to impose additional costs on Russia.”
For the first time, Obama laid out a time frame, saying that the process could not drag out.
“We will have a chance to see what Mr. Putin does over the next two, three, four weeks,” Obama said, “and if he remains on the current course, then we’ve already indicated what kinds of actions that we’re prepared to take.”
This guy's spew is disgustingly offensive and insulting, as is he.
The saddest part of all is I feel the same way about this president as I did about W. Bush in his sixth year.
Eight fucking years of blogging about this shit-holed bastard is enough!
So far, the United States and European allies have imposed only limited sanctions, aimed at individual Russians and a handful of their companies, in retaliation for the Russian annexation of Crimea and the violence in eastern Ukraine. The next stage would be broader, cutting off dealings with sectors of the economy like finance and energy.
European leaders have resisted such an escalation at least in part because their countries have much deeper economic ties to Russia than the United States does.
Yeah, it's easy for the U.S to say do something that furthers our war agenda when it won't affect us.
What arrogant asshole leaders we have here.
Germany receives about one-third of its natural gas from Russia. Britain has extensive banking ties. France does a thriving arms business with Moscow.
Obama and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany had threatened to impose sectoral sanctions if Russia disrupted the May 25 election in Ukraine that produced Petro O. Poroshenko as the new president. Pro-Russian separatists worked to stop the voting in the east, but the United States and European leaders chose not to see the problems as grave enough to merit following through on the threat.
US and European officials are hoping that Putin’s decision to pull some troops back from the border signals that he wants to defuse the confrontation, either because of the damage done to his own economy or because he did not find as much popular support for joining Russia in eastern Ukraine as he did in Crimea.
The spin on all this is sickening.
In a small sign of a thaw, Moscow said Thursday that its ambassador to Kiev, Mikhail Zurabov, would return to Ukraine in time to attend Saturday’s inauguration of Poroshenko.
Zurabov was withdrawn in February when Russia objected to the overthrow of President Viktor F. Yanukovych.
It remained unclear what the West would do if Russia largely left matters as they were, neither escalating the situation nor reining in the separatists. France has said that as things stood, it intended to go ahead with a $1.6 billion sale of warships to Russia; Obama took issue with that decision again Thursday before leaving Brussels for Paris to dine with President François Hollande of France.
The Group of 7’s summit meeting was the first in two decades to exclude Russia, which began attending as a guest in 1993 and joined as a full-fledged member in 1998 but was suspended after annexing Crimea.
--more--"
After dinner:
"On D-day anniversary, tension rising among world leaders" by Alan Cowell | New York Times June 06, 2014
LONDON — Veterans began gathering Thursday on the Normandy beaches — some of them perhaps for the last time at such a major commemoration — to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-day landings of World War II, even as their political leaders grappled anew with the conflict’s legacy of East-West division.
On June 6, 1944, almost 160,000 Allied troops crossed from England to storm five beaches in northern France for an invasion that turned the fortunes of war against Nazi Germany....
That's not true! That is a DISTORTED VIEW of HISTORY!
What happened was the tide had already turned in early 1943 and Russia was rolling over Hitler in the East. It was then that those in the West panicked!! There underbelly attempt in Italy had bogged down and the NEW THREAT was the possibility that STALIN and RUSSIA may TAKE OVER the CONTINENT! That's why the Nazis that survived were used by the West against the Soviets after the war.
But hey, I've long since forgotten why I'm even reading this other than out of habit and the fact that there really is nothing else to do here. There is no work, I don't care what the propaganda pre$$ of Bo$ton tells me.
At a time when American attention has been focused on the fate of a single soldier captured in Afghanistan, the commemoration is likely to recall the vast scale and the huge, human odds at play during D-day....
Thousands of US, Canadian, British, and German soldiers died as the Allied forces established the crucial bridgehead that began Operation Overlord — the invasion of northwestern Europe as the Soviet Red Army pushed on Berlin from the east....
The defeat of Nazism led to Europe’s division into hostile ideological camps and to the Cold War — the rivalry between Moscow and Washington that many analysts depict as having been revived by the crisis in Ukraine.
World leaders set to attend the 70th anniversary celebrations Friday include President Obama, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, and Queen Elizabeth II of Britain alongside the country’s prime minister, David Cameron.
She didn't abdicate like Spain's king?
While some Western leaders, including Cameron, Merkel, and President François Hollande of France, have scheduled meetings with Putin during the anniversary, there is no immediate plan for Obama to meet the Russian leader.
On Wednesday, Putin offered to meet Obama during the celebrations, which begin Thursday evening with a series of dinners in France. “There is no reason to think President Obama does not want to talk to the Russian president,” Putin said. “It’s his choice. I am ready for dialogue.”
Putin's triple pivot!
Maybe Obama did not want to talk because he has a concussion.
Hollande would shuttle between encounters Thursday evening with the US and Russian leaders in Paris, holding separate dinners with each of them, French officials have said. Hollande also plans to try to broker a first encounter between Putin and Ukraine’s president-elect, Petro O. Poroshenko.
Obama, visiting Europe this week, has been seeking to persuade allies in Central and Eastern Europe that the US is being tough enough with Russia about its activities in Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists are fighting government forces in the east and Moscow has annexed Crimea in the south.
Obama has also been trying to convince Western allies, most of which have powerful economic bonds with Moscow, to maintain pressure on Russia related to the Ukraine crisis.
On Friday, the showcase international event grouping some 18 foreign leaders is scheduled to be held on landing beach Sword near the Norman village of Ouistreham at its eastern extremity.
Did I mention I was sick of the political imagery and spectacle of illusio.... oh, I already did?
Sorry.
The dignitaries are to lunch nearby at the 18th-century Chateau de Bénouville. During the war, the building was used as a maternity hospital.
They are having lunch where?
On Thursday, Prince Charles of Britain joined veterans in the same area, where, in 1944, troops landed from low-flying gliders hours before the D-day amphibious landings to capture Pegasus Bridge on the Orne River and thus protect British troops at Sword Beach.
Where are the German guns when you need them?
--more--"
"World leaders in France honor sacrifices on D-day" by Zachary A. Goldfarb | Washington Post June 07, 2014
COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France — The D-day invasion accelerated the end of the war in Europe and helped alter the course of history. It cracked Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler’s western front as Soviet troops made advances on the ground in the east....
So I was told and taught.
Recalling the stories of the veterans who made it here to commemorate the day, Obama connected their sacrifices to those of another generation — ‘‘this 9/11 generation of service members’’ — who also ‘‘chose to serve a cause that’s greater than self.’’
THAT DOES IT!
Go to hell, sir! Go directly to hell, do not pass go, do not collect $200!
And he pledged that ‘‘future generations, whether 70 or 700 years hence, will gather at places like this to honor them — and to say that these were generations of men and women who proved once again that the United States of America is and will remain the greatest force for freedom the world has ever known.’’
That is the kind of ARROGANT HUBRIS that comes before a CLIMACTIC FALL! Hitler boasted about his success in the fall of 1942 and within months it was all crumbling.
--more--"
Also see:
Ditching D-Day Article
US veterans gather on Normandy beach to toast the fallen
USS Constitution marks D-Day, Battle of Midway
Kerry commemorates D-day near his French ancestral home
That must have brought back memories.
Related:
"The planned auction of a skull found at Gettysburg that purportedly was that of a Civil War soldier has been canceled following protests, and officials say the remains have instead been donated by the auction company for burial with honors."
How many other ancient wars can be peppered through my paper?
Currently the U.S. and Russia are conducting war exercises.
Anyone for a USS Liberty type of event over the weekend?
Surprising that event didn't get as much coverage as D-Day.
Then see: WWIII Has Begun
Time for me to pivot on out of here for the day, sorry.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
It is literally at the top of the agenda:
"Ukraine talks yield support for peace plan; But tanks from Russia are said to cross border" by David McHugh | Associated Press June 13, 2014
KIEV — Ukraine’s president rallied support Thursday for his plan to end fighting in the country’s east in phone calls with the Russian and German leaders, even as he condemned what Ukrainian officials called an incursion of armored vehicles from Russia.
From what I have seen and heard, this is a total fiction and lie.
Any wonder why I'm pivoting away from it?
The Ukrainian interior minister said three tanks had crossed into Ukraine along with other armored vehicles from Russia and were attacked by military forces fighting pro-Moscow separatists. He did not directly accuse Moscow of sending the tanks, but he said it showed that Russia had failed to fulfill its promises to tighten border controls.
That's it?
Russia has denied sending troops or weapons to Ukraine, describing Russian citizens who have joined the armed separatists as volunteers. There was no independent confirmation that the tanks had come from Russia.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that if the military incursion was confirmed, it would be a ‘‘serious and disturbing escalation of the crisis in eastern Ukraine.’’
IF? How can they not know with spying and satellite collection?
Remember months ago when the war-promoting, propaganda pre$$ said Russia had massed troops on the border and then a NBC news crew drove the length of it and found nothing?
The reported incursion followed statements earlier Thursday by Russia’s foreign minister that the separatists were ready for a cease-fire, but that Kiev had to initiate the process.
Who wants a war, huh?
Late Thursday, an explosion shook the center of the eastern city of Donetsk, where the separatists have taken over a regional administration building. A reporter heard the explosion and arrived at the scene to see a van in flames in front of the building. He saw three injured people being taken away.
Translation: we have a case of U.S.-backed terrorism, done by who knows reading this.
The breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic said on its Twitter feed that the van was used by one of the group’s leaders, Denis Pushilin, but that he was not in the vehicle. The same tweet said four people were injured, one of whom was in grave condition.
That's all the AP will spend wondering about it, too.
President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine, who took office less than a week ago, told President Vladimir Putin of Russia that it was unacceptable that tanks had crossed the border, Poroshenko’s spokesman, Svyatoslav Tsegolko, said. A Kremlin statement said Poroshenko told Putin about his plan for resolving the crisis but did not say whether the two discussed the tanks.
Who is lying to us, hey?! The Russians or my own bull$hit pre$$?
The Ukrainian president also spoke Thursday with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, following a call the previous day with Vice President Joe Biden of the United States.
Getting his marching orders for Operation Barbarossa.
Poroshenko has said that he is willing to negotiate, but not with those he calls terrorists, and that he could offer amnesty to those who don’t have ‘‘blood on their hands.’’
U.S. will! In a word: Bergdahl
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said a column with armored vehicles had crossed from Russia through border control points controlled by separatists near the village of Dyakove in eastern Ukraine. Three tanks went to the town of Snizhne, about 25 miles from Dyakove, where one remained, while the two others headed toward the town of Horlivka, where they were engaged by the Ukrainian military, Avakov said. He added that part of the column was destroyed.
Avakov said the incursion had been going on for three days and took place despite Russian statements of interest in a peaceful solution and promises to increase control over the border.
Secretary of State John Kerry spoke Wednesday with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia, urging him to encourage Putin to engage directly with Poroshenko, Psaki said.
Said he would and they did! WTF?
‘‘He also encouraged that conversation or engagement to focus on de-escalating the situation on the ground, and he called on Russia to halt the flow of militants and arms from Russia into eastern Ukraine, which is clearly relevant in this case,’’ she said.
I'm sorry; I'm just sick of reading and commenting on U.S. government spew.
Russia’s UN ambassador said Thursday that he intends to introduce a Security Council resolution aimed at stopping the violence in Ukraine.
That is SUCH a GRAND CHESS MOVE that will put the U.S. and its European toadies in the position of having to block it or cast a veto!
Vitaly Churkin told reporters that the resolution will focus on political efforts being carried out by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, ‘‘so far not successfully.’’
Lavrov said earlier Thursday the resolution would concentrate on demanding fulfillment of proposals in the security organization’s road map to resolve the conflict. It calls for nonviolence, disarmament, national dialogue, and elections.
A chess master move!
Lavrov said Russia was not seeking authorization to send in peacekeeping troops. The Ukrainian rebels have suggested that Russia should send peacekeepers, but Russian officials say that could be done only with UN authorization.
Those are THREE BRILLIANT MOVES right there! Close to CHECKMATE!
Tensions between Russia and Ukraine sharpened in February after pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych was driven from office by a mass protest movement among people who wanted closer ties with Europe.
Just wondering if you were tired of the yo-yo yet.
--more--"
Time to pivot to somewhere else.
