Now the Long Knives are poised right in the back of Ukraine:

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26400035

Fucking brilliant approach, this. First the attempt to play divide and conquer in Ukraine pretty transparently crashed and burned with the retun of Ukraine's Benazir Bhutto to political influence. Then, the Russians decide evidently that they really did move in Russian Army soldiers into the Crimea. Because the proper instinct when a risky gamble fails is to raise the stakes. This is not going to end well by any means. Now I'm wondering how long Lucashenko will have a country to rule as dictator, and what might happen with Round II with Georgia. If Tsar Vladimir I of the House of Putin succeeds in this kind of thing, that will only encourage him to expand his wars of aggression further because Ukraine is rather larger than Georgia, and this would permit Russia to begin aspiring to regain aspects of the old Tsarist boundaries. I sincerely expected Russia would use Central Asia for this kind of thing, not Ukraine.

The EU wouldn't give a damn about invading Muslims in Kazakhstan, but invading an EU state? That's not going to lead Russia to do anything but decide to engage in still-larger wars of aggression in the long term.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/01/world/europe/ukraine-politics/

And one of the chambers of the Russian legislature just approved this request. Hoo, boy.

Shit got real-er:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26403996

The Ukrainian Army is now on full combat alert. The prospect that the centennial year of the First World War will see the first large-scale conventional European war in decades has risen exponentially.

Comments

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

Only Crimea?

[peamasii.livejournal.com]

Like unterlankers said, the Russians like to carve out territories slowly. The Crimea is easily in their hand, whether or not occupied by force, whether or not in administration majority or in behind-the-scenes influence. Whether the rest of East Ukraine also needs to be russified further remains to be seen. This is nothing new, they have been at it for a century and a half now?

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

What they've been doing for a century and a half is invade entire swaths of territory, and carve segments of the globe for themselves. The South Ossetia / Crimea scenario is relatively new for them.

[merig00.livejournal.com]

There are already anti-russia protests in cities like Donetsk. Even though the eastern ukraine speaks russian and close to russia culturally they still consider themselves ukrainians.

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

There are pro-Russian protests in those cities too. The country is split along ethnic lines, and this will be deepening.

[merig00.livejournal.com]

The way I understand the pro-russian protests are more anti new goverment than pro russian. If that makes sense.

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

I'm watching footage of people waving the Russian flag, singing the Russian anthem and chanting pro-Russian slogans as we speak. I'm not seeing many references to the new government.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

No one has argued that the pro-Russian side dominates 100% of East Ukraine.

[merig00.livejournal.com]

I'm not arguing that either