Foreword by the Saker:
The recent shooting down of the Russian SU-24 by the Turkish Air Force, possibly also involving the use of a surface-to-air missile fired from Turkey, bring the topic of Crimea right back into the center of gravity of the current conflict between the AngloZionist Empire and Turkey on one hand and Russia on the other. Though this was seldom noted, Turkey did play a central role in the attempt by the Ukronazis to take control of Crimea, just as Turkey played a key role in supporting the Wahabi terrorists in Chechnia. It is thus a good time to reflect again on what exactly happened in Crimea and for that purpose, we are lucky to have the combo of an introduction by Auslander, who lives in Crimea and who knows first hand what really took place there, and the subtitled move “Crimea – The Way Back Home” (though I don’t know that for a fact, I heard recently on Russian TV that the movie was banned in France). Good stuff for sure!
And while we are on the topic of Auslander, I want to urge you all to read his novel “Never the Last One: A Novel of Spetznaz” which you can get as a Kindle Book on Amazon by clicking here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZGCY8KK. The book is written by somebody who personally met many Spetsnaz officers and who became their friend, it will take you to an exotic and little known world.
For those of you who have not read Auslander’s most interesting SITREPs on the blog, use the “search” function and go through them. You will not regret it!
I know leave you with Auslander and “Crimea. The Way Back Home”.
Enjoy!
The Saker
Crimea. The Way Back Home. An introduction by Auslander
The events of January through March of 2014 were cataclysmic for Ukraine, a wholesale and virtually overnight change of an entire country and political climate. I will not go in to the political effects nor will I expound on the outside influences before, during and after the coup d’etat, it is common knowledge.
The events of December, January and February in Kiev were watched in Krimea with rapt attention. Make absolutely no mistake, President Yanukovich was not loved or admired in Krimea or for that matter in Ukraine. However, he had been elected to replace President Yushenko in an election that even US and EU grudgingly admitted was fair and aboveboard, therefore he was the internationally recognized legal president of Ukraine. While my wife and I personally are not aware of all the events that took place in Krimea in those three months we are quite aware of many of them and we were aware of certain events before and during their execution.
This video is amazing in the fact that President Putin took the time for the very extensive interviews involved in the composition and it is also obvious that various security apparatus of Russia were as open as OpSec would allow in the making and technical informations provided in this film.
There is enough real footage of the events in the dramatizations of certain events that you can see for yourselves that all the events shown in this video did take place and the events themselves are true and it is also true that a couple of the events were so taut with tension that one nervous finger on a trigger could have started a vicious action between armed groups that would have spread armed conflict with Ukrainian troops and the citizens throughout the peninsula.
In essence the tragedy of the events in Kiev and Ukraine and the triumph of Krimea and Sevastopol returning to Russian Federation or Russia proper by the will of the citizens of The Autonomous Republic of Krimea and the Federal City of Sevastopol are portrayed well.
Please note, the English subtitles are not an exact or perfect translation of the Russian dialog.
As an aside, several colleagues have asked if I will write a book of the events in Krimea and Sevastopol. I have indeed started writing and it will be a continuation in some ways of my book Never The Last One, the groundwork for that connection is in the Post Scriptum of my first novel. That Post Scriptum, by the way, was written in summer of 2013.
Auslander
Good points! I’m glad someone here can articulate the truth about things. (Not that the truth is very popular these days.)
I live in Crimea too. I’ve been here since 2006 it is good to see a fellow expat articulating what is going on.
Spot on.
I also urge people to read Auslander’s novel “Never the Last One: A Novel of Spetznaz”.
I am 30% through and can’t put it down – it’s a real page turner. From someone with no military experience and who would not usually read a book about war, the fact that I am totally engaged in the story is a credit to Auslander’s skill. He does not glorify war, but tells it how it is through his characters inner thoughts and outer actions.
The documentary ‘Crimea Way Back Home’ is also a must see.
With cousins in Crimea, I thank Saker and Auslander for their valuable work in these times.
http://www.anna-news.info/node/49803
hhhmmm
article here-discussion-that Putin did not really want to attatch Crimea to rus?????
Maybe it is just one of those contrary things that arise now and then…………..
” Putin put before the fact in a situation with the accession of the Crimea – believes blogger and journalist Anatoly Nesmiyan (El murid)”
no subtitles so can’t assess it……………
El Murid is a propagandist against the Kremlin. He is Strelkov’s Goebbles. He fabricates “facts” and twists reality to suit his ideology.
If he wasn’t such a nutjob, you’d believe he worked for the CIA and State Dept. They can’t match his output of anti-Putin crap.
various bits Crimea and ukraine::
“According to his page on Facebook ex-parliamentary deputy Alexey Zhuravko in the steppes of Kherson, on the border with the Crimea brewing conflict between local residents and the Ukrainian “patriots”, blocking the border with the Crimea near the village of urban Chaplinka.
Armed with the nationalists of the volunteer battalion “Aydar” unit which participated in the blockade, broke into the house of a local resident and demanded the keys to the minibus belonging to him. The owner of the car, the former Afghan refused. To help him come to the neighbors, including fellow soldiers. Scuffle “patriots” with local men. During the fight, “aydarovtsy” owner of the car had broken jaw. The victim turned to the local police department, law enforcement officers have caused located five kilometers battalion “Kherson” will appear and “aydarovtsy” fled.
The incident stirred up the locals. They have long tired of the neighborhood nationalists who behave more brazenly. Angered “Afghans” of Chaplinka and neighboring villages threatened to take up arms and kill “Aydar”.
“Now in the Kherson police have a statement from the victims. Afghans Chaplinka neighboring villages and promised to collect up to 300 infantry and destroy “Aydar”. They promised to do this even if the perpetrators will be punished power. On the border of brewing the new hot spot, “- writes Zhuravko.”
http://www.anna-news.info/node/49777
trouble hotspot on Crimea kherson border with Aydar
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nfluential Kiev newspaper “Zerkalo Nedeli” actually encourages Ukraine to armed provocation against Russia.
In particular, the publication of “Russian-German nur geschäft, or technology circumvention of sanctions”, devoted to arguments about how inefficient anti-Russian economic sanctions, ends thus: “Indicators of the case of the Chinese vessel-kabeleprokladchikom, which ensured transfer of the Kerch Strait cable lines supply of electricity to the Crimea. If Ukraine has taken appropriate diplomatic demarches, and the ship, ignoring the sanctions regime would have received anti-ship missile in the side, then there is no doubt the Chinese and other potential contractors Kremlin many times would have thought before deciding on certain actions in violation of the sanctions even if it is allowed for a lot of money. And Ukraine would respect. ”
Editions “ZN” many times she should have to think about what can lead calls for such action, if, God forbid, they carry out.”
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“This is due to the freezing of funds that were allocated for the development of the republic in 2015
Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Finance was instructed to determine the extent of damage after freezing Russian budget for 2015 funding for the development of the Crimea and Sevastopol, and make proposals on the punishment Crimean authorities for failure to meet the program on development of the region.
“The professionalism and quality of work of regional authorities is a serious concern at the management of the government,” – noted in the Cabinet.
It is known that the Republic of Crimea has been allocated from the federal budget for 2015 19.8 billion rubles. Funds designated for the design and construction of new obektov.Krymskie authorities offered to transfer 15.7 billion rubles of this amount in 2016 “because of the inability of development.” Responsible for this is only part of the officials concluded contracts.
http://www.anna-news.info/node/49770
Rus government questions crimean administrative reliability????
and
“Head of the Republic of Crimea Sergey Aksenov has expressed his dissatisfaction with the work of the economic block of the Russian government. In August 2014 the Russian government approved a plan of targeted financing of economic development of the Crimea and Sevastopol until 2020. Under the plan, the new subjects of the Russian Federation should receive 681 billion. Rubles. We are talking about investments in the engineering, transport and social infrastructure of the region, the development of priority sectors of the economy, improve the quality of life of the population.
In 2015, the Crimean peninsula was master of 15 billion rubles. However, according to Aksenov, Crimea has not received “a penny”. The head of the Crimea makes it clear that it is necessary or not to promise what can not be done, to do anything, once promised and agreed on a schedule. Formalism and lack of accountability creates distrust among the population to the real possibilities of power.”
http://www.anna-news.info/node/49706
google translate
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As we reported, Lenur Islyamov announced the establishment of a national battalion of the Crimean Tatars. And that became known Background. It turns out the idea came while visiting the Turkish extremist leaders of the Crimean Tatar groups and their meetings with the Turkish leadership Redzhepom Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmed Davutoglu.
This demarche Turkey opened itself against Russia, though more recently Ahmet Davutoglu expressed hope for normalization of relations between Turkey and Russia.
It became known as the leaders of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis Refat Chubarov and Mustafa Cemil, MPs from the BPP, said at a meeting with the top leadership of Turkey Redzhepom Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmed Davutoglu.
In particular, the parties discussed the possibility of establishing an armed military unit on the border with occupied Crimea. It is planned that a combat unit will be part of the APU and will report to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
“But the possibility of Ukraine’s limited. There are problems in arrangement, uniform division. All this was discussed with the President of the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and Davutoglu. Questions about the creation of units and the corresponding costs on him – on the agenda of both sides, “- said in a statement published on Facebook, posted on the page of the Bloc Petro Poroshenko.”
http://www.anna-news.info/node/49769
google translate
and
“The movement of the Crimean Tatars’ Qırım “deprived the leaders of” the Majlis of the Crimean Tatar people “the right to act on behalf of the Crimean Tatars, including at the international level.
The organization “Qırım” stated that the reason for the deprivation of Cemil, Chubarov and Islyamova right to represent the Crimean Tatars became their cooperation during the blockade of the Crimea with extremist organizations (meaning “Right Sector”, the organization is banned in Russia), “pursued throughout the progressive world
“.” From now on, all their statements on any forums, should be classified as speech individual, “- says the resolution.” We, the Crimean Tatars, shame Dzhemilev-Chubarov-Islyamova that tarnished the honor of our wise, patient, hard-working people-builder ” – the document says.
http://www.anna-news.info/node/49751
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“Crimean Tatar extremist, a senior energy blockade Peninsula Lenur Islyamov intends to create a national battalion of the Crimean Tatars, who will go into the APU. He said Kiev reporters.
Islyamov regretted that blockers of Crimea were forced to play one of the transmission lines to supply electricity to the peninsula, because otherwise the international community would be turned away from Ukraine.”
In addition, Islyamov again promised that the naval blockade of the Crimea will begin in late 2015. Who runs the preparatory process of this action.”
http://www.anna-news.info/node/49766
google translate
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Montenegro in 2014, joined the EU sanctions against Russia, though not an EU member, but only a candidate for accession.
According to the document published by the Cabinet of Ministers of Montenegro, prohibited the importation of goods from the Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as the direct or indirect financing or providing “financial assistance, insurance and reinsurance, related to the import of goods originating in the Crimea and Sevastopol,” except those who have received certificates proof of origin of the Ukrainian authorities.
Citizens are also not allowed to buy in the Crimea and in Sevastopol, real estate, securities, related to the region. Cruise ships can not enter the ports and harbors of the peninsula.
Restrictions will apply to the 23 June 2016.
The head of the Duma Committee for International Affairs Alexei Pushkov on Twitter expressed his skepticism about the importance of actions in Podgorica: “..the international events that do not have any at all of value. This is one of them.”
http://www.anna-news.info/node/49757
quick buy monetegro stuff quick if so desired
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“On Saturday, for Poland, a wave of anti-government demonstrations that swept more than twenty cities. Tens of thousands of protesters were organized through social networks. In Warsaw, Polish citizens gathered in the square in front of parliament, their number, according to eyewitnesses, was about 20 thousand people. This event is the second month of a major protest against the government.
In Poland, the growing dissatisfaction with the president and new government appointees. Demonstrators come out with pro-European positions and protest against the “collapse of European democracy.”
http://www.anna-news.info/node/49746
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“Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said that the resignation of its prime minister and parliament, and the hryvnia Yatsenyuk expect catastrophic consequences ..’
discussion I think
http://www.anna-news.info/node/49721
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even though Putin supports actions of central Bank
“Mikhail Delyagin, the reaction of the chairman of the Central Bank to purchase foreign currency Russians, the causes of inflation, devaluation of the ruble and the policy defaulting Nabiullina.”
http://www.anna-news.info/node/49717
discussion
google translate
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possible war re Azaerbaijan?
http://www.anna-news.info/node/49711
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“Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Mustafa Dzhemilev. The meeting was held at the Konya and lasted about 40 minutes. The event was attended by Vice-Prime Minister of Turkey Yalcin Akdogan. According to Turkish media during the negotiations the matching political interests of Ukraine and Turkey, as well as the prospects of a free trade zone between the two countries.
It also allegedly involved the establishment of a certain military unit in the Kherson region, as well as the training of Crimean Tatar students in foreign universities.”
recruiting terrorists?
http://www.anna-news.info/node/49707
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“The Cabinet of Ministers today issued a decree on the application of the negotiation procedure of procurement of legal services necessary for adequate protection of the rights and interests of Ukraine in the international courts on the issue of repayment of $ 3 billion. External debt.
“In order to ensure adequate protection of the rights and interests of Ukraine in foreign jurisdictional bodies and prevent the causing losses to the state to resolve the Ministry of Justice to carry out the purchase of legal services related to the protection of the rights and interests of Ukraine during consideration of the jurisdictional bodies in foreign affairs with the participation of a foreign entity and Ukraine, with the negotiation of the procurement procedure “, – says the decision.”
http://www.anna-news.info/node/49698
google translate
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“Today in Brussels, the European Commission approved a report on executable Ukraine Action Plan on visa liberalization with the EU. The full text of the document was published on the website of the European Commission.
“On the basis of this assessment and the implementation of commitments, and taking into account the results of ongoing monitoring and reporting, which was carried out since the start of the dialogue on liberalization of visa regime between Ukraine and the EU in October 2008, the Commission considers that Ukraine fulfills all the criteria set out in the four blocks of the second phase of the Action Plan to liberalize the visa regime, “- said in a statement. ”
extract
http://www.anna-news.info/node/49696
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http://www.anna-news.info/node/49679
long piece re possibilities of Turkish Russian war………….
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http://www.anna-news.info/node/49678
Ukraine buys cheap gas from Uk and french companies………
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esterday, the Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin said the refusal of Kiev to carry out a constitutional reform on decentralization and a special status for certain areas of the Donbas to the local elections in our territory. In this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of Donetsk considers it necessary to state the following:
1. Such actions on the part of the official Ukrainian people are open violation of the signed Kiev full response to the Minsk Agreement, leading to an escalation of the conflict.
2. Change the Ukrainian Constitution as a priority step is enshrined Art. 11 full response to the Minsk Agreement, signed by all parties to the negotiations.
3. the local elections of the Ukrainian legislation on the territory of the DNI and LC, as well as all the other measures for the settlement of the conflict is impossible to change the Ukrainian Constitution (Art. 9 Set-up).
4. Such statements of Ukrainian officials as high-ranking indicate systemic unwillingness of Kiev to resolve the conflict by peaceful means in the Donbas.”
http://www.anna-news.info/node/49825
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http://www.anna-news.info/node/49811
video presentation on the achievements of Poro and genocide of his own people..
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and
“MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. The property of Crimea’s former deputy prime minister Lenur Islyamov, believed to be one of the republic’s blockade organizers, will be confiscated if he is found guilty by the court, Crimean top prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya said on Monday.
The measure will be taken to compensate for the damage inflicted due to the committed crimes, Poklonskaya said. “This property will compensate the damage, that means it will be confiscated and added to the state revenue,” she said.
“Islyamov has been charged in absentia with committing an act of sabotage,” Poklonskaya said, adding that investigation against the other perpetrators and organizers of the crime is underway.”
and
http://fortruss.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/poroshenko-visa-free-regime-will-make.html
“Poroshenko shares way to return Donbass and Crimea”
The residents of Donbass and Crimea will want to rejoin Ukraine after it obtains a free-visa regime with the European Union. Such are the words of the president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, as provided by his official website.
In his opinion, Ukrainians will obtain the fight to visit the EU without visas in the next year, and this will also influence the attitude of Donbass and Crimea residents.
“This is an additional incentive for returning the government to Donbass, and one of the first elements of the strategy to return Crimea. We should win the opinions of Crimeans in this fight, because in Donbass, I am sure, it will be easier.”
words fail me..but not him obviously
……………
Now you begin to see the mentality of the nazi ukies.. To leech off others and live the good life.. These guys think they can just move to Germany and get 1500 euros a month and not work and just party hardy.
It will never happen. The visa free regime means you dont need a visa for short duration trips lasting like 30 days or so.. It does not make you a resident.. In fact al the Romanians who go to the UK,work cleaning floors and toilets.. But since they cant get a job at home it is preferable and I do support people willing to work.. But leeches I do not..Lots of people work to make less than 1000 bucks a month doing the most menial and sometimes back breaking work. Porkey and his gang dont fall in that category.. someone should explain what a visa free regime means.. Actually now many countries have visa free regime with the US, almost 100 countries or so. But you get no money from the government and you cant work.. Its great if you are already rich..
He also added that the residents of Donbass and Crimea will also be able to receive biometric passports for enjoying visa-free travel to Europe.
So europe dont have biometric errr what nots????
I mean I live in a 3rd world ghetto now and I have both a biometric ID and a Passport.. Which only means an eye scan and electronic thumb print.. I think even phones have them now. And porkey thinks its a big deal? How the hell did he get to be a billionaire? obviously he did not have much opposition to his hare brain schemes to loot the country… And when he finds some opposition he just falls apart.. Kind of like erdo the backstabbing pasha gangster.. Just goes to show you, to make money, you dont need to be very smart or intelligent.. Just some smooth talk with the windows open, and you just use a knife on anyone who has any doubts…
Thanks for the good ‘bits’ JJ. Here’s more on Krym Tatars:
Tatar Congress in Simferopol Says Mejlis Does Not Speak For Crimean Tatar People
http://newcoldwar.org/21104-2/
“Meeting in Simeropol, the second congress of the Krym Movement has declared that the ‘Mejlis does not speak on behalf of Crimean Tatar people. The regressive actions actions by Mustafa Dzhemilev and Refat Cubarov to cooperate with extremists groups in Ukraine deprive them of their right to represent the Crimean Tatar people.
Henceforth, progressive people around the world should consider any speeches by the two as being individual pronouncements only’, the Congress said at the end of its meeting…”
Thank you Auslander and Saker for this fantastic and historical film. President Putin and the Russian government have provided a grand example of resisting the forces of evil and supporting the right of self determination for all people. God Bless and protect Vladimir Putin and the people of Mother Russia.
Some comments about the Crimean matter:
1) Russia did not have to annex Crimea in order to prevent any genuine excesses by anti-Russian
extremists. The Russian forces could have served merely as effective temporary peacekeepers but without actually changing the legal status of Crimea itself.
2) In engineering the annexation of the Crimea [through a referendum which was mistakenly boycotted by dissenters and thus giving inflated percentage of those approving because only their votes were cast to be counted] Russia violated the so-called Budapest Memorandum which was a legal agreement signed by Ukraine, Russia, USA and some others guaranteeing integrity of Ukraine’s borders which then included Crimea. Now, we recall that Russia took the position that the memorandum was no longer valid and binding due to the so-called regime change by coup
that ousted Yanukovich.—We are not experts in international laws, however, we understand that a “memorandum” is as valid and binding as a treaty except it is a shortcut which does not require parliamentary ratification by the given country, as a treaty often would require.—So, under international law, who are the real parties to a treaty? The government leaders personally who sign or approve it? Clearly, no, a treaty is not a mere personal agreement between leaders of countries. Is it an agreement only between the given governments of the countries involved, so that if there is an arguable “regime change” or “coup” or some arguably non-lawful change in government within a country, then all treaties with that country legitimately become null and void,
or voidable by any other country at will? Here, we have no expertise, but common sense would dictate, no, because a treaty or memorandum is really between two or more sovereign entities or sovereign states under international law, and even an unlawful, unconstitutional regime change in one country does not make that country, that sovereign entity, lose its sovereign legitimacy altogether.—Therefore, Russian argument that it could nullify the Budapest Memorandum simply because there was, assuming just for argument’s sake, an illegal regime change in Ukraine is an argument which is not valid. The Russians did violate the international law of the Budapest Memorandum, making them the very first and ultimate violators of international law, by which everything else followed.—Ukrainian officials must thus be legitimately just laughing when Russian government starts pontificating about how Ukraine is violating international laws!
3) The excessive and premature actions as to Crimea taken by the Russian government was a serious and in a way a successful political calculation by Putin,—to enhance his own popularity among people who could and would vote for him, even if sacrificing goodwill among people [the Ukrainians] who could not vote for him. But the annexation of Crimea is what resurrected that outburst of Russophobia in Ukraine, even if the Russians showed admirable restraint and did not just attack, shooting and killing, as neither side at that time wanted to start shooting.
4) The excessive and premature actions as to Crimea taken by the Russian government were also part of a plan about “Novorussia” which was in the making for years in advance as a step by Russia toward dismembering and reconquering Ukraine, and here the opinion or preference of the Ukrainian people would not matter at all. They would become subjugated, like serfs or slaves, not really significantly different from their subjugation and enslavement by the “West”. Well, the Ukrainians have already experienced what centuries of subjugation by Muscovite Russia meant, so they reacted like “anything and anyone better than more of that!” Maybe, however, if enough evidence accumulates that today [not like in the past] the bloodthirsty Russia of Stalin’s regime hearkening back to Ivan the Terrible no longer exists, while the “West” really is treacherous and destructive against Ukrainian well-being, then even the so-called Ukrainian nationalists-fascists will rethink their position of European preference and will chart a course of Switzerland-style neutrality and nonalignment, which has worked very well for the Swiss for some 200 years.
If Ukraine can also rebuild its industries in some relationship with European and American and even Russian corporations, like China was able to build its industries and economy, then maybe someday Ukraine may even become a creditor nation like China has become.
5) Finally,—as to all those gloating vultures, that “old Ukraine” no longer exists,—consider, even if corrupt as Ukraine was, if all the countries in the world gave up their nuclear weapons the way Ukraine did, and reduced their militaries to no more than some 6000 combat-ready troops, and had a tolerant multi-lingual policy much like exists in Switzerland nowadays, or in China,—wouldn’t the whole world be actually a somewhat better place?
6) The course of history will have to decide whether or not the annexation of Crimea the way it was done by Putin’s regime, with all the consequences, was truly in the geopolitical interests of Russia or whether it was a big blunder. But clearly, the fundamental belief of the Ukrainians in the post Cold War power of international agreements and law [the Budapest Memorandum] and belief that a strong military was no longer essential,—that belief became swept away by the actions of warmongering religious-like cults, in the West, in Russia, and now it is clear:—“international law” is really ridiculously bogus, the essence of sovereignty and survival is militarism and advanced military technology, without any apologies, [maybe the Ukrainians should go back to the situation of the Cossack Ukraine in the 1600’s when their political entity was called “Cossack Army”, and thus abolish civilian status altogether, and become simply a secular military republic with a strong church institution as well].—When confronting secretive religious-like cults, pretty much worldwide, dedicated to perpetual “holy” warfare and variants of endless bloody human sacrifices, what else is there to do?
Russia did not annex Crimea; the Crimeans annexed themselves with an overwhelming vote to join the RF.
Thats pretty good propaganda.. The Ukies never had the nuclear codes.. If they had not given them up, they would have been forced to do so under threat. None of the others had any of the nuclear codes either.. Only the Kremlin did. It was not hidden but the use of force was even approved by the US so as to prevent those other countries from having nukes, everything else was for show only. Anyone who did not give them up would have had to deal with either US or Russian troops taking it by force.
You also failed to mention how the ukies want to be the successor nation to the USSR but refused to accept the debt of the USSR or any other obligations.. Russia took on the debt and liabilities that was accrued even by the ukies and paid if off all the while the ukies were still sucking russian tit and crying. Even now!
I say grow up.. before someone goes and gets a cane and whoops your lazy pathetic ass.
Anonymous 5:16.
Your opening statement in your post about the article begins with a bit of truth distortion and that is the premise in its entirety of the rest of your pontifications. You can not hide behind the Budapest Memorandum to justify what was done in Ukraine and what was threatened and attempted to be done in Krimea and Sevastopol (Krim and Sevastopol are two separate and distinct entities.).
You either did not see or did not comprehend the not small numbers of American and EU politicians and functionaries parading through the central square in Kiev actively and vocally aiding and abetting the overthrow of the duly and legally elected President of Ukraine. You either did not witness or did not comprehend the statements of Oleg Tyagnibok, the leader of Svoboda Party and a sitting deputat of the Ukraine Rada and Dmitro Yarush, the leader of Right Sector, both avowedly Nazi oriented parties (Their web sights were cleaned not long after the coup. I read them before the cleansing, back in December 2013 but being a fool at times I did not copy them.) These statements were made in a live interview with both of them on 24 February 2014 at Channel 5 television station in Kiev at 09:00. Yarush declared, live on television, ‘I will bring my 2500 fighters down to Sevastopol and kill every Russian there and burn the city to the ground’. Tyagnibok stated ‘I will bring my 3000 fighters to Krim and put every Russian there to the knife.’ Channel 5 in Kiev was and is owned by Petro Poroshenko.
Do you think the citizens of Krimea and Sevastopol did not hear that interview? Do you think the citizens of Krimea and Sevastopol did not comprehend exactly what was in store for them from that interview? Did you think we, the citizens and residents of Krimea and Sevastopol, would not defend our families, our homes, our villages, towns and cities from the threatened depredations of the coup d’etat installed ‘government’ in Kiev? If you think thus you are sadly mistaken. Russia did not ‘annex’ Krimea and Sevastopol, the citizens voted overwhelmingly and willingly to go home and assuage an illegal by Soviet Union Law act by N. Krushchov in 1954.
Know this. We in this peninsula and this city kneel to no one, not Mockba, not Berlin, not Brussels, not London, not the District of Columbia and not Kiev. If you want this city and this peninsula back, then come get it. You may succeed but you will have a victory that will make King Pyrrhus proud. You will get a smoking ruin in which every brick, every stone, every wall, every alley and every back street was fought for. We will die before we kneel in subservience to a single one of you.
Auslander
Regarding your point 3: It was not the “annexation” of Crimea that “resurrected” Russophobism in Ukraine. It already existed and was driven by the ultra-nationalist groups coming from Western Ukraine. They were the ones that raised a huge 2-story poster of Bandera in downtown Kiev, who were later fingered for the shootings of police and protesters alike in Maidan Square, who burned buses in Kherson and slaughtered some of the passengers and beat others severely, who stood in the Verkovna Rada with guns and insisted the delegates vote “the right way” to outlaw the Russian language and cancel the Russian lease at Sebastopol. All of these things happened before Crimea voted to leave Ukraine, and they were a significant cause WHY Crimea voted to leave Ukraine.
After Crimea voted, the ultra-nationalists further cemented the Crimeans’ opinion by slaughtering and burning protesters in Odessa and by raping/beating/stealing from citizens in the eastern part of Ukraine. There will be no going back for Crimeans. They are home now and intend to stay there.
Anonymous 5:16
What a steaming pile! You seem to ignore/forget that Crimea held two previous referendums in 1991 and 1994:
“Voters were asked whether they wanted to re-establish the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which had been abolished in 1945. The proposal was approved by 94% of voters”
Do you seriously expect anyone here to believe that if a referendum were held tomorrow in Crimea that the overwhelming majority would not vote to remain in Russia? Heads bowed they would meekly await their fate dealt out by Kiev neo-fascist thugs? Really?
‘Ukraine neutral like Switzerland and a creditor nation like China’. Ha-ha-ha!
People here are a cut above the meek and submissive western MSM masses or perhaps you hadn’t noticed, but thanks for the good laugh.
If we go with legality them we also need to look at if the soviet ukie had the right to give away land to anyone.. and the federal cities status was never changed and the ukies just annex it. As we are talking about legality and all.. But don’t let such mundane things like legality and proper procedures bother anyone.. The US can just make all this up as they go along.. ukiestan getting a via free regime with natoistan a minor protectorate of usiastan all follow the same rules..
It seems we may only be days from more major war in Donbass:
“Zakhar Prilepin to the Ukrainians “Don’t wait for the graves of your soldiers: Hang Poroshenko”
Freezing weather has come to Donetsk. Frost? What do you suppose that means? It means solid ground, and the ability to move and drive equipment over the fields. The chances that the “Minsk Agreement” will end soon are very high.
Ukraine is in pre-default condition. Ukraine is “activated” and will start shooting.
The conflict is an ongoing everyday matter. But there’s going to be an attempt at a large-scale offensive.
Currently APU are rotating to the front; new military equipment keeps on coming up. Hey, somebody, grab OSCE for an interview on the other side. Ask how they sleep there.
It is against this grim background that within a few days my journal got banned, FB banned Oleg Tsarev, Herman Sadulayev, Ivan Rakhmetov, Alan Mamiev, Dmitry Puchkov – seems completely irrelevant. But it does not seem random at all.
This is just a small part of a larger campaign, which is being prepared.
Not satisfied with the result, Facebook has gone further, and forbidden me correspondence: Everyone who writes to me here – I can not answer.
In Donetsk, gunfire is heard more and more often. On the other side – more than two hundred tanks. Tanks aren’t used for defense. Tanks are for offense.
From this side, too, there is something going on.
Yesterday, my favorite rap duo played in Donetsk. It was a stunning concert.
I saw Motorola, “Let’s go to the concert,” I say.
– No, – he says – I’m with my daughter.
Such news at the moment.
Nice Ukrainians. Dear people,
Your Poroshenko, the will of the Lord sent him, is intending to arrange another meatgrinder.
It’s going to end up as bad as all previous attempts. Thousands of people will die – your sons, Ukrainians.
Could you hang him without waiting for the all the funerals?
http://fortruss.blogspot.ca/2015/12/prilepin-dear-ukrainians-couldnt-you.html
I believe that the Russian airborne and AF will decimate any Ukie winter offensive.
Putin is indicating he is ready to annihilate the enemies of Russian people. He has suggested that Kiev obey Minsk 2. (Those are the silent warnings.)
Look at how Turkey cowers, how US airpower stays out of Syria, how Israel stays our of Syrian air space launching missiles from their planes at distance from the border.
It is not just the S 400s in Syria. It is the orders already given to use any weapon a Russian pilot or commander on the ground needs.
In the steppes of Donbass, frozen ground works in both directions.
The Ukies will face the local Army (militia) and will feel the “volunteers”, and will experience the wrath of a nation that has a lot of payback to issue.
Especially, most of the front line is Ukie volunteer units (read nazi). These units will be wiped out, which is Porky’s hope. They are the real threat to his longevity. He wants Donbass to be their grave.
The Poles and Lithuanians and British will bellow as their ‘students’ from Banderastan get destroyed. But none of them nor NATO will do a single thing.
If the offensive comes, justice will greet them.
Expect a demonstration of mobility and lethality by Russia. The message is for Brussels, Washington and a few other fascist and terrorist centers (like Ankara, Riyadh, Doha, Sirte).
And this time there will be no polite green men. They will be Spetsnaz in black. Because they will be coming in the dark of night.
People got so fed up with the government corruption in the Russian city of Barnaul, that they elected a cat for city mayor!
In an informal online poll, the residents of Barnaul have elected a cat to be their next mayor. The Siberian city of 650,000 people, which lies 2,900 km east of Moscow, is to get a new mayor next week when a commission comprising the city council and the regional governor choose from among six candidates. But none of the six appear to spark much affection among Barnaul’s residents, because in the online poll asking residents to express their preferences among the six and a Siamese cat named Barsik, the feline nabbed more than 90 percent of the vote. Barsik has attracted much amused attention in the Russian news media. Still, some local politicians understand there’s a more serious message coming from the people of Barnaul, which like many Russian cities has been riddled with alleged corruption.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAqXxnAqSd8
http://atimes.com/2015/12/russian-cat-wins-online-mayor-election/
Thank you from the bottom of my heart: Saker for making this extraordinarily in depth and penetrating documentary video available and to Auslander for your fine introduction to it.
Just finished ( after having stayed up most of the night) watching it, and am still shaken to the core and moist eyed due to it’s profoundly moving content. And particularly by it’s ending with Vladimir Putin simply saying in conclusion that his only wishes are for the “happiness” of the Crimean people.
When is the last time we’ve ever heard a political leader of one of the worlds nuclear superpowers conveying those kinds of humble words and intentions towards his own people and by implication towards all of humanity with any kind of genuine sincerity ever since the assassinated US president Kennedy?
Surely this extraordinarily impeccable Russian leader represents evidence of the personal embodiment of what Edgar Cassey once prophetically predicted back in the 1930d’s as “Russia being the hope of the world” manifesting herself today in present time.
Having in my lifetime dishearteningly witnessed so many the covert and overt invasions and genocidal destruction of a multitude of countries from Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, all the mutiple covert sabotage operations against the progressive resistance movements within central and South America (Grenada, Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chile just to name a few), And the first Gulf war (with it’s turkey shoot on the highway to hell and deaths of countless retreating lines of Iraqi troops from Kuwait) and then the disintegration and balkanization of the former socialist Yugoslavia, and since 911, starting with Afghanistan, then Iraq once again, Libya and now Ukraine and Syria with the entire Eastern Balkans, Middle East and the continent of Africa in flames as a result of US imperialism: it’s heartening to finaly see…
Crimea miraculously (bloodlessly) rescued from the very brink and repatriated back into the fold of Mother Russia. Russia herself reconstituting and rebuilding while holding her own against being undermined by the Evil double crossing an dealing Empire and her many backstabbing vassels while Syria is in the possess of being liberated all thanks to a remarkable man and his country that has the presence of mind and vision, “confidence” and courage to stand up for truth and justice against unmitigated tyranny.
What better material can an author or screen writer find for script to a Hero for an epic book or movie?
After seeing this documentary I’m convinced that Vladimir Putin is not only an unsung Hero but may yet make Russia into the Savior of the world.
With Gods help.
Addendum to my last post:
I forgot to mention in my last post the relevance I found in the answer Putin gave and the way he put to the interviewer as to whether the tensions sparked between the US and the RU during the Crimea reunification crises had caused any heightening of Russia’s nuclear response alert procedures?
IMHOP Putin’s response was actually meant to communicate yes indeed to the US even while he downplayed it by saying in essence no more or less than usual. What he actually means to communicate by that I believe is he’s indicating to the US in no uncertain terms that the bare minimum of readiness is already so high and close to launch preparedness that its not any higher than the max 5min to midnight alert that it’s been at since Bush walked out on the disarmament treaties, and put on the books US’s indention’s to launch a first strike at will.
With NATO missals having since 1990 completely surrounded Russia and the US/EU/NATO F-ing Russia around in the Ukraine now, it already at it’s worst.
Russia to any one that’s been paying any attention has been sending multi-pall clear singles (I won;t list them all here) that it’s ready and won’t back down from any kind of nuke threat. Particularly so since the shooting down of the Russian jet on Syria on the Turkish border with the US’s and NATO’s full backing.
I don’t think 99.99 % of people even remotely understand just how F-ing dangerously close we all are to a nuclear winter midnight, thanks to America’s hubris.
Just maybe Kerry’s and Nuland’s resent sudden visit to Moscow and their backtracking on Syria and Assad must go now, and no mention of Crimea must come back indicates someone in the pentagon or the “deep state” is finally getting the message, but don’t hold your breath on that one for too long.
Meanwhile Good night and Merry Christmas! And Best Wishes for the New Year! everyone!
With Gods Grace.
Dear Saker, thank you very much for the video. I enjoyed it!
About the one Ukrainian military unit in Crimea that the Russian armed forces were required to assault. It took me a while for the actual significance to sink in. The hold outs were Ukie Spetznaz that had been trained in seven (I think) different NATO countries. And the narrator stated that these men had been trained to perform attacks on civilian targets.
Your initial thought might be: “all that additional special training — hand to hand combat and use of many kinds of weapons. Very experienced light infantry especially adept at unusual combat missions against hostile military forces.”
Oh no! Not against military forces. These exotic specimens concentrate on the weak and the innocent. But it is by their fruits that ye shall know them.
Read David McGowan’s book “Programmed to Kill: the Politics of Serial Murder”. Warning: it is an extremely gruesome read. He describes how the US government trains men to become horrific monsters. The finished products are not simply assassins. They are programmed to produce scenes such that anyone who witnesses their work will be psychologically scarred for life.
My first thought was, “They should not have been left alive.” But then I realized that leaving them alive would probably be the cruelest fate for them. They are probably totally mind controlled, and may not be consciously aware of what they have done and what they have seen in training. But they are likely to be very messed up mentally. And total hell awaits them when they start to recover their memories.
The forces arrayed against us are not simply those of another political philosophy or another approach to economics. They are deeply knowledgeable about human psychology, and knowingly hide behind a wall of such horror that any normal person can not look at and, thus, cannot see them for what they are.
God bless and keep each and every one of you.