Tag: migrated 20211202

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s allegation of a foiled Russian coup attempt against him underscores the linked external and internal threats confronting Ukraine. The external threat is most visible in the approximately 114,000 troops Russia has massed on Ukraine’s borders because Russian President Vladimir Putin understands that his patrimonial autocracy cannot survive with an independent Westward-leaning Ukraine on its borders. Since empire is the historical corollary of Russian autocracy and are equally dependent on each other to survive, from Moscow’s standpoint Ukraine cannot be…

What to make of the military analysts who calmly list the reasons why the most serious war in Europe since 1945 might begin in January? The flat, muddy terrain of south-eastern Ukraine will be frozen solid by then, allowing Russian tanks to roll in. It is in the middle of the deployment cycle for the conscripts who make up much of Russia’s ground forces. And Russia may find itself with a pretext for invasion, since the new year has in the past brought front line flare-ups in Ukraine’s war against Russian-backed separatists. Besides, the 100,000 Russian troops massed near the border are more than mere theatre; Russia is setting up field hospitals and calling up its…

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Tuesday that the U.S.-led military organization must prepare for the worst as concern mounts that Russia could be preparing to invade Ukraine. NATO is worried about a Russian buildup of heavy equipment and troops near Ukraine’s northern border, not far from Belarus. Ukraine says Moscow kept about 90,000 troops in the area following massive war games in western Russia earlier this year, and could easily mobilize them. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last week that his country’s intelligence service had uncovered plans for a…

Speaking at a press conference following the meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated, “You know, just the question is reflecting something, which I think we should be very much aware of, that is not acceptable. And that is that Russia has a sphere of influence. They try to re-establish some kind of acceptance that Russia has the right to control what neighbours do, or not do. And that’s the kind of world we don’t want to return to, where big powers had a say, or a kind of right, to put limitations of what sovereign, independent nations can do. I, myself, I’m coming from a small country bordering Russia. And I’m very glad that our NATO Allies have never respected that Russia has the kind of right to establish a…

Axios reported, “The Biden administration, House and Senate Democrats and even the German government have been engaged in a multi-pronged effort to stop Congress from imposing mandatory sanctions on a Kremlin-backed natural gas pipeline. President Biden’s decision to let Nord Stream 2 proceed has put his allies in an uncomfortable bind. Republicans have already blocked dozens of Biden’s foreign-policy nominees, and the dispute threatened to derail an annual defense bill passed by Congress every year for six decades. Democrats and Republicans have for years opposed Nord Stream 2, which would…

Britain’s foreign secretary has joined a last-minute push to urge Nato allies to block the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, warning that Moscow would exploit its position if European nations became reliant on it for energy. Liz Truss, at her first Nato foreign ministers meeting in Riga, also warned that Russia would be making a strategic mistake if it invaded Ukraine, promising an economic and diplomatic response by Nato. The UK has been at the forefront of Nato countries, along with Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic states, to question the wisdom of the pipeline, which will take gas from Russia to Europe through the…

Вся історія відносин між Москвою та Україною на протязі більше як 250 літ, з моменту злуки цих двох держав є планомірне, безоглядне, безсоромне, нахабне нищення української нації всякими способами, вщерть до стертя всякого сліду її, щоб навіть імени її не лишилось….І здавалось, така політика мала успіх…Лишився сам народ, без панства, без літератури, без школи, безграмотний, знесилений, оплутаний законами й державними апаратами визиску. Він уже забув свою історію, свою колишню боротьбу за соціальне й національне визволення… Здавалось, зроблено було все чисто: закопано, засипано, землю на могилі вглажено й пісочком присипано…Отже, ніби…

The Biden administration’s decision to waive sanctions on a Russian-built pipeline in Europe keeps hitting close to home. The move to let the pipeline go forward, which drew bipartisan criticism at the time, not only kicked off the Republican-led blockade of President Joe Biden’s foreign-policy nominees — now it’s imperiling passage of the annual defense policy bill, typically a bipartisan affair that’s become law each year for six decades. GOP senators have resorted to hardball tactics to force the administration to implement sanctions on the Russia-to-Germany natural gas line, known as Nord Stream 2. Republicans have slow-walked confirmation of…

When Russia wanted the US to sit up and take notice last April it sent tanks towards the Ukrainian border. The show of force worked: President Joe Biden called Russia’s Vladimir Putin and in June the two men met in Geneva. But whatever they agreed about Ukraine at their summit, something has since gone awry. In recent weeks, Russian tanks have been moving west towards Ukraine once again, prompting fresh, even starker warnings from US intelligence circles that a cross-border offensive could be on the cards. This build-up of Russian forces was spotted some 300km (185 miles) from Ukraine Moscow insists that’s “anti-Russian” hysteria, and…

The White House is reviewing options to deter a feared Russian invasion of Ukraine, including providing more military aid to Kyiv and threatening sanctions, to dissuade Russian President Vladimir Putin from escalating the simmering conflict into a full-blown transatlantic crisis. The deliberations come as President Biden and his aides prepare for a virtual call with Putin next month, a moment that analysts see as an opportunity to signal the costs of an invasion to the Kremlin but also present a path for reducing tension. Amid spiking U.S. concern over unusual movements by Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, Secretary of State Antony Blinken embarked…