Putin’s Lies & Hallucinations


Putin’s premeditated assault against civilization is the gravest crisis since 1938, the year when Hitler tipped so deep psychologically into the Darkest Side, that Hitler could not come back. Aside from this, Putin’s psycho crisis is fascinating as it demonstrates how entire populations become seized with madness from following a maddened chimp (and how belief systems work in general).

So I hope my readers forgive me to insist a bit on what looks increasingly as the beginning of WWIII (mark my words!) Today Russian forces, using grenades, captured an Ukrainian frigate. The Ukrainians are stalling for time, aware as they are, that Putin does not want to allow them to prepare for the all-out war he obviously long planned, and for whom no one, but for him and his thugs, is ready.  Get Your “What Would Hitler Do?” Bracelet

WAR! Putin Speaks Like Hitler

WAR! Putin Speaks Like Hitler (translation from Polish).

In war, it’s most important to choose the place and time of one’s battle. Putin quadrupled Russia’s military budget, for years, and then struck, as he could not resist anymore the temptation of showing his muscles. I will deconstruct here more of Putin’s lies and hallucinations, from the major discourse he gave March 17, 2014, in which he does not hide his ambition to recover what he calls the “big country”. Starting with the invasion of Ukraine (which he claims he got the authorization to proceed with, see below in his own words).

The big problem for the rest of the world is that the “big country”, the USSR, not satisfied with terrorizing 145 million Russians, also directly terrorized more than 155 million NON Russian people (the USSR was 300 million, Russia is not even half of that, only 145 million), and the USSR also subjugated another 100 million in Eastern Europe. Relative to that, Hitler’s dream of rebuilding a “Great Kingdom” (“Grosse Reich”) was puny.

Let me say in passing that my critique of the Soviet Union was always from the left, and the more progressive point of view. From that admittedly advanced perspective, Stalin was the Twentieth Century’s greatest capitalist (he commanded the greatest capital, including millions of slaves). Stalin was also addicted to the sort of behaviors that used to be associated, for millennia, to the Devil (making him a first class plutocrat).

In the preceding essay, Kill Tatars, Own Crimea, we have seen Crimea has been made into Mother Russia through a recent holocaust. Let’s go back to Putin’s discourse this week and what he calls with spite the “sovereignty parade”. (I use the official translation of the Kremlin.)

Sovereignty Parade? This means that the independence of nations, an idea Gorbatchev respected, is for Putin a flaw. Moreover, these nations are not just nations. They often have their own languages, have their own civilizations, and are sometimes 3,000 years old (example: Armenia).

Ukraine, in particular, is more than twice older than Russia. Duration over greater eons entails greater wisdom. Russian tyrannical military expansionism is reminiscent of ancient Assyria. (That did not end very well for Assyria, as world coalition annihilated it.)

Putin: “I would like to share with you some details of the negotiations that took place in the early 2000s…Russia SEEMED to have recognised Crimea as part of Ukraine… by agreeing to delimit the border we admitted de facto and de jure that Crimea was Ukrainian territory

[Tyranosopher: But the Russian leadership is a bunch of lying snakes, so that it “SEEMED to have recognized de facto and de jure” is nothing, but lies. Putin goes on, justifying his lying ways by inventing a cruel victimization Russians, those great invaders, are subjected to, in a way identical to the victimization of Germans Hitler had invented to justify his annexations and invasions:]

Putin: However, this is not how the situation developed. Time and time again attempts were made to deprive Russians of their historical memory, even of their language and to subject them to forced assimilation. Moreover, Russians, just as other citizens of Ukraine are suffering from the constant political and state crisis that has been rocking the country for over 20 years. 

I understand why Ukrainian people wanted change. They have had enough of the authorities in power during the years of Ukraine’s independence. Presidents, prime ministers and parliamentarians changed, but their attitude to the country and its people remained the same. They milked the country, fought among themselves for power, assets and cash flows and did not care much about the ordinary people…

[Tyranosopher: One can observe the exact same “milking of the country” in Russia, except that it’s much more orderly, as Russia is a dictatorship, not just a plutocracy. Moscow is the city in the world with the most billionaires. “Forced Assimilation” happened nowhere: Russian colonizers were allowed to stay wherever they had colonized, such as the Baltic nations.]

Putin: However, those who stood behind the latest events in Ukraine had a different agenda: they were preparing yet another government takeover; they wanted to seize power and would stop short of nothing. They resorted to terror, murder and riots. Nationalists, neo-Nazis, Russophobes and anti-Semites executed this coup

[Tyranosopher: Here Putin is lying big time: there was NO coup in Ukraine whatsoever; let alone by “neo-Nazis”; the deposition of the president was fully constitutional, and Putin knows this. That means the sort of regime he heads can afford giant lies. That means his opposition has been completely muzzled, and also that the propaganda is so thick in Russia that the so called president can murder the truth in peace. Notice also that he implicitly identifies “nationalism” and “neo-Nazism” by putting them in the same litany of horror.]

Putin: “They continue to set the tone in Ukraine to this day.

It is also obvious that there is no legitimate executive authority in Ukraine now, nobody to talk to. Many government agencies have been taken over by the impostors, but they do not have any control in the country, while they themselves – and I would like to stress this – are often controlled by radicals…

[Tyranosopher: The same lie again. Actually the executive authorities in Ukraine are fully legitimate. Putin claiming he had “nobody to talk to” is beyond grotesque.] 

Putin: “Those who opposed the coup were immediately threatened with repression. Naturally, the first in line here was Crimea, the Russian-speaking Crimea. In view of this, the residents of Crimea and Sevastopol turned to Russia for help in defending their rights and lives, in preventing the events that were unfolding and are still underway in Kiev, Donetsk, Kharkov and other Ukrainian cities.”

[Tyranosopher: “Preventing the events”? So they had not happened yet, according to Putin? Putin admits, in his stupidity, to a pre-emptive strike.] 

Putin: “Naturally, we could not leave this plea unheeded; we could not abandon Crimea and its residents in distress. This would have been betrayal on our part. 

First, we had to help create conditions so that the residents of Crimea for the first time in history were able to peacefully express their free will regarding their own future. However, what do we hear from our colleagues in Western Europe and North America? They say we are violating norms of international law.  Firstly, it’s a good thing that they at least remember that there exists such a thing as international law – better late than never.

[Tyranosopher: Ukraine had a seat at the United Nations for 65 years, and has been fully independent since 1991, and has existed as a nation for well above 11 centuries, about twice longer than Russia. Putin just invaded it, in complete violation of International Law, and is flippant about it.

By the way, using soldiers without national identification and identifying marks, the way Putin does, is against International Law.]

Putin: “They did not wonder why it was that millions of Ukrainian citizens saw no prospects at home and went to other countries to work as day labourers. I would like to stress this: it was not some Silicon Valley they fled to, but to become day labourers…

Secondly, and most importantly – what exactly are we violating? True, the President of the Russian Federation received permission from the Upper House of Parliament to use the Armed Forces in Ukraine.  However, strictly speaking, nobody has acted on this permission yet.  Russia’s Armed Forces NEVER entered Crimea…”

[Tyranosopher: Another huge lie. That’s why Putin’s soldiers are invading without marking. Notice that Putin considers he has permission to use Armed Forces in Ukraine. One could not be clearer: Putin intends to attack Ukraine.]

Crimean authorities referred to the well-known Kosovo precedent – a precedent our western colleagues created with their own hands in a very similar situation, when they agreed that the unilateral separation of Kosovo from Serbia, exactly what Crimea is doing now, was legitimate and did not require any permission from the country’s central authorities. Pursuant to Article 2, Chapter 1 of the United Nations Charter, the UN International Court agreed with this approach and made the following comment in its ruling of July 22, 2010, and I quote: “No general prohibition may be inferred from the practice of the Security Council with regard to declarations of independence,” and “General international law contains no prohibition on declarations of independence.” Crystal clear, as they say…. 

[Tyranosopher: What’s crystal clear is that Crimea was ANNEXED by Moscow. The situation of Kosovo is completely different. First of all, Kosovo is independent.]

Ironically “If authorities in Moscow demand that Crimea join Russia, Tirana [Albania’s capital] and Pristina [Kosovo’s capital] should demand the same for Presevo valley,” Jonuz Musliu, head of Bujanovac Municipality, was quoted as saying by Serbian radio B92 and CROSS news agency. Presevo valley, as well as all South Serbian municipalities, Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja, are populated mainly by ethnic Albanians, who form a 90% majority. Crimea is only 60% made of ethnic Russians, and they came in after holocausts and ethnic cleansing directed from the Kremlin. Notice that Putin considers Western Europe his business.]

Putin: “if the Crimean local self-defence units had not taken the situation under control, there could have been casualties as well. Fortunately this did not happen. There was not a single armed confrontation in Crimea and no casualties…

[Tyranosopher: By self defense units, Putin means his thugs.] 

Putin: “They keep talking of some Russian intervention in Crimea, some sort of aggression. This is strange to hear. I cannot recall a single case in history of an intervention without a single shot being fired and with no human casualties.

[Tyranosopher: Hitler said the same in 1938. And it was true. However this time, the invading dictator, Putin, is lying: there are several dead so far, including an Ukrainian officer…] 

Putin: “Colleagues,

Like a mirror, the situation in Ukraine reflects what is going on and what has been happening in the world over the past several decades. After the dissolution of bipolarity on the planet, we no longer have stability. Key international institutions are not getting any stronger; on the contrary, in many cases, they are sadly degrading. Our western partners, led by the United States of America, prefer not to be guided by international law in their practical policies, but by the rule of the gun. They have come to believe in their exclusivity and exceptionalism, that they can decide the destinies of the world, that only they can ever be right. They act as they please: here and there, they use force against sovereign states, building coalitions based on the principle “If you are not with us, you are against us.” To make this aggression look legitimate, they force the necessary resolutions from international organisations, and if for some reason this does not work, they simply ignore the UN Security Council and the UN overall. 

This happened in Yugoslavia; we remember 1999 very well. It was hard to believe, even seeing it with my own eyes, that at the end of the 20th century, one of Europe’s capitals, Belgrade, was under missile attack for several weeks, and then came the real intervention. Was there a UN Security Council resolution on this matter, allowing for these actions? Nothing of the sort. And then, they hit Afghanistan, Iraq, and frankly violated the UN Security Council resolution on Libya, when instead of imposing the so-called no-fly zone over it they started bombing it too…” 

Tyranosopher: More of Putin’s lies. In Libya, the UNSC authorization was for force as needed to protect the civilian population. The French had made no mystery that they intended to do so. After the French had fought on and off Qaddafi for decades all over Africa, using the heaviest weaponry, and nearly having killed the Libyan mass murderer one in an air strike in Chad (which Qaddafi had invaded), it was clear that they were going to use the UNSC’s check to strike. They did so, without asking the USA for authorization.

Serbia, at the time of Putin’s indignation was under Milankovitch’s dictatorship. The Serbian dictator was later arrested, by the Serbs, for war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and sent to the International Criminal Court in La Hague, where he died.

And that’s where Putin is going too. Lest he dies first.

Patrice Aymé

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27 Responses to “Putin’s Lies & Hallucinations”

  1. Paul de Foucaud Says:

    Poutine représente à ce jour en Russie l’époque des Tsars et il en a acquis de par sa personnalité un titre qui fait notablement défaut en France en regard de la politique lamentable qui y est conduite comme un spectacle lamentable actuellement.
    De ce fait il jouit d’une aura notable en Russie et fait ainsi des russophiles.
    Les USA et le NATO, pour essayer de survivre s’enferment dans un concept de guerre froide qui est une ineptie de nos jours.
    Poutine avance ses pions pour aller à dame avec au moins 3 coups d’avance
    Je pense que de ce point de vue Charles de Gaule avait tout compris.
    Nous avons en France besoin d’un chef de cette pointure qui reste encore à trouver.
    Pour l’instant nous avons un Trodsquiste à la une, qui détruit Napoléon pour se rendre intéressant.
    Nous n’avons rien compris au film.
    Le Tsar à plusieurs coups d’avance aux échecs et nous ne sommes que des benêts !

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    • Patrice Ayme Says:

      With all due respect, il me semble que vous faites l’apologie des Czars. That is, of the barbarity of the Czars. The Great Catherine drew and quartered her enemies on Red Square, and killed her husband, among other exploits. If we had left the world to her and other Czars, slavery would be an essential part of the economy.

      Hitler too was three strikes ahead, until France and Britain declared war.
      PA

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      • Paul de Foucaud Says:

        Things are changing nowadays,
        Just understand that,
        Old pictures are sometimes usefull and as well often unusefull.
        Purtin is in the right way now
        Yours.

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  2. Patrice Ayme Says:

    Paul: How is Putin right? By being willing to enslave Eastern Europe?

    You may think it’s OK. In other words, World War Three is OK. At least that will demonstrate the F35 does not work…

    But, aside from that rather technical point, I do not see the advantage…
    PA

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  3. Patrice Ayme Says:

    On Napoleon, by the way, I think that most revered dictator was a piece of trash, disastrous for France, Europe, and the world.

    But I must admit that Napoleon obviously inspires Purin. I mean, Putin. Interessant lapsus Freudien…

    [“Purin” is the natural fertilizer used in farms for centuries, it’s a mix of straw and excrements.]
    PA

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    • Paul de Foucaud Says:

      I think you are a pure socialist now.

      Like

    • gmax Says:

      Napoleon was a butcher, an assassin, and a very small mind, who died as he deserved, lonely and uncomprehending. He should have stayed a captain.

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      • Paul de Foucaud Says:

        Stop combat !
        Whatever your advice about N the first,
        we had in Ftance a great man far from those we have today at home.
        Do you want to kill as well Charles le Magnus, Saint Louis and others ?
        I fully d’ont agree with you in every point on that topic.
        With this way of thinking, look where we are today !
        So long.

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        • Patrice Ayme Says:

          Mon cher Paul: So you make a cult of all so called “great men”? Well not so for me. Napoleon, Saint Louis, Hitler and Lenin are pretty much in the same basket. They all ruined Europe because of their aggressive madness to own all decisions and

          I certainly want to kill and totally eradicate the good name of Saint Louis, who was a total piece of Nazi trash. I mean anti-Judaist and anti-atheist trash. The only good thing Saint Louis did was to build the Sainte Chapelle in an amazingly short time. Otherwise France was ruined paying ransom for this worthless hater (who got the entire French army he commanded annihilated in Egypt… by a woman, or so.

          Carlus Magnus, Charlemagne, although the greatest warrior in the history of France, was a also very great leader. I have a whole list of great European leaders. The much decried Louis XI is an example of great man… And Louis XI created the Post Office (Napoleon created nothing good. Or was giving the Legion d’Honneur to Hollywood cuties good?)

          Charlemagne was the exact opposite of Saint Louis in most dimensions. Charlemagne expanded civilization in all ways (although he invented mass deportations, that was better than the alternative, mass extermination). Saint Louis shrank it in nearly all ways. Except for letting his mom govern for the many years he spent destroying his own armies overseas.

          In his stupidity, racism and fanaticism, Saint Louis rejected the existing alliance with the Mongols (which, if pursued a bit more would have eradicated Islam, supposedly Saint Louis’ objective).
          PA

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  4. Patrice Ayme Says:

    Paul: Napoleon lost the natural borders of France that the Revolution had recovered, he got more than two million Frenchmen killed, and brought back the ancient regime throughout Europe, including France…

    And to be against that Putin like dictatorship by a Corsican bandit is to be a socialist?
    Wow. (And this above is just a partial list)

    Le Comte Ayme de Brunet d’Ambiallet, fort amuse’, vous salue bien… ;-)!
    PA

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    • Paul de Foucaud Says:

      Ok,
      and then he maid a lot of instiuational things alway avaliable today.
      What about L. Jospin : fired…

      Like

  5. Casimir Weston Says:

    The lands that are Russia contain much of the Earths’ wealth,coal,oil,Gas,diamonds metals, timber,water…it has not been plundered by the West yet….would you prefer it were plundered sooner?

    Many of you would prefer to see russia dismantled & sold -off…I would prefer it to remain autonomous & isolated as a tribe in the Amazon

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    • Alexi Helligar Says:

      Casimir, are you trying to make a country with intercontinental missiles and a bloody aggressive history out to be a victim? If you are, I suggest you drop the mentality of victimization. It helps no one.
      Yes, the West is dismantling the largest single country on Earth. There is no evidence that I can detect to support your saying.
      Casimir you need to define your terms. What is the West? What does it mean for a country to be dismantled. Your comments have no historical basis.

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  6. Dominique Deux Says:

    Steering clear from the Napoleon ruckus, I’m merely wondering why nobody seems to mention what should be next (urgently) on the menu: integrating Ukraine into NATO. Will make the bear roar, but also… think. And it would give back to NATO the legitimacy it squandered serving as low-cost Blackwater mercs in US imperial capers.

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    • Patrice Ayme Says:

      Well today Ukraine was to be given associated status to the EU. NATO exercises have happened in July before. What Ukraine needs now is advanced weaponry, and not next week, but like NOW!

      Putin released some pressure today, but it’s just a trick as he recovers his bearings, and prepares the next strike. I have actually fought bears more than once, and that’s exactly how they go at it: if they see stones coming their way, they back off, and then grumble in the distance, and sneak right back in the hope of making the potential prey run away. I have been mocked (???) charged at least thrice and held my ground with weapons, so the furious beast deviated at the last moment…

      Treacherous imbeciles from the pseudo-left do not see that the do-nothing attitude they preach is GUARANTEED to bring a World War. Punching the unpredictable Putin right back will bring peace.
      PA

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  7. Patrice Ayme Says:

    [Sent to NYT Cohen; generally the NYT censors my comments, although strangely similar editorials happen later!]

    I deconstructed in even much more detail in two essays over 4,000 words on my site the discourse of Putin in front of all his accomplices and Duma members, this week.

    Should the West not employ force now to stop Putin, it will have to be used later, in much greater amounts. Putin, indeed makes clear he wants to recover what he calls the “Big Country”.
    That consisted in little more than 100 million ethnic Russians subjugating 300 million “Soviets” and 100 million in Europe west of the USSR proper.

    The Tatars, Greeks, Armenians, were thrown out of Crimea in a holocaust as recent (1944) and nearly as thorough as that of the Jews. Except that Stalin had people in trains for weeks. Trains would stop over bridges, and bodies would be thrown in the water below. No messy extermination camps that way.

    Calling Roger Cohen a “hawk” for just exposing the truth is tantamount to embracing barbarity and infamy.

    That weapons have to be sent to Kiev right away is obvious. Otherwise we will repeat 1938 (Google “Patrice Ayme 1938” for an extensive analysis of the analogy between 1938 and 2014).

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  8. kevishaw Says:

    “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” (Santayana), this quote is what I see in reading your blog every week. It’s not that the opinions within are simply about the day’s immediate news of politics, capitalism and philosophy. If anyone would be an informed reader, they will see the history lessons in front of them, taught well in simple terms – that our world is about the Plutocrats, their Moods, the Will to Extermination, and understanding the Dark Side. Regardless of whose side you’re on.
    I, too, represent a sandwich generation, between WWII and GW Bush worlds (cowboy presidents, indeed). I have made my way to the Left Coast in USA, and speak with friends about how the US Constitution was enriched by the words and deeds of the French who were also fighting for liberty in the late 1700’s – and how it is all the more important for us to realize this today. But am often greeted with sneers or blank stares. The worst comes from within my own family.
    Some readers may disagree with your observations from time to time. For those who pay attention, however, they may find you are not here to argue, but instead, to help give an intelligent prediction to what may happen next. As to observe the Moods of Plutocrats gives us, in essence, a rare ability to predict the global weather, or global war, which may follow. I find that your observations are remarkably correct, every time.
    Good will, sir. And please keep writing.

    Like

    • Patrice Ayme Says:

      Thank you Kevi(n?)! I appreciate very much. I also have a family problem of a very similar type on the same Left Coast. Not that “Left” actually… In my spouse’s numerous family, many see me as an unpredictable nightmare, all the more as they understand nothing that I am talking about. Interestingly, my more philosophical approach makes me more dependable family wise (whereas many of those who refuse philosophy ends with much more divorces and, or, family drama).

      The plutocratic phenomenon is the cancer of civilization. Like the biological thing, the genetics always vary. Making treatment difficult. But it will kill humanity, if not cured.
      So thanks for your encouragement!
      I need it, as the worthies at the NYT censor me, and then come out with articles remarkably similar to what I sent before… ;-)! In a way it’s good, because (some of) the ideas spread, but it’s seriously infuriating.
      PA

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  9. Alexi Helligar Says:

    Casimir have a look at this:

    http://loiter.co/v/watch-as-1000years-of-european-boarders-change/

    Like

  10. Andy Outis Says:

    You’re gonna love this:

    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/03/larry-pages-charity-problem.html

    Like

    • Patrice Ayme Says:

      Travelling now, thanks, Andy. I will look at that very carefully. Inasmuch as I love Silicon Valley’s creators (I am myself on its fringe), I despise Silicon Valley’s plutocrats. I mean the real big ones.

      You are my official New York Intelligence service. There is actually a class action lawsuit by 64,000 (!!) Silicon engineers against the Silicon plutocrats. For thievery.
      PA

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    • red Says:

      FWIW i agree with Page’s view. Though, a balance is needed like every thing else.

      I recall P Ayme arguing for nuclear fusion R&D over feeding poor people. How do we get best human-species-bang-for-the-buck.
      Oftentimes, the productivity increases some of these R&D (the kind Page is referring to) brings are game changers. They have exponential forward benefits too. This would actually result in more philanthropy than traditional methods.

      Like

      • Patrice Ayme Says:

        “I recall P Ayme arguing for nuclear fusion R&D over feeding poor people.” Wow. I am building an interesting aura here! It’s rather like arguing for fusion R & D over feeding idiotic ideas. Presenting choices we do not have, I argue against: it’s not fusion R & D versus feeding babies. That choice is not about some bifurcation that presents itself, and we have to chose one path, or the other.

        There is no such bifurcation.

        In truth one can argue for the plutocratic empire we have now over feeding poor people.
        Fusion R & D lives in a different universe.

        How do I know this? French researchers have established that the capability presently exists to feed 12 billion people (Dominique Deux will know more about this!). In any case, existing food production is plenty enough to feed everybody well.

        So what’s wrong? Combat laser production, the will and capability to zap all the bad guys who prevent feeding the poor. But guess what? They are in power, here and there, dwarf Putin an example.

        This being said, I have no read Page’s view…
        Yet…
        PA

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  11. Andy Outis Says:

    Isn’t there a federal investigation into collusion amongst the big tech companies where they had an informal understanding not to recruit each others’ engineers and devs?

    Like

    • Patrice Ayme Says:

      Andy: I don’t know where the Fed collusion investigation is at. Obama is no Teddy Roosevelt, he has Pluto Cult Mania (a form of Cargo Cult). The class action suit involves some of that.

      It’s because so many of these guys (self described “leaders”) have Pluto Cult Mania, that they did not see Putin’s Mania coming.
      PA

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  12. MassPathFinder Says:

    Mr Aymes, an strange idea appears in my mind when I see what happen in Ukraine : what do you think about it. I think about something like a test for Russia from altlantic (I don’t say US!!) country. I explain : years ago (from Putin rise), Russia try to restore their ancient dream of « super puissance » (I don’t think they never been a « super puissance ». The possibility of ruining the world with nuclear weapon isn’t enough to become a « super puissance ») And I think that the same story will happen : Oh, yes, you are so powerful !! So, let’s see what you can ! Spend all your time, money, credibility by showing us your muscles. And as long as you can.
    For me they are following the way that they follow in the 60’s/70’s and this dramatic game will give the same results : bankrupt.
    And this minding is also good for plutocrat leader : they will be more powerfull at the end.
    And everybody will thanks them for saving our « free world ».
    But there is a good news : in future children would have light History book. We gone see : « 2014 : re-read Cold War lesson ».

    Like

  13. Gmax Says:

    ATHENS, Greece April 5, 2014 (AP)
    By DEMETRIS NELLAS Associated Press
    Associated Press
    EU foreign ministers stressed the need Saturday for Russia to defuse tensions with Ukraine following a two-day informal meeting that ended with leaders insisting that all options remain on the table — including further sanctions.

    Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt stressed the need for resolve in dealing with Moscow after it annexed the Crimean Peninsula in March — arguing that Russia had deviated from accepted norms. Unity among the 28 member states was critical.

    “We should be very firm on international law and the rules that must apply,” he said.

    Bildt took it a step further, underscoring Western unease with the Crimean referendum, which was called just two weeks after Russian forces had overtaken the Ukrainian region. Ukraine and the West have rejected the vote and the annexation.

    Bildt, who served as a mediator in the Balkan conflict, said that outsiders must start thinking about Russia’s motives in the complex interplay of faith and power.

    “We are having a profound debate on what is the nature of Russia … I think it’s pretty clear that Russia has changed in the last few years,” he told reporters outside the session in Greece. “There is a new political mentality, at least from the Kremlin. They are intending to build up… an Orthodox bastion against the West.”

    Referring to a public rally last month in which Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke in front of a banner reading “Crimea is in my heart,” Bildt said, “You have to ask yourself, what else is in his heart?”

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What do you think? Please join the debate! The simplest questions are often the deepest!