Merged Ukraine erupts in riots and general strike.

[spin0]

Stephan Cohen is well known as a Putin apologist,and often comes off like "Russia Today" using more intellectual language.

Yup, an accurate characterization of Cohen and his writings.

He was making the talk show circuit yesterday, putting all the blame on "The West" and handwaving away the idea that the peoples of the Ukraine and Georgia should determine their own destinies.

Didn't see his appeareances from yesterday but based on what I've previously seen he is terrible in talk shows harping the same 2-3 talking points over and over again without much listening never mind discussing. It's like listening to a party political commissar instead of an academic.

 

[trustbutverify]

Can't agree with the overall dismissal. The point being that Putin's reactions cannot be categorized as those of an evil villain caricature.

I agree with Cohen that Putin's reactions cannot be reduced to those of an evil villain, as is often the case in the US press. But his conspiracy theories concerning the Ukrainian rebellion, and his insistence that Obama attend Sochi to kiss the ring, since Putin's been so "helpful", are ridiculous. Putin's serious puritanical bend towards authoritarianism is stuffed into a corner, and this article reads like a presidential press release- just a lot better written. Cohen is a very smart guy, but he's been carrying too much water for way too long.

 

[Dcdrac]

What amazes me about some of the posts I have seen here is the ancient default position of the old extreme left, the West is automatically wrong, intellectually moribund then and now.

Putins regime is not exactly freedom loving and I would prefer fewer people were under its control than more.

 

[Ziggurat]

Heh.

 

[Childlike Empress]

+++ Citizens, we have to interrupt the program for an unscheduled Hour of Hate™. Enjoy and give a cold welcome to Vlad, the press conferencer... +++

 

[dudalb]

What amazes me about some of the posts I have seen here is the ancient default position of the old extreme left, the West is automatically wrong, intellectually moribund then and now.

Putins regime is not exactly freedom loving and I would prefer fewer people were under its control than more.

It's more important to the extreme left that somebody be "Anti Imperalist" and "Anti Capitalist" then that he be pro freedom.
Don't forget that in these guy's world view, the E.U, Nations almost all whom have moderately socialist forms of government,are controlled by the Evil Capitalists.

 

[Cleon]

What amazes me about some of the posts I have seen here is the ancient default position of the old extreme left, the West is automatically wrong, intellectually moribund then and now.

It's essentially "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" as applied to politics. Ludicrously oversimplistic.

 

[Travis]

Which is why Apple no longer exist.

Did Apple fire their risk assessment department when they disagreed with the CEO?

Because that happened at Lehman Brothers and Enron.

 

[Travis]

It's more important to the extreme left that somebody be "Anti Imperalist" and "Anti Capitalist" then that he be pro freedom.
Don't forget that in these guy's world view, the E.U, Nations almost all whom have moderately socialist forms of government,are controlled by the Evil Capitalists.

Except Russia is engaging in some pretty extreme imperialism here.

Basically they are just opposing whatever the USA seems to be in favor of. Pretty blatant too.

 

[spin0]

Seems that Americans are more keen to take decisive measures against the Russians than Western Europeans.

America has suspended military and economic ties with Russia. America is not one of Russia's top 5 trade partners, so it is doubtful that these sanctions will have a serious impact. If anything it will temporarily slow down the Russia economy, after which Russia's economy will pick back up.

Europe has merely condemned Russia and for now does not support economic sanctions being put on Russia. This is according to the article above.

More accurately: the EU hasn't yet decided on possible economic sanctions.

As I said earlier any relevant EU decisions will be made in the meeting of national leaders scheduled Thursday. ATM opinions of EU countries are divided on the issue. What has been already agreed upon is suspending the Visa-free regime negotiations with Russia etc, but any decisions on further measures will wait until Thursday and those will depend on Russia's actions.

And, I have to say I'm happy with the seemingly slow pace here. The situation calls for cool heads and not hasty reactionaries. Currently I don't see isolating Russia as a smart immediate step and measures such as economic sanctions should be kept at reserve - and make no mistake Putin knows that imposing them would hurt Russia hard.

Situation is still explosive but also some modestly positive developments were seen today:
+ Russia agreed to a meeting with NATO
+ Russia and Ukraine started minister level dialogue
+ For his press conference Putin had toned down the aggressive rhetorics, appeared like he might be ready to negotiate, saying he sees no need for using military power in Crimea, and that Russia is not aiming for annexing Crimea (which btw, I do believe as such annexation does not make sense).

- Putin also spouted some obvious ********, and it's not clear if he actually believes it or if its just propaganda for domestic consumption.

Currently maintaining contacts with Russia is of essence - not isolation. There's still good chances for a diplomatic solution without any armed conflic. Therefore if situation does not deteriorate until Thursday, I would not support economic sanctions and I think the EU national leaders will not either. But a lot depends on Russia's actions.

I think one of the important next steps is to have Russia agree to OSCE participation in Ukraine, especially in Crimea.

 

[spin0]

A fun to read assessment of Putin's appearance today: Putin's Press Conference Proved Merkel Right: He's Lost His Mind

I think this scenario is very plausible:

For the last few years, it has become something like conventional knowledge in Moscow journalistic circles that Putin was no longer getting good information, that he was surrounded by yes-men who created for him a parallel informational universe. "They're beginning to believe their own propaganda," Gleb Pavlovsky told me when I was in Moscow in December.
...
Today's performance, though, put all that speculation to rest. Merkel was absolutely right: Putin has lost it. Unfortunately, it makes him that much harder to deal with.

 

[spin0]

Posting this just as a reference: Ukraine chief rabbi accuses Russians of staging anti-Semitic ‘provocations’

 

[dudalb]

Hate to say it, but Anti Semitism has always played very well with a segement of the Russian populatation..the exact segment that is the most supportive of Putin.

 

[A'isha]

Wonder if they will report that she's perfectly entitled to voice her opinion on that - not the first time, and certainly not the last.

Russia censors RT news host’s blistering critique of Ukraine invasion

Russia Today host who criticised Kremlin sent to Crimea - Russian state-funded TV presenter in anti-Kremlin tirade sent to Crimea to get a 'better understanding' of situation on the ground

Guess they won't be reporting that any time soon.

 

[dudalb]

Hey, what can you expect from a TV Channel that has Alex Jones as one of it's main American correspondents?

 

[spin0]

This analysis of Russian propaganda made me both worried and laugh: YouTube is the Continuation of War by Other Means

Worried citizens in Russian TV discussing events that haven't taken place, for example in Odessa:

“We will be shot, we will be killed, they will kidnap our kids if we bring this petition here,” she cried. She said the alleged order would involve the “fascists” taking over local apartments and other buildings to use for soldier deployment and medical care. She said that the ultra-nationalists were allegedly going around armed on the outskirts of Odessa, threatening pensioners to confiscate their homes. She began weeping and said the pensioners gathered a ruble or two per person to help them make the bus trip and “ask for help from Sevastopol and from Russia.”

Apparently they are professional 'concerned citizens' as the same women seem to appear in the interviews as locals in Odessa, Kharkiv and Kyiv making colourful claims how Russians are allegdely persecuted by "fascists".

But they say nothing about Sudetenland.

 

[spin0]

Russia censors RT news host’s blistering critique of Ukraine invasion

Russia Today host who criticised Kremlin sent to Crimea - Russian state-funded TV presenter in anti-Kremlin tirade sent to Crimea to get a 'better understanding' of situation on the ground

Guess they won't be reporting that any time soon.

I was just about to point out that it's easy for her to show a random outburst of dissent as she hails from Washington DC, and now they send her to Crimea...

But this guy has courage to speak out in Russia: Interview: In Crimea, Putin Has 'Lost His Mind'
An interesting interview.

 

[dudalb]

The RT reporter being disciplined is getting an awful lot of publicity.
I think only the very gullible,and those who already have decided to support Putin take it seriously.
It a good example of how NOT to do Propaganda aimed at the uncoverted,in the words of Bart Simpson "Way Too Obvious, Dude".

 

[Ziggurat]

Russia censors RT news host’s blistering critique of Ukraine invasion

Russia Today host who criticised Kremlin sent to Crimea - Russian state-funded TV presenter in anti-Kremlin tirade sent to Crimea to get a 'better understanding' of situation on the ground

Guess they won't be reporting that any time soon.

From that second link:

Miss Martin however told the Telegraph: "I am not going to Crimea despite the statement RT has made."​

Either the station management is essentially trying to discredit her statements (she doesn't know what she's talking about, too cowardly to find out), or they're setting up grounds to fire her (she refused an assignment). Maybe a bit of both. But either way, she's not actually going to Crimea. Good on her, though, for speaking up despite knowing that it would piss in Putin's corn flakes.

 

[Childlike Empress]

Russia censors RT news host’s blistering critique of Ukraine invasion

Those knuckleheads could have an excuse for not knowing that Abby's shows are not published on the main RT youtube channel, but others haven't. The show is here on the RT website since after the first broadcast and if you click on my sig link you'll see that it's now also on her youtube channel.

Russia Today host who criticised Kremlin sent to Crimea - Russian state-funded TV presenter in anti-Kremlin tirade sent to Crimea to get a 'better understanding' of situation on the ground

Guess they won't be reporting that any time soon.

She refused the offer. Not only AP has hasty editors. Greenwald on the issue here.

Folks, click the link in my sig and watch a couple of shows BEFORE PUTIN DELETES THEM!!!!1 It's your patriotic duty! Stick it to him!