Russian troops moving closer to Ukraine border

[conservaphobe]

The United States is looking at the possibility that the military jets shot down Wednesday were fired on from the Russian side of the border, but had made no conclusions, U.S. officials said.

Some of the 12,000-15,000 Russian troop near the eastern Ukraine border have broken up into smaller groups and moved within five miles or less of the border, and some are even positioned right at the border, according to two U.S. officials.

The movement gives the Russian troops the ability to fire surface-to-air missiles, rockets and artillery from inside Russia at Ukrainian positions without having to acknowledge their own presence, the U.S. officials said.

At the same time, the Russians are continuing to reinforce and ship additional weapons into Ukraine "while the world's attention is on MH17," one U.S. official told CNN.

There is also intelligence indicating some rebels have left Ukraine and gone across the border into hiding inside Russia. But the officials said it's not known if any of those people were associated with the shoot-down of MH17.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/23/world/europe/ukraine-crisis/index.html

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. "Without having to acknowledge their own presence". Why would anyone want to be associated with....

the separtists or Putin, for that matter? He says what he thinks will help him PR wise, and does exactly the opposite.

[William769]

2. Exactly.

[Tarheel_Dem]

4. And the world is finally paying attention. Outside the BRIC countries, and a few apologists at DU..

his name is mud. This must really piss off the RT denizens, cause despite the propaganda, it's not working.

Putin’s antics have left much of the world against him, but he still has some surprising support

A Pew Research Center report on Russia's global image has just been released, and it might make for some sobering reading for Russians.

One man in particular might be dismayed at his international reputation. Of the 45 countries surveyed by Pew, just seven felt more confident than not that Russian President Vladimir Putin would "do the right thing" regarding world affairs.



From the view of an American or someone from Western Europe, the masses of negative feeling in this chart make total sense: Putin has taken over part of a neighboring country, propped up a Syrian dictator and generally been the face of the global fight against modern values. His status as a pariah in Madrid or New York City isn't exactly surprising.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/07/09/putins-antics-have-left-much-of-the-world-against-him-but-he-still-has-some-surprising-support

[William769]

5. I had not seen that, thatnks for posting it here.

[geek tragedy]

7. 12% in fellow BRIC member Brazil. nt

[Tarheel_Dem]

9. I found that interesting as well. Wonder how Dilma Rousseff feels about her recent photo op?

[geek tragedy]

10. Business is business I guess .

Brazil really doesn't fit in with the other 3.

[Tarheel_Dem]

11. Precisely. Under Putin, Russia has returned to a cave man mentality. Killing journalists, criminal-

izing an entire segment of their society for even mentioning that they might be LGBT? WTF? Brazil is much more liberal in such matters, and that makes me wonder why Greenwald hasn't taken this on as an issue. He has not shown the kind of solidarity that one might expect from someone who gets as much ink & airtime as he does.

[conservaphobe]

3. It's clearly a bunch of Ukrainians crossing the border undetected and pretending to be rebels

To help the neocons push for war against a nuclear Russia...

Or something like that.

The voices in Robert Parry's head told me, but I forgot to jot it all down.

[MohRokTah]

8. I REALLY hope Putin isn't stupid enough to swat the hornet's nest with a stick.

IF anything drags many nations into a Ukraine war, it will be Putin pulling this shit.