Ukraine foreign minister calls on NATO, EU to give military support

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin called on NATO and the European Union to provide military support for Ukrainian troops fighting pro-Russian separatists and said the Western military alliance needed to come up with a new strategy towards Kiev.

The four-month conflict in eastern Ukraine has reached a critical phase and a separatist leader said on Saturday that Ukrainian rebels were receiving new military equipment and troops trained in Russia, and would launch a major counter-offensive against government forces.

Klimkin told German radio station Deutschlandfunk the EU and NATO needed to consider what they could and would do if rules get broken, adding that this was the case when Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in March and was also true of Russia's actions in Donetsk and Luhansk now.

"It's a really tough question for the European Union and NATO: What can they do if a war is practically ... being mongered in Europe by a European country?" he said according to a transcript of the interview due to be broadcast on Sunday.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/08/16/uk-ukraine-crisis-klimkin-idUKKBN0GG0HW20140816

[joshcryer]

1. Ain't going to happen.

Could show that Ukraine is stale mating or possibly losing now despite the impressive gains by the Ukrainian army. Just lost another jet today.

Russia needs to stop meddling but I guess they're just taking after the US really and this so far is a low level type of hardware / trainers conflict. More like the US's meddling in South America in the 80s. But we know how that works out in the end.

[happyslug]

43. "stale mating" I just love spell checks, I do a lot of "Doe snot" instead of "Does not".

Ode to the Spell Checker:

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

[another_liberal]

2. "And it's one, two, three! What are we fighting for?"

Last edited Sun Aug 17, 2014, 09:26 AM - Edit history (1)

"Don't tell me, I don't give a damn!"

So, we're off to war in Ukraine. Looks like the World might just end with a "BANG!" and not with a whimper after all.

[7962]

3. I guess we can just sit by and let Putin take another country. Wont affect us, right?

Wrong.

[another_liberal]

4. Seriously now . . .

You actually want to see the U. S. and NATO go to war with the Russian Federation?

Seriously now?

[7962]

16. They're asking for help, not our troops.

You seriously want to let Russia go unchecked in their quest to re-invent the old Soviet Union? Because thats their goal.

[another_liberal]

20. Actually . . .

Pardon me for the correction, but actually the Ukrainian Minister was asking for troops, NATO troops to be precise.

[7962]

26. Not according to the article in the OP. But the rebels are getting troops from Russia.

""Asked if he was appealing to the EU and NATO for military aid, Klimkin said: "Yes of course. We need military aid because if we got such aid, it would be easier for our troops on the ground to act."

He said Ukraine faced a tough situation economically and financially so needed help now but would later repay this aid. Alongside direct aid, the country also needed the EU to help it implement reforms, Klimkin said."

Other articles say pretty much the same; i.e. Newsweek, Economic times. In none of them does he ask for troops.

[another_liberal]

28. Oh, they want lots of money too, never doubt that!

But what the Foreign Minister was primarily asking for was actual military aid: airstrikes and troops, tanks and cruise missiles, stuff like that.

Luckily, I think he was disappointed.

[7962]

29. Oh of course he wants money! But he has not asked for troops in any article I've seen

Do you have a link to an article showing he has?

[another_liberal]

30. You won't see that article until the West is ready to grant his request . . .

Then that will be all you'll see, twenty-four-seven.

[7962]

31. Oh, so there ISNT one! Just like I said,he hasnt asked for troops.

They're not even asking to belong to NATO because they know the public is not supportive enough of it. And NATO isnt going to give them troops either. So far they're not even giving them any real military assistance. However, some of the other countries Putin wants ARE NATO members. We'll have to see what happens when he starts to move on those countries. To protect innocent Russians, of course!

[another_liberal]

32. Is Afghanistan a part of NATO?

NATO certainly got involved there.

[7962]

33. At our request, another NATO member. And many were being threatened by AQ also.

But Ukraine is not a member. And while Russia is a threat they are not like AQ.

[another_liberal]

34. Rationalization is . . .

The favorite tool of apologists for wars of imperialistic hegemony, as it has been down through the ages.

(sigh)

[7962]

38. And yet you still support Putin! His picture is next to "hegemony" in the dictionary.

Ukraine is no threat to peace & stability in Europe or Russia. Try to say the same about Russia.

[elias49]

39. Bwahahaha! Russia the world's hegemon?

You can't be serious! That title belongs to the USA. Are you proud?

[another_liberal]

41. That's why Russia's called, "The World's only Super Power" . . .

No, . . . wait. That's what the United States is called, isn't it?

Maybe you've actually got the wrong hegemon?

[another_liberal]

42. Russia isn't a threat to Europe, not yet anyway . . .

Keep pushing the borders of NATO eastward, though, and eventually one might have to rethink everything in that regard.

[7962]

45. I dont know how much closer you can get than Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania.

[another_liberal]

46. There's always Armenia . . .

And, of course, Ukraine.

[daleo]

6. Or we could fight World War Three

That would certainly affect us. But what's a nuclear war compared to making sure our oligarchs remain richer than their oligarchs?

[another_liberal]

9. Well said!

Touche'

[ballyhoo]

7. We will be affected whether Russia takes another country or not. Once

BRICS makes SWIFT redundant, change will come slowly, but surely.

[rhett o rick]

18. If you have an opinion, please state it. These cutesy questions are absurd. nm

[KoKo]

5. Seems to be going along to Neocon plan...

They are just "asking" NATO for help... Opening that door which is a challenge to Putin. His Red Line is that there be no further NATO states on Russia's border.

[ballyhoo]

8. Putin's Red Line that you just mentioned will not fade as

did Obama's red line in Syria.

[TwilightGardener]

10. So Russia finally, openly admits it's the force actually fighting in Ukraine.

It's not a rebellion, it's not a local separatist movement. It's a Russian invasion. I have no problem helping Ukraine with what they need.

[ballyhoo]

11. Russia won't be Iraq--a helpless nation that couldn't

do much.

[TwilightGardener]

12. Pooty Poot bit off more than he could chew. What an ass. Can't back down,

but will start having Russian troops coming home in body bags. Responsible for the death of hundreds of civilians on a plane by giving his drunken toddlers a loaded gun. All because he didn't get his way and no longer has a puppet in Kiev.

[ballyhoo]

14. I'll wait for the Dutch to decide on MH17. Puppet in Kieve? Are

you talking about that kookie (sic) person again? I thought that person belong to Uncle Sam?

[7962]

17. The Russian military is a shell of what it used to be.

The only way they take the entire country is if they wantonly destroy it. Which has never been a problem for them in the past

[rhett o rick]

19. I didn't think you'd have a problem. nm

[Fred Sanders]

13. Yes, and they also wished for more right wing militias to fight along with the few army regulars....

and for a pierogi filled rainbow coloured pony.

[ballyhoo]

15. They have aps out in Ferguson. But the applicants are

scheduled for court.

[jakeXT]

22. No use for them in the celestial army?

KYIV, August 13 /Ukrinform/. Right Sector spokesman Boryslav Bereza has confirmed the death 12 soldiers.
He wrote this on his Facebook page on Wednesday.
"The celestial army has been replenished by souls of twelve warriors. For us, it is a tragedy. For Ukraine the death of the patriots - it is a disaster. The best sons of the Fatherland are being killed. These bastards like to make a video of our fallen soldiers. For them, it is a fetish. We promise that we will do everything possible to ensure that each of these fetishists get their personal coffin," he said.

http://www.ukrinform.ua/eng/news/right_sector_confirms_death_of_12_fighters_325267

[bemildred]

21. He seems confused about how this relationship works. nt

[dipsydoodle]

24. Read as

"we want your money" in the form of aid

[cosmicone]

23. Time for Poroshenko to change wet undies

right after crying uncle doesn't do any good.

Bring Yanukovytch back and they can all sing "happy days are here again."

[another_liberal]

36. Sounds like the "Right Sector" and their fascist buddies will take care of Poroshenko . . .

I'm expecting to read about his "sudden departure" from Kiev most any day.

[salib]

25. What is it with all the war hawks posting here on DU?

Is global warming too slow for you? Need to speed up our demise?

[another_liberal]

37. They need to control even chatboards like DU to be successful . . .

If one wants to spread propaganda effectively, no opposing voice can go unsuppressed. At the very least all such alternate voices must be thoroughly ridiculed and delegitimized.

[cosmicone]

44. It is the 81st Chairborne, ready to deploy n/t

[reorg]

27. if a war is "being mongered in Europe"

of a government against its own people, if civilians get killed, the traditional response of NATO countries has been to bomb the country in question, destroy its infrastructure while adding a considerable number of deaths.

In order to be consistent, the US need to bomb Kiev, cut the supply lines of government forces and Nazi militia until the break-away republics are recognized. I am surprised that this course of action hasn't been demanded here loud and clear.

[another_liberal]

35. That would be the case in Ukraine . . .

At least it would be if not for the fact that the Donbas region holds huge shale oil and gas reserves. Western bankers and big energy corporations want very badly to make sure they are the ones who develop those eastern Ukrainian resources (and that they will be the ones who get the lion's share of profits from their exploitation).

[elias49]

40. Bingo! Natural resources as always.

Nothing to do with lofty motives.