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uhnope

(6,419 posts)
Wed Jan 21, 2015, 01:42 PM Jan 2015

UKRAINE OFFICIAL: Putin Is Escalating And Emotional

Source: Business Insider

In a closed session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a high-ranking Ukrainian official just shared the Ukrainian government's current view of its conflict with Russia:

Fighting has resumed after a three-week ceasefire. The administration sees signs that Putin is escalating his forces, albeit in a limited way. The administration does not currently see Putin amassing force for a major invasion.

Russia now has 9,500 troops in Ukraine and occupies 7% of Ukrainian terrain. This 7% encompasses 20% of Ukraine's population. This control of one-fifth of the population is putting further pressure on Ukraine's economy and finances. The most pressing problem is the need to refinance debt to cover the budget deficit.

The Ukrainian government believes time is working against Putin. The combination of economic sanctions, plunging oil prices, and the backlash against Putin's aggression is putting Putin in an increasingly isolated position. Putin is responding by escalating his forces. The Ukrainian government says it does not know what Putin wants. The administration believes that even Putin does not know what he wants. Putin's tone changes on every phone call with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the official said. The last time Putin spoke with President Poroshenko was 11 days ago.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-official-putin-is-escalating-the-conflict-2015-1

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UKRAINE OFFICIAL: Putin Is Escalating And Emotional (Original Post) uhnope Jan 2015 OP
Putin wants leverage against the the western aggression he thinks is happening. DetlefK Jan 2015 #1
He also can't understand why other countries don't like Igel Jan 2015 #2
thx. awesome post uhnope Jan 2015 #3

DetlefK

(16,423 posts)
1. Putin wants leverage against the the western aggression he thinks is happening.
Wed Jan 21, 2015, 01:53 PM
Jan 2015

Ukraine was a buffer against NATO and EU by being decidedly pro-Russia. When Ukraine decided to get closer to Europe, that's when shit went downhill: Russia sees this loss of control as a longterm strategic threat.

And there must be somebody to blame. Such things don't just happen by themselves. Let's see... EU and NATO will profit from this... OMG!!!! They engineered this to weaken Russia!!!!!



Putin thinks in terms of the Cold War. To him, the defence of Russia begins on ukrainian territory, not at the russian border. We need a solution that keeps Ukraine friends with the West AND with Russia, but the odds for that get slimmer the longer the fight continues. The only solution still within Putin's reach is giving the rebels a helping hand with secession and forging a new buffer-zone out of Eastern Ukraine.

Igel

(35,191 posts)
2. He also can't understand why other countries don't like
Wed Jan 21, 2015, 06:18 PM
Jan 2015

or at least accept Russia.

All the "big brother" propaganda, how everybody should be grateful to Russia and how everybody *was* grateful to Russia is really important to a lot of older Russians.

In the mid 1990s a lot of Central European countries de-Russified their history. They got around to removing many of the monuments praising the USSR and Red Army soldiers for all the great and glorious things that they had done. In Brno, in Prague, in Lodz the Russians I met were truly, deeply, seriously furious and offended.

By then the USSR's history had been thoroughly Russianized for Russians: All the talk that they weren't "Russians" but "Soviets," it wasn't a Russian space effort but a Soviet space effort, etc., etc., was long forgotten. Russia won WWII, Russia liberated countries, Russia did this and Russia did that. Made me feel idiotic, since in the late '70s and in the '80s I insisted on using "Soviet" when the RWers I knew all conflated "Russia" and the "USSR" into just Russia. A decade later, it was the Russians doing it. Veddy strange.

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