Russia sends S-400 surface-to-air missile system to the occupied Crimea

[uhnope]

Source: UA Today

In the latest sign that Russia is gradually turning Crimea into a powerful military base, Moscow declared that it would soon deliver S-400 anti-aircraft missile system to the occupied peninsula. The announcement was made by the Chief of Staff, Deputy Commander of the 18th Air Defense Missile Regiment within the 31st Air Defense Division Lieutenant-Colonel Yevgeny Oleynikov, according to the Russian news agencies.

"Upon completion of initial live-firing exercises […] in August 2016, the missile system is set to be dispatched to its permanent location in the city of Feodosiya," Oleinikov said.

S-400 Triumph surface-to-air missiles are Russia's most modern long-range antiaircraft systems that has been in service with the Russian Armed Forces since 2007.

The S-400 can strike targets at a distance of 400 km with maximum target speed of 4.8 km per second, and at an altitude of up to 30 km.


Read more: http://uatoday.tv/politics/russia-sends-s-400-surface-to-air-missile-system-to-the-occupied-crimea-696576.html

[yourpaljoey]

1. Of course they did. It's home to a major Russian naval base.

[newthinking]

2. And all the war hardware will continue to build up as tensions increase

between the US and Russia.

This is hardly "threatening", it is an expected response. The danger is that the more severe the tensions the more opportunity for mistakes and misunderstandings that could create very dangerous situations.

[yourpaljoey]

3. Looks like the US/NATO are looking to start WW III

Russia might as well get ready

[cstanleytech]

6. Actually if it escalates into another major war like that (which I doubt it will)

Russia is the one that would have started it when they invaded and annexed part of the Ukraine.

[Duckhunter935]

26. Along with many Ukrainian ships

[Cayenne]

4. Why is that important?

Unless somebody is planning an invasion of the the peninsula?

[hack89]

5. Two invasions in two years would be tough for the people of Crimea. nt

[Cayenne]

9. Which invasion?

Crimea has been Russian for two centuries. There was, however, a big parade after the referendum. The Crimeans simply do not want to be under the NAZI yoke of Kiev.

[hack89]

13. The invasion the UN condemns and refuses to recognize

the invasion that involved masked Russian troops with insignia removed - you know, the guys that seized the building of the Supreme Council of Crimea and the building of the Council of Ministers and forced a vote at gun point with no reporters present.

[Cayenne]

14. The people are overwhelmingly Russian

and want no part of the Kiev junta. Why is it unimportant what the Crimeans want?

[hack89]

15. Why is it unimportant to change governments at gun point instead of at the ballot box? nt

[Cayenne]

16. The invasion force was one guy with a AK-47? Ramboski

[uawchild]

18. Did you MISS the coup in Kiev?

That OVERTHREW the elected government? Talk about selective outrage...

[Igel]

21. Did you miss the agreement that Yanukovich signed.

You know, right before he fled to Enakievo where he'd already had working loading his very plentiful household goods onto moving vans for a day or two before he signed the agreement?

All that babies in incubators echelon-of-fascists talk was just that.

He'd had plans made for fleeing Ukraine before the coup, and when the coup didn't happen he finished supervising the packing, sent his stuff across the border, and then fled anyway. Well, in an especially paranoid way. He does demand partial implementation of that agreement. Just the parts that give him money and power, not the unimportant parts.

Last I heard, Putin got a crony to buy Yanukovich a very nice house just outside Moscow, one large enough for all the stuff he moved. Sadly, not the gold bathroom fixtures. He probably derided the inability to have those removed as a fascist plot, just like his fascist hemorrhoids and the fascist fly that he finds in his soup every once in a while. (Yes, there are fascists, but not everything derided as fascist really is fascist. It's like the word "f**king." That "f**king janitor" may, indeed, be f**king. But "f**king hemorrhoids" aren't f**king. It's a nice term but was bleached to become a general term of abuse, sort of like "communist" or "socialist" is for RWers. Oh, damn, my fascist r-key is sticking again. Probably should do some yard work instead, the fascist grass is too fascist long, but it's too fascist hot out today.)

[uawchild]

22. The coup over threw the legitimate elected gov.

When you have a coup/revolution and over throw the legitimate government, can you really complain when another country decides treaties made with the over thrown government might no longer apply?

I think reviewing treaties after such a coup/revolution is both reasonable and pertinent.

Hence, the treaty requiring Russia to recognize Ukraine's territorial sovereignty is in abeyance, opening the way for Crimea to request annexation by Russia?

You were talking about this treaty right? Oh, my bad, you weren't. For some reason you were just babbling about hemoroids. lol you break me up some times.

[uhnope]

19. Nice avoidance tactic, perfectly conforming to the KTPM.

So the world community is wrong and the wonderful Kremlin is right. Okaaaay.

BTW if you think the Ukrainian gov is a "junta", how would you describe the Russian gov?

[Ghost Dog]

35. You refer to non-binding General Assembly Resolution 68/262 ?

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262 was adopted on March 27, 2014 by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly in response to the Russian annexation of Crimea and entitled "Territorial integrity of Ukraine". The non-binding resolution, which was supported by 100 United Nations member states, affirmed the General Assembly's commitment to the territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders and underscored the invalidity of the 2014 Crimean referendum. Eleven nations voted against the resolution, while 58 abstained, and a further 24 states were absent when the vote took place.

The resolution was introduced by Canada, Costa Rica, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine.[1] The adoption of the resolution was preceded by the unsuccessful attempts of the United Nations Security Council, that convened seven sessions to address the Crimean crisis, only to face Russian veto.[2]..

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_General_Assembly_Resolution_68/262

[lanlady]

29. The Nazis are in Moscow, not Kiev

That much is clear to anyone not on the payroll of the kleptocratic thugs in the Kremlin.

[cstanleytech]

7. Its not really that important and fortifying an area you just invaded and annexed is

simply to be expected.
As for the invasion I doubt that will happen, the EU has plenty on its plate atm with the issue with UK considering leaving the EU and the US is to busy in other parts of the world to invade not to mention the US has no real interest in the area so Russia is actually pretty safe from any of the other major powers trying to assist the Ukraine in a substantial manner to retake the area Russia took.

[Cayenne]

10. Crimean Brexit

They voted to leave Kiev. There was no invasion.

[cstanleytech]

12. Hey if you want to believe that its your right. nt

[uawchild]

17. Invasion? Only six people died.

The annexation of Crimea was so peaceful because the Crimean people saw joining Russia as a place of refuge after the coup/overthrow of the elected government in Kiev.

Yeah, some "invasion" -- SIX people died, three on each side.

[840high]

27. Some invasion - lol

[Igel]

23. Putin said glowing things and handed out medals.

To Russian agents called "soldiers" operating on Ukrainian soil for the purpose of helping to revert said soil and the vast deposits of natural gas to Russian dominion.

They didn't wear patches on their uniforms. To which my response is that we should have left patches off the soldiers in Iraq. "US invastion? What US invasion? Can't help it if some paid volunteers use their vacation and leave time to engage in charitable work in Iraq."

These same volunteers also managed to actually occupy some Ukrainian soil not part of the Crimean autonomous republic (or whatever its official status was by 2013.) Still without patches. But the Russians used ferries to get more materiel to the Crimea, and that materiel wound up being manned by patchless "volunteers." Having a popular, narodnyi, volkisch uprising is a nice meme, but it doesn't match the facts on the ground. Just the (sub)set of facts in the Russian press.

And, yes, before the elections were held the Russian oil and gas company had organized the equipment and manpower to go and survey the natural gas and oil deposits in the Black Sea. That natural gas is much closer to Europe than the natural gas in Siberia. Same selling price, lower extraction and transportation costs = more profit for the non-oligarch billionaires granted the oil and gas concessions by the Great Putin sitting on the 7 hills (of Moscow).

What a deal. Patriotism in which to wrap the patriotic Black Sea fleet expansion that the new fascist Ukrainian rulers probably wouldn't have much backed *and* they get a huge patriotic windfall in patriotic natural resources. (Keep in mind that "patriotic" is from "patria," more like "fatherland" than "motherland". Russian has a word rodina that we translate as "motherland", but also otechestvo which we translate as "fatherland." Rodina is what you say when you want people to gush with tears of love and motivate them to protect their mommy. The speeches referring to the rodina are often maudlin, sentimental, and often manipulative--the motherland has taken care of you, sacrifice for your dear, loving mother. Otechestvo is what you say when you want stiff-backed soldiers to make their father proud. Speeches use this word more there's a sense of wrong or humiliation and you're angry or proud and gold- or honor-seeking. The word "patriotic" comes across as "fatherlandish," so WWII, the "Great Patriotic War," could also be "the Great Fatherland War." Problem is, for English speakers we associate "fatherland" with fascism. Heck, we even tried to make out "homeland" to be a fascist term. Putin plays this language game, and looks weepy-eyed talking about the motherland but mostly speaks about the fatherland and outside aggressors out to destroy Russia.

[lanlady]

30. Try to sell your b.s to the native Crimeans

The Crimean Tatars, whose ancestral home was just swallowed up by Russia (again), are being stripped of their rights and held in preventive detention. They probably won't be deported en masse again, as Stalin did to them. But that is small comfort when the civil rights they had gained under Ukrainian rule are disappearing now that the peninsula has been taken over by thieves from the FSB.

And I do mean thieves. If you would take your ideological blinders off, you would see that Russia is ruled by right-wing mobsters who combine the worse elements of the Nazis (extreme nationalism complete with propaganda ministries and a compliant media), the Mafia (clannish, criminal, accountable to no law) and a third-world dictatorship (corrupt to the core).

[Darb]

8. Putin: "Hey everyone, check out my

johnson.

[uawchild]

11. What would happen if people along the Ukraine-Russian border were allowed to vote

to be annexed by the other country? Vote in a totally fair UN supervised referendum that is. Let's say such a fair referendum was held, what would the results be?

I don't think many Russians regions would ask to become part of the current Ukraine, I seriously don't. The Ukraine economy is in shambles, ultra nationalists are calling to restrict Russian language rights there.

I suspect both the Crimea and a portion of the Donbas region would definitely choose to join Russia.

[lanlady]

31. Why would the UN sanction breaking apart a country?

Just because Russia has been stealing parts of it and wants to legitimatize its thievery? Well, two can play that game. Let's hold such a referendum in Russia itself to determine, say, whether Siberia wants to remain under the rule of Moscow. I guarantee that given half a chance, Siberians would head for the exit doors. I know that because Siberian independence movements have been put down, fairly brutally, in recent years under Putin's rule. But that doesn't prevent Moscow from messing around with Ukraine's or Georgia's territorial integrity. It really is all just a power game - Moscow wants to keep Ukraine under its thumb, so it is promoting phony baloney "statelets" in Donbas purely in order to destabilize Ukraine. It is not interested in the slightest in the rights of workers and miners, in fact, since the start of the Russian stealth invasion two years ago, many thousands of miners and factory workers have been laid off.

And by the way, the Russian economy is tanking too, along with the ruble. The big difference between Ukraine and Russia is that the former is trying to do the right thing by shaking off decades of corruption and gross mismanagement. Russia is doing the opposite - it is backsliding, big time. For now it is merely holding on for dear life to the hope that oil prices will start to rise again to prevent Russia's total financial collapse.

[uawchild]

32. Corruption in Ukraine is so bad, a Nigerian prince would be embarrassed

United States Vice President Joe Biden has never been one to hold his tongue. He certainly didn’t in his recent trip to Kiev. In a speech before Ukraine’s Parliament, Biden told legislators that corruption was eating Ukraine “like a cancer,” and warned Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that Ukraine had “one more chance” to confront corruption before the United States cuts off aid.

Biden’s language was undiplomatic, but he’s right: Ukraine needs radical reforms to root out graft. After 18 months in power, Poroshenko still refuses to decisively confront corruption. It’s time for Poroshenko to either step up his fight against corruption — or step down if he won’t.

When it comes to Ukrainian corruption, the numbers speak for themselves. Over $12 billion per year disappears from the Ukrainian budget, according to an adviser to Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau. And in its most recent review of global graft, anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International ranked Ukraine 142 out of 174 countries on its Corruption Perceptions Index — below countries such as Uganda, Nicaragua and Nigeria. Ordinary Ukrainians also endure paying petty bribes in all areas of life. From vehicle registration, to getting their children into kindergarten, to obtaining needed medicine, everything connected to government has a price.

The worst corruption occurs at the nexus between business oligarchs and government officials. A small number of oligarchs control 70 percent of Ukraine’s economy, and over the years have captured and corrupted Ukraine’s political and judicial institutions. As a result, a “culture of impunity” was created, where politicians, judges, prosecutors and oligarchs collude in a corrupt system where everyone but the average citizen benefits.

While there are numerous examples of high-level corruption in Ukraine, a few stand out for their sheer brazenness. In one case, $1.8 billion of an IMF loan to Ukraine meant to support the banking system instead disappeared into various offshore accounts affiliated with PrivatBank in Ukraine, which is owned by Ihor Kolomoisky — one of Ukraine’s leading oligarchs.
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/12/30/corruption-in-ukraine-is-so-bad-a-nigerian-prince-would-be-embarrassed-2/

Shaking off corruption in Ukraine? There are scads of articles about CURRENT corruption in Ukraine. Please don't be silly.
Want more articles? ok...

THIS one is a DUzy!

Mikheil Saakashvili: 'Ukraine's government has no vision for reform'
A year after becoming governor of Odessa, the combative ex-Georgian president talks about his anti-corruption drive and his frustration with Petro Poroshenko

When Mikheil Saakashvili was appointed governor of the Ukrainian region of Odessa a year ago, the former Georgian president constantly mentioned Vladimir Putin. Reforms in post-revolution Ukraine, and attempts to reform Russophone Odessa, were all part of a grand plan to stick two fingers up to the Kremlin, and prove to both Ukrainians and Russians that post-Soviet life could be transformed to remove corrupt elites and promote democratic values.

A year later, and Saakashvili still talks about Putin, during a late-night interview at his residence on the outskirts of Odessa. But as well as the Russian president, the man who crushed his Georgian army during a brief 2008 war, Saakashvili also has increasingly tough words for the man who appointed him to his new role in Odessa: the Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko.

For Saakashvili, the crunch time has now approached to determine whether Poroshenko is part of the problem, or part of the solution. Last month, he held a press conference in which he blasted the president for not fulfilling a single promise made since he took office after the 2014 revolution.

“For a long time, Poroshenko has been very flexible,” Saakashvili told the Guardian, speaking in his rapid, lightly accented English, learned while studying in the US. “If you were a reformer he spoke reform language. If you were someone old-fashioned, he said OK, we can find a way to deal with you. Now he’s brought in a government which has not got any vision of reforms at all.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/25/mikheil-saakashvili-ukraine-government-has-no-vision-for-reform-odessa

Honestly, given the chance, I bet about one third of Ukraine would opt to join Russia right now. Ukraine is in shambles, it makes Russia look rich in comparison.

[KG]

20. zOMG! - next thing ya know, russkie hordes pouring thru the fulda gap!

[Blue_Tires]

24. Bookmarking this for when another airliner falls out the sky in a million pieces

[JackRiddler]

34. Oh how happy you will be?

[Blue_Tires]

36. To throw that shit in the face of our

resident Russia apologists (and other useful idiots on the left) who are still smokescreening MH17? Quite...

Remember MH17? I sure as hell do...

[Little Tich]

25. I think it's time for Russia to withdraw from Crimea and give it back to Ukraine.

I know that Russia thinks that promises are to be broken, but the rest of the world thinks that the Budapest Memorandum where Russia promised not to invade Ukraine is still valid.

Please, Russia - just f**k off!

[Pauldg47]

28. This would be a stupid Putin move..the people around Crimea are vicious fighters. They will..

....find a way to root them out of there. You wait and see!!

[JackRiddler]

33. Heavily editorial non-news from propaganda paper of one side in a war is not reliable LBN.

[bemildred]

37. Another "win" for Ms Nulands "brilliant" foreign policy.

It would appear that getting Turkey's cooperation for NATO in the Black Sea is very unlikely too now.