Wednesday, August 20, 2014

A Use for the Empty White "Aid" Trucks

Ukraine has still received no documents regarding the contents of the mostly empty white trucks of "humanitarian aid" parked by the Ukrainian border.  A commenter said that the real purpose of the trucks was to remove all equipment from a Luhansk factory and take it back to Russia.  The factory produces systems for the Russian military and is already packed to go.

If you read John J. Mearsheimer's article, “Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault,” in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs, you can rightly be excused for wondering when that august publication became a mouthpiece for the Kremlin's useful idiots.  Best read this rebuttal from Anders Aslund in Peterson Institute for International Economics

A great deal has been written about why Russia has mounted an undeclared war on Ukraine. Certainly Putin wants to maintain his hold on power and protect his $40 billions and the $billions of his cronies.  He wants to be the Tsar who rebuilt the Russian Empire.  But it is not JUST LilliPutin.  Russians by and large, have never accepted Ukraine as a separate nation nor Ukrainians as a separate people. Russians tend to see political movements as conspiracy.  If there is an uprising over unfair elections (2004) or a mafia run state (2014) it MUST be the fault of the CIA.  The notion that people might actually rise up of their own accord in Kyiv or Moscow is not in their world view.

So as this writer put it, the conflict is between opposing world views,
(The inheritance of Kyivian) Rus is the domination of individualistic values. They demand the right to participate in making the decisions that influence their lives. Therefore, they build collective forms of government organization: Viche-Maidan, the Rada, a parliamentary republic.
(The inheritance of the Mongolian) Horde is domination of collectivist values. They do not participate in making societal decisions, but entrust themselves and accept the will of the higher ‘deity,’ which expresses the interests of this collective. Therefore, they build authoritarian forms of government organization: the Khan, the Tzar, the Leader. Collectivism is the base communism, socialism, fascism are built on.
Fighting continues in eastern Ukraine as the ATO attempts to wrest territory back from the recently reinforced terrorists.  The Ukrainian military is also under attack from artillery and rockets fired from inside the Russian border which makes it very dangerous within 40 km of the border. Terrorists are also deliberately destroying infrastructure - roads, bridges, power stations, well over and above losses normal to war.  The terrorists do not have to live there and are tasked with destabilizing the economy of the country.

In other news, Moscow has closed three McDonalds.  And some people have no sense of humour:

Russia Wants Bulgarians to Stop Vandalizing Soviet Monuments


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