Ukraine Crisis: A Lesson for Global Community and India

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By  Narender Kumar

“We are witnessing a huge geopolitical game in which the aim is the destruction of Russia as a geopolitical opponent of the US or of the global financial oligarchy.” – Vladimir Yakunin, former Russian senior diplomat.

 Ukraine is an important bridge for Russia to reclaim the strategic space, which it conceded to the West after the demise of the Soviet Union. Crisis in Ukraine is a serious jolt to the endeavour of Russiato build greater Eurasian Union as Ukraine is a strategic pivot for Russia to control Black Sea, oil and gas supply to Europe, food grain supply to Russia and to keep NATO and US away from the Russian borders. As long as pro-Russian government was ruling Ukraine, Russian interests were safeguarded, but with the departure of Ukraine's ousted President Viktor Yanukovich, EU and US want to liberate Ukraine from Russian influence. Stakes for Russia are far higher to let go Ukraine without paying a heavy price and as a result territorial integrity of Ukraine is likely to have serious implications.

Russia has hardened its stand and is unlikely to step back.Ukraine today is polarised and stands divided in two. Western Ukraine ispro EU and is a breadbasket of Europe; Eastern Ukraine is pro-Russia and an industrial hub centre and energy corridor for Europe with Crimea a dominant ethnically Russian area. Referendum in Crimea has gone in favour of Russia but will have far reaching consequences, since Crimea is dependent on water, electricity and food from Ukraine.(Crimea was part of Russia till 1954, when Nikita Khrushchev gave it to Ukraine. The Russians in Crimea have however never accepted it). The popular perception is that Ukraine is unlikely to exercise such a drastic step to cut water and electricity to Crimea because Ukraine itself is dependent on supply of subsidised Russian Gas. Prolonged turmoilin Ukraine will also impact Baltic nations which have not regained political, economic and diplomat stability. Ukraine has been trapped between the conflict of interests of West and Russia.It is also emerging slowly that Europe has realised that Russia cannot be bullied at this stage till they find an alternative to dependence on Russian gas and resolution to economic crisis of Ukraine.

Some facts about Ukraine's territory

And a bit of grim humor

Is the New World Order our reality?

A very interesting reasoning of Thomas H Greco, Junior

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Russia being squeezed by the New World Order

On my way back to the U.S. from Kuala Lumpur, I picked up a copy of the Financial Times (March 7 edition) in Tokyo while waiting for my connecting flight. As expected, I found numerous articles relating to the Ukraine situation, but one stood out amongst the rest. It was titled “Putin loyalist points finger at ‘global financial oligarchy.’”

I was surprised but also pleased to see this affirmation of my long-held view that the present geopolitical turmoil is not so much a contest among nations, but a global class war being waged by an elite oligarchy bent on creating a New World Order in which they hold the  reins of power. Oddly, when I later tried to locate the article on the FT website, it was nowhere to be found, but I did find an article from the previous day’s edition which quoted the same “loyalist,” Vladimir Yakunin, making the same arguments. That article is titled, US accused of ‘trying to destroy Russia.’

In new cold war, Russia can hit America where it hurts – on Iran

Moscow could sell Tehran missiles or undermine sanctions

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"Putin Doesn't Threaten Our National Security, Obama Does"

By Don Feder

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Vladimir Putin isn’t the Easter Bunny. On the other hand, he isn’t Joseph Stalin. It takes a truly fevered imagination to see Russian forces in the Crimea as a prelude to Russian tanks rolling across Europe toward Berlin and Paris.

Putin is a power player who cares more about Russia’s national interests, and Russian minorities in his near abroad, than in that mythical force known as world opinion. Would that America had a president who cared more about our interests than in promoting globalism and the left’s social agenda.

The Crimea’s population is 60% ethnic Russian. For most of the past 800 years, the Ukraine has been Russian.

An independent Ukraine disappeared in the 12^th century. It reappeared briefly after the Bolshevik Revolution, only to be crushed by the Red Army and not emerge again until the fall of the Soviet Union. All of this fuss about the “territorial integrity” of a state born yesterday.

Why sanctions?

Have you ever seen such support provided to any other Putin's ally?

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The US administration put several Russian top officials on a list of "sanctions" irresoective they were involved in the Ukrainian/Crimean crisis or not. Among those personalities is also Dr.Vladimir Yakunin, who is President of the Russian Railways but also well known and valued around the world as founder and president of the INGO "World Public Forum - Dialogue of Civilizations" In this capacity Dr.Yakunin has always fostered dialogue as the altenative to armed conflicts in solving international disputes. Many personalities therefore expressed their dismay about US sanctions and called for dialogue and diplomatic efforts instead of sanctions

Alaska back to Russia?

Is it for real?) Though only ~5,000 signatures of 100,000 needed

petitions.whitehouse.gov

Be the Russophiles, guys!

"Our definition of a Russophile is not someone who blindly embraces all things Russian as superior, but someone who is innately fascinated by Russia because it is different, because it is interesting, because it is important."

Seen here

Hard to disagree with Prof.Cohen

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On CNN, Fareed Zakaria interviewed Princeton and NYU professor Stephen Cohen about his article in The Nation this week in which he argues that Vladamir Putin is not the "neo-imperialist thug" he is accused of being. 

Asked about Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine, Cohen said that Putin did not create the crisis and had no choice but to react. Cohen also said that next to Mikhail Gorbachev and possibly Boris Yeltsin, Putin was the least authoritarian Russian ruler in 400 years. The transcript of the interview follows:  

Zakaria: Steve, you say that this guy is not the rank imperialist and rank dictator we see him as. Explain why he isn’t those things.

Cohen: Nor is he, as Secretary Albright and Professor Brzezinski suggested, “Hitler,” with their references to Munich. Putin is not a thug; he’s not a neo-Soviet imperialist who’s trying to recreate the Soviet Union; he’s not even anti-American. What he is is intensely, historically pro-Russian. He’s been in power fourteen years, and his mission is, as he sees it, and many Russians see it, [to] restore Russia from the disaster of 1991, the collapse of the Russian state. Remember, that was the second time in the 20th century the Russian state had collapsed, the first time in 1917. So to recreate the stability, prosperity, greatness, whatever that means in Russia at home, and in the process, restore Russia’s traditional zones of national security on its borders; that means Ukraine as well. He did not create this Ukrainian crisis; it was imposed on him, and he had no choice but to react. That’s [unintelligible] today.

Ukraine as just a battle in a big war

And a bit more on the Ukraine issue from Mike Whitney: decisions, tactics, consequences

Big Oil’s “Sore Losers” Lead the Drive to War

“We are witnessing a huge geopolitical game in which the aim is the destruction of Russia as a geopolitical opponent of the US or of the global financial oligarchy…..The realization of this project is in line with the concept of global domination that is being carried out by the US.”

- Vladimir Yakunin, former Russian senior diplomat

“History shows that wherever the U.S. meddles; chaos and misery are soon to follow.”

- Kalithea, comments line, Moon of Alabama

Following a 13 year rampage that has reduced large swathes of Central Asia and the Middle East to anarchy and ruin, the US military juggernaut has finally met its match on a small peninsula in southeastern Ukraine that serves as the primary operating base for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Crimea is the door through which Washington must pass if it intends to extend its forward-operating bases throughout Eurasia, seize control of vital pipeline corridors and resources, and establish itself as the dominant military/economic power-player in the new century. Unfortunately, for Washington, Moscow has no intention of withdrawing from the Crimea or relinquishing control of its critical military outpost in Sevastopol. That means that the Crimea–which has been invaded by the Cimmerians, Bulgars, Greeks, Scythians, Goths, Huns, Khazars, Ottomans, Turks, Mongols, and Germans–could see another conflagration in the months ahead, perhaps, triggering a Third World War, the collapse of the existing global security structure, and a new world order, albeit quite different from the one imagined by the fantasists at the Council on Foreign Relations and the other far-right think tanks that guide US foreign policy and who are responsible for the present crisis.
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"The United States Is Attempting To Destroy Russia" (c)

"The US is trying to destroy Russia", - Vladimir Yakunin told last week in an interview to FT.com describing the current situation in Ukraine.

And here is what Gerald Celente thinks of it:

“The big story of course is what’s going on in Ukraine, and the back-and-forth between Russia and the West.  This is a very volatile situation and it’s been in the works for a long time.  This is really more about the United States and the European Union moving into those eastern European countries that used to be under the Soviet bloc.  It’s not going to have a happy ending... 

“It has only been weeks since they overthrew the government of Ukraine and installed the one they have now, and it’s destabilized.  There are threats being made against Russia.  Whether they are (empty) threats or legitimate actions is going to be revealed later on.
We are looking at this very similarly to when the Soviet Union broke up, and the complete desire (by the West) to make Russia weaker and weaker.  It’s reminiscent of the Versailles Treaty that followed the end of World War I.  Everyone knew the penalties were so harsh on Germany that it was a mistake as soon as it was signed.  History books are filled with this story.
The same thing is starting to shape up now with Russia.  Just look at the comments coming out of Russia, particularly those by Vladimir Yakunin, who was the former senior diplomat that now heads the Russian rail system.  Yakunin said: “We are witnessing a large geopolitical game in which the game is the destruction of Russia as a geopolitical opponent of the United States, or of its global financial oligarchy.”

March 8

International Women's Day: A Look Back

Today, March 8, people throughout Russia and many former Soviet countries are celebrating the women in their lives. At first glance, International Women’s Day appears to be a socialist holiday, but its history goes farther back – and its modern form has nothing to do with socialism!

Like any self-respecting holiday, International Women’s Day – known in Russia simply and matter-of-factly as “March 8” – has its own founding myth that likely has little to do with its real origins. On March 8, 1857, female textile workers in New York allegedly went on strike, demanding shorter hours, decent working conditions, and equal pay with men. Perhaps they were inspired by the Romans: on March 8 both free and slave women in ancient Rome supposedly got the day off [ru] and paid their dues to Vesta, goddess of the hearth.

But back to the modern era. Whether or not the strike happened, the holiday’s realorigin story begins at the 2nd Congress of the Second International (1910), where Clara Zetkin proposed a day for women to march, protest, and call society’s attention to their issues. She was most likely inspired by a similar holiday already announced by the Socialist Party of America, starting in 1909 and observed on the last Sunday in February. The international version of the holiday shifted around in early spring before happening to fall on March 8 in 1914.

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Who and why hates Olympic Games, RZD and Vladimir Yakunin (4)

The life of Nemtsov can be considered as unenviable. You can judge yourself. He is a former «golden boy», former governor of Nizhny Novgorod, former minister, former deputy prime-minister, and it seems to be that he is a former politician now. Former, former, former...

Nemtsov’s career path is tortuous and contradictory and is divided into two periods: before being deputy prime-minister in 1998 and after... The period before 1998 is remarkable for the steepness and swiftness of his raising which didn’t take much pain. The period after that was a sweeping collapse, though Nemtsov tried to show resistance.

The decline of Nemtsov’s career has one weighty reason: everyone is bored to death with him. As if he is an infant terrible who started playing pranks, the beloved son of the head of the family. Everybody understands that the «power» of the infant is based only on the fact that the old lion is napping nearby. They understand but can do nothing till they have an opportunity. But when they have it!...

I’ve already told you what his former patrons and bosses had said about him. I can repeat it one more time: «Nemtsov is an inexperienced and not very competent politician». According to Berezovsky: «Nemtsov is a figure in a stage of the prolonged maturation who has not determined his social orientation yet». As is well known, one of Berezovsky’s strong points was his ability of making people out... By the way, Chernomyrdin had personal complaints against Nemtsov, as after Eltsin had appointed Nemtsov the Deputy Prime-Minister «he behaved boldly and didn’t stick to the rules during the meetings of the government...»