Ukraine's Broke Military Is Underpaid and Undertrained

[Purveyor]

By Katherine Jacobsen August 14, 2014

A group of men and a few women clad in neat, matching camouflage uniforms and combat boots walk through an airport, presumably on their way to the front. As the soldiers make their way toward their gate, people around them rise in applause. A message appears on the screen: “Come back alive,” along with directions for contacting Ukraine’s volunteer brigades and donating to the military.

The video commercial shows the army Ukraine would like to have: a streamlined, battle-ready group that’s a source of pride for the country. But it also hints at the fighting force that Ukraine has today: one with a heavy reliance on support from volunteer soldiers and donations from across the country to help keep it properly outfitted.

“At the beginning of March, there was nothing,” says Oleksiy Melnyk, an analyst with Razmykov Center, an independent think tank in Kiev. When Russia annexed Crimea about a month after the EuroMaidan uprising, the interim government had limited options.

Story: Ukraine's Military Draft Brings War Home for Thousands

To prevent the loss of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions to pro-Russia separatists, the government has reinstated the military draft and launched a national campaign asking for donations to replenish the military’s depleted coffers. Thus far the donation campaign has raised more than $11.7 million, according to the BBC.

more...

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-08-14/ukraines-broke-undertrained-military-is-no-match-for-russia#r=rss

[Igel]

1. It's basically the USSR 23 years after.

Even "Verkhovna rada", their legislature, is just "verkhovnyi sovet" or "Supreme Soviet" in Ukrainian.

They did some privatization, but there's still a massive amount of government enterprise and even mines. Pensions are government. Transportation. And it's all controlled out of Kiev--in between federalization and what there is now is decentralization. Medical care is nearly all government. Food is often subsidized and is dirt cheap.


That meant it was very easy to distribute lots of money to keep friends and family happy. Even in the Donbas, pensions increased this year. And so did miners' wages--because they're government-controlled. Didn't matter that the mines are often shut because of fighting. And the government didn't bother to modernize. It depended on Russian companies modernizing what they wanted, telling them what to modernize. Ukr provided cheap labor, food, and raw materials unless told otherwise. And its economy was periodically brought to heel by Russia whenever the government didn't behave. (People here like to point out US "economic imperialism," and don't see it in spades when presented with it by another country. Heck, some argue *for* "spheres of influence", as thought they'd settle for Venezuela, Cuba, or even Mexico being in the US's sphere of influence.)


There was privatization. For example, while perhaps half the mines were shut, half of those open are privatized and half are government. The ones that are productive and profitable were privatized. Not all "corruption" was simple theft. Same for utility companies. Land. Lots of stuff. Oligarchs were tied in--most of them were from the East. The Maidan was as much pro-EU as it was anti-Russian and anti-corruption. (Yes, the pro-Ukrainian was also corrupt. But there are fewer "Ukrainian" oligarchs because that part of the country has fewer opportunities for large industrial facilities.) It was also a cry for final de-Sovietization. The DPR and LPR use that as a selling point--the USSR was strong "Russian", so the Party of Regions likes it. And the Comm. Party likes it, too. It makes for a complicated ideology there, part fascism, part bolshevism, part monarchism.

There was also this sort of understanding with Russia. Russia would be militaristic. Ukraine wouldn't be. In fact, some of the military officers prized coordination with Russia over actually having a military. Even when Russia was annexing the Crimea. They were trained and had the origins in the USSR. Ukraine didn't need a military. In fact, a strong military would be a bad thing--from time to time a pro-independence government would come along. No upgrades to their tech. They let their C&C structures go fuzzy. Bad training. And didn't even pull PM on what tech they had. Money went for other things. They didn't even demarcate the border.

[KoKo]

2. They need not worry.....Help is on the way......

USA/EU....eventually NATO if the Neocons have their way.

[reorg]

3. ITAR-TASS reported today massive privatisation plan

The Ukrainian government intends to privatize almost all state-run enterprises, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said on Tuesday.

He said that where there is state property there is corruption.

“The government’s task is to sell state property, except strategic. The state property today is prone to unprecedented corruption. The prime minister’s reception office is full of people’s deputies. You think they bring reform concepts? They care about the appointment of their people to state companies. I see no way to overcome this corruption other than to sell these state companies,” Yatsenyuk said.

http://en.itar-tass.com/world/745707

The government's task, LOL.

[go west young man]

4. They are also being killed in large numbers as admitted here.

They cite over 10,000 men lost from 3 brigades.

[go west young man]

5. Children taught to burn and dance around effigy of Putin.

Note the use of the word "Colorado" at the 4:30 mark. This word is used to describe people as insects in order to stamp them out. It was heavily used by the Kiev Right Sector fascists who burned 48 people alive in Odessa.

This is child abuse combined with fascist indoctrination. It is an abomination. Is this what the US financed the violent Kiev coup for? So that these pro nazi people can create little nazis? It is an abomination in 2014 to see this type of thing going on. The coup imposed government are killing their own citizens while at the same time they are teaching their children to hate.

The American people are being lied to. All US media is parroting the words of the Kiev coup government in regards to all the recent stories about east Ukraine and the rebels fighting there. Those rebels who are the fathers and sons of east Ukraine have been fighting from freedom from oppression by those nazis. The US media and government is backing and financing those nazis. It is time to wake up people. We are being lied to. Our government is covering up the atrocities and allowing Kiev to blame rebels for things as crazy as killing their own families on a bus a few days ago. It is absurd. Only one party would benefit form killing women and children on a bus and quickly blaming the rebel as the Kiev coup government did. These false flag attacks are always backed up by no evidence and just the 'word' of Kiev. They are pro nazi....they lie to achieve their ends. Why are Americans allowing this to go on?

America needs to wake up now before these same tactics are employed soon against 'we the people'. They are creating false flags and selling them as fact with no evidence....it is 2014 they don't even provide any cell phone footage, they just expect you to be stupid enough to take their word for anything they threw out. There is no evidence of these things. Does that not seem odd to anyone?

If they get away with it there you can bet your last dollar that one day they will try it here.....mark my words.