Foreign Affairs
Related: About this forumUkraine crisis: Russian troops seize three Ukrainian warships in Crimea
Sevastopol: Russian troops took over three Ukrainian warships in Crimea on Thursday, a Ukrainian navy official said, after Moscow's military seizure of the Black Sea peninsula and annexation of the territory.
Vladislav Seleznyov, a Ukrainian military spokesman in Crimea, said the Russian forces used stun grenades as they stormed the corvette Ternopol in the port city of Sevastopol.
"The ship has been taken," Mr Seleznyov said on his Facebook page on Thursday, after earlier saying: "The assault has begun".
On Facebook, Mr Seleznyov said pro-Moscow militiamen and Russian soldiers cordoned off the area, while a boat with the gunmen on board approached the Ternopil and stormed it.
http://www.theage.com.au/world/ukraine-crisis-russian-troops-seize-three-ukrainian-warships-in-crimea-20140321-hvkyv.html
LiberalEsto
(22,845 posts)Why can't he be content with Crimea and leave the rest of Ukraine alone?
Why? Because he's a megalomaniac.
MADem
(135,425 posts)...but maybe there's something to it.
This is not the conduct of a man in control of his faculties. Angela Merkel said he was off the page--she read him right.
jakeXT
(10,575 posts)war ?
Government spokesman Jens Alberts told Claudia Himmelreich, a McClatchy special correspondent, exactly what the government said on Monday: no comment on the contents of the chancellor's confidential phone conversations -- with either Putin or Obama. In defining the German view, Alberts said he would "not dwell on reports and rumors of someone claiming she possibly said this or that. However, what is undisputed is that President Putin has a completely different view of the situation and the events on Crimea than the German government and our western allies."
A different view. Obviously. But unhinged?
So if Merkel didn't portray Putin as unhinged, why would the unknown Obama aide tell the New York Times she did? Because in the world of propaganda, successfully portraying your adversary as being crazy, without any rational backing to his actions, makes it unnecessary to try to understand the complexities or sensitivities of the issues. If Putin is crazy, then that's enough. We needn't think any further about what he has to say. And if the New York Times says he's crazy, that's good enough for the dozens of reporters who've come along since, repeating the comment to their millions of viewers and readers as if it was a confirmed statement.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/03/05/3975981/did-angela-merkel-really-say-putin.html
MADem
(135,425 posts)They hold the hard line on Cuba, no sanction lifting, no family visits, no normalization, ever, ever, ever....!
And of course, at the time that little piece was published, the Republicans were all over FauxSnooze, praising Pootie for his strength and deriding Obama for his Mom Jeans...
All I'm saying is that if we are to "consider the source" I would look askance at the Miami Herald WAAAAAY more than I'd look askance at NYT, re-printed by Guardian, LA Times and a host of other papers.
And most importantly, that's one HELLUVA non-denial denial.
I think she said it, and she doesn't want to admit that she said it, for obvious reasons.
LiberalEsto
(22,845 posts)She says seeing Putin on TV gives her the impression of someone entirely without a soul. She finds him frightening.
MADem
(135,425 posts)career....
He looked into his eyes and "saw his soul." It was probably indigestion!!
boomer55
(592 posts)Maybe it's a plan but letting your ships and military bases be captured without fighting is weird