Article

2014-02-27 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Russian defense ministry says fighter jets on combat alert in west

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Posted by g(r)omgoru 2014-02-27 07:06|| || Front Page|| [2 views ] Top

#1 Might yet get interesting if the Ukraine suddenly joins NATO.

Posted by Besoeker 2014-02-27 09:55|| 2014-02-27 09:55|| Front Page Top

#2 Remember Georgia (not yours)?

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2014-02-27 12:57|| 2014-02-27 12:57|| Front Page Top

#3 As far as remembering Georgia, remember Chechnya and Afghanistan too. Russia is good at stomping out freedom and small democracy movements within and on its borders. Problem for them is the Ukraine is not that small and does possess significant military resources that are increasingly in the hands of the citizenry, or local police and military units who will fight. Driving all the way across the Ukraine will destroy the Russian Army. And there are Patriot batteries sitting nearby in Poland that can make the entire area No-Fly for Russia. Plus the scale is a lot larger.

Its a whole nother potato. If Putin is smart he will stick to the Russian areas, and draw a partition line there. And carve out Crimea, which is what it looks like he has already done with those "gunmen" (spetnatz likely) taking over the local parliament there.

Putin is a thug, and so is Russia. Make no bones about it. But a solid punch l slow them down, so that's all the Ukranians have to do. This isn't the Red Army of 56 we are talking about.

Posted by OldSpook 2014-02-27 17:13|| 2014-02-27 17:13|| Front Page Top

#4 As I said last week, Putin's move next.

Bear in mind the geography. Crimea is 400km by land from Russia. Just annexing the Crimea won't be enough.

Posted by phil_b 2014-02-27 18:07|| 2014-02-27 18:07|| Front Page Top

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