Ukraine Crisis - Page 264

On March 11 2014 06:22 Alzadar wrote:


Not sure if ironic sarcasm, please confirm.

Russia has refused to budge from its seemingly imminent annexation of Crimea, defying Western pressure at the UN Security Council, as Ukraine's ousted president prepared to make his first public appearance in more than a week.

As Kremlin-backed forces tightened their grip on Crimea, Russia rebuffed pressure from Western members of the Security Council on Monday to change course on a secession referendum in the strategic peninsula.

At a Security Council meeting that France's UN ambassador described as "a call to Russia not to go down this road", Western countries' pleas to cancel the Sunday referendum - called by Crimea's self-appointed leaders to decide whether the peninsula should join Russia - fell on deaf ears, diplomats said.

"The Russians are not showing any sign that they are listening to us," said the French envoy, Gerard Araud, warning the crisis was worsening by the day.

British UN envoy Mark Lyall Grant said there had been no "softening of Russia's position" despite widespread consensus the referendum was illegal.

"It is clear that a free and fair referendum cannot be organised when Crimea is controlled by Russian troops," he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's threat to invade Ukraine after a wave of deadly protests toppled a pro-Kremlin regime last month has set off the most explosive crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War.

US President Barack Obama and his European allies are urging Russia to call its troops in Crimea back to their barracks and launch immediate negotiations with the new Ukrainian leadership, which Putin claims took power in an "unconstitutional coup".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Putin in a televised meeting Monday that proposals he had received from US Secretary of State John Kerry "do not suit us very much" and were "framed as if there exists a conflict between Russia and Ukraine".

In a surprise move, he said Russia had prepared its own solution to the crisis, but did not say when it would be unveiled.

Lavrov said Washington was basing its diplomacy on a recognition of Ukraine's new leaders but that Russia still considered the ousted Viktor Yanukovych the legitimate president.

Yanukovych, who fled Ukraine as three months of protests against him turned increasingly bloody, was due to give a statement Tuesday in Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia, his first public appearance since a feisty press conference on February 28 at which he insisted he was still Ukraine's president.

Putin added new urgency to the standoff Sunday by saying he fully backed the actions being taken by Crimea's new rulers - in power since an end-of-February seizure of the government by pro-Kremlin gunmen.

The Kremlin said Putin stressed "the steps undertaken by the legitimate authorities of Crimea are based on the norms of international law" - a comment strongly hinting that Moscow was ready to annex Crimea after handing the peninsula to Ukraine as a "gift" in 1954, when it was part of the Soviet Union.

US ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt told reporters in Kiev on Monday that Washington "is not prepared to recognise any result of the so-called referendum".

The public vote will ask the peninsula's mainly ethnic-Russian population to choose between swearing allegiance to Moscow and declaring greater autonomy from Kiev while remaining part of Ukraine.

Ukraine's interim Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya said that if Crimea's leaders "want more rights and authority, then we are ready to do this".
Source.

On March 11 2014 18:02 SilentchiLL wrote:
The referendum couldn't be stopped anymore anyway I think, no matter what the EU or america would do.

On March 11 2014 18:10 Big J wrote:


I think it could be stopped by a military action against the Crimean paramilitary terrorists. Of course initiated by the Ukraine and not the EU or US.
The problem is that time is running up, after the referendum Russia will claim to protect its territory. Before that, they are at least in a more difficult position.

On March 11 2014 18:10 Big J wrote:


I think it could be stopped by a military action against the Crimean paramilitary terrorists. Of course initiated by the Ukraine and not the EU or US.

On March 11 2014 18:22 SilentchiLL wrote:

Russia would probably intervene immediately to "protect its citizens" in that case.

On March 11 2014 18:10 Big J wrote:


I think it could be stopped by a military action against the Crimean paramilitary terrorists. Of course initiated by the Ukraine and not the EU or US.
The problem is that time is running up, after the referendum Russia will claim to protect its territory. Before that, they are at least in a more difficult position.

On March 11 2014 19:28 kukarachaa wrote:


Well if you gonna call Crimean militia paramilitary terrorists, wouldn't that make Ukraine's current government paramilitary terrorists as well.

On March 11 2014 18:46 cSc.Dav1oN wrote:
Yanukovich can't say two words straightly wihtout paper...THE President, what can I say else :DD

A curious story, and one which should be taken with a mine of salt, has surfaced out of the pro-Russian newspaper Iskra, which reports - so far on an entirely unsubstantiated basis - that last Friday, in a mysterious operation under the cover of night, Ukraine's gold reserves were promptly loaded onboard an unmarked plane, which subsequently took the gold to the US.

From the source:

Tonight, around at 2:00 am, an unregistered transport plane took off took off from Boryspil airport.

According to Boryspil staff, prior to the plane's appearance, four trucks and two cargo minibuses arrived at the airport all with their license plates missing. Fifteen people in black uniforms, masks and body armor stepped out, some armed with machine guns. These people loaded the plane with more than forty heavy boxes.

After this, several mysterious men arrived and also entered the plane. The loading was carried out in a hurry. After unloading, the plateless cars immediately left the runway, and the plane took off on an emergency basis.

Airport officials who saw this mysterious "special operation" immediately notified the administration of the airport, which however strongly advised them "not to meddle in other people's business."

Later, the editors were called by one of the senior officials of the former Ministry of Income and Fees, who reported that, according to him, tonight on the orders of one of the "new leaders" of Ukraine, all the gold reserves of the Ukraine were taken to the United States.
Indicatively, according to the latest IMF figures, Ukraine's official gold holdings are just over 40 tons, having doubled in the past decade:

Indicatively, according to the latest IMF figures, Ukraine's official gold holdings are just over 40 tons, having doubled in the past decade:

So just more disinformation and propaganda surrounding the Ukraine, or something more? GATA has submitted an inquiry into the New York Fed to get official denial (because it certainly won't get a confirmation) from the Liberty 33 folks.

Of course, the best source of validation, and refutation, of this story would be the people of Ukraine, alas since not even Americans are entitled to observe how much gold is in Fort Knox, somehow we doubt that the Central Bank of Ukraine will be any more lenient in providing visiting and viewing hours for its much more compact gold inventory. Especially since the local population is far more busy celebrating its "liberation" by western powers.

We hope, for their sake, they weren't also just "liberated" of all their gold, which after a brief stay 80 feet below the surface at 33 Liberty, will promptly find its way either to the Bundesbank, or to the billionaire oligarchs, based either in London or elsewhere, and currently in charge of "post-liberation" Ukraine.

Finally, putting this into perspective, 40 tons of gold is roughly what China imports every ten days.

On March 11 2014 19:53 Big J wrote:


Why? Noone forced Yanukovich to run away. I mean sure, he may have been imprisoned, but that's like saying you "force a bankrobber and murderer to run away by trying to imprison him for the things he has done".
Yanukovich ran and the parliament did what it has to do when their leaders have become unable to rule.

But even if we say the true president is still Yanukovich, the current government in the Ukraine does not and has not used paramilitairs for their cause. They are now using the legitim executive and army powers, none of which are of terroristic or paramilitary origin.
So yeah, you may call the government illegimate, but not not paramilitary terrorists. Meanwhile the Russian troops on Crimea are paramilitairs because they are a military organisation that wears no official signs and small groups of people overtaking military posts from the legimate army is a very terroristic act as far as I know. (unlike a large group of demonstrants overtaking a parliament, which is not a terroristic act, that's a revolution)

On March 11 2014 20:57 kukarachaa wrote:


I think you misunderstood me, I never said Yanukovich is the true president. Just seems hypocritical that you think its ok to raise arms against Yanukovich government, but if you raise arms against the government that overthrew him its not ok.

On March 11 2014 20:12 zeo wrote:

But did he lose Crimea?
Yanukovych 1:0 Junta

On March 11 2014 20:57 kukarachaa wrote:


I think you misunderstood me, I never said Yanukovich is the true president. Just seems hypocritical that you think its ok to raise arms against Yanukovich government, but if you raise arms against the government that overthrew him its not ok.

On March 11 2014 21:07 Big J wrote:


That's not waht I said. I already said that what happened in Kiev is completely different from what is happening on Crimea. The first one was a people's revolution, the second one is foreign guys with guns taking over power.