Putin's lies and promises

Yesterday, Putin promised that the Ukrainian troops surrounded by Russian troops in Ukraine could retreat through a safe passage corridor. They were then slaughtered as they carried white flags. Putin lied.  We all know he does. That was a war crime.  Putin must be brought to justice.


Then in a call with EU President Jose Manuel Barroso Putin boasted he could take Kiev in two weeks if he wanted to.  Possibly the first truth he has told in years.  He then went on to note that the Kazakhs never had a state. That it was 'created'.  So he is now starting the same kind of rhetoric that predicated his move on Ukraine, and the Kazakhs are worried.  All this while Putin calls for unilateral cease fire in Ukraine with immediate talks about statehood for "Novorossiya."

Meanwhile the maniac Russian colonel Zhirinovsky threatened total annihilation of The Baltics and Poland.  They are clearly plotting a resurrection of the Soviet Union, the passing of which Putin still mourns.

And NATO does nothing. The US does nothing. The EU does nothing.

At least the EU released the second tranche of funding. That's something. But Barack Obama has proven how absolutely weak he is as a leader. He has no credibility and I am so very disappointed and embarrassed to be American - again.  And what's his problem with the word "invasion"?  Does he have a hierarchy of terms to use so as not to upset his dear friend Putin? America means so little on the world stage these days. It has no clout. It has no presence. It has no stature.  And that Sarah Palin proved right in predicting that a weak Obama would enable a strong Putin to invade Ukraine really irks me. All this while he goes fund raising in a new tan suit. The twitter storm about him wearing a tan suit while addressing serious subjects including ISIS and Ukraine attests to the lack of respect. That's the same news conference in which I was appalled to hear him say "America has no strategy". What?  A POTUS admitting he has no strategy?  This is America we're talking about.  We have many great strategists.  Why not ask one or two great minds for some help?  Maybe even Canada could contribute. Eh? At least they've taken a stand. Okay, rant over. Sorry.

It is time for the former soviet states and satellites to band together in a new Anti-Soviet Union. No one is going to step in to defend them or their sovereignty and it is now clear that Putin has goals beyond the current push into Ukraine and beyond what he has taken in Georgia. So their only option is to band together to defend themselves. It's one way to show the world and Putin that they are not going to be ruled by a madman, at least not without a fight, and that they are not asleep while a megalomaniac wreaks havoc on the way to world domination. Perhaps they don't have the power to win against the Russian forces, but together they can demonstrate to the Russian people and the world that it is not their will to be subjugated, and they are not suffering and in need of 'rescue'.  Perhaps the Russian people will wake up, unlike during Hitler's power surge. Perhaps they can survive long enough to outlive Putin's reign, God willing.

Post-Soviet states in English alphabetical order:

1. Armenia; 2. Azerbaijan; 3. Belarus; 4. Estonia;

5. Georgia; 6. Kazakhstan; 7. Kyrgyzstan; 8. Latvia;

9. Lithuania; 10. Moldova; 11. Russia; 12. Tajikistan;

13. Turkmenistan; 14. Ukraine; 15. Uzbekistan

From Wikipedia. 

Of course, of the post-soviet states, all but Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania joined the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).  Nine (Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan and later Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Georgia) also joined the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance from which Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Uzbekistan have since withdrawn.  However, Iran is a candidate for membership and Serbia and Afghanistan are "observers". The Baltic States joined NATO and the EU, Georgia is in intensified negotiations with NATO and Ukraine has opted to remain neutral. Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova formed the GUAM group to counter Russian dominance in the region. It is all quite complicated.  Then there is Syria and ISIS.

And there are the countries that were former soviet satellite states: Albania, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Hungary. Yugoslavia was at one time a member of the Eastern Bloc, too.  All the new states that formed in the post-soviet era are therefore again potentially at risk of Russian domination as a result of contiguous borders. All are either EU members already or on their way to EU membership, as is hopefully Ukraine, threatening the integrity of the CIS. Therein lies Putin's problem.

So who will be next?  After Georgia and Ukraine, will the next to be invaded - incurred? - be the Baltics and Poland or the Balkans?  If Putin goes after an EU member state, will the EU and NATO then take action? Is he going to connect the dots between the Middle East and Russia?

There is a petition circulating to encourage the US to ask NATO to buy the Mistrals that France is building for Russia. Those must not get to Russia. It's one small thing we can personally do right now.  Sign the petition. We have less than a month to make that happen. Other petitions on AVAAZ.org, Change.org, epetitions.direct.gov.uk, and gopetition.com plead with the French to withhold the delivery of the Mistral amphibious assault ships. The US petition encourages a new buyer so France doesn't have to sell to Russia.  Of course the Georgians started a petition to stop supply of Mistrals to Russia in 2009 and that went nowhere.

And by the way Putin, it is not Novorossiya. It is Ukraina. And thank you to Canada and everyone else in the world who has supported Ukraine. Slava Ukraini.