The Russian menace has receded from the Ukrainian border - Hagel

"Russia has withdrawn thousands of its troops massed on the border with Ukraine, even as violence escalated inside that country between government troops and pro-Russian separatists, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday.

Hagel called the withdrawal “promising” but said that thousands of troops remained of the 40,000 Russia moved to the border in recent months. “They are not where they need to be and won’t be until all of their troops . . . are gone,” he said."  Washpost

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To quote a Mexican senora from some old Western, "Que Hombre muy macho!"

Hagel seem to have missed the fact that these Russian troops are on their own territory in Russia. Seven battalions remain near the border?  With their headquarters and support troops that would be about 5,000 men.  The Ukraineans are afraid of that?

The whole "Russian Army threatens invasion" meme seems to have gone "bust."  Too bad.  The psywar contractors in Washington will have to come with new baloney.  pl  

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russia-has-withdrawn-most-troops-from-ukraine-border-hagel-says/2014/05/29/314b4962-e7a6-11e3-afc6-a1dd9407abcf_story.html

Comments

[Valissa]

For your edification and amusement…

Bilderberg on Ukraine: military chiefs, arms bosses and billionaire speculators --
A gathering of those who stand to make a killing out of knowing where and when the bombs might fall, how many and on whom http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/31/bilderberg-ukraine-summit

…out popped the secretary general of Nato, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, aka "the Fogh of War". Rasmussen always makes me chuckle, because in every photo we've got of him he looks so incredibly vain. Like a miniature Fonz. Rasmussen was travelling with quite an entourage, one of whose jackets flapped open to reveal his firearm. Rasmussen's bodyguards were there, of course, to try and keep the heads of Airbus and Saab from throwing themselves at him, begging for a nice big war.

[Fred]

Col., great photo. If only Custer and the 7th had been mounted on those.

[ISL]

Fred: I agree great photo selection!

Saker reports the anti Kiev forces seem to be finding very nice hardware to defend their interests. Given that 0.000002% of Ukraine owns 85% of the country, instability could easily spread more widely, right to European borders without any invasion needed.

[Valissa]

Interesting Russian strategic analysis of the Ukrainian situation translated and posted over at Saker's site...

Why there is no intervention of the Russian Federation in the Ukraine http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2014/06/translation-of-must-read-article-of.html

One of the links in that piece is to some Wikileaks info from 2008 https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08MOSCOW265_a.html , where 2 things are very clear. One - Lavrov and Dmitri Trenin (of the Carnegie Moscow Center) warned of the consequences of Ukraine being drawn into NATO. Two - The Russians must have been contingency planning this scenario since that time.

This next bit is admittedly a little fanciful on my part, but I couldn't resist ;)

Russophile purged from the White House?
Obama's spokesman Jay Carney unexpectedly resigns http://rt.com/usa/162632-obama-spokesman-carney-unexpectedly-resigns/

Some snippets from Carney's bio at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Carney
"... earned a B.A. cum laude in Russian and Eastern European Studies from Yale University, in 1987."

"Carney worked as a correspondent in Time's Moscow Bureau for three years, covering the collapse of the U.S.S.R.."

Some very "shocking" news here...

Here Are The Two Soviet Propaganda Posters Hanging In The White House Press Secretary's Home http://www.businessinsider.com/soviet-propaganda-posters-jay-carney-2014-4#ixzz33OsAl0IS
Carney and Shipman have a lot of history with Russia. They met in Moscow in the 1990s while he was writing for Time and she worked for CNN. Carney did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider Friday.

I have to say that I found the timing and circumstances of Carney's resignation odd. One article mentioned that Obama came and interrupted him at a press briefing to make the announcement.

[FB Ali]

Yes, an amusing piece. And also instructive in that, in describing this gathering of the European chapter of the War Party, it highlights the many who make money from war, the preparing for it and its waging.

[Fred]

It seems that Secretary of State Kerry didn't give that memo to 'our' oligarch Porshenko, who says Ukraine (the new, new Ukraine) will never give up Crimea:

http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKBN0EI09U20140608

"Poroshenko's speech drew an ovation from guests at a ceremony attended by Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and senior EU officials."
"On a visit to France, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington hoped for a reduction in Russia-Ukraine tensions in the next few days, including a possible ceasefire."

Hurrah, we'll fight to the last American! But not to worry says John Kerry. Didn't he listen to the Ukrainian President's speech, or does he think that it is just puffery like Obama's? Why did we ever agree to defend these people should they provoke a war with a nuclear armed nation?