The purple assed mandrill of peace

The purple assed mandrill of peace (TPAMOP)

""Putin has issued his own peace plan for eastern Ukraine, calling on the Russian-backed insurgents there to "stop advancing" and urging Ukraine to withdraw its troops from the region.

Putin, speaking in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator, said he came up with a 7-point peace plan on the plane trip there in which Kiev must withdraw its troops and stop its artillery strikes.

"The warring parties should immediately coordinate and do the following things together," Putin said in televised comments. "The first thing is for the armed forces and insurgents of the south-east of Ukraine to stop active advancing in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

"Second is for the Ukrainian military to withdraw their troops at a safe distance that will make artillery and other strikes on populated areas impossible," he added.""  Telegraph

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 Here it is, folks, the "off ramp" we all have been looking for.  TPAMOP is cautiously eyeing this new thing from his lair deep in the bush.  Why has the chocolate mogul agreed to this?  Simple - As I have written recently, the Ukie forces drove forward with great enthusiasm to their own doom and now are surrounded in pockets all over SE Ukraine.  Yes, the great Prussian Gerd's musings over "culminating points" have proven fruitful yet again.

Will the United States let the world "off the hook" by accepting this outcome?  Perhaps it will not.  The lure of the Children's Crusader vision of a future devoid of schoolyard bullies may prove too strong to ignore.  NATO exercizes are planned. Speeches have been made.  Grand posturing has taken place.   Obama wills it!   pl 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/11071806/Ukraine-permanent-ceasefire-agreed-says-Petro-Poroshenko.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/11071852/Ukraine-ceasefire-live.html

Comments

[Aka]

Well it seems the media has spun the story.

Choc-King is saying "not really" now.

Rebels ask what ceasefire.

And Putin says "it is something that Choc-king should discuss with the Pro-Russians"

http://rt.com/news/184716-poroshenko-ceasefire-ukraine-putin/

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/ukraine-president-cease-fire-russia-agreed-article-1.1925825

[Eliot]

Col. Lang,

There is an inescapable religiosity in their thinking.

I worry that Poroshenko may find his hands tied, if not by Washington then by domestic politics. Would the right wing parties tolerate a peace deal? Or would they sprint back to Kiev with their militias, as Yarosh promised to do in August.

- Eliot

[Tyler]

Is it just me or do Jen Psaki and Josh Earnest come across as the type of people still mad that despite Daddy's money they couldn't get nominated prom queen or make the wedgies stop (respectively).

We are being run by the people who got picked last at dodgeball and never got over it.

[The Twisted Genius]

pl,

TPAMOP... I love it! Let's see who ventures forth from the Dark Tower of DC this time to steel the nerves of the junta. Perhaps Nuland, Biden and Brennan will all fly into Kiev this time.

Another old warrior sees the lunacy of the situation. Lech Walesa, the hero of Gdansk, has said the EU should not send weapons to Ukraine. "It could lead to a nuclear war," he said. "The EU is well aware that Russia has nuclear weapons. NATO has them too. Must we then destroy each other?" I wonder how this went over in Poland? Piotr?

[oth]

Stormin Joe apparenlty going to Syria:

"(CNN) -- Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday issued a sharp warning to ISIS militants, saying after the United States is done grieving the death of two American journalists, their killers will have to answer for their actions.

"They should know we will follow them to the gates of hell until they are brought to justice," he forcefully told an audience at an event on the New Hampshire-Maine border. "Because hell is where they will reside. Hell is where they will reside."

[DanBradburd]

Col.

Lead editorial in today's on-line NY Times writes of curbing Putin's 'expansionism.' And, bringing the Ukraine into NATO is not expansionist? I do not know what is really happening, but I can see that the language used to describe the situation is Orwellian.

[Matthew]

Tyler: They strike me as people who are permanently offended that anyone would not want to be them.

The Chocolate King probably has as many scorpions in his cabinet as does Netanyahu, so this ceasefire probably will collapse anyway.

[toto]

Moscow Times predict a "frozen conflict" a la Transdniestria:

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/art_n_ideas/article/frozen-conflict-in-sight-for-ukraines-east/506404.html

Looks like it.

[Matthew]

oth: Considering that the alleged murderer is a British Muslim, Biden merely needs to follow them to Bradford, Birmingham, or the Finchley Park Mosque. Hell requires too many transfers on the Tube.

[ToivoS]

I suppose Obama's speech in Estonia where he said Nato should provide military aid to Ukraine is the signal that the US is now going to double down (in Ukrainian blood) in the face of the Ukrainian army's defeat the last 10 days. Poroshenko was probably given explicit instructions to back off of any "lasting ceasefire" from Washington.

What happens if a Ukrainian army freshly equipped by Nato continues to be defeated in battle? All of that weaponry did not seem to do much good for the Iraqi army. This is a very dangerous move by Obama. He would lose a little face if he was willing to accept Putin's ceasefire plan. He will lose much more face if Ukraine continues to lose with direct Nato backing. There would be no more levels of escalation to save face in that situation that did not involve Nato troops inside Ukraine.

[Fred]

Yet another of my friends in academia pronounced his ringing endorsement of Obama's pledge to defend Lithuania because with its capital being only a twelve hour drive to Moscow "American boots on the ground" will "keep Vladimir from having any funny ideas". Living in fantasy land with no obligation to serve sure seems to do the trick though.

[Max]

nu-uh. As an acronym it doesn't work; it's unpronounceable. Also, why "purple-assed mandrill". What does one have to do with the other?

[VietnamVet]

Colonel,

Vladimir Putin threw out a lifeline. Is Barack Obama smart enough to save his ass a second time and ours too?

LBJ didn’t want to be the first President to lose a war. Gerald Ford had that honor. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars aren’t lost yet; America is still fighting there. Pride no doubt will win out and the White House will try to avoid being labeled: “Worst President Ever”.

On the other hand, the Peter Principle states that Managers rise to the level of their incompetence. This faded into history and “Networking” became the latest lexicon. I will grant it is total incompetency that has allowed the resurrection of the Islamic Caliphate and placing the world one mistake away from a nuclear holocaust. But there must be evil people who brought us to Hell’s Gate. My personal favorite are Wall Street and the City of London financiers; the Masters of the Universe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bonfire_of_the_Vanities

[Piotr, Poland]

Walesa is not the expert on Russia. We still remember his very strange behaving during Soviet Army withdrawal from Poland (it was his Presidency time, begin of 90's). He tried to stop this withdrawal! So he is not well informed man in PL/RUS nuances of situation, to say the least, and being polite for him.

Putin's "peace proposal" is built on imposing acceptation of "Novorussia" on Ukraine i.e accepting by Ukrainians being Russian protectorate:

http://www.carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/?fa=56518

Let's assume UKR do it now. Do you think Putin will stop? In UKR yes. He would be the winner. But Putin rides the heavy nationalism horse now. It's very difficult to stop this horse - its bronco.
After victory in UKR he'll tell to Russians: NATO is teethless Dog. It barks a lot, but not bites.
His next move will be to strenghen the pressure on Baltic States. He will try how far he can go unstopped - this is typical Russian logic, when they're winning the situation.
Why not try to create the new "Novorussia" in Estonia for example? They have near 30% Russian speaking minority, so its very easy to do if Putin would want to.
OK - they are NATO members, Article 5 etc; but we Poles had british warranties in 1939 too, and all we know I hope, who helped us (nobody).

Are you really ready for military aid to Estonia or would you say: who cares about this funny easteuropean names? Russia is nuclear power! Let's not tease the Bear?
We East Europeans are still second class NATO members, maybe not worth of dying for them?

And if not in Estonia, where would you change your mind and decide to tell Putin: Hey guy, thats enough!Stop! Could it be Austria or even more Western country?
Old polish saying is "Apetite grows during the eating" And Putins apetite grows much bigger now seeing how undecided and divided the West is.

If you want real peace in Eastern Europe, you can't give absolute Victory to Putin, which is your idea, if I understand you correctly. That would provoke him to go one step further. No reaction? Another step further etc. Somewhere you would have to say Enough! But believe me - longer you hesitate, bigger the cost will be.
Putin will win Ukrainian situation. I understand geopolitical reality quite well. Poroshenko game is "how to lose the least to Russia"? But Putin's victory have to be enough expensive to him to make him well understand this: "Next step further wouldn't be tolerated at all!"

[turcopolier]

Max

If the poesy does not sing for you I cannot help you, pl

[FB Ali]

All,

Piotr Poland displays in all its glory the epidemic of hysteria sweeping the West, among its leaders no less than its publics. His argument is based on a fixed belief in the evil, expansionist motives of Putin and Russia. No facts or argument can shake or change it. It is a faith akin to religion.

The huge changes within Russia in the last few decades, the rise of NATO, its relentless creep towards the Russian border, the US colossus that overshadows the world, with its military tentacles spread over all the continents, the origin of the recent wars in Serbia, Afghanistan and Iraq, none of these make the slightest difference to the faith of these believers.

Nor does it ever occur to them that perhaps they are being manipulated by interests that are pursuing their own agenda. They drink the Koolaid and march bravely on to their doom - and ours. And of the people who manipulate them and pursue these policies, proving thereby that they are the biggest fools of all.

[Babak Makkinejad]

All:

2 Pieces on Ukraine:

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/how-we-won-the-cold-war-lost-the-peace-11197

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/eastern-ukraine-the-neverending-crisis-11181

Very sensible but ignored.

[SamuelBurke]

oth

How many days does the White house sit grieving? is it seven days?

[oofda]

Fred,
American 'boots on the ground' only a twelve-hour drive from Moscow is precisely WHY the Russians have a problem. They feel that they have been lied to by the West with NATO expansion into the former Soviet states. A Ukraine in NATO is something that they simly cannot allow.

[Seamus Padraig]

Orwell--I love it!

Oceana is at war with Eurasia!
Oceana has always been at war with Eurasia!

[turcopolier]

rick

Why do you think this is an acronym? pl

[toto]

I note that in the first piece, the author is blaming NATO for not "assisting" Russia against Georgia.

Apparently in all seriousness.

[toto]

I suspect that Polish perspectives on Russian motives will be quite different from the ones we may derive from a comfortable distance.

[Fred]

oofda,

I certainly get that, my friends with the phd's and academic sinecures don't.

[Charles I]

Novorussia seems Putin's immediate plan, explicitly articulated, reported, ignored. Want me to stop shooting? Withdraw and let me consolidate my new state. Otherwise, talk to "the rebels, I got nothing for ya, I'm still at home, where I belong, 14 days march from Kiev. . . .

Seems pretty clear to me. Fight on or f*** off. Call my clerk for an appointment.

So lets now bulk up on his border for a war we can't easily fight, don't need and sane people don't want. . .

I'm at the cottage and the Head of Nato Anders whatsisname wafts over the radio touting Ukrainian accession to Nato, I'm lookin' in the bushes for Orson Welles