Stephen Cohen makes sense. He always did...

"...  diplomats cautioned that stumbling blocks remain , including the highly charged issue of whether recent land gains made by separatists would be recognized as part of a cease-fire agreement. And there is skepticism that Moscow and the separatists would adhere to a deal . A previous accord reached in Minsk last September — which aimed to create a demilitarized zone and deliver more autonomy for the rebel-held lands — was routinely violated before largely breaking down in recent weeks."  Washpost

--------------

Stephen Cohen was on GPS this Sunday.  He shared a panel on Zakariya's show with several "squirrels" who were quite infected with the delusion that the US rules the world as the manifestation of man's future perfection and destiny.  They asserted confidently that Russia must be pressured by the US and Europe until it submits to a brave new world order in which armies, air forces and navies are mere instruments of diplomacy used to push errant childlike states into line. The assertion was heard once again that spheres of influence are things long past in the 21st Century.

Cohen, with his usual perspicacity and determination refused to accept this baloney and pressed the "squirrels" to contemplate the size of Russia's nuclear capability and the risk of backing such a power into a corner from which it cannot escape except through lashing out at its tormentors or falling to its knees in submission.

The Germans and the French have wisely refused to participate in placing such pressure on Russia.  Merkel says that under no circumstances will Germany arm the Kiev government.  This must be a great cause for frustration for Victoria Nuland and other such people who think of international relations as a schoolyard game of domination among cliques.

Merkel is here in Washington now to try talk some sense into "Obama's Girls" as SWMBO calls Obama's clique.  pl  

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/joint-summit-on-ukraine-crisis-could-herald-breakthrough-on-peace-deal/2015/02/08/82df7f4e-af8f-11e4-854b-a38d13486ba1_story.html

Comments

[Bandolero]

anna-marina
My opinion: The story of Benjamin Fulford is nonsense.

MRW
My opinion: Most people in Donbass don't care much about "providing the Donbass with a special status." They want that no more shells fly into their homes. People on both sides of the "line of contact" blaming the Kiev side for the continuing of the shooting.

See here a report from Ukrainian TV from Avdeevka - north of Donetsk under Kiev control where children spit at the Ukrainian TV team:

http://youtu.be/kIkozhDwrI8

See here a report from Ukrainian TV from Chaste - north of Lugansk under Kiev control where people tell the TV more politely that they hate the Kiev aggressors:

http://youtu.be/CAfquZENjjg

See here a report from Novorossiya TV from Pervomaisk - northwest of Lugansk under Novorossiya control where people say Putin shall do anything to stop Kiev shelling their homes whatever it takes:

http://youtu.be/T6nRh88LTzE

Ukrainian President Poroshenko didn't help to suppress the idea that Kiev forces are responsible for shelling the people of Donbass when he in last autumn publicly declared that the children of Donbass will sit in basements and that's how Kiev will win the war:

http://youtu.be/aHWHqj8g7Bk

So I think what the people of Donbass want from the Minsk agreement is much more simple than "providing the Donbass with a special status." It's simply to stop shelling - and they blame Kiev for doing that in violation of that agreement. The recent conquests of territory by Novorossiya forces the people of Donbass see as pushing Kievs forces further away from their homes so that they can't shell them anymore in violation of the Minsk agreement, so that their children can come out of the basements.

georgeg
I have to confess I'm flattened by this complete suppression of the news in western MSM over almost a day. I've read things about "Operation Mockingbird" and the "Mighty Wurlitzer" so I have no propblems to accept the idea that news in the free press of the free worls are nowadays centrally managed in a way that resembles somehow what many Germans know from history lessons under the point "Gleichschaltung."

However what I can't get is what those who control the western media want to achieve by suppressing such news as the defeat of the Ukrainian forces in Debaltsevo. Is it just that Kiev said that bringing that news would be catastrophic for the pro-western Kiev government and so it was suppressed? Or is it that the news was suppressed because it should not disturb Merkel and Obama to agree a "moderate path" against Russia? I have no idea. Seriously.

And, of course, I also have to say, I don#t believe that suppressing news and reality is a long-term successful strategy. BBC just reported:

Rebels claim to encircle Ukraine troops in Debaltseve

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31332524

Much of the information given there is - I think - nonsense, but after the BCC broke the story - with some 18 hour delay - I expect that all hell will break loose today in the western world.

[confusedponderer]

The quote may be apocryphal. I have read it being assigned to Napoleon also. Anyway, I'm rather sure you mean this guy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_von_Hammerstein-Equord

An interesting man.

The full quote is:

"I divide my officers into four groups. There are clever, diligent, stupid, and lazy officers. Usually two characteristics are combined. Some are clever and diligent -- their place is the General Staff. The next lot are stupid and lazy -- they make up 90 percent of every army and are suited to routine duties. Anyone who is both clever and lazy is qualified for the highest leadership duties, because he possesses the intellectual clarity and the composure necessary for difficult decisions. One must beware of anyone who is stupid and diligent -- he must not be entrusted with any responsibility because he will always cause only mischief"

I assume he factored in blindly ambitious under stupid.

[jld]

The Saker who is certainly more than enough nutty to be worthy of plausible deniability promoted two hysterical war propaganda videos:
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.fr/2015/02/social-warning-from-russia-we-are-ready.html
I am wondering about the exact meaning of this, that is, how much of an "authorised unofficial" voice is he for this message to convey the Russian position?

[Castellio]

from your lips, etc..

[Chicoreajackson]

Jld, the Saker may be a bit sentimental, but nutty? Plausible deniability? He did not promote those videos but used them as an example of the public mood within Russia. Your innuendo is quite transparent.

[anna-marina]

There was a disclaimer in the beginning of my post, 'It sounds like a fantasy...."
This is why I asked for other readers' opinion

[anna-marina]

Saker is no more nutty than some Guardian (or CNN or Fox News) journalists that receive a broad and visible platform for expressing their opinions. Saker seems to me an honorable man, which cannot be said about the mass of MSM presstitutes.

[Charles I]

Obviously there is a lot of money and bureaucratic empire turf etc up for grabs in a war this big, all conspiracy theories aside, cui bono?

[Charles I]

Well, there's content and there's source, each have their several meanings. I find the Saker has quoted Putin and Lavrov consistent statements over many years. Whatever the root source, that content has been ignored or shouted down.

But if we seem ready to risk war over there, why be surprised that the locals muse over it at home too? Particularly given our repeatedly demonstrated refusal to inform ourselves of what we are getting into, whereas they are already in it, and under political and economic attack for playing sphere-of-influence realpolitik in their front yard. Remember the Cuban Missile Crisis?

[kao_hsien_chih]

jld,

I don't think Saker is exactly "nutty," but he seems to be a part of the Russian ultranationalist tradition that got their country involved in various Balkan Wars throughout 19th century, all the way through World War I. His sympathies certainly seem to lie, at least to me, with the more bombastic (and thankfully, mostly now "former") leaders of the Novorossiyans, who were as guilty of ratcheting up the crisis as the lunatics in Kiev.

[rjj]

How does Saker's "nutty hysteria" compare with histrionics and rhetorical wallowing after the Boston Marathon bombing: more? less? about the same?

[Castellio]

Yours is an interesting observation. I think many people found their way to his site precisely to listen to whole speeches by Lavrov and Putin, and to hear some kind of analysis of those speeches, rather than immediate denigration.

[Castellio]

I'm curious what one word term you might accept to identify the US tradition of recent and on-going wars?

Ultranationalist?

[Castellio]

I keep wondering why Nuland wasn't fired?

Her policy has been a disaster for Ukraine, and will become a disaster for the US in Europe. She's reliably quoted as saying "F*ck the EU" and they are, I imagine, quite aware of the contempt in which she holds them. Even Sarkozy, of all people, suggests that you can't blame the Crimeans for choosing Russia. The Ukrainian people themselves are beginning to hold her and the US responsible for their misery, and that feeling will only spread.

Why is Nuland in the same position? Why wasn't she, at the very least, moved sideways?

Seriously, is Nuland a spokesperson for the administration, or is Obama a spokesperson for those who actively run the administration, knowing they can discount him?

[kao_hsien_chih]

Castellio,

I'd describe the current US tradition as mad unviersalist Jacobinism. Ultranationalism is a few notches below this on madness. Compared to these bozos, Putin and his realist advisors are not at all mad, even if unpleasant and gruff--these are folk that can be dealt with within reason.

[bth]

With Saker the question always is who the heck is he? How does he produce so much content daily and keep it grammar perfect? And it must be great to have multiple language spin offs. Not bad for supposedly one anonymous guy in Florida. There are an astonishing amount of pro Russian blogs, forum commentators, and Youtube postings that have emerged in the last year.

[Charles I]

Don't get me wrong, Saker is an eloquent and fervent denigrator, and he is, as kao_hsien_chih opines an ultra-nationalist of apocalyptic bent, yet just because you're paranoid don't mean they're not out there

[Charles I]

My MP's exec assistant, this is the Government side mind you, recently made an accusation of partisanship upon me quoting a Cabinet minister to her.

[rjj]

cp: What German word translated to "clever"?

[jld]

Huh?
What was wrong with my reply to Chicoreajackson that it didn't make it past moderation?

[rjj]

are you thinking possibly.... I mean, like, [italics >] hasbara??????

[William R. Cumming]

Next up?

This article is about the modern state. For the principality, see Moldavia. For other uses, see Moldova (disambiguation).

Republic of Moldova

Capital and largest city Flagge-Chisinau-01-10.png Chișinău
47°0′N 28°55′E

Official languages
Romaniana

Demonym
Moldovan

Government
Unitary parliamentary
republic
- President Nicolae Timofti
- Prime Minister Iurie Leancă
- President of the Parliament Andrian Candu

Legislature
Parliament

Independence from the USSR

- Sovereignty declared 23 June 1990
- Independence declared 27 August 1991b
- Constitution adopted 29 July 1994

Area

- Total 33,846 km2 (138th) 13,067 sq mi
- Water (%) 1.4

Population

- 2014 estimate 2,913,281(excluding Transnistria) (133rd)
- 2004 census 3,383,332(excluding Transnistria)
3,938,679 (including Transnistria)
- Density 105/km2 (101st)
272/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2015 estimate
- Total $14.820 billion
- Per capita $4,177
GDP (nominal) 2015 estimate
- Total $8.738 billion
- Per capita $2,456[7]
Gini (2010) positive decrease 33.0
medium HDI (2013) Increase 0.663[9]
medium · 114th

Currency
Moldovan leu (MDL)

Time zone
EET (UTC+2)
- Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)

Drives on the
right

Calling code
+373

Patron saint
Saint George

Internet TLD
.md
a. As determined by the Moldovan Declaration of Independence, which the Constitutional court of Moldova found to take precedence over Article 13 of the Constitution, which uses the name "Moldovan".
b. Date of proclamation. Independence subsequently finalized with the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991.

Moldova Listeni/mɔːlˈdoʊvə/, officially the Republic of Moldova (Romanian: Republica Moldova pronounced [reˈpublika molˈdova] ( listen)), also known as Moldavia, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe located between Romania to its west and Ukraine to its north, east and south. Its capital city is Chișinău.

Moldova declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991 as part of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. A new constitution was adopted on 29 July 1994. A strip of Moldova's internationally recognized territory on the east bank of the river Dniester has been under the de facto control of the breakaway government of Transnistria since 1990.

As a result of a decrease in industrial and agricultural output since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the relative size of the service sector in Moldova's economy has grown to dominate its GDP and currently stands at over 60%. Moldova remains, however, the poorest country in Europe.

Moldova is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of government. It is, among other organizations, a member state of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). The country aspires to join the European Union and, to this end, has implemented an initial three-year action plan within the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP).

[kao_hsien_chih]

With regards people mouthing about Moldova and Russia,

I think any discussion of Moldova as "next up" would be completely misleading and silly: the region has been a mess even before World War I. I suppose the same people would have said that the question of the Polish Corridor, Alsace-Lorraine, or Teschen/Cieszyn/Tesin or any other old territorial disputes "just" came up when they began paying attention. The same boost in outside attention, though, will doubtlessly provoke troublemakers on both sides to stir up even more problems--all the more reason to calm things down sooner than later.

[Aka]

bth,
well saker has explained that he was a sort of a "russia expert" in a "three letter" European "agency" who was forced to resign and now resides (a legal alien. not a citizen) in US.

[confusedponderer]

Klug.