Cool head on Russia/Putin military intervention in Ukraine
Nikolai Starikov, co-chair of Russia’s Party of Great Fatherland
16.6.2014, abridged translation by Piotr Bein
It is difficult to assess S.E. Ukraine events without emotions, while cities are being shelled and civilians killed. How is it possible that Slaviansk resists so long? Perhaps ammunition keeps coming in. Russia’s internet is divided into the following positions, both devoid of common sense and statesmanship thinking:
1. Since Russia does not actively support S.E. Ukraine, Putin is a traitor.
2. Russia should have sent troops to Ukraine, so Putin is a traitor.
Facts
Ukrainian army and hastily created National Guard are attacking Novorussia, who does not wish to live under the rule of those who carried out the coup in Kiev. They bomb, fire from heavy artillery, but can’t take anymore … Two months have passed since April 16, 2014, when insurgents captured several armoured vehicles and brought them into the city. Armed with modern technology, junta forces can’t conquer a city controlled by a group of daredevils. Without outside help? C’mon! Where has the amunition been coming from for 2 months? Not only ammo and grenades: insurgents have man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS), since the time Ukrainian choppers began to fall. Of a total 19 operating helicopters, only 10 are left. Why did fighter jets stop flying over Donetsk?
Perhaps insurgents captured truckloads of MANPADS? C’mon – why would junta drag them into a war zone, when insurgents don’t have any airforce?
Do you entrust your only 6 MANPADS to fresh recruits? Nobody helps Novorussia. Absolutely no one. J It is solely for the sake of refugees that insurgents take control of hundreds of kilometers of Russia-Ukraine border, so that mothers and children can safely and conveniently move to Russia. J
How did the Lugansk republic acquire 3 tanks? T-64 can’t come from a monument pedestal. T-34 could…
Our American “partners” think differently than emotional Russians:
“The United States believes that Russia transferred to separatists in E. Ukraine heavy weapons and military equipment, incl. Russian tanks and multiple rocket launchers.” – US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf. According to her, the US has information that Russia brought out-of-service tanks to a S.W. Russian point, and some of these tanks recently moved to Ukraine. Yesterday, the three tanks crossed Ukrainian border from Russia, Harf said, referring to the government of Ukraine.
Another argument of “denounces” of Russian government are interviews with insurgent commander Igor Strelkov, in charge of Slaviansk defense. His statements are invariable: No people nor equiment for the fight. After a couple of months, everyday with the last bullet, junta forces still cannot enter Slaviansk. Reality gap.
Strelkov’s interviews give Russia an alibi. Russia must not be a party to the conflict, only then it is able to efficiently pressure Kiev diplomatically, while the junta and USA do everything to draw Russia into the war: intentionally kill civilians — bomb from airplanes, shell from heavy artillery batteries, do not secure humanitarian corridorors, seize Russian embassy, rude negotiations, do not pay for the gas, encroach on Russian territory in fights… soon might shell Russia, by accident of course.
Russia has handed over Gadaffi – by providing no arms, no diplomatic support. But to Syria’s Assad, Russia shipped arms from the beginning. Unable to cope, rebel radicals moved to Iraq. It does not make a difference, from where to start to build much-needed UA Islamic caliphate!
Novorussia insurgency ranks grow, weapons flow in, causing junta’s great anxiety and Western patrons’ stream of accusations and threats against Kremlin.
”Russia should send troops to Ukraine”
Do you want Russia to introduce its army onto the territory of another state whose government is not asking for it? Mind you, it’s a government that no serious state has recognized yet and hardly controls the capital cities of its republics (e.g. Donetsk and Lugansk airports).
Do you want Russia to impose a no-fly zone over Novorussia? Will UN pass a resolution authorizing such zone and troops deployment? I believe US and UK would veto. Russia’s actions would not be legitimized at the international level, and would be simply called aggression. True, West not always had UN resolutions before it invaded, but no state dares to challenge its mighty forces. Suppose that we have UN green light. Are you sure Russia has completed her military upgrading? And what if US and NATO impose a no-fly zone on our no-fly zone in Ukraine?
So in fact it is only the US who need a war, are waiting for it. Let’s not give them this gift. Let’s put cool thinking before emotions.
What about Russia’s food security in case of sanctions? And I understand you will also talk to mothers of soldiers who will die. Will you also take responsibility for the military intervention in face of the whole nation, who, a week after it, will start asking why our boys are dying in the hands of Ukrainian brothers?
Аnd who would support us in that war against the whole world? Belarus and Kazakhstan ”can’t” wait for a war with NATO. Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia? They could refuse to help, since by law Russia is not yet the victim of aggression, but would be the aggressor if it intervened in Ukraine.
Only an idiot would go into a military conflict in which you immediately are an aggressor, without allies, without the ultimate goal, with the prospect of instant internal problems. Most important: do you think you will watch this war on TV? At best, you’ll listen about it on the radio, planting potatoes in the fields. At worst – you will see the war from the trenches.
Summary
Today we see a new wave of info-war against Russia and President Putin. Since he has personally confused West’s map of the Ukrainian crisis and more than once in other areas (Syria, Iran), to compromise and remove Putin from office is Russia enemies’ most urgent task for.
To attack Putin, ANY occasion is suitable to sow discontent. If he does not send troops – bad. If he does, blame war victims on him – he could have sent the military right away to prevent casualties, couldn’t he. Has he sent the troops right away – he is guilty of embroiling Russia in war, instead of using diplomacy, and so has no moral right to remain in power. Any action will be taken negatively, no matter what Putin does. Red herring on “surrending S.E. Ukraine” is a convenient excuse to start the attack by liberals and the fifth column, by patriots and nationalists, alike. Convenient, but lacking sense and understanding of the devastating effects on Russia.
You just need to understand that the USA have started the destruction of Ukraine not for its own sake, and will not stop short of our borders. Ukraine is a means to destroy Russia – their main goal. Today’s Ukraine and our 20th century history tell us that destruction of a country always begins with the destruction of its government – by ruining its reputation in the eyes of the nation. Why help the enemies of Russia?
Russian world extends beyond Russian Federation boundaries. Ukraine is Russian world and today she was attacked. We have the right to respond to this aggression.
What do USA want? They choke on the huge public debt of over $18.5 trillion growing at accelerated pace. They suffocate politically, too, as seen in Iraq. US-paid and -armed mercenaries left Syria for Iraq, while America cannot conquer al-Assad. The US can no longer manage all crises and urgently need a large war. Mass bankruptcy of companies around the world, the collapse of US bonds, indices and inflated securities – trillions of virtual dollars burned. A major war would nullify US national debt. US military-industrial complex and US economy would receive new orders from all over the world. This is their chance to get out of peak national debt and imminent bankruptcy.
We do not need this war, avoiding the conflict strengthens us. But as Donbass people perish, Russian leadership has a choice between a bad and a very bad decision: either hundreds of people will die, or — hundreds thousands if not millions perish.A cruel choice, it is real politics. Russia can either help Novorussian Ukraine implement de-nazification policy, or herself become embroiled in a military conflict on the territory of Ukraine. US need the latter option, provoking it in every way possible: Yatsenyuk’s sudden arrogant rhetoric on gas price, mayhem of our embassy, the killing of civilians, use of prohibited weapons…
So don’t go for that option. Our enemies need full-scale war involving Russia. Herein come the Islamist radical fighters from Syrian war: 50 to 70 thousand of them would be “recycled” to Ukraine.
Americans set Ukraine on fire to burn down the entire Russian world. Let’s not forget about it…
Source: Nikolai Starikov Blog