In a world of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act, George Orwell

Indignez-vous ! Stéphane Hessel

“Le courage c’est de chercher la vérité et de la dire ; c’est de ne pas subir la loi du mensonge triomphant qui passe, et de ne pas faire écho, de notre âme, de notre bouche et de nos mains aux applaudissements imbéciles et aux huées fanatiques ”.” – Djordje Kuzmanovic




vendredi 28 novembre 2014

Blog post: Crimean Russia snippet [eng]



November 2014

"We are very concerned with the militarisation of Crimea," NATO top general Breedlove said, following his recent meetings with Kiev. [1]  Either NATO is very slow on the uptake, or playing dumb at it suits it, because the Russian MOD has planned the deployment of military units for well over 6 months, and it is only in late Nov, that NATO  expressed  grave ‘concerns’ over this.  This is what they‘d like you & I to think, to try to keep the public afraid of the Russian bear, especially keeping the tensions as high as they are.  Lost in this smoke of subterfuge is a complex reality picture, not as sinister as NATO or the dumb MSN press would like to make it out to be. 

The militarization of Crimea y Russia has been on the agenda for a short while now, however, this probably does not compare to the length of time that NATO probably had its eyes on Crimea for a number of years itself, as a strategically valuable military location. (See this related article for a glimpse of prior US military behavior in the peninsula).   When it comes to NATO being sly, you will not have any public messages to this effect.   NATO itself has steadily crept up to almost Russia’s borders since the end of the Cold War. What was Russia supposed to have done in response for the last 15 years or so?   Yet there are moments such as this, US dialogue on NATO, which turns reality on its head.  This is precisely the bubble that NATO lives in. 

You could say that the Russian had an unexpected burden with regards to Crimea, as the turn of events were so quick & dramatic in March & April.  The Russian MOD had not forecasted getting tens of thousands of ex Ukrainian military personnel or Soviet era material, who switched sides.  Take for instance: “The fleet has also begun to restructure and rearm its 475th Independent Electronic Warfare Center. All of the center’s obsolete hardware (dating back to the Soviet era) will be replaced before the end of 2014.”[2] So if this is what NATO includes in the militarization of Crimea, it is not entirely a build-up of forces, but also a transformation from a paper tiger into a real one. In reality it includes incorporating nearly the entire existing Crimean ex-Ukrainian infrastructure & modernizing it, a military half the size of US forces stationed in South Korea.  The media stories of Russian planes flown in are groundless without understanding part of the context for their deployment. Another extract in an article written in September  states  that “The 43rd Aviation Regiment will soon begin to replace its aircraft with new Su-30SM multirole fighters made by the Irkut Corporation.”

With a steady stream of visiting NATO warships coming & going in the Black Sea, along with a brutal conflict still raging in the east of Ukraine, Russia cannot afford to keep its Black Sea Fleet neglected.  The Fleet’s upgrade prospects changed drastically after the events in March, as previously, Ukrainian governments have been extremely reluctant to allow the Russians to upgrade any of their Sevastopol bases or equipment for over a decade. The change in fortune has meant the Russian military has been steadily upgrading its infrastructure. [3] Russia will not leave anything to chance in these high risk days.

 [1] http://russia-insider.com/en/politics_opinion/2014/11/28/07-04-55am/nato_deploy_tanks_eastern_europe_shortly_after_vp
[2] http://mdb.cast.ru/mdb/5-2014/item4/article1/

Notes
http://www.asiandefencenews.com/2014/05/russia-to-station-aircraft-ships.html
19 may 2014

The Russian Black Sea Fleet will have a sophisticated network of naval and airbases in Crimea following the region’s reunification with Russia, the country's chief naval commander said Tuesday.“The Black Sea Fleet will have a network of bases on the Crimean Peninsula, including the main naval base in Sevastopol and other facilities,” Admiral Viktor Chirkov said.“This infrastructure will be self-efficient allowing us to place comfortably warships, submarines and coastal troops [around the peninsula] with support of developed social infrastructure,” the admiral said.According to Chirkov, Russia will deploy warships not only in Sevastopol, but also in Feodosia and Donuzlav, while stationing combat aircraft near Yevpatoria and in Belbek.

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