Ukraine's European Revolution?

[The Brain]

I prefer saving whenever I like.

[DGuller]

It seems highly unlikely now that Ukraine will get to keep its eastern part.  Either the spontaneous organized rebellion is going to take control of the east on its own, and hold another fair and balanced referendum, or Ukraine fights back and instantly gets steamrolled by the massed Russian armies.  I really don't see what Ukraine can do here, short of somehow drawing in other countries into a defensive alliance (which we know will not happen).

[Razgovory]

I bet being annexed by a hostile power makes it really difficult to work out your taxes.

[DGuller]

I bet being annexed by a hostile power makes it really difficult to work out your taxes.

I wouldn't know anything about that. 

[mongers]

12 April 2014 Last updated at 19:14

Ukraine crisis: Kramatorsk shooting reported

Ukraine's interim interior minister says firing has broken out in Kramatorsk, in the Donetsk region.

Arsen Avakov said the gun battle began when men tried to storm local administration buildings and police fired back.

Several more official buildings were reported to have been seized in eastern Ukraine on Saturday.

The confrontations come amid rising tension between the new government and pro-Russia protesters.

Earlier, gunmen occupied a police station and a security services building in the town of Sloviansk. Official buildings in Druzhkovka were also reported to have been taken over.

A Donetsk police chief also quit after pro-Russian crowds marched on a police station demanding his resignation.

Ukrainian TV channel 5 Kanal has aired remarks by the former police chief Kostyantyn Pozhydayev, saying over the phone that he had resigned in a bid to avoid bloodshed.

"Protesters came to me. So as to prevent bloodshed, I decided to tender my resignation to the [interior] minister," he said.

The same channel also showed Pozhydayev's deputy, Andriy Anosov, captioned as police chief, inviting pro-Russia protesters to work together with the police to prevent violence and looting.

......

rest of item here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27005783

I feel sorry for officials like these, decent people trying to do the right thing, but caught in the middle of a power struggle.

[Syt]

Supposedly the cell phone masts in Sloviansk have been dismantled.

Also:

[mongers]

Supposedly the cell phone masts in Sloviansk have been dismantled.

Also:

Suspect photo ?

If you type in the youtube url, the video is unavailable.
Looking at the bbc news item and video about this takeover there, here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27001193

the background street parking, cars and trees are similar, but none of the armed men in the video look like this guy or have that level of sophisticated small arms.

[DGuller]

I find all such Internet smoking guns to be irrelevant.  It's like looking for the murderer of a Jewish inmate in Auschwitz.  You kinda already know what happened, and smoking guns aren't really going to  anyone.  Russia and Russians have been shamelessly trolling us with chewbacca defense for a while now.

[Syt]

Suspect photo ?

If you type in the youtube url, the video is unavailable.
Looking at the bbc news item and video about this takeover there, here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27001193

the background street parking, cars and trees are similar, but none of the armed men in the video look like this guy or have that level of sophisticated small arms.

Fair enough.

[mongers]

Whoever these guys are, local thugs/criminals, ex-russian forces now working for security firms or ministry interior special troops given odds/sods uniforms and told to go over the border, I think we can be fairly certain now that regular Russian forces will be along shortly.

[Razgovory]

I wonder how many countries they could conquer using these techniques.

[mongers]

I wonder how many countries they could conquer using these techniques.

Vermont?


edit:
or was it Wyoming/Idaho setting in thingy cold war film, 'Red Dawn' ??

[Admiral Yi]

Colorado

[mongers]

Suspect photo ?

If you type in the youtube url, the video is unavailable.
Looking at the bbc news item and video about this takeover there, here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27001193

the background street parking, cars and trees are similar, but none of the armed men in the video look like this guy or have that level of sophisticated small arms.

Fair enough.

OK I've now seen what appears to be mobile phone footage of an attack, certainly stun grenades thrown, and the men involved are attired the same and given they appear to be using more specialized ways of approaching/entering the building, including short military ladders, I think it's possible these guys could be Russian SF and are being kept out of view, inside the seized building .

Meanwhile the ragtag guys outside could very well be, as the local mayor says, members of the recently formed local 'peoples militia force'.

Sorry if I was imply that the origins of these groups would be mutually exclusive.   

[mongers]

Colorado

Would that require the Canucks or Mexicans to betray the US?

Or would it only be necessary for Oregon* to turn Benedict Arnold?



*proudly demonstrates the extend of his knowledge of US geography.