Obama said in his recent interview that he doesn’t believe Putin ‘ s annexation of the Crimea was part of any grand strategy.
Of course, he doesn’t believe anything of the kind but is forced to say it to give Putin a chance to step back.
But Putin can’t step back because the overwhelming majority of people in Russia passionately wants the war to continue. The bodies of the Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine are shipped back to Russia by the hundred and buried, nameless, under the plaques saying “Surgical Waste.” And not a single spouse, parent or sibling has asked for a chance at least to have a grave to visit. It’s OK with them that their loved ones should be discarded as “surgical waste” as long as Ukrainians get killed. There is nothing Obama or anybody else can oppose to this.
Clarissa's Blog 
This is dreadful. “not a single spouse, parent or sibling has asked for a chance at least to have a grave to visit” How do you know this? It sounds unbelievable.
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Activists are monitoring social networks for any statement of the dead soldiers’ relatives. There’s been nothing so far. Ukrainians have to make big efforts to return the bodies to the families whenever they can. But it’s hard because it’s rare for anybody to come to them. Since Russia is not officially waging war, it’s impossible to explain these dead bodies. The official line is that these soldiers went missing while on vacation (seriously).
The contrast with how the bodies of the Ukrainian soldiers are buried (with a funeral cortege passing down the streets filled with people who are kneeling to honor the service of the soldiers) couldn’t be greater.
http://joinfo.com/world/1001169_Russian-soldiers-killed-in-Donbas-buried-in.html
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This also looks bad: http://www.kyivpost.com/multimedia/photo/ukraine-hides-devastating-losses-as-russia-backed-rebels-surge-forwards-378321.html
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Ukraine isn’t concealing from anybody that it’s an a war. Russia is. Russia can’t acknowledge a single soldier. But that’s not the scariest thing. The scariest thing is that nobody in Russia cares. This is a complete breakdown of all familial loyalties. And this kind of thing has a very tragic and very recent history in Russia.
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Yes, I am not making an argument, just noticing all the general bad news. There do seem to be some activists looking for soldiers, though… http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28968526
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This piece is old but according to it there were 3,500 dead Russian soldiers as of September. Is there a really good media blackout in Russia or are they too scared of reprisals to do anything or what? http://www.interpretermag.com/3500-russian-soldiers-died-in-putins-war-in-ukraine-rights-activists-say/
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“Is there a really good media blackout in Russia or are they too scared of reprisals to do anything or what?”
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Yes, I am seeing things about that, too.
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But the media blackout in Russia is also complete. There is a single remaining TV channel that isn’t fully controlled by the state, and most people don’t even get this channel. 😦
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Thank you for the interest in the subject!
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It is quite interesting how little it is on radar in mainstream news over here. It’s a big thing.
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Very little! There is so much going on. The Russian TV (it’s a very TV oriented culture) recently announced that Putin can destroy the NATO with a single phone call. And there was a big deal made out of that.
Plus, there is the London trial about Putin ‘ s nuclear terrorism in London. I’m shocked nobody even seems to know it happened, and who Litvinenko was.
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The whole thing looks very very bad.
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War pretty much insures that people do not behave normally. Even those who are not paid off to keep silent about their relatives will never behave normally again. Everybody who loses or gains out of a war feels guilty, that is unless they are psychopaths.
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“Hey, I thought you implied that it’d be OK to annex Kuwait!”
— Saddam Hussein
🙂
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