Today Putin officially recognized that Russian military is present in Ukraine’s Donbass region. A while ago, he recognized that he was planning to deploy nuclear weapons if his attempt to annex the Crimea was thwarted.
I wish that out of all the people who came here to the blog in 2013-14 to argue and say uninformed things about Russia’s war in Ukraine, at least one single person had the maturity and the honesty to tell me, “Hey, you were right this whole time. Sorry!”
But no, that never happens. What’s more, those same folks who were calling me a fascist and ranting about a CIA-sponsored coup that was persecuting “ethnic Russians” in Ukraine will now say that they always knew Russia had invaded Ukraine and this is no news at all.
People have an amazing capacity of an uncritical acceptance of their own ignorance and ugliness. It’s not a result of a healthy self-esteem, however. It’s the exact opposite.
Clarissa's Blog 
Hello. I do not think the implications of what you have said are entirely accurate. You have not posted a link to Putin’s statement, so I cannot evaluate it. However, it is a proven fact that there are no regular Russian forces in Donbass. There have of course been Russian volunteer fighters, as there have been volunteers also from countries including Spain, America, France and Germany, admittedly of course in much lesser numbers. You may be confused by the fact that there are Russian military officers in Donbass working at the Joint Center for Command and Control in connection with the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission. These are observers, not fighters. Western journalist who have visited Donbass agree that there is no evidence of Russian military presence, aside from what I have mentioned. If there were indeed Russian forces in the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics, the OSCE would have reported this many times. The OSCE has a presence in Donetsk, Lugansk and Gorlovka. They travel all over Donbass. Were there Russian forces, the OSCE could not have missed them. That the OSCE has never reported a Russian military presence is proof that there is none. I am wondering why you need to believe there is. –Karl Pomeroy, contributing writer at Quemado Institute.
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So you’ve missed all of the Russian soldiers and officers taken captive in Ukraine?
This is wilful blindness of such proportions that I’m sorry for you. Here is some information for you. Try to educate yourself before you chirp:
Asked by a Ukrainian reporter an hour into the briefing about two Russian military intelligence officers captured by Kiev and currently on trial in Ukraine, Putin said: “We never said there were not people there who carried out certain tasks including in the military sphere.” He insisted this was not the same as regular Russian troops.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/17/vladimir-putin-admits-russian-military-presence-ukraine
Of course, in a few months, Putin will recognize the presence of regular Russian troops in Ukraine. Don’t forget to come here and apologize.
More information for Putinoid parrots:
http://www.newsweek.com/putins-secret-warriors-tales-three-russian-soldiers-sent-fight-ukraine-339665
https://news.vice.com/video/selfie-soldiers-russia-checks-in-to-ukraine
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2015/08/28/How-Many-Russian-Soldiers-Have-Died-Ukraine-Glimpse-Bloody-Toll
I’M WAITING FOR AN APOLOGY.
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—Western journalist who have visited Donbass agree that there is no evidence of Russian military presence
See – “western journalist” visited and saw (or rather did not see). In singular. 🙂 🙂 Agrees with himself, apparently. Therefore everyone has to repent.
Putin is now playing with semantics, trying to twist the word “regular” [troops] in all possible ways. Are military advisers “regular”? Are military intelligence operatives “regular”? If the shell is fired from Russia and lands in Ukraine – technically the Russian troops who fired the shot are not in Ukraine. Etc.
The biggest ambition of Russia is to be in the “big boys club”. Preferably to be as powerful as the US. Now, the US has this nasty tendency to lie, about things like Iraqi WMD, etc. Thus, in order to be as great as the US, Russia believes it has to lie too. As blatantly as possible. Changing its statements on the same issue – yes, definitely and deliberately. The previous one was about Crimea. First they denied the participation of the Russian troops, then admitted “but of course, there were our troops, everybody knows that”. The idea is to lie until nobody can change anything, then admit and congratulate themselves. For both doing the deed and successfully lying for long enough.
In some ways Russia represents a parody on the US. I wish the US would not completely ignore this crooked mirror on the grounds that it is crooked, but try learning something useful. Better itself…
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“Putin is now playing with semantics, trying to twist the word “regular” [troops] in all possible ways.”
“The previous one was about Crimea. First they denied the participation of the Russian troops, then admitted “but of course, there were our troops, everybody knows that”. The idea is to lie until nobody can change anything, then admit and congratulate themselves.”
“In some ways Russia represents a parody on the US. I wish the US would not completely ignore this crooked mirror on the grounds that it is crooked, but try learning something useful.”
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—It’s strange that there are still people who excitedly defend every half-truth and every half-denial. I prefer to hope they are being paid to do it.
Not necessarily. If one looks at large enough pool, one can find all kinds of people, people sincerely believing in all kinds of things. I am even willing to give it to Karl that there is more than one real person at his institute, and that some of them are genuine Americans… Still, this is just a particular very rare subclass of believers in the inherent ultimate badness of the West. There are 100 times more 9/11 conspiracy theorists, for example… (and, by the way, there are some half-truths in some of those theories)
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“Not necessarily. If one looks at large enough pool, one can find all kinds of people, people sincerely believing in all kinds of things.”
“Still, this is just a particular very rare subclass of believers in the inherent ultimate badness of the West.”
“There are 100 times more 9/11 conspiracy theorists, for example… (and, by the way, there are some half-truths in some of those theories)”
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P.S. I like one-man “Institutes”…
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Putin also said that he admires Trump which you have previously stated and, to be honest, I didn’t see it.
“He’s a really brilliant and talented person, without any doubt,” Putin told reporters, according to a translation by Interfax. “It’s not our job to judge his qualities, that’s a job for American voters, but he’s the absolute leader in the presidential race.”
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/263555-putin-praises-trump-hes-a-really-brilliant-and-talented-person
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Exactly. The two are very similar, ideologically and on a personal level.
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Enjoy: http://www.zvezda.org.ru/?lng=1&nav=1&set=3665
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The best. 🙂 I especially loved the part about “1 cat figure.” It’s just not the same without a kitteh. 🙂
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No Russian forces in Donbass? Are you guys serious? OK, here are some facts:
(1) My sister-in-law, before fleeing Donetsk, saw numerous Russian military trucks on the streets, the soldiers in the trucks shouting ‘Allakh Akbar!’
(2) There are dozens and dozens of videos taken by journalists showing Russian tanks and artillery equipment all over Donbass.
(3) The first military governor of the occupied Slavyansk was a Russian officer, Strelkov.
(4) In 2014 through 2015, Ukrainians defeated quite a few Russian detachments, such as the Pskov Landing Troops and others.
The evidence of the Russian occupation of Donbass is obvious. Shame on those who turns a blind eye to the facts!
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