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That's still not what's relevant here. To make sense of the situation you have to put these pieces of the puzzle together: * Putin is the 'charismatic leader'

by mtrimpe 13y ago

That's still not what's relevant here. To make sense of the situation you have to put these pieces of the puzzle together: * Putin is the 'charismatic leader' of a military powerhouse in financial decline. * He has been actively radicalizing his citizens through a well-oiled fully state controlled propaganda machine. * He believes he has Europe in his pocket through the oil supply and massive proceeds from corruption stashed away in European assets (and so far he's been right.) * He seems increasingly divorced from reality and reports are circulating he seems to be fed propaganda as truth by his close advisors; something with seems the Occam's Razor-explanation for his decidedly strange public statement just hours ago. * He has started to attempt to expand his empire to return to his Empire's old glory. As far as Crimea is concerned: only a bit over 50% Russian-speaking and only 23% support(ed) joining Russia. They have also been watching Russia state news which shows propaganda such as: * Kiev protests as all paid by the West (definitely not true) * hundreds of thousands fleeing to Russia (no activity at the border) * spontaneous pro-Russian takeovers (masked men using Russia military vehicles) * mass Ukrainian defections (disarmament at gunpoint) * massive pro-Russia protests (brought in buses by the unemployment agency and disappearing completely after 60 minutes)

GotAnyMegadeth 13y ago
> his decidedly strange public statement just hours ago I'm interested, what was this statement? Thanks
- mtrimpe 13y ago
  This is the first article written on it: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116852/merkel-was-right-putins-lost-his-mind-press-conference http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116852/merkel-was-right-p... You can take a look at my twitter list at https://twitter.com/mtrimpe/lists/ukraine https://twitter.com/mtrimpe/lists/ukraine for more information (just ignore the EastOfBrussels, UkraineInEurope and Opinieleiders; they're pro-West propagandists but still find some good stuff occasionally.) Shaun Walker from Guardian, who's been the most thorough reporter so far, is working on one too (https://twitter.com/shaunwalker7/status/440865355767234560 https://twitter.com/shaunwalker7/status/440865355767234560) which will probably be the best source of info on it.
deleted 13y ago
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- mtrimpe 13y ago
  Of course we do our fair share of this, even though I'm pretty sure there's still an order of magnitude difference, but that wasn't my point. My point was that the real story here is understanding is that we have someone with both the means and the motives to trigger a world war showing signs of destabilising. That risk is the real story here.
guard-of-terra 13y ago
"As far as Crimea is concerned: only a bit over 50% Russian-speaking" Citation needed. I think it would be indeed not easy to find anyone living in Crimea for whom Russian is not the main communication language (and yes, that includes Crimean tatars). Disclaimer: I've spent around six weeks in Crimea over a few years. Sevastopol and south coast mostly.

by mtrimpe 13y ago

GotAnyMegadeth 13y ago

> his decidedly strange public statement just hours ago I'm interested, what was this statement? Thanks

mtrimpe 13y ago
This is the first article written on it: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116852/merkel-was-right-putins-lost-his-mind-press-conference http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116852/merkel-was-right-p... You can take a look at my twitter list at https://twitter.com/mtrimpe/lists/ukraine https://twitter.com/mtrimpe/lists/ukraine for more information (just ignore the EastOfBrussels, UkraineInEurope and Opinieleiders; they're pro-West propagandists but still find some good stuff occasionally.) Shaun Walker from Guardian, who's been the most thorough reporter so far, is working on one too (https://twitter.com/shaunwalker7/status/440865355767234560 https://twitter.com/shaunwalker7/status/440865355767234560) which will probably be the best source of info on it.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

mtrimpe 13y ago
Of course we do our fair share of this, even though I'm pretty sure there's still an order of magnitude difference, but that wasn't my point. My point was that the real story here is understanding is that we have someone with both the means and the motives to trigger a world war showing signs of destabilising. That risk is the real story here.

guard-of-terra 13y ago

"As far as Crimea is concerned: only a bit over 50% Russian-speaking" Citation needed. I think it would be indeed not easy to find anyone living in Crimea for whom Russian is not the main communication language (and yes, that includes Crimean tatars). Disclaimer: I've spent around six weeks in Crimea over a few years. Sevastopol and south coast mostly.