Paul Robinson — Leontiev in Donetsk

On ideas and their influence on history. 

Relevant to the present dialectical interplay of nationalism-populism and globalism-elitism socially, politically, and economically, as well as the  dialectical interplay between traditionalism and liberalism.

Irrussianality

Leontiev in Donetsk

Paul Robinson | Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa

Der Spiegel — German Intelligence: Ukraine Army Disintegrating — While social unrest is brewing in the rear

Not just the military that is disintegrating. And this is from Der Spiegel, which tends to be hawkish in its reporting on the situation in Ukraine.

Frustration among the public at large is growing with some in Kiev even talking about a "new Maidan," a reference to the protests that drove Yanukovych out of office (and out of the country) one year ago. 

"If nothing changes in Ukraine, then everything will explode in four to six months," says Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia and supporter of the new Kiev leadership. 

Aid from the International Monetary Fund and other donors is aimed at preventing such an explosion from taking place. In the next four years, Ukraine is to receive around €40 billion euros -- but the program includes "extremely strict conditions," say senior Berlin officials with concern. Among them is an increase in gas prices for private consumers as well as an unpopular pension reform aimed at cutting government spending. 

Berlin is worried that support for the government could rapidly disappear should too much be demanded too quickly. Chancellor Merkel has thus charged her economic policy advisor Lars-Hendrik Röller with encouraging the IMF to exercise political caution. "The aid program cannot be allowed to destabilize Ukraine domestically," said one government official in Berlin.

Russia Insider
German Intelligence: Ukraine Army Disintegrating — While social unrest is brewing in the rear
Der Spiegel - Excerpt

Also

This is a much more detailed account of Minsk than I have seen elsewhere. It seems that while the Merkel and Putin knew the state of the Debaltsevo cauldron, Poroshenko had not been informed by his military leadership, as observers had previously suspected to be the case based on his statements. Good summary of a mainstream German viewpoint.

Der Spiegel
The War Next Door: Can Merkel's Diplomacy Save Europe?
Spiegel Staff — Nikolaus Blome, Matthias Gebauer, Christiane Hoffmann, Dirk Kurbjuweit, Christian Neef, René Pfister, Matthias Schepp, Christoph Schult and Holger Stark

Also

This is the kettle or cauldron in which the separatist trapped a salient of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. It's a complete disaster for the UAF, just like previous kettling operations by the NAF in response to UAF salients.

Fort Russ
Ukrainian General Staff Confirms Debaltsevo Force Collapse

Translated from Russian by J.Hawk

J.Hawk’s Comment: So it’s coming to an end. It’s only a matter of how many troops make it out alive. But the loss of equipment, combined with earlier losses here and everywhere, put into question the UAF’s ability to conduct large-scale operations for a long time to come. The days of “Victory” have come to an end. The days of “Treason” are only beginning… Poroshenko and others were able to avoid reckoning for the earlier Ilovaysk debacle apparently only by promising a rematch. They seem to have lost that one too, and Round 3 does not seem in the cards. But Round 2 is the only thing kept all the different factions of the very fragile "pro-European" junta together.

Alexander Zakharchenko, the Novorossiyan leader was slightly wounded by shrapnel in the leg.

Zakharchenko's final warning to Poroshenko

Aleksandr Zakharchenko on Minsk-2

“I said in Minsk and am saying right now that the DPR territory includes the entire Donetsk Region. If our demands for a de-facto independence are not met, we shall claim the entire Donetsk Region. How we will obtain it does not matter to us. If we can’t do it through the political process, we have already shown that we can do it through other means.”

Zakharchenko's final warning to Poroshenko

Translated from Russian by J.Hawk

Zakharchenko — Ukraine has betrayed its troops in the Debaltsevo cauldron

Please note that there is not a single word about Debaltsevo in the Minsk agreements. This means that Ukraine simply betrayed the 5 thousand people in the Debaltsevo cauldron. I can say the following, we will stop fire across the entire territory of Donetsk People's Republic, except for internal areas. Internal areas means Debaltsevo.

Any attempt of UAF [Ukrainian Armed Forces] to break out of this cauldron or deblock it will be considered a violation of the Minsk agreements, and naturally these attempts will be foiled, and the enemy will be destroyed.

Of course, neither the Ukrainian government nor the West will accept this, so the agreement is essentially dead before getting off the ground, although it had already been mortally wounded by Yarosh's declaration that the Right Sector would not accept it.

Fort Russ
Zakharchenko: Ukraine has betrayed its troops in the Debaltsevo cauldron
Translated by Katrina Rus

Sputnik
Ukraine, US Agree on Further Coordination if Donbas Conflict Escalates

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and US President Barack Obama during a phone talk on Saturday agreed on further coordination of efforts in case of Ukrainian conflict escalation.

“Interlocutors discussed situation in Donbas and expressed concern about the events unfolding around Debaltsevo,” the statement published on Poroshenko’s official website read.
“The President of Ukraine stressed the necessity of OSCE monitoring to confirm the ceasefire. Petro Poroshenko and Barack Obama also agreed on further coordination of efforts in case of escalation,” the statement concluded.