Pepe Escobar — An historical journey into Crimea

Historical backgrounder on Crimea.

Asia Times
An historical journey into Crimea

Pepe Escobar

The Saker — About the latest Ukronazi provocation in the Kerch strait

Considering the current single-digit popularity rating of Poroshenko and the fact that he has no chance in hell to be re-elected (at least not in minimally credible elections) it is pretty darn obvious of why the Ukronazi regime in Kiev decided to trigger yet another crisis and then blame Russia for it. The very last thing Russia needs is yet another crisis, especially not before a possible Putin-Trump meeting at the G20 Buenos Aires summit later this month. In fact, Ukrainian bloggers immediately saw this latest provocation as an attempt to scrap upcoming elections.

So what’s next?...

The Vineyard of the Saker
About the latest Ukronazi provocation in the Kerch strait
The Saker

See also

Reminiscence of the Future
Poroshenko's Gambit.
Andrei Martyanov

Kerch Kerfuffle

WWI and WWII began in Eastern Europe.

Coincidentally, a similar situation exists in the South China Sea as in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov.

Any coordination with the CW attack on Aleppo?

Geopolitical Alert
Tensions Flair in Black Sea & Donbass Days After UK’s New Deployments to Region

Jim Carey

Fort Russ News
BREAKING: Ukraine Begins Heavy Shelling of Donetsk Republic

Joaquin Flores

TASS
Russia asks for convening UN SC meeting on Sea of Azov situation

TASS
Ukraine’s Security Council proposes to impose martial law in the country for 60 days

Ecns
Moscow confirms Russia shoots, holds 3 Ukrainian naval ships in Black Sea

Xinhua

The Vineyard of the Saker
Kerch Provocation – Causes and Consequences
Rostislav Ishchenko
Translated by Ollie Richardson and Angelina Siard

RT
Tense standoff around Kerch Strait between Russia & Ukraine: How it developed

TASS
Ukraine’s army put on full combat alert - Defense Ministry

Anti-Media
Ukraine Set to Declare War on Russia

Jason Ditz

Tom Winter — Ukrainian TV host calls for giving Crimea to the US

Who knew Ukrainians were so creative?

Actually, this is what would have happened if Russia did not annex Crimea, and the Russian leadership was under no illusions about it.

Fort Russ News
Ukrainian TV host calls for giving Crimea to the US

Tom Winter

See also

Russia: Other Points of View

RUSSIAN FEDERATION SITREP 8 NOVEMBER 2018

Patrick Armstrong

also

"We are looking for other qualities such as creative thinking, willingness to fight, a persistence when facing challenges. A passion for developing new weapons is a must," the professor said, "and they must also be patriots."

Get 'em while they're young. 27 selected from 5000 applicants.

Sputnik International
China Starts Program for Elite Teenage Students to Design AI Weapons

Eric Zuesse — Stephen Cohen’s Misrepresentations About the 2014 Coup in Ukraine

If Dr. Cohen has any objections to the factuality of any of the allegations that I have made here, or to any of the documentation that I have linked to as the sources for these allegations, then I publicly welcome him to state what those objections are. Otherwise, I shall continue to take strong exception to Dr. Cohen’s account of these matters.

Fair enough.

Washington's Blog
Stephen Cohen’s Misrepresentations About the 2014 Coup in Ukraine

Eric Zuesse

Politnavigator — "Russia is populating the Crimea with Asians" - Poroshenko aid

The former press-secretary of Petro Poroshenko, and current deputy of the Rada, Irina Friz has stated that "Russia is populating the Crimea with Buryats and Mordovs [Siberian ethnicities], pushing out Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians"

Fort Russ
"Russia is populating the Crimea with Asians" - Poroshenko aid
Politnavigator- translated by Inessa Sinchougova

Jack Stubbs and Yeganeh Torbati — U.S. imposes sanctions on 'Putin's bridge' to Crimea

Says the US who is invading Syria in violation of international law. What a bunch of shameless hypocrites, with Obummer and Killary in the lead.

Reuters
U.S. imposes sanctions on 'Putin's bridge' to Crimea
Jack Stubbs and Yeganeh Torbati

Roger Annis — Western Media Responds to Latest Ukrainian Sabotage of Crimea

Roger Annis calls out the Western media for conducting a disinformation war against Russia about Crimea and provides a summary of the history from the time of the coup to present.

Counterpunch
Western Media Responds to Latest Ukrainian Sabotage of Crimea
Roger Annis

For the disinformation campaign see, for example,

Rabid Russophobe and neocon Michael Weiss is The Interpreter’s editor-in-chief. The Interpreter is the propaganda arm of The Insitute of Modern Russia. Pavel Khodorkovsky, the son of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is president of the Institute, which was launched by the Khodorkovsky. Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was joined by Putin for being over the top, is the US choice to replace Putin in the car of regime change. Paul Goble and other promoters of neoliberal regime change in Russia and the restoration of the Yeltsin years characterized by looting. The US interest is in weakening Russia. The purpose of the IMR and The Interpreter are information warfare aka propaganda and psyops.

From Wikipedia:

The Institute of Modern Russia (IMR) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy organization—a think tank—headquartered in New York City. It was founded in February 2010, by leading experts in Russia-US relations and human rights. According to the Institute's mission statement, "through its research, advocacy, public events and grant-making, IMR is committed to fostering democratic values, respect for human rights and the rule of law, and the development of civil society in Russia; the promotion of a principles-based U.S.-Russia dialogue; and the integration of a modern and forward-looking Russia into the community of democracies."

The president of IMR is Pavel Khodorkovsky, the son of Mikhail Khodorkovsky; the Institute's advisors include Vladimir V. Kara-Murza, Richard Sakwa and Andrei Piontkovsky. Lyudmila Alexeyeva is a Trustee of the Institute.
IMR is a federal tax-exempt Section 501(c)(3) public charity, incorporated in New Jersey.

The Institute ran a special project called The Interpreter Mag, a daily online journal committed to translating Russian-language media and blogs into English and publishing original features, reports, op-eds and interviews, with the goal of making the Russian-speaking world accessible to Western journalists, analysts, policymakers, diplomats and laymen. In January 2016, the magazine was absorbed by Radio Free Europe/Radio Free Liberty.[1]

The Interpreter | "Brought to you by Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty"
The Alleged Terrorist Plot In Crimea May Be A Russian Psyop
Anton Shekhovtsov

Alexander Mercouris — West fails to back Ukraine over Crimean shootout incident

In the immediate aftermath of the Crimean incident in an article I wrote a few days ago I said that there would be ritual statements of support for Ukraine from the Western powers, but that these would be balanced by private calls to Ukraine for restraint.

In the event the most surprising fact about the Crimean incident is that there have not even been the ritual statements from Western governments of support for Ukraine that I expected. On the contrary Western governments have publicly said virtually nothing about the incident.…

The Duran
West fails to back Ukraine over Crimean shootout incident
Alexander Mercouris

Meanwhile, the evidence is in. Nothing in the Western media about it yet. Must be all made up, right?

The Vineyard of the Saker

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s main intelligence directorate terror plot foiled in Crimea August 2016 SITREP, by Scott

SouthFront

Ukrainian Saboteur Tells About Tasks And Composition Of His Group In Crimea

TASS

Crimea’s prosecutors identify sabotage organizers, perpetrators

RT

Crimea launches sabotage case against organizers of blackout

SouthFront — Ukraine Forms Shock Troops on Border with Crimea (Photos)

Russian has been fortifying the crimean border since the recent alleged infiltration of saboteurs.

SouthFront

Ukraine Forms Shock Troops on Border with Crimea (Photos)
VV2

Ukraine confirms.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces has increased its grouping on the border with Crimea, all units have been put on high alert, the chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff Viktor Muzhenko said.

Interfax Ukraine
Ukrainian army increases grouping on border with Crimea

Vladimir Putin comments on provocation in Crimea - Minsk negotiations now pointless

Vladimir Putin: 

"This is very disturbing. Our security services have prevented penetration of sabotage-reconnaissance group of the Ukraine Ministry of Defense into Crimea. Of course, such actions mean that continuing talks in Normandy format is pointless, especially when it comes to the next meeting in China.

Because, apparently, the people who [violently] seized power in Kiev and continue to usurp it, don’t want negotiations. [snip] Now, instead of looking for ways to settle the conflict peacefully, they decided to try terrorism.In this regard, I can’t avoid mentioning that we view the recent assassination attempt targeting the head of the Lugansk People's Republic as an [act of terror], same as the current attempt to sneak saboteurs into the territory of Crimea.

Fort Russ

Vladimir Putin comments on provocation in Crimea - Minsk negotiations now pointless
Translated by Tatzhit

Jon Hellevig — The Hidden Story of Crimea’s Economic Success

Recently Crimea celebrated the 2nd anniversary of its reunification with Russia, marked on the day of the referendum that ended the Ukrainian occupation. Much has been written about the political and geopolitical aspects of the reunification as well as the social sentiments of the people, but little has been said about the economy. I want to lift the lid on that because the results of the economic transition are in fact quite impressive, especially considering the arduous hurdles that had to be overcome in the process…

Aware Blog
The Hidden Story of Crimea’s Economic Success

Jon Hellevig

TV Zvezda — How Russia Ruined American Plans in Crimea

Backgrounder.

Fort Russ
How Russia Ruined American Plans in Crimea

TV Zvezda
Translated by Kristina Kharlova

Obama — Ukraine 'Vulnerable' To Russian 'Military Domination' No Matter What U.S. Does

U.S. President Barack Obama said that Ukraine "is going to be vulnerable to military domination by Russia no matter what" the United States does.

In one of a series of interviews published on March 10 that formed the basis of an article in The Atlantic magazine, Obama said that Ukraine was clearly a core interest for Russia but suggested that it may not be one for the United States.

Ukraine is "an example of where we have to be very clear about what our core interests are and what we are willing to go to war for," Obama said.
He rejected the notion that "the decision making of Russia or China" could somehow be influenced by "talking tough or engaging in some military action" in such situations. Such an idea "is contrary to all the evidence we have seen over the last 50 years," Obama said.

Obama resisted pressure last year to send lethal military aid to help Kyiv fight against Russia-backed separatists who control part of eastern Ukraine. Their war against government forces has killed more than 9,100 people since it broke out in April 2014 -- shortly after Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine.

Obama said that there are "ways to deter, but it requires you to be very clear ahead of time about what is worth going to war for and what is not."
"If there is somebody in [Washington] that would claim that we would consider going to war with Russia over Crimea and eastern Ukraine, they should speak up and be very clear about it."

President Obama just said publicly that the US is not going to war with Russia over Crimea or the integrity of Ukraine. Jean Claude Junkers recently said publicly that Ukraine is not going to be ready to join the EU or NATO for at least 25 years.

The rest of the article is also important.

Obama: Ukraine 'Vulnerable' To Russian 'Military Domination' No Matter What U.S. Does

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

RFE/RL is a 501(c)(3) corporation that receives U.S. government funding and is supervised by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an agency overseeing all U.S. federal government international broadcasting services.[4]  

— Wikipedia

Gilbert Doctorow — Has Gaullisme returned to France? The French parliamentary delegation’s visit to Crimea

The ins and outs of French (and German) politics and policy.

Une parole franche
Has Gaullisme returned to France? The French parliamentary delegation’s visit to Crimea

Gilbert Doctorow

Sputnik — Crimean Prosecutor Natalia Poklonskaya May Run for Russian Parliament

Watch this lady. She is a rising star in Russia.

[Natalia] Poklonskaya came to prominence in Crimea and in Russia after handing in her resignation to the Ukrainian General Directorate of Internal Affairs in Kiev in February 2014, citing her inability to accept living "in a country where neo-fascists freely walk the streets." She accepted the proposal of then-recently elected Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov to become Prosecutor General of the Republic of Crimea, which several male candidates had previously rejected, fearing for their personal safety. Since then, Poklonskaya has become one of the symbols of the so-called 'Russian Spring' in Crimea, capturing the attention, and the hearts and minds, of Russians and foreigners alike.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin Awarded Poklonskaya the rank of Judicial Counsellor 3rd Class, a rank equivalent to that of Major General, up from her previous rank of Senior Counsellor of Justice.

This article is more of an attempt to draft her than a declaration of her interest in running for political office. But it seems clear that she is destined to become a political figure in the future of Russia.

Sputnik
Crimean Prosecutor Poklonskaya May Run for Russian Parliament

RT — US dollar payments from Crimea blocked by Western banks - media

Western banks are reportedly refusing to transfer foreign currency payments from Crimea via the SWIFT transaction system.

All but guarantees the emergence of a dual banking system and subsequently dual financial and economic institutions, one under the rules set by the West and the other by the ROW.

The Central Bank of Russia launched in December a new SWIFT-style payment service aiming to move away from Western financial dominance. The system has already started operating and is said to be more convenient for banks as they won’t have to reconfigure their software.

RT
US dollar payments from Crimea blocked by Western banks - media

The US already sees it coming. Unwilling to cut others in in the deal, the West is killing the goose the lays the golden egg for it.

President Barack Obama intensified his push for a Pacific trade pact on Monday, warning that without it, China could come to dominate the region by using its size to “muscle other countries in the region around rules that disadvantage us.”

“If we don’t write the rules, China will write the rules out in that region,” Obama said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “We will be shut out — American businesses and American agriculture. That will mean a loss of U.S. jobs.”

Politico

Trade deal needed to curb China, Obama says

Giscard d'Estaing: Crimea's return in accord with history — Isabelle Laserre interviews Valery Giscard d'Estaing

Translator Tom Winter comments:

It is easy to see why Le Figaro did not publish this interview, even though the interviewer is foreign affairs editor of Le Fig: though her questions presuppose Le Fig's doctrine, and would hardly be different if Victoria Nuland were asking them, the answers of the former French president, with one exception, are quite contrary to the doctrinaire nature of the questions. Note, for instance, the question re breach of international law, which, like all the western media, ignores the finding of the International Court of Justice on Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence)

Fort Russ
Giscard d'Estaing: Crimea's return in accord with history
Extensive excerpt from Isabelle Laserre's interview with Valery Giscard d'Estaing, President of France, 1974-1981
Translated from French by Tom Winter

Politique Internationale - La Revue n°146 - HIVER - 2015

Dmitry Orlov and Paul Craig Roberts on Crimea and US strategy

Should the US obtain the Russian Black Sea naval base at Sevastopol in the Crimea, Russia would be finished geostrategically. It's looking like this was a major objective of the Maidan that was foiled. Russia quickly became aware of this and acted to prevent the takeover, but only after Crimeans themselves stopped the advance.

In the Plane Truth’s podcast, “Permission to Steal Everything” with political expert Dmitry Orlov, the real intentions of the US/EU backed coup in Ukraine is brought into focus, revealing that the overthrow of the Yanukovich government had little to do with Kiev, and lots to do with placing Crimea firmly under NATO/US control. 

No wonder the US and EU are so crazy livid about Crimea returning back to Russia. In short, Putin foiled their major Maidan objective.
Skip to the 5:00 minute mark to get to the good stuff on Crimea, Ukraine and America’s sneaky land grab.

Some comments and observations from Zerohedge users are worth noting:

I just listen[ed] to D. Orlov give a long interview about Ukraine. He pointed out that the main and first goal of the western coup was to snatch the Crimea as a military base as quickly as possible.

Euro Maidan troops left for Crimea the day After the coup succeeded in Kiev. They were followed next day by Urkainian Army troops. The Maidan crowd could not cross the border due to former Ukrainian security police guarding the crossing points. 

By the time the Ukrainian army arrived, Cossacks loyal to Russian Crimea arrived in numbers and began mining the border and digging defenses. One try to break this line by the Madian failed, and a following attempt by the army to break a hole on a secondary road also failed.

Once Maidan could not enter Crimea, the USA was enraged that the coup had not reached there! Thus the extreme anger by the USA. The plan was to take Kiev, and within 5 days flood the Crimea with the entire Euro Maidan thousands, with Ukrainian Amry troops following. But it was too late. Russian Navy troops faced down the 20,000 Ukrainian troops in Crimea. Many of whom defected to the Russian army, the rest were allowed to leave.

Anyways. Orlov said that Crimea was what the west was really after, and events seem to back that up.

Another Zerohedge commenter clearly outlines the major benefits in the US’s plan to take Crimea.

D. Orlov is correct in his analysis.

I have written extensively in other posts on this topic, but to summarize, Crimea was the BIG prize that the USSA sought to capture for the following reasons:

• World’s best Military Naval Base, with literally 100’s of billions in Dollar equivalents developing it.
• Commanding control over the Black Sea, and thus countries bordering it.
• Hundreds of Billions in offshore Oil and Gas resources
• Gateway to the creation of the WhiteStream Pipeline, that would have transported gas from the ME, and connected into the Ukraine, displacing Gazprom
• Loss of Crimea would have a huge psychological blow to the Russians, akin to losing Florida.

My favorite part of watching this unfolding drama is listening to the Neocon screeches after Putin gave them a huge poke in the eye, by taking the best part of the Ukraine (including Donbass), and leaving them with the Nazi losers. Once Odessa, Karkov and Nikolaiev leave, the ruin of the remaining rump of the Ukraine will be complete.

Red Pill Times
Geo-political expert Dmitry Orlov explains how Crimea was going to be America’s big prize after the coup in Kiev
Alexrpt

While Washington works assiduously to undermine the Minsk agreement that German chancellor Merkel and French president Hollande achieved in order to halt the military conflict in Ukraine, Washington has sent Victoria Nuland to Armenia to organize a “color revolution” or coup there, has sent Richard Miles as ambassador to Kyrgyzstan to do the same there, and has sent Pamela Spratlen as ambassador to Uzbekistan to purchase that government’s allegiance away from Russia. The result would be to break up the Collective Security Treaty Organization and present Russia and China with destabilization where they can least afford it. For details go here:  http://russia-insider.com/en/2015/03/18/4656

Thus, Russia faces the renewal of conflict in Ukraine simultaneously with three more Ukraine-type situations along its Asian border.

And this is only the beginning of the pressure that Washington is mounting on Russia.
On March 18 the Secretary General of NATO denounced the peace settlement between Russia and Georgia that ended Georgia’s military assault on South Ossetia. The NATO Secretary General said that NATO rejects the settlement because it “hampers ongoing efforts by the international community to strengthen security and stability in the region.” Look closely at this statement. It defines the “international community” as Washington’s NATO puppet states, and it defines strengthening security and stability as removing buffers between Russia and Georgia so that Washington can position military bases in Georgia directly on Russia’s border. 

In Poland and the Baltic states Washington and NATO lies about a pending Russian invasion are being used to justify provocative war games on Russia’s borders and to build up US forces in NATO military bases on Russia’s borders.....

All of this is being done in order to coerce Russia into handing over Crimea and its Black Sea naval base to Washington and accepting vassalage under Washington’s suzerainty....

PaulCraigRoberts.org
Russia Under Attack
Paul Craig Roberts | Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury in the Reagan Administration and Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal

Gilbert Doctorow — Crimea Documentary Reveals How Close Russia Came to Shootout with NATO

“Crimea. A Way Home” is an important public diplomacy message from Russia on the Ukraine crisis.

Russia Insider
Crimea Documentary Reveals How Close Russia Came to Shootout with NATO
Gilbert Doctorow

Gilbert Doctorow is a professional Russia watcher going back to 1965. For twenty-five years he worked for US and European multinationals in marketing and general management with regional responsibility. In the year 2000, he closed his corporate career as General Director in Russia and the CIS for a UK based multinational. Doctorow regularly publishes analytical articles about international affairs on the portal of the Belgian daily La Libre Belgique and has recently been a contributor of Op-Ed articles on US-Russian relations to the English-language Moscow Times. Mr. Doctorow is a Research Fellow of the American University in Moscow.From 1998-2002, Doctorow served as the Chairman of the Russian Booker Literary Prize. — The Nation.

Also

Russia to Deploy Missiles to Kaliningrad, Bombers to Crimea as Part of Massive Military Drills

Response to NATO exercises in the Baltics.