Crisis in the Ukraine

Now an article which appeared early this morning at gazeta.ru caught my attention due to its title "Friday Decides About Peace", because it could be also translated as "Friday Decides The Fate Of The World", and it's indeed ominous as it mentions reasons (of either side) over which the peace talks might break down ...

I also checked two pro-Ukrainian military like servers (unofficial!):

and

and the situation is worse (in this thread I perhaps should say better than I thought ... for example they both mention the retreat from Debaltsevo (Дебальцево) -- I know shows it -- they both say Mariupol may soon fall, and both criticize the fact that the Ukrainian forces had not been able to mount any counter-strike(s) during last 10 days in a reaction to, well, you know what

SampanViking, your next prediction please:

asif iqbal said:

Can someone tell me in a few simple words why NATO was established??

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NATO was formed as purely defensive organization, to defend member states from communist aggression in the time of Cold War. As such, it worked admirably .But, since the fall of USSR and Warsaw Pact it lost its primary function and was slowly turned into "world's policeman" . Results of those "police actions" we could see all over the world.

Now, there are some people ( I would call them chickenhawk warmongers, but that's just me ), advocating "limited intervention" in Ukraine, reasoning it would not evolve in full blown nuclear conflict. That may or may not be true, but one thing is certain : those advocating war will not be ones sitting in the trenches in summer heat, autumn rain and winter cold, waiting for GRAD salvo to fall on their heads.

NATO is putting troops in Poland now, good start. containment is the key word here i guess. Ukraine is a lost cause but at least make sure that Russia cannot go any further beyond this.

One thing is the ceasefire talks started in Minsk at 1 pm of Central European time, but the other is Mariupol being stormed at the same time (Central European servers cautiously quoted Интерфакс which cautiously quoted a source who says something like Separatists' reconnaissance units got into the town -- but some journalist told Интерфакс he didn't see anything in the town ... yet)


EDIT
Russian news-servers informed about the ceasefire agreement to be effective since 1800 hours of local time

asif iqbal said:

Can someone tell me in a few simple words why NATO was established??

And to say that Ukraine is not part of NATO and that's why we shouldn't do anything just isn't enough that is not good enough

First Crimea and now Eastern Ukraine what next Kiev itself??

NATO just announced a rapid reaction force and bases in Poland, wow big deal Mr Putin must be shaking in his shoes

NATO has lost its sense of direction too much talk no action

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NATO (1949) was formed together with the Marshall Plan as part of the Truman Doctrine (1947) to oppose Soviet power and expansion everywhere in the world. Only 6 years later in 1955 did the Warsaw Pact form as a counterbalance to NATO. It was the 12 countries of NATO vs the 7 countries of the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War.

The Warsaw Pact collapsed on 1 july 1991 and later even the Soviet Union itself on 26 december 1991. Since then NATO has expanded to 28 countries between 1999 to 2009 in 3 separate waves. Before that NATO already expanded in 1990 with German reunification. These days NATO countries does not only include all of the former Warsaw Pact countries but also countries from the former Yugoslavia and even from the former Soviet Union itself with the Baltic states !

The Russians sees these expantion waves as a hostile act on part of the West as they still see NATO very much as an anti Russian alliance. Ukraine joining NATO will be a red line for the Russians that cannot be crossed for them. Its like Mexico joining the Warsaw Pact.

As for NATO not doing anything. What can NATO countries do when the Russians have 8500 nuclear warheads ?

That already happened yesterday.

Jura said:

One thing is the ceasefire talks started in Minsk at 1 pm of Central European time, but the other is Mariupol being stormed at the same time (Central European servers cautiously quoted Интерфакс which cautiously quoted a source who says something like Separatists' reconnaissance units got into the town -- but some journalist told Интерфакс he didn't see anything in the town ... yet)

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Footage form Ukraine
[video=youtube;htJYHMfqWVU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htJYHMfqWVU[/video]

RT reports ceasefire signed!
Too bad means Mariupol is not in the separatists' hands.

pla101prc said:

NATO is putting troops in Poland now, good start. containment is the key word here i guess. Ukraine is a lost cause but at least make sure that Russia cannot go any further beyond this.

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Containment aside, Russia does not have any reason to be interested in Poland.

Gorbachev on US-Russia ties (non-ties).