Developing
Medvedev’s Remarks
Russia’s ITAR-TASS news agency reported today on Russian Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev’s comments in Russian military intervention in Georgia in 2008, insinuating that the international community would similarly accept a further military intervention in the Ukraine.
His remarks were reported as follows:
MOSCOW, August 08, /ITAR-TASS/. The world community was wise and strong enough to understand Russia’s actions during Georgia’s aggression against South Ossetia back in August 2008, and now the region is a territory of peace, Russian Prime Minister Dimuitry Medvedev wrote on his Facebook account on Friday.
“Six years ago, Georgia unleashed a war against South Ossetia delivering air strikes at peaceful Tskhinval. Its key goal was to annex South Ossetia,” he wrote. “On those days, I had to make one of the most difficult decisions in my entire life and declare a peace-enforcement operation in Georgia.”
“Now we see that it was the only right decision,” Medvedev went on. “Two new states – South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which was involved in that conflict, emerged on the world map.”“However, six years ago, our recognition of these states caused strains in Russia’s relations with the West, but back then the world community was wise and strong enough to understand Russia and to show respect to our position,” he noted. “As a result, peace has been reigning in Abkhazia and South Ossetia for six years.
Medvedev’s statement is significant for two reasons.
First, it follows a pattern by Russia of well-orchestrated moves as part of a propaganda campaign to lay the basis for military intervention.
Second, it is suggestive of just how delusional Vladimir Putin’s thinking is vis-avis the consequences for Russia of a further military intervention in the Ukraine.
The West needs to pierce Putin’s delusional bubble.
To do so, it should:
(1) Immediately prepare for implementation of a broader array of “stage 3” sanctions to be imposed on Russia, in the very near future, in the light of its continued support of the “separatists” in the Donbass with sophisticated air defense systems, arms and materiel, and special operations and irregular forces under Moscow’s direction and control;
(2) Decide upon, on an urgent basis, and immediately begin forward deployment of large numbers of NATO troops to Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Romania;
(3) Provide the Ukraine with military assistance and sophisticated equipment, and not just ready-to-eat meals and socks, beginning immediately.
Replacement of Russian Citizen By Ukrainian Deputy as “president” of the “Donetsk People’s Republic”
Connecting the dots, the resignation of the self-denominated president on the “Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Borodai, by his Ukrainian deputy, Aleksandr Zakharchenko, corrects the obvious weakness in a probable Kremlin strategy of having the President of the Donetsk People’s Republic appeal to Russia for “humanitarian intervention” (unilateral and by miltary means) in order to protect the population of Donetsk and Luhansk (Lugansk, in Ruusian) from the attacks and humanitarian consequences of the Ukrainian forces’ efforts to retake these two “separatist” strongholds.
Wikipedia describes the bew president as follows:
Aleksandr Zakharchenko
Александр Захарченко (in Russian)
Олександр Захарченко (in Ukrainian)Aleksandr Vladimirovich Zakharchenko (Russian: Александр Владимирович Захарченко, Ukrainian: Олександр Володимирович Захарченко; born 1976, is the current Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic that declared its independence from Ukraine on 12 May 2014. He succeeded Alexander Borodai on 7 August 2014 who became his Deputy Prime Minister.
For revealing information on the backgrounds and close ties to Russia of other “separatist” leaders, see
Harriet Salem, “Who’s Who in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” VICE News, July 1, 2014.
Perhaps in Moscow they have realized that the international law argument supporting intervention to protect cultural nationals will not receive any support fromother counties, and decided to use a “humanitarian intervention” justification in the event regular Russian forces intervene in the Donbas (Donbass in Russian, referring to the Donets Basin).
U.N. Security Council Meeting (August 8, 2014)
Meanwhile, Russian diplomatic efforts to build support for “humanitarian intervention” continue, while it is unclear whether America’s multilateral diplomacy reaches beyond the U.N Security Council.
The Security Council met this morning, on August 8, 2014, to discuss the situation in the Ukraine.
The wecast, in English, is found here.
The webcast, in the original language of each speaker, is found here.
The speech of the representative of the United Kingdom, is found here.
The U.N Security Council Press Release of August 8, 2014 (Doc. SC/11516), containg sumaries of the briefings and the interventions by the representatives, is found here.
The Trenchant Observer
