Ukraine fiasco .... Update 1 ... March 2

After reading a couple of the items below you will wonder if the numbskull politicians of the West who are responsible for this crisis planet Earth finds herself in today, are feeling a bit guilt-ridden.  Never fear ... the words "guilt" "regret"  "truth" are not found in a politician's dictionary.
The vid in which you see the youngsters being beaten up, I believe they are either from NGOs or from the pro-EU group. According to something I read elsewhere, the dismantled and sacked police force from Kiev has made its way to Crimea. Those guys have made themselves the front soldiers for Russia and as you can see they are very vengeful.

From MacedonianOnline:
....Ukraine's Navy refuses   orders from Kiev, defects to Russia.  Ukraine’s Navy flagship, the Hetman Sahaidachny frigate, has reportedly refused to follow orders from Kiev, and come over to Russia’s side and is returning home after taking part in NATO operation in the Gulf of Aden flying the Russian naval flag.
There has been conflicting information on where exactly the vessel is, but a Russian senator has confirmed to Izvestia daily that the frigate defected to the Russian side.
“Ukraine’s Navy flagship the Hetman Sahaidachny has come over to our side today. It has hung out the St Andrew’s flag,” Senator Igor Morozov, a member of the committee on the international affairs, told Russia's Izvestia......



Emma Murphy writing at ITVNews:
...When the protesters  took to Maidan Square, Kiev, they were arguing for a complete change in their country.

They wanted an end to corruption, for the power to be taken out of the hands of the super rich and for those in government to be free of the failures and shackles of previous administrations.
They've achieved some of what they thought; a president who has gone and a new Cabinet is in place.
For many though the new order is just what they feared - different faces but no real difference in the system.

Some of those offered positions in the government have refused to take them for that reason and the news from the East may reaffirm their view.
With the Russian threat, the new government has offered key positions across the East of the country to some of the country's richest men.

The oligarchs are faces of the past and now it seems very much the faces of the future.........

From Politico: 
Photo gallery

From NationalPost:
.... Russian troops welcomed  by rapturous crowds in Crimean port city Balaklava.  
Crowds waving Russian flags and shouting “Russ-i-ya, Russ-i-ya” gave a rapturous welcome Saturday to about 300 Russian troops in full combat gear who seized control of this tiny Crimean port even before the parliament in Moscow agreed to a request by President Vladimir Putin to send troops to occupy the strategically important peninsula.

As Russian armoured personnel carriers patrolled the streets of nearby Sevastopol, the troops in Balaklava — who all actually wore black balaclavas to hide their faces — blocked access to the port area, where millionaires’ yachts are moored near fishing dories and small warships.

The troops all carried assault rifles and were calm and relaxed. Unlike in Chechnya, they allowed everyone to take their pictures or shoot video of them..........



Peter Graff and Alissa De Carbonnel writing at Reuters:
...West scrambles,  Kiev braces as Putin threatens Ukraine war.
The West faced its biggest confrontation with Russia since the Cold War and Ukraine marshaled its forces for defense after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the right to invade his neighbor.

Ethnic Russian forces have already bloodlessly seized Crimea, an isolated Black Sea peninsula where most of the population are Russian and Moscow has a naval base, and sought to disarm the small Ukrainian contingents there on Sunday.
Of potentially even greater concern are eastern swathes of the country, where most of the ethnic Ukrainians speak Russian as a native language. Those areas saw violent protests on Saturday, with pro-Moscow demonstrators hoisting flags at government buildings and calling for Russia to defend them.

Putin's declaration that he has the right to invade his neighbor - for which he quickly received the unanimous approval of his parliament - opened the prospect of war in a country of 46 million people on the ramparts of central Europe..........

From RTNews:
Ukrainian armed forces dispatched to Crimea have started resigning on a massive scale, Russia news agencies reported.
Living quarters, weapons and ammunition have all been left under the protection of the so-called ‘self-defense forces.’
Letters of resignation have been coming in since early morning, as the self-defense forces continue to preserve order on the streets of Simferopol, RIA Novosti said citing own reporters on the ground.
Since Thursday, the city’s Supreme Council and a number of other buildings have been occupied and guarded by the self-defense forces run by the local population.
Crimea’s deputy prime minister, Rustam Temirgaliev, announced earlier that the Ukrainian armed forces have all but surrendered their military capabilities and that no active units remain in the Crimea........

Katie Stallard writing at SkyNews:
...We travelled by road  from the Ukrainian capital Kiev to Crimea in the far south.

The journey takes you through endless farmland, ploughed fields of the famous black earth and soviet monuments to the fallen of the Second World War.
As we approached the border we were stopped at a checkpoint by unidentified armed men in combat fatigues.
At first they tried to grab our camera, but Sky News' Moscow bureau cameraman, Vadim Nechaev, managed to talk them around.
They searched our car and wanted to take our body armour - we could see several of the guards already sporting 'press' flak jackets, new press helmets in hand.

Our team is usually based in Russia and our foreign ministry accreditation seemed to help - eventually they were persuaded to allow us in and they decided they wanted to show us their side of the story instead.
They describe themselves as 'peaceful citizens' - local volunteers providing security against what they claim is a coup being perpetrated by 'fascists and thugs'..........

From CNSNews:
Russia Seeks Access to Bases in Eight Countries for Its Ships and Bombers
At a time of escalated tensions with the West over Ukraine, Russia says it is negotiating with eight governments around the world for access to military facilities, to enable it to extend its long-range naval and strategic bomber capabilities.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday the military was engaged in talks with Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Algeria, Cyprus, the Seychelles, Vietnam and Singapore.
“We need bases for refueling near the equator, and in other places,” ITAR-Tass quoted him as saying.
Russia is not looking to establish bases in those locations, but to reach agreement to use facilities there when required...........