https://www.rt.com/op-ed/444908-azov-sea-nato-ukraine/
Another Crimean war looms as NATO provocations enter Russian waters – George Galloway
George Galloway was a member of the British Parliament for nearly 30 years. He presents TV and radio shows (including on RT). He is a film-maker, writer and a renowned orator.
Published time: 26 Nov, 2018 15:36
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A missile launched from the Bulgarian navy frigate "Drazki" during BREEZE 2014 military drill in the Black Sea © Reuters / Stoyan Nenov
A new Crimean War would be the last, but few amongst the general public realize that endless baiting of Russia, the cycle of war games, sanctions, and false accusations could well lead to all-out war between NATO and Russia.
“
Half a league, half a league, half a league onward, into the Valley of Death rode the six hundred,” - Alfred Lord Tennyson
The last time Britain fought Russia, we were the most powerful empire in the history of the world and our adversary a ramshackle obscurantist autocracy. The British suffered over forty thousand dead and wounded. It was the first modern war – red in tooth and claw – predating the American Civil War, which is often awarded that dubious honor. The terrible suffering of the British (and French) soldiers, virtually none of whom even had the right to vote for the parliament which ruled “their” empire, began to be unpopular at home. Tennyson's braggadocio ballad “
The Charge of the Light Brigade” gave rise to the first whispers of doubt amongst British people generally as to whether our soldiers were lions led by donkeys, into one valley of death after another. Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die.
Also on rt.com Last chance to stay in power? Ukrainian President Poroshenko signs decree on martial law
The next Crimean War would be the last war and no poet would be left alive to chronicle it for the remaining cockroaches, the only beings which would likely survive it.
Surprisingly, few amongst the general public had yet to wake up to the fact that the endless baiting of Russia, the cycle of war-games sanctions and false accusations could well lead to all-out war between NATO and the Russian Federation – multiple nuclear-armed superpowers, ramshackle no longer. Events this week in the Russian waters off Crimea and the subsequent war-mobilization of the Ukrainian neo-fascist government may well prove a wake-up call.
Ukrainian coup-president Poroshenko, with his country mired in debts and his presidency hanging by a thread trailing miles behind his main rival, has decided on the “
Wag the Dog” manoeuvre – look over there he cries as he mounts the most serious provocation yet by sailing military and other ships into Russian territorial waters with the inevitable Russian response.
Invoking martial law, he may even cancel the forthcoming presidential poll and will certainly fundamentally change the political landscape through draconian legislation, including closing down opposition using the actually fascist militias in Ukraine as his shock troops.
Also on rt.com Black Sea standoff: Kiev’s ‘provocation’ aims to score political points ahead of elections – Moscow
Predictably he has called upon his allies in NATO to come to the aid of his beleaguered regime, beggared by his own recklessness. Trump – facing imminent Armageddon in Washington as the Mueller Enquiry closes – may welcome the opportunity to wag his own Dog. Theresa May – possibly in the last days of her premiership otherwise – ditto. Macron, the streets of his capital on fire with
77% of his people favoring the arsonists rather than him, likewise.
A dangerous constellation of weak, collapsing Western governments and leaders suddenly find their interests coinciding with the tin-pot tyrant Poroshenko. And into the Valley of Death they might just be ready to send their people charging. If they do they will find a resolute Russia far stronger than at Balaclava. Strong and united enough in fact to prevail. Unity in NATO countries is something even the Victorian master propagandist Tennyson would find it hard to spin. And certainly the moth-eaten second-rate spin-doctors of the NATO hirelings – the laughably named “
Integrity” unmasked by Anonymous last week – “
ain't no Lord Tennyson, bruv.”
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https://www.rt.com/news/444891-poroshenko-signs-martial-law-decree/
Last chance to stay in power? Ukrainian President Poroshenko signs decree on martial law
Published time: 26 Nov, 2018 12:58 Edited time: 26 Nov, 2018 15:39
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© Reuters / Mikhail Palinchak; Reuters Pictures Archive
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has imposed martial law after the country’s vessels faced off with Russian ships near Crimea. The measure could potentially allow him to call off scheduled elections and preserve power.
Martial law is scheduled to be in place from November 26 to January 26. It still requires final approval from Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. However, the Ukrainian General Staff was already tasked with beginning partial troop mobilization, according to media reports.
The Ukrainian army was put on full combat alert even before the martial law was declared.
The Rada is expected to vote on the motion later on Monday. However, Poroshenko revealed that he actually brought martial law into force ahead of its approval by parliament, starting from November 28. With that, the president also warned about a
“serious threat” of a
“ground invasion” of Ukraine, citing a
“secret intelligence document.”
Invoking martial law is seen as a move which is beneficial for Poroshenko. The president’s rating is falling as he struggles to campaign for re-election in March.
However, the elections would be called off if martial law was still in place by that time, meaning that the president would keep his post despite unpopular economic measures and corruption scandals in his government.
The decree, which Poroshenko introduced in parliament, specifically states that the people’s right
“to elect and be elected” might be suspended under martial law, effectively meaning that the government can call off any elections as long as the measure is in place.
Also on rt.com Black Sea standoff: Kiev’s ‘provocation’ aims to score political points ahead of elections – Moscow
The Ukrainian leadership apparently seeks to
“score political points” ahead of the March 2019 presidential elections, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on the issue. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also described the decision to impose the martial law as
“an electoral intrigue.”
The move comes on the back of a standoff between a group of Ukrainian Navy ships, which crossed into Russian territorial sea without authorization, and the Russian border guard vessels.
The Ukrainian ships were sailing between two of the country’s ports: from Odessa in the Black Sea to Mariupol in the Azov Sea. The only waterway connecting these ports is through the Kerch Strait between Crimea and mainland Russia.
Although both Russia and Ukraine have freedom of navigation in the Kerch Strait under a 2003 treaty, there are detailed technical rules on how vessels should pass through the narrow, complex waterway. Every ship passing through it should contact the Crimean sea port of Kerch, which controls traffic in the area.
While Kiev says that it notified the Russian side about its ships sailing through the area in advance, Moscow denies it received any warning. Moscow then accused Kiev of staging a planned provocation aimed at stirring up the conflict between the two neighbors and justifying the imposition of martial law.
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