The Situation in the Ukraine. #2

flamming_python wrote:UPDATE:

Seems Lugansk has definitely fallen out of the control of the Kiev authorities   



The governor has abdicated and has left. Police inside the building aren't trying to prevent the entrance of any protestors, etc... they are only making sure that damage isn't done and no-one loots anything.

Now the people have to rapidly organise and set up volunteer brigades, checkpoints, etc... they don't have much time until the Kiev government comes knockin'

Austin wrote:Dreaded Blackwater Mercenaries have arrived 

Has Blackwater been deployed to Ukraine? Notorious U.S. mercenaries 'seen on the streets of flashpoint city' as Russia claim

flamming_python wrote:There was a pro-Russian rally in Odessa earlier on too:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/timer-video
cut

Regular wrote:

Austin wrote:Dreaded Blackwater Mercenaries have arrived 

Has Blackwater been deployed to Ukraine? Notorious U.S. mercenaries 'seen on the streets of flashpoint city' as Russia claim

Haha only mentally ill would write  that article. No wonder it's the Daily Fail.
Them people could be Sokol or privateers of pro Maidan oligarch. SBU also comes to my mind.
Why do you need Americans with crappy training and awful ROE here? What bunch of greasy fucks from god knows where far away could do better than local people can't? There are plenty of trained personal there.
Yankees would suck in ex soviet environment. I doubt they would speak the lango or have understanding  of situation especially knowing their inheritance of down syndrome.

etaepsilonk wrote:

Regular wrote:

Austin wrote:Dreaded Blackwater Mercenaries have arrived 

Has Blackwater been deployed to Ukraine? Notorious U.S. mercenaries 'seen on the streets of flashpoint city' as Russia claim

Haha only mentally ill would write  that article. No wonder it's the Daily Fail.
Them people could be Sokol or privateers of pro Maidan oligarch. SBU also comes to my mind.
Why do you need Americans with crappy training and awful ROE here? What bunch of greasy fucks from god knows where far away could do better than local people can't? There are plenty of trained personal there.
Yankees would suck in ex soviet environment. I doubt they would speak the lango or have understanding  of situation especially knowing their inheritance of down syndrome.

I'd suggest you to check your language, Regular.

Also, hiring foreigners makes sense, if loyalty of local forces is in doubt (happens all the time in the third world).
In this article I haven't seen any definitive proof that they're from Blackwater, but their foreign origins are pretty likely, when you look at their weapons, they don't look russian/soviet made for sure.

Btw, could someone identify them?   
I think that some folks in those photos were carrying Beryl/Tantal rifles (Polish), and P-90s. Could be wrong, however.

flamming_python wrote:

etaepsilonk wrote:

Regular wrote:

Austin wrote:Dreaded Blackwater Mercenaries have arrived 

Has Blackwater been deployed to Ukraine? Notorious U.S. mercenaries 'seen on the streets of flashpoint city' as Russia claim

Haha only mentally ill would write  that article. No wonder it's the Daily Fail.
Them people could be Sokol or privateers of pro Maidan oligarch. SBU also comes to my mind.
Why do you need Americans with crappy training and awful ROE here? What bunch of greasy fucks from god knows where far away could do better than local people can't? There are plenty of trained personal there.
Yankees would suck in ex soviet environment. I doubt they would speak the lango or have understanding  of situation especially knowing their inheritance of down syndrome.

I'd suggest you to check your language, Regular.

Also, hiring foreigners makes sense, if loyalty of local forces is in doubt (happens all the time in the third world).
In this article I haven't seen any definitive proof that they're from Blackwater, but their foreign origins are pretty likely, when you look at their weapons, they don't look russian/soviet made for sure.

Btw, could someone identify them?   
I think that some folks in those photos were carrying Beryl/Tantal rifles (Polish), and P-90s. Could be wrong, however.

They look sorta like Russian Alfa Spetsnaz or certain CSTO units, similar uniforms.

Most likely, they are either Ukrainian Alfa Spetsnaz (SBU), Sokol Spetsnaz (MVS/Police) or private mercenaries hired by an oligarch. The first two variants are more likely.

By the Way, the World's Space Missions Rely on Russian Hardware

One thing to keep in mind as tensions rise between Russia and the West: We can't send people to space without them.

Last December, an Atlas V rocket rose from
Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, carrying a secret observation satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. The engine in the rocket's booster was an RD-180s, made by Russia's Energomash corporation. This is only one of many examples that demonstrate the world space industry's reliance on Russia for flight-ready hardware. It's true for the European Union, Japan, and the United States.

Because of Russia's sudden invasion of the Crimea, many voices are calling on Western leaders to punish Vladimir Putin's country and make it a pariah state. But strained relations with Russia could endanger space missions around the world.

Pentagon

The Air Force hires United Launch Alliance (ULA), a Lockheed Martin-Boeing partnership, to launch its most critical satellites. Those often wind up atop Atlas V rockets, which feature the high-tech, Russian-made RD-180 as the heart of the launch system. How vital are these Russian engines? So much so that the Air Force is looking at licensing the design and producing them in the United States.

These Atlas V engines have long been the subject of political tugs-of-war between Moscow and Washington. Russia has publicly considered stopping the delivery because the United States uses them for military launches. The Pentagon has responded by setting up contingencies, but most of them rely on at least some parts from Russia's Energomash.

What about the all-American SpaceX launch system, Falcon 9? SpaceX is on track to be certified by the Air Force for national security launches, but the earliest EELV-class mission SpaceX could launch would be in the 2017. The ULA's other workhorse, the Delta IV, doesn't use Russian engines. However, this engine isn't used very often anymore and is probably more expensive to operate than the Atlas V.

U.S. Private Space

Of the three companies vying for NASA contracts to deliver astronauts to orbit, two rely on United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rockets. Those companies, Sierra Nevada and Boeing, turned in their proposals to NASA based on that arrangement in January. The third company, SpaceX, designed it own launch hardware. If there is a disruption in the delivery of engines to ULA because of geopolitics, that could influence NASA's selection of a company to deliver astronauts to ISS.

Russia also has a hand in the private space cargo missions to ISS. Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket relies on NK-26s engines built in Russia and designed for the Soviet lunar program. However, the long-term availability of these engines is in doubt and Orbital is coming up with other options.


International Space Station

The most obvious case of our reliance on Russian hardware is the International Space Station: The Russian-operated Soyuz delivers crew and cargo there. The United States has been renting seats on the Soyuz spacecraft for about $60 million a pop since NASA ended the Space Shuttle program in 2011. A Soyuz also serves as the lifeboat in case of emergencies. If Soyuz flights are curtailed, the ISS would have to be abandoned, at least temporarily.

European Union

The Ukrainian crisis is a challenge for Europe, and the economic ties between the EU and Russia may become political tools. A good example of this can be found in French Guiana, a small South American nation where the European Union venture Arianespace operates a spaceport.

In a joint agreement, the Russians launch Soyuz missions from the jungle spaceport, taking advantage of the equatorial location to fling satellites into orbit. (The Soyuz can carry 3.3 tons of payload into orbit from this launch pad versus 1.8 tons for a launch in Russia, because the Earth's rotation is faster close to the equator.) Arianespace, in return, can offer more launches and also guard against rocket delays by switching launch vehicles. The agreement could be subject to political gestures on both sides.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/rockets/by-the-way-the-worlds-space-missions-rely-on-russian-hardware-16554242?src=spr_FBPAGE&spr_id=1457_46496334

George1 wrote:

Austin wrote:What kind of support does Putin policy in Ukraine have support in Russia among Russian people.........do they have good support for he is doing ?

Austin wrote:
I'd suggest you to check your language, Regular.

when you look at their weapons, they don't look russian/soviet made for sure.

Btw, could someone identify them?   

"If there is an annexation of Crimea, if there is a referendum that moves Crimea from Ukraine to Russia, we won't recognize it, nor will most of the world," U.S. deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

"So I think you'd see, if there are further steps in the direction of annexing Crimea, a very strong, coordinated international response."

Austin wrote:The worrying part is co-ordinated response from EU and US this will screw the Russian Economy ?

If referendum is held and they decide to join Russia but remain autonomous.....Putin can just reject it and say remain autonomous but part of Ukraine .....isnt it ?

That way the West cant say Putin is annexing Crimea ?