http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-02-24...sevastopol
{Webmaster's comment}
Quote:Okay, let's take a close look at this. What is Putin doing?
200 troops is a token force at best, as is a single landing ship.
Other deployments are four flights of troops from the 45th Airborne Special Forces unit to Anapa and six MI-8 helicopters moved from Sochi to Anapa, most likely to support the troops.
This is not a large force. And these deployments were openly announced in the Russian military websites.
It looks like Putin is sending a message that he will act if pressed, but is not moving a force large enough for the US to claim it is a provocation.
These overt deployments are focused on Crimea and the ports along the northern edge of the Black Sea. Again, this is not posing a direct threat towards the new government in Kiev, which Russia sees as wholly illegitimate. Russia has stated, correctly, that the US-backed coup in the Ukraine is a direct threat to Russian interests in the region. Certainly the Russian people, who stopped the Nazis just 20 miles from Moscow, are likely to be thinking that if war with the US is inevitable, better it be fought in the Ukraine than on Russian soil.
The landing ship and troops, while positioned (if inadequate) to act within the Crimea itself, are nothing more than a display of resolve.
The real question is what covert preparations are being made inside Russia. With little ground intelligence, and NSA having a track record of missing major events like Tet, and (if you believe the official story) 9-11 and the fact that Saddam did not in fact have nuclear weapons, I would not rely on the NSA to know what Putin may be planning inside Russia itself or possibly going through Belarus while everyone pays attention to Sevastopol and Anapa.
It all comes down to whether Putin thinks war with the US can be avoided or not. If Putin sees war as avoidable (without further compromising Russian strategic interests) he will rattle his sabers and go home. Otherwise, this new cold war could get very hot very quickly, and from an unexpected direction.
Anyone in the US Government who thinks this situation can be controlled is living in a fantasy world.
