Ocnus.Net

Analyses
Russia and the Ukraine - Sitrep
By To Inform 12/6/17
Jun 13, 2017 - 9:20:20 AM

Russia’s internal crackdown / meltdown continues, with Navalniy’s protests across 200 cities and towns producing big turnout, and big arrests – notable is that footage shows large numbers of young people. In Sweden, a neo-Nazi gang arrested for a bombing campaign was found to have received combat training in Russia, which is making headlines in Swedish MSM but not Reuters or WashPost, who evidently do not consider state-sponsored terrorism by Russia in Scandinavia to be headline news. Stone receiving more coverage than deserved. Interesting digest by Prof Goble on the Turkic peoples’ movement across Central Asia and Russia.

Three most interesting reports on cyber, noting that the belief that sophisticated highly specialized capabilities built to defeat opposing nation states will be equally effective against low tech opponents has a long history of being very wrong – why some folks persist in this belief remains a mystery.

Ukraine news split between two topics, the escalation in the Donbass that is increasingly seeing targeted fires against civilians, and the start of visa-free travel to the EU. There is a palpable change in the public mood in Ukraine, as this has been the first truly big win for them after three years of hardship, misery, and war. The West has not made it easy for the Ukrainians, mostly due to a deeply ingrained culture of Russia appeasement in Europe, and in the US, Rice et al being prepared to sacrifice almost anything to retain Russian engagement on Iran. Also a very interesting report on US military testimony to the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Ukraine vs. Russia and how Ukrainian combat experience has impacted US planning – very appropriate as the Russians will export globally everything they have trialed or tested in Ukraine.



Source: Ocnus.net 2017