Discussion for article #225248
About time someone in a position of authority said it.
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Both the right thing to say and a powerful twist of the screw upon Comrade Putin. “Hey Vladi–how you digging that toe-to-toe with OUR POTUS now? How’s that workin’ out for you?”
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Russia will of course deny it. But will start taking steps to ease tensions (read: start calling their special ops boys back home) all the same.
Russia overplayed its hand. For her to make this statement, we must have pretty strong intel of their involvement, so you can bet everyone else has seen that intel, too. Look for Putin to fold on eastern Ukraine and settle for just Crimea.
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And who did the 'Rebel’s call first, after the mass murder?
Russian intelligence.
Now–why would they do that?
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Eh…I wouldn’t be surprised if it went even beyond ‘involvement’. Usually in situations like this the instructor or observer is the one with the triggers. If they got the thing from Russia as is widely suspected…the instructors came with it.
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He may have talked to Putin last night. MSNBC showed video of Air Force One on the tarmac in Washington (I think Obama had returned from a fund raiser in New York), and they said it had been sitting there for 30 minutes and the door had still not opened for the president to exit. O’Donnell (I think it was O’Donnell) said that usually meant the president was on an important phone call that could not be interrupted. He went on to say that probably meant a call to or from one of two people: Benjamin Netanyahu or Vladimir Putin. My money is on Putin, and it would be interesting to know just who called who in that case.
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No one on the Rebels’ side with intelligence?
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Vlad the Terrible. Wrestle’s bears, blows women, children and AIDs scientists out of the sky six miles high.
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Based on who they called first, I’d say they take their orders from the FSB.
I don’t think it even takes very strong intel. This kind of system isn’t the kind of thing where you just point it at a plane in the sky, pull the trigger, and it goes. Even if the piece itself was captured from the Ukrainians (unlikely, but possible given that they’ve overrun some bases), it requires serious training to operate. Some things, like the radar, might not be the kind of thing you can teach to a guerilla in a couple of weeks.
All of the statements coming out of the US sound pretty confident. I am just guessing by the choice of language I am hearing, that the case that the Russians were involved goes beyond just intelligent speculation. Like radio captures. Or identification of individuals. Smoking gun with really big, red fingerprints on it sort of stuff.
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We not only can’t rule it out but they are the prime suspect and have guilt by association. Putin, and Russia by extension, own everything that becomes of this war and that has already happened. (the Bush legacy) Or, will Putin admit to the whole thing being out of his control? (The Christie conundrum)
Bush tried to absolve his responsibility by hyping the surge, which only proved how terrible his war had gone, and hoping that winning sentiment would distract from the fact that the whole damned thing was a distraction to begin with. No invasion, no surge required. The exact same principle applies here. There are zero acceptable excuses after this.
Samantha Power is awesome.
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Was it the NSA that intercepted the phone conversations? Those hit the web damn quick.
Yikes, SA-11 missiles. Those aren’t stingers or shoulder fired bottle rockets. Those are serious SAMs.