{"id":54993,"date":"2022-02-25T09:38:10","date_gmt":"2022-02-25T13:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=54993"},"modified":"2023-05-25T00:23:34","modified_gmt":"2023-05-25T04:23:34","slug":"rejecting-nato-expansion-putin-recognizes-forgotten-donbas-civilians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=54993","title":{"rendered":"What You Should Really Know About Russia and Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><BIG><B><A HREF=\"https:\/\/raymcgovern.com\/2023\/05\/22\/did-putin-have-other-options-on-ukraine\/\">Did Putin Have \u2018Other Options\u2019 on Ukraine?<\/A><\/B><\/BIG><br \/>\n<em>By Ray McGovern, May 22, 2023<\/em><br \/>\nThe attempt at balance \u2013 however transparent \u2013 is welcome. But are readers not owed some attempt to spell out those \u201cother options\u201d? This is not a marginal quibble; we are talking war. When one glibly asserts, glibly, that that a country that launched hostilities had other options, well, what were they? A statement as lengthy as that published in the NYT might have made room for an attempt to cite one or two of those options<\/p>\n<p><BIG><B>John Mearsheimer Ukraine Salon<\/B><\/BIG> <I>May 23, 2023<\/I><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"520\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/v-rHBRwdql8\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\nThe Biden Administration is engulfed in a staggeringly expensive folly in Ukraine with no forseeable good outcomes. The Committee hosted University of Chicago Professor John Mearsheimer the week after the Russian invasion fourteen months ago. That zoom salon had 1,136,000 views. The Committee has invited John to return &#8212; this time in person.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n<A HREF=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/How-West-Brought-Ukraine-Understanding\/dp\/0991076702\/\">How the West Brought War to Ukraine<\/A>: Understanding How U.S. and NATO Policies Led to Crisis, War, and the Risk of Nuclear Catastrophe Paperback \u2013 August 5, 2022<br \/>\nby Benjamin Abelow (Author)<\/p>\n<p><STRONG>Ukraine: Questions for the US Anti-War Movement w\/ Abby Martin &amp; Brian Becker<\/STRONG><br \/>\n<I>February 26, 2022<\/I><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JAEybTns0Lg\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\nFeaturing live audience Q&#038;A, Abby Martin and Brian Becker discuss the Ukraine war and what it means for the anti-war movement.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rejecting NATO expansion, Putin recognizes forgotten Donbas civilians<\/strong><br \/>\n<I>February 26, 2022<\/i><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TqVCMZdnb3k\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\nAfter weeks of US claims that a Russian invasion of Ukraine was imminent, Vladimir Putin instead recognized the breakaway republics of Luhansk and Donetsk. The decision has triggered a new round of US-led sanctions while bringing attention to rebel-held areas, where,  according to UN figures on the Donbas war, 80% of civilian casualties have occurred since 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Richard Sakwa analyzes the factors behind Putin&#8217;s move and its likely consequences. Putin&#8217;s decision, he says, comes after Kiev refused to implement the 2015 Minsk accords, which could have ended the conflict, and a longstanding US-driven project to expand NATO to Russia&#8217;s borders. <\/p>\n<p><EM><STRONG>Also Read:<\/STRONG><\/EM><\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2022\/02\/27\/putins-nuclear-threat\/\">Putin\u2019s Nuclear Threat<\/A><br \/>\n<I>By Scott Ritter, Consortium News &#8211; February 27, 2022<\/I><br \/>\nVladimir Putin is a madman. He\u2019s lost it. At least that is what the leaders of the West would like you to believe. According to their narrative, Putin &mdash; isolated, alone, confused, and angry at the unfolding military disaster Russia was undergoing in Ukraine &mdash; lashed out, ostensibly threatening the entire world with nuclear annihilation.<\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2022\/02\/27\/ukraine-nuclear-weapons-russia-invasion\/\">Lesson From Ukraine: Breaking Promises to Small Countries Means They\u2019ll Never Give Up Nukes<\/A><br \/>\n<I>By Murtaza Hussain, The Intercept &#8211; February 27, 2022<\/i><br \/>\nIn the 1990s, world powers promised Ukraine that if it disarmed, they would not violate its security. That promise was broken.<\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/english.almayadeen.net\/news\/politics\/russian-forces-remove-ukrainian-dam-built-to-cut-off-water-f\">Russian forces remove Ukrainian dam built to cut off water from Crimea<\/A><br \/>\n<em>By Al Mayadeen Net, February 26, 2022<\/em><br \/>\nAfter an eight-year hiatus, water is restored to Crimea via the North Crimean Canal, after Russian forces destroyed a dam constructed by the Ukrainian authorities in the Kherson region.<\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2022\/02\/26\/robert-parry-the-mess-that-nuland-made\/\">The Mess That Nuland Made<\/A><br \/>\n<I>By Robert Parry, Consortium News &#8211; February 26, 2022<\/I><br \/>\nVictoria Nuland engineered Ukraine\u2019s \u201cregime change\u201d in early 2014 without weighing the likely chaos and consequences, wrote Robert Parry on July 13, 2015.<\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/thebulletin.org\/2022\/02\/us-official-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-risks-release-of-dangerous-pathogens\/\">US official: Russian invasion of Ukraine risks release of dangerous pathogens<\/A><br \/>\n<em>By Matt Field, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists &#8211; February 25, 2022<\/em><br \/>\nThe pathogens in Ukrainian labs vary by facility, Pope said, but some can be characterized as presenting a concern in the Ukrainian environment. As an example, he cited African swine fever virus, which is highly contagious in pigs and has caused hundreds of outbreaks in Ukraine since 2012. Some labs, he said, may hold pathogen strains left over from the Soviet bioweapons program, preserved in freezers for research purposes.<\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/www.mintpressnews.com\/chris-hedges-ukraine-soviet-union-russia-war\/279793\/\">Russia, Ukraine and the Chronicle of a War Foretold<\/A><br \/>\n<I>By Chris Hedges,  February 25, 2022<\/I><br \/>\nAfter the fall of the Soviet Union, there was a near-universal understanding among political leaders that NATO expansion would be a foolish provocation against Russia. How naive we were to think the military-industrial complex would allow such sanity to prevail.<\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/2022\/02\/25\/roaming-charges-insane-in-the-ukraine\/\">Roaming Charges: Insane in the Ukraine<\/A><br \/>\n<I>By Jeffrey St. Clair, February 25, 2022<\/I><br \/>\nNeo-Nazis in Ukraine, neo-Romanovs in Moscow, NATO expansionists in the western capitals, shale oil companies and natural gas conglomerates, if this devolves into a war it\u2019s going to make World War I seem like a battle of clean hands.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blackagendareport.com\/why-russian-federation-recognized-independence-movements-donbas\">Why the Russian Federation Recognized the Independence Movements in the Donbas<\/a><br \/>\n<i>By Ajamu Baraka, Black Agenda Report &#8211; February 23, 2022<\/i><br \/>\nI will not add to that mountain of ink because, for me, the story is relatively simple. I have argued since 2015 that it was greed informed by miscalculations that drove the U.S. \u2014 with the support of European capital salivating from prospect of profits generated by gaining full control of the Ukrainian economy through the European Association agreement \u2014 to decide to overthrow the government of Viktor Yanukovych when he turned to Russia instead of surrendering Ukrainian sovereignty to U.S. and European capital. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/2022\/02\/23\/wwii-redux-the-endpoint-of-u-s-policy-from-ukraine-to-taiwan\/\">WWII Redux: The Endpoint of U.S. Policy, from Ukraine to Taiwan<\/a><br \/>\n<I>By John V. Walsh, CounterPunch &#8211; February 23, 2022<\/I><br \/>\nThe United States is stoking tensions in both Europe and East Asia, with Ukraine and Taiwan as the current flashpoints on the doorsteps of Russia and China which are the targeted nations.  Let us be clear at the outset.  As we shall see, the endpoint of this process is not for the U.S. to do battle with Russia or China but to watch China and Russia fight it out with the neighbors to the ruin of both sides.  The US is to \u201clead from behind\u2019 \u2013 as safely and remotely as can be arranged.<\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2022\/02\/04\/what-a-us-trap-for-russia-in-ukraine-might-look-like\/\">What a US Trap for Russia in Ukraine Might Look Like<\/A><br \/>\n<em>By Joe Lauria, Consortium News &#8211; February 04, 2022<\/em><br \/>\nThere are precedents for this. One is the clear signal given to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein by April Glaspie, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, in 1990 that the U.S. would do nothing to stop him from invading Kuwait. She told Saddam that the U.S. had no \u201copinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait.\u201d But it wasn\u2019t just Glaspie that left the door open to Kuwait.  The Washington Post reported on Sept. 17, 1990: \u201cIn the same week that Ambassador April Glaspie met a menacing tirade from Saddam with respectful and sympathetic responses, Secretary of State James Baker\u2019s top public affairs aide, Margaret Tutwiler, and his chief assistant for the Middle East, John Kelly, both publicly said that the United States was not obligated to come to Kuwait\u2019s aid if the emirate were attacked. They also failed to voice clear support for Kuwait\u2019s territorial integrity in the face of Saddam\u2019s threats.\u201d <\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/2022\/02\/25\/235254\/\">Russophobia Leads Us to Assume the Worst of Russians \u2013 and Assuming They\u2019re Demonic Could be Dangerous<\/A><br \/>\n<I>by Patrick Cockburn, CounterPunch &#8211; February 25, 2022<\/I><br \/>\nAnti-Russian feeling has a long history and it is easy to foment Russophobia, whereby all Russian actions are prejudged as evil and any pretence to a balanced approach to a crisis in which they are involved is abandoned.<\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/2022\/02\/25\/canada-and-ukraine\/\">Canada and Ukraine<\/A><br \/>\n<I>By Yves Engler, CounterPunch &#8211; February 25, 2022<\/I><br \/>\nOttawa has long sought to destabilize the relationship between Russia and Ukraine. In 2014 Ottawa actively assisted the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych who was oscillating between the European Union and Russia.<\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/www.craigmurray.org.uk\/archives\/2021\/12\/protecting-the-nazis-the-extraordinary-vote-of-ukraine-and-the-usa\/\">Protecting the Nazis: The Extraordinary Vote of Ukraine and the USA<\/A><br \/>\n<I>By Craig Murray, February 24, 2022<\/I><br \/>\nIn Ukraine, support for the Ukrainian nationalist divisions who fought alongside the Nazis has become, over the last eight years, the founding ideology of the modern post 2013 Ukrainian state (which is very different from the diverse Ukrainian state which briefly existed 1991-2013).<\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/jacobinmag.com\/2022\/02\/maidan-protests-neo-nazis-russia-nato-crimea\">A US-Backed, Far Right&mdash;Led Revolution in Ukraine Helped Bring Us to the Brink of War<\/A><br \/>\n<em>By Branko Marcetic, Jacobin &#8211; February 07, 2022<\/em><br \/>\nIn 2014 Ukraine, great power gamesmanship, righteous anger at a corrupt status quo, and opportunistic far-right extremists toppled the government in the Maidan Revolution. Today\u2019s crisis in Ukraine can\u2019t be understood without understanding Maidan.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fair.org\/home\/what-you-should-really-know-about-ukraine\/\">What You Should Really Know About Ukraine<\/a><br \/>\n<I>By Bryce Greene, Fairness &#038; Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) &#8211; January 28, 2022<\/i><br \/>\n&#8230;the crucial role the US has played in escalating tensions in the region. In nearly every case we looked at, the reports omitted the US\u2019s extensive role in the 2014 coup that preceded Russia\u2019s annexation of Crimea. Focusing on the latter part only serves to manufacture consent for US intervention abroad.<\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/www.ctvnews.ca\/world\/far-right-extremists-in-ukrainian-military-bragged-about-canadian-training-report-says-1.5631304\">Far-right extremists in Ukrainian military bragged about Canadian training, report says<\/A><br \/>\n<I>By Christy Somos, October 20, 2021<\/I><br \/>\nA report exploring the far-right in Ukraine\u2019s military found that neo-Nazis and supporters of far-right groups in the ranks bragged online about receiving training from Canada and other NATO nations, prompting promises of a thorough review from the Department of National Defence<\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/archive\/neo-nazis-far-right-ukraine\/\">Neo-Nazis and the Far Right Are On the March in Ukraine<\/A><br \/>\n<I>By Lev Golinkin, The Nation, February 22, 2019<\/I><br \/>\nFive years after the Maidan uprising, anti-Semitism and fascist-inflected ultranationalism are rampant.<\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/archive\/americas-collusion-with-neo-nazis\/\">America\u2019s Collusion With Neo-Nazis<\/A><br \/>\n<i>By Stephen F. Cohen, The Nation &#8211; May 02, 2018<\/i><br \/>\nFascist or neo-Nazi revivalism is underway today in many countries, from Europe to the United States, but the Ukrainian version is of special importance and a particular danger. <\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/www.strategic-culture.org\/news\/2018\/06\/03\/how-why-us-government-perpetrated-2014-coup-ukraine\/\">How and Why the US Government Perpetrated the 2014 Coup in Ukraine<\/A><br \/>\n<I>By Eric Zuesse, Strategic Culture &#8211; June 03, 2018<\/I><br \/>\nThis will document that the \u2018new Cold War\u2019 between the US and Russia did not start, as the Western myth has it, with Russia\u2019s involvement in the breakaway of Crimea and Donbass from Ukraine, after Ukraine \u2014 next door to Russia \u2014 had suddenly turned rabidly hostile toward Russia in February 2014. Ukraine\u2019s replacing its democratically elected neutralist Government in February 2014, by a rabidly anti-Russian Government, was a violent event, which produced many corpses.<\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/archive\/americas-collusion-with-neo-nazis\/\">America\u2019s Collusion With Neo-Nazis<\/A><br \/>\n<EM>By Stephen F. Cohen, The Nation &#8211; May 02, 2018<\/EM><br \/>\n<I><B>Neo-fascists play an important official or tolerated role in US-backed Ukraine.<\/B><\/I><br \/>\nThat the snipers who killed scores of protestors and policemen on Kiev\u2019s Maidan Square in February 2014, thereby triggering a \u201cdemocratic revolution\u201d that overthrew the elected president, Viktor Yanukovych, and brought to power a virulent anti-Russian, pro-American regime\u2014it was neither democratic nor a revolution, but a violent coup unfolding in the streets with high-level support\u2014were sent not by Yanukovych, as is still widely reported, but instead almost certainly by the neofascist organization Right Sector and its co-conspirators.<\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/archive\/neo-nazis-far-right-ukraine\/\">Ukraine&#8217;s neo-Nazi problem<\/A><br \/>\n<I>By Josh Cohen, Reuters, March 19, 2018<\/I><br \/>\nAs Ukraine\u2019s struggle against Russia and its proxies continues, Kiev must also contend with a growing problem behind the front lines: far-right vigilantes who are willing to use intimidation and even violence to advance their agendas, and who often do so with the tacit approval of law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/www.wsws.org\/en\/articles\/2016\/01\/19\/odes-j16.html\">Council of Europe issues report on far-right massacre in Odessa<\/A><br \/>\n<em>By David Levine, World Socialist Web Site, January 19, 2016<\/em><br \/>\nIn November of last year, the International Advisory Panel (IAP) of the Council of Europe (CoE) concluded that the Ukrainian government had failed to properly investigate and prosecute those responsible for violent clashes in Odessa in May 2014 between supporters of the far-right, US-backed coup in Kiev and its opponents. At least 48 people were killed in the conflict.<\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/archive\/congress-has-removed-a-ban-on-funding-neo-nazis-from-its-year-end-spending-bill\/\">Congress Has Removed a Ban on Funding Neo-Nazis From Its Year-End Spending Bill<\/A><br \/>\n<I>By James Carden, The Nation &#8211; January 14, 2016<\/I><br \/>\nUnder pressure from the Pentagon, Congress has stripped the spending bill of an amendment that prevented funds from falling into the hands of Ukrainian neo-fascist groups.<\/p>\n<p><STRONG>The US Government always knew Ukraine in NATO was an absolute redline.<\/STRONG><br \/>\n<I>February 01, 2008<I><br \/>\n<A HREF=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/plusd\/cables\/08MOSCOW265_a.html\">https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/plusd\/cables\/08MOSCOW265_a.html<\/A><\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/nsarchive.gwu.edu\/briefing-book\/russia-programs\/2017-12-12\/nato-expansion-what-gorbachev-heard-western-leaders-early\">NATO Expansion: What Gorbachev Heard<\/A><br \/>\n<i>National Security Archive at George Washington University<\/i><br \/>\nU.S. Secretary of State James Baker\u2019s famous \u201cnot one inch eastward\u201d assurance about NATO expansion in his meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on February 9, 1990, was part of a cascade of assurances about Soviet security given by Western leaders to Gorbachev and other Soviet officials throughout the process of German unification in 1990 and on into 1991, according to declassified U.S., Soviet, German, British and French documents posted today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University. The documents show that multiple national leaders were considering and rejecting Central and Eastern European membership in NATO as of early 1990 and through 1991, that discussions of NATO in the context of German unification negotiations in 1990 were not at all narrowly limited to the status of East German territory, and that subsequent Soviet and Russian complaints about being misled about NATO expansion were founded in written contemporaneous memcons and telcons at the highest levels. <\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2004\/nov\/26\/ukraine.usa?\">US campaign behind the turmoil in Kiev<\/A><br \/>\n<em>Ian Traynor, The Guardian &#8211; November 26, 2004<\/em><br \/>\nWith their websites and stickers, their pranks and slogans aimed at banishing widespread fear of a corrupt regime, the democracy guerrillas of the Ukrainian Pora youth movement have already notched up a famous victory &#8211; whatever the outcome of the dangerous stand-off in Kiev.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Videos<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><STRONG>Bio-Labs in Ukraine, with Dan Cohen and Scott Ritter<\/STRONG><br \/>\n<em>Mint Press News &#8211; March 04, 2022<\/em><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lE2XYcHnJqE\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\nJoin Dan Cohen and former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter for a live discussion on the Ukraine\/Russia war, Pentagon-funded Bio-Labs in Ukraine and European Union censorship.<\/p>\n<p><STRONG>Ukraine on Fire: The Real Story \u2013 Full Documentary by Oliver Stone<\/STRONG><br \/>\nInitial release: June 16, 2016<script>!function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src=\"https:\/\/rumble.com\/embedJS\/u10pi0h\"+(arguments[1].video?'.'+arguments[1].video:'')+\"\/?url=\"+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+\"&args=\"+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, \"script\", \"Rumble\");<\/script><\/p>\n<div id=\"rumble_vubrga\"><\/div>\n<p><script>\nRumble(\"play\", {\"video\":\"vubrga\",\"div\":\"rumble_vubrga\"});<\/script> Ukraine. Across its eastern border is Russia and to its west-Europe. For centuries, it has been at the center of a tug-of-war between powers seeking to control its rich lands and access to the Black Sea. 2014&#8217;s Maidan Massacre triggered a bloody uprising that ousted president Viktor Yanukovych <\/p>\n<p><STRONG>YouTube has removed the video, &#8220;Ukraine On Fire&#8221;. Please check it out from the link below.<\/STRONG> <\/p>\n<p><A HREF=\"https:\/\/www.riotimesonline.com\/brazil-news\/modern-day-censorship\/backflash-understand-the-background-of-the-war-and-watch-the-documentary-by-oliver-stone-ukraine-on-fire-the-real-story\/\">Understand the background of the war and watch the documentary by Oliver Stone \u2013 Ukraine On Fire \u2013 the real story<\/A><\/p>\n<p><STRONG>Why is Ukraine the West&#8217;s Fault? Featuring John Mearsheimer<\/STRONG><br \/>\n<i>September 25, 2015<\/i><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JrMiSQAGOS4\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\nJohn J. Mearsheimer, the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor in Political Science and Co-director of the Program on International Security Policy at the University of Chicago, assesses the causes of the present Ukraine crisis, the best way to end it, and its consequences for all of the main actors. A key assumption is that in order to come up with the optimum plan for ending the crisis, it is essential to know what caused the crisis. Regarding the all-important question of causes, the key issue is whether Russia or the West bears primary responsibility.<\/p>\n<p><STRONG>Stephen Cohen on Russia Ukraine Crisis &#8220;We are Well Into a Cold War&#8221;<\/STRONG><br \/>\n<i>April 17, 2014<\/i><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uE9jULgC42o\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\nAs negotiations over the crisis in Ukraine begin in Geneva, tension is rising in the Ukrainian east after security forces killed three pro-Russian protesters, wounded 13 and took 63 captive in the city of Mariupol. Ukrainian officials said the pro-Russian separatists had attempted to storm a military base. The killings came just after the unraveling of a Ukrainian operation to retake government buildings from pro-Russian separatists. Earlier today, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the authorities in Kiev of plunging the country into an &#8220;abyss&#8221; and refused to rule out sending forces into Ukraine. Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has announced a series of steps to reinforce its presence in eastern Europe. &#8220;We will have more planes in the air, more ships on the water and more readiness on the land,&#8221; Rasmussen said.<\/p>\n<p><STRONG>Diplomacy in Ukraine<\/STRONG><br \/>\n<I>February 10, 2022<\/I><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/o8BJ4FajZzg\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\nSenator Bernie Sanders: We must vigorously support diplomatic efforts to deescalate this crisis and reaffirm Ukrainian independence and sovereignty. I\u2019m on the Senate floor explaining why.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Did Putin Have \u2018Other Options\u2019 on Ukraine? By Ray McGovern, May 22, 2023 The attempt at balance \u2013 however transparent \u2013 is welcome. But are readers not owed some attempt to spell out those \u201cother options\u201d? This is not a marginal quibble; we are talking war. When one glibly asserts, glibly, that that a country &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=54993\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">What You Should Really Know About Russia and Ukraine<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5,1103,1245,1610,39],"tags":[1611,1612,1246],"class_list":["post-54993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-tt","category-international","category-oil-and-gas","category-russia","category-ukraine","category-usa","tag-donbas","tag-richard-sakwa","tag-vladimir-putin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54993"}],"version-history":[{"count":60,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55675,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54993\/revisions\/55675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}