Obama, Kerry, the Ukrainian military, Yulia and Klichko

Over the past couple of hours it was it was interesting to observe the reactions to the Russian decision to be read to use military force in the Ukraine.  Let's take them one by one

Obama and Kerry: frankly, I did not expect much, by I still was baffled by how out of touch the White House is with the real world.  To deter Putin from using armed force, the White House decided to threaten him boycott  the next G8 summit in Russia.  Boo hoo!!  I am sure that Putin is now terrified.  Not.  Listening to the Idiot in Chief and his Secretary of State I truly marveled that this still threw the full political weight and credibility of the USA behind a government which even Iatseniuk himself called a "kamikaze government'. Anybody with an IQ at or above room temperature understands that this so called "Ukrainian government" is bound to fail if only because it literally has no money to do *anything*.  And yet, the boneheads in Washington are totally backing this quasi-dead regime.

The Ukrainian military: I am sure that you have heard that the Ukrainian military is now on maximal alert and is read to repel any Russian aggression.  Guys, this is laughable.  There IS NO UKRAINIAN MILITARY.  There is a lot of old hardware lying around, there are a number of units with basically zero training and there are a few units of higher combat readiness.  Do you know what that list is called in military terms? It's called *TARGETS*. I also suspect that if the western politicians and a few Ukie crackpots speak about the Ukrainian armed forces, the officers there, and even the soldiers, fully realize that they are just targets. Hence the wise decision of the flagship of the Ukrainian Navy, the Hetman Sahaidachny frigate, to quickly switch sides even before getting back home (it is in eastern the Mediterranean according to the latest reports).  I suppose you all know that the notion of the Ukies developing their own nuclear weapons is laughable, so I will not bother dwelling on it now.

Yulia and Klichko: As I suspected from her appearance on the Maidan, Yulia clearly lost it and her latest statement about the crisis just proves to me that she is "gone fishing".  In contrast, however, and to be great surprise, it was Klichko who came out with the sanest proposal: he wants to create a special commission in Kiev tasked with negotiating a peaceful resolution of the current crisis between Kiev and Moscow.  Unlike Yulia's hysterical nonsense, Kichko's statement contained no grandstanding or lyrical appeals.  It was all business-like and pragmatic.  Well, who knows, maybe the man can get something done since  I am quite sure that as long as the Ukies do not use force in the east or south the Russians will stay on high alert, but on their side of the border.

That's it for this short update.  Later today I hope to have the time to post a somewhat more analytical look at the recent developments.

Cheers,

The Saker