[h=1]US, Europe escalate economic sanctions on Russia[/h]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Struggling to defuse the persistent crisis in Ukraine, both the U.S. and European Union imposed new economic sanctions on Russia Wednesday, President Barack Obama declaring that Russian leaders must see that their actions supporting Ukrainian rebels "have consequences."
Though the American and European sanctions were coordinated, they nonetheless exposed fissures in what the West has tried to project as a united front in its months-long effort to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The penalties announced by the White House were broad in scope, targeting two major Russian energy firms, a pair of powerful financial institutions, eight arms firms and four individuals. Leaders in Europe, which has a far deeper economic relationship with Russia than the U.S., were more restrained, ordering investment and development banks on the continent to suspend financing agreements with Moscow.
Even the U.S. penalties stopped short of the most stringent actions the West has threatened, which would entail fully cutting off key sectors of Russia's economy. But officials said those steps were still on the table if Russia fails to abide by the West's demands to stop support for pro-Russian insurgents who have destabilized swaths of eastern Ukraine.
"What we are expecting is that the Russian leadership will see once again that its actions in Ukraine have consequences, including a weakening Russian economy and increasing diplomatic isolation," Obama said as he announced the U.S. penalties from the White House.

 

[h=1]Pentagon: More Russian troops on Ukraine border[/h]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russian combat troops are again building up along the border with Ukraine, and U.S. officials believe Moscow may be sending heavy weapons into the country to aid the separatists, the Pentagon said Wednesday.


Army Col. Steve Warren told reporters the U.S. believes there are now up to 12,000 Russian troops on the border, reflecting a steady increase in recent weeks.


On June 30, Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, the U.S. commander of NATO forces in Europe, said there were about seven battalion task groups and some small special operations forces along the border — which officials said amounted to about 8,000 troops. The growing number of troops, he said, is "not a helpful development in what it brings to the problem."


The number has fluctuated widely. U.S. officials in May estimated that there were as many as 40,000 Russian troops arrayed along the border but as weeks went by, the total plunged to about 1,000 under pressure from the West.


Warren says there are a variety of Russian forces there, including the combat battalion task groups.


Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of fomenting the insurgency by sending troops and weapons, including tanks and rocket launchers, something Moscow denies.

Given the non-stop lies of the administration how can we trust anything released?

 

[h=1]Ukraine hails sanctions as Russian stocks plunge[/h]

Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine on Thursday hailed tougher Western sanctions against Russia over its alleged backing for pro-Moscow rebels as separatists inched towards talks with mediators on a potential ceasefire to halt the fighting.





The United States and Europe stiffened sanctions on Moscow over Ukraine Wednesday, with President Barack Obama taking his first direct swipes at the Russian economy's finance, military and energy sectors.


The American package of sanctions packed the most punch and drew an angry threat of serious retaliation from Moscow, further escalating the worst standoff between the Kremlin and the West since the Cold War.


More hesitant EU leaders meeting in Brussels lagged behind but agreed to bolster their own sanctions against Russia, despite fears from some members that they might damage their own fragile economies.


Ukraine's Western-backed President Petro Poroshenko welcomed the EU moves that involve the European Investment Bank and European Bank of Reconstruction and Development halting finance for projects in Russia.


"The European Council has taken an important step to support the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine," Poroshenko said on his Facebook page.





Western leaders say the punitive measures are designed to pressure Moscow into forcing the rebels to end their three-month insurgency that has claimed more than 600 lives.


The sanctions from Washington drew a stinging response from Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin warning that they would inflict "very serious damage" on an already tattered US-Russia relationship.


"I am convinced that this will harm the national long-term interests of the American state, the American people," Putin told reporters in Brasilia, according to the ITAR TASS state news agency.



- Russian markets down -


But the immediate pain was felt in Moscow with Russian markets falling more than 2.5 percent Thursday and the ruble plunging against the euro and dollar.


Shares in two giant oil firms now barred from US capital markets under the new sanctions fell steeply with Rosneft dropping 5.4 percent and OA Novatek shares plummeting 6.8 percent when the MICEX stock exchange opened.


The United States has also targeted major Russian financial institutions, Gazprombank and VEB, as well as eight Russian arms firms to try to punish Moscow for failing to halt the alleged flow of weapons across the border.


"Russia's support for the separatists and violations of Ukraine's sovereignty have continued," Obama said as he unveiled the measures.


Moscow's foreign ministry said Russia would not bow to "blackmail" from Washington and could strike back at the United States.


"We do not intend to tolerate blackmail and reserve the right to take retaliatory measures," the ministry said in a furious statement.






- Fresh talks promised -



On the ground in eastern Ukraine fierce fighting between government forces and pro-Moscow rebels has intensified in recent days with some 55 civilians killed since the weekend alone.


Germany and France have been spearheading a push to revive talks between Kiev and the rebels over a potential ceasefire deal but attempts by mediators to hold a
Skype videoconference with the insurgents fell through Tuesday.


Senior separatist leaders have said they are committed to holding the Internet consultations but gave conflicting information on whether they would take place Thursday or Friday.


Ukrainian forces made a string of major gains after Poroshenko tore up an unsuccessful ceasefire earlier this month, but progress has slowed since rebels retreated into two major regional centres where they have pledged to fight to the end.

 

[h=1]Kiev says Russian jet shoots down Ukrainian plane[/h]
Kiev (AFP) - Kiev on Thursday accused a Russian air force jet of shooting down a Ukrainian warplane over its territory Wednesday, ratcheting up tensions along the volatile border between the two ex-Soviet states.
"A military plane from the air force of the Russian Federation carried out a rocket strike on a Ukrainian airforce SU-25 as it fulfilled its task over the territory of Ukraine," Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council said on Twitter.
The pilot of the downed fighter jet managed to eject and was later evacuated by Ukrainian forces, the military said.
The latest allegation from Kiev comes after it said that a military transport plane downed Monday was "likely" hit by a missile fired from the Russian side of the porous border.
A spokesman for the security council confirmed Thursday that two of the eight crew members on board died in the incident, while another four have been rescued and two were captured by pro-Russian rebels.
Tensions along the frontier -- across which Ukraine says Russia is pouring fighters and weapons to fuel the separatist uprising -- are at boiling point, with Kiev warning that Moscow has massed thousands of troops there in preparation for a possible invasion.
The US and EU on Wednesday slapped tougher sanctions on Moscow in a bid to force the Kremlin into pressuring pro-Russian rebels into ending a three-month insurgency that has claimed more than 600 lives.

 

[h=1]Report: Malaysia Airlines flight crashes in Ukraine[/h]
A Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur has crashed in eastern Ukraine, Russian news agency Interfax reported Thursday. Malaysia Airlines confirmed that it lost contact with MH17, and the flight's last known position was over Ukrainian airspace, the airline said on Twitter.
The jet is a Boeing 777, according to Interfax.


The plane reportedly went down near the border between Russia and Ukraine.


A passenger liner is confirmed as down, yet the unanswered question remains: accident or deliberate shoot down by the Ukraine, Russia or another interested party?

So how long until Pres Obama starts howling for 'war, war, war' or more 'useless sanctions, etc, etc...' without any information having been given to anyone: information which can be trusted 100% (i.e. that is NOT from the administration and CONFIRMED by others).

 

[h=1]Russia says talks with EU on Ukraine gas supply delayed[/h]
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Talks between the European Commission and Russia over the supply of gas to Ukraine have been postponed until next week, the Russian Energy Ministry said on Thursday, as ties between Moscow and Brussels hit a new low.



The ministry said the negotiations on resolving a gas pricing dispute between Russia and Ukraine, which has led Gazprom to cut off Ukraine's gas, were postponed at the request of the European Union's executive.
A spokeswoman for the Commission said it had not confirmed the talks, because they had not fitted into Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger's schedule.
"We are currently looking into possible dates," spokeswoman Sabine Berger said.
Oettinger and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak had said they would meet late this week as part of efforts to restart three-way talks involving Moscow, Kiev and Brussels.
Ukraine depends on Russia for more than half of its gas needs. The nation is also the transit route for roughly half of the gas Russia supplies to the European Union, which counts on Gazprom for about 30 percent of its consumption.
Previous pricing disputes between Moscow and Kiev resulted in knock-on disruptions for EU customers, but no nation has reported problems since Russia cut supplies to Ukraine last month, and the amount of gas in storage is ample.
The gas row has complicated a wider conflict over Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region earlier this year and Kiev's decision to seek closer ties with the European Union, rather than Moscow.
Relations worsened on Thursday after the European Union and the United States announced tougher sanctions on Russia, which Russia denounced as "evil", and Kiev said a Russian jet had shot down one of its warplanes.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow and Barbara Lewis and Tom Koerkemeier in Brussels, Editing by Timothy Heritage and Jane Baird)

 

[h=1]Official: Malaysian Plane Shot Down In Ukraine By Missile[/h]http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/malaysian-plane-shot-down-in-ukraine

That does not make this true. But at least one Ukrainian official is making the claim.

 

[h=1]Obama Talks To Putin, Asks Aides For Plane Reports[/h]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/obama-talks-to-putin-plane-crash

 

[h=1]Ukraine: We did not shoot at any plane[/h]
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's president says his country's armed forces did not shoot at any airborne targets, after reports that a Malaysian Airlines plane went down over Ukraine.





President Petro Poroshenko says Thursday "we do not exclude that this plane was shot down, and we stress that the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not take action against any airborne targets."


Poroshenko said "we are sure that those who are guilty in this tragedy will be held responsible."


THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.


A Ukrainian official said a passenger plane carrying 295 people was shot down Thursday over a town in the east of the country, and Malaysian Airlines tweeted that it lost contact with one of its flights over Ukrainian airspace.


Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said on his Facebook page the plane was flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters (33,000 feet). He also said it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher, which can fire missiles up to an altitude of 22,000 meters (72,000 feet).


Malaysia Airlines said on its Twitter feed that it "has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. More details to follow." The plane's destination was


It was the second time that a Malaysia Airlines plane had gone missing in less than six months. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared in March while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It has not been found, but the search has been concentrated in the Indian Ocean far west of Australia.


The Donetsk region government said Thursday's plane crashed near a village called Grabovo, which it said is currently under the control of armed pro-Russian separatists. The region where theflight was lost has seen severe fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia separatist rebels in recent days.


A launcher similar to the Buk missile system was seen by Associated Press journalists near the eastern Ukrainian town of Snizhne earlier Thursday.


On Wednesday evening, a Ukrainian fighter jet was shot down by an air-to-air missile from a Russian plane, Ukrainian authorities said Thursday, adding to what Kiev says is mounting evidence that Moscow is directly supporting the separatist insurgents in eastern Ukraine. Security Council spokesman Andrei Lysenko said the pilot of the Sukhoi-25 jet hit by the air-to-air missile was forced to bail after his jet was shot down.


Pro-Russia rebels, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for strikes Wednesday on two Ukrainian Sukhoi-25 jets. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said the second jet was hit by a portable surface-to-air missile, but added the pilot was unscathed and managed to land his plane safely


Moscow denies Western charges that is supporting the separatists or sowing unrest in its neighbor. The Russian Defense Ministry couldn't be reached for comment Thursday about the Ukrainian jet and Russia's foreign ministry didn't respond to multiple requests for comment.


Earlier this week, Ukraine said a military transport plane was shot down Monday by a missile fired from Russian territory.


The rebels are known to possess portable anti-aircraft rocket launchers, but Ukrainian officials say that kind of weapon would have been unable to

 

The matter is this: Pres Obama's continuous failures in handling of the Ukraine crisis, his refusal to take firm action and a firm stand, has led to continued escalation of events.
Now we get to see how the god-king of the fanatical farcical left handles the mess.

I do not expect anything of any value to be said or done by him.

 

[h=1]Ukraine President: We Did Not Shoot Any Plane[/h]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewi...orces-took-no-action-against-airborne-targets

 

Hope for their sake they are speaking the truth.
No matter what, this mess is now on a new level and no telling where it will go.

 

Why should President Obama do anything? Isn't this between Malaysia, Ukraine, and perhaps Russia?

 

Local news is saying that the Russian GRU chief in the region of Ukraine-Russian border ordered the shoot down, but says it appeared to be a military cargo plane.
If this is true, then there will be Hades to pay for Russia.

 

[h=1]Ukraine airliner crash updates[/h]http://www.bbc.com/news/world-28354787



17:57:
"The portable air defence systems which we have, they work at a maximum of three to four thousand metres. Therefore, it is possible to say virtually before the start of the investigation that the Ukrainian armed forces destroyed this," separatist spokesman Sergey Kavtaradze says.



17:57:

A spokesman for pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk region told Russia's Rossiya TV that they were not capable of bringing down a commercial airliner flying at 10,000 metres.

 

For one simple reason: the deliberate and willful shoot-down of a civilian airplane is an international crime.
If Pres Obama had maintained a consistent policy to support the Ukraine, even without our troops going in, then Russia would have been deterred and this mess avoided.
He chose not to do so, and instead combine ignoring escalations with consistently useless and toothless sanctions, and waffling every chance he had.

He knows he has failed with the Ukraine Crisis: now the inevitable flash point has been reached, only time will tell how far and how fast the flames will spread.

Of course, Obama will do nothing.

 

First let me point out your direct contradiction that this is some kind of international crime that requires some kind of US response while you simultaneously and quite incorrectly claim President Obama can't do anything right in the Ukraine.

And secondly and more importantly you have been hysterically carrying on for nearly five months now claiming total disaster in the Ukraine is imminent and its all President Obama's fault when actually the exact opposite is the case. Things are dramatically improving in Ukraine, the Russian separatists are on the run, Putin is backed into a corner, and now it appears very possible Putin and Russia will receive a huge international black eye if they or the Russian separatists they are backing have shot down a passenger plane.

So you can keep on believeing your own bullshit if you want to but I think the average reader will be able to see it for what it really is. Nothing more than Obama hating bullshit.

 

[h=1]Obama Speaks To Putin Amid Malaysia Passenger Plane Crash In Ukraine[/h]
In this June 17, 2013, file photo, President Barack Obama meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland.


President Barack Obama spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday at the Kremlin's request, a conversation in which they briefly discussed reports that a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane carrying nearly 300 people had been reportedly shot down near the Ukrainian border.

\" President Putin near the end of the call with Obama noted the early reports of a downed passenger jet near the Russia-Ukraine border," a White House pool report said, reading out comments from White House press secretary Josh Earnest aboard Air Force One.


The Kremlin also provided a readout on its website: " The Russian leader informed the U.S. president of the report from air traffic controllers that the Malaysian plane had crashed on Ukrainian territory, which had arrived immediately before the phone call."


There were no survivors of the crash. An adviser to Ukraine's Interior Minister has said 23 U.S. citizens were among those on board who were killed in the crash.


Earnest told reporters the Kremlin requested the call to discuss new sanctions leveled by the United States on Russia Wednesday. The Kremlin said the leaders "discussed in detail the acute crisis in Ukraine."


" Putin reiterated the need for the immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities by both parties in the south-east of Ukraine, [which] has led to numerous deaths and forced hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to seek refuge in Russia," the Kremlin said in its readout, according to a Google translation.


The Kremlin also noted Putin expressed "serious disappointment" over the U.S.'s decision to impose new sanctions on Russia.
The White House has not provided a full readout of the call.

 

The simple truth is that the Ukraine crisis is "improving' as you put it, DESPITE the flip-flopping and useless responses of Pres Obama.
If he had taken a hard stance from the very beginning this mess could easily have been prevented.

Honestly, only a fanatical left-winger such as you would deny reality and claim 'hate, hate, hate' when it challenged your cherished ideological insanity.

It's little wonder why people know that the liberal means insanity at its finest.

Look in the mirror when you speak of hypocrisy, and to your god-king in DC.

 

There are a few interesting details and speculation coming out while this tragedy is unfolding.

One is all of a sudden several countries are telling their Airliner pilots not to fly over the Ukraine. The US FAA issued that a warning not to fly over the Ukraine in April.

Also the Ukrainian government is calming they have proof that Russia is behind the shooting down of this aircraft. But they don't say what evidence they have.

And finally speculation that the US NSA and DoD probably already know what happened and who did it because they already have multiple resources already trained on the Ukraine including listening into phone calls and satellites that should have actually monitored the launch of any rockets.