Ukraine Watch...

3rdRock · Post by **3rdRock** » 09 May 2014, 07:16

Ukraine refuses Russian demand for advance gas payment

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27334289

More fuel on the fire.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 09 May 2014, 16:53

In a similar vein, I had to ring up the energy company yesterday to parry what would have been an undeserved 50% (fifty percent) increase in the Chateau Renewable direct debit. So I sympathise with the Ukraine on this one. Also, they were collecting rent (in the form of an offset on the gas bill) for the lease of the Black Sea port, which has now of course been annexed! What are, I wonder, the financial nicities of paying rent under those circumstances

?

Tarrel · Post by **Tarrel** » 13 May 2014, 16:25

Joe Biden's Son Joins Board Of Largest Ukraine Gas Producer

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-1 ... s-producer

R. Hunter Biden will be in charge of the Holdings’ legal unit and will provide support for the Company among international organizations. On his new appointment, he commented: “Burisma’s track record of innovations and industry leadership in the field of natural gas means that it can be a strong driver of a strong economy in Ukraine. As a new member of the Board, I believe that my assistance in consulting the Company on matters of transparency, corporate governance and responsibility, international expansion and other priorities will contribute to the economy and benefit the people of Ukraine.”

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Burisma Holdings, Mr. Alan Apter, noted: “The company’s strategy is aimed at the strongest concentration of professional staff and the introduction of best corporate practices, and we’re delighted that Mr. Biden is joining us to help us achieve these goals.”

R. Hunter Biden is a counsel to Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, a national law firm based in New York, USA, which served in cases including “Bush vs. Gore”, and “U.S. vs. Microsoft”. He is one of the co-founders and a managing partner of the investment advisory company Rosemont Seneca Partners, as well as chairman of the board of Rosemont Seneca Advisors. He is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University’s Masters Program in the School of Foreign Service.

My, my. There's a coincidence.

Snail · Post by **Snail** » 14 May 2014, 03:58

Good god, I feel bad when I accidentally hurt someone else's feelings. Yet these who only care for themselves...
They're everywhere too.

Om, om, ommmmm..

raspberry-blower · Post by **raspberry-blower** » 14 May 2014, 09:43

Tarrel wrote:Joe Biden's Son Joins Board Of Largest Ukraine Gas Producer

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-1 ... s-producer

R. Hunter Biden will be in charge of the Holdings’ legal unit and will provide support for the Company among international organizations. On his new appointment, he commented: “Burisma’s track record of innovations and industry leadership in the field of natural gas means that it can be a strong driver of a strong economy in Ukraine. As a new member of the Board, I believe that my assistance in consulting the Company on matters of transparency, corporate governance and responsibility, international expansion and other priorities will contribute to the economy and benefit the people of Ukraine.”

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Burisma Holdings, Mr. Alan Apter, noted: “The company’s strategy is aimed at the strongest concentration of professional staff and the introduction of best corporate practices, and we’re delighted that Mr. Biden is joining us to help us achieve these goals.”

R. Hunter Biden is a counsel to Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, a national law firm based in New York, USA, which served in cases including “Bush vs. Gore”, and “U.S. vs. Microsoft”. He is one of the co-founders and a managing partner of the investment advisory company Rosemont Seneca Partners, as well as chairman of the board of Rosemont Seneca Advisors. He is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University’s Masters Program in the School of Foreign Service.
My, my. There's a coincidence.

A helpful map as to said company's potential gas reserves.

Could it be any more obvious than that?

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 21 May 2014, 11:53

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27503017

Gas will be heading east from Moscow in future.

Sign of the times. Probably more important than the Euro elections.

Snail · Post by **Snail** » 17 Jul 2014, 17:14

Just seen on news: Malaysian passenger plane shot down over Ukraine near Russian border.

raspberry-blower · Post by **raspberry-blower** » 17 Jul 2014, 17:36

Snail wrote:Just seen on news: Malaysian passenger plane shot down over Ukraine near Russian border.

Inevitably both sides are blaming each other - Live updates

What the hell was a passenger jet doing flying in a war zone?

The fact that it's a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 - more than just a coincidence???

Little John · Post by **Little John** » 17 Jul 2014, 19:27

raspberry-blower wrote:
....What the hell was a passenger jet doing flying in a war zone?.....

that was the very first thing that popped into my head as well. The first thing i want to know is what plane going form where to where. Was it normal for this flight to be doing this route? That is to say, have they been doing the self same route recently since the troubles started etc.

Whilst it is perfectly possible for this plane to have been shot down by separatists and whilst it is perfectly possible for this plane to have been flying through this airspace for non-sinister reasons, I'm afraid I put nothing past the US elite or it's cronies around the world.

Nothing.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 17 Jul 2014, 21:07

And lest we forget: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655

raspberry-blower · Post by **raspberry-blower** » 17 Jul 2014, 21:31

stevecook172001 wrote:
raspberry-blower wrote:
....What the hell was a passenger jet doing flying in a war zone?.....
that was the very first thing that popped into my head as well. The first thing i want to know is what plane going form where to where. Was it normal for this flight to be doing this route? That is to say, have they been doing the self same route recently since the troubles started etc.

Whilst it is perfectly possible for this plane to have been shot down by separatists and whilst it is perfectly possible for this plane to have been flying through this airspace for non-sinister reasons, I'm afraid I put nothing past the US elite or it's cronies around the world.

Nothing.

According to Zero Hedge, this is the flight path taken by Malaysian Airlines flight MH17

Also from Zero Hedge, Interfax is reporting that the separatists were not to blame as plane was shot down by BUK missile system

Putting this into context, the Vineyard of the Saker is reporting that Ukrainian ground forces have recently suffered a catastrophic military defeat
On the downing of the jet:

Vineyard of the Saker wrote:Just as I was writing this last sentence I saw a report that a civilian aircraft was shot down by somebody in the vicinity of Donetsk. So who done it? Here are some very preliminary thoughts:

First, the Ukies already did that once when they shot down Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 not deliberately, but out of their typical and total incompetence. Second, the Ukies had just announced that the Russians had shot down a Ukie SU-25 (which Russia denies, but which is quite possible), and I could see some Ukie smart-ass deciding to "retaliate" against a "Russian" aircraft. I don't see how the Resistance could be involved as it probably does not have the kind of missiles needed to reach a typical civilian airliner flying at a typical cruising speed and altitude. The Russian most definitely do, but they also have a well-integrated air multi-layered defense system which should have immediately identified the aircraft origin and ID even if, say, the transponder was malfunctioning. By the way, this also means that the Russians have the radar track of both the plane and the missile which hit it. My guess is that junta controlled forces did it, probably by mistake, but that this will be hard to prove as all the western "experts" will "cover" for Kiev and blame Moscow, and Moscow will blame Kiev, possibly with the recorded radar tracks, but that the "international expert community" will dismiss that as a "Kremlin orchestrated propaganda ploy" (don't you love the canned sentences used by the western media?). I sure hope that this was not some kind of screw up by the Russians (this is always possible, as the sad stories of TWA 800 or Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870 have shown.

Also, see Moon of Alabama: Plane Down in Ukraine: Facts? Who needs Facts?

It would certainly fit the narrative that Ukraine, facing military humiliation, would seek to escalate the situation further.

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 18 Jul 2014, 10:25

Putting aside the question of blame for a moment, this is one of those events that resonates across many aspects of society which may come to be seen as a black swan.

Up to 100 of the people on the flight were European aids researchers on the way to an academic conference. This could well set back research in this area for years.

Aids has not (yet) proved to be the society and population destroying disease it had once threatened to be, but it is not yet under control. It has mostly passed into the non-controversial ream of 'a fact of life' category and so effective on the ground management of the disease is now wide spread, if not yet global, with minimal political or religious interference. To some extent social behavior and morals have changed in resposne to it, to limit its damage in Western societies.

However, in long run as effective population level health services start to fall apart, I can see it becoming a factor in curtailing life expectancy in many more countries beyond sourthern Aftrica where it is still out of control.

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 18 Jul 2014, 12:49

As to who fired the missile (if you accept there was a missile), occam's razor is pointing me at the Pro-Russian rebels.

The rebels have been using anti-aircraft weapons and have shot down multiple aircraft, including large military transports.

The weapon was almost certainly a soviet era system of a type deployed throughout Ukraine and Russia. There are reports that the rebels overran and gained control of aa batteries over a month ago.

Although these systems need more training than more limited weapons systems, there must have been some pro-Russian members of the Ukrainian armed forces trained in them, and plenty of current or retired operators across the now open Russian border willing to help.

I do not think that Putin would hava allowed such weapons across the border from Russia, but he probably would/could not stop the use of captured Ukrainian ones.

End result - lots of people die because of trigger happy militia.

A secondary issue is that most airlines continued to use the airspace above an active war zone, where planes were being fired at. (Answer - to save money).

3rdRock · Post by **3rdRock** » 18 Jul 2014, 20:02

Audio 'proves' rebels shot down plane

Ukraine's intelligence agency has claimed that it had intercepted phone calls that connected separatists in the east of the country to the Malaysian Airlines plane crash.

Ukraine's state security agency (SBU), released the audio tapes said to be between separatist rebels and Russian military intelligence to the media in the aftermath of the tragedy.

SBU claims those speaking are rebel commander Igor Bezler and Russian intelligence official Vasili Geranin.

'Just now, just now, a plane has been shot down,' the man SBU identified as Bezler says at the start of the recording.

In a second conversation, a man says that 'the plane broke into pieces in the air.' He adds later that they are '100 percent sure it's a civilian plane.'

http://www.aol.co.uk/article/2014/07/18 ... aing-grid7

another_exlurker · Post by **another_exlurker** » 19 Jul 2014, 03:33

Meanwhile, in Washington this week:

The bill directs President Barack Obama to increase U.S. Armed Forces interactions with the armed forces of Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia; and U.S and NATO security assistance to such states. Armenia is not included in the list.

The bill also amends the Natural Gas Act to apply the expedited application and approval process for natural gas exports to World Trade Organization members, and urges the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Trade and Development Agency, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the World Bank Group, and the European Bank for Reconstruction to promote assistance to Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova in order to exploit natural gas and oil reserves and to develop alternative energy sources.

Original article.