«There has been lot of complaining today about a Russian plane flying "dangerously close" to a US ship. So I've made a helpful diagram just for you.»
— Nina Kouprianova

The countries that have shorelines along the Baltic Sea: Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Sweden.

And your point is?

You think one of the nine countries that border the Baltic sea have the rights to flying "dangerously close" to a US ship.

The Caspian sea is bounded to the northeast by Kazakhstan, to the northwest by Russia, to the west by Azerbaijan, to the south by Iran, and to the southeast by Turkmenistan - so it was OK for Russia to fire missiles from the Caspian sea to targets in Syria?

Russia is flying nuclear bombers 10 miles off the coast of California. Can you please make me a diagram of that as well?
If you zoom in on the Baltics map, you'll see the tiny Russian enclave of Kaliningrad (actually Germany's/Prussia's former Köningsberg, but never returned by Russia after WW2 for some reason) is surrounded by NATO states begging for help in the face of an increasingly belligerent Russian military, who keeps biting pieces off it's small defenseless neighbors like Ukraine, Georgia, etc..

Altho you seem to be very afraid of NATO, Russians themselves don't seem to have that as a major fear. Yesterday Putin had his annual call-in show that lasted for over 3 hours, and I don't think NATO was mentioned at all. The main focus was about ordinary Russians not getting paid salaries, the cost of food rising because of sanctions against Russia, and other domestic problems. Putin's ambitions to make Russia great via a strong military seem to be backfiring in spades, as it's isolating his country from the rest of the world and causing problems for ordinary Russians

I am not sure if anyone commented about the recent Dutch vote on Ukraine-EU treaty.
Dutch voters rejected closer ties with Ukraine, as an effect of the "euroscepticism" in this country, although they benefited a lot from the enlargement of the EU (I can provide figures).
In the same time, EU is getting closer to Turkey. Does anyone else see the ridicule in all this affair?

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news...hurch-leaders/

While the Syrians seem to be getting the most attention, don't forget there is still active fighting along the Ukraine/Russian border.

http://uatoday.tv/politics/full-ceas...ch-623286.html

I was in Russian-speaking southern Ukraine recently, for the first time since the war started, and I noticed alot more (Ukrainian) soldiers on the streets than before. Not armed and patrolling, but just normal every-day stuff like shopping, walking kids to school, etc. Kind of the same you see here in Switzerland. Except these people are being rotated in/out of combat zones. Daily life goes on, but the war is still on everyone's mind, and has united the country like I've never seen before. It's people fathers, brothers, husbands who's lives are being risked and lost. If Putin would pull the plug on his military support/activities for his "rebels" in Ukraine, it could all be over very quick. But unfortunately, it doesn't look like that will happen anytime soon. Actually, might be intensifying

http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine.../27686410.html

Sad to hear that, esto. Unfortunatey Putin is interested in mantaining an ongoing open conflict and probably to finally have some separatist "republics".
As you said everyone talks about Syria and there is not much support for Ukraine at the moment...

http://uawire.org/news/igor-strelkov...-to-the-donbas

Seems like the Russian "Strelkov" who "founded" the break-away Republics is in the news again...stating the obvious.

The US is to activate a land-based missile defence station in Romania, which will form part of a larger and controversial European shield.

Senior US and Nato officials are expected at the ceremony in Deveselu, southern Romania.

The US says the Aegis system is a shield to protect Nato from short and medium-range missiles, particularly from the Middle East. But Russia sees it as a security threat - a claim denied by Nato.

Relations between the West and Russia have deteriorated since Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula in 2014.

Russia is also accused of arming separatists in eastern Ukraine and sending its troops there - a claim denied by the Kremlin.

US to activate missile shield base in Romania
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36272686

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Poland is the next to have a land-based missile defence station.

Now Putin has (more or less) withdrawn from Syria where will his military strike next to provide the necessary television footage to keep people's minds off the deteriorating local situation? For example, there is a claim here that average Russian wages have almost halved in two years (I assume in buying power?).

If the link is behind a paywall try a google search for "hollow superpower".

Ukraine have won Eurovision song contest with a political, heartfelt and serious song about something with intense personal meaning to the singer, Jamala.
It's a song about Stalin's forced deportation of Crimean Tatars (ca. 100K died ), including members of Jamala's own family, in 1944.

Source

The deportation was a terrible genocide. I find it very strange that a song was written about this; why not I suppose, there are many songs about other historical events.

Maybe the Armenians (and other victims) should do the same

Stalin's deportation list is much, much bigger and included many other populations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popula...e_Soviet_Union
However, it would be heart breaking to hear another songs on this theme. Btw, I'm just glad that some tv producers have started to document and record these historical events a little before all the survivors die.

The Ukrainian pilot Savchenko detained in Russia since 2014 has been flown home following a dramatic prisoner swap with Russia.
Savchenko was exchanged for two Russians held by Ukraine.
Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Alexander Alexandrov told Reuters in interviews last year they were Russian special forces soldiers who were captured while carrying out a secret operation in the rebel-held Donbas region.

Source

On exactly what reliable, factual basis do you make this accusation?

In fact, HOW DARE YOU make such an absurdly topsy-turvy assertion!

1. Who initiated conflict in Ukraine via a violent coup? Putin? No. The US? Yes.
   
2. Who is assembling increasing NATO arms and personnel opposite Russia's borders? Putin? No. The US? Yes.
   
3. Who is establishing a missile "defense" system while installing offensive missile batteries throughout NATO? Putin? No. The US? Yes.

So from exactly where does the conclusion come that "Putin is interested in mantaining an ongoing open conflict"???

(I'm on the edge of my seat!)

EDIT (some weeks later): It's noteworthy that "greenmount" hasn't bothered to answer the above straightforward questions. It seems "greenmount" has inadvertently discovered that regurgitating US/NATO propaganda is no substitute for an intellectually honest, fact-based perspective.

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"offensive missile batteries " Please define what you mean by an offensive missile battery? So far as I understand these are defensive anti-missile installations? They cannot be used for offensive actions?

Ukraine is not Russia, so they might change their regimes as they please, right?

The return of Savchenko is actually a very big deal in Ukraine. She’s a combat veteran of Iraq and in Ukraine’s war against Russia in the Donbass. She was captured and brought to Moscow, where she was held for 2 years in jail, and constantly defied her captors by not recognizing their courts, flipping them the bird, wearing Ukrainian shirts, etc. On her return to Ukraine, people were lining the streets and cheering, she’s their new Joan of Arc. Her fighting spirit and defiance in the face of Russia embodies the mood of Ukrainians the past 2 years. She stood up to the bully next door and didn’t back down.

As for the 2 Russian GRU (intel/special forces) soldiers where were exchanged in the prisoner swap: they were initially abandoned, the Russian military did not acknowlede them when they were captured inside Ukrainian borders, as Russia denies sending any Russian soldiers into Ukraine, including (and especially) captured ones. I guess for Russian soldiers such a public display of being disowned by the Russian military was very embarrassing, and they had to find a way to get them returned somehow.

Russian media coverage was very subdued. Putin portraid the swap as “humanitarian” and as an attempt to mend fences with the West ahead of sanction renewals next month. Nice to see Putin making some concessions, but kind of too little too late. In any case, Savchenko was brought from Ukraine into Russia illegally, and should never have been on trial in Moscow in the first place (!) If you look at it that way, Putin came out on top, as he got his 2 soldiers back who were actually inside Ukraine illegally.

It's incredibly naïve to suggest that it was strictly Ukrainians who engineered the regime change in Kiev, when there's abundant evidence to the contrary.

But the regime change was supported by most people in the Ukraine while the takeover of Crimea was not supported by most people in the Ukraine?

What an awful business in E. Ukraine, so many lives lost or destroyed and for what?

The whole thing has more or less ground to a standstill except lives are still being lost.

And now
"Igor Strelkov, Russian ‘military hero’ of the war in Ukraine, steps out of the shadows to fire salvo at president Putin and predict upheaval in Russia "

His quote about Putin and the Ukraine "He [Putin] has no ideas and seems to be waiting for a miracle. He’s stuck in the middle of a swamp.”

Source

http://uatoday.tv/politics/construct...ts-669074.html

Uh oh, if Putin has no money to finance his bridge.... then is Putin going to have to hang himself?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...built-ilxtahjl