During a televised speech on Monday in which he outlined his case for
imposing martial law, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko claimed that
his country’s intelligence service had evidence that Russia was
preparing a ground attack.
Poroshenko's speech was given after
Russia blocked three Ukrainian navy vessels from passing from the Black
Sea into the Sea of Azov via the Kerch Strait on Sunday. The incident
was
a major escalation
of the tensions that have existed between the two countries ever since
Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine and began
backing armed separatists in the country in 2014. Poroshenko is close to
imposing martial law in Ukraine, which would allow the military to run
the country, saying it was necessary for Ukraine’s security.
Many experts said Russia’s attack on Ukrainian naval ships on Sunday was a game changer.
“The
big story here is that Russia’s armed forces, in broad daylight,
launched an attack on Ukrainian navy ships. This crosses a new line.
Moscow, of course, seized Crimea with its military, but under the guise
of unidentified ‘little green men.’
Moscow has been conducting a
not-quite-covert war in Donbass. Yes, there are thousands of Russian
officers there and they control the fighting, but Moscow denies it. In
this case, there is no denial,” John Herbst, U.S. ambassador to Ukraine
from 2003 to 2006, told
Newsweek.
Note EU-Digest : For those of us remembering our history classes, this is starting to
resemble very much how the second world war started, when on October 1,
1938, Adolf Hitler's army marched into the Sudetenland in
Czechoslovakia.
This accelerating Nazi Germany's aggressive World War II
offensive.
At that time Europe also was divided, as it is now over
Brexit, and to make natters even worse, the US, which used to be the West's
major defender of Democracy, has now taken an isolationism turn under the
leadership of a not too bright, ego-maniac President, who is in charge of a dysfunctional government,
and a population, divided in two polarized camps.
Putin looking at this
picture is probably thinking in the same way as Hitler thought back in
1939. "this is a window of opportunity and it appears there is no need
to pull down the shades." Bottom-line, we in the West, and specially the EU, could become involved
in a major war pretty soon, if we don't get our act together.
Read more: Russia vs. Ukraine War? Ukrainian President Says Neighbor Is Preparing Ground Attack
