Thursday 10 April 2014

greystoke or bungle in the jungle

There is certainly an echo-chamber for disinformation and hyperbole in the press sounding Russian and NATO posture and it is difficult to know what to believe and which exaggerations will become exasperations.  Foreign Minister Lavarov, warning that the nation of Ukraine runs the risk of sliding into civil war if elements in Kyiv aligned to the Kremlin are forcibly removed, provocatively adding that about one hundred fifty mercenaries (in other words, enemy combatants, "party to the conflict") are present in the area and disguised as members of the elite Ukrainian Falcon Unit (which may or may not be a crew of stunt pilots).

This private security firm, Greystone—a subsidiary of the company formerly known as Blackwater, issued a denial, albeit several weeks ahead of Lavarov's accusation that took place just a couple of days ago, and the firm does advertise that they were recently awarded with contracts in Russia and Ukraine for executive security services.  Come to think of it, there was no update or resolution to the news just prior to the articles of annexation that an American drone had been downed in Crimean airspace.  Meanwhile among the uniformed sending-forces, there are also phony-mysterious pledges to station more troops in the former Soviet satellite states, in addition to movements already scheduled associated with joint military exercises, kept to send a signal of some sort, and Cold War rhetoric is being exchanged (though unilaterally) among greying imminences and veterans.