Putin's Warlords Slip Out of Control - New York Times: "Mr. Putin’s war in Ukraine has brought death and mayhem to Ukraine, and sanctions, political isolation and an economic downturn to Russia. It has also brought instability to the vast swath of territory that runs from the Donetsk and Luhansk statelets of Ukraine to Russia’s Rostov and Krasnodar regions, linking up with the Caucasus. Mr. Putin’s war in Ukraine, in other words, is slipping out of his control." | How to Defeat Putin’s Internet Trolls: "According to a recent account by reporter Adrian Chen in The New York Times, the Internet Research Agency may be behind several larger hoaxes throughout the United States. The first engineered a fake chemical spill in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, through a coordinated social media campaign and text message alerts. This “airborne toxic event” of sorts had media coverage and eyewitness testimony. None of it, investigators soon realized, was real." | Putin is caught in a classic trap: "Russia’s military advantage is fading and certain to decrease further. He needs to exploit that advantage sooner rather later. Putin likely views the pause in the Ukraine conflict as a losing proposition, and the big guns that have resumed cannonade recently in the suburbs of Donetsk very probably spell the end of the Minsk ceasefire." | How To Take Down Putin - WSJ: "Boycotting the 2018 Cup, or showing that it was gained by corrupt means (and thereby lost), would be one hard lesson for Russians of the consequences of being led by disreputable men. A policy of arming Ukraine so that it can inflict heavier—and undeniable—losses on its invaders is another." | G-7 Leaders Affirm Russia Sanctions: "As to the issue of military aid to Ukraine, James Nixey, head of the Russia Eurasia Program at Chatham House in London, said the choice is complex. “I think, in truth, it’s a very difficult decision no matter what decision you make," he said. "There are very good arguments for and against supplying Kiev with weapons. "The argument for...is that one needs to level the playing field for insurrection and aggression, that Ukrainian soldiers are dying and need our protection," he said. "You can only give them protection by giving them both defensive and offensive weapons, which would actually limit the deaths of Ukraine’s forces. "There is, however, a counter-argument – I’m not necessarily saying I maintain it myself but If we flood Ukraine with weapons, we risk ramping up the war to an uncontrollable scale,” he said."
» Putin's Warlords Slip Out of Control - New York Times 09/06/15 09:54 from Putin - Google News Putin's Warlords Slip Out of Control New York Times KIEV — In waging a clandestine war in eastern Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has made a bargain with the devil. He has farmed out much of the fighting to warlords, mercenaries and criminal... Putin’s Warlords Slip Out of Control Tuesday June 9 th , 2015 at 11:03 AM 1 Share KIEV — In waging a clandestine war in eastern Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has made a bargain with the devil. He has farmed out much of the fighting to warlords, mercenaries and criminals, partly in an attempt to simulate a broad-based indigenous resistance to Ukrainian rule. But Mr. Putin’s strategy of using such proxies has resulted in the establishment of a warlord kleptocracy in eastern Ukraine that threatens even Moscow’s control of events. Surrogate fighters were recruited from four sources: local criminal gangs; jobless mal