crimea

The downing of MH 17 shifts spotlight back to Ukraine

Turgon on July 20, 2014, 3:41 pm | Readers 1430

The downing of Malaysian Airlines flight 17 over Ukraine has been one of the major events of last week. Most of the fingers of blame have been pointed at the pro-Russian separatists who have previously shot down Ukrainian military aircraft with sophisticated Russian surface to air missiles (though both sides have access to such weaponry). The photographs are quite harrowing – personally I find the ones of toys and books etc. to keep children happy during the flight the most …

Ukraine: impotent activism and the limits of US power

Turgon on March 15, 2014, 7:30 pm | Readers 46

Tomorrow will bring the referendum on Crimea leaving Ukraine and joining Russia. Most people are aware of the sequence of events: the Ukrainian president turning down a deal with the EU in favour of one with Russia; mass protests in Kiev leading to the fall of the government; the new government being unacceptable in Crimea and then the entry of the Russian army. This sequence of events can be argued over at great length with arguments for and against each …

Russian special forces caught red handed on camera

Andrew Gallagher on March 5, 2014, 3:17 pm | Readers 99

Russia continues to deny that it has armed forces in Crimea, but it was only a matter of time before someone slipped up. Not only do the mysterious “self-defence forces” use Russian guns, uniforms and vehicles (complete with Russian military number plates) but at least one of them has forgotten to take all the identifying labels off his army uniform (Russian language original), leading to a social media profile naming his special forces unit. Of course Putin doesn’t expect us …