
Russia approves use of military in Ukraine - ytNumbers
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_UKRAINE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-03-01-10-01-41
======
gk1
See what happened in Ukraine's neighboring country, Moldova, 24 years ago:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Transnistria](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Transnistria)

Moldova had a population of ethnic Russians that lived on the Eastern bank of
the river D'niest'r. (Similar to the Crimean region in Ukraine.)

Eventually a civil war broke out, and Russia stepped in to back the ethnically
Russian region (sound familiar?). The end result was a stalemate. A ceasefire
was declared in 1992, and the ethnically Russian region decided to spin off
its own government. They call themselves Pre'd'niest'rovia (or Transnistria),
and function as an entirely separate country from Moldova. That means
different language (Russian, not Moldovan), currency, parliament, military,
etc etc. Yet Moldova never accepted it as a sovereign country, and neither did
the rest of the world.

To this day, when you see Moldova on a map you only see one country where
really there are two.

What's happening in Ukraine today is almost a mirror image. I suspect it will
result either in a similar two-country situation with one being unrecognized,
or the Eastern half of Ukraine will form a new country.

PS - I was born in Transnistria and lived there until I was eight. Several
months ago I went to visit for the first time since leaving 18 years ago. It's
a miserable place to live. I also visited Kiev and Odessa (Ukraine) on the
same trip, and am glad I did so before this violence broke out.

~~~
kievins
Same thing happened in Georgia in 2008.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_(country)#The_South_Oss...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_\(country\)#The_South_Ossetia_War_and_since)

~~~
hepek
Same thing happened in Serbia in 1999.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo)

Only in this case it was NATO who invaded, and it is viewed quite differently
from the western media then what parents have cited.

The worst thing in world today is to become the rope on which the imperial
forces tug to prove their strength.

~~~
iaskwhy
Kosovo seems a much better example although I don't understand why NATO was
able to enter the war against the wishes of Russia. Maybe nothing major
happened because Serbia was sort of a Russian puppet state instead of being
Russia itself? Or the lack of interesting resources in Kosovo? I have some
remembering to do.

By the way, while reading about Kosovo's history yesterday, I noticed how
beautiful Pristina's National Public Library looked:
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Biblotek...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Bibloteka_Komb%C3%ABtare_e_Kosov%C3%ABs.jpg)

~~~
ZanyProgrammer
Unless you subscribe to an extreme pan Slavophilism, in which the Balkans are
legally and morally Russian territory, then no, Russia had nothing to say in
the Balkans.

~~~
iaskwhy
Not Russian territory but under Soviet (and then Russian) influence. No?

~~~
zmb_
No, pretty much the exact opposite:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tito%E2%80%93Stalin_split](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tito%E2%80%93Stalin_split)

~~~
iaskwhy
Ah, this is very interesting, thanks for the eye-opening link! It actually
might explain my previous questions about Kosovo.

------
ck2
The scariest part of all of this is the 6000 mystery troops that showed up
without any logos on their uniforms or carriers or tanks.

They took over the border, airport, etc. without any identification, simply
guns to insist "do as we say". They even blocked the coast guard from leaving
their ports.

Which means they had this kind of force all prepared.

Can you imagine if US troops showed up somewhere in huge numbers with all
identification hidden (I realize small "special forces" operate that way but
not regular troops).

~~~
brown9-2
I think the strange/comical part of this is that Russia thought that "we'll
just take off our logos" was a good strategy for keeping a secret or saving
face.

~~~
rangibaby
I think it was actually a brilliant FUD strategy to buy the Russians time and
stop the West from intervening in a timely (from their perspective) fashion.

~~~
smsm42
As if somebody would be intervening. EU bureaucrats plan to hold "emergency
meeting" on Monday - because occupation of a foreign country and potential war
near their borders is not a reason to work on Sunday, you see. One can be sure
nothing would come out of it on Monday either but empty "we are very worried"
declarations.

~~~
dragonwriter
> As if somebody would be intervening. EU bureaucrats plan to hold "emergency
> meeting" on Monday - because occupation of a foreign country and potential
> war near their borders is not a reason to work on Sunday, you see.

Or because the actual work to develop options and brief on the facts prior to
the emergency meeting of decision makers is going to happen through Sunday.

Most of the work related to any meeting of decision-makers, even an emergency
meeting, happens _before_ the meeting.

~~~
smsm42
They must prepare a lot of briefings if it takes 2 days. Even UN is moving
faster.

~~~
dragonwriter
> They must prepare a lot of briefings if it takes 2 days.

Not really.

> Even UN is moving faster.

Yeah, but all the UN would do in even an ideal (in terms of ability to decide
on approach) situation would be to declare broad principles and call on other
countries to take action of broadly-specified types to acheive them (with
Russia's veto on the UNSC and role in the current crisis, there's about zero
chance of even that happening unless Russia's rep gets lost on the way to the
chamber.)

OTOH, the EU is more likely to need to evaluate not just what it wants to
achieve, but what it can actually concretely do with its real actual resources
to achieve its goals, which mean that there is, in practical terms, a lot more
substance for the EU to address than the UNSC.

------
adamlj
This could turn ugly really fast. If Russia attacks Ukraine the US and Britain
would have to protect the borders of Ukraine, according to a treaty signed in
1994 [0].

If the US don't follow the treaty I guess we will know how much these treatys
really are worth.

[0] [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2570335/Former-
Briti...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2570335/Former-British-
Ambassador-Moscow-warns-Russia-invaded-Ukraine-difficult-avoid-going-war.html)

~~~
bananas
Is there another source other than the daily mail i.e. one with an ounce of
credibility?

~~~
noir_lord
Good on you for not trusting the Daily Mail, it's not even a rag at this
point.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Memorandum_on_Security...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Memorandum_on_Security_Assurances)

~~~
bananas
Depends what you're wiping with it ;)

Thanks for posting a more balanced and altogether less scary sounding article
with references.

~~~
vixen99
Don't bother to back up you cliched attack on a popular tabloid newspaper.
Much more fun to recycle the old epithets. What amuses me is that way
hypercritical folk evidently read the Daily Mail (along with the other on a
regular basis else how can they be so adamant concerning it's 'rag'
characteristics? Seems to be a moveable feast on HN.

Independent reports say that the DM has the largest online readership in the
world at around 44 million. Disputable of course; remarkable that so few of
these people (if any) appear have made a buck or two by suing the paper for
telling all the lies it's supposed to peddle.

~~~
bananas
Of course we read the Daily Mail occasionally. Well not the whole thing every
day. That would be tantamount to bashing one's head on the ground until your
intelligence quotient descends towards the dog and monkey end of the bell
curve. I'm not suggesting any other rag is any better, just with a different
agenda. News should be considered based on a number of sources.

With respect to circulation; 44 million affords more lawyers than you. The
Mail has certainly attracted its fair share of libel cases over the years
where n_lawyers > daily_mail_n_lawyers.

It's not fit for my children to do papier-mâché with for they might
accidentally read some.

------
xixixao
I am glad this has finally got to the top of HN. People should be aware of the
fact that a part of sovereign country is being aggressively annexed by their
neighbor. And there is virtually no opposition to Putin in Russia.

~~~
davidw
> I am glad this has finally got to the top of HN

Because once HN is aware of it, we'll... uhm... Send Putin some nasty Perl
scripts?

This, like almost all political / breaking news stories, is probably off topic
for this site, given the guidelines:

[http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

"Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're
evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters,
or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-
topic."

This will probably be the opening item on most TV news shows this evening.
It's currently the lead article on www.cnn.com www.corriere.it
www.bbc.com/news/ etc...

~~~
raldi
People said the same thing on Slashdot after 9/11, and they were wrong then,
too.

Once-a-generation events, with major impacts that last for decades across an
entire region of the world, transcend "news for nerds" guidelines.

~~~
glogla
Well, this is really not once per generation. They did this with Georgia and
Moldavia already. And more are to follow.

~~~
davidw
And indeed, there it goes - it's dropping off the front page like a lead
balloon.

------
lmg643
From what I gather, Obama has some of the same foreign policy advisors as Bush
did. We are pursuing some backdoor strategy to get Ukraine to join the EU. The
democratically elected president chose to ally with Russia instead, because
Russia offered them more. We set up riots over there, and he flees the
capital.

The leader is declared to be deposed, and now a leader friendly to the west
can take over. Russia can't stand for this - they have military bases in the
country, and it is literally in their backyard. In terms of distance to
moscow, it would be like taking over north carolina to washington DC.

Question is - who is the aggressor in this situation, really? How is some
unelected foreign policy team, fighting some bullshit game over expanding the
EU, able to get us into this kind of mess?

I thought Obama was supposed to be the anti-imperialist replacement for Bush?
Or is each new president just a toady of the people who really run the show?

I've got no stomach for war. We've done enough damage to ourselves in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Please Obama, live up to what you were elected for - make that
nobel peace prize count for something.

~~~
smsm42
That's some pile of bullshit. Who are "we" that set up the riots? Those people
stayed there since November, with wide popular support, risking life and limb.
It is unbelievably obtuse to echo Kremlin propaganda that those were but the
agents of US State Department. One has to be either exceptionally ignorant or
exceptionally motivated to find a way to blame America to believe this canard.

>>> Question is - who is the aggressor in this situation, really?

Really? I guess that would be the country that sends the military to the
territory of another country. But who would that be? There should be some way
in here to blame America here and prove sending military into neighbor's
territory is actually all fine, provided that neighbor did an unspeakable
atrocity of potentially siding with America or EU.

>>> I've got no stomach for war.

Looks like you've got a lot of stomach for believing propaganda, as long as it
matches your prejudices of America being the root of all evil. What a surprise
would it be for you when it turns out believing propaganda spouted by an
authoritarian dictator with ambitions for territorial conquest is not the
surest way to achieve peace!

~~~
cdi
>That's some pile of bullshit. Who are "we" that set up the riots?

"We’ve invested over $5 billion to assist Ukraine in these and other goals
that will ensure a secure and prosperous and democratic Ukraine."

[http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/texttrans/2013/12...](http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/texttrans/2013/12/20131216289031.html#ixzz2uDCREyNA)

You could also research finances behind 2004 Ukrainian revolution. I'm not
saying it's bad. I even support current Ukrainian revolution and I am against
Russian aggression. But it's quite obvious that US and allies are are trying
to undermine pro-Russian or neutral governments in ex-USSR countries and make
these countries adversarial towards Russia geopolitically. It happened in
Ukraine, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, with Color revolution technique, where large
groups of people occupy squares and then capture government buildings.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_revolution](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_revolution)

~~~
smsm42
Yes, US sent financial aid to Ukraine. And dozens of other countries too. But
you talked about setting up the riots.

>>> with Color revolution technique, where large groups of people occupy
squares and then capture government buildings.

You must be kidding. That's how revolutions are done since inventing of
squares and government buildings. That's what revolutions _are_ \- a lot of
people gather together and oust the existing powers. Presenting this as if it
is some sinister technique freshly invented by US State Department is idiotic
- this is how it was done before US State Department even existed.

Of course US supports governments that are not aligned with the dictatorship
of Putin and of course US encourages people not to align with the dictator -
what else would you suggest? For US officials to tell "we don't care if
there's a dictatorship or not - it's not like we in America have any position
in regard of human rights, freedom, self-rule and all such matters - those are
things we don't care about here at all"? That is, however, a very far cry from
"setting up the riots" which you have claimed.

~~~
cdi
You are placing me in an uncomfortable position of spewing pro-Kremin
propaganda. Ok.

>Presenting this as if it is some sinister technique freshly invented

Well, I didn't go into details, and I'm not an expert, but Color revolutions
in ex soviet countries have certain common qualities to them. The main is
"nonviolent action" of Gene Sharp. Holding a square for weeks, and waiting for
violence to discredit government wasn't a normal normal way to make a
revolution before this method was used. Other than that there is financing of
pro-Democracy NGOs, that work under assumption that there is a lack of
democracy(no matter what), and leaders with western eduction or ex-Reagan
administration staffer wives.

>dictatorship of Putin

While I hate Putin and don't like Russia generally it's too subjective and
CNN-like to call Putin a dictator. He definitely has support of pupation, and
is adequate to Russian people. And I think the level of democracy in Russia is
not important to US policy. Russia is US's major geopolitical opponent, one of
the few of still independent ones. The US will support revolutions on Russian
border no matter how democratic Russia is. Even more, it's easy to argue that
Russia is not democratic as say western europe or the US, precisely because
The US is very capable at overthrowing governments.

>a very far cry from "setting up the riots" which you have claimed.

While of course US didn't set up riots, it certainly assisted the forces which
performed an illegal government coup. There is even a recording of ambasaddor
Nuland on youtube. Maybe Yanukovich wasn't popular in the Ukraine(Bush too at
the end of his second term), but he was a legally elected president, and
Eastern parts of the country supported him initially. Forces that took over
the government lost in the last elections, and (most likely)didn't have a
chance at winning them next time.

As for me personally, being a Russian with pro-Liberty ideology, taking into
account the fact that US is meddling with Russia's neighbors, still I'm for
these revolutions. I even can't wait for one that will take out Putin. Russia
must be weak and fragmented, because cultural code is very authoritarian, and
if Russia is strong it will create problems not only for Russians but for
people all over the world. But it's not a position of a patriot. Nor it's
position of neutral observer.

~~~
lotsofmangos
_The main is "nonviolent action" of Gene Sharp. Holding a square for weeks,
and waiting for violence to discredit government wasn't a normal normal way to
make a revolution before this method was used._

What about Ghandi in India? Or Mohism in China in 400BC? The idea that the
color revolutions are the first to popularise using nonviolent resistance to
gain a moral upper hand against an opponent, is plainly ridiculous.

~~~
cdi
>are the first to popularise

Where did I say they are the first?

Ghandi's struggle against colonialism, and I suppose Mohism are not about
government coups, especially in modern context, and modern understanding of
what the state is. And Color revolutions are not exactly nonviolent - they are
non violent at the initial stage.

------
Mchl
Russia has a long tradition of "protecting"

"[...]The Soviet Government also cannot view with indifference the fact that
the kindred Ukrainian and White Russian people, who live on Polish territory
and who are at the mercy of fate, should be left defenceless. In these
circumstances, the Soviet Government have directed the High Command of the Red
Army to order troops to cross the frontier and to take under their protection
the life and property of the population of Western Ukraine and Western White
Russia."

People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the U.S.S.R. V. Molotov

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_invasion_of_Poland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_invasion_of_Poland)

~~~
Elhana
US has a long tradition of "protecting" as well. They were protecting
Yugoslavia, then protected Iraq, Afganistan, Libya.. recently Syria. They are
also looking to protect Iran and Ukraine now. Most of it without UN
resolution, with the exception of Libya, where they interpreted "no fly zone"
resolution as "just bomb everything that moves" (because Gaddafi tanks could
fly I guess).

------
StephenFalken
It would be interesting to discuss how Ukraine got into this kind of situation
([1] [2]) and what are the "natural" consequences of it. Somehow it feels we
are not dealing with a single country anymore.

[1] [http://i.imgur.com/1iiXqHN.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/1iiXqHN.jpg)

[2] [http://i.imgur.com/eNo56LZ.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/eNo56LZ.jpg)

~~~
rangibaby
Crimea is "Russian", it was granted from the Russian SSR to the Ukrainian SSR
by Khrushchev in the 50s.

It's interesting that the situation is playing out pretty much according to
this blog post: [http://cluborlov.blogspot.jp/2014/02/shock-over-
ukraine.html](http://cluborlov.blogspot.jp/2014/02/shock-over-ukraine.html)

"Most of them don't even know what it is they are protesting, but, in essence,
they are protesting the very existence of their country, which is made up of
two parts: Eastern Poland, which is Ukrainian-speaking and predominantly
Catholic, and Western Russia, which is Russian-speaking and predominantly
Orthodox. The “Russians” outnumber the “Ukrainians” two to one. The ultimate
resolution to the crisis lies in partitioning the country. Nobody has the
stomach to even talk about it—yet. But until that happens we will continue
being subjected to this strange spectacle, where every single actor in Ukraine
does everything possible to undermine the country's political system. Deep
down, the Ukrainians don't want there to be a different government in
Kiev—they don't want there to be a government in Kiev at all."

~~~
afterburner
I agree separation seems to be the elephant in the room, but ignoring the
separate Ukrainian language is somewhat oversimplifying. If the language
spoken in Kiev was Polish, then _maybe_ you'd have a case about the Poland
bit.

~~~
rangibaby
What I grokked from the quote is Poland as in catholic and more culturally
European, not literally Polish.

------
zeckalpha
"The potential strike by the [Russian Federation] against [Ukraine], despite
strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious
leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and
escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond [Ukraine]’s borders.
A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could
undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the [Chechnya] problem and the
[Syrian] conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It
could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance."
– Vladimir Putin, six months ago.
[http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-
cau...](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-
russia-on-syria.html?pagewanted=all)

~~~
tzakrajs
I'm not so sure you can use brackets to replace any noun with another noun.
It's clearly satire but some people might think this is a direct quote of
Putin.

~~~
zeckalpha
At the time that op-ed came out, people did similar things with an even
earlier op-ed of his: [http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/14/opinion/why-we-must-
act.ht...](http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/14/opinion/why-we-must-
act.html?smid=tw-share)

Clearly, his position is whatever is convenient at any given time.

------
danmaz74
It looks to me like it was all organized from the start: If using the economic
pressure of gas prices wasn't enough to keep Ukraine in the Russian sphere of
influence, they were ready to seize Crimea and maybe something more...

~~~
toyg
Russia just cannot lose Crimea. It was silly for EU and especially US pols to
think Ukraine could be snatched from Putin wholesale (and using neonazis, no
less).

~~~
scarmig
_neonazis_

I guess that's the talking point of the day.

Ironically, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia under the pretense that it was to
protect its ethnic Germans.

~~~
toyg
It's not a talking point: Svoboda and Pravyi Sektor are right-wing extremist
groups with racist tendencies, just look them up on Wikipedia. The first act
from their new government was to revoke a law granting language rights to
Russian and Hungarian minorities.

Just because Putin is a bad actor, it doesn't mean his enemies are good
actors.

------
justinzollars
The Russians have a lot more to lose in this situation than we do. The Russian
Mediterranean fleet is based out of Sevastopol, hence their movements into the
Crimean Peninsula. While I sympathize with the people of the Ukraine Obama
wasn't smart to bet our credibility in a situation where the Russians could
not back down.

------
dschiptsov
It is too complicated to discuss here. First of all, the naval bases, gas
pipeling infrastructure were build in Soviet times using resources of whole
Soviet union. After its collapse in 90th everything became messy, but old
strategic interests were respected.

These events has very simple cause - too avoid any shift of control over
strategic resources of former Soviet Union to pro-EU oligarchy and eventually
EU capital which which Russia cannot compete.

The other question is a moral one - does the interests of Russian oligarchs,
controlling Gazprom, who "inherited" Soviet infrastructure should be
reinforced by military operations?

At least it is not an ethnic conflict, just conflict of interest.

------
glogla
It's all going to be fine. Hitler stopped after getting Sudetenland too,
right? Oh wait ...

All of Easter Europe should watch this carefully. We all knew that Russia
considers all east of Dresden to be their property. When they were leaving
here after their invasion of 1968, they told us it's temporary.

Now they are starting to reclaim it. All of it.

------
yardie
It's a crazy situation all around. Russia has a military base in the Ukraine,
in Crimea.

If Cuba had a modern day revolution would the US not send in troops to
Guantanamo? Would we be in the wrong for doing so? Even if the interim
government was more US friendly?

~~~
aaron-lebo
I tend to agree that the US would take such steps, but if the US decided to
control larger portions of the country than just their bases (which is what is
sounds like Russia is doing), that is a major problem and more than just
protecting a military asset.

~~~
rangibaby
Who would it be a major problem for if Cuba was ostensibly part of another
state, yet had a population of 60% Americans and a newly anti-American
government?

~~~
zeckalpha
The analogy doesn't hold, as Cuba's present government is nominally anti-US.

------
inanov
wow! everyone was just silent after the "revolution". no one said a single
word about the right-wing armed forces. now the news are back in the front
page of HN, cool... and meaningful in terms of timing, as one of those
politics guys says in my country.

------
gondo
live stream [http://rt.com/on-air/embed/global/](http://rt.com/on-
air/embed/global/)

~~~
obiterdictum
RT (of course) gives such a different view from Western media, it may as well
be a completely different story. Right now, for example, it tells how "armed
extremists sent from Kiev tried to seize government buildings in Crimea".

~~~
iaskwhy
And usually none of the versions is the correct one...

That specific part might talk about some groups of people (not army related)
trying to do what some other did in other cities of Ukraine. It's hard to know
what's true and what's not.

------
mahoro
Parliament approved (by 100% votes).

Unbelievable.

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
My reaction as well. I suppose it must be true that United Russia are rigging
all the polls.

~~~
trycatch
That's normal for Russia, sadly. Yesterday there was a voting about mandatory
registration of all web sites in Roskomnadzor (heavily controversial bill).
438 for, 0 against, 0 abstained. Russian democracy.

------
aquadrop
I hope that was just a political move in response to harsh words from the USA
and no real sending troops will follow. Because that is very stupid thing to
do for Russia. It makes me sick that nobody in the parliament voted against.
And even though western media was using propaganda heavily as well as
russian's did, there's no need to bend the truth with that kind of stupid
move. It will only make the conflict bigger instead of helping it. Most people
in the Crimea just wants all that shit(from both sides) to stop and live
peacefully. I hope everything will end up fine.

P.S. I'm Russian with some Ukrainian roots.

~~~
danmaz74
Apparently, troops are already there though.

~~~
aquadrop
There's naval base in Sevastopol with permanent troops.

~~~
danmaz74
Yes, but from what I read Russian troops are deployed outside those bases,
around the government palaces. I just hope this ends well (even if I couldn't
define what "well" could mean here).

------
danbruc
Will we ever manage to act morally, ethically and rationally in situations
like that? Or will the situation where suddenly everything escalates and we
blow up the planet come first?

------
Nux
This is getting serious. Soon we'll find out how much human politics have
progressed in the last ~50 years and what we have learned.

Let's see how this crisis will get solved. Hint: armed forces, not a good sign
already.

------
inanov
> Off-Topic: Most stories about politics...

I guess most stories about politics involves China, Russia, Iran, Syria, DPRK,
USSR, Cuba, Venezuella...

------
sidcool
We averted the Cuban missile crisis. This is a bit smaller than that. It's
power play by Russia. Things will subside soon.

------
broflovsky
Ugh, politics. Why bring into a "hacker news" site? Keep that garbage on
Facebook and in reddit where it belongs.

~~~
Elhana
"Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate
for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to
its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there
is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that
you did." \-
[http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

------
vxxzy
Has anyone noticed an ramp of DDOS attacks on ISPs? In the DC Metro Area,
we've had a bunch of issues with Windstream, Allied Telecom, Comcast, etc...
All NTP based. Not to mention the inbound call issues with ATT in the Mid-
Atlantic Market. Could this be a result of Current events with Russia?

------
sidcool
Images of the USSR invasion of Finland sprang up in my mind.

------
wprl
Blood for oil.

------
cwaniak
When will the State Department, the White House and NATO issue a response on
Facebook and Twitter? In the ultimate battle, Obama can out text, twitter and
talk Putin. US wins and is the world power in nothing. We have the leadership
we deserve.

