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Guess Who’s Been Proven Right Again? Sarah Palin Mocked in 2008 for Suggesting Russia Could Invade Ukraine (+video)

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By Greg Campbell.

Sarah Palin, the vanguard of the right, oft-mocked by the left, has been proven right on innumerable issues and yet the left refuses to give credit where credit is due. Whether Obamacare or IRS intimidation, Palin has been right and the left still refuses to listen.

Now, it appears Mrs. Palin was right once again. Though Palin was mocked in 2008 for her assertion that Russia could invade Ukraine, Russian forces have done exactly that.

We shouldn’t expect any admissions of “I was wrong, you were right” from the left, however; admitting fault is an impossibility for Democrats who rely on steadfastness at all costs in the face of political realities.

In 2008, then-vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin warned Republicans that if Barack Obama were elected, we should expect poor foreign policies that could lead to instability on the world stage- including a possibility that Russia could invade Ukraine.

Calling this argument “strange” and an “extremely far-fetched scenario,” Foreignpolicy.com mocked Palin’s assertion…

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Palin Mocked in 2008 for Warning Putin May Invade Ukraine If Obama is Elected. By Tony Lee.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin warned that if Senator Barack Obama were elected president, his “indecision” and “moral equivalence” may encourage Russia’s Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine.

Palin said then:
After the Russian Army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama’s reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence, the kind of response that would only encourage Russia’s Putin to invade Ukraine next.

For those comments, she was mocked by the high-brow Foreign Policy magazine and its editor Blake Hounshell, who now is one of the editors of Politico magazine.

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Obama Could Pull Russia Trip Amid Ukraine Tumult

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/Charles DharapakBy Julie Pace and Matthew Lee.

U.S. officials said Friday that President Barack Obama may scrap plans to attend an international summit in Russia this summer and could also halt discussions on deepening trade ties with Moscow, raising specific possible consequences if Russia should intervene in Ukraine. Obama himself bluntly warned of unspecified “costs” for Russia.

“Any violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity would be deeply destabilizing,” Obama declared. Such action by Russia would represent a “profound interference” in matters that must be decided by the Ukrainian people, he said.

While the president spoke only of “reports” of military movements inside Ukraine, the officials said the U.S does believe that Russia is intervening.

Separately, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he would not address specific U.S. options, “but this could be a very dangerous situation if this continues in a provocative way.” Asked about options in a CBS News interview, he said that “we’re trying to deal with a diplomatic focus, that’s the appropriate, responsible approach.”

As Obama prepared to speak late Friday, a spokesman for the Ukrainian border service said eight Russian transport planes had landed with unknown cargo in Crimea. Serhiy Astakhov told The Associated Press that the Il-76 planes arrived unexpectedly and were given permission to land, one after the other, at Gvardeiskoye air base. The State Department urged U.S. citizens to defer non-essential travel plans in the country because of “the potential for instability.”

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Photo Credit: CNS News Russia Seeks Access to Bases in Eight Countries for Its Ships and Bombers

By Patrick Goodenough.

At a time of escalated tensions with the West over Ukraine, Russia says it is negotiating with eight governments around the world for access to military facilities, to enable it to extend its long-range naval and strategic bomber capabilities.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday the military was engaged in talks with Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Algeria, Cyprus, the Seychelles, Vietnam and Singapore.

“We need bases for refueling near the equator, and in other places,” ITAR-Tass quoted him as saying.

Russia is not looking to establish bases in those locations, but to reach agreement to use facilities there when required.

The countries are all strategically located – in three leftist-ruled countries close to the U.S.; towards either end of the Mediterranean; in the Indian Ocean south of the Gulf of Aden; and near some of the world’s most important shipping lanes in the Malacca Strait and South China Sea.

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Russian Moves Raise Stakes in Ukraine Conflict

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Photo Credit: AP/Emilio MorenattiMasked gunmen stormed the parliament of Ukraine’s strategic Crimea region as Russian fighter jets screamed above the border, while Ukraine’s newly formed government pledged to prevent a national breakup with the strong backing of the West – the stirrings of a potentially dangerous confrontation reminiscent of Cold War brinksmanship.

Moscow reportedly granted shelter to Ukraine’s fugitive president, Viktor Yanukovych, who was said to be holed up in a luxury government retreat and to have scheduled a news conference Friday near the Ukrainian border. As gunmen wearing unmarked camouflage uniforms erected a sign reading “Crimea is Russia” in the provincial capital, Ukraine’s interim prime minister declared that the Black Sea territory “has been and will be a part of Ukraine.”

The escalating conflict sent Ukraine’s finances plummeting further, prompting Western leaders to prepare an emergency financial package.

Yanukovych, whose approach to Moscow set off three months of pro-Europe protests, finally fled by helicopter last weekend as his allies deserted him. The humiliating exit was a severe blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had been celebrating his signature Olympics even as Ukraine’s drama came to a head. The Russian leader has long dreamt of pulling Ukraine – a huge country of 46 million people considered the cradle of Russian civilization – closer into Moscow’s orbit.

For Ukraine’s neighbors, the specter of Ukraine breaking up evoked memories of centuries of bloody conflict.

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Troop Movements Indicate Russia May Be Prepping For Invasion of Ukraine

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Photo Credit: Washington Times U.S. intelligence agencies are stepping up their spying on Russia’s military amid concerns that Moscow is preparing to use force against Ukraine in the wake of the pro-democracy revolution in Kiev.

Earlier this week, intelligence agencies reported that two Ural-4320 trucks full of armed Russian troops were observed arriving in the Black Sea port of Yalta. Photographs made by a Ukrainian civilian were posted online as the troop transports entered a Russian military facility in Yalta, on the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine.

Other activities in recent days have included the movement of armored personnel carriers observed at Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters in nearby Sevastopol.

U.S. officials said the purpose of the troops is not known, but speculation centers on the possibility of the troops being used as part of an advance force for a future Russian military operation.

U.S. intelligence agencies also are tracking possible covert infiltration of Russian Spetsnaz commandos. One concern is that Moscow will provoke a conflict by using the undercover commandos to attack ethnic Russians and then launch an invasion under the guise of protecting those Russians.

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Susan Rice: Russian Military Intervention in Ukraine ‘Would be a Grave Mistake’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/Efrem LukatskyAny Russian decision to send forces into Ukraine to restore a government it views as favorable “would be a grave mistake,” national security advisor Susan Rice said Sunday, after dramatic turns in the country’s standoff saw President Viktor Yanukovich effectively removed from office.

“It’s not in the interest of Ukraine or of Russia or of Europe or of the United States to see a country split,” Rice said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “It’s in nobody’s interests to see violence return and the situation escalate.”

Asked whether President Obama had told President Vladimir Putin to “back off” when the two spoke by phone on Friday, Rice replied, “The president’s message was, ‘Look, we have a shared interest in a Ukraine that remains unified, whole, independent, and is able to exercise the will of its people freely.’ At that point, Putin was in agreement.”

Russia and the U.S. have accused each other of interference in the crisis, which began when Yanukovich last November ditched a plan to strengthen economic and political relations with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Russia. Opposition supporters occupied Kiev’s independence square to protest the decision, which was cemented when Putin offered Yanukovich a $15 billion bailout.

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Ukraine Crisis: Opposition Asserts Authority in Kiev

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Photo Credit: Reuters MPs have replace the parliamentary speaker and attorney general, appointed a new pro-opposition interior minister and voted to free jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

Police appear to have abandoned their posts across the capital.

Protesters in Kiev have walked unchallenged into the president’s official and residential buildings.

President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leaders signed a peace deal on Friday after several days of violence in which dozens of people died in a police crackdown on months of protest.

But the deal failed to end the protests and huge crowds remain in Independence Square, the Maidan.

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Ukraine on Edge after Deadly Clashes Between Protesters, Security Forces (+video)

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Photo Credit: CNNProtests. Talks. Violence. Protests. Talks. Violence.

By early Friday morning, the lone positive point was that — for the time being — Ukraine’s cycle of political and physical infighting was not then at its bloodiest point, as it had hours earlier. Prodded by foreign diplomats, the key players were then talking about not just a bandage for the violence but also a more long-term political solution and maybe the beginnings of healing.

Yet the facts of the last three months and, particularly, the last week show that it’s way too early to celebrate or savor any peace. There have been two truces since Sunday. Each of them collapsed suddenly into carnage centered in Kiev’s Maidan, or Independence Square.

The latest bloodshed was also the worst since the unrest began.

CNN crews at the scene reported that as security forces were moving away from the area after the latest truce, a group of protesters pursued them throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails.

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Riot Police in Ukraine Move in Against Protest Camp

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Photo Credit: Fox News By Fox News.

Ukranian riot police armed with stun grenades and water cannons moved in against a protest camp in Kiev’s center Tuesday night as defiant crowds shouted “Glory to Ukraine” while their tents were engulfed in flames around them.

At least 18, including seven police officers and 11 protesters, were reported dead in the violence by early Wednesday morning, with hundreds more injured, the Associated Press reported.

Thousands of protesters had filled Independence Square just hours before, sensing that Ukraine’s political standoff was reaching a critical turning point after the deadliest violence yet in nearly three months of protests that have paralyzed the capital and the nation.

Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko urged the protesters to defend the camp.

“We will not go anywhere from here,” Klitschko told the crowd, speaking from a stage in the square as fires burned around him, releasing huge plumes of smoke into the night sky. “This is an island of freedom and we will defend it,” he said.

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Photo Credit: Reuters Ukraine crisis: Police storm main Kiev ‘Maidan’ protest camp

Police are storming the main protest camp in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, which has been occupied since November.

Explosions are taking place, fireworks are being thrown and large fires have broken out in Independence Square.

On Tuesday at least 18 people were killed, including seven policemen, in the worst violence seen in weeks.

President Viktor Yanukovych blamed the violence on opposition leaders, but said it was still “not too late to stop the conflict”.

He was speaking after a late-night meeting with opposition figures Vitaly Klitschko and Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

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Photo Credit: WNDReagan official: Obama should support Ukraine Protesters

By Greg Corombos.

Recent Ukrainian unrest reached its deadliest levels yet Tuesday, as protesters and police officers were killed, fires raged in Kiev and a nation divided moved closer to a national tipping point.

Ukraine is closely divided between Russian-speaking residents largely loyal to Moscow and native-speaking western Ukraine, which identified with Europe and largely despises Russia for its decades of control during the days of the USSR.

The latest volatility stems from Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych rejecting an opportunity to establish closer economic ties with the European Union and subsequently accepting bailout assistance from Russia. Protests that followed were met with new laws restricting protest rights and even a ban on citizens wearing helmets.

Former Reagan administration Pentagon official Frank Gaffney told Radio America the people have very good reasons to be in the streets.

“There’s obvious frustration on the part of the people of Ukraine with their government, with the policies it’s been pursuing, particularly to the degree to which it is acceding to what can only be described as domination by Russia. I think there’s also a growing restiveness about the growing repression at home and the corruption of their government,” Gaffney said.

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Senator McCain Meets Ukrainian Protest Leaders Amid Rival Rallies

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Photo Credit: REUTERS/ANDRII SKAKODUB/POOL

Photo Credit: REUTERS/ANDRII SKAKODUB/POOL

U.S. Senator John McCain met Ukrainian opposition leaders in Kiev on Saturday and voiced support for protesters camped out for weeks in the capital, a move sure to anger Moscow for what it sees as Western meddling in its backyard.

The street protests started after the November 21 decision by President Viktor Yanukovich – seeking the best possible deal for Ukraine to stave off bankruptcy – to walk away from a trade pact with Europe at the last minute and seek closer ties with its old Soviet master.

The movement has since grown in size and vehemence, bringing tens of thousands onto the streets in a series of rallies, becoming an all-out protest against the president and his cabinet.

McCain is the latest of a string of European and American dignitaries to tour the sprawling protest camp set up behind tall barricades – prompting Russia to accuse the West of excessive involvement.

McCain was due to be joined by the chairman of the Senate’s Europe subcommittee, Chris Murphy, on Sunday.

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China Launches Its First Aircraft Carrier, Experts Doubt Its Strategic Value

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In a ceremony attended by the country’s top leaders, China put its first aircraft carrier into service on Tuesday, a move intended to signal its growing military might as tensions escalate between Beijing and its neighbors over islands in nearby seas.

Officials said the carrier, a discarded vessel bought from Ukraine in 1998 and refurbished by China, would protect national sovereignty, an issue that has become a touchstone of the government’s dispute with Japan over ownership of islands in the East China Sea.

But despite the triumphant tone of the launching, which was watched by President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, and despite rousing assessments by Chinese military experts about the importance of the carrier, the vessel will be used only for training and testing for the foreseeable future.

The mark “16” on the carrier’s side indicates that it is limited to training, Chinese and other military experts said. China does not have planes capable of landing on the carrier and so far training for such landings has been carried out on land, they said.

Even so, the public appearance of the carrier at the northeastern port of Dalian was used as an occasion to stir patriotic feelings, which have run at fever pitch in the last 10 days over the dispute between China and Japan over the East China Sea islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

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