Ukraine Update: December 9, 2016-February 05, 2017

Ukraine Update: December 9, 2016- February 05, 2017

By: Franklin Holcomb and Ben Knudsen Russian President Vladimir Putin is testing the new U.S. administration as it deliberates American policy toward Russia. Putin spoke with President Donald Trump by phone on January 28. President Trump subsequently stated publicly that he had not determined his position on the existing sanctions regime against Russia. Russia's proxy forces in eastern Ukraine rapidly escalated hostilities with Ukrainian forces on January 29. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley condemned Russia's actions, vowing to maintain Ukraine-related sanctions.   President Trump held a telephone conversation with President Poroshenko on February 04 in which he promised to work with Ukraine to help "restore peace" along the Ukrainian-Russian border amidst discussions of "Ukraine's long-running conflict with Russia." The United States and its partners should continue to support the Ukrainian government, the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine, and the Minsk II negotiations. The U.S. and European responses to this renewed crisis will shape how Russia perceives its freedom to act militarily in Eastern Europe.  Russian-backed separatist forces launched a series of failed assaults on Ukrainian positions on December 18 near the Svitlodarsk Arc, a protrusion in the line of contact north of the strategic rail hub of Debaltseve. Separatists had previously seized terrain in this arc from Ukraine, overtly violating the Minsk II ceasefire. Ukrainian forces conducted an immediate counter-offensive and forced from their positions the dispersed, low-quality separatists, whose command structure has been undermined by factionalism. Ukrainian forces took ground left uncontrolled by separatist forces in a series of tactical advances and counter-attacks until January 12. Ukrainian units regained the terrain they had lost  in 2015  and thus came closer to separatist-controlled logistics nodes, such as the rail hub and the M-04 Highway. These defeats endangered separatist supply lines and left their northern border highly vulnerable. The  Kremlin's relatively high-quality proxy forces stationed around the separatist stronghold of Donetsk assaulted the Ukrainian controlled town of Avdiivka on 28 January. Ukrainian armed forces killed or wounded several high profile separatist commanders amidst heavy fighting, a rare occurrence, indicating that separatist forces were using their best available assets. The fight continues at publication time. Separatist forces could not push Ukrainian forces from their positions as of February 5, and Ukrainian forces' counter-attacks gained control of separatist staging areas. Separatists deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure, cutting off electric power in Avdiivka during extreme winter conditions, creating a humanitarian crisis.  Putin intends to use this fresh assault to reset conditions on the ground, prepare for a new diplomatic initiative, and end the conflict on his own terms, which include ending the sanctions regime.  To that end, Russia launched a disinformation campaign portraying Ukraine as the aggressor and called for a dialogue between the Kremlin and the U.S. to address the humanitarian crisis. Russia's proposed new framework for negotiation undermines the authority of France and Germany, who have led the Minsk negotiations, and exploits tensions in the U.S.- EU relationship . Russia  also intends to ignore Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in the negotiations which would destabilize his pro-Western coalition and create opportunities to return Ukraine to its sphere of influence. The U.S. has not received Putin's negotiation offer warmly. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley condemned Russia's escalation in Avdiivka and previous seizure of Crimea on February 02, stating that the U.S. would not remove sanctions related to the latter. President Trump promised to work with "Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved" in a conversation with President Poroshenko on February 05. The Kremlin will likely push its proxy forces to escalate further, in order to undermine the Minsk negotiations and pursue alternate negotiation formats. Ukraine may try to move separatist forces away from key infrastructure in and around Avdiivka to end the humanitarian crisis. Separatist forces do not have the capability to sustain operations  on the battlefield without direct Russian support. The Kremlin likely does not assess that its proxy forces alone can successfully assault Ukrainian forces but will instead use them to create temporary hotspots and humanitarian crises in Donbas to undermine the Minsk ceasefire. Russia maintains its own forces in separatist territory, however, and continues to lead, train, and supply its proxy forces. The U.S. must watch for signs that Russia will reinforce the separatists and increase their capabilities, which could dramatically change conditions on the ground.  U.S. and Western support to the Ukrainian military continues to increase that force's professionalism and combat-effectiveness. The U.S. and allies provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces with training, materiel support, and assistance with institutional reforms. Ukraine has also increased incentives for military service and its forces have gained experience during ongoing operations in Donbas. The U.S. must continue its support. Read the full update online ###

Can You Spot the Difference?

Can you spot the difference in the two pictures? Didn't take me long either. First car is red, The second is white with a blue stripe.

Grumpy Cat Critiques O'who...what's His Name?

THE GRUMPY CAT...THIS IS GREAT

GOD BLESS AMERICA

GANGSTER ISLAM: THE PROBLEM EUROPE IGNORES Posted on February 5, 2017 09:00 By Timon Dias

• ESSAY

The Dutch-Moroccan rapper Ismo stating: "I believe nothing blindly except the Quran" "I hate the Jews even more than the Nazi's" and "I won't shake hands with faggots" / screenshot YT

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For over a decade, Europe’s struggle to successfully integrate its Muslim population has been evident. But throughout the years a new and distinctly European phenomenon arose, which is as significant as it is underreported: Gangster Islam. It entails the conflation of the seemingly a-religious street culture of youths from a Muslim background on the one hand, and elements of the Islamic religion on the other.

The German publication Der Spiegel once very briefly touched on the matter, a Danish documentary highlighted Islamic extremists recruiting gang members from a Muslim background, and a Dutch terrorism expert pointed out how Syrian returnees were more likely to live a life of crime in order to finance the jihad, than to actually commit a terror attack.

One would think that after having spent millions of euros on interreligious dialogues, cultural sensitivity trainings and moral diversity classes, Europe’s social scientists would have punctured the surface by now. But a fundamental discussion on how and why street culture and religion conflate, and what the implications of this new hybrid culture are, seems thus far to have been shied away from.

The analyses that have been made conclude gang members and jihadist mostly resemble one another in their tendency towards and fascination for violence. However, the resemblances between seemingly a-religious street youths from a Muslim background and Islamists, are actually more numerous and more fundamental. Their main parallels are:

1- Both harbour subversive intentions toward their European host societies

2- Both primarily identify themselves as Muslim

3- Both are vocal in their hatred for Jews

4- Both glorify violence

In the exploration of these parallels, “street youth from a Muslim background” will henceforth be referred to simply as “youths“.

– Subversive intentions –

Islamists have a historic and highly detailed system of beliefs dictating not to integrate into host societies, and when possible to subvert that social fabric by missionary work (Dawah) and/or violence.

Youths, on the other hand, seem to feel a more diffuse, a-historic and a-religious aversion toward their societies. It’s mostly a combination of conducting themselves in a manner that makes them very hard to live with (committing robberies, public intimidation and drug trafficking), being angry at their non-Muslim environment for thinking they’re hard to live with, and acting out frustrations over their alleged “exclusion and disenfranchisement” by being even more insufferable.

This manifests itself as a crime wave that undermines the general sense of security and social cohesion to the point where people are terrorised out of their neighbourhoods, or preemptively leave by choice.

This is a form of subversion without a clear ideological underpinning, but like their Islamist counterparts, it’s subversion nonetheless.

 – Both primary identify as Muslim –

Robberies, public intimidation, drug trafficking, and soft drug and alcohol usage might not appear to be all that pious. But their sense of identity and outward presentation has a distinctly religious character, as is the case with the majority of the overall European Muslim population.

A study by PEW points out that:

“Religion is central to the identity of European Muslims. With the exception of Muslims in France, they tend to identify themselves primarily as Muslim rather than as British, Spanish, or German. In France, Muslims are split almost evenly on this question. The level of Muslim identification in Britain, Spain, and Germany is similar to that in Pakistan, Nigeria, and Jordan, and even higher than levels in Egypt, Turkey, and Indonesia.”

Youths view themselves as a part of the worldwide Islamic nation (Ummah), and no matter how subversive their actions get, they would never speak of Islam with disdain, or openly obstruct the ‘Islamic cause’.

They have the utmost contempt for authority, but if they were to accept any authority at all, it’s very likely one that’s religious in nature. This is why the city of The Hague actively allows a Salafist mosque to patrol the streets to keep youths at bay.

That Islamists also primarily identify themselves as Muslim, needs little explanation.

– Just listen to their rap videos –

It is thus no coincidence some of these youths’ cultural expressions such as rap videos are laced with Islamic themes, terms and symbols. Take the Dutch-Moroccan rapper Ismo for example. In his debut video (which garnered more than 6,8 million views on YouTube in a country of only 17 million people), he can be heard bragging about his earthly success as a hustler, as well as rapping highly religious lines:

“I believe nothing blindly except the Quran.” “The devil calls but I won’t give him a chance.” “I hate the Jews even more than the Nazi’s” and “I won’t shake hands with faggots“.

(Milo must feel devastated).

A similar dynamic can be seen in French, British and German rap videos.

– Both hate Jews –

Multiple studies by the professor of sociology Mark Elchardus showed that more than half of all Muslim students in Brussels, Gent and Antwerp harbour antisemitic views; a percentage that’s probably even higher among youths with sociopathic tendencies. And it’s not exactly as if they’re trying to hide it either. Examples of youths saying things like “whenever I see them [jews] I want to stab them“, performing Nazi salutes at Jews, or plainly saying that they hate Jews, are numerous.

That a similar antisemitism is also practiced daily by Islamists, is sadly self-evident.

– Both glorify violence –

A shared tendency towards and admiration for violence is so obvious even Europe’s social scientists picked it up. But, as was described, this is actually the least fundamental resemblance. Youths glorify gang related violence. Islamists glorify religious violence. However, it is also very common for youths to rejoice in religious violence. They can, for example, be seen praising Osama Bin Laden – “He hates Jews, we hate Jews” – or the Al-Qaeda operators that massacred the Charlie Hebdo staff.

– Conclusion –

What seems to stand out is that Islamists only very rarely address or condemn the subversive behaviour of their not so pious Muslim peers. One might wonder why. After all, they put the Muslim population as a whole in a bad light.

But actually, it seems to makes sense.

While Islamists subvert their societies in a religiously inspired manner, Muslim street youths do so in a more earthly fashion. The latter is highly advantageous to Islamists because, in the end, it is the subversion of non-Muslim societies by people who primarily identify themselves as Muslim.

European lawmakers and pundits think Europe’s problem with Islam, is solely that of Islamism. But in fact, the problem is more pervasive and widespread. Unless they start to acknowledge how the Gangster Islam dynamic is eroding European social fabrics, their policies will lag behind reality for decades to come.

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