I appreciate the audacious insolence of Russian propaganda, and always have, in the same spirit one appreciates the bite of blue cheese on a hamburger or in a salad, or a table lamp in the shape and colorings of Canadian Mountie....

That most definitely sums up your postings, indeed.

Time to change the station.

See ya!

Who wouldn't want to go to war-torn Donetsk these days for a little R and R?

Esp. when so many prefer to believe that particular side. Whether for love, money, or ethanol. Or just because that's how their brains were hardwired in their youth and they fear change. Sort of arch-conservatives.

Elements of at least four Russian battalion task groups ... hmmm. What does that mean, General Breedlove?

An "element" could be a sniper unit, an infantry squad, an artillery unit, a medical corps unit, material transport unit, etc. The phrase "element of" is relatively useless to us as citizens trying to assess the actual degree of involvement by the Russian Federation on the ground in these matters. It does not characterize the operational nature of the incursion. That nature could range from humanitarian relief to precision assassination ... but we cannot discern that from what we have been told in that statement.

Similarly, the denial of the Russians is useless. Breedlove never accused them of moving entire battalions, and their heavy equipment, into Ukraine. Russia's denial could still be "true", even if four platoons of elite snipers have been deployed to take out a list of inconvenient Ukraine citizens. Putin is not known for being all warm and fuzzy, thus I would be more prone to believe "elements" are more likely to be snipers than medics.

Beware the fog of war, friends. There is much about this situation, and how it developed, that we as citizens simply do not know with any reliable accuracy. Indeed, if I were Barack Obama, I would be very thorough about vetting the accuracy of the intelligence estimates cross my desk right about now.

Trav