A very timely article Stephen Velychenko.

Long may it dispell the fawning love of too many OLO commenters for dear Mr President Putin.

One also needs to note that Oliver Stone is motivated to do Putin's/FSB's bidding by Stone being given the world rights to make a film about that other Putin supporter Edward Snowden. See "Oliver Stone’s Edward Snowden Movie Acquired By Open Road & Endgame – Update" http://deadline.com/2014/11/edward-snowden-oliver-stone-open-road-acquisition-1201276045/

While Putin has enriched (but recently paupered) himself on the Capitalist oil market Putin is not above some Capitalist show biz.

All power to Neo-Fascist Red Army - see 1 mins 30 seconds in http://youtu.be/6x2ZK-dV3yk .

Long may Putin's casting couch be filled with 200 kilo female shotputters :)

Pete

" .... Ukrainians want no more to be controlled by Russia or Russian controlled dictators, than Latin American and Asian peoples want to be controlled by America or American controlled dictators."

Given Ukraine's fifty-odd million people, and Australia's twenty two million, one could have added "no more than Australian people want to be controlled by America or Japan or China."

Ukraine is not part of Russia's 'sphere of interest', any more than we are of America's, or Ireland is part of Britain's. Independent nations such as those three are entitled to form alliances with whoever the hell they like, and fashion their international policies as they like. They do not have to do the bidding of more powerful countries, or be 'sacrificed' or junked for the sake of more powerful countries.

As it happens, I was checking out the dilemma of General Vlasov when the recent celebrations on the centenary of the birth of Stepan Bandera were taking place. I was born during the War and named after Stalin, so I have a sort of personal interest in how they both thought and what happened to both of them. With hindsight, I think I would have - if I had had the courage - acted much as they did: like the current three-way Syrian conundrum, what does one do if one is anti-Stalin AND anti-Nazi, caught between the two ? Vlasov was under Nazi house-arrest for three years until, it seems in desperation, he formed an anti-Soviet Russian Army, and was hanged in 1946 for his actions. Bandera of course was assassinated later, in Vienna.

It's no fun being the meat in the sandwich. But for all that, Ukraine, being probably oneof the twenty most populous countries in the world, has as much right as Russia or America - or Australia - to be independent in its relations with other countries.

And Crimea is still legally Ukrainian - unless we want to hark back to the 1820s, when it was Tartar. Unless Tsarist invasion is to be held up by the neo-Tsarist as some sort of imprimatur, legitimising Putinism.

Joe

Goose stepping was developed by the Prussian military as a way to keep musketeers in formation and set a consistent pace of advance into battle, because it's a technically difficult precision march these days it's used mainly in displays and ceremony as a show of discipline and esprit de corps:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goose_step#History

Stephen Velychenko is a little too respectful re Oliver Stone's ability to portray history in a truthful and objective manner. Stone has made his name in manipulating and distorting both American and European history to suit his own agenda - whether that be in his recent revisionist portrayals of Eisenhower in his "Untold History of the United States" or his lack of historical even-handedness in outlining his conspiratorial theories surround the assassination of JFK!

Legitimate and scholarly interpretation of history is one thing - but, as too often Oliver Stone has done, and continues to do, the fabrication and manufacture of "lies as history" makes his films a caricature that deserve the derision they receive. I doubt that Stone's portrayal of Yanukovych's rise and fall will add anything of genuine historical value to an understanding of Ukraine's continued struggle for total freedom and independence from Russian hegemony and influence.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/19/oliver-stone-s-junk-history-of-the-united-states-debunked.html

While the author's article is useful in putting Putin in his true neo-fascist Russian place the author under-rates how influential intelligence agencies can be in changing things in a country's history.

This is particularly true when the intelligence agency is large, rich, powerful and has a sizable paramilitary wing. Such an agency is all the more influential when the local government is poor, small, with a relatively weak grip on power and frequently beholden to the superpower that owns the intelligence agency.

A case in point is, of course, Afghanistan in 1979. President Andropov of the Soviet Union, previously the head of the KGB, was sufficiently alarmed-paranoid that Afghanistan would fall to the Free World that he organised an invasion.

Prior to the invasion Andropov, the KGB and GRU suffered from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias - the tendency to search for, remember, or interpret information in a way that confirms one's beliefs or hypotheses. Of cause the CIA and its Anglo cheer squad has never done such a thing!

By late 1979 thousands of KGB intelligence, KGB paramilities, GRU and Special Forces invaded and unseated the rightful dictatorship of Afghanistan. All revealed - see http://foreignpolicy.com/2009/12/14/how-we-invaded-afghanistan-2/ .

It took a decade for the CIA, Saudi Foreign Intelligence and UK's MI6 to organisize, fund and partly lead a righteous counter-insurgency to eject the infidel Soviets. This Western and Saudi intelligence effort was one of the major factors in demoralising the leadership and people of largely military orientated Soviet Government. The fall of the Soviet Empire followed due to the just Western intelligence war overall; to the Afghanistan War; Soviets unable to match Reagan's defence spending; exhaustion with Communist rule; and democratic People Power.

So in cases of Russian and Soviet fault (but no Western cases of course...) the author's argument that "intelligence agencies don't destroy governments - people destroy governments" may be overly hopeful and naive.

Pete
http://gentleseas.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/rare-view-on-role-of-cia-analysts.html

Pete I don't believe any of your diatribe about Putin. Putin's only crime is that he has broken form the Anglo American Axis and does not want to be subjugated by their New World Order.

Economically the West is finished and their only tool is war which Putin is resisting. We should join the BRICS nations and go for growth not economic oppression.

"The adviser of the Ukrainian President Yury Biryukov announced that about a quarter of the budget of the Ministry of Defence (of the new, “free Ukraine under US supervision” celebrated in the article) has been stolen. No one knew where the money was flowing. The missing amount could be about USD 400 million. A prosecution is as good as hopeless because of the current corruption laws." (http://deutsche-wirtschafts-nachrichten.de/2015/01/06/ukraine-meldet-450-millionen-dollar-aus-dem-militaer-etat-als-gestohlen/).

Perhaps it will make it harder for Poroshenko to wage his war against its own people, like Assad and before Saddam. Whatever can be said about Yankovych. (following Russian interests), he did no go that far, did not bomb the Kiev Maidanists as did his successor (following NATO/US interests), when bombing the East of his own country for having organizers of a counter-Maidan, later turned “separatists”.

Arjay

The Capitalist West has been happily beating Russia since the 1850s. Even you've heard of the Crimean War and the fall of the Soviet Union - early 1990s.

Your idol - Putin - is also falling due to his country's dependence on high oil prices. Now that world oil prices are low - due to Western developed fracking processes - Putin is the next Russian Red-Tsar to fall.

Like George Bernard Shaw - who loved Stailin whatever Stalin did - enjoy your love affair with Putin Arjay :)

Pete

'I would also hope that if a director of your repute did make a documentary film about Ukraine it would not simply parrot the ideas of a reviled ousted dictator who built fortified fairy-land palaces with gold toilets in a country foul with corruption private wealth and public squalor.'

Oh,no! Not the 'gold toilets' routine again!

Didn't we get enough of gilded excrement propaganda in the rush to war with Iraq #which, by anyone's standards, has been an unmitigated disaster?

Apart from the author's toilets-of-gold premise, Oliver Stone is making a film that asks the 'reviled ousted dictator' to give his version of events, which might actually differ from the Western mainstream media viewpoint.

Shock! Horreur!!

@ Yuri

I agree, Stone's "Untold History of the USA' is very entertaining but it's mostly opinion and conspiracy theories in a monotone doco narration voice.

The much broader issue is how influential or well known people can be or are used in media to promote a message and/or opinions, with neither facts nor evidence.

It's an American disease mostly conducted by neo con media and politics which agressively promotes beliefs, passions, philosophy, memes etc. over and above the Age of Reason i.e. facts and empirical evidence; often accentuated by shouting at and smearing those who do not agree with them.

Much like Australia..... and also used by Kremlin.