Russian soldiers, fighting in Ukraine, are increasingly experiencing cognitive dissonance.

The Russian press has labeled the Ukrainian government and those soldiers fighting on behalf of government of Kyiv as:

• Nazis, fascists
• Punishers
• Punitive

When Ukrainian soldiers do not act the way they were told by their commanders and by the Russian press, they often suffer what is called “cognitive dissonance”.

This is the feeling of uncomfortable tension which comes from holding two conflicting thoughts in the mind at the same time.

Dissonance increases with:

The importance of the subject.
How strongly the dissonant thoughts conflict.
Our inability to rationalize and explain away the conflict.

Cognitive dissonance is a very powerful motivator which will often lead us to change one or other of the conflicting belief or action. The discomfort often feels like a tension between the two opposing thoughts. To release the tension we can take one of three actions:

• Change our behavior.
• Justify our behavior by changing the conflicting cognition.
• Justify our behavior by adding new cognitions.

Dissonance is most powerful when it is about our self-image. Feelings of foolishness, immorality and so on (including internal projections during decision-making) are dissonance in action.

http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/cognitive_dissonance.htm

As a result, a Donbass Commander, Semen Sementchenko, predicts this will not be a long war. The Ukrainian soldiers are not the monsters the Russians were warned of; they are honorable, fight with distinction and courage and are a complete opposite of the image projected by the Kremlin.

I am not personally convinced that cognitive dissonance is enough to dissuade Russians from continuing combat in Ukraine, but it is a consideration for future study.

Dastardly “Punisher” Ukrainian soldier accosts an innocent civilian. Welcome to Russian Hollywood.

According to Zloy Odessit, a Russian blogger, the Kremlin’s propaganda machine is moving ahead with a movie about

Brave militia of New Russia, honest Russian journalists, punishers of the National Guard, and American mercenaries (well, as without them?), The valiant fighters “Berkut” and fascists of the battalion “Azov” All at once.

It is noteworthy that in a short time a phenomenal script was written, all the pre-production performed, budget allocated and now in the Kaliningrad region they are doing final filming. It is noteworthy that the Kaliningrad region in great and prosperous Russia is best approached Decoration war-ravaged Donbass. The premiere is scheduled for November 2014.

November 2014? Having some family in Hollywood, I know this is far from a typical film sequence.  Typically the editing would take a minimum of six months.  

Don’t forget, the Ukrainians (according to the Russians) deliberately targeted journalists. 

In a final twist of irony, the working title of the movie is “The Truth”. 

http://zloy-odessit.livejournal.com/760592.html

Originally posted at http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/09/11/digital-jihad-isis-al-qaeda-seek-cyber-caliphate-to-launch-attacks-on-us/

Dying Unneeded: The Cultural Context of the Russian Mortality Crisis by Michelle A. Parsons

A good friend, V, alerted me to two books dealing with the same subject: the almost inexplicable case of greatly increased Russian mortality.

Dying Unneeded: The Cultural Context of the Russian Mortality Crisis by Michelle A. Parsons

The Dying Russians, by Masha Gessen.

The Dying Russians by Masha Gessen

Between these two books the case is made that Russians are dying, by a wide variety of means, in inexplicable numbers.  A comparison to other neighboring countries does not reveal a similar reduction in demographics and, true to form, Russians themselves attack the statistics and avoid the issue.

Whatever the reason, whatever the truth, these books are sad, almost depressing.  Surely the Russians have noticed a significant reduction in their numbers, their very mortality, their culture, their country, seems to be at risk.

The implication of a massive reduction in the Russian population is depressing to me.  Extrapolating the statistics and making the case of Ukraine seems to be simply a morbid exercise.

A Russian General has called for Russian military doctrine to put a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the table.

In Russian General Calls for Preemptive Nuclear Strike Doctrine Against NATO, General Yury Yakubov, a senior Defense Ministry official, says,

First and foremost, the likely enemy of Russia should be clearly identified in this strategic document, something absent from the 2010 military doctrine. In my view, our primary enemy is the U.S. and the North Atlantic bloc

Russia, and before it, the Soviet Union, never used a nuclear weapon.  None have been used since 1945. As has been demonstrated in the recent information war between Russia and Ukraine, most of the Russian threats have been just that, threats.

Putin recently reminded the world that it is one of the world’s greatest nuclear powers.

Russia is developing new nuclear weapons to counter US and NATO threats, says President Putin.

Russia recently ran nuclear war drills.

The rhetoric behind the nuclear threats made by Russia has been understated, for the most part, but the implications have been clear.  ‘Back off from Russia or we reserve the right to pre-emptively use nuclear weapons’.

China, meanwhile, has just tested a mobile long-range ballistic nuclear missile that can hit U.S. targets, which is just part of their expanding nuclear capability. They also have begun building a ballistic missile submarine force. India and Pakistan continue to earn analysts’ predictions that their border is the most likely spot on earth for a nuclear exchange. Each recently has fielded new missiles for their nuclear forces. To top it off, Vladimir Putin is modernizing Russia’s massive nuclear and missile force as he regains Moscow’s influence in Europe and Asia.
Yet while the world has been embracing the atomic bomb, the U.S. nuclear mission degraded. Only the U.S. and UK, among all declared nuclear powers, are not currently modernizing either their weapons inventory or delivery systems. Standards in the U.S. nuclear force have also fallen. The Air Force suffered a series of embarrassing mishaps in the 2000s, for example, mistakenly ferrying live nuclear weapons across the country and shipping nuclear triggers to Taiwan. The deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command, the successor to the Cold War Strategic Air Command, was relieved of duty in October 2014 for using fake poker chips at a casino, which is a criminal offense. A week later, the Air Force very publicly fired the two-star general in charge of America’s 450 ICBM’s for personal misconduct while on an official visit to Moscow. In January, the news came that dozens of ICBM launch teams cheated on tests.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2014/02/27/the-dangerous-degradation-of-the-u-s-nuclear-arsenal/

US nuclear negotiators will not risk nuclear war, this sort of rhetoric has not been used in close to 25 years.  Most of those negotiators have retired or moved into new careers.

What shall we do?  Mr. President, once more your leadership skills are being called upon.  Who are your experts? How do you answer?

Please, Mr. President, consult real nuclear experts before you answer.  Your speechwriter is not a nuclear arms negotiating expert.

Ivangorad, Russia

Ivangorod, Russia has filed paperwork with the governments of Russia and Estonia, to join Estonia.

A petition from citizens in the town of 11,000 seeks to leave Russia.

Ivangorod, also known as Jaanilinn in Estonia, is historically a part of Estonia.

Because of a bureaucratic redistricting, the town of Ivangorad receives $1.7 million less annually and is having difficulty making ends meet.

A deputy Council Member, Yury Gordeyev, is attempting to bring attention to their problem.

Of course there won’t be any integration” of Ivangorod into Estonia, Gordeyev said. “I understand this very well. It’s not within the competency of the Estonian president, but the president of Russia. But I wrote this appeal because nobody is paying attention to our problems.”

It would be nice to hear the Russian government address this problem publicly.  Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Crimea and Donbass, have all been allowed to vote on Russian acceptance.  Russia would be best served demonstrating the same rights belong to Russian territories, oblasts, cities and towns.

UPDATE:  This story was actually published in 1998: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/town-petitions-to-join-estonia/287105.html 

Thank you to D!

Sept. 14, 2014, 9:13 a.m. | Ukraine — by Oleg Sukhov

Originally published at http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/putins-propagandists-not-known-for-ethics-364352.html

2014/09/14

Article by: Yelena Vasilyeva

Originally published at http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/09/14/on-russian-propaganda-lies-that-give-birth-to-hatred/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMjl1euADEg

I saw this video from Ukraine, where long lines of people line the streets and honor their dead soldiers returning from the fight with Russia.

Many knelt, many bowed their heads. I thought the Ukrainian people showed an appropriate amount of respect for the young men who gave their lives for Ukraine.

Now contrast that with Russia, where the thousands of men returning from battle are not even a acknowledged They are called “Load 200″, not even officially acknowledged to be Russian men returning from war.

Others have picked up on this Russian anachronism.  Military graveyard suggests Russia’s Ukraine involvement, discusses the awkward position of the Russian government, where they cannot acknowledge the truth.

Even Al Jazeera asks “Pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine collect their dead and ask, Where is Putin?“

There is no denial of Russian dead, their corpses are documented.

However, Russia Is Burying Soldiers in Unmarked Graves Just to Conceal Their Role in Ukraine. And in Ice Cream, Corpses, and the Big Bear: Repatriating Dead Russians From Ukraine, more stories of Russian soldiers, officially denied the honor of returning as war heroes. Instead, these soldiers are called ‘volunteers’ in Russia Reports Troop Deaths In Ukraine, But Calls Them ‘Volunteers’.

Some question this is a coverup, Is Vladimir Putin Covering Up the Deaths of Russian Soldiers in Ukraine?  Others question what Russia tells their mothers: What does Russia tell the mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine? Not much.

This is the weakest part of the Russian strategy, Putin’s weakness? Russian soldiers returning from Ukraine in coffins.

Yet Russia denies Russian soldiers’ involvement and stifles any dissent.

Boris Efimovich Nemtsov is a Russian statesman and liberal politician, a co-chair of the RPR-PARNAS political party, one of the leaders of Solidarnost movement and an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin.

Please excuse my Chrome translation.

Here is what he posted on Facebook on 13 September.

Read Goebbels and compare with the modern Russian TV:
1. “Propaganda is always turned only to the masses, not the intelligentsia, so its level must focus on the most limited powers of perception of those to whom it should affect.

2. Propaganda should act more on feeling than on reason, since the mass is essentially feminine in nature, so the feelings intelligible thought.

3. Propaganda should be limited to a minimum and repeat it constantly.Perseverance is vazhnoy prerequisite to its success.

4. Propaganda can not be objective, it must be fundamentally subjective one-sided. “

What differentiates Ernst Kulistikova and Dobrodeeva from Goebbels? Well, at least one point of call, which they did not realize.

Russian TV in its purest form is built on the precepts of Goebbels and fascization Russia occurs exactly therefore. Hence is in the air hatred, aggression, and an unwillingness to hear and listen. Hence spy and vragi- external and internal. Hence, the war and the death of people ..

Russian TV is not the media. This weapon information terror against the people, the mind-killer, common sense and the instinct of self-preservation. Manage this weapon cynical and violent criminals, whose death on the conscience of the Russian and Ukrainian. For pitting people against each other, they incite war.

https://www.facebook.com/boris.nemtsov/posts/686138638122406

By Australian Lieutenant Colonel Jason Logue

Originally published at https://medium.com/the-bridge/understand-to-effectively-engage-in-the-war-of-ideas-a2a5f90e97fd

This post is the first of a series on strategic communications, narrative, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant titled, “Fighting the Narrative.” It was provided by Lieutenant Colonel Jason Logue, an Australian Army Information Operations specialist. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect those of the Australian Army, Australian Department of Defence or the Australian Government.

In 2004, I served in the Baghdad-based Coalition headquarters responsible for the conduct of the campaign in Iraq. We were, to put it bluntly, bloody busy dealing with the day-to-day issues that impacted the information aspects of that campaign. On arriving in Iraq, I immediately immersed myself in the complex information environment that entwined tactical actions by Coalition soldiers with strategic reactions on the other side of the globe.

My job, with the support of a small Coalition team, was to observe, analyze, and contribute to the action and reaction battle between increasingly connected and tech-savvy adversary groups and the mass and reach of the US-led Coalition. On a late October 2004 morning, though, something in my own understanding of that environment changed. That changed understanding has defined my ongoing role in the planning and execution of activities in the information environment during the past 10 years.

A short video appeared on the World Wide Web and it, like hundreds of others since, needed to be reviewed in order to gain the latest insights into our adversary’s narrative. In hastily shot, standard definition with terrible audio, five cowed, expressionless Iraqi men sat in front of the black and gold banner of the self-proclaimed ‘Al-Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers.’ The five Iraqis were policemen, a Lieutenant and four of his men, dragged from their Anbar Province station at gunpoint in the middle of the night.

They became immortalized through the brutality of their public execution in the streets of what we later learned was Ramadi. It is a scene that has repeated itself hundreds of times across the Middle East and the Levant since that video was released. The stoicism of the Iraqi Police Lieutenant as he and his men were led to their death is something that has stayed with me since my first watching. To my great shame, I have forgotten his name.

That the public execution of five men for doing their job was not the noteworthy event in this video says something of the complexity of the global conflict we have been immersed in for the past decade. For weeks the Iraqi rumor network indicated the Al Qaeda franchise had shifted to the ‘near enemy’ and were gunning for those Iraqis they considered apostates for working with the Iraqi Interim Government. This short clip provided the first clear evidence that the near battle was underway.

Continued at https://medium.com/the-bridge/understand-to-effectively-engage-in-the-war-of-ideas-a2a5f90e97fd

ISIL brings the propaganda war into the US

Originally posted at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/11101361/Islamic-State-steps-up-anti-US-propaganda-with-calls-to-attack-Times-Square.html

Online propaganda videos and messages posted by Isil supporters encourage “lone wolf” attacks against numerous US tourist destinations and details how to make homemade pipe bombs

The Isil post encourages would-be attackers to target Times Square in New York Photo: Alamy

By Oliver Duggan

11:57AM BST 17 Sep 2014

The Islamic State (Isil) has encouraged “lone wolf” attacks by extremists equipped with homemade pipe bombs on Times Square and other high-profile US tourist destinations, according to reports.

A message posted on an Isil forum entitled “To the Lone Wolves in America: How to Make a Bomb in Your Kitchen, to Create Scenes of Horror in Tourist Spots and Other Targets” surfaced in the last 24 hours.

In it, supporters of the extremist organisation are told to plant explosives in busy public locations in New York, Las Vegas and Texas, and at metro stations across the US.

It comes as Isil released a slickly-produced propaganda video in response to President Barack Obama’s pledge to “degrade and destroy” the organisation.

The video includes shaky-footage of the White House that appears to have been filmed from a moving car, and include extracts of President Obama’s statement on the US response to Isil this week.

Released by the Islamic State’s propaganda wing, al-Hayat Media Centre, the 52-second clip is similar to previous Isil videos in its high-production values and threats to attack various US targets.

But, according to NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton, “this is the first time Isil has used this medium to inspire a “lone wolf” type attack”.

“We are quite concerned, as you would expect, with the capabilities of Isil, much more so than al-Qaeda, to use social media to try and spread their recruitment efforts and try to inspire,” he said.

““We have been focused on it and I believe we are as prepared as any entity can be to deal with the threats. But the reality is that we are living in a new era of potential terrorism. That is the reality.”

Is the US and the West equipped to handle this global propaganda war? I don’t think so.

Originally posted at https://news.vice.com/article/islamic-state-video-is-latest-in-worldwide-propaganda-wars

By Olivia Crellin

September 17, 2014 | 1:40 pm

The Islamic State’s media machine took to the web again on Tuesday with the release of a high-production Hollywood-style trailer for an upcoming movie entitled Flames of War.

The 52-second clip was issued in response to President Barack Obama’s vow to “degrade and ultimately destroy [the Islamic State],” and shows flames engulfing footage of the White House and Obama, as well as images of US forces in Iraq — despite Obama ruling out putting “boots on the ground” last week.

The video, produced by Al Hayat Media, the English-language media arm of the Islamic State, was originally posted to the internet archiving site Archive.org and boasts high-quality images, advanced filming techniques, and a slow motion sequence of a tank blowing up. The only words spoken in the video come from Obama himself saying, “Combat troops will not be returning to fight in Iraq.”

At the end of the video the words “Flames of War: Fighting Has Just Begun” flashes on the screen, before it ends with the phrase “Coming Soon.” The style is consistent with other high production videos produced by Al Hayat. Its use of English and similar digital effects to those used in video games and action movies seem designed specifically to appeal to potential young recruits in the Western world.

There are no clues within the video as to why it has been released now, but it was issued just hours after Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee he would advise Obama to redeploy US combat troops in Iraq if airstrikes didn’t succeed in rolling back the Islamist insurgents.

This comment came even despite Obama’s promises not to “get dragged into a ground war”last week, and the White House later called the idea of US troops in battle a “purely hypothetical scenario.” Obama will deliver a primetime speech Wednesday night outlining his plan to combat the Islamic State, but already rejected claims that morning that Islamic State terrorists may be trying to enter the United States via the Mexico border.

While the US remained reticent about military involvement, Iraqi forces launched an intense military operation against insurgents in Ramadi, Falluja, and Haditha in central Iraq.

Engaging in a Propaganda War 
While the president still seems unsure as to whether the US will send ground troops to Iraq, the US State Department is wholeheartedly engaging in the social media war against the terrorists.

The State Department’s project Think Again Turn Away has its own Twitter handle, Tumblr, Facebook page, and satire video.

Posted to YouTube on July 23, the State Department video is ironically called Welcome to Islamic State land (ISIS/ISIL) and shows graphic scenes of crucifixions, beheadings, and suicide bombings with English title cards in an attempt to deter US nationals and Western Muslims from joining the Islamic State’s ranks.

Russia is giving in to desperate measures to keept the story of Russian paratroopers killed in Ukraine under wraps.

A BBC cameraman was knocked to the ground and beaten, his camera was smashed on the ground and taken by the three attackers. The BBC team escaped and spent four hours explaining the situation to the police, a hard drive on a computer was wiped clean “at the police station“.

The BBC has lodged a formal protest with the Russian authorities.

According to the BBC, this was

clearly part of a coordinated attempt to stop accredited news journalists reporting a legitimate news story.

The KyivPost Paywall announcement

Russia is widely regarded as the world’s best country that does Information Warfare.

I won’t even guess who is #2, it certainly is not the United States.

It certainly is not Ukraine, either, and let me tell you why I believe such a statement is true.  This clearly flies in the face of a very large effort by a large number of people in Ukraine and supporters around the world.

KyivPost.com is behind a paywall.

Shortly after then-President Yanukovych quit and fled to Russia, at the end of February, Kyivpost.com put up a paywall on many of the articles dealing with Russia and Ukraine.

I recently corresponded with Brian Bonner, Kyiv Post Chief Editor.  He said:

Regrettably, much of the Kremlin media are state funded. We don’t have such vast resources. We are a private newspaper with an affiliated nongovernmental organization.

To survive, we need to sell advertising and subscriptions — simple as that — and those include online subscriptions, like many other newspapers.

ps. About the title, most of you are way too young to remember the movie “How the West was Won“, referring to the 1962 movie.  In this case I am not referring to the American West but the West as Russia sees the world. To wit: “Battle Against West Gives Russia New Purpose“.

Russian 2C4 “Tulip” Nuclear capable weapon in Ukraine

Reports coming out of Luhansk airport in Ukraine state the Russians have used tactical nuclear weapons.

Yesterday Ukrainian Defence Minister Geletey gave a two hour off-the-record briefing to Roman Bocskai, a Journalist at TV Channel “Inter”.  

Gelety stated the damage to buildings at Luhansk airport were so severe, the only explanation is the use of a tactical nuclear weapon.  One building, for instance, was destroyed completely, from the fifth floor to the basement. The yield was the equivalent of 2,000 kilograms of TNT, which equates to the minimum yield for a tactical nuclear weapon.

Because of the complete surprise of Ukrainian forces, radiological readings have not yet been taken, the instruments were not available.

According to a statement made by Minister Geletey:

Once again the very important!

My recent statement on the possible use of Russian troops of nuclear ammunition against the forces of ATO, was associated with an existing at the time the information about what Russia zavezla on the territory of Luhansk oblast, and uses against Ukrainian servicemen self-propelled mortar 2S4 “Tulip”.
The peculiarity of this powerful weapon is that in addition to the explosive and the active-reactive mines, self-propelled mortar can fire nadmalimi nuclear ammunition capacity less than 1 KT.
As you know, today Russia actually uses the Ukrainian territory as a testing ground for the testing of new types of weapons.
Or not in order to experience this weapon on the East of Ukraine, Russians ferried self-propelled mortar 2S4 on our territory?
To us it is known that during the assault of Luhansk airport by Russian troops, including applied mortar 2S4 “Tulip”.
This, in particular, may indicate significant destruction and damage, which were building and infrastructure of the airport?
Once again, check whether the used nuclear or other unidentified us ammo bulk actions can only relevant specialists, who are armed with special equipment that will specifically check the radiation background areas.
Unfortunately, right now we can not do this because the Luhansk Airport currently controlled by terrorists and Russian servicemen.

- https://www.facebook.com/v.geletey?fref=ts

According to the Ukraine Defense Ministry:

Information posted some journalists on their pages on social networks, and distributed a number of news agencies and online media is fully responsible to the Minister of Defence of Ukraine, said during a private conversation with a reporter one of the TV channels of Ukraine. example, according to the Minister of Defence Ukraine Colonel-General Valery Geletey, during the storming of Lugansk Airport Russian forces used self-propelled mortar 2S4 “Tulip”. In addition to demolition and active and reactive min-propelled mortar can fire nuclear weapons Midget below 1 kt. This, in particular, may indicate considerable damage suffered by the airport. Meanwhile check or used nuclear weapons during firing, or other unknown ammunition bulk action can only be relevant specialists and special equipment, which is currently not possible due to lack of control over Luhansk airport from the forces involved in the ATO. Ministry of Defence of Ukraine calls on journalists, the media check (specify) information prior to its publication.

- https://www.facebook.com/theministryofdefence.ua

The response from Russia, so far, has been to ridicule the Ukrainian Defense Minister.

Russia’s Defense Ministry on its official Facebook page commented on the statement of the Ukrainian military department Valery Geletey on the application of Russia in the Lugansk airport tactical nuclear weapons, reports ITAR-TASS.

Russian FM: Moscow condemns the provocative statements of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine
“in the message body Ukrainian media said that the statement B. Geletey did when returning after talks in Poland. If indeed there was a such a fact, the Security Service of Ukraine should carefully examine what is poured into a glass B. Geletey Polish friends.And in the future to eliminate this “magic elixir” of the rider Ukrainian Minister during his tour of the Western capitals, “- said the Russian Defense Ministry on its official page on Facebook.
“In turn, the Ukrainian government should consider whether it is time to go to the Minister Defence V. Geletey basic training, where one of the first lessons to recruits brought the main factors affecting the nuclear explosion and its implications. But seriously – regular excuses V. Geletey failure punitive operation in the south-east of Ukraine allegedly operating units of the Russian armed forces, already resemble paranoia. Therefore, none of the appropriate people for a long time do not take them seriously, “- said in a commentary the Defense Ministry.

- http://inforesist.org/ministerstvo-oborony-rf-vysmeyalo-zayavlenie-geleteya/

Even more interesting is that the ITAR-TASS article is missing.

According to at least one expert in the field, my friend C:

This looks increasingly like an engineered deniable leak ….. probably fishing for a Russian public reaction, using a journalist who can then be tagged as having got himself confused. Personal attacks ridiculing the Defence Minister are a very curious Russian response, to say the least. How would they behave had they used a subkilotonne or 1-2 kiltonne tac nuke, and thought nobody had noticed, and got sprung?

Update.  RT posts a response.

http://russian.rt.com/article/50837

Advisor to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine: Following statements Geletey over us laugh the whole world

Advisor to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Anton Gerashchenko on his Facebook page commented on Defense Minister Valery Geletey the use of Russian nuclear weapons. Gerashchenko believes Geletey mistaken, because “do not know the difference between the power of tactical nuclear weapons and the capacity of conventional, non-nuclear weapons.”

20/09/2014 20:59

Advisor to the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs said that if in the  Luhansk airport  actually use nuclear weapons, there “there was no one to go.” “Why make such statements, which are easy to double-check and refute ?!As a result, we now laugh at, both in Russia and around the world. Although we do not get used to this, unfortunately “- summed up Gerashchenko.

Recall now the Ukrainian media reported that the Minister of Defense of Ukraine at the time of his return from Poland, said one of the accompanying journalists that the Russian armed forces struck two blows tactical nuclear weapons of self-propelled mortar 2S4 “Tulip” in Lugansk airport.

Оригинал статьи: http://russian.rt.com/article/50837#ixzz3DsSSkjeU

By a vote of 18-0 the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Unanimously Passes Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014.

The legislation requires the president to apply sanctions against:

• Rosoboronexport and other Russian defense firms that contribute to instability in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and Syria;
• Companies worldwide that make significant investments in particular unconventional Russian crude oil energy projects;
• Gazprom, if the President determines that Gazprom is withholding significant natural gas supplies from member countries of NATO or further withholds such supplies from countries such as Ukraine, Georgia, or Moldova.

$350 million is devoted to military support.

Providing defense articles, defense services, and training to the Government of Ukraine for the purpose of countering offensive weapons and reestablishing the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, including anti-tank and anti-armor weapons; crew weapons and ammunition; counter-artillery radars to identify and target artillery batteries; fire control, range finder, and optical and guidance and control equipment; tactical troop-operated surveillance drones, and secure command and communications equipment.

$50 million for short term energy assistance and $50 for medium to long term energy assistance.

$10 million for the next three fiscal years to counter Russian propaganda in the former Soviet Union countries and prioritizes Russian-language broadcasting into Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia.

RFE/RL says “It prioritizes the funding for Voice of America and RFE/RL broadcasting in the three former Soviet republics over the next three years.”

Just between us girls, $10 million over three years is hardly enough to counter Russian propaganda.  Good start but it is not going to move the Caucus mountains, like we need to. Don’t believe me, let’s run the numbers like I have a multitude of times over the past nine months.

Pump up the numbers…  $10 Mil gets you in the game.  Want to win? Talk with me.  Not at me.

There is a bad word which means someone is bold or decisive, when someone has “the balls” to do something.  Putin has some big balls to continually takeover parts of other countries.