Southeastern Ukraine desk on hiatus
2015-09-13
Posted by: badanov
Peace has broken out, sorta, in southeastern Ukraine. No one is agreeing to anything, and both sides are taking the occasional pot shot but compared with just 30 days ago, things are peaceful.
When I wrote for Rantburg's Mexican desk, this happened occasionally as well, where the narceauxs would leave things alone until shipping day, or until a local gang decided to "heat up the plaza". Peace, as it were, would be brief and the return to fighting between the government and the narceauxs would begin anew.
Part of what is happening is that Russia has removed some top commanders from the front line, and has shuffled the leadership, at least in Donetsk. Also, I saw a recent foto of a top Donetsk formation commander, Arsen Pavlov, commander of the "Spartak" Battalion in a desert setting holding a Syrian national flag. I suspect at least some of his staff and cadre were ordered to Syria. Pavlov is a prior service Russian marine.
It is hard to imagine the Russians didn't also order others as well to go to Syria. Having stripped their forces of experienced fighters and commanders, and having a devil of a time recruiting, plus an ammunition shortage, may all have been factors in the current truce.
It has been a year since I started following the civil war in southeastern Ukraine, and I have written more than 150 stories, attempting to detail where the fighting was, and the nature of that fighting without getting bogged down in the wherefores and the politics. I let paid media embarrass themselves taking dictation for whichever side, with little old me preferring to report on just the facts on the ground from both sides. I was critical of both sides, and I refused to believe the copious amounts of bullsh*t emanating from both sides.
Not many people read my stories over the past year, and at first I thought that maybe readers were practicing Irish democracy, but then I realize that most of us here in the US do not care about what the Russians and Ukrainians do to one another.
Russia is a subject of lifelong study with me since my college days. I have studied Russian literature, Russian culture and Russian history, all without the benefit of classrooms or teachers.
I briefly have corresponded with Soviet Army formation commanders before and after the fall of the Soviet Union. My first novel was about WWII in Russia. I even learned a little bit about Russian language so the dialogue would sound realistic. I did all of these things, not as a professional, but as a working stiff in machine shops and the like. I love Russia, but I don't like their friends, and I didn't like what they were doing in Ukraine.
A recent anecdote, which may be apropos:
I recently joined a Facebook group, the International Federation of Independent journalist, formed by two Russian militiamen in Donetsk. I have specific reasons for joining not related to the group itself, but who was in the group, reasons which I won't go into here.
Understand the IFIJ, in my estimation, is a Russian sponsored front group.
Anyway, one of the founders, Pavel Rasta, is a good Russian writer and poet, as well as a fighter for the Donetsk militia, and has been posting some of his writing on the wall. One of them was an opinion piece on why he was there fighting against fascism. One fella from Saint Petersburg suggested that he post it in amren.com. In fact, he said, you should invite Amren.com's founder Jared Taylor into the IFIJ.
The relevant thread was deleted, so don't bother looking.
I don't have to tell this crowd who Taylor and Amren is, so I chimed in saying what a terrible idea that was. It isn't like Taylor needs this group, I said and this group doesn't need his racial theories on their wall. I said it would be easier to explain to American audiences why you didn't invite him than to explain why you did.
My last statement was (paraphrasing from memory): "I don't have a dog in this fight. I am a writer just writing about the war."
Taylor never got the invite and the IFIJ group has been dormant since that time, as has been the fighting in Ukraine. I have attempted to bring in my own sense of what is right and what is wrong in my reportage, and have tried to influence those there on the ground in Donetsk with my views. I have been an honest broker of information, and I think in that, I have succeeded in shedding more light on the subject than my paid competition.
I will continue to follow events in Ukraine as they unfold. At the moment, the Right Sector political movement is raising holy hell with the current Ukrainian government, and that is a subject worth noting for now.
There is so much I want to say about my activities with regard to the war, but for now, the war reporting is over in Donetsk.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraine by clicking here.
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