Here are the headlines today about Ukraine:
- LAT: Russia orders troops into eastern Ukraine as fear of war grows
- NYT: Putin’s Order Sending Forces to Separatist Enclaves Is Condemned at U.N.
- WaPo: Putin orders troops to eastern Ukraine
- WSJ: Putin Orders Deployment of Troops to Breakaway Regions in Ukraine
- Guardian: Russia strongly condemned at UN after Putin orders troops into eastern Ukraine
- BBC: Ukraine crisis: Russia orders troops into eastern Ukraine
- CNN: Putin orders troops into eastern Ukraine
- FT: Putin orders troops into eastern Ukraine
Why has everyone converged on the "orders troops into" phrasing? When you order troops across a border, that's usually called an invasion, isn't it? The fact that Ukraine is unable to put up a fight surely doesn't change that.
It's possible that President Biden and other NATO leaders don't want to call it an invasion because they don't want to trigger a full set of sanctions yet. Fine. But why should journalists go along with this?
Presumably for the same reason that they don't like saying "Trump (or, over here in the UK, Johnson) lies again" ?
I imagine it's because it feels as though if you deploy the nuke straight away, it's hard to up the stakes later. The problem, of course, is that the stakes may already be that high which makes it look like being mealy-mouthed rather than cautious.
It is well known that 60% of the separatist forces are Russian anyway, so this order is just throwing away a figleaf. The softer language may be justified as there is still diminishing space for diplomacy.
Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014.
Worked good last time, recapturing their old Black Sea naval bases.
Why "orders troops into"? Because of the way they are invading into areas already held by the puppet separatists. The odd wording is an attempt to not give apologists a chance to derail discussion by claiming it isn't an invasion, how dare we say that, and so on.
I think that's the main reason why articles never say someone "lied", but instead use a term that is not as easy to pretend offense at.
Seems to me that Putin has inadvertently created the room for the UN to send in peacekeepers, don't you think?
50K peacekeepers from NATO members, in Ukraine, with much more advanced weaponry and guidance, shutting down mortar fire. Seems like an effective peace force, no?
Folks, we're at the point of hail Mary tactics to stop a war from breaking out and expanding. Putin has gone mad.
Yes. "They need peacekeepers...We'll help. See--we're all peacekeepers here"
Technically, the troops have been "invited" by the "leaders" of the breakaway regions. Once he recognized the regions, he elevated the "leaders" to International status; they became people who could "speak for" their "citizens". And those "citizens" apparently desire Russian troops to "protect" them from the "Nazi's" living in the Rest of Ukraine.
Allied leaders understand this nuance and certainly expected it. The rubber hits the road when he moves beyond the Line of Control into the parts of Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast still controlled by Ukraine. If the Allies don't trigger the sanctions at that event they have been bluffing.
Excellent point Anandakos.
Yes, good points. A potential for conflict is that those "leaders" claim to control more territory than they do; Ukraine controls the rest. The real war comes when the Russian army "assists" those "leaders" in controlling all the territory they claim, which means active war against Ukraine.
Yep. I expect that's the gambit. The first thing we should do if Russia moves past The Line of Contact [my mistake above] is close the transit routes to Kaliningrad, start calling it "Königsberg" and put a tight cordon of mines around its shoreline at the 3 mile limit. Starve the Russian occupiers of a proud German city, in honor of the folks in neighboring Leningrad.
What's sauce for the Goose is sauce for the Gander.
Kevin, not sure if this is something you can tweak, but could you figure out some better settings for social media sharing on your posts? Every time I try to share something of yours it includes your cover photo or something random like that.
"... When you order troops across a border, that's usually called an invasion, isn't it? .."
It depends on what you mean by "a border". The legal border or the border in practice. If Turkey sends troops into the part of Cyprus that they already control would you say Turkey invades Cyprus?
Maybe I'm totally wrong but I think the reason they're phrasing it that way is a lot simpler.
They want to convey the fact that Putin is driving the action here, so they want to present it as a direct action by him. But Putin himself isn't invading anything; he's sitting in his office in Moscow and, well, "ordering" the Russian army to do stuff. "Putin invades Ukraine" suggests he's riding a horse at the point of the invading force, or something. And "Russian Army Invades Ukraine" or whatever takes the focus off ol' Vlad.
Seems to me that's the simplest reason.
I understand Americans aren’t all exactly the sharpest tools in the shed, but I find it hard to believe the ones whose brains haven’t atrophied under the guiding light of Fox News would think “Putin invades Ukraine” equals “Putin personally rode into Ukraine on a horse” (or in a tank or whatever).
Because they are going into parts of Ukraine that are pro-Russian separatist regions. It's more like going over to a friendly neighbor's house than an invasion at this point. The term "invasion" usually implies hostility and violence.
So, when does Putin send forces to your house?
Not sure what you are inferring. Whatever it is, you're most likely wrong.
As I got done typing the above, MSNBC is reporting on how the Biden admin is changing its terminology and calling it an invasion.
Should also note: NordSteam2 won't be turned on. Well, at least not for the time being.
Because he's invading areas he already controls. More like openly occupying. The russian rebels claim more land than they control so we'll see if he tries to take more land than that.
Also you know how this stuff was ended by the Allies in central Europe after WW2?
Massive ethinc cleansing.
Heather Cox Richardson has a good take on this (and agrees that what Russia did was in invasion): https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-21-2022
You can't have a invasion for territories you can't defend. They left Ukraine years ago. Now comes the end game. Reading Russian Gru, Russia has pulled more forces back into Russia. It's over.
Oh come on now! Everybody knows Herr Putin just intends to pull-back troops until Kyiv.
Yea, I think it's because for all intents and purposes those areas had already been "invaded" back in 2015. Russian troops already operate there on the down low. So troops officially being "ordered in" really doesn't change the facts on the ground much.
Now if he rolls into Kyiv I think the invasion language will start flying.
I suspect the distinctions in nomenclature are attributable to the fact that Eastern Ukraine has been under de facto Russian control for years, even before 2014, relating back to ethnic cleansing and forced famine by Stalin. That part of the country is much more Russian speaking and ethnically Russian, although no one should presume they all welcome what has occurred.
Stalin didn't force that. It's well known that he was guilty about it. If he didn't comply with Russian interest(needing extra food for huge industrial projects), he was toast. Many times dictator's are driven by fear themselves to keep their lot. With Stalin, he made those decisions to live the life of Riley by 1922.
Democratic Centrallism was Russian slang for controlling the Soviet. Stalin's backers were Russian extremists who thought they were nature's elites compared to those scummie Ukrainians. Rethinking the Soviet period in Russian history won't be easy for political "conservatives" . It's not what they need or want. As Stalin said to "Austrian" Hitler, we are more alike than different.
A senior White House official on Tuesday repeatedly accused Russia of mounting an “invasion” of Ukraine by sending troops into the breakaway Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/22/white-house-beginning-invasion-russia-ukraine-00010589
Nomenclature, like many things, is fluid.
I think the information war going on has been interesting. Putin is flooding the zone with bullshit -- lies, disinformation, conspiracy theories, bad history, and so on. Biden, otoh, is broadcasting truths that Putin does not want anybody to know -- his plans, his communications to the military, etc. It is a proactive strategy. So far, it looks like it checks out, and it has been stymieing Putin's efforts to do what he hoped to do with Ukraine.
(Dems should be doing something like this in domestic politics. It doesn't take the US intel community to see what the GOP is up to, yet the D side is too often reactive and defensive.)
I think it's true that the Biden administrations' exposing of Putin's plans has stalled military action for a time, but Putin seems hell-bent on having his war. But he has been forced into changing his plans several times as his pretexts are exposed.
"When you order troops across a border, that's usually called an invasion, isn't it?"
Granted but if you also believe that there have been Russian troops in these regions for the past eight years (with or without official uniforms or "little green men" or whatever you want to call them) then nothing has changed, has it? The Ukranians have not tried to regain this territory for this very reason. They simply hold the line there and hope the Russians go no further.
This may very well be the "off ramp" Putin has been looking for to finally quell the crisis. Make a big show of force, recognize the "indepenedence" of these two ruralitanias (Some independence, everyone was waving Russian flags) and slowly begin to back down from a bigger invasion lest even deeper economic sanctions hit. If so, then we should let Putin take it to desescalate the conflict.
For anyone commenting, that includes profession pundits, understand one thing. If the logic of your arguments leads direct U.S. military action, then stop right there because it's not going to happen. The best the U.S. can do in this situation is hope Russia goes no further than it already has gone. Any actions the Russians take only drives Ukranians further into the Western orbit. I can't imagine the Chinese are happy the Russians have basically created their own "Taiwans" out Ukrainian territory. And if the Russians do try any "false flag" operations to provoke a Ukrainian attack no one is going to believe them.
Basically its the status quo set off by fireworks. Please people keep your heads.
Kevin, given that not all that long ago you were applauding Biden being “meh” about things Russo-Ukrainian I would think you would be pleased at the non-use of words like invasion …
As others have said, the headlines reflect an acknowledgment that those breakaway regions were already under defacto Russian control, even though it's still technically sovereign Ukrainian territory. It's the Crimea gambit all over again.
Putin has to be made to pay a high price for this -- much higher than he did for Crimea -- because if he thinks he can call NATO's bluff this time, his next move is going to be for Poland and the Baltics, claiming he needs to reunite Kaliningrad with Mother Russia to defend its poor Russian inhabitants from Lithuanian Nazis.
"his next move is going to be for Poland and the Baltics"
LOL! No way. That would be way worse than Russia re-invading Afghanistan. Those are NATO countries, Ukraine isn't. Putin is a kleptocrat. He isn't insane.
Putin isn't all that smart, either he is driving countries like Finland and Sweden into closer coöperation with NATO; to the point of spurring discussions of membership. And outright invasion is not his only option for other bordering countries. He patiently waited for a crisis in Belarus to give him the opportunity to bring it fully under his control. You can bet that the Russian armed forces conducting 'joint exercises' there will never leave. I suspect he will leave a rump Ukraine to justify keeping troops in Belarus and Transnistria.
The Baltics are very small countries; Latvia and Estonia have Russian minorities of ~25%. He may think he could orchestrate enough disorder in one or another to have a pretext to send in 'peacekeepers', or 'volunteers' to protect the Russian minorities. He might convince himself that NATO would not risk all-out war over them.
You don't have to be insane to act on false beliefs ...
Today, Putin made clear that it is an invasion. He plans to expand the area currently controlled by rebels in Luhansk and Donbass, more than doubling the area currently controlled.
He has declared war on Ukraine.
Not really.
If Russia made landfall with heavy weapons and personnel on US shore and unilaterally declared that Texas was no longer a part of the US...
who here thinks this wouldn't be a de facto declaration of war?
Nope, not even close to the same. Poor response. Texas is a very globalist state tied into us/debt based credit. Not so with those "separatist" regions, which are tied into Russia. Now comes the "peace".
Julia Ioffe:
Putin has declared war on Ukraine.
So yeah, less than 48 hours and it's a full scale war with bombs dropping in and around every major Ukrainian city.
Are you going to call it a war, or do you need ground troops? Wait a few more days.
Well, this has been awaiting approval from Moderation for about 8 hours, so I try again....:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
I have wide a wide ranging set of friends, (and a travel blog of sorts), so there already is a noticeable push back in favor of Russian aggression...there can be no question as to who is the Predator and who is the Prey...but what seems simple to me, is seemingly complex for others.
I have not severed any friendships over this, but other people have...against Russian apologists and Ukrainian advocates.
For what it is worth, and full disclosure, I was poisoned in Russian when I went there to interview for teaching western law/....but later treated well in Ukraine when I once accidentally ended up there...so I am prejudiced. Just so you know.
What the heck, latest video, Russian legally invading Eastern Ukraine:
https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1495937112411152386
Earlier morn Northern
https://twitter.com/YWNReporter/status/1495858102964559873
Still further
https://twitter.com/ConflictTR/status/1495863522697388043
https://twitter.com/GirkinGirkin/status/1495643466604462082
Best Wishes, Traveller
>Legally?!??!!
My question is,
aren't these sanctions exactly what the Russians would have anticipated?
Dear Kevin
I have a comment awaiting moderation, posted twice now, about 8 hours apart....would you mind telling me what is going on...
Thanks
Traveller
You have GOT to be kidding. Based on that racist, anti-Semitic troll who posts his screeds here daily I would have thought comments here were not moderated.
I don't think it's moderation, I've had a couple of comments seemingly arbitrarily vanished.
I Think CDC has it right....I had three video links to Russian military movements....and this probably set something off....somewhere. Kind of a random event I hope...
I was afraid I was being banned for being Pro Ukraine and Anti Russian...which I am, but in a...moderately seething way....lol
Best Wishes, Traveller
The idea of being a copy editor has invaded KD’s brain. I mean who truly cares what you call it: invasion, attack, incursion. I was looking at some old headlines and saw newspapers refer to the Panama war as “US crushes Panama”- and remember the attack in Lebanon under Reagan as “Rain of Steel over Lebanon”- of course we can go the opposite way as when US troops
“Arrived” in Haiti. Of course if I was copy editing this situation we can say: Russian troops have metastasized in Ukraine.
Putin Deploys Troops to Donbas Republics as Peacekeepers is the headline that described the situation for the Russian Ukrainians.
Has, the shelling stopped, then?
The shelling has increased.
"On Tuesday, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) released its daily monitoring report, in which it noted that 703 ceasefire violations and 332 explosions in the Donetsk region were recorded as of 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 21. These figures imply an increase in military actions compared to Feb. 20, when 579 ceasefire violations were counted.
Between Sunday and Monday, Ukrainian violations of the ceasefire increased from 333 to 1,224 in Lugansk, a territory that suffered the consequences of 1,149 explosions in 24 hours."
Here’s a full report from OSCE. Almost all ‘Outgoing’ fire from separatist/Russian-controlled areas, most ‘Impact’ reports in [Ukrainian] government-controlled areas.
https://www.osce.org/files/8/8/table_ceasefire--2022-02-21.pdf?itok=63057
I give high marks to Biden so far. He's been one step ahead, the West in unified,
Biden today is calling Putin's latest move "the beginning of an invasion." Whatever. Call it whatever you want.
But guess who said this about Putin's actions on Monday: "This is genius."
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-putin-ukraine/
Yep, he did.
I think the current president is doing just fine. But anyone thinking he's not should think twice about that.
Edit button, please.
Biden and his NSC have done a masterful job. It's apparently been pissing off the Russian military that Biden has been publicly transmitting Russian military plans ahead of time, forcing them to reconsider their actions.
I think Putin got fed up with this, which is why he came up with an hour-long screed that bordered on insanity.
Wonder if mid-level Russian officers were learning about their superiors’ plans by reading the news from the US?