Tuesday, May 20, 2014

There Is Now A 'Militia Arms Race' In Ukraine



Militia 'Arms Race' Threatens Deadly Escalation in Ukraine Conflict -- Mashable

VELYKA NOVOSILKA/POKROVSKE, Ukraine –- The black-clad masked man with a Kalashnikov resting in his arms speaks confidently of the mission about to get underway. “We will act fast, like lightning, and we will be efficient,” he says. But should things turn hairy, “We’re ready for a war.”

To prove his point, another gestures to a rusty metal pipe with a hastily welded handle resting at his feet. “That’s a Ukrainian bazooka. Light a match, and boom!” he explains.

In the dusty courtyard of a rickety agricultural factory in this bucolic eastern Ukrainian town of less than 40,000 people, some 30 members of the Donbass Battalion, a pro-Kiev militia unit created to fight Kremlin-backed separatists who have besieged the country’s eastern regions, is readying to storm police headquarters and city hall in Velyka Novosilka.

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My Comment: This has actually been ongoing since the beginning of March .... the rise of militias to counter the rise of militias on the other side. What I am worried about is that the situation is trending towards even more armed gangs and militias .... a crisis that the central government in Kiev is determined to escalate as it continues to lose control of this part of the country.

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