So Pooty-Poot is annexing more of Ukraine...

or at least claiming to do so (notice the link, with actual information accompanying this post).

AP News

quote:

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia on Friday will formally annex occupied parts of Ukraine where it held Kremlin-orchestrated “referendums” in which it claimed that residents had voted overwhelmingly to live under Moscow’s rule. The Ukrainian government and the West have denounced the ballots as illegal, forced and rigged.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend a ceremony Friday in the Kremlin when four regions of Ukraine — Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — will be officially folded into Russia, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

Peskov said the pro-Moscow administrators of those regions will sign treaties to join Russia during the ceremony at the Kremlin’s St. George’s Hall. The official annexation was widely expected following the votes that wrapped up on Tuesday in the areas under Russian occupation in Ukraine.

The Kremlin’s announcement was met with swift rejection from European officials.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable,” said Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, whose country currently holds the European Union presidency. “We reject such one-sided annexation based on a fully falsified process with no legitimacy.”

Lipavsky described the pro-Russia referendums as “theater play” and insisted the regions remain “Ukrainian territory.”

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So European powers (if we can call them that) reject it.

Now what? Is anyone going to go beat back the Red Army in Eastern Ukraine?

And if things are going so badly for Putin, how is he orchestrating annexation proceedings in Moscow?

Why are western journalists and politicos raising the specter of nuclear weapons?

And then there is this:

quote:

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On the subject of sabotage that has hit Russian gas pipelines to Europe this week, Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, claimed Thursday that the Nord Stream pipeline accidents would have been impossible without a government’s involvement.

“It looks like a terror attack, probably conducted on a state level,” Peskov told reporters. “It’s a very dangerous situation that requires a quick investigation.”

He dismissed media reports about Russian warships spotted in the area as “stupid and biased,” claiming that many more NATO aircraft and ships “have been spotted in the area.”

European officials have noted that Russia benefits from higher gas prices when supplies to Europe are disrupted.

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How do the Russians benefit from higher prices when they can't deliver their product to market? I guess you could discuss their sales to India and elsewhere, but cutting off a major chunk of your market to drive up the price in another doesn't appear to be a good strategy for maximizing revenues.