Putin Storms Ukraine

Screen Shot 2014-08-28 at 10.30.26 PMYesterday, Ukrainian President Petro O. Poroshenko declared that Russia had invaded his nation. Col. Andriy Lysenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian military, confirmed that two armored columns of Russian forces, replete with tanks and armored fighting vehicles, captured the town of Novoazovsk on the Sea of Azov near the Russian border. Ukrainian troops were forced to retreat in the face of superior fighting power that included Grad missiles launched from Russian territory. “Our border servicemen and guardsmen retreated as they did not have heavy equipment,” Lysenko said in a statement.

NATO released a series of satellite images further confirming that at least 1,000 soldiers and Russian artillery units were operating in Ukraine. Captured in late August, the images show the artillery units moving through the Ukrainian countryside and establishing firing positions near Krasnodon, Ukraine. “Over the past two weeks we have noted a significant escalation in both the level and sophistication of Russia’s military interference in Ukraine,” said Dutch Brigadier General Nico Tak, director of the Comprehensive Crisis and Operations Management Centre (CCOMC), Allied Command Operations. “The satellite images released today provide additional evidence that Russian combat soldiers, equipped with sophisticated heavy weaponry, are operating inside Ukraine’s sovereign territory.”

Tak further noted the overall scope of the invasion was much wider than the current effort. “We have also detected large quantities of advanced weapons, including air defense systems, artillery, tanks, and armored personnel carriers being transferred to separatist forces in Eastern Ukraine,” he explained. “The presence of these weapons along with substantial numbers of Russian combat troops inside Ukraine make the situation increasingly grave.”

The motive for doing so was also illuminated. “Russia is reinforcing and resupplying separatist forces in a blatant attempt to change the momentum of the fighting, which is currently favoring the Ukrainian military,” Tak added. “Russia’s ultimate aim is to alleviate pressure on separatist fighters in order to prolong this conflict indefinitely, which would result in further tragedy for the people of Eastern Ukraine.”

President Poroshenko cancelled a scheduled trip to Turkey and convened an emergency meeting of the Ukrainian security and defense council to determine what steps his government would take to address the crisis. “I made the decision to cancel a working visit to the Republic of Turkey in connection with the rapidly deteriorating situation in Donetsk region, in particular in Amvrosiyivka and Starobesheve, as Russian troops have actually been brought into Ukraine,” he said in a statement on the presidential website. Poroshenko also requested the meeting of the U.N. Security Council that took place yesterday afternoon.

Lysenko stated that Russian troops began entering Ukraine shortly after midnight, adding that “Russian servicemen” are in control of several other localities around Novoazovsk. There are also reports of a Russian BM-27 Uragan missile system in the area.

The satellite images paint a grim picture. In addition to the strategic setups in and around Krasnodon, the images show a steady buildup of Russian forces on the Russian side of the border near Rostov-on-Don, approximately 31 miles from the Dovzhansky, Ukraine border crossing. Between June and late August, a conglomeration of battle tanks, armored personnel carriers, cargo trucks and tented accommodations were established, with NATO insisting it represents “one example of the multiple encampments that Russia has positioned near its border with Eastern Ukraine.” Another image shows what appear to be a half dozen Russian 153mm 2S19 self-propelled guns located in Russia near Kuybyshevo, which sits only four miles south of the Ukrainian border, near the village of Chervonyi Zhovten. According to NATO the guns are pointed north, “directly towards Ukrainian territory.”

Ukrainian forces are fortifying their positions 28 miles west of Novoazovsk, around the port city of Mariupol, anticipating that Russian forces will attempt to secure a road link to Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed last March. If successful, Russia and/or the separatists would gain a direct land corridor to the peninsula, as well as control of the entire Sea of Azov, thought to contain extensive gas and mineral deposits. National Guard spokesman Ruslan Muzychuk told the AP in Mariupo that Ukrainian troops currently control the area, even as he too insisted his government had proof the Russians were moving large amounts of weaponry into Novoazovsk, presumably headed for Mariupo and a seemingly critical confrontation.

Aleksandr Zakharchenko, a rebel commander and the prime minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, also confirmed the presence of 4,000 Russian troops in Ukraine, but insisted that many of them were active-duty soldiers on leave who have “volunteered” to fight for freedom. “There are active soldiers fighting among us who preferred to spend their vacation not on the beach, but with us, among their brothers, who are fighting for their freedom,” he said in an interview on Russian state-run television.

Unsurprisingly, Russia has once again denied the incursion is happening. A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry told Russia media sources that “this information has no relation to reality,” and that units on the Ukrainian side of the border were simply engaged in “tactical training exercises on their own and outlying ranges” and that such efforts “were the normal work of any army.” Andrey Kelin, Russian representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) also toed the company line, contending that “no Russian involvement has been spotted, there are no soldiers or equipment present.” “Accusations relating to convoys of armored personnel carriers have been heard during the past week and the week before that,” he added. “All of them were proven false back then, and are being proven false again now.”

Not quite. On Tuesday, Ukraine announced the Monday capture of ten Russian paratroopers who had “accidentally” crossed the border, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. “These servicemen really did take part in a patrol of a section of the Russian-Ukrainian border, crossing it likely by mistake at an unequipped and unmarked point,” a Ministry source told Russian media.

Ella Polyakova, a member of President Vladimir Putin’s advisory council on human rights, contradicted those assessments, insisting that a Russian invasion is taking place. “When masses of people, under commanders’ orders, on tanks, APCs and with the use of heavy weapons, (are) on the territory of another country, cross the border, I consider this an invasion,” she said.

European leaders were on board with Polyakova’s characterization. German Chancellor Angela Merkel phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin demanding an explanation. French President Francois Hollande characterized Russia’s actions as “intolerable” and warned of further sanctions if they continue. “Russia cannot simultaneously aspire to be a world power in the 21st century and not play by the rules,” he said in a speech to French ambassadors. He was echoed by British Prime Minister David Cameron who also spoke of unspecified “consequences” if Russian continued its “large scale incursions.” Cameron insisted that Putin’s stated desire to end the conflict peacefully “is not credible when Russia is supporting pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine with arms and troops,” even as he warned the effort “must cease immediately.”

The Obama administration also accused Russia of orchestrating the fighting, with State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki contending the latest incursions “indicate a Russian-directed counteroffensive is likely underway in Donetsk and Luhansk.” Donetsk is the largest city held by rebel forces and 11 people were reported killed by shelling Wednesday night.

At yesterday’s U.N. Security Council meeting, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Susan Power continued leveling accusations at the Russians. “Russian soldiers, tanks and air defense have supported and fight alongside separatists as they open a new front in a crisis manufactured and fueled by Russia,” she declared, further noting that Russia had been called to account on other occasions. “At every step, Russia has become before this council to say everything but the truth. It has manipulated, obfuscated and outright lied,” she added.

Power also urged the Security Council to take immediate action. “How can we tell those countries that border Russia that their peace and sovereignty is guaranteed if we do not make our message heard on Ukraine?” she asked. “The cost of inaction is unacceptable.”

NATO is apparently preparing for action. Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced that the organization will for the first time deploy forces at new bases in Eastern Europe, to counter Putin’s aggression and protect Baltic States that were former Soviet satellites. The plan is to be unveiled at a meeting in Wales next week when NATO seeks to overcome divisions within the alliance, with the ultimate aim of securing an agreement to station troops along the Russian border. “We will adopt what we call a readiness action plan with the aim to be able to act swiftly in this completely new security environment in Europe,” said Rasmussen. “We have something already called the NATO response force, whose purpose is to be able to be deployed rapidly if needed. Now it’s our intention to develop what I would call a spearhead within that response force at very, very high readiness.”

He also illuminated sobering reality. “We have to face the reality that Russia does not consider NATO a partner,” he explained. “Russia is a nation that unfortunately for the first time since the second world war has grabbed land by force. Obviously we have to adapt to that.” So does Putin, who is sure to be infuriated by the move.

Late yesterday afternoon the New York Times reported that President Poroshenko ordered mandatory conscription into the Ukrainian army, which was suspended last year, be reinstated. “The situation is certainly extremely difficult and nobody is going to simplify it,” Mr. Poroshenko said. “Still, it is controlled enough for us to refrain from panic.”

Perhaps it is—for now. Yet one is left to wonder how long such “control” can be maintained. Vladimir Putin’s expansionist urges have been extremely popular among the Russian people who share his vision of a resuscitated “empire.” How far he and they are willing to go to maintain that worldview may determine the fate, not just of Russia and Ukraine, but the entire continent of Europe. It wouldn’t be the first time national pride ignited a widespread conflagration.

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  • RMThoughts

    Ukraine’s troubles began when the US State Department toppled the elected president in February and replaced him with a compliant stooge who agreed to follow Washington’s directives. The new “junta” government quickly launched a full-blown war against Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the east which split the civilian population and drove the country to ruin. The plan “pacify” the East was concocted in Washington, not Kiev and certainly not Moscow.

    Moscow has repeatedly called for an end to the violence and a resumption of negotiations, but each request has been rebuffed by Obama’s puppet in Kiev leading to another round of hostilities. Washington doesn’t want peace. Washington wants the same solution it imposed on Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria, that is, a chaotic failed state where ethnic and sectarian animosities are kept at a boiling point so forward-operating bases can be established without resistance, so resources can be extracted at will, and so a formally-independent nation can be reduced to a “permanent state of colonial dependency.” (Chomsky) That’s the basic gameplan wherever Washington
    goes. The same rule applies

    • JB Ziggy Zoggy

      Quoting Noam Chomsky favorably is a symptom of mental illness. America was never a colonial power, and I’m pretty sure we aren’t going to build military bases in the Ukriane. Are you wearing a tinfoil hat left over from the Soviet era? Obama doesn’t even have a goal for dealing with the ISIS terrorist state, and he’s going to annex the Ukraine? You do know the difference between Obama and Putin, right?

      • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

        ……And, defaming is no form of debate.
        The man above is correct, and you are not.

        Go take a good look at the NATO expansion map and then tell everyone here just who is trying to take over E. Europe.

        • RMThoughts

          They only thing stopping them is that the UK is about to collapse if the Scots secede to live with their own resources instead of being curtailed by England. France is also collapsing politically and economically. Spain is
          about to loose Catalonia, and if that happens the Basque country and perhaps northwestern Galicia will follow suit. The Venetians want to secede as well as
          the north of Italy which is the industrial part with good relations with Russia. EU is an untenable project.

          On the military aspects, NATO cannot confront Russia, as admitted by a former general of NATO in an interview to The Guardian, only yesterday.

          In short, the EU(ians) are no longer in a position for further threats and even frau Merkel has brushed aside yesterday American pretension for hegemony.

          I would bet that Novorossya will include Odessa, Dnipro and Kharkiv. What will remain of Ukrainecut from access to the sea, will survive due to the Chinese buying their
          prairies for extensive agriculture, and selling whatever Russia, its only real friend, will concede to purchase.

          • JB Ziggy Zoggy

            That sounds like a wondetful outcome that eill improve the lives of everybody involved.

        • JB Ziggy Zoggy

          NATO hasn’t taken over any countries and the Ukraine isn’t a member. Putin and Russia aren’t capable of administering an Empire. When the Soviet Union had an empire, Russians lived like crap while satellite countries lived off welfare and crime (such as the Central Asian ‘Stans.)

          I know you have Russian family members but Russia will just screw up the Ukraine. That’s all Russia has done since the time of the Czars. Feudalism, communism and gangsterism. The Ukraine is a much nicer place than Russia. It wont be if Putin has his way.

          • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

            Refute:

            YOU fail to look at John McCain who was in Kiev, fomenting riots, in Dec
            2013 Victoria Nuland who was grilled by Rep Rohrbacher for supporting
            NAZIS in Ukraine, Pierre Omidyar, (Ebay founder) who donated 500K to the
            UKR revolt in 2013, Joe Bidens son who secured a position with the
            largest UKR gas co, ditto a friend of John Kerry’s.

          • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

            Me? Have Russian family members?
            I am American Indian and Portuguese Sephardic. I have NO Russian affiliation .
            It is US/EU that has screwed up the Ukraine and thats a fact.

    • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

      You are absolutely correct, RM… but, be careful, the snakes here cannot say anything but defamatory remarks.

  • C. Gee

    What happened to the 300- plus truck drivers bringing in aid? Have they returned to Russia?

    • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

      That was last week….Keep up with the times.. Last week, Putin was making a goodwill gesture of delivering food/supplies, this wk he is bombing everyone and eating little Ukrainian children for breakfast… (Sarcasm)

      Almost sounds like we are debating the Israel/Netanyahu haters.

  • WJM

    Putin put John the Bapist on the the 1000 Ruble note which proves to Obama and Western leaders he must be a horrid dictator. On top of that he allows prayer and Christian instruction in the public schools. Worse, he does not allow homosexuals to promote their culture to those under 18 years of age. No wonder the West hates him … He stands against Western values obviously. The USA and Europe bombed Libya, invaded Iraq and gave weapons to jihadists in Syria to kill Christians with no regard to international law or borders and that sure makes Putin a really bad guy. ARn’t you glad the USA has a non-church going president who bows to the Saudi king instead of the Christian president of Russia?

    • JB Ziggy Zoggy

      Why did Putin invade Ukraine? To sell Bibles? Pointing fingers at Obama is a fallacious tu quoque argument.

      • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

        He didnt ‘invade’ Ukraine.

        • JB Ziggy Zoggy

          Is he just visiting? A permanent visit like in the Crimean peninsula?

          • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

            Crimeans joined Russia. Crimea has always been Russia.

            142 spectators from 142 different countries monitored the vote.

        • Kruton

          Your also as pathological liar.

          • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

            I dont lie, it is against my faith.
            Refute what I told you.
            Point out my lies.
            You can’t b/c I dont lie.

            BTW: You are very weak in debate.

      • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

        Actually, Obama is a peon in this, it is JOHN MCCAIN, Soros, Omidyar, Nuland et al who started this mess and now blame Putin.

    • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

      Amen, brother.
      We all want to point fingers at Putin but fail to look at John McCain who was in Kiev, fomenting riots, in Dec 2013 Victoria Nuland who was grilled by Rep Rohrbacher for supporting NAZIS in Ukraine, Pierre Omidyar, (Ebay founder) who donated 500K to the UKR revolt in 2013, Joe Bidens son who secured a position with the largest UKR gas co, ditto a friend of John Kerry’s.

      The “NGO” is the one that is pushing all of this bs propaganda, blame Putin love fest..

      • Kruton

        #Bolshevik nutjob

        • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

          Nice try, but I am a FAR RIGHT winger.

        • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

          Refute, or shut up:

          YOU fail to look at John McCain who was in Kiev, fomenting riots, in Dec
          2013 Victoria Nuland who was grilled by Rep Rohrbacher for supporting
          NAZIS in Ukraine, Pierre Omidyar, (Ebay founder) who donated 500K to the
          UKR revolt in 2013, Joe Bidens son who secured a position with the
          largest UKR gas co, ditto a friend of John Kerry’s.

          • Kruton

            Your on the side of Bolshevik child killers who shoot down planes and torture women! Have a nice life!!

          • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

            Nope, I am not on a ‘side’, US/EU are the aggressors here. I cant help it if you dont read and are not informed.

            You still have not refuted anything meaning that you are just a name calling little pissant.

            You dont ask WHY John McCain was in Kiev, fomenting riots.
            You dont ask why Victoria Nuland was supporting NAZIS in Ukraine (even though a representative in CA, Rohrbacher did)
            You don’t ask why Pierre Omidyar donated 500K to the violent over throw of an elected leader, Yanukovych.
            You don’t ask who Joe Bidens son now has a position in upper management with the largest Ukrainian gas co.

            All of these things I have told you is evidence that it is the US and EU that has instigated this whole mess.

            People like you who dont know the facts are the reason our country is in the sh*tter.

          • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

            Where is the PROOF that Russia shot down the plane?
            There is no proof, the MSM and the EU/US govts have refused to show proof.

            In my country, America, we are innocent until proven guilty, little men like you are for mob rule.

          • Kruton

            Capo Jew!

          • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

            BTW: Dummy, Bolsheviks are in charge HERE in America, not Russia.

          • Kruton

            Capo,that’s what you are. Where’s your club b#tch!

    • Kruton

      You think Putler is a Christian that’s so funny!

      • Solo712

        Well, he has a street named after him in Bethlehem.

        http://en.ria.ru/world/20120626/174257987.html

        • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

          Yep, where is BOLSHEVIK Obamas name in Bethlehem!
          These phonies just hate Russia, thats all. Nothing more. Stuck in 1985.

      • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

        There is NO evidence to suggest that YOU are Christian.
        You attack those who do not want to attack a country for nothing.
        Show me WHERE that is in the scriptures.

  • Gee

    If Ukraine is not willing to fight for themselves they whine and expect the rest of the world to do so? Who do they think they are “Palestinians”?

    • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

      Bingo

  • JB Ziggy Zoggy

    So after Putin heroically rescues ethnic Russians from being “slaughtered” by Kiev, he’s going to withdraw his troops from the Ukraine?

    • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

      Are we going to remove our men from the Black Sea?

      • JB Ziggy Zoggy

        America isn’t going to annex the Black Sea.

  • Red Baker

    I’ve never heard a word about ethnic Russians being slaughtered by the Kiev government. What’s really happening is that Putin did not want Ukraine to snub Moscow by creating strong economic ties to the EU and the West.

    Putin is the new Hitler, expanding because he wants to, invading where he wants to, subverting and lying about it. It is plain as day.

    • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

      ‘Putin is the new Hitler,’ Said Hitlery Clinton herself in March 2014.

      There are no gas chambers in Kiev or Russia, no Jews are wearing stars and no one is in concentrations camps.

      • JB Ziggy Zoggy

        Neither are any Russians.

      • Kruton

        That must make you sad Capo girl?!

  • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

    ‘So far I see Putin & co. lying every step of the way’

    Then, maybe he is learning from Obama and Co, the BIGGEST liars in the planet

    • JB Ziggy Zoggy

      Learning to lie isn’t the same as invading a neighboring country.

  • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

    Putin is not lying about anything.
    Some of these writers just have not researched the roots of this mess one iota.

    • JB Ziggy Zoggy

      Why does Putin need the Ukraine? Ukrainians are not conducting pogroms against Russians.

      • Solo712

        O brother, who is feeding you facts, I wonder ? Ukraine until fairly recently was called ‘Little Russia’. The Russian state began in Kiev 1100 years ago. Russian and Ukrainian languages are very close and some places you can’t tell the differences between them. Many Ukrainians are bilingual. There are more than 8 million ethnic Russians living in Ukraine who insist on being able to have their kids educated in Russian. The new government wants to impose a chauvinistic version of Ukrainian identity which originates in the West of the country which is very, very Russophobic and wants to deprive the Russians in Ukraine of basic civil liberties which include language rights, Russian TV stations and remove anyone who does not buy this new regime from public offices (google `lustration laws`). There is this fanatical member of the Parliament (Iryna Farion- google her) who goes to kindergartens and scolds 5-year olds for having Russian names. And then of course you have the paramilitaries who go around beat up people and shoot some as examples. You have Ukrainian military that bombs civilians in the East of the country which is mostly Russian and want a federated country where the Kiev government cannot dictate to them what they may or may not do as Russians. They are being called ‘separatists’ and ‘terrorists’ although you have not been told by the media – who laps it all up – of a single act of terrorism against other Ukrainians that the pro-Russian militias committed. But you were told about the separatists in Odessa in June being burned alive. The official Kiev news outlets told us they accidentally set themselves on fire by throwing Molotov cocktails on peaceful Ukrainian patriots below. The way the Russians tell the story is that the anti-government protesters were driven into the building by a mob which then set fire to it and prevented the people inside to leave the place until four dozen of them were dead. Those are basically your narratives on Ukraine. You choose what you want to believe.

        • JB Ziggy Zoggy

          None of that has anything to do with why Putin wants the Ukraine. Protecting ethnic Russians is just his excuse for annexation.

          • Solo712

            I know it is hard for an American to imagine what twelve hundred years of history means.

      • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

        NO, why does AMERICA want Ukraine?
        Why has Joe Bidens son secured a position with the largest Gas co?
        Why does John McCain go to Ukraine, and the baltic states?
        Isnt the OLD gasbag supposed to be a Senator for ARIZONA?
        MY Senator should be here doing his job, not fomenting killing fields in Ukraine.

      • http://www.themadjewess.net/ The Mad Jewess

        Why did Rep Rohrbacher call out Victoria Nuland for supporting Nazis in Ukraine???

  • rbla

    I realize that the fall of the Soviet Union was the worst thing that ever happened to some of you; you just can’t get along without those ‘darned Russkies’ as the enemy. Congratulations with our combination of bullying and weakness that has finally happened. Within a few years Hitler had reoccupied the Rhineland, annexed Austria and was preparing his attack on Czechoslovakia and Poland. Putin has been in power for 14 years and all he has accomplished is to establish autonomy for a small slice of Georgia, put down a rebellion and installed a puppet president in Chechnya (an integral part of Russia) and that not very successfully, and reoccupied his naval facilities in Crimea. If he is a Hitler then he is a mighty slow one. I suppose that Yeltsin and Milosevic were also Hitlers when Clinton embarked on expanding NATO and attacking Serbia? Putin is certainly not a nice guy and has done many bad things but he is not a Hitler or
    a Stalin for that matter. He is a Russian nationalist with genuine feelings of patriotism and love of country; would that the U.S. and the rest of the West had such leaders. And is the Kenyan in the White House, a man who won’t even keep children from invading our borders going to stand up to him? The one and
    only good thing about Obama is that his combination of weakness and indecisiveness as well as animus toward his own country, might keep us out of a dangerous and unnecessary armed conflict with a nuclear armed Russia. As for Muslims and their grievances – fear not Obama and the leaders of the West are bringing many more of them our way.

  • JB Ziggy Zoggy

    No, they just blow passenger planes out of the sky.

  • WhiteHunter

    Don’t those evil, Russophobic Ukrainians understand that “diversity is strength,” as Obama keeps telling us?

    And that far from fearing or resenting the armed ethnic Russians who are tearing their country apart and acting as Putin’s Fifth Column within their own borders, they should instead embrace their “gorgeous mosaic” of ethnic diversity and invite Eric Holder to show them how to set up an aggressive Civil Rights Division in Kiev to make sure the Russian-Ukrainians get proper affirmative action preferences in housing, jobs, education, and every other way, and that any discrimination or display of Russophobia is severely punished?

    What’s wrong with those Ukrainians, anyway? Still have a chip on their shoulder for the millions of them that Stalin intentionally starved to death? How Twentieth-Century of them for not putting that unfortunate historical anecdote behind them and moving on! [SARC OFF]

  • John P.

    You could replace Putin’s name with oDumbo’s and it would be true.

  • Red Baker

    Putin is showing us the New Russia. We must show him his New Afghanistan, the only thing he or Russians will comprehend. The difference between the Soviet Union and the New Russia is that NR is more expansionist. Putin is a barbarian would-be conqueror. A few types of modern weapons can turn his tanks and helicopters into rubble.

  • Kruton

    #moron

  • Kruton

    Their savages ,penning them in good strategy .

  • Solo712

    Funny thing is that Putin politics are everything a reasonable Republican would support: family, church, tight rein on big business running politics, disdain for identity politics of the Left, patriotism. Plus, he is much smarter an world-savvy than Palin.