© Baz Ratner/ReutersMen are seen near a military truck on the runway of Belbek Airport in the Crimea region.
If you want to invade a country, it's important to call it a liberation. Over the coming weeks and months, that's what we're going to see in Ukraine. In fact it has started already. Just look at the Crimea.
Troops in unmarked uniforms have started guarding the region's main airport. They're being assisted by some local people. After all, they're just there to help.
Ukraine's President Yanukovych, who was ousted only a week ago, is defining himself as a leader deposed in a coup, and the regional government of Crimea, home of a majority ethnic Russian population, is rejecting the new government in Kiev as illegitimate.
At the same time, Russian troops are flying in to help resist what Moscow is calling the 'Nazis' who have taken over the government of Ukraine.
This is tragic for Ukraine, for the near-abroad and for Nato not because it is taking us by surprise but because we have expected it for so long and seen it before and yet remain incapable of acting. This is the salami-tactics that Yes, Prime Minister joked about decades ago. Slice by slice, Russia is invading Ukraine and weakening the alliance that has kept the peace in Europe for almost 70 years.
Comment: So all Ms. Ashton could muster up was a "Well, yeah...that's, that's terrible," comment and do diddly squat about it. Instead she and the European Commission have chastised Putin and Russia, while giving high fives to the new regime of thugs along with 15 billion euros of taxpayers money.
It is well pointing out that the EU had no money to give 3 months ago, when they wanted the elected president Yanukovych to sign on the dotted line for an agreement with the EU. They were playing hard ball, knowing that the lack of an agreement would arouse the tensions between the pro-EU and the pro-Russian people of Ukraine. It served the purpose, being helped along with some well-nurtured neo-fascist groups and some snipers.
The EU and the US got their prize: A bunch of servile neo-nazi idiots with Nuland's chosen man Yatsenyuk as leader. Now comes the time for austerity measures in Ukraine along with the opening Ukraine up even more for vulture capitalism.
The new regime in Kiev and it's foreign backers have a lot to answer for.
See also: BREAKING! Kiev snipers hired by new coalition, not Yanukovych - Estonian FM to EU chief Ashton
Ukrainian MP calls for investigation into why same snipers were shooting both protesters and Ukrainian police