Crossfire War =Rapid Fire News-Black Sea Theatre: This is Not the Battle of Stalingrad-"...Over in Five Days..."

Moscow: "It takes so much time for major actions outside big cities. Judging by what is happening now, the East, the Center, the South can be liberated. A corridor for Transnistria will most likely be built." B92 reports that was the expert analysis from Dimitriy Abazlov who, along with other analysts quoted in the article, is obviously by no means surprised at the rapid advances being made by Russian ground forces.

By this time next week all of Ukraine could be under an administration more economically responsible over the entire country instead of a government based on personal privileges. A former President even had a palace built for him. The news used to show brawls in Kiev's Parliament on a regular basis, a nightly source of entertainment. But it was news that constantly threatened to disrupt the flow of raw materials from Ukraine to industrial concerns in the West and it is the exports of raw materials that has long financed Moscow and regions east and continues to do so.

Russia-Central Asia-Caucasus-Ukraine are crossroads of energy pipelines. Even though Ukraine became independent in 1991 Moscow-Soviet Union only withdrew politically not militarily or economically. Moscow leads the regional alliance Commonwealth of Independent States and the main obstacle to economic regional stability has been the massive corruption on the part of Ukraine's leadership. Behind the scenes, off camera, Western governments are encouraging Moscow to restore and maintain economic order. Allied industrial concerns.