F is for 'First Line'

Continuing our look at the output of Ukraine Collectable Paper Soldiers, we arrive at the 'First Line' officers of the Ukrainian Border Guard (UBG). You may wonder why all the forces looked at so far in these posts have been UBG rather than 'regular' army?

I think the answer is twofold; firstly Ukraine Collectable has specialised in the border guards as a specific range, and secondly; the regular army wasn't a big part of the Ukrainian forces prior to the current emergency.

When the Soviet Union broke-up, it was a worry to governments in the '"West"' that unknown, untried, untested 'regimes' such as Ukraine were ending-up in possession of nuclear weapons, especially easy to use, tracked and wheeled delivery systems (battlefield/tactical devises) like FROG's, SCUD's and their descendents - SS20 &etc.

So an agreement was arrived at, whereby if the country agreed to give-up their nuclear force, they would be guaranteed defence against attack by a superior force. Among the list of signatories to that 'deal' were - us (the UK), The Americans and . . . err . . .  Russia!

The deal never had a clause as to what to do if one of the signatories WAS the superior force and it was a promise - clearly - no one kept!

"The United States of America, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,

Welcoming the accession of Ukraine to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as non-nuclear-weapon State,

Taking into account the commitment of Ukraine to eliminate all nuclear weapons from its territory within a specified period of time,

Noting the changes in the world-wide security situation, including the end of the Cold War, which have brought about conditions for deep reductions in nuclear forces.

Confirm the following:

1. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine, in accordance with the principles of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine." . . . &etc, ad nauseum for five-more 'meaningful' paragraphs!

 

It's no good The Trumpton threatening not to defend NATO allies (who haven't spent 'enough' (?) on their defence), when America has shown itself incapable of defending a cast-iron guarantee - we already know they can't be counted-on anymore!

It's also one of the reasons why the Brexiteers are such stupid, parochial, idiots, believing that we still hold any 'place' in the eyes of the world, such that we will be at the front of any queues for trade deals - our name is currently mud, in the rest of EU-Europe, in Eastern Europe, in the Middle East and further afield.

That's why watching Boris and May-means-someday-possibly being busy this week posturing to become the 51st State of England & Wales makes me puke - while the other two (Scotland and now, even, Ulster) creep ever closer to independence - the independence the Ukrainians hold so dear.

This particular set also has sand-bag sangers and checkpoint signage along with a pretty standard-equipped, law-enforcement, 4x4 type vehicle.

Clearly with such a 'set in stone' guarantee of future security (!) and a corrupt pro-Moscow president who would rather spend the money on a 'Versailles' palace (complete with zoo and pirate-ship - I kid you not!) than on a standing military, the border guards assumed a greater role as the army suffered chronic underfunding and leadership 'on the make' and have now become the identifiable face of Ukrainian national defence.

Thanks again to Mark Sergeyev for the above  images.

However because Putin is fundamentally a bully, he hesitated after he got the Crimean peninsula, and using the breathing-space, Ukraine has been busy developing new AFV's (as we have seen and will see again in the next part of these posts), and beefing-up the military, if he moves now, he [Putin] will get a very bloody nose.

Not for the first time this year, I'll say there's a war coming, and it came much closer on Tuesday last. There are too many of us, lots of us are very stupid; leaders as well as 'worker-bees', and we are doing too much damage to the planet.

Mother-nature has two weapons in her armoury for culling us, one is pestilence, which - as we have seen recently with Ebola, SARs and Zika - she has found to be less than efficacious these days, the other is to use our penchant for violence against our fellow man, for the utter destruction of the stranger, 'the other', to her advantage and she is stalking the lands of man, sowing the seeds of disharmony as I type.