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by rdeboo 3629 days ago
afaik Russia moved a few inches into the Crimean peninsula..
2 comments

Yes, those ruskies! How dare they react to the coup in Ukraine? How dare they save their naval base in Sevastopol? Base that is longer there than the US of A exist. How dare they, among other things, react to the request to tender [1] by the US Navy to renovate a school in Sevastopol and put US troops there - right in the Russian garden?

[1] https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=2bb691b...

Pay attention to the timeline. Writing of the documentation for this project had to be started at least three months prior to the publication. It was published on 2013-09-05, Euromaidan begins on 2013-11-21, 2014-03-16 Crimean referendum, 2014-04-15 tender is cancelled.

One million dollar question: How did US Navy know in summer of 2013 that it will need a school in Sevastopol in 2014 considering that Ukraine was still under Yanukowich (and close to Russia) at that time?

Um, I'm not sure your description of the US Navy's Sevastopol School project is entirely accurate. Here is a 2014 article at RT.com, which certainly cannot be accused of pro-US bias:

https://www.rt.com/news/154180-us-navy-crimea-charity/

The headline: "US Navy cancels charity projects in Crimea". According to the article, the plan was to renovate School #5 in Sevastopol; the US Navy had already paid for the renovation of School #22 in Sevastopol and School #14 in Simferopol. The RT article states that "Russian media and bloggers suspect the programs were meant to butter up locals for a possible US settlement there." But it doesn't suggest that US troops would be posted there; the only US military "presence" would be a commemorative plaque on the renovated building.

And into Georgia. And into Transnistria. And of course, into other parts of Ukraine.