Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
RUSSIA FIRED ARTILLERY on positions inside the Ukraine overnight in support of rebels in the warring east of the country according to the Ukrainian army.
The fire from the Russian side came in clashes at between rebels and the Ukranian military at a border crossing.
Ukrainian forces are trying to close in on the rebels, cutting them off from the border with Russia which Kiev believes is the source of arms and reinforcement.
The claims are backed up by the US who say they have evidence that Russian forces were firing artillery from inside Russia on Ukrainian troops.
US officials called a “clear escalation” of the conflict.
Moscow is also planning to “deliver heavier and more powerful multiple rocket launchers” to the pro-Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, US deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
The evidence was based on “intelligence information” indicating arms were “continuing to flow across the border” into Ukraine since the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner with 298 on board, Harf said.
But she refused to reveal the evidence behind the allegation or give further information.
“They’re firing artillery from within Russia to attack Ukrainian military,” Harf told reporters.
Washington, however, was still looking into the downing of two Ukrainian fighter jets on Wednesday. Kiev has alleged the warplanes were hit by missiles fired from Russian territory.
The shelling by Russian forces against Ukrainian positions had been “going on for several days,” said Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren.
“It’s a clear escalation,” Warren told reporters.
The Pentagon did not specify the precise location of the Russian artillery units or the artillery fire.
The Russian shelling has taken place “within the last 14 days,” according to a statement issued by US intelligence agencies.
Russia has continued a troop build-up near the border of Ukraine and kept up deliveries of arms and equipment to separatists since the downing of the Malaysian airliner, US defense officials told AFP.
The Russians have sent at least one battalion a week to the border area in recent weeks, raising the troop level to 15,000 forces, up from about 12,000 last week, said two defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“It looks like a steady increase,” one official said.
Military hardware has also continued to arrive at a large base set up near Rostov, which is used as a staging and training area before the equipment is transported to the rebels in Ukraine, according to defense officials.
US intelligence officials said this week that artillery and multiple rocket launcher systems recently arrived at the southwestern base in Rostov.
Moscow has vehemently denied a role in the conflict between pro-Russian separatists and government troops which has left more than 400 people dead and displaced tens of thousands.
© – AFP 2014 with additional reporting by Associated Press
Im in the middle of doing an assignment on Bitcoin.
My conclusion after reading – its the greatest bubble since 17th century tulips, but at least when your tulip lost all its value you still had a tulip.
Tulips can’t be instantly sent to the other side of the world for zero cost without using a middle man. You can always get more tulips but bitcoin is finite.
Eh, actually no, you didn’t.
1000000 Bitcoin = 295,278,006,778 Zimbabwe Dollar
I’ve read numerous articles about bitcoin and the more I read, the less I know or understand about it. Almost like a non existent fantasy currency that many will buy into only to lose it all.
You picked an appropriate surname there, David.
Tulips are still a billion euro industry in Holland alone!
Killian, I suspect you didn’t research too hard!
I going to wait to see what Jim Corr had to say about before i buy any.
Is it the currency of the fightback against the rothchilds and their like or a dead duck,no one knows but Jim.
Early days, but this and other crypto currencies and especially the blockchain technology could help us end the financial terrorists grip on humanity..hope so, the future of our planet depends on it
John Do, nope, future of our planet has no dependence on Bitcoin or any other currency. If Man disappeared/went completely bust/whatever tomorrow, the planet would carry on without us. It simply doesn’t matter whether we are here or not. It came into being without us and will still be here long after we’re gone.
Whenever someone says; “It’s to save the planet”, you know they’re talking horse puckey and need a slap.
The journal must have a serious mining rig going on in the office with all these articles about crypto currencies ;-) . Does the the journal accept bitcoin donations I wonder?
I was thinking the same thing myself. I was thinking that the owners of the Journal were possibly early adapters to bitcoin and stand to make a fortune if the value goes up significantly!
Virtual currencies will never work. Card less transactions will work as we are miving that way. But unregulated currencies are silly you you might as well invest in somali dollars lol.
Fools and their money. ……
I think the early/mid 2000s was the time to invest in somali shilling. But if you’re implying that national currencies are volatile, is this not more of a reason to pursue on line currencies?
Hopefully up to $10,000 a coin and I’ll be able to out the feet up for the rest of my life.
It’s the one world currency and the mark if satan
*of
Interesting. I would have thought that any new means of ‘currency’ that would challenge the xxxxxxx’s empire would have been quickly taken down (by all means possible) or taken over or maybe ‘they’ are behind it in the first place.
Two families own over half of the debt/ money that exists today.
Remember, anyone who has moved away from this debt based currency has had a bullet placed in their head.
Dunno.
Remember the sandwich shop rule:
When the guy making your sandwich is talking about buying a commodity, that’s the time to sell all you have and cash out.
“Gee Seamus, silver is really going to go up because of….(insert rationale here).
“So how much silver do you want, Sandwich Man?”
Bitcoin is approaching or has passed that critical indicator, in my opinion.
I started mining bitcoins 4 years ago on 5 old pc’s in my comms room, running 24/7 :) good investment! only problem now is silkroad can’t be trusted and I don’t need a hitman
Bitcoin is AltaVista / BigFoot of the early 90′s. Quarkcoin is the Google of Crypto.
Gold, Silver Crypto…way to go.
Thank you. Head was wrecked thinking I heard of bitcoin in the 90′s. Did I? Cause I’m still not sure because in the article it says bitcoin came out in 2009
I’ll break it down for you. I was making the comparison with the early search engines that died in the 90s. Google trumped the lot later. Other cryptos will trump bitcoin in due course.
This still means I think I heard the words bitcoins years ago
Blah blah blah blah. Bitcoin. Blah blah blah.
Will change the way we trade.biggest invention of mankind since the internet itself.
So if one bitcoin is worth €600 then it makes the cup of coffee in that Canadian coffee shop very expensive. And how do they give you change? Littlebitcoins ?
If you’re sick of bank charges I suggest you read, research Bitcoin, get yourself a wallet (no cost…blockchain.info). Then in a week get yourself €10-€20.
Decimalisation.
The reason why Bitcoin is flourishing is because the financial framework the banks have in place in Ireland are prehistoric. Bitcoin and it’s protocols are the way of the future. Everything is going digital, why should currency be any different.
In the bigger picture the history of the world shows us that governments control is really the control is money. Bitcoin takes done of that control back. But at the same time some regulation is needed for it to become truly mainstream.
Bitcoin gives the power back to the people, it allows trade worldwide and transfer of funds in seconds with virtually no fees and no middle men – that can’t be said about any other currency.
The fact Bitcoin circulation is capped unlike the € which can be printed anytime, the volatility will decrease over time. So although we have seen bubbles, in this case they will deflate – not burst completely.
It takes some time to understand Bitcoin and how it has evolved, the more you learn about it the more you will conclude it’s cutting edge technology at the highest degree.
With multi-million Euro investments throughout the world in this sector and at payments industry in general Bitcoin is here to stay. We are at the beginning of an exciting time – the digital age has really just begun.
Irish Bitcoin Association.
http://www.BitcoinIRL.com
You need a better sales pitch, my friend.
Any currency is finite if the controlling authority so wishes, money supply can be reduced as well as expanded. If bitcoin becomes “mainstream” what exactly would change? I’m genuinely interested. Having an extra/cheaper means of processing cross border transactions is hardly a new earth shattering idea. Trillions of dollars/gbp/eur/chf etc transactions take place “electronically” every day. Transactions costs in high value transactions between financial companies are tiny compared to what high street banks charge. How would bitcoin change that?
I’m over bitcoin, 42coin from here on.
Kittecoin is the new craze now….buy millions
More waffle. Anything to suck the life out of the average person.
I’m adopting a wait and see approach to the currency. I personally feel that it’s not a currency (yet). It is a great online payment system though, and could give PayPal a run for their money.
I do think as well that Bitcoin could be de-throned as the king of the cryptos if someone like Google were to introduce their own coin. It’s very early days in the crypto currency space, and I’m following it very closely.
The next step is Kilobitcoin, then Megabitcon or they might decide to go Bytecoin but an octal based numbering system will take some time to catch on.
There’s already a bytecoin
have your say