Minsk Talks? The West is trying to make it more and more Munich-like--into direct Ultimatum and Dictate

According to reports from Kiev, Poroshenko is giving Russia a ten-day ultimatum to abandon Donbass (or the people of Novorossiya), otherwise he will yield to the pressure of the radical commanders of the "voluntary" battalions (formed around the Banderite core) and declare a state of war in the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, and Crimea, which might amount to making Russia a hostile party de iure.

This clearly changes the meaning of the current "ceasefire" and shows that both the West and Kiev are now trying to escalate their pressure against Moscow. They are also trying to close for good any wiggling room for Russia wherein Russia tried to posit itself merely as a mediator who urges both sides toward a dialogue and some constitutional debates. Both Kiev and the West are now making it clear that they will have none of that.

Meanwhile, Kiev is not withdrawing any troops and any heavy weapons--unlike the Lugansk Republic, which started doing so unilaterally and without waiting for Kiev.

In fact, while Moscow continues to insist that the Maidan putsch of February 22-23 was violent and unconstitutional, Moscow did under the pressure of the West declare President Poroshenko and the early parliamentary elections (which cemented the power of the Banderites and the radicals) legitimate and constitutional.

In this regard, official Moscow itself abandoned any serious claim that there is or might be anything seriously wrong about the current regime in Kiev and its policies and actions.

Meanwhile, it is also evident that Russian oligarchs and leading bankers, including Central Bank officials, have openly challenged Putin on his December 4 speech, especially on speculation, the fall of the ruble, and other economic initiatives. This shows that they are actually playing a role in the Western economic and financial warfare against Russia and that they are daring Putin with public defiance and hence with a noted, though still early emerging revolt. In doing so, they are also trying to show that Putin is internally much weaker than the West makes it to be.

This new development and move on the art of the Russian economic and financial elite, i.e., the oligarchs, is still in its early stage, but it is one of the most important shifts on the scene of the Russian elite.