{"id":1139,"date":"2014-05-05T09:55:59","date_gmt":"2014-05-05T08:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/doing-business\/?p=1139"},"modified":"2014-05-06T08:21:08","modified_gmt":"2014-05-06T07:21:08","slug":"the-russians-are-comming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/doing-business\/2014\/05\/05\/the-russians-are-comming\/","title":{"rendered":"The Russians are Coming"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I was at UCLA for our Advanced Management Program in Media & Entertainmen<\/a>t and was prepared to write about California but that will have to wait as it appears that Russia is likely to invade Ukraine<\/strong> at any moment.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the Daily Telegraph<\/a><\/em>, the death of 32 pro-Russian protestors in Odessa could offer Russia\u2019s President, Vladimir Putin<\/strong>, the pretext he needs to send the Russian Army into Ukraine.<\/span><\/p>\n

While I am not sure of it accuracy, a website called globalfirepower.com<\/span><\/a> allows the comparison of the Russian army to the Ukrainian and with almost 5 times as many men, 8 times as many helicopters and more than 10 times as many tanks, Ukraine does not stand a chance in open conflict<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not so secret war<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
\"Glenn<\/a>
Glenn Kates<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first phase of Russia\u2019s operation was its takeover of Crimea<\/strong> where it sent thousands of heavily armed soldiers to occupy the province prior to its takeover of the regional parliament and the holding a hastily organized referendum which of course voted to join Russia.<\/p>\n

This appeared to be the plan in the Eastern provinces of Ukraine which, as discussed<\/a> in this space, is not as Russian as most media is saying. This time, according to Genya Savilov<\/a>, Russia is using a mix of its own special forces and intelligence units with the local Mafia to repeat the play in Crimea.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ukrainian government has been understandably trying, over the last few weeks, to stop Russia from taking over half, or perhaps even all of the country, but I fear that the trap is almost complete.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Kiev allows these so called \u201cpatriots\u201d to hold their “referendums”, then they will bully the local population into acceptance and as they try to stop them, with force, they give Russia the pretext to invade.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why worry?<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

One may wonder why a Professor who is primarily interested in Energy and the environment, spends so much time worrying about geopolitics and what is happening in Ukraine?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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