Margaret Kimberley / Black Agenda Report & RT News & Israel Shamir / Global Research & Stephen Lendman / Global Research – 2014-05-23 01:25:10
America Brings Hell to Ukraine
As Part of its Plan for World Domination
Margaret Kimberley / Black Agenda Report & Global Research
(May 18, 2014) — Washington’s pell-mell rush to the brink of war against the giants of Eurasia is awesome in its recklessness. “The feverish pace of the Asia pivot meant to encircle China is matched only by the plan to dispatch Russia economically — and ultimately, militarily.”
Because of American intervention, Ukraine is embroiled in what can only be described as a civil war. For the past two weeks, the Ukrainians coupists supported by the United States and NATO have openly massacred their fellow citizens with the tacit approval of the White House and without exposure from the American corporate media.
The United States behaves like a caricature of action movie villains, an evil empire, which foments violence around the world in order to have its way. Yet there is nothing cartoonish about the dead people in Iraq and Afghanistan and Somalia and Syria and now Ukraine. There is no great mystery to America’s awful but very simple motive.
The United States wants to maintain its status as the world’s only superpower and makes the rest of humanity its enemy in the process. If the United States controls the world the dollar will remain the world’s reserve currency. In order for this to happen the upstart BRIC nations have to remain upstarts and that means that they must be destabilized whenever and wherever possible.
The Project for a New American Century can be realized and every nation will have to bow to America’s whims. That is the nightmarish vision of this president and of anyone who yearns to capture that position after him. The feverish pace of the Asia pivot meant to encircle China is matched only by the plan to dispatch Russia economically — and ultimately, militarily. American imperialism is on the march.
The Ukrainian catastrophe was unknown to most Americans until this February, when the elected prime minister was forced to step down by a mob financed and directed by the United States. But the chaos had been conducted in secret for a long time, part of a plan by a succession of American presidents from George H.W. Bush to Barack Obama to expand NATO and surround Russia with unfriendly nations.
On May 2, 2014, Americans would have been shocked to see what their government had wrought, but one can’t be outraged if information is hidden. On that date, opponents of the newly installed government were attacked by neo-nazi gangs in Odessa.
They were peacefully protesting when their encampment was attacked and burned down. They fought back before seeking refuge in a trades union hall where estimates of between 50 and 100 died. Some were shot and some burned to death when the building was set on fire by the mob.
Euromaidan PR even posted gruesome footage of the inferno victims and labeled the dead as “terrorists,” making no effort to hide their role in the massacre. Those acts were repeated one week later on May 9th in the city of Mariupol where a police station was set on fire and more deaths and injuries occurred.
The United States and its media allies are repeating the proven plan of attack, which has worked so well in the past. Their propaganda ceaselessly demonizes the next target, in this case Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Putin did not overthrow the Ukrainian elected government and light the stick of dynamite. The United States and the rest of NATO did that. Yet media outlets ranging from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal to MSNBC ceaselessly repeat the Putin as villain canard.
Putin even tried to dissuade the eastern Ukrainian regions from holding referendums, which would allow them to become part of Russia. He moved his troops away from the Ukrainian border and presented his own peace proposal but none of these actions made a difference to the people determined to destabilize his government or to the media who follow them compliantly and repeat their lies.
“If there were questions about the legitimacy of the separatist referendums in eastern Ukraine, the farcical names of the entities on which people were asked to vote — the self-declared People’s Republics of Donetsk or Luhansk — surely answered them.”
This juvenile mockery from the New York Times is a sorry substitute for journalism. Instead of examining why large segments of the Ukrainian population want no part of the west’s puppet government, they sneer at the call for self-determination.
The blame for this crisis can be placed squarely with the western nations and blame will also be placed on them if hostilities become more widespread. Obama and his cohorts in all likelihood don’t want a war, but may stumble onto one because of their desperation. It wouldn’t be the first time in history that unintended consequences brought ruin to millions of people.
The CIA director thought he was sneaking into Kiev covertly, as if no one knows what he looks like. Diplomat Victoria Nuland was caught speaking on an unsecure line clearly admitting that the United States was choosing the new Ukrainian leadership. Obama and his team are not as smart as they think and that makes it likely that they will make decisions that are costly to the entire world.
But it is important to remember that the rest of the world hasn’t acquiesced completely. Russia’s Gazprom handed Ukraine a $1.6 billion bill to continue supplying natural gas and China and Russia will soon sign their own 30-year energy agreement. While Russia makes the best of a bad situation, Vice President Biden’s son takes a position on the board of a Ukrainian gas company. The gangsterism is all too blatant.
The American plan for domination doesn’t just assume coups and interventions but also its own invincibility. The road to hell isn’t just paved with good intentions but with arrogance and stupidity and America has an excess of both.
Margaret Kimberley‘s Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well as at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail atMargaret.Kimberley@BlackAgendaReport.com
‘No to the Nazi Coup d’etat in Ukraine!’
Rome Protesters Rally against Fascism
RT News
(May 17, 2014) — A few hundred protesters gathered outside the Ukrainian embassy in Rome on Saturday to protest against the rise of fascism in Ukraine and Europe. The event was organized by well-known journalist Julietto Kieza.
Kieza told Ruptly that he maintains that the “so-called revolution in Euromaidan has been paid straightly by the United States” and that for the first time since World War II, “Nazism reappears in the center of Europe with the aid of the United States.”
Demonstrators came out to express a similar view. Protesters held up signs depicting Ukraine’s former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko as Hitler, and telling NATO to “go away.”
One of the banners said: “No to the Nazi coup d’etat in Ukraine” in Italian.
Massive protests that began last year in Kiev eventually led to the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovich in February. Yanukovich left Ukraine’s capital amid the worst surge of violence in the country’s post-Soviet history, which left dozens of people dead and hundreds injured.
The pro-Maidan opposition immediately capitalized on his absence from the city, dominating the parliament which then voted to strip the president of his powers and announced early elections.
Following the events, far-right forces such as the Svoboda (Freedom) party — Ukraine’s nationalist party — entered the political arena and are now part of Ukraine’s parliament.
“Only now I perceive that Europe is beginning to understand the danger they also face, because there is no solution for the crisis in Ukraine in the direction the United States has created. Now Europe has to pay,” Kieza said.
Ukraine in Turmoil. War May Come at any Time
Israel Shamir / Global Research
(May 17, 2014) — It is not much fun to be in Kiev these days. The revolutionary excitement is over, and hopes for new faces, the end of corruption and economic improvement have withered. The Maidan street revolt and the subsequent coup just reshuffled the same marked deck of cards, forever rotating in power.
The new acting President has been an acting Prime Minister, and a KGB (called “SBU” in Ukrainian) supremo. The new acting Prime Minister has been a Foreign Minister. The oligarch most likely to be “elected” President in a few days has been a Foreign Minister, the head of the state bank, and personal treasurer of two coups, in 2004 (installing Yushchenko) and in 2014 (installing himself). His main competitor, Mme. Timoshenko, served as a Prime Minister for years, until electoral defeat in 2010.
These people had brought Ukraine to its present abject state. In 1991, the Ukraine was richer than Russia, today it is three times poorer because of these people’s mismanagement and theft. Now they plan an old trick: to take loans in Ukraine’s name, pocket the cash and leave the country indebted. They sell state assets to Western companies and ask for NATO to come in and protect the investment.
They play a hard game, brass knuckles and all. The Black Guard, a new SS-like armed force of the neo-nazi Right Sector, prowls the land. They arrest or kill dissidents, activists, journalists. Hundreds of American soldiers, belonging to the “private” company Academi (formerly Blackwater) are spread in Novorossia, the pro-Russian provinces in the East and South-East. IMF–dictated reforms slashed pensions by half and doubled the housing rents. In the market, US Army rations took the place of local food.
The new Kiev regime had dropped the last pretence of democracy by expelling the Communists from the parliament. This should endear them to the US even more. Expel Communists, apply for NATO, condemn Russia, arrange a gay parade and you may do anything at all, even fry dozens of citizens alive. And so they did.
The harshest repressions were unleashed on industrial Novorossia, as its working class loathes the whole lot of oligarchs and ultra-nationalists. After the blazing inferno of Odessa and a wanton shooting on the streets of Melitopol the two rebellious provinces of Donetsk and Lugansk took up arms and declared their independence from the Kiev regime. They came under fire, but did not surrender.
The other six Russian-speaking industrial provinces of Novorossia were quickly cowed. Russia did not interfere and did not support the rebellion, to the great distress of Russian nationalists in Ukraine and Russia who mutter about “betrayal”. So much for the warlike rhetoric of McCain and Brzezinski.
Putin’s respect for others’ sovereignty is exasperating. I understand this sounds like a joke, you heard so much of Putin as a new Hitler. As a matter of fact, Putin had legal training before joining the Secret Service. He is a stickler for international law. His Russia interfered with other states much less than France or England, let alone the US.
I asked his senior adviser, Mr Alexei Pushkov, why Russia did not try to influence Ukrainian minds while Kiev buzzed with American and European officials. “We think it is wrong to interfere”, he replied like a good Sunday schoolboy. It is rather likely Putin advisors’ misjudged public sentiment.
The majority of Novorossia’s population does not like the new Kiev regime, but being politically passive and conservative, will submit to its rule”, they estimated. “The rebels are a small bunch of firebrands without mass support, and they can’t be relied upon”, was their view. Accordingly, Putin advised the rebels to postpone the referendum indefinitely, a polite way of saying “shove it”.
They disregarded his request with considerable sang froid and convincingly voted en masse for secession from a collapsing Ukraine. The turnout was much higher than expected, the support for the move near total. As I was told by a Kremlin insider, this development was not foreseen by Putin’s advisers.
Perhaps the advisors had read it right, but three developments had changed the voters’ minds and had sent this placid people to the barricades and the voting booths:
1. The first one was the fiery holocaust of Odessa, where the peaceful and carelessly unarmed demonstrating workers were suddenly attacked by regime’s thugs (the Ukrainian equivalent of Iran’s basij) and corralled into the Trade Unions Headquarters. The building was set on fire, and the far-right pro-regime Black Guard positioned snipers to efficiently pick off would-be escapees.
Some fifty, mainly elderly, Russian-speaking workers were burned alive or shot as they rushed for the windows and the doors. This dreadful event was turned into an occasion of merriment and joy for the Ukrainian nationalists who referred to their slain compatriots as “fried beetles”. It is being said that this auto-da-fé was organised by the shock troops of Jewish oligarch and strongman Kolomoysky, who coveted the port of Odessa.
2. The second was the Mariupol attack on May 9, 2014. This day is commemorated as V-day in Russia and Ukraine (while the West celebrates it on May 8). The Kiev regime forbade all V-day celebrations.
In Mariupol, the Black Guard attacked the peaceful and weaponless town, burning down the police headquarters and killing local policemen who had refused to suppress the festive march. Afterwards, Black Guard thugs unleashed armoured vehicles on the streets, killing citizens and destroying property.
The West did not voice any protest; Nuland and Merkel weren’t horrified by this mass murder, as they were by Yanukovich’s timid attempts to control crowds. The people of these two provinces felt abandoned; they understood that nobody was going to protect and save them but themselves, and went off to vote.
3. The third development was, bizarrely, the Eurovision jury choice of Austrian transvestite Conchita Wurst for a winner of its song contest. The Novorossians decided they want no part of such a Europe.
Actually, the people of Europe do not want it either: it transpired that the majority of British viewers preferred a Polish duo, Donatan & Cleo, with its We Are Slavic. Donatan is half Russian, and has courted controversy in the past extolling the virtues of pan-Slavism and the achievements of the Red Army, says the Independent.
The politically correct judges of the jury preferred to “celebrate tolerance”, the dominant paradigm imposed upon Europe. This is the second transvestite to win this very political contest; the first one was Israeli singer Dana International. Such obsession with re-gendering did not go down well with Russians and/or Ukrainians.
The Russians have readjusted their sights, but they do not intend to bring their troops into the two rebel republics, unless dramatic developments should force them.
Russian Plans
Imagine: you are dressed up for a night on Broadway, but your neighbours are involved in a vicious quarrel, and you have to gun up and deal with the trouble instead of enjoying a show, and a dinner, and perhaps a date. This was Putin’s position regarding the Ukrainian turmoil.
A few months ago, Russia had made a huge effort to become, and to be seen as, a very civilised European state of the first magnitude. This was the message of the Sochi Olympic games: to re-brand, even re-invent Russia, just as Peter the Great once had, as part of the First World; an amazing country of strong European tradition, of Leo Tolstoy and Malevich, of Tchaikovsky and Diaghilev, the land of arts, of daring social reform, of technical achievements, of modernity and beyond — the Russia of Natasha Rostova riding a Sikorsky ‘copter. Putin spent $60 b to broadcast this image.
The old fox Henry Kissinger wisely said:
Putin spent $60 billion on the Olympics. They had opening and closing ceremonies, trying to show Russia as a normal progressive state. So it isn’t possible that he, three days later, would voluntarily start an assault on Ukraine. There is no doubt that. . . at all times he wanted Ukraine in a subordinate position. And at all times, every senior Russian that I’ve ever met, including dissidents like Solzhenitsyn and Brodsky, looked at Ukraine as part of the Russian heritage. But I don’t think he had planned to bring it to a head now.
However, Washington hawks decided to do whatever it takes to keep Russia out in the cold. They were afraid of this image of “a normal progressive state” as such Russia would render NATO irrelevant and undermine European dependence on the US. They were adamant about retaining their hegemony, shattered as it was by the Syrian confrontation.
They attacked Russian positions in the Ukraine and arranged a violent coup, installing a viciously anti-Russian regime supported by football fans and neo-Nazis, paid for by Jewish oligarchs and American taxpayers. The victors banned the Russian language and prepared to void treaties with Russia regarding its Crimean naval base at Sebastopol on the Black Sea. This base was to become a great new NATO base, controlling the Black Sea and threatening Russia.
Putin had to deal quickly and so he did, by accepting the Crimean people’s request to join Russian Federation. This dealt with the immediate problem of the base, but the problem of Ukraine remained.
The Ukraine is not a foreign entity to Russians, it is the western half of Russia. It was artificially separated from the rest in 1991, at the collapse of the USSR. The people of the two parts are interconnected by family, culture and blood ties; their economies are intricately connected.
While a separate viable Ukrainian state is a possibility, an “independent” Ukrainian state hostile to Russia is not viable and can’t be tolerated by any Russian ruler. And this for military as well as for cultural reasons: if Hitler had begun the war against Russia from its present border, he would have taken Stalingrad in two days and would have destroyed Russia in a week.
A more pro-active Russian ruler would have sent troops to Kiev a long time ago. Thus did Czar Alexis when the Poles, Cossacks and Tatars argued for it in 17th century. So also did Czar Peter the Great, when the Swedes occupied it in the 18th century. So did Lenin, when the Germans set up the Protectorate of Ukraine (he called its establishment “the obscene peace”). So did Stalin, when the Germans occupied the Ukraine in 1941.
Putin still hopes to settle the problem by peaceful means, relying upon the popular support of the Ukrainian people. Actually, before the Crimean takeover, the majority of Ukrainians (and near all Novorossians) overwhelmingly supported some sort of union with Russia. Otherwise, the Kiev coup would not have been necessary.
The forced Crimean takeover seriously undermined Russian appeal. The people of Ukraine did not like it. This was foreseen by the Kremlin, but they had to accept Crimea for a few reasons. Firstly, a loss of Sevastopol naval base to NATO was a too horrible of an alternative to contemplate. Secondly, the Russian people would not understand if Putin were to refuse the suit of the Crimeans.
The Washington hawks still hope to force Putin to intervene militarily, as it would give them the opportunity to isolate Russia, turn it into a monster pariah state, beef up defence spending and set Europe and Russia against each other. They do not care about Ukraine and Ukrainians, but use them as pretext to attain geopolitical goals.
The Europeans would like to fleece Ukraine; to import its men as “illegal” workers and its women as prostitutes, to strip assets, to colonise. They did it with Moldova, a little sister of Ukraine, the most miserable ex-Soviet Republic. As for Russia, the EU would not mind taking it down a notch, so they would not act so grandly. But the EU is not fervent about it. Hence, the difference in attitudes.
Putin would prefer to continue with his modernisation of Russia. The country needs it badly. The infrastructure lags twenty or thirty years behind the West. Tired by this backwardness, young Russians often prefer to move to the West, and this brain drain causes much damage to Russia while enriching the West.
Even Google is a result of this brain drain, for Sergey Brin is a Russian immigrant as well. So are hundreds of thousands of Russian scientists and artists manning every Western lab, theatre and orchestra. Political liberalisation is not enough: the young people want good roads, good schools and a quality of life comparable to the West. This is what Putin intends to deliver.
He is doing fine. Moscow now has free bikes and Wi-Fi in the parks like every Western European city. Trains have been upgraded. Hundreds of thousands of apartments are being built, even more than during the Soviet era. Salaries and pensions have increased seven-to-tenfold in the past decade. Russia is still shabby, but it is on the right track. Putin wants to continue with modernisation.
As for the Ukraine and other ex-Soviet states, Putin would prefer they retain their independence, be friendly and work at a leisurely pace towards integration a la the European Union. He does not dream of a new empire. He would reject such a proposal, as it would delay his modernisation plans.
If the beastly neocons would not have forced his hand by expelling the legitimate president of Ukraine and installing their puppets, the world might have enjoyed a long spell of peace. But then the western military alliance under the US leadership would fall into abeyance, the US military industries would lose out, and US hegemony would evaporate. Peace is not good for the US military and hegemony-creating media machine. So dreams of peace in our lifetime are likely to remain just dreams.
What Will Putin Do?
Putin will try to avoid sending in troops as long as possible. He will have to protect the two splinter provinces, but this can be done with remote support, the way the US supports the rebels in Syria, without ‘boots on the ground’. Unless serious bloodshed on a large scale should occur, Russian troops will just stand by, staring down the Black Guard and other pro-regime forces.
Putin will try to find an arrangement with the West for sharing authority, influence and economic involvement in the failed state. This can be done through federalisation, or by means of coalition government, or even partition.
The Russian-speaking provinces of Novorossia are those of Kharkov (industry), Nikolayev (ship-building), Odessa (harbour), Donetsk and Lugansk (mines and industry), Dnepropetrovsk (missiles and high-tech), Zaporozhe (steel), Kherson (water for Crimea and ship-building), all of them established, built and populated by Russians.
They could secede from Ukraine and form an independent Novorossia, a mid-sized state, still bigger than all neighbouring states (but Russia proper). This state could join the Union State of Russia and Belarus, and/or the Customs Union led by Russia. The rump Ukraine could manage as it sees fit until it decides whether or not to join its Slavic sisters in the East. Such a set up would produce two rather cohesive and homogeneous states.
Another possibility (much less likely at this moment) is a three-way division of the failed Ukraine: Novorossia, Ukraine proper, and Galicia&Volyn. In such a case, Novorossia would be strongly pro-Russian, Ukraine would be neutral, and Galicia strongly pro-Western.
The EU could accept this, but the US probably would not agree to any power-sharing in the Ukraine. In the ensuing tug-of-war, one of two winners will emerge. If Europe and the US drift apart, Russia wins. If Russia accepts a pro-Western positioning of practically all of Ukraine, the US wins. The tug-of-war could snap and cause all-out war, with many participants and a possible use of nuclear weapons. This is a game of chicken; the one with stronger nerves and less imagination will remain on the track.
Pro and Contra
It is too early to predict who will win in the forthcoming confrontation. For the Russian president, it is extremely tempting to take all of Ukraine or at least Novorossia, but it is not an easy task, and one likely to cause much hostility from the Western powers.
With Ukraine incorporated, Russian recovery from 1991 would be completed, its strength doubled, its security ensured and a grave danger removed. Russia would become great again. People would venerate Putin as Gatherer of Russian Lands.
However, Russian efforts to appear as a modern peaceful progressive state would have been wasted; it would be seen as an aggressor, expelled from international bodies. Sanctions will bite; high tech imports may be banned, as in the Soviet days.
The Russian elites are reluctant to jeopardise their good life. The Russian military just recently began its modernisation and is not keen to fight yet, perhaps not for another ten years. But if they feel cornered, if NATO moves into Eastern Ukraine, they will fight all the same.
Some Russian politicians and observers believe that Ukraine is a basket case; its problems would be too expensive to fix. This assessment has a ‘sour grapes’ aftertaste, but it is widespread. An interesting new voice on the web, The Saker, promotes this view.
“Let the EU and the US provide for the Ukrainians, they will come back to Mother Russia when hungry”, he says. The problem is, they will not be allowed to reconsider. The junta did not seize power violently in order to lose it at the ballot.
Besides, Ukraine is not in such bad shape as some people claim. Yes, it would cost trillions to turn it into a Germany or France, but that’s not necessary. Ukraine can reach the Russian level of development very quickly –- in union with Russia. Under the EC-IMF-NATO, Ukraine will become a basket case, if it’s not already.
The same is true for all East European ex-Soviet states: they can modestly prosper with Russia, as Belarus and Finland do, or suffer depopulation, unemployment, poverty with Europe and NATO and against Russia, vide Latvia, Hungary, Moldova, Georgia. It is in Ukrainian interests to join Russia in some framework; Ukrainians understand that; for this reason they will not be allowed to have democratic elections.
Simmering Novorossia has a potential to change the game. If Russian troops don’t come in, Novorossian rebels may beat off the Kiev offensive and embark on a counter-offensive to regain the whole of the country, despite Putin’s pacifying entreaties. Then, in a full-blown civil war, the Ukraine will hammer out its destiny.
On a personal level, Putin faces a hard choice. Russian nationalists will not forgive him if he surrenders Ukraine without a fight. The US and EU threaten the very life of the Russian president, as their sanctions are hurting Putin’s close associates, encouraging them to get rid or even assassinate the President and improve their relations with the mighty West. War may come at any time, as it came twice during the last century — though Russia tried to avoid it both times. Putin wants to postpone it, at the very least, but not at any price.
His is not an easy choice. As Russia procrastinates, as the US doubles risks, the world draws nearer to the nuclear abyss. Who will chicken out?
Justifying the Unjustifiable. How the UN Defines “Human Rights”
Stephen Lendman / Global Research
(May 18, 2014) — Navi Pillay is UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. She’s a reliable imperial tool. She betrays her mandate. She does so consistently. She disgraces the office she holds. She twists vital truths irresponsibly. She substitutes misinformation rubbish. She serves Western interests exclusively. She’s up to her old tricks again.
Her new report is titled “Report on the human rights situation in Ukraine.” It’s infested with lies. It whitewashes what’s most important to reveal.
On the one hand, it totally ignores fascist putschists usurping power. Imposing hardline rule. Governing lawlessly.
Targeting all opposition elements for elimination. Bearing full responsibility for nationwide violence. Especially in Eastern Ukraine.
Waging war on their own people. Murdering them in cold blood. Doing it with full US support. Planning much more ahead.
Intending sham May 25 elections. Holding fake national unity talks. Turning Ukraine into a fascist police state.
Pillay’s report didn’t surprise. It disgracefully pointed fingers the wrong way.
It reported “an alarming deterioration in the human rights situation in the east of the country, as well as serious problems emerging in Crimea, especially in relation to the Crimean Tatars.”
It covered the April 2 — May 6 period. It described “an increasing tendency in some critical urban areas for rallies of opposing groups to be held simultaneously, often leading to violent confrontations.”
It noted “repeated acts of violence against peaceful participants of rallies, mainly those in support of Ukraine’s unity and against the lawlessness in the cities and villages in eastern Ukraine.”
“In most cases, local police did nothing to prevent violence, while in some cases it openly cooperated with the attackers,” it said.
It bears repeating. Pillay’s report is infested with lies, damn lies, and shocking Big Ones. It accused victims of Kiev crimes.
It said “targeted killings, torture and beatings, abductions, intimidation and some cases of sexual harassment (were) mostly carried out by well-organized and well-armed anti-Government groups in the east.”
“The problem has been especially marked in and around the town of Slovyansk, in the Donetsk region, with a group called the ‘Slovyansk self-defence unit’ heavily implicated.”
“Journalists, bloggers and other media personnel either based in the region, or visiting, are facing increasing threats and acts of intimidation, including abduction and unlawful detention by armed groups.”
“The struggle for control of the media outlets, and who is able to broadcast where, continues inside Ukraine, particularly in the east.”
The report noted “numerous examples of harassment, intimidation and blocked broadcasting in eastern Ukraine and especially in Crimea, where a number of radio and TV stations have had to cease broadcasting altogether.”
Reunification made Crimea part of Russia. Crimeans near unanimously approved it.
Not according to Pillay. Her report claimed “legislation of the Russian Federation is being (force-fed) on the ‘territory’ of Crimea, at variance with UN General Assembly resolution 68/262.”
It lied about alleged Tatar persecution. None whatever exists. It turned truth on its head claiming:
• Tatar leaders are denied free movement;
• “cases of physical harassment;”
• “restrictions on Crimean Tatar media;”
• persecuting Muslims;
• delegitimizing and terminating “the work of the Parliament of the Crimean Tatars;”
• thousands of mostly Crimean Tatars “internally displaced in other areas of Ukraine.”
• closing Crimea’s Ombudsman’s office; and
• forcing Crimean-based NGOs to “operate under the law on foreign agents of the Russian Federation.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry reacted sharply. It said Pillay’s report “actually justifies the criminal punitive operation in the southeast of Ukraine. . .”
It “conceals casualties among peaceful civilians. . .”
It irresponsibly blames “pro-Russian forces” for Kiev crimes. For horrific human rights violations.
For state-sponsored terrorism. For war without mercy. For murdering civilians in cold blood. For massacring them in Odessa.
For turning a blind eye to hard facts. For twisting them to fit Washington’s agenda.
For “carrying out a political order to whitewash” Kiev putschists’ crimes of war and against humanity.
Misreporting Odessa’s massacre was especially reprehensible. Kiev bore full responsibility. Victims were blamed for their crimes.
Neo-Nazi Right Sector thugs were unleashed. They had license to mass murder. They took full advantage.
They massacred around 300 Odessans. They did so in cold blood.
They trapped them inside Odessa’s Trade Union House (TUH) building. They were waiting for them inside.
They executed them at point blank range. They shot them in the back of the head. They strangled others.
They beat some to death. They threw people out of windows. They hacked some to death with axes.
They murdered a pregnant woman with an electric wire. She cried for help in vain. Women and children were massacred like men.
They set TUH ablaze on two floors to mask their crimes. Fire didn’t kill activists inside. Neo-Nazi hoodlums did.
Photographic evidence is damning. So are independent videos. They show mass murder by means other than fire and/or carbon monoxide poisoning.
Some bodies showed multiple gunshot wounds to the back of the head. Coverup and lies concealed what happened.
It bears repeating. Pillay’s report blamed victims for Kiev putschist crimes. It ignored their ongoing human rights abuses. It’s “delivered as Kiev’s official line,” said Russia’s Foreign Ministry.
It excludes “mention of any manifestation of aggressive nationalism and neo-Nazism in Ukraine.” It’s scandalous political propaganda.
It’s entirely one-sided. It turned truth on its head. It reads like bad fiction.
It exposes Pillay’s dark side. She’s complicit in high crimes of war and against humanity. She shames the office she holds.
“When the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights pronounced the Crimea referendum as ‘illegal’ following the suit of Kiev and its Western patrons, it seconded that it accepts a nation’s right to self-determination established by international human rights laws only when it is politically favorable,” said Russia’s Foreign Ministry.
Kiev’s war without mercy continues. Donetsk and Slavyansk regions are especially targeted.
Ukrainian forces attacked Russian journalists. They did so near Kramatorsk. According to reporter Oleg Sidyakin:
“We saw that machines were gone and the shooting stopped like half-an-hour ago. We tried to enter (Oktyabrskoe village) to find out what happened to locals, if they needed help, and if there were wounded among them.”
“But as we got closer to the outskirts of the village, we ran into an armored troop carrier with a Ukrainian flag on it and armed people in black uniforms.”
“We were going in a car with ‘TV’ stickers, indicating that were are press.”
“We stuck hands out of windows, but first there came one shot and then machine gun fire.”
“I had to make such decision because I could not put in danger the lives of a driver and a cameraman.”
RT International reported Kiev APCs firing on two Ruptly TV journalists. Their car was attacked near Kramatorsk.
APCs “came out of nowhere. (They) opened fire for no apparent reason,” they said.
Ruptly journalist Katica Djurovic tweeted “2 BTRs shoot at our car. We were on the main road and they came from small street. Guns made them think they have more traffic right @Ruptly”
A Russian TV Channel 5 crew was in the same car. It avoided it being struck.
The incident followed Ruptly’s crew attacked days earlier. Its journalist Fyodor Zavaleykov was shot in Mariupol.
He was filming at the time. He was seriously wounded. He was treated in Ukraine.
He was flown to Moscow for further care. He’s stable. He’ll survive. Others may not be as lucky.
Hardline fascist forces operate in Eastern Ukraine. They shoot to kill. They give no quarter.
Kiev putschists plan sham May 25 elections. The’ll mock legitimate ones when held. Results are largely predetermined. Fascist supporters are sure to win.
Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will head Washington’s observer team. She has blood on her hands.
She’s an unindicted war criminal. She was Clinton’s UN envoy and Secretary of State.
She believes NATO should intervene militarily regardless of international law restrictions.
She was criminally involved in America’s Balkan wars. She was complicit in genocide against Iraqi civilians.
She’s unapologetic. She called murdering over half a million Iraqi children a small price to pay.
Other US observers include International Republican Institute delegates. OSCE ones are coming. So are various pro-Western international organization representatives.
They won’t surprise. They’ll endorse what demands condemnation. They’ll call sham elections legitimate ones. They’ll lie saying so.
Alexis Tsipras is a Greek Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) European Parliament chairman aspirant. He debated other candidates on air. He was clear and unequivocal, saying:
“We should not accept and recognize the government of neo-Nazis in Ukraine.” He wants Ukrainians able to decide who’ll lead them.
In free, fair, open democratic elections. According to rule of law principles. Independently monitored.
“We in the EU should not give preference to changing borders, but must respect the position of the peoples, who had decided to create a Federation within the state,” he added.
He advocates East/West dialogue. He denounced military aggression. He called targeting Russia irresponsible. He prioritizes diplomatic conflict resolution.
He said EU nations must change to survive. They lack democracy. Their people don’t believe voting matters. Major parties reflect two sides of the same coin.
Monied interests run things. Kiev’s election will solidify hardline rule. They’ll legitimize the illegitimate. They’ll mock government of, by and for everyone equitably.
It’s strictly forbidden. Ukrainians will get fascist-imposed governance. They’ll have no say. How they’ll react remains to be seen.
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