Ukraine Watch...

Tarrel · Post by **Tarrel** » 28 Feb 2015, 22:36

I think it's got "CIA" written all over it. Echoes of flight MH17. The wreckage had hardly hit the ground before the westerm media started their shrill condemnation of Russia!

Talking of the MSM, did anyone see the report by Rupert Wingfield-Hayes on BBC news tonight? He was bigging up the "volunteers" from the Azov Brigade as some sort of freedom fighters defending Mariupol from the hordes from the East. AIUI, the Azov Brigade is a neo-nazi group with declared anti-semitic and white supremacist policies. Are these the "good guys" now? Please somebody; help me to understand.

Little John · Post by **Little John** » 28 Feb 2015, 23:15

I saw it. Made me want to puke. These fuckers have completely taken the gloves off with regards to downright, outright lies. It's tremendously concerning because it means that their paymasters have an agenda to which they have now fully committed to such an extent that they are prepared to force the likes of the BBC to fully whore itself on the back of that agenda.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 04 Mar 2015, 15:39

‘We should absolutely consider lethal aid’ to Ukraine – US Gen. Martin Dempsey

and Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges wrote:"When [Russian] mothers start seeing sons come home dead, when that price goes up, then that domestic support begins to shrink,"

What pair of vile humans.

Little John · Post by **Little John** » 04 Mar 2015, 16:28

The reason the Yank elite want to send "lethal aid" is because they are recognising the thawing of relations between Russia and Europe and a lessening of Europe's resolve in stoking up a conflict with Russia. In other words, they are desperate to kill any form of ceasefire in Ukraine.

These people are the dominant evil in the world today and must be stopped by any means necessary.

Little John · Post by **Little John** » 07 Mar 2015, 00:20

The Socialist Revolution and the Right of Nations to Self-Determination

https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/ ... an/x01.htm

This essay, though written almost 100 years ago, has a startlingly prescient resonance with the situation today in Scotland, the Basque region of Spain, Ukraine and all the various other secessionary rumblings across the EU and elsewhere.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 11 Mar 2015, 11:57

Marginally off topic, Obama's regime has been trying to do a Kiev on Caracas for some years. The latest is for him to declare Venezuela a "national security threat". What??????

That would be comical if if weren't so absurd.

Why? Not...oil, surely? Plus no doubt the Chavez and the Maduro successive governments' policies have the touch of the 'threat of a good example', with their positive reforms in the areas literacy, health, human rights etc.

Caracas, Kiev, Tehran, Palestine, Damascus, Tripoli, Managua, Aden, Lima and so on and so forth (the list goes on and on and fecking well on) would do well to declare the US an "international security threat". Indeed, the US is a threat to itself. Chickens/roost.

raspberry-blower · Post by **raspberry-blower** » 20 Mar 2015, 20:03

John Helmer: IMF Loan to Ukraine Enriches Oligarchs

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 24 Mar 2015, 10:02

raspberry-blower wrote:John Helmer: IMF Loan to Ukraine Enriches Oligarchs

"Headline states obvious"

raspberry-blower · Post by **raspberry-blower** » 10 Apr 2015, 13:27

Looks like the fragile ceasefire is over

Fort Russ: Kiev Junta forces launch large scale attack

raspberry-blower · Post by **raspberry-blower** » 23 Apr 2015, 10:40

Very lucid piece from the Saker reprinted at ICH: What does Putin want?

There re some really sobering reading - first, about the EU:

Nor are we interested in the European Union’s position. Much depended on the EU until the summer of last year, when the war could have been prevented or stopped at the outset. A tough, principled antiwar stance by the EU was needed. It could have blocked U.S. initiatives to start the war and would have turned the EU into a significant independent geopolitical player. The EU passed on that opportunity and instead behaved like a faithful vassal of the United States.

As a result, Europe stands on the brink of frightful internal upheaval. In the coming years, it has every chance of suffering the same fate as the Ukraine, only with a great roar, great bloodshed and less chance that in the near future things will settle down – in other words, that someone will show up and put things in order.

In fact, today the EU can choose whether to remain a tool of the United States or to move closer to Russia. Depending on its choice, Europe can get off with a slight scare, such as a breakup of parts of its periphery and possible fragmentation of some countries, or it could collapse completely. Judging by the European elites’ reluctance to break openly with the United States, collapse is almost inevitable.

Then the US:

In the second half of the 1990s, Washington missed its only opportunity to reform the Cold War economy without any obstacles and thereby avoid the looming crisis in a system whose development is limited by the finite nature of planet Earth and its resources, including human ones, which conflicts with the need to endlessly print dollars.

After that, the United States could prolong the death throes of the system only by plundering the rest of the world. At first, it went after Third World countries. Then it went for potential competitors. Then for allies and even close friends. Such plundering could continue only as long as the United States remained the world’s undisputed hegemon.

Thus when Russia asserted its right to make independent political decisions – decisions of not global but regional import – , a clash with the United States became inevitable. This clash cannot end in a compromise peace.

For the United States, a compromise with Russia would mean a voluntary renunciation of its hegemony, leading to a quick, systemic catastrophe – not only a political and economic crisis but also a paralysis of state institutions and the inability of the government to function. In other words, its inevitable disintegration.

Finally, Russia:

It is essential to understand what the Russian leadership wants to achieve, particularly the president, Vladimir Putin. We are talking about the key role that Putin plays in the organization of the Russian power structure. This system is not authoritarian, as many assert, but rather authoritative – meaning it is based not on legislative consolidation of autocracy but on the authority of the person who created the system and, as the head of it, makes it work effectively.

During Putin’s 15 years in power, despite the difficult internal and external situation, he has tried to maximize the role of the government, the legislative assembly, and even the local authorities. These are entirely logical steps that should have given the system completeness, stability, and continuity. Because no politician can rule forever, political continuity, regardless of who comes to power, is the key to a stable system.

Unfortunately, fully autonomous control, namely the ability to function without the president’s oversight, hasn’t been achieved. Putin remains the key component of the system because the people put their trust in him personally. They have far less trust in the system, as represented by public authorities and individual agencies.

Thus Putin’s opinions and political plans become the decisive factor in areas such as Russia’s foreign policy. If the phrase “without Putin, there is no Russia” is an exaggeration, then the phrase “what Putin wants, Russia also wants” reflects the situation quite accurately in my opinion.

Murf · Post by **Murf** » 23 Apr 2015, 11:56

raspberry-blower wrote:Very lucid piece from the Saker reprinted at ICH: What does Putin want?

....

That's a great article.

Little John · Post by **Little John** » 05 Jun 2015, 10:37

http://rt.com/news/265093-ukraine-law-foreign-forces/

So much for faux Western apoplexy at the fiction of Russian military intervention. Frankly, i would not have blamed Russia for direct military intervention long before now. As it is, they are going to have their hand forced before too much longer.

3rdRock · Post by **3rdRock** » 01 Jul 2015, 13:59

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-33341322

Russia halts gas supplies to Ukraine after talks breakdown

Russian gas firm Gazprom has confirmed it has halted gas supplies to Ukraine after a breakdown on pricing talks.

It comes a day after Ukraine's state energy firm Naftogaz announced it was suspending gas purchases from Russia.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 01 Jul 2015, 14:11

The weather forecast for Kiev over the next week takes temperatures into the 30s so they won't be needing their heating just now.

raspberry-blower · Post by **raspberry-blower** » 31 Aug 2015, 19:59

It's kicked off (again) in Kiev:

RT: Multiple injuries after grenade thrown in "protest" march

Put into context - Poroshenko was submitting a bill to give more autonomous powers to the Regions - including Donbass - today.