Ukraine's European Revolution?

[Tamas]

I can't believe that it's back to referendums again. You can't hold those when bullies are demanding them, while having the electorate in a headgrip and doing power wedgies.

I am more and more convinced that Ukraine has pretty much collapsed as a state. The evidences are starting to mount.

[Tamas]

Meanwhile, peaceful civilian protesters in front of the city council building in Slavjansk:

[Tamas]

I wonder if the political vs. military leadership situation in the Ukraine is similar to the Hungarian one of 1944:

the political leadership tried to keep the Big Brother at arms length but close cooperation allowed Big Brother's local fans to more or less take over the military branch of things, so when the political leadership tried to break with Big Brother on account of the shit hitting the fan, the military just ignored them.

[jimmy olsen]

You'd think at least the ethnic Ukrainians from the west would obey orders and fight back. Sure it might set off a civil war within the army between loyalists and pro-Russian members that the loyalists might lose, but you'd think they'd at least try.

[Tamas]

You'd think at least the ethnic Ukrainians from the west would obey orders and fight back. Sure it might set off a civil war within the army between loyalists and pro-Russian members that the loyalists, but you'd think they'd at least try.

For me that video with reservists handing over weapons to civilians was a real shock.

I mean, I assume the government is not 100% stupid, and those reservists (which I guess mean conscripts in Ukraine) were not from the eastern parts. So it makes me think that very few Ukrainians are willing to fight to keep the eastern half of their country.

Of course, I do not think they get to keep any of it.

[Norgy]

I can't believe that it's back to referendums again. You can't hold those when bullies are demanding them, while having the electorate in a headgrip and doing power wedgies.

I am more and more convinced that Ukraine has pretty much collapsed as a state. The evidences are starting to mount.

I am inclined to agree. No monopoly of force, territorial integrity at best uncertain. New government seemingly unable to muster any real resistance so far.
A sad state of affairs for all of Europe, really. And you can bet the GRU are already in deep everywhere.

[Norgy]

sooo, was this an other empty threat deadline from the Ukrainian government? Their ineptitude is shocking.

As for there being Nazis in the Ukrainian political life: OMG REALLY? de facto neo-nazis have been doing well in recent French elections. UKIP is rising in the UK, there are the Greeks, the Hungarians etc. If we accept Svoboda as a valid excuse, then Putin has free reign over all of Europe.

Not to mention the rather menacing presence of Russian neo-nazis in, well, Russia.
UKIP is hardly worth mentioning along with Golden Dawn, though. They're right-wing populists, much like the ones we've seen in Denmark and Norway for decades. The FN, well, they like most right-wing populists have less than tasteful roots, but I still wouldn't label them fascists.

The thing about them, however, is right now it is beneficial for them to play by the rules. You will not discover their true faces (one way, or the other) until they get into power.

As such, if a party/movement appears to be fascist-like minus the fact that they play along with the democratic system, I will go ahead and still consider them fascist, to be on the safe side of things.

While I understand the sentiment, and definitely from you with Jobik and a fairly authoritarian Fidesz, I have some faith in the UK's institutions. I wouldn't say any country in times of crisis is insulated towards an authoritarian or totalitarian path. It could happen everywhere. But some countries have such long traditions for democracy that it'll be hard wiping the institutions off. I mean, I have survived and democracy has survived with the Progress Party in government here. And they're a constant source of amusement rather than autocracy.

[Syt]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DinMf_7dQK4#t=57

The video supposedly shows a guy in uniform in Horlivka (where another police station was occupied this morning), introducing himself as lieutenant colonel of the Russian Army.

[Monoriu]

The only real test of the Russian military will be in a year or two when they clash with NATO in the Baltic States.

I sincerely hope that day will never come. 

[CountDeMoney]

Given this, I doubt that the Ukrainian security forces are in any shape to deal with this situation - not to mention that there might be an unknown number of pro-Russian sympathizers in their ranks. If there is going to be fighting, it's going to be short and end very badly for the Ukraine.

I disagree.  I think the Russians cross the frontier, they get smacked in the face.  Operationally, they're not up to the task.

So far do you think they'll push into Ukraine before being stopped cold?

When their dogmatic operational limitations kick in.
And when the Ukrainians go all assymetrical insurgency on them.

[Syt]

http://voiceofrussia.com/2014_04_13/US-client-states-lock-step-on-fascist-coup-in-Ukraine-Putin-forced-to-seek-resolution-4630/

US client states lock step on fascist coup in Ukraine: Putin forced to seek resolution

The process of reaching a peaceful political resolution to the western backed coup in Ukraine which will be of benefit to all of the people of Ukraine as the continuing crisis continues to deepen is being exacerbated by the continuous disgraceful and shameful coverage in the western media and continues to add to the threat of the country spiraling into complete lawlessness and anarchy. Russian President Vladimir Putin has written a letter to 18 European leaders detailing Russia's position and steps to a diplomatic resolution to the US instigated crisis but will Europe listen? Let's hope for cooler heads.

Western Media War Propaganda

The utter shamefulness of western media coverage in failing to report the facts in Ukraine and their continued demonization of Russia and President Vladimir Putin is disgraceful to watch as media outlets across the spectrum try to outdo each other in their sycophantic attempts at appeasing Washington and their almost mindless lock step promotion of what can only be described as war propaganda.

Recently the head of WikiLeaks Kristinn Hrafnsson put the coverage of the Ukraine crisis in this way: "when the barrels of guns are lifted, truth vanishes" and that describes almost perfectly what has happened. Be those guns the real guns of NATO, the secret guns that make up the arsenal of the CIA, the diplomatic guns of the US State Department, the economic guns of the US Federal Reserve, the IMF and the World Bank or the guns of the entire US corporate media USAID/NGO societal manipulation apparatus, it is not important the first casualty when the US decides to comes after you is truth.

Hrafnsson knows this as does anyone who has bravely stood up to the criminal cabal in that has been in power in the US for decades and has run the US Government with an iron grip since the events of 9-11. Truth is not important to the brutal and godless creatures in Washington and those in power pulling the strings.

Was truth important for the US machine when it came to Bradley Manning? Or was the truth an issue of importance to: the hundreds of innocent men being held in the illegal US torture dungeon at Guantanamo; the millions killed in illegal US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria (including 426 children who were murdered to bring about an invasion pretext), Edward Snowden; Victor Bout; Constantin Yaroshenko; Anonymous hactivists; Jeremy Hammond; Aaron Swartz, all of the lawyers defending whistelblowers, the Palestinians, now the Jews, Trayvon Martin and all of the other brave and innocent people who have suffered or had their very lives taken away at the hands of the imperial tyrannical US murder machine.

The Facts About the New Fourth Reich

You do reader are being lied to and manipulated and if you are complicit, even passively so, you may be complicit in bringing about World War III because this has become a matter of real debate even by the US right who will be more than happy to destroy the world because the chicken hawks and the American populace believe in their Prompt Global Strike system and that they will survive a nuclear war. You may call it a conspiracy theory but the elites in Washington are ready, they have been preparing to call up martial law, hold the US populace in concentration camps like the FEMA camps in Alaska that can hold millions, and then hide their filthy elite carcasses in bunkers like the one under Denver international airport.

A conspiracy theory you say? All of the facts point to the existence of a new Fourth Reich yet the packaging is intentionally deceptive. Even the black president and the pro Israel neo-cons are all part of the design. Don't believe me? Look at the facts dear reader. And you can start with the true nature of the CIA and the fact that 400,000 nazi scientists and planners were given refuge in the United States of America after World War II and allowed to run rampant in the CIA and behind the scenes. MKULTRA is a good place to start, nazi-like eugenics programs in Puerto Rico is another and the neocon coup and the Project for a New American Century is another. Finally the home of the US elite navy seals is an open testament to the nazi reich.

The Facts About Ukraine

Those in the western media and the few brave journalists daring to question the official Washington line on the situation in Ukraine continue to say the situation is complicated, of course it appears that way due to all of the obfuscation by the US apparatus, but I argue that it is quite simple. The results and the Chaos Theory type waves resulting from the initial event are multi-layered and of the greatest complexity I agree, but again the core event is quite simple.

The US/CIA/NATO/EU staged, organized, funded and brought about a regime change operation in Ukraine using nazi Brownshirt thugs. That is the crux and the core truth in Ukraine and everything else can be taken from there.

The Brownshirts were used in the illegal coup d'état in order to bring a triumvirate of US puppets to power and that has been done to a point. I say to a point because no matter how much the US machine calls them the leaders or the government legitimate, they are not. Those in power in Kiev are a junta. They are illegitimate and even though in some cases Russia has been forced to deal with these puppets sans real officials to negotiate with, they continue to be an abomination and an affront to the word democracy. Even the international bankers and the heads of the financial bodies that could bailout Ukraine know these coup puppets are fly by night thugs with only their own interests in mind hence the lack of real financial aid to Ukraine.

After the coup in Ukraine the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were called into a state of high alert because the new regime in Kiev and the bellicose rhetoric of US/NATO posed a direct and present threat to the Russian Federation and the Russian people. The Russian Government and the Russian people unanimously gave the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin the full authority to use force if he deemed it necessary. He did not.

There was no invasion of Ukraine or Crimea. There were Russian troops in Crimea as part of the Black Sea Fleet who had been in the territory for over 2 decades under international legally binding agreements and they were placed on a level of alert but they were never activated against the population of Crimea or Ukraine and merely secured Russian facilities and maintained order and security around strategic locations. Even the reports in the West that the Russian army is amassed along the Ukrainian border ready to move into Ukraine and further into Europe (let alone that there are Russian forces in Ukraine) are false and utterly ridiculous.

The people of Crimea and the government of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, of their own free will fulfilling a wish that has existed for decades, first declared independence from Ukraine and then in a democratic referendum decided to rejoin (yes dear reader REJOIN) the Russian Federation.

Protests now taking place all over Ukraine, and in particular Eastern Ukraine are not being funded or provoked in anyway by Russia. The popular protests are in response to the nazi Brownshirts who have taken power in Kiev. Yes dear reader, nazis are in power again in Europe, thanks to the US/NATO/EU and a black president who is signing off and leading everything. Yes Obama has brought nazi to power in Europe, and we thought a black president would bring us all social justice, rule of law and true democracy.

And finally, US strategy in Ukraine will fail for one reason. Ukraine is the mother of Rus and the people of Ukraine do not want Bandera nazis in power. The only way that US strategy will work is if they commit genocide on the pro-Russian population (something called for by the Right Sector and even Yulia Timoshenko).

Those are the key facts in Ukraine and almost everything they are presenting to you is a either an outright lie or war propaganda. Are you ready to die for neo-nazis in Ukraine dear western reader if your leaders continue to push for war against Russia? Is the US ready to sacrifice stability and prosperity in Europe and the lives of millions of Europeans to bring about its geopolitical objectives in Ukraine and Eastern Europe? Yes they are. Sitting across the pond they believe they are impervious to attack. Sitting disconnected in their expensive suburban mansions they believe what they unleash will never come home to bite them in the posterior. After all they have the US populace enslaved and on lock down and the security state is all powerful. Or so they think. Now you know the US supports nazis. Doesn't that bother anyone? It bothers me.

President Putin's Constructive Approach

Against this backdrop of a full frontal subversive attack on Russia and Eastern Europe by the US/NATO/CIA we have President Vladimir Putin trying to bring about a peaceful resolution to the situation and deal with the Machiavellian assault being waged directly against Russia and the world.

Russia's principled, peaceful and diplomatic approach in Syria and the rest of the world is being echoed in and around Ukraine and even though he has the full authority, the moral right and the upper hand to carry out a western style shock and awe cowboy military intervention in Ukraine to protect a country full of Russians and Russian speakers, President Putin does not.

On April 10th President Putin wrote a letter to 18 European leaders whose countries are dependent on Russian natural gas (one which was intercepted by the NSA/FVEY and even immediately responded to by the US State Department).

In the letter (the full text which is available on the Kremlin website) President Putin: points to the worsening economic situation in Ukraine; reiterates the fact that Ukraine's main trading partners are Russia and EU countries; underlines that all Russian attempts which include the participation of Ukraine are being sidelined by the West; derides western attempts to blame Russia for Ukraine's economic crisis amid calls to lower gas prices which were already at ridiculously low levels; lists the huge discounts that Ukraine has been receiving and the fact that Russia has maintained its contractual obligations under gas agreements from day one; reiterates that Russia has subsidized the government and economy of Ukraine for decades including the December 2013 loan of 3 billion US dollars and that Ukraine's real gas debt to Russia is now at $35.4 billion; blasts the EU for not offering Ukraine real support while using it as "... a source of raw foodstuffs, metal and mineral resources, and at the same time, as a market for selling its highly-processed ready-made commodities (machine engineering and chemicals), thereby creating a deficit";and the fact even though Ukraine continued to enjoy huge gas discounts in March they refuse to pay a single dime. All of these issues and the recent statements by "officials" in Kiev that they have no intention to pay Russia for gas was recently described by the president as intolerable.

Further President Putin details some of the measures that Russia will be forced to take as continuously supplying a recalcitrant Ukraine with billions of dollars of free gas is a condition that cannot go on much longer and that these conditions will affect the delivery of gas to Europe as there exists the very real threat that Ukraine (as it has done in the past) will begin siphoning off gas that is in transit through the Ukrainian section of the gas pipeline.

Finally the President very diplomatically underlines the fact that Russia's European partners have: "... unilaterally withdrawn from the concerted efforts to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, and even from holding consultations with the Russian side, leaves Russia no alternative",yet Russia is: "... prepared to participate in the effort to stabilize and restore Ukraine's economy. However, not in a unilateral way, but on equal conditions with our European partner."

European Reaction: German Chancellor Angela Merkel

One of Russia's key western partners and perhaps the only leader who can really bring about a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Ukraine is German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been perhaps the staunchest ally of Russia in the West and is in an unenviable position which may be described as "a bridge between East and West". Ms. Merkel's diplomacy while attempting to deal with the US (which spies on her private communications) and continues to use Germany as another client state and maintaining normal and mutually beneficial business and economic relations with Russia are to be lauded. However there is much more that she could do and this would in no way hurt her political standing with the German populace which has grown weary of the US propaganda campaign against Russia.

Chancellor Angela Merkel undoubtedly knows the truth about the coup in Ukraine and surely the German connections of US puppet Vitaly Klitschko and in the end may decide to pursue a path that is in the best interests of German and European consumers and the maintaining of mutually beneficial business and trade relations.

In reality the US is asking Germany and Europe to cut off their own noses and close their eyes in order to support its illegal regime change operation in Ukraine. So far Europe has been subservient, but at the end of the day money talks and bullpucky walks, and perhaps on Monday when the EU leaders meet to discuss President Putin's letter Europe may finally stand up and say no to the American hegemon across the pond, but let's not hold our breath.

It is a good thing that Russia has such a cool-headed, diplomatic and wise leader. I for my part would have just shut off the gas long ago.

Finally

The irrational western media response and the continued failure of the media to fairly report on the western backed coup of Ukraine are another sign that the American people are living under tyranny. Attacks on journalists (including myself) for attempting to report the truth on the situation in Ukraine, the fact that the US Government is officially supporting and calling legitimate a nazi coup government and has brought fascists into power again in Europe and the fact that the US is provoking a scenario that may lead to World War III all show the true face of who is in power in Washington.

As a former US citizen whose citizenship was stripped for supporting Russia and protesting US illegality I challenge all my American readers to stand up and end the reign of illegality. I also challenge everyone who has taken an oath to protect the US Constitution to finally stand up and abide by that oath. Your government has been taken over and is no longer a representative of the American people or in any way abiding by the Constitution and they are ready to send you all off to die in another war to enrich the banksters. You attempted to rise with the Occupy Movement but that is not enough, given the lack of will or ability to cut off their free access to your tax dollars there may soon come a time when you will be forced to take up arms and unfortunately that time is coming soon. God help us all.

Finally I leave you with a plea to all stand up for peace and justice and with the words of Mario Savio: "There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part! You can't even passively take part! And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels...upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!"

[Legbiter]

I think based on current Ukrainian competence that the Russians already have taken East Ukraine and could probably take the rest easily if they wanted.

[Ed Anger]

We should have never sent them Pop Tarts after the fall of the Soviet Union.

[DGuller]

Given this, I doubt that the Ukrainian security forces are in any shape to deal with this situation - not to mention that there might be an unknown number of pro-Russian sympathizers in their ranks. If there is going to be fighting, it's going to be short and end very badly for the Ukraine.

I disagree.  I think the Russians cross the frontier, they get smacked in the face.  Operationally, they're not up to the task.

You are assuming that every country that's not Russia is automatically better at military operations.  You're also ignoring the fact that Putin has been putting a lot of his oil wealth into the army for the last couple of years.  Ukraine is fucked.

[CountDeMoney]

Oil wealth or no oil wealth, they're still heavily reliant on Soviet methodology, their first echelon units are few and far between, and geographically the Ukraine is not the phone booth that Georgia was.  40,000 cossacks arent going to be able to get the job done.

You people are talking like it's 1983 all over again.  The Russian bear has no real teeth.