Rowan
Speaking on that does the agreement, with lines like ‘end illegal holding of offices/gov buildings’ imply Crimea too?

Posted by: Anonymous | Apr 18 2014 10:00 utc | 103

Posted by: Demian | Apr 18, 2014 5:17:16 AM | 99
Surely you are being satirical with this post. No? You’ve mentioned you’re a Russian-American. Don’t you think it’s about time you return to Mother Russia? Clearly you’re miserable in America. It doesn’t fit your values and principles. It’s not pure like Russia and Russians, so why stay?
By virtue of your logic, it must stand to reason Russia also has pre-modern (versus the overwrought term post-modern) views when it comes to the status of women in its society and how they’re treated by men. From the Russians I know, this is surely the case, so therefore it must mean that from the handful I do no, the rule applies to the entire Russian population…using your logic as you apply it to all things America.
Demian, you’re overreaching in your infallible support of Putin. The only religion in America is the religion of mass consumption, and that religion is spreading across the globe at ten times, no make that a hundred times, faster than Islam. Every other belief is tailored to fit the zealous and unflappable belief in mass consumption. And in that respect, Russia now has religion too. Hence the success of McDonalds and so many other Western brands of mass consumption in Russia. You can’t stop what’s coming. You can’t stop what’s come. It’s not all waiting on you, and it hasn’t waited on you. It’s here and there’s nothing you can do about it except whine that it’s not what you want or like. The more you do that, the faster and stronger the real religion of mass consumption spreads.

Posted by: Cold N. Holefield | Apr 18 2014 10:27 utc | 105

Can’t you read the Geneva statement? Or read and hear the Putin speach when he admitted that russian soldiers were outside their barracks to support the referendum preparations which is against the international Ukrainian treaty??
You all make yourselves fools here if you demand the west to adhere to international laws and peaceful behaviour but do not demand the same from the other side involved in the whole circus – its propaganda of its worst type on all sides

Posted by: thomas | Apr 18 2014 11:01 utc | 107

thomas
As I thought you lied, I told you to show a source, you blew it.
And as I thought you are propaganized westerner trying to come here and lecture. Good riddance boy.

Posted by: Anonymous | Apr 18 2014 11:27 utc | 109

@109: you are just as stupid and unteachable as always, just ready for ad hominem attacks, I leave you in the dumbness of your brain

Posted by: thomas | Apr 18 2014 11:34 utc | 111

Posted by: thomas | Apr 18, 2014 7:31:33 AM | 110
The ICC already got involved.
The OSCE / EU track record from Yugoslavia is abysmal – the OSCE is no tool to replace legitimate authorities.
The fascinating part in this conflict is “the West” pretending to work for the territorial integrity of Ukraine, whilst Russia insists on secession.
It is a real change from Genscher’s (former German foreign minister) policy on Yugoslavia.
Of course it is against international law, all of it.

Posted by: somebody | Apr 18 2014 12:07 utc | 113

Keeping score:
Posted by: Anonymous | Apr 18, 2014 7:49:06 AM | 112
No, Thomas is right. Russia violated its agreement with Ukraine when its military stepped away from the ports and took on unrelated tasks. I fully support them doing that, and doing so definitely saved lives, greatly discouraged Right Sector or Ukraine government intervention, and allowed the democratic referendum to go forward. Those were exceptional times, an unrepresentative and anti-Crimean government had taken power by force, so anyone looking at the situation with reason and not a simplistic “must follow rules” mentality would find Russia did the right, and humane, thing.
Posted by: thomas | Apr 18, 2014 7:31:33 AM | 110
You are engaged in wishful thinking:
“It was agreed that the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission should play a leading role in assisting Ukrainian authorities and local communities in the immediate implementation of these de-escalation measures wherever they are needed most, beginning in the coming days. The U.S., E.U. and Russia commit to support this mission, including by providing monitors.”
This is only about “de-escalation” and not about restoring democratic legitimacy or ending thug rule in Kiev. It means, mainly, that the OSCE will be monitoring whether buildings are being ‘un-occupied’ in the east, and occupying buildings is the _only_ way the east has any leverage against the normalization of unrestricted rule by the coup makers.
“The announced constitutional process will be inclusive, transparent and accountable. It will include the immediate establishment of a broad national dialogue, with outreach to all of Ukraine’s regions and political constituencies, and allow for the consideration of public comments and proposed amendments.”
There’s nothing at all solid in the preceding, it is a mealy-mouthed nothing. WHAT “announced constitutional process”? The only announcements by the authorities have been “after the elections, yeah, sure, we’ll take a look.” Note that there is no deadline! “National dialogue” has been going on in Palestine-Israel for 40+ years and look at what it has gotten Palestine. What does “outreach” mean, and so on and so forth.
The only way this ‘statement’ (it is not an agreement) will “work” for the east and south is if Russia announces in a very short time that it has been violated. But, the statement is so general I’m not sure Russia will be able to make that case.

Posted by: fairleft | Apr 18 2014 12:50 utc | 115

A measured analysis of the current agreement.
AnatolyKarlin

Posted by: Tea | Apr 18 2014 13:44 utc | 117

Whataver it was that was slowing this site right down, it seems to have cleared now, but bernhard, you might try disabling your widgets one at a time, to see if one of them is particularly buggy. It doesn’t actually matter, at least not to me. Compare for instance Global Research, which has had this problem for several years.

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Apr 18 2014 15:59 utc | 119

That showing down thing is still coming and going: sometimes you can get the site immediately, sometimes you can’t get it at all (stuck at “connecting to…”). I’m noting all this here to make sure Bernhard knows about it, especially because he says in the post, “I am traveling and will have not much Internet time.”

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Apr 18 2014 17:02 utc | 121

There is something up with the server’s ability to keep connected to this site.
It’s chronic today, and infrequent yesterday I observed on PST.

Posted by: Tea | Apr 18 2014 17:15 utc | 123

A very, very categorical assessment of the OSCE from Saker today:

Some of you have expressed concerns about the planned OSCE mission. You have to understand that all this is is a fig leaf to try to give the impression that all parties want to de-escalate the violence. Furthermore, and I assure you that this is true, nobody on the planet knows the OSCE better than the Russians, especially Putin, as they saw how these “observers” “observed” in Chechnia! As a result, if and when these so-called “observers” show up in the eastern Ukraine, they might as well wear T-shirts with “CIA”, “MI6″, “DGSE” or “KSI” written in big letters.

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Apr 18 2014 17:37 utc | 125

@124: I warned you to start a discussion about that entity “Yugoslavia” in 1998 / 99 being already nothing else than an illusional rest state consisting mainly of the aggressive, nationalist and stupid anti-modern parts of the serbian establishment, mainly commanded by very backward orthodox bishops. “Yugoslavia” had nothing but a very bad meaning to the other nations, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo etc., so there was not much of “illegal” actions after the murders of Srebrenica and the obvious preparations to do the same in Kosovo.
Illegal actions against international law by the so-called “West” are much clearer in the cases of Afghanistan, Irak, Lybia etc. – now that’s been added by Russia’s intervention in Crimea. I’m not starting discussion with Crimea as you see – but I also will not let it out.

Posted by: thomas | Apr 18 2014 17:58 utc | 127

@128: where are you aiming at? It’s just easy to answer: breach of international law in the case of Crimes: yes or no? What’s your opinion?

Posted by: thomas | Apr 18 2014 18:19 utc | 129

The notion that Putin is a devout Christian and guided by his religious beliefs is amusing but it’s not much more outlandish than the idea that Russia will be returning Crimea to Ukraine, any time soon.
Rowan, as usual, ends up by promoting the view that, in this world, whatever the US wants it gets. He lives in a fantasy world, deeply coloured by Stalinism, a profoundly pessimistic and anti-revolutionary view of the world, which failed when the USSR dissolved. He goes along with the US view that it defeated the USSR, and thus, is a force which will always have its way. This is why, whether Syria or Ukraine or anywhere else be at issue, Rowan always assumes that the US is prevailing. And, where it clearly is not, it is explained away as a ‘cunning plan’ cooked up in Washington.
In point of fact the US is rapidly degenerating, its military machine-which absorbs an incredible amount of the national income-is increasingly found to be ineffective. Its alliances are buckling under the strain of impossible demands and only continue because the leaders of most of Europe are on the payroll or have applications for Green Cards on file (and then, of course, there are those who’ve used the phone to order prostitutes and drugs).
This is not to say that, at some date in the future Crimea, Odessa and Kiev, perhaps even Lvov, will not once again share the same Provincial government. That is a possibility. What is not going to happen is a return of the status quo ante in which Russia continually chafed under the irritations of dealing with the treacherous prostitutes who seem to dominate politics in Kiev. And get on so well with their counterparts in Washington and Brussels.
One thing that does seem clear on this Good Friday is that nothing much was decided in the talks, except that the Right Sector was disavowed by its western sponsors. As, perhaps assisted by the clarity that a tiny brain brings simpletons like myself, I suggested, what has taken place in the Donbas and other Peoples Republics was spontaneous, powerful and of lasting significance, it will take a little more than John Kerry’s Protocols of the Elders of Rus and other fabrications of the propaganda industry (another part of the US state which is falling apart) to put the genie, that Kiev’s statue breakers summoned up, back into the box.
(I tried to post this for hours earlier today. Since then I’ve seen Couterpunch where Arno Mayer has a very instructive piece.)
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/04/18/the-ukraine-imbroglio.

Posted by: bevin | Apr 18 2014 18:34 utc | 131

127

” now that’s been added by Russia’s intervention in Crimea. I’m not starting discussion with Crimea as you see – but I also will not let it out.”
Russia hasnt made a intervention in Crimea. Stop lying on this board.

Posted by: Anonymous | Apr 18 2014 18:49 utc | 133

I have to come back to Samir Amin’s analysis here. He says in the final part of his essay:

A people’s oriented policy implies therefore moving away, as much as possible, from the “liberal” recipes and the electoral masquarade associated with it, which claims to give legitimacy to regressive social policies. I would suggest setting up in its place a brand of new State capitalism with social dimension (I say social, not socialist). That system opens the road to eventual advances toward a socialisation of the management of the economy, therefore authentic new advances toward an invention of democracy responding to the challenges of a modern economy.
It is only if Russia moves along such lines that the current conflict between on the one hand the intended independent international policy of Moscow and on the other hand the pursuing of a reactionary social internal policy can be given a positive outcome. Such a move is needed and possible : fragments of the political ruling class could align on such a programme if popular mobilisation and action promote it. To the extent that similar advances would also be carried out in Ukraine, Transcaucasia and Central Asia, an authentic community of Euro Asian nations can be established and become a powerful actor in the reconstruction of the World system.
5. The remaining of the Russian State power within the strict limits of the neo liberal recipe annihilates the chances of success of an independent foreign policy, and the chances of Russia becoming a really emerging country acting as an important international actor.
Neo liberalism cannot produce for Russia but a tragic economic and social regression, a pattern of “lumpen development” and a growing subordinate status in the global imperialist order. Russia would provide to the Triad oil, gas and some other natural resources; its industries would be reduced to the status of sub contracting to the benefit of Western financial monopolies.
In such a position, not very far from that of Russia to day in the global system, attempts to act independently in the international area will remain fragile to the extreme, threatened by “sanctions” which will invigorate the disastrous alignment of the ruling economic oligarchy on the demands of dominant Triad’s monopolies. The current out flow of “Russian capital” associated with the Ukraine crisis illustrates the danger. Re-establishing a State control over the movements of capital is the only effective response to that danger.

It kinds of sums up the situation pretty accurately. It’s over to you Russia…

Posted by: William Bowles | Apr 18 2014 18:56 utc | 135

“He lives in a fantasy world, deeply coloured by Stalinism, a profoundly pessimistic and anti-revolutionary view of the world, which failed when the USSR dissolved.”
Nuh-uh. Stalin, the Evilest Man Evah©, died 40 years before this dissolution. The failure was due to Khrushchev’s revisionism and the capitalist roaders who came after him.
“Virtually everything we thought we knew about the Stalin years turns out to be wrong. The history of the USSR, and of the communist movement of the 20th century, must be completely rewritten.”

Posted by: ruralito | Apr 18 2014 19:17 utc | 137

That’s a nice little link, ruralito, but reading it I spotted an advert for another book, of which the reviewer said this:

The recent financial crisis and Great Recession have been analysed endlessly in the mainstream and academia, but this is the first book to conclude, on the basis of in-depth analyses of official US data, that Marx’s crisis theory can explain these events. Marx believed that the rate of profit has a tendency to fall, leading to economic crises and recessions. Many economists, Marxists among them, have dismissed this theory out of hand, but Andrew Kliman’s careful data analysis shows that the rate of profit did indeed decline after the post-WW2 boom and that free-market policies failed to reverse the decline. The fall in profitability led to sluggish investment and economic growth, mounting debt problems, desperate attempts of governments to fight these problems by piling up even more debt, and ultimately to the Great Recession. Kliman’s conclusion is simple but shocking: short of socialist transformation, the only way to escape the ‘new normal’ of a stagnant, crisis-prone economy is to restore profitability through full-scale destruction of existing wealth, something not seen since the Depression of the 1930s.

That is more up my alley than the question of which atrocity stories about Stalin are true and which are false. After all, I’ve already contributed to the revisionist history of that period in my long essay about Stalin and the Zionists, which has not been published anywhere except on my blog (as far as I know), but is one of the things I keep meaning to save a copy of in my own files, just in case my blog vaporises one day, as blogs like mine sometimes do.

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Apr 18 2014 19:37 utc | 139

Posted by: Anonymous | Apr 18, 2014 3:20:20 PM | 138
Merriam Webster
to intervene – to become involved in something (such as a conflict) in order to have an influence on what happens
Russia intervened in Crimea – right?

Posted by: somebody | Apr 18 2014 19:42 utc | 141

@131

“Rowan, as usual, ends up by promoting the view that, in this world, whatever the US wants it gets. He lives in a fantasy world, deeply coloured by Stalinism, a profoundly pessimistic and anti-revolutionary view of the world, which failed when the USSR dissolved. He goes along with the US view that it defeated the USSR, and thus, is a force which will always have its way. This is why, whether Syria or Ukraine or anywhere else be at issue, Rowan always assumes that the US is prevailing. And, where it clearly is not, it is explained away as a ‘cunning plan’ cooked up in Washington.
In point of fact the US is rapidly degenerating, its military machine-which absorbs an incredible amount of the national income-is increasingly found to be ineffective. Its alliances are buckling under the strain of impossible demands and only continue because the leaders of most of Europe are on the payroll or have applications for Green Cards on file (and then, of course, there are those who’ve used the phone to order prostitutes and drugs).”

Everyone loves them some Dr. Sigbevin Freud!!Do tell, Herr Doctor, what are the underlying psycho/politico tendencies of RB?
As far as your fake-left boosterism goes in regards to the above:
The fake left has been screaming this exact same type of rose-colored, childish horseshite nonsense during Vietnam and ever after. Yup, just like the madmen on the corner screaming that “THE END IS NIGH”, if you keep screaming forever then just maybe you’ll be proven right one day. Where’s the “end of America” party, optimists?! I hear everyone’s meeting at Maddow’s Manhattan penthouse? Or is Goodman hosting? Better get your tux rented, kids!!!
Yup, don’t worry that we don’t have a SINGLE FUCKING DATA POINT pointing to the rapid degeneration of American power but if we keep on clapping harder and harder and HARDER AND HARDER we will resurrect that revolutionary spirit from the “anti-revolutionary” (read: clear-minded) people who see that there’s really not much cause for celebration yet. Um, America has “lost” EVERY war it’s been engaged in by most standards since WWII and with every “setback” the “left” has promised us another great change. Just around the corner! But this time IT’S DIFFERENT!!HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!!!!(does the charleston)
If anything, in light of the ever-increasing brutality of domestic police forces,the near total trashing of the remaining laws in the US and the effectiveness of the propaganda mechanisms, it look like things will EASILY continue to get worse for another 3 DECADES on the domestic front. Oh, but we’re all supposed to believe that on the foreign policy front even though the US has spent 10 times as much as the rest of the world combined on their military/intelligence for at least 3 decades it’s just swirling the shitter and is just about to go down the drain!!Hooray!!!That’s gonna be AWESUM!!!Body shots on Chomsky!!! I’m doing a keg stand with Greenwald that little rascal!!!
The US might not be prevailing in every murderous action that it carries out – what, are the numbers like 34,678 successful war crimes commissions out of 39,567? Or am I off by a factor or two or ten? – but its capacity both to create and profit from massive disasters/crises hasn’t diminished a bit yet and won’t for some time so maybe instead engaging in the wishful thinking that has become the hallmark of America’s recent propaganda assault and thereby promulgating a false sense of accomplishment among people of conscience we should rather be an inculcating the mindset that even though aware citizens may know MORE about how they’re getting fucked things are STILL GETTING WORSE for them.
Dr. Sigbevin Freud: JSorrentine, are you saying that the entire idea of the Information/Digital Age – once a promise of hope and salvation (read: happy talk) – has been leveraged by TPTB into a tool by which to breed false hopes in the conscientious masses and thereby more easily control potential malcontents?
JSorretine: Partly.
Dr. Sigbevin Freud: You’re a schizoid, nihilist, Trotskyite – am I forgetting anything, Dr. Carl Junguest77? – that obviously has no concept of how this world works. You need to be medicated. Here, take some of my happy pills.

Posted by: JSorrentine | Apr 18 2014 20:03 utc | 143

This morning the NY Times actually selected my comments as one of its picks. There must be something wrong with it:
The obvious political solution is for the creation of a loose federation so that Ukraine exists in name, but the east’s relationship with Russia remains intact. Like the US (and Russia, for that matter), Ukraine needs to ratchet back the power of the oligarchs and provide more for the average citizen to create a stable society.
As far as economics are concerned, Ukraine can and should work deals that ensure Soviet gas and western investment in order to move it from the brink of bankruptcy.
The problem is that Europe’s needs are different than the US’s. Soon the cracks between the US and the EU will become more visible. The Cold War no longer works for Germany.
You can look at the last twenty years of US intervention in the Middle East as an attempt by the permanent government to use the remnants of the Cold War to gain control of Mideastern-Asian oil and gas. It’s been a failed exercise. Iran will eventually shed the artificial bindings of the American-imposed sanctions and begin selling oil and gas to Europe, either through its own pipeline through Syria and Iraq or through Russian lines. Russia will diversify its customers, adding China as a major customer along with Europe.
The coup in Ukraine was manufactured by the US. Creating a hot spot there may provide some pleasure for the Cold Warrior cult in Foggy Bottom, but it doesn’t serve European interests. When interests diverge, so do alliances.

Posted by: Bob In Portland | Apr 18 2014 20:10 utc | 145

@Anonymous #146:
Yes, I agree that no legitimate or legal Ukrainian state exists today, so Russia was not bound by any agreements it had made with the Ukraine regarding the Crimea. Putin himself has made that argument.

Posted by: Demian | Apr 18 2014 20:30 utc | 147

William @ 135. Thanks for the Samir Amin analysis, which actually dovetails with the Boris Kagarlitsky piece, “Crimea Annexes Russia,” that aroused some ire here I believe when bevin recommended it. Kagarlitsky argues there that the best outcome for Russia would be if the U.S. backed up its bluster and actually laid down a punishing raft of sanctions. This would force Russia to invest in its national development instead of competing in the neoliberal race to the bottom. Amin is right: “The current out flow of ‘Russian capital’ associated with the Ukraine crisis illustrates the danger. Re-establishing a State control over the movements of capital is the only effective response to that danger.”
After Cyprus, after Syria, after Sochi and now Ukraine, I would think that Russia’s leadership gets the message too.

Posted by: Mike Maloney | Apr 18 2014 20:34 utc | 149

Russia seems incredibly naive.
Latest:

Russia slams US assessment of accord on Ukraine
http://presstv.com/detail/2014/04/18/359139/russia-slams-us-over-ukraine-meeting/

Posted by: Anonymous | Apr 18 2014 20:49 utc | 151

Massinissa, recall that large Cyprus depositors were forced to eat losses by the Eurozone and ECB. (This was termed a “bail-in” of the banks instead of a bail-out.) Germany was notable in singling out Cyprus for punishment because of the all loot being off-shored there supposedly by wealthy Russians. Hence, a bail-in for Cypriot banks while everywhere else in Europe banks were bailed out.
I included Sochi because the U.S.-orchestrated anti-Russia smear campaign was so over the top. Day after day the NYT featured stories of corruption, shoddy workmanship, threats of imminent death and destruction by terrorist suicide bombers. The intent was clearly to diminish any success of Russia’s Olympic Games.

Posted by: Mike Maloney | Apr 18 2014 21:13 utc | 153

Posted by: Mike Maloney | Apr 18, 2014 5:13:54 PM | 153
Cyprus did not work either.

Michael Olympios, head of the Cyprus Investors Association, a lobbying group, said he did not see any serious risk in having Russians in control of the country’s biggest, albeit gravely ill, bank. “We are not in the cold war anymore,” he said.
“It is ironic,” Mr. Olympios added. “The Germans tried to get rid of Russian money and they ended up with a shareholder structure stacked with Russian oligarchs.”

More on Russian Cyprus
And this here is Deutsche Welle

“It shows the mistakes in the comments by many northern European leaders that the bailout and the haircut was a way of getting Cyprus out of Russian hands,” Alexandros Apostolides, economist at the European University Cyprus, told DW.
“It means that now we are completely dependant on Russia. Before, they were only depositors, now they are shareholders. They own a bank that is even more systemic than it was before the bailout.”

Posted by: somebody | Apr 18 2014 21:36 utc | 155

The point for Russia, somebody, isn’t that Cyprus boomeranged (because large depositors in exchange for their losses were awarded controlling stock in the zombie banks). The point is that an exception was made in the standard operating procedure (socialization of bank losses) in order to punish Russians.

Posted by: Mike Maloney | Apr 18 2014 22:04 utc | 157

At a meeting of UN Security Council, a man carrying a machine gun rushes in and shouts: Who here is Churkin?
Samantha Power joyfully points a finger at Churkin.
Man with the MG: Vitaly, quickly, duck under the table!

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 18 2014 22:37 utc | 159

If the only hope for an-anti-Western-empire win is that this ‘deal’ fails, then there is still hope:

If we should leave our buildings then everyone should leave their buildings. [Oleksandr] Turchinov and [Arseniy] Yatsenyuk should also leave the buildings they occupied illegally.

— Denis Pushilin of the Donetsk People’s Republic
This commenter also locks onto what matters in the second paragraph below. Where are the guarantees? Nowhere. There’s ‘talk’ of a referendum being prepared but no action. There’s no trust and there shouldn’t be any. And yeah, it would be a sign of trust if representatives of the eastern Ukraine were invited to sit down as equals with coupsters and work out a _concrete_ agreement with specifics and a speedy _timetable_!

We watched [Russian Foreign Minister Sergey] Lavrov, we are quite happy with what he has said. But the Ukrainian side has interpreted the agreements in an absolutely different way.
It will not take long to disarm, to dismantle the barricades – but where are the guarantees? [The Kiev authorities] need to reach out to us. The talks of preparing a referendum – we still see no steps in this direction. We need to trust each other, for that we need to sit down at the negotiation table – but no one has so far invited us to talk.

— Anatoly Khmelevoy of the local Communist Party (KPU) in Slavyansk
And all of the following is very interesting. It is good to hear Pushilin refer to the National Guard, which the Kiev coupsters likely will claim is not an ‘illegal armed group’. (In fact, the ability to claim that was likely the reason that Svoboda and Right Sector infested group was created, and the reason the Geneva statement reads as it does.):

The self-proclaimed Donetsk Republic meanwhile said it will not follow the treaty’s calls until Kiev starts doing so. Speaking to Itar-Tass, the republic’s chair, Denis Pushilin, said that the Kiev authorities are “refusing to pull back the troops from the territory of the Donetsk Region, and in those conditions it is impossible to talk of compromise.”
Kiev “must vacate the seized buildings, disarm the illegal armed groups – the National Guard and the Right Sector – and free all the political prisoners,” Pushilin stressed. “After that, we will be ready for dialogue.”
However, speaking to journalists on Friday, the coup-imposed Ukrainian foreign minister said that Kiev activists do not have to quit Independence Square (Maidan) because it has been occupied “legally.”
Deshchytsa stressed that the amnesty law for eastern Ukrainian protesters, which Kiev says has already been tabled for a vote in the Ukrainian parliament (the Verkhovna Rada), will only be applied after “complete disarmament” of the protesters in the region and total vacation of administrative buildings.

Respect to the occupiers. Hold fast or the EU/IMF/US/NATO win.

Posted by: fairleft | Apr 19 2014 0:33 utc | 161

This week, Daniel Sandford (lower right) another BBC reporter from the same bureau in Moscow, has been hard at work in eastern Ukraine fabricating images and voiceover for what the reporter and his Corporation claim to be “a very, very significant show of force today by forces loyal to Kiev.”
Look closely at the third clip in the sequence, and you will see that this is none of the things the BBC claims to be showing: the men and their equipment are not in military formation; they are too far from the highway, almost 100 metres in the background, to constitute a checkpoint; they lack unit flashes or insignia of rank to show they belong to any army; their costume comprises helmets, gloves, and arms which are not standard Ukrainian issue but American; some aren’t wearing body armour; none is carrying the spare ammunition magazines soldiers depend on when they expect to fire, and to be fired at.
johnny_englishIn short, these are images of a very, very significant show put on by the drama department of the BBC. The only audience visible are journalists and photographers. All that is missing is not veracity, but Johnny English.
http://johnhelmer.net/?p=10570

Posted by: brian | Apr 19 2014 0:49 utc | 163

Posted by: ToivoS | Apr 18, 2014 8:59:46 PM | 164
“Lavrov knew, as well as every other person in that room, that Yats has lost control over, not only eastern Ukraine, not only western Ukraine, but even the streets of Kiev.”
“Yats” never had control over anything, he’s figurehead for western fascist interests. They tell him what to say, what to do, and everything else. He is like the SNC clowns serving as the “legit government of Syria” in western regime “diplomacy” and propaganda. The Nuland leak should have made that clear to everybody, except the most dense of establishment dittoheads.

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 19 2014 1:08 utc | 165

@Cold N. Holefield #162:

My wife’s mother thinks Obama is the Anti-Christ.

I don’t know about the Antichrist, but Obama does bare a striking resemblance to Apophis from the sci-fi TV series Stargate SG-1. Apophis is a Goa’uld System Lord. According to Wikipedia, the System Lords are “posturing egomaniacs driven by an insatiable lust for power, each one capable of unimaginable evil”.

Posted by: Demian | Apr 19 2014 1:45 utc | 167

Apparently “Saker” has attracted the ire of U.S. military “intelligence”. 😉

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 19 2014 1:57 utc | 169

Posted by: ToivoS | Apr 18, 2014 9:59:55 PM | 170
Yeah, right. 😀

Posted by: scalawag | Apr 19 2014 2:05 utc | 171

ruralito @137
I’m surprised that you accuse me of subscribing to “evilest man ever” propaganda regarding Stalin.
The point that I was making is that Stalin was very conservative in his view of revolution. He opposed October 1917, for example. More to the point he agreed that western Europe, including both France and Italy, as well as the Franco regime in Spain, should fall within the western sphere of influence and that the Communists should not attempt to seize power or even, in the case of Spain and Portugal, insist on the isolation of overtly fascist regimes. He made the same compromises in Greece and, thankfully thwarted by Tito, Yugoslavia: in both countries he was ready to sacrifice Resistance movements to US/British forces incorporating Nazi collaborators.
This is not to attack Stalin per se, these were decisions made for raisons d’etat. People will, and should argue about them. But the point I was making, that Stalinists over estimate the power of the enemy, distrust revolutions and are conservative in backing resistance movements is true.
In this case I was making the point that Stalinism’s conservatism and refusal to take the offensive against the imperialists led to the end of the USSR, which was constantly on the defensive after 1944.

Posted by: bevin | Apr 19 2014 3:52 utc | 173

Here we go.
Ukranian Government Pledges Russian Language Rights
“To achieve peace and understanding among the citizens of Ukraine,” he added, “regional, municipal and district councils will be given the right to decide to grant, within a particular area, alongside Ukrainian, the state language, official status to the Russian language or to another language spoken by a majority of the local population.”

Posted by: Tea | Apr 19 2014 4:42 utc | 175

@Tea #175:
Given that 83% of Ukrainian respondents to a recent Gallup poll chose to read the poll in Russian instead of Ukrainian, not making Russian the state language (not just a regional language), alongside Ukrainian—which is little more than a dialect of Russian, as was discussed here last weekend—is utter madness, and should be viewed as completely unacceptable by all Ukrainians.
Russian Language Enjoying a Boost in Post-Soviet States

Posted by: Demian | Apr 19 2014 5:39 utc | 177

@somebody #178:
Thank you so much for that link to the CNN report. I must admit that that produces the greatest grounds for optimism in me that I have run across in weeks. CNN let the Russian point of view (which I obviously view as the one objective point of view here) get across and have equal time with that retired American general, who spouted the usual US paranoid fantasies about RF intentions and actions.
The only thing I can conclude is that some CNN managers or producers have watched some RT, and were simply shamed into producing a segment on current events in the Ukraine that has some connection with reality. (I don’t have a TV, so I watch no cable news, so I have no way of judging whether you are right when you say that “something in the Media has changed.” But I very much hope that you are right.)
As for your remark about an alleged “cultural heritage of Polish”: as you are aware, I am a Russian American Germanophile. When I was growing up in the US, the only ethnic jokes I was exposed to were Polish and Italian jokes. My cohorts used the word Polish as a synonym for “broken”: something “going Polish” means that it has become broken. What contributions have Poles made to culture aside from polkas and mazurkas? So I take your remark about Polish cultural heritage as a provocation directed at me, but I will not allow myself to be provoked. 😉
On a serious note, the Polish deserve to be made fun of in this way, because they allow themselves to made dupes of the empire, with their thinking that sending 10,000 US soldiers to Poland is going to impress anyone.

Posted by: Demian | Apr 19 2014 7:19 utc | 179

Demian @156, 158: just leave us alone with your stupid perceptions about so-called german culture and its alleged suppression through America – we, the older and younger generation here are very happy to have lost the commands belling “Achtung” culture and its ethnic streamlining generations back to prove our “heritage”. We are still able to read Goethe and Schiller and Brecht and hear Beethoven and Bach and Weill but are in the same way very thankful for everything which came from the anglo – saxon world, incl. Coca-Cola and Pepsi which is much better stuff than the brown shit here which was served under the name of “Afri-Cola”.
Our east is soooo pooor … thats why millions of russians, ukrainians, polish and other people are happy to work exactly there and in the west …. and why Berlin e.g. is one of the most lively cities in the world, like L.A., Cape Town, London, Paris, – I don’t know about Moscow
If you are happy with your backward isolation somewhere in a church in the great western plains – okay, but just shut up and do not try to pollute the outer world with your reactionary drivel

Posted by: thomas | Apr 19 2014 9:08 utc | 181

Sigh is there any more pathetic state than Poland in this conflict?
http://presstv.com/detail/2014/04/19/359201/us-will-send-ground-troops-to-poland/

Posted by: Anonymous | Apr 19 2014 9:20 utc | 183

thomas
Haha yeah Russia is no powerhouse, Russia could cut off the gas to you cocky westerner and we see what you are saying next.
Good riddance FEMENboy.

Posted by: Anonymous | Apr 19 2014 9:52 utc | 185

somebody – just hearing to King Crimson, 21st Century Schizoid Man – didn’t think you also belong to the 18th century pack here resistant to each and every argument.
lalala – ich mach mir die welt wie sie mir gefällt…
Just try to counter the numbers I already presented and then look at these:
foreign investment in the US, i.a. Germany, p. 8: ca. 2,65 trillion, Germany 200 Billion
https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS21857.pdf
german investment in Russia: German companies have invested €20 billion, a tenth of the investment in US
http://www.oecd.org/daf/inv/FDI%20in%20figures.pdf
“In 2012, 44% of global FDI inflows were hosted by only five countries. China attracted the lion’s share by USD 253 billion (or 18% of total) followed by the United States (USD 175 billion), Brazil (USD 65 billion), the United Kingdom (USD 63 billion) and France (USD 62 billion.”
… no Russia at all …
While China and Argentina received respectively 11% and 25% more FDI as compared to 2011, inflows to India, Russia and South Africa’s decreased by more than 15%. Indonesia recorded its highest level of FDI inflows at USD 19.9 billion and Saudi Arabia received USD 13.7 billion in the first three quarters of 2012, while Brazil mainatained the same level of FDI inflows at USD 65 billion.
Currently in Russia there are about 6,100 enterprises with some level (even very small ones) of German investment, dropped from 6300 the year before. They are located in 81 of Russia’s 83 Federation Subjects. In 2012, they generated a turnover of approximately 40 billion euros ($54 billion) – less than 1,5% of german GDP.
so who do you think the german industry cares most for: Russia or the US???
btw: I’m already rüber, I have the privilege to live and work in southern African countries, southern american ones, the US – maybe that’s just gives me a more open point of view than just sitting in an US, russian or german backward village….

Posted by: thomas | Apr 19 2014 11:08 utc | 187

somebody @186: what do you want to prove with your labour migrant stories? wanna support my arguments? these migrations are very much comparable to the ones to the Gulf empires and the wahabite kingdom from eastern and middle eastern countries, because of an abundance of oil money, and the migrant workers to Russia have the same rights like the ones in the gulf region – none at all. they have to work at the mercy of russian companies and employers.
from an ILO 2011 report on migrant labour in Russia:
Russia ranks top as a country of destination for labour migrants from South Caucasus, moving mainly for economic reasons and hence labour migration is the main trend. Despite the non-
visa regime for CIS countries’ citizens, the quota system installed, the facilities to obtain
work permits or to register, the majority of migrant workers in Russia are still in an
irregular situation regarding permits and contracts. Migrant workers and their employers are not well informed on registration and work permit procedures. Irregular migrants are vulnerable to labour exploitation and abuse and labour and human rights of many migrants are violated. They are
also largely remaining outside of the overall revenues and tax system, which has adverse
effects on public systems. At the same time, labour migration provides a vital source of
income and boosts economic development of the host and sending countries while it drains
the South Caucasus of its most useful workforce.

Posted by: thomas | Apr 19 2014 11:43 utc | 189

Posted by: thomas | Apr 19, 2014 5:08:57 AM | 181
Re German culture/history: It’s a fact that during the worst days of the Cold War (West) Germany had the biggest peace movement in Europe.

Posted by: William Bowles | Apr 19 2014 12:07 utc | 191

187:))
Yep, and those Gulf countries have real power when oil is added to cultural power, like in Iran. People don’t chose to emigrate to Saudi Arabia or Quatar – they do contract work there. Ukraine is a shrinking country not just by losing Crimea.
To make politics a matter of lifestyle choice is silly – you have to accept that not everybody shares your lifestyle choice and the brands you prefer. And presumably not that many people share it in Ukraine, where emigration goes to is a good indication.
To reduce Russia to its resources is simply stupid, there is no part of engineering they do not master.
To research Putinism is fun actually, seems like there is not just the Atlantic Bridge now in Germany promoting German American friendship but also the Valdai Club discussing national identity and the future of Russia.
As a matter of fact, Putin seems to offer something to everybody

All of us – so-called Neo-Slavophiles and Neo-Westernisers, statists and so-called liberals – all of society must work together to create common development goals. We need to break the habit of only listening to like-minded people, angrily – and even with hatred – rejecting any other point of view from the outset. You can’t flip or even kick the country’s future like a football, plunging into unbridled nihilism, consumerism, criticism of anything and everything, or gloomy pessimism.
This means that liberals have to learn to talk with representatives of the left-wing and, conversely, that nationalists must remember that Russia was formed specifically as a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional country from its very inception. Nationalists must remember that by calling into question our multi-ethnic character, and exploiting the issue of Russian, Tatar, Caucasian, Siberian or any other nationalism or separatism, means that we are starting to destroy our genetic code. In effect, we will begin to destroy ourselves.
Russia’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity are unconditional. These are red lines no one is allowed to cross. For all the differences in our views, debates about identity and about our national future are impossible unless their participants are patriotic. Of course I mean patriotism in the purest sense of the word.

It does have a certain irony when you think of Ukraine.

Posted by: somebody | Apr 19 2014 12:18 utc | 193

Posted by: William Bowles | Apr 19, 2014 8:07:33 AM | 191
East Germany, semi-officially, too
When the front line goes through your country, you just don’t promote war if you are not suicidal.

Posted by: somebody | Apr 19 2014 12:23 utc | 195

196)
actually I am into the

We need to break the habit of only listening to like-minded people, angrily – and even with hatred – rejecting any other point of view from the outset.

To your question – what is more important for German industry US or Russia (and China)
– simple, US means strong competition (which is good as it keeps you up to date), Russia means resources and market, China means no competition in quality goods, cheap labor and market.

Posted by: somebody | Apr 19 2014 12:37 utc | 197

@137 Ruralito
I do not quite agree with is.
The path to the destruction of the USSR was well into place before Kruschev, and according to my understanding Stalin, through his extenstion of the USSR to the Baltics, Moldova, and Western Ukraine helped put that into place.
In his outdated thinking, fearing that WWII would happen again, he expanded the USSR into regions where it was not only un- wanted, but incredibly difficult to sustain.
If those regions had never been absorbed into the USSR, and the USSR would not have had to deal with so much unrest in the Baltics and Caucasia it may be possible to consider that some of Gorbachev’s reforms could have worked.

Posted by: Tea | Apr 19 2014 12:43 utc | 199