Patrick Cockburn had a 5 part series on how life under ISIS is, in the Independent.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/life-under-isis-as-long-as-its-enemies-remain-divided-the-militants-will-not-be-defeated-10120917.html
(the article contains links to the 4 other parts).

Posted by: Willy2 | Jun 4 2015 21:26 utc | 103

Nana2007 at 104 —
Thanks for the Zero Hedge item, headline was quite explantory — “Ukraine ‘Mobilizes’ Right Sector Neo-Nazis Amid Renewed Fighting; NATO Points Finger, Russia Responds.”
I didn’t intend to post at quite that length, but I kept finding one howler after the other. Quite interesting to see the machinery running at MiniTrue, especially the imaginative reworking of the OSCE report, downright postmodernist in its solipsism.
Harf is my favorite State Dept. Spokesmodel. Her exchanges with Matt Lee of AP are always fun, she’s got a little bit of an edge.
I wonder, are ChocoKing’s 9,000 Russian troops the same he imagined back in Jan.?
Things were briefly on the boil, but apparently back to a simmer now. Fort Russ has Mikle1 with Preliminary results of the field and political “battle reconnaissance” in Ukraine.

It appeared to be a typical battle reconnaissance, during which small local success was achieved in the area of Maryinka….
Much more important is that the foreign masters of the junta de jure silently swallowed the slap caught by Poroshenko. The EU preferred “not to notice” the incident, and only the United States “expressed concern and laid the responsibility for the escalation of the conflict in Kiev on the militia and the Russian Federation.” That is – on all. We will emphasize – de jure did nothing. No extraordinary convocation of the UN Security Council and no immediate military assistance to the junta – “the troop did not notice a loss of the fighter”…. [I saw a clip Yatsenuk saying he expected the G7 summit to react, would seem unlikely]
We must understand that DPR and LPR armies are capable of liberating Mariupol, Slavyansk and Kramatorsk since May and to triple the area under their control, expanding to the administrative borders of Luhansk and Donetsk regions. But for now there is no such tactical task before the leadership.

They also have this SitRep for Strelkov’s site, Maryinka: The Day After. DPR lost 40 dead, UAF 200. Translator J. Hawk offers this analysis:

Given how the battle unfolded, it would appear neither side was planning to carry out even a local offensive. The battle was most likely the outcome of local commanders’ initiative who saw an opportunity and exploited it. However, given the rapidity with which UAF defenses around Maryinka crumbled, had the NAF wanted to launch a large-scale offensive it would have most likely led to a major victory before the UAF reserves had time to intervene. It’s just that, at this point in time at any rate, Minsk-2 is still the order of the day.

And coincidentally, Kiev has said, “No water for you, Lugansk.”
Russia Insider has finally taken note, but it’s worth the wait for Mercouris to weigh in. It is not a coincidence that On Eve of EU Vote to Extend Russian Sanctions War Returns to Ukraine. He consider that their lifting was not in the cards at this time. It is designed to aid the ongoing refusal to implement Minsk-II, and rally domestic support. There is an international dimension as well though.

“The EU vote on the sanctions is however useful to Kiev. It enables Kiev to maximise its political support in the West and mutes criticism of its turn to war…. The diplomatic moves and counter-moves should not however obscure the larger picture. Given the nature of the government in Kiev, a resumption of the fighting was at some point inevitable. The late spring or summer was always the likeliest time. That is what is now happening.”

Scorpions will always be scorpions.
Best of show goes to Sputnik via New Cold War. Journalist Aleksandr ChalenkoWhat Saakashvili’s appointment as governor of Odessa means for Transnistria. He is not there to recreate his economic “success” in Georgia, but for his proven skills as a provocatuer of Russia.

The journalist argues that the appointment must instead be considered from a wider perspective. “The main explanation, in my view, is the fact that [the Moldovan breakaway region of] Transnistria is situated next to Odessa,” Chalenko argues. “The events of the past months suggest that authorities in Ukraine and Moldova, with the support and guidance of the U.S., naturally, are preparing something bad for Transnistria and Novorossiya [the term used to denote the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics].”
Chalenko notes that “without war, Poroshenko’s regime will come to an end. All the failures in the economy and society are presently being blamed on the war. It is the war, oddly enough, which preserves Ukraine from mass social upheaval. Similarly, the front keeps the country’s most important revolutionaries –the nationalists from various radical pro-fascist organizations and the volunteer battalions away from Kiev.” [Like mobilizing the PravSek storm troopers – rm]
“Poroshenko is not prepared to continue to adhere to the Minsk agreements and to implement all of its points. Yes, he may withdraw heavy weapons from the front lines, but the decentralization of Ukraine (its confederalization) and the legalization of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics is not something he is capable of doing. This will simply mean the death of Ukraine. And so there is only one way out, and that is war.”
Chalenko notes there is sufficient evidence pointing to the idea that Kiev will resume hostilities against the Donbass republics during the summer, citing the fact that the army is already in the process of bringing up reserves, ammunition, fuel and supplies….
“And so, what can be done in this case?” Chalenko asks. “Restraining the DPR and LPR, and Russia, which stands behind them will, according to Kiev and Washington, be possible only via a threat to occupy Transnistria,” he answers.
“Saakashvili’s appointment was arranged in order to demonstrate the seriousness of Ukraine’s intensions in this regard. The Georgian ex-president is associated with the war of 2008. Ukrainian authorities want to make clear: ‘if you Russians begin a large-scale offensive in northern Donbass or towards Mariupol, we, having blockaded Transnistria, will help Moldova conduct an offensive toward Bender, Tiraspol and Dubossary.’”
In Chalenko’s view, “the events of recent months clearly demonstrate the readiness of the pro-Romanian and pro-Western forces in Moldova to participate openly on the side of America and Ukraine in the great geopolitical game.”

Russia seems to be aware of this intent, as it has deployed spetsnaz to Transnistria for extensive training operations.
I’ve seen the reports of growing tension there, but haven’t been able to follow it. I wish DC would wrap up one front before opening another, it keeps getting harder to keep up. Throw in getting sucked into bantering with climate denialists, what time is there to find interesting YouTube videos?

Posted by: rufus magister | Jun 5 2015 4:53 utc | 105

when it boils down to uncle sham’s words against china’s, i believe the chinese,
its a no brainer.
here’r some background for the uninitiated,
*********************************
uncle sham the serial liar,
sinking of the maine
gulf of tonkin
iraq wmd,
syria chemical weapon,
yugo genocide,
bosnia gulag,
libya genocide,
tip of an iceberg….
some of the biggest hoax of the century targets china,
1962 indo china war,
mao murdered xxx millions,
tam *massacre*
genocide in tibet,
2008 *brutal crackdown* on peacful tibetan protestors
2009 *brutal crackdown* on peacful uighurs protestors,
***************************************
dont get me wrong, i’d be damned if china doesnt has a cyber warfare outfit …..like eveyone else. !
im also sure if given half the chance the chinese’d like to have a peek on murkka’s
high tech, especially weapon secrets.
but the murkkan story , like all their previous bs, stinks to sky high.
so we heard the chinese have been able to break into the network of the worlds
most advanced weapon developer martin lockheed etc and pentagon, siphoned off their ultra secret data at will, whenever they liked.
not only that, the nefarious chinese have been *probing the network of murkka’s water and power grid, obviously with malicious intention* [sic]
security 101 says that server housing important stuff should be isolated from the net, period.
secondly ip address alone wouldnt stand up in court as evidence coz it could be faked or redirected.
thirdly i’d have thought if these hackers are good enough to hack into the like of lockheed martin/pentagon they’d be good enough to cover their ass, instead of leaving behind a trial leading right back to their base ?
then if lockheed martin is such easy picking, surely many others , nk, russia, iran, russia , france would be scrambling to get their share ?
but perhaps the chinese are sloppy and got caught red handed ?
common sense would says any if a state hacker outfit got exposed , the op would be called off immediately .
unless that govn for some reason wanna carry on the hack like an *in your face* taunt.
but here’s the catch….
this runs counter to the chinese m.o. since day immemorial , they’r anything but *in your face* !
as if thats isnt enough the chinese are supposed to be messing with the electrica/water grid ?
thats an act of war, the pentagon made it clear that the response to such attack would be *a missile down their chute* !
such offensive tactics is the very antithesis to chinese military doctrine , which has been defensive centred since the day of the great wall !
during the run up to the latest asean summit, the murkkans dropped another *bomshell* via cia contractor *fireeye*,
omg, those evil chinese have been hacking into india, sk, nepal, plus all asean countries data base…..since 2004 !
how conveeenient !
at a time when uncle sham is actively wooing india into its anti chinese bandwagon, leaning on a reluctant sk to take in the thaad abm which would surely piss off the chinese big time , goading the asean countries to form a united front against china in the scs dispute, they’r being told the chinese’ve been screwing them in the past decade !
the irony is that none of these countries seem to take it seriously, certainly none had protested to china,
i guess such murkkan trick is getting too transparent and threadbare, people are starting to see right thru the bs !
have i proven that the chinese are innocent ? no.
but it’d take a helluva more than a statement from the state dept, pentagon, all known serial liars, or a cia contractor to convince me the chinese govn, uncle sham’s designated enemy since 1949, is guilty as charged,.
the murcunts m.o. is *guilty until proven innocent*
just witness their *extra judicial executions* on *terrarists suspects*.
in the civilised world, we should stick to *innocent until proven guilty*.
p.s.
zwo watch rule 1
*whatever comes out of washington, think the opp*
i’ve been relying on this for decades, works like a charm !

Posted by: denk | Jun 5 2015 17:26 utc | 107