Crisis in Ukraine

[Xarog]

It's about saving face. If they had to admit the entire Ukrainian army could not beat a rag-tag bunch of citizens and ex-soldiers now retired who throw on a uniform and jump into a captured APC, the generals would have to resign.

Apparently the Ukrainian army has never seen higher morale. Those guys are ready to walk up Mount Everest while doing hand stands.

 

[Xarog]

Ghoti, yunoreply?

Guess I'll just have to post without you then.

Brokering power: US role in Ukraine coup hard to overlook

After months of denying having a hand in the Ukrainian coupe, US President Barack Obama admitted playing power broker for the “transition.” This probably falls short of America’s actual involvement.

READ MORE:Obama openly admits 'brokering power transition' in Ukraine

Washington was investing heavily in Ukraine long before the Maidan protests started in Kiev in 2013. According to Victoria Nuland, the State Department’s top diplomat for Europe, since 1991 America has poured $5 billion of taxpayers’ money into what she called assisting Ukrainians in building “democratic skills and institutions.”

Some of the money went into sponsoring various NGOs, political parties and media outlets. For instance, Hromadske.tv, an internet-based television channel created in summer 2013, received a grant of some $50,000 from the US embassy. The channel provided full-time coverage of the Maidan protests and gave a platform to various opposition figures.

READ MORE: ‘Get NATO, foreign countries out of Ukraine to end civil war’ – Ron Paul

Such funding is a well-known tool of the American government. Washington describes it as promoting a positive change and denies accusations that it gives money to get leverage to pursue its own goals in targeted countries. But in Ukraine US officials played a far more prominent role than simply funding local players.

Some like film director Oliver Stone even call it a US-staged coup, while former US Congressman Ron Paul called for the US to stop meddling in Ukraine.
Nuland’s cookies

A parade of Western officials descended on Kiev to support the protesters and discourage President Viktor Yanukovich from taking tougher measures against them. One vocal star of the US political stage, Senator John McCain, enjoyed an evening with opposition leaders and tweeted photos of the crowds in the square. He went on to address the protesters the next day.

Incredible display of patriotism at the Maidan tonight #euromaidan#kievpic.twitter.com/gbwh6RE2lx

— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) December 14, 2013

Nuland herself is probably most remembered now for handing out cookies to riot police officers and demonstrators, while on a November 2013 Maidan tour accompanied by Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt.

READ MORE: 'F**k the EU': Snr US State Dept. official caught in alleged phone chat on Ukraine

Behind the scene, the duo were engaged in power brokering. In January, it was Pyatt who made radical protesters withdraw from the Ministry of Justice building, which they had previously seized by force. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, then still loyal to Yanukovich, officially thanked the ambassador.

Later in February, a leaked phone conversation, notable for Nuland’s unprintable expletive at her frustration with the EU, revealed the pair discussing who should lead the new Ukrainian government (Arseny Yatsenyuk, incidentally, the current PM) and who should not be in it (Vitaly Klitchko, currently mayor of Kiev).
Rule by foreigners?

The US government’s support for the post-coup government in Kiev never dwindled even as it went on to encroach on media freedom and the free speech and launched a military crackdown on its dissenting eastern regions. At times, critics say, it was difficult to distinguish the new Ukraine from an entity directly ruled from Washington.

One ironic episode occurred in December, when the Ukrainian Security Service building flew a US flag alongside a Ukrainian one over its entrance. Photos of the flags were quickly dismissed as a propaganda fake by Ukrainian bloggers, but the SBU later confirmed that it ran up the stars and stripes to honor visiting US Under Secretary Rose Gottemoeller, who is in charge of arms deals with the State Department.

The debate over the flag was partially fuelled by rumors in Ukraine that the SBU allocated an entire level in its HQ to US consultants, including active CIA agents.

The rumors may be insulting to Kiev’s sovereignty, but there could be some substance behind it. Ukraine didn’t hesitate to appoint several foreigners as ministers, hastily giving them Ukrainian citizenship necessary for the jobs. Among them is Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, a former section chief at the US embassy and chair of an investment fund, which distributed US Congress money provided thorough the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Biden’s chairmanship

A similar episode transpired in April, when US Vice-President Joe Biden arrived in Kiev on a state visit. The top American official came just after then-acting President Aleksandr Turchinov had declared the military campaign against the rebel forces in Donetsk and Lugansk regions was active. This later escalated into a full-fledged civil war.

A humorous moment came in Biden’s trip when he chaired a session with Ukrainian officials, taking the seat normally reserved for the president of Ukraine. Ironically, Dozhd TV, a leading Russian opposition TV channel, erroneously called Biden the acting president of Ukraine and misquoted him as demanding that Russia “stopped meddling into US internal affairs.”

READ MORE: White House: No ethical issues with Veep’s son joining Ukraine gas giant

For Biden, Ukraine’s economic future is a matter of concern not only due to his office but also due to his family’s ties with the Ukrainian energy sector. In May, Ukraine’s largest private gas company, Burisma Holdings, announced the appointment of VP Biden’s son, Hunter, to its board of directors. The White House insisted the appointment posed no conflict of interest for America’s second-ranking public official.

These and other examples of US “power brokering” raise some doubt about Washington’s claimed distance from the regime change in Ukraine. After all, the US has a long record of meddling in other countries’ affairs, ousting governments Washington didn’t like and imposing those it did. Why would Ukraine be any different, skeptics ask?

 

[Xarog]

De-Dollarization Accelerates: Russia Launches SWIFT-Alternative Linking 91 Entities

Back in 2013, The NSA was first exposed for secretly 'monitoring' the SWIFT payments flows. This appears to have been among the last straws for Russia (and others) as far as both NSA spying and dollar domination.

Last year, following threats to remove Russia from SWIFT by the UK, (which SWIFT rapidly distanced its 'independent-self' from), Russia (and China) announced plans to create its own de-dollarized version. In November, Russia detailed the SWIFT-alternative's launch date around May 2015, and just last month, Medvedev warned of "unlimited reaction" if Russia was cut off from the SWIFT payments system.

So the news this week that Russia has launched its own 'SWIFT'-alternative, linking 91 credit institutions initially, suggests de-dollarization is considerably further along than many expected (especially as Russia dumps US Treasuries at a record pace).



As Sputnik News reports,

Almost 91 domestic credit institutions have been incorporated into the new Russian financial system, the analogous of SWIFT, an international banking network.



The new service, will allow Russian banks to communicate seamlessly through the Central Bank of Russia.



It should be noted that Russia's Central Bank initiated the development of the country's own messaging system in response to repeated threats voiced by Moscow's Western partners to disconnect Russia from SWIFT.



...



Joining the global interbank system in 1989, Russia has become one of the most active users of SWIFT globally, sending hundreds of thousands of messages per day. In general, SWIFT provides a secure communication network for more than ten thousands of financial institutions around the world, approving transactions of trillions of US dollars.



Earlier this month Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov expressed confidence that Russia would not be disconnected from SWIFT. In her turn, Russian Central Bank First Deputy Chair Ksenia Yudaeva called upon Russian civilians and financial institutions not to dramatize the current situation.



Russian experts point to the fact that Western businesses would face severe losses if they expelled Russia from the international SWIFT system. On the other hand, the alternative system launched by Russia might reduce the negative impacts caused by measures imposed by the West, including possible disconnection from SWIFT, and diminish Western financial dominance over Russia.

* * *

SWIFT (The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) is a Belgium-based international organization that provides services and a standardized environment for global banking communicating that allows financial institutions to send and receive messages about their transactions.

The core of SWIFT's work is a secure financial messaging service that communicates payment orders to be settled at correspondent accounts — accounts that one financial institution holds with another financial institution.



The network has become key to the functioning of Russia's financial system since the first bank began to use the service in 1989.



About 360,000 such messages are sent daily, making Russia the second most prolific user of SWIFT in the world, the head of SWIFT in Russia, Roman Chernov, told a conference last year, according to RIA Novosti. Over 600 Russian financial institutions use SWIFT, which saw a 40 percent growth in its traffic in 2014, he said.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-...aunches-swift-alternative-linking-91-entities

Russia Dumps Most US Paper Ever As China Reduces Treasurys Holdings To January 2013 Levels

Back in December, Socgen spread a rumor that Russia has begun selling its gold. Subsequent IMF data showed that not only was this not correct, Russia in fact added to its gold holdings. But there was one thing it was selling: some $22 billion in US Treasurys, a record 20% of its total holdings, bringing its US paper inventory to just $86 billion in December - the lowest since June 2008.



It wasn't just Russia: the country that has ever more frequently been said to be in the same camp as Russia - and against the US - namely China, also sold another $6 billion in Treasurys in the last month of 2014, which would have made its US treasury holdings equal with those of Japan, if only Tokyo hadn't also sold over $10 billion in the same month.

And while we know that Russia used at least some of the proceeds to buy gold, the bigger question is: just what is China buying with all these stealthy USD-denominated liquidations, and how much gold does the PBOC really have as of this moment.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-...educes-treasurys-holdings-january-2013-levels

Of course the whole story about the Russians selling gold was propaganda but it was more of a drive-by thing as far as the Russians are concerned; the real intent has been to surpress the gold price.

 

[Xarog]

‘Strategic rift’: Hungary PM criticizes EU partners trying to isolate Moscow

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has criticized EU’s attempts to isolate Moscow, in particular blaming former Polish PM and President of the European Council Donald Tusk for spearheading the European anti-Russia crusade.

“This rift in the EU is very deep, of a strategic nature,” Orban said regarding the division in the EU and on how to build the bloc’s relationship with Russia.

The European Council President Tusk is “on the other side” of this dividing line, Orban said, a day after striking economic deals with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Tusk has been an ardent critic of Moscow’s stance throughout the Ukrainian conflict, and on numerous occasions has called for a much tougher sanctions against Moscow. He speaks out against the “appeasement” of Moscow.

Once again, appeasement encourages the aggressor to greater acts of violence. Time to step up our policy based on cold facts, not illusions

— Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) January 24, 2015

But the EU countries are divided in Brussels in their attitude towards Russia. Orban specified that the Baltic States and Poland sided with the United States in their belief that Russia should be gradually excluded from cooperation with Europe.

READ MORE: ‘Europe non-competitive without Moscow’: Hungary & Russia seek closer energy, gas transit ties

On the other hand, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Austria, Orban claims, believe cooperation with Moscow is essential.

“We think that without cooperation with the Russians we cannot achieve our goals,” the Hungarian prime minister said, referring mainly to energy security, which the EU sanctions against Russia jeopardize.

Russia also sees Hungary as a strategic partner and will pursue mutually beneficial energy projects. This was Vladimir Putin's message to his Hungarian counterpart on Tuesday, as both countries sealed a number of energy deals.

Orban’s foreign policy towards the Ukrainian conflict has been criticized in the West from the onset as too soft. Generally supporting a Moscow-backed approach of achieving a long lasting peace in the region, Orban has on numerous occasions spoken out against discriminatory treatment of Russia by Brussels.

His vocal criticism of EU and US role in European foreign policy forced Washington to issue travel bans for several Hungarian businessmen. In October, US Chargé d'Affaires André Goodfriend, visiting the country warned that Hungary should “stand firm with the EU, with EU sanctions” stating that it was not the time for Hungary to “break with its EU partners to criticize so publicly the approach that the partners have taken.”

And the energy deals continue to mount. I wonder who Russia will sell to next.

 

[OrbitalDawn]

A Russian TV Insider Describes a Modern Propaganda Machine

 

[Jola]

A Russian TV Insider Describes a Modern Propaganda Machine

From above :

LONDON — NORMALLY a boisterous sort, Peter Pomerantsev says he kept quiet when he found himself, at the age of 24, in a Moscow meeting room listening to 20 of the country’s top media executives discussing the news agenda for the week.

Not what the news was, but what they would make it, said Mr. Pomerantsev, the author of a recent book chronicling the moral and financial corruption of modern-day Moscow and the manipulation of a Russian television industry that he later joined.

He listened in amazement, he says, as a prominent news anchor reviewed the coming events as if they were part of a film script, musing on how best to entertain the audience and questioning who that week’s enemy should be.

“It was shocking,” said Mr. Pomerantsev, speaking over coffee in London last month. “They really saw television and news as a movie, and talked about it as a movie.”

That was in 2002. With the conflict in Ukraine now part of an information war, as well as a physical one, Mr. Pomerantsev’s book, “Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible,” has particular resonance, describing a world where laws change at the whim of the powerful and where television provides an ever-present, entertaining and emotionally charged distortion of reality.

 

[Xarog]

The only thing that's shocking is that anyone believes it is any different with any of the other "news" channels.

 

[LazyLion]

UKRAINE: WITHDRAWAL FROM BESIEGED TOWN 90 PERCENT COMPLETE

A Ukrainian military spokesman says more than 90 percent of its forces have been withdrawn from the fiercely contested town of Debaltseve and its surroundings, but left unclear when the retreat might be completed.

Ukrainian forces began abandoning Debaltseve on Wednesday after weeks of heavy fighting against Russia-backed separatists. Control of the town is a significant strategic gain for the rebels because it is a railway junction and straddles the most direct route between Donetsk and Luhansk, the separatist region's two major cities.

The battle for Debaltseve had continued to rage despite a cease-fire that was called into effect on Sunday.

Military spokesman Anatoliy Stelmakh also said Thursday that rebels heavily shelled a village on the outskirts of the port city of Mariupol during the last day.


Source : Sapa-AP /mr
Date : 19 Feb 2015 10:49

 

[Xarog]

UKRAINE: WITHDRAWAL FROM BESIEGED TOWN 90 PERCENT COMPLETE

A Ukrainian military spokesman says more than 90 percent of its forces have been withdrawn from the fiercely contested town of Debaltseve and its surroundings, but left unclear when the retreat might be completed.

Ukrainian forces began abandoning Debaltseve on Wednesday after weeks of heavy fighting against Russia-backed separatists. Control of the town is a significant strategic gain for the rebels because it is a railway junction and straddles the most direct route between Donetsk and Luhansk, the separatist region's two major cities.

The battle for Debaltseve had continued to rage despite a cease-fire that was called into effect on Sunday.

Military spokesman Anatoliy Stelmakh also said Thursday that rebels heavily shelled a village on the outskirts of the port city of Mariupol during the last day.


Source : Sapa-AP /mr
Date : 19 Feb 2015 10:49

Hopefully this is the last of the fighting.

 

[kingrob]

Hopefully this is the last of the fighting.

You need to ask Putin.

 

[Jola]

Have seen a lot of this in this thread :

Mr. Pomerantsev’s area of study is propaganda, and he believes he saw many classic techniques at work in Moscow. He says one favorite trick was to put a credible expert next to a neo-Nazi, juxtaposing fact with fiction so as to encourage so much cynicism that viewers believed very little. Another was to give credence to conspiracy theories — by definition difficult to rebut because their proponents are immune to reasoned debate.

“What they are basically trying to undermine is the idea of a reality-based conversation,” Mr. Pomerantsev said, “and to use the idea of a plurality of truths to feed disinformation, which in the end looks to trash the information space.”

 

[Nanfeishen]

it seems you cant read. Treason and obstructing the military = calls for dodging the draft, nothing about calling it a civil war. Other people in Ukraine have called it a civil war and haven't been arrested. Still desperate to twist the truth, i wonder why.

Not for long

Проект Закону про внесення змін до Кримінального та Кримінального процесуального кодексів України (щодо відповідальності за публічне заперечення чи виправдання військовій агресії Російської Федерації по відношенню до України у 2014-2015 роках)

http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb2/webproc4_1?pf3511=53956

Translation
The draft law on amendments to the Criminal and criminal procedural codes of Ukraine (concerning the liability for public denial or justification of the military aggression of Russia towards Ukraine in 2014-2015)
http://imtranslator.net/translation/ukrainian/to-english/translation/

So calling it a civil war will be concluded as public denial and a criminal offense.

Regarding the "Civil War", a number of news outlets already refer to it as just that

Aug. 25, 2014
Civil War Hangs Heavy Over Ukraine During Its Independence Day Celebrations
http://time.com/3172733/ukraine-russia-war-independence-day-petro-poroshenko/

It is the central question of the continuing civil war in Ukraine

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/02/tracking-the-weapons-used-to-fight-ukraines-war/?_r=0

Chatting in Russian, the new immigrants, many of them refugees from the ongoing civil war in Ukraine’s industrial east

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Netanyahu-links-spike-in-aliya-to-anti-Semitism-in-Europe-385451

Fleeing their country’s civil war, Ukrainian Jews head for Israel
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...9fb866-8619-11e4-b9b7-b8632ae73d25_story.html

Crimethinks and Doublethinks in the Civil War Regime of Ukraine
by YULIA MALKINA

DONETSK, Peoples Republic of Donetsk

A deputy of the Parliament in Kyiv from the electoral bloc of Petro Poroshenko has submitted a bill that would make it a crime to deny that “Russian aggression” is responsible for the war here in eastern Ukraine. I guess that means I’ll soon be considered a criminal because I deny the military aggression of the Russian Federation. I don’t see any Russian or Chechen soldiers here in Donetsk. I only see local militia, who are standing up to defend their homeland and their way of life. And I see civilians who, despite the fact that the city is being constantly shelled, are going about their business and doing what they think is proper – they work, they help those who are suffering from the war even more than they are suffering, and they hope for a rapid end to the war. I say this is a civil war, brought on by the aggression of Kyiv.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02...blethinks-in-the-civil-war-regime-of-ukraine/

A thought:
For all those Ukrainians who crossed the border in the north into Russia from the beginning and during the ongoing conflict, how many of them have travelled south and crossed the border to support the seperatists, 100's ? , 1000's ? we will never know.

 

[Xarog]

You need to ask Putin.

Alas, this particular stage has many actors and Putin is but one of them.

Have seen a lot of this in this thread :

Maybe you'd like to point to some direct examples?

 

[Unhappy438]

Not for long


http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb2/webproc4_1?pf3511=53956

Translation
The draft law on amendments to the Criminal and criminal procedural codes of Ukraine (concerning the liability for public denial or justification of the military aggression of Russia towards Ukraine in 2014-2015)
http://imtranslator.net/translation/ukrainian/to-english/translation/

So calling it a civil war will be concluded as public denial and a criminal offense.

It hasn't been signed into law, the rada is notorious for putting stuff like this up but it rarely passes.

 

[Xarog]

[video=youtube;hMVfN5AF0dI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMVfN5AF0dI[/video]
Can anyone confirm if the translation is accurate?

 

[Fulcrum29]

[video=youtube;hMVfN5AF0dI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMVfN5AF0dI[/video]
Can anyone confirm if the translation is accurate?

TechCamp is a global program.

http://techcampglobal.org/

http://wiki.techcampglobal.org/

-> http://wiki.techcampglobal.org/index.php?title=TechCamp_Kyiv

http://ukraine.usembassy.gov/events/techcamp-if-story.html

U.S. Ambassador Tefft Opens Techcamp Ivano-Frankivsk 2.0 to Build Digital Capacity of Civil Society in Western Ukraine

May 20, 2013

U.S. Ambassador John F. Tefft and his wife, Ms. Mariella Tefft, opened the U.S. Embassy's TechCamp Ivano-Frankivsk 2.0 on May 16, 2013 at the National Technical University of Oil and Gas in Ivano-Frankivsk.

TechCamps support the U.S. State Department’s Civil Society 2.0 initiative that builds the technological and digital capacity of civil society organizations around the world. TechCamp Ivano-Frankivsk 2.0 is a follow-up to the original TechCamp Kyiv held in September of 2012. The mission of TechCamp Ivano-Frankivsk 2.0 is to help build a sustainable movement of civil society and technology experts networking and working together to solve social problems.

During the full day interactive workshop, the State Department paired leaders in the technology community with civil society organizations to provide training, resources and assistance enabling civil society organizations to harness the latest connection technologies to build capacity and advance missions.

More than 60 civil society leaders from throughout western Ukraine came together to get hands-on training in a variety of areas ranging from fundraising, using online games for social good, informal education using digital media, and more. These civil society organizations are now poised to use new technologies to grow their networks, communicate more efficiently, and to be able to keep pace with the changing world.

TechCamp Ivano-Frankivsk is the sixth such event in Ukraine. To date, TechCamps have trained more than 300 civil society organizers from all over Ukraine. These easy to implement, low-cost tools and approaches help to build new networks of relationships, enhance skill development, and create new avenues for communication. Adoption of these technologies by civil society organizations will help support the missions of these groups as well as broader social goals of democracy, transparency and good governance in the 21st Century.

For more information about TechCamp Ivano-Frankivsk 2.0, including a detailed agenda, please visit www.techcampkyiv.org.

What is your precise issue with TechCamp?

 

[Xarog]

TechCamp is a global program.

http://techcampglobal.org/

http://wiki.techcampglobal.org/

-> http://wiki.techcampglobal.org/index.php?title=TechCamp_Kyiv

http://ukraine.usembassy.gov/events/techcamp-if-story.html

What is your precise issue with TechCamp?

You mean aside from the fact that it seems to be a vehicle for U.S. agitprop?

 

[Fulcrum29]

You mean aside from the fact that it seems to be a vehicle for U.S. agitprop?

It is suggested by Oleg Tsarov (and separatist leader of Novorossiya a separatist confederation in eastern Ukraine) as such.

Side note, I see that www.techcampkyiv.org (http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://techcampkyiv.org/) had been abused.

 

[Xarog]

It is suggested by Oleg Tsarov (and separatist leader of Novorossiya a separatist confederation in eastern Ukraine) as such.

The date of the video was from 2013, the day before the protests started. And really, given the intimate involvement of the U.S. in just about every other part of the coup right down to playing kingmaker in terms of who gets into power after the coup a la Nuland, it doesn't strike me as a great stretch of the imagination to conclude that the U.S. more than likely had other assets in play as well.

I mean really, if Russia's diplomat in Ukraine opened up some "communication" conference that was teaching people "how to communicate" and it was doing so in conjunction with Russia's version of a foreign affairs department, what would be the first suspicion to cross your mind?

 

[mic_y]

The date of the video was from 2013, the day before the protests started. And really, given the intimate involvement of the U.S. in just about every other part of the coup right down to playing kingmaker in terms of who gets into power after the coup a la Nuland, it doesn't strike me as a great stretch of the imagination to conclude that the U.S. more than likely had other assets in play as well.

I mean really, if Russia's diplomat in Ukraine opened up some "communication" conference that was teaching people "how to communicate" and it was doing so in conjunction with Russia's version of a foreign affairs department, what would be the first suspicion to cross your mind?

Russia doesn't need to because they already have established forms of mass communication and propaganda operating in Ukraine due the the historical ties of the two countries. Had it not been for the Russian propaganda machine fanning the flames after a couple of right-wing idiots made stupid statements we would probably be looking at a completely different situation to what is currently going on in Ukraine. One with at least another 5000 more people still alive.