Donetsk, Kharkov, Lugansk - way to Russia.

[bryant.coleman]

Both Lugansk and Donetsk are planning to conduct referendums this week. Not much trouble in Lugansk, where the People's Army appears to be in control. But in Donetsk, some of the cities are under the control of Right Sector.

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[Nemo1024]

Clashes in Slavyansk as Kiev's troops maintain chokehold
http://rt.com/news/157240-slavyansk-surrounded-citizens-assault/

Shooting continued Wednesday morning near the besieged anti-government protester stronghold of Slavyansk. The city is encircled by pro-Kiev troops, who are reportedly preventing any civilians from leaving.

...

 “The city is encircled and civilians are not allowed to leave,” a representative of the self-defense forces told Itar-Tass. “Just recently, a family with a young child tried to leave the city by car. As a result, [the troops] opened fired, killing at least 2 people.”

A reader comment:

mike jones 07.05.2014 08:42

Obviously the regular troops have been told to contain the area, so that Ukraines version of the Schutzstaffel
can go in and unleash their bloodlust on the Slavyansk population.
American fingerprints are all over the Ukrainian Crisis.

Ukrainian army stormed the city council of Mariupol:
http://www.gazeta.ru/politics/news/2014/05/07/n_6135045.shtml


Harkov will not be conducting Victory Day memorial festivities on the 9th of May:
http://lenta.ru/news/2014/05/07/kharkov/
Is that how historical amnesia start, little by little?



Resistance informed about artillery units "Grad" being deployed around Slavjansk:
http://www.bfm.ru/news/256904
They also say that there is an acute shortage of medicaments in the blockaded city.


In Andreevka, Kiev National Guard offered the residence to abandon there village though a "humanitarian corridor". No one left. they have nowhere to go.
https://twitter.com/kp_steshin

"Cбили c нoг - cpaжaйcя нa кoлeняx. Bcтaть нe мoжeшь - лёжa нacтyпaй!!!!"
"Got knocked off your feet, then fight while on your knees. Can't get up, then attack while being prone!!!!"


"Grad" artillery is shelling area near Andreevka from the Karachun height:
https://twitter.com/sashakots

[bryant.coleman]

Another NYT ‘Sort of’ Retraction on Ukraine

http://consortiumnews.com/2014/05/04/another-nyt-sort-of-retraction-on-ukraine

The mainstream U.S. media likes to talk about Ukraine as an “information war,” meaning that the Russians are making stuff up. But the false narratives are actually being hatched more on the U.S. side, as a new New York Times story acknowledges, writes Robert Parry.

The New York Times, which has asserted for weeks that the Russian government is behind the unrest in Ukraine’s east, finally sent some reporters to the region to dig up the proof, but all they found were eastern Ukrainians upset by the coup regime in Kiev that replaced President Viktor Yanukovych.

 

However, only two days later, the scoop unraveled when it turned out that a key photo – supposedly showing a group of soldiers in Russia who later appeared in eastern Ukraine – was actually taken in Ukraine, destroying the premise of the entire story.

[Nemo1024]

Odessa tragedy ‘fascism in action’ - Lavrov
http://rt.com/news/157292-lavrov-odessa-ukraine-fascism/

What took place in Odessa on May 2 is "typical fascism" and "we will pursue the truth", Russian FM Sergey Lavrov said at a ceremony commemorating the fallen heroes of WWII at the Ministry on Wednesday.

Russia will not permit last Friday's events to be "swept under the rug", the foreign minister continued. In his view, all witness accounts point to how the scale of the tragedy has been greatly under-reported.

Lavrov went on to say that the upcoming Victory Day is a good occasion for Russians not only to remember their past, but to not forget that the country has a "duty not to allow fascism to spread throughout Europe and the world at large".

Odessa tragedy survivor: ‘Many people strangled after escaping the fire’
http://rt.com/news/157256-odessa-witness-massacre-ukraine/

“First of all, nobody expected such cruelty, and secondly, it was too late to escape,” Tatyana Ivananko told RT’s correspondent Alexey Yaroshevsky about the Odessa tragedy on May 2, after which at least 46 people died in flames, when radicals set ablaze the local House of Trade Unions with anti-government protesters trapped inside.

...

“On our way up the stairs, we were taking plywood sheets inside so that we could block the doors and prevent them from getting into the building,” she says.

...

 “They were also throwing firecrackers, so people in the halls were sitting on the floor, blinded.” She added, “At that moment you realize there is no way to help these people so you'd better rescue yourself.”

Public services such as police and fire brigade were not rushing to rescue the injured people.

“The police were idle not doing anything,” she recalls. “When firefighters arrived it was too late – too many people had already died, even though the closest fire station is 700 meters away from the site.”

...

She recalled that the radicals “finished off some of the people who managed to escape, and threw from the windows those who didn’t, to kill them on the ground.”

“17-year-old hooligans were finishing people with bats,” she added.

...

 She also commented on the reports from mostly western outlets, which claim that some of those killed were “mercenaries from Russia.”

“If we had indeed been mercenaries, there would have been fewer victims, and not on our side,” adding that the only thing they received from Russia was “moral support.”

And a reader comment:

Hitlery Clinton 07.05.2014 11:57

What really beats me is things like "nobody expected such cruelty ..." coming from the survivors. As if they did not see what happened to Berkut in Kiev a couple of weeks ago. Take my word for it, but the Bandera Children, if they had had more time and no cameras around, would have definitely committed acts of cannibalism. Still, what they did in Odessa is a far cry from what they had done during the Wolyn Massacre of the Polish population. So should we all be grateful?
War is Peace Freedom is Slavery Ignorance is Strength

I think Poland should start getting worried right about now...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia_and_Eastern_Galicia

[bryant.coleman]

GrahamWPhillips (https://twitter.com/GrahamWP_UK):

Slavyansk: Outside funeral. Real unhappiness at term 'separatists', say they will never be with west of Ukraine again.



Extraordinary scenes - an interview is interrupted as a pro-Donetsk APC roars off to city limits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpouh8gl0dc

Emotional interview with dramatic ending, people shout 'the government doesn't think we are human, Ukraine is over':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnHzhJeKeqc

[Nemo1024]

Three captured SBU Alpha fighters exchanged for 3 Donetsk Republic fighters:
https://twitter.com/sashakots

[bryant.coleman]

First edition of the official newspaper of the People's Republic of Donetsk:

[GreeGrinder]

 

Now Ukranian people are rising and restoring peace via referendums.

#Sloviansk 1.5 yrs ago - no #separatists, no joining Russia calls

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bm7a8s6IcAAbi_z.jpg:large

[Pagan]

Putin’s plan for the 9th of May

Everyone understands that Russia is tired of Ukraine. Everyone understands that Russia wants to finally invade Ukraine form Slavyansk to Chop and get rid of this headache once and for all.



However Ukraine is still very successful in playing a role of an innocent victim in the eyes of the West to be able to invade without getting a label of a world aggressor and a full blockade, which is of course not very welcome despite the bravado “your sanctions are nothing to us”.

Of course the first guarantee of Ukraine’s success in the field of theatrical performance playing an innocent victim is the impotence of the readers, who are able neither to disperse a rally nor to neutralize a terrorist.

That is why the idea to show Ukrainians as evil demons, who insidiously destroy their own population, does not turn out very well.

Picture of Slavyansk as a nesting of lovely peaceful angels, who simply want self-determination and autonomy, failed completely. As it is obvious what sort of angel Ponomaryov is. Then he even grasped foreign observers in hostages and got MANPADS from somewhere, which are an extra-rare commodity and its use immediately reclassifies conflict on a completely different level for every military.

Basically, it did not work out with Slavyansk.

That is why they decided to advance form Odessa, purchasing local police. The plan was to create a new centre of resistance in the barricaded building and if this won’t work out, then at least use the PR around killed people as an advantage. The pan B, as you can see, worked, but badly as the stupid Odessa police were too obvious in helping separatists and were giving away arms right in front of the cameras.

The fact that the Odessa police are the direct organiser of both, the attack of pro-Russian activists on ultras and their murder in the Trade Union building is making the investigation much more complicated. That is why we are unlikely to see any reports of court medical experts.

But even here, regardless of efforts of all the Kremlin’s propaganda personnel, the things don’t work out very well. Inciting hatred they have to deliberately conceal too many obvious and fixed on video facts:

- So these guys attacked first, so how are they victims now?

- So these innocent victims, before their tragic death, shot of someone else’s parade, which was walking not towards them but to a football game.

And so on. So there are victims but they are not innocent – this is a contradiction.

But innocent victims are badly needed. Because as much as Kremlin’s agitators shout “get up a great country!” – the county does not get up. It is tossing and turning, asking questions as it were ready, but still sits and grumbles and does not run to attack. The West does not want to believe that “Russia has its own truth”. Ukrainian aggression against Russia is missing. One stroke lacks only– the same, which was enough for the USA to start a war in Afghanistan in 2001.

Unfortunately we know how such stoke can be provided.

Personal offence is missing. So far for Russians all that is going on is not their problem. From the point of view of a resident of Uryupinsk: he is offered to feel for the problems of incredibly distant and foreign Ukraine and he is asked to begin to help citizens of that foreign to him Ukraine in fight against some Right Sector, which no one in Uryupinsk has heard about 3 months ago, and even now, let’s say honestly, they don’t know and don’t care much about it.

The Kremlin needs a personal offence to every Russian from Ukrainians.

The Kremlin needs that “Daddy, kill a banderite” does not cause any questions and does not demand personal explanations.

The Kremlin wants the war with the Right Sector to become a question of self-defence for every Russian.

What does it all lead to?

To the fact that Russia expects all sorts of bloody surprises by the 9th of May: namely terrorist acts in Moscow or other large cities with plenty of Yarosh’s business cards thrown around the scene.

We know that a terrorist act against their own people is a well proven recipe to mobilise the population.

After the Right Sector will prove that it is internationally dangerous and will display its animal hatred towards Russia by means of organising terrorist acts on the territory of Russia itself, no one will doubt that Ukraine must be immediately invaded. Not to protect a mythical Russian-speaking population of Ukraine, protection of which leads to more questions than answers (who protects Russian-speaking population in Kazakhstan and Latvia?), but for protecting own population, with its full and unconditional support, in the wake of the noble rage, which the boiled as a wave.

At the same time Putin will get to use his favourite “symmetric argument”: if the USA had the right to invade Afghanistan after the World Trade Centre was blown up, then why can’t we invade Ukraine after the most terrible terrorist act in the centre of Russia on the holy day of the 9th of May? Agents of Russian influence inside the USA will address their senators and will sarcastically ask: are you supporting terrorism?

As you can see there are many benefits and bonuses from a good explosion in the centre of Russia.

We recommend Russian people in Russia leave big cities during the May holidays, and especially on the 9th if May, just in case. We also do not recommend the use of underground, be in multi-storey residential buildings and on squares, take part in massive processions between 8th and 10th of May. If you do not want to become an innocent victim, of course.

If Putin hung a picture of the Right Sector in the first act of the play, then in the concluding act Yarosh will most certainly shoot. Possibly on the Red Square.

We write this probable prediction, because we hope for the maximum broadcast of this plan. We hope that publishing plans of the enemy will lead to their cancellation. The scenario described above is a catastrophe, which serves only one purpose: strengthening the position of Putin at cost of lives of the Russian people. That is why we hope that we will be able to influence it somehow by broadcasting it in advance. Please spread it as much as you can.

Source: http://inforesist.org

[bryant.coleman]

Donetsk people-elected mayor (Pavel Yurevich Gubarev) is now free, released from prison in Kiev. In exchange, the pro-federalization forces released three Ukrainian officers of Alpha.

[Nemo1024]

GrahamWPhillips (https://twitter.com/GrahamWP_UK):

Slavyansk: Outside funeral. Real unhappiness at term 'separatists', say they will never be with west of Ukraine again.



Extraordinary scenes - an interview is interrupted as a pro-Donetsk APC roars off to city limits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpouh8gl0dc

Emotional interview with dramatic ending, people shout 'the government doesn't think we are human, Ukraine is over':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnHzhJeKeqc

English transcript or captions are available for those interviews.

[Pagan]

#Putin calls on separatists in east #Ukraine to postpone May 11th secession referendum, via @Reuters"

Putin calls 25 May presidential elections in Ukraine "a move in the right direction", though they will resolve nothing w/o constit. reform.

Russia media: Putin says May 11 referendum on autonomy in southeast Ukraine should be delayed.

#Putin says #Russia has withdrawn military forces from its border with #Ukraine (Interfax/Reuters)

Гocпoгpaнcлyжбa oпpoвepглa cлoвa Пyтин oб oтвoдe poccийcкиx вoйcк oт yкpaинcкoй гpaницы http://zn.ua/.../gospogransluzhba-ukrainy-oprovergla... …

NATO: No indication of withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine border [JC] http://bit.ly/1iXkllk

[Jcw188]

Interesting posts Pagan.   Is it a surprise that all this crap has started when Putin' popularity became to wane?  He apparently needed something for the Russian people to support him over and I guess Ukraine is it.   The oldest trick in the book (done by Clinton too in Serbia).

[Pagan]

another brilliant  analysis of Russia 'linear war' tactics

How Putin Is Reinventing Warfare
Though some deride Russia for backward thinking, Putin's strategy in Ukraine betrays a nuanced understanding of 21st century geopolitics.

The Kremlin, according to Barack Obama, is stuck in the "old ways," trapped in Cold War or even 19th century mindsets. But look closer at the Kremlin's actions during the crisis in Ukraine and you begin to see a very 21st century mentality, manipulating transnational financial interconnections, spinning global media, and reconfiguring geo-political alliances. Could it be that the West is the one caught up in the "old ways," while the Kremlin is the geopolitical avant-garde, informed by a dark, subversive reading of globalization?

The Kremlin's approach might be called "non-linear war," a term used in a short story written by one of Putin's closest political advisors, Vladislav Surkov, which was published under his pseudonym, Nathan Dubovitsky, just a few days before the annexation of Crimea. Surkov is credited with inventing the system of "managed democracy" that has dominated Russia in the 21st century, and his new portfolio focuses on foreign policy. This time, he sets his new story in a dystopian future, after the "fifth world war."

Surkov writes: "It was the first non-linear war. In the primitive wars of the 19th and 20th centuries it was common for just two sides to fight. Two countries, two blocks of allies. Now four coalitions collided. Not two against two, or three against one. All against all."

This is a world where the old geo-political paradigms no longer hold. As the Kremlin faces down the West, it is indeed gambling that old alliances like the EU and NATO mean less in the 21st century than the new commercial ties it has established with nominally "Western" companies, such as BP, Exxon, Mercedes, and BASF. Meanwhile, many Western countries welcome corrupt financial flows from the post-Soviet space; it is part of their economic models, and not one many want disturbed. So far, the Kremlin's gamble seems to be paying off, with financial considerations helping to curb sanctions. Part of the rationale for fast-tracking Russia's inclusion into the global economy was that interconnection would be a check on aggression. But the Kremlin has figured out that this can be flipped:

    Interconnection also means that Russia can get away with aggression.

Interconnection also means that Russia can get away with aggression.

"A few provinces would join one side," Surkov continues, "a few others a different one. One town or generation or gender would join yet another. Then they could switch sides, sometimes mid-battle. Their aims were quite different. Most understood the war to be part of a process. Not necessarily its most important part."

We can see a similar thinking informing the Kremlin as it toys with Eastern Ukraine, using indirect intervention through local gangs, with a thorough understanding of the interests of such local power brokers such as Donetsk billionaire Rinat Akhmetov (Ukraine's richest man) or Mikhail Dobkin, the former head of the Kharkiv Regional Administration and now presidential candidate. Though these local magnates make occasional public pronouncements supporting Ukraine's territorial integrity, their previous support of Yanukovych makes them wary of the new government in Kiev. Just the right degree of separatism could help guarantee their security while ensuring that their vast financial global interests are not harmed. "Think global, act local" is a favorite cliché of corporations -- it could almost be the Kremlin's motto in the Donbass.

And the Kremlin's "non-linear" sensibility is evident as it manipulates Western media and policy discourse. If in the 20th century the Kremlin could only lobby through Soviet sympathizers on the left, it now uses a contradictory kaleidoscope of messages to build alliances with quite different groups. European right-nationalists such as Hungary's Jobbik or France's Front National are seduced by the anti-EU message; the far-left are brought in by tales of fighting U.S. hegemony; U.S. religious conservatives are convinced by the Kremlin's stance against homosexuality. The result is an array of voices, all working away at Western audiences from different angles, producing a cumulative echo chamber of Kremlin support. Influencers often appear in Western media and policy circles without reference to their Kremlin connections: whether it's PR company Ketchum placing pro-Kremlin op-eds in the Huffington Post; anti-Maidan articles by British historian John Laughland in the Spectator that make no mention of how the think tank he was director of was set up in association with Kremlin-allied figures; or media appearances by influential German political consultant Alexander Rahr that fail to note his paid position as an advisor for the German energy company Wintershall, a partner of Gazprom, Moscow's massive natural gas company (Rahr denies a conflict of interest).

Combatting non-linear war requires non-linear measures. International networks of anti-corruption NGOs could help squeeze corrupt flows from Russia. At the moment, this sector is underdeveloped, underfunded, and poorly internationally coordinated: In the U.K., for example, NGOs such as Global Witness or Tax Justice rarely engage with Russian counterparts. Anti-corruption NGOs need to have the backing to put painful pressure on corrupt networks on a daily basis, naming and shaming corrupt networks and pressuring western governments to shut them down and enact their own money laundering laws. This would squeeze the Kremlin's model even in the absence of further sanctions, ultimately playing a role as important as human rights organizations did in the 70s and 80s, when groups like Amnesty and the Helsinki Committee helped change the Cold War by supporting dissidents in the Communist block and shaming their governments.

Meanwhile capacity building is needed for both Ukraine and the West to deal with Kremlin disinformation and to formally track the role of Kremlin-connected influencers. So far, this work is happening ad-hoc as intrepid journalists reveal Kremlin lobbyists and triple-check leaks. To be effective, this work needs to be institutionalized, whether in think tanks or via public broadcasters such as Radio Free Europe, so every sound bite from a Kremlin-funded "expert" is properly contextualized, every Kremlin meme deconstructed, and every British peer on Russian state company boards held accountable for their connections. And this needs to happen in both Western countries and Russia's "near abroad," where the Kremlin projects its non-linear influence through a variety of institutions, from the Orthodox Church, to entertainment television and business groups. Georgia, Moldova, and Latvia are particularly vulnerable, and their security services need to be prepared for the sort of indirect intervention we are seeing in eastern Ukraine.

But aside from such concrete measures, it's also important to appreciate that the Kremlin is throwing down the gauntlet to the Western-inspired vision of globalization, to the kitsch "global village" vision on the covers of World Bank annual reports and in Microsoft advertisements. It is better to understand the Kremlin's view of globalization as "corporate reiding" (with an "e"), the ultra-violent, post-Soviet cousin of western corporate "raiders," and the way many in Russia made and make their money. "Reiding" involves buying a minority share in a company, and then using any means at your disposal (false arrests, mafia threats, kidnapping, disinformation, blackmail) to acquire control. Russian elites sometimes refer to the country as a "minority shareholder in globalization," which, given Russia's experience with capitalism, implies it is the world's great "corporate raider." Non-linear war is the means through which a geo-political raider can leverage his relative weakness. And this vision appeals to a very broad constituency across the world, to those full of resentment for the West and infused by the sense that the "global village" model is a priori rigged. For all the talk of Russia's isolation, the BRIC economies have actually been subdued in their criticism of the annexation of Crimea, with the Kremlin thanking both China and India for being understanding.

Perhaps, despite what Obama says, there is a battle of ideas going on. Not between communism and capitalism, or even conservatives and progressives, but between competing visions of globalization, between the "global village" -- which feels at once nice, naff, and unreal -- and "non-linear war."

    It is naïve to assume the West will win with this new battle with the same formula it used in the Cold War.

It is naïve to assume the West will win with this new battle with the same formula it used in the Cold War. Back then, the West united free market economics, popular culture, and democratic politics into one package: Parliaments, investment banks, and pop music fused to defeat the politburo, planned economics, and social realism. But the new Russia (and the new China) has torn that formula apart: Russian popular culture is Westernised, and people drive BMWs, play the stock market, and listen to Taylor Swift all while cheering anti-Western rhetoric and celebrating American downfall.

"The only things that interest me in the U.S. are Tupac Shakur, Allen Ginsberg, and Jackson Pollock," said Surkov when he was one of the first Russian officials to be put on the U.S. sanctions list as "punishment" for Russia's actions in Crimea. "I don't need a visa to access their work. I lose nothing."

We live in a truly non-linear age. And the future might just belong to the reiders.

ALEXANDER NEMENOV

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/05/05/how_putin_is_reinventing_warfare

[Nemo1024]

Interesting posts Pagan.   Is it a surprise that all this crap has started when Putin' popularity became to wane?  He apparently needed something for the Russian people to support him over and I guess Ukraine is it.   The oldest trick in the book (done by Clinton too in Serbia).

...And by Obama/Kerry/Nuland in Ukraine.

Now, where did Putin enter the picture again. Ah, he's been constantly calling for the West to call off their dogs.

[Pagan]

Putin's stmt is a smokescreen. Donetsk separatists may announce tmr 'Moscow has no power over us', but proceed w/independence vote & terror

[bryant.coleman]

Hmm.... this is what Putin gets in return:

Gazprom: Ukraine fails to pay its April gas bill

http://rt.com/business/157304-gazprom-ukraine-gas-deadline

Gazprom says Kiev has failed to pay its mounting gas bill, which now has hit $3.5 billion. This means that in June Ukraine might receive Russian gas only on the condition of advanced payment. "The deadline has passed, no payment has been received," said Sergey Kupriyanov, the company's representative. Earlier the company said that if the deadline was not met, Gazprom would issue an advance bill for June gas supplies on May 16.

[Pagan]

Switzerland is probably the most powerful state  

Кaпитyляция
Aндpeй Пиoнткoвcкий o пpocьбe Пyтинa пepeнecти "peфepeндyм" в Дoнeцкe
update: 07-05-2014 (18:54)

Xpoникa тeкyщиx coбытий

2 мaя. Пpeзидeнт CШA Oбaмa и кaнцлep ФPГ Mepкeль пpeдyпpeдили B. Пyтинa, чтo пoпыткa copвaть выбopы в Укpaинe 25 мaя пpивeдeт к caнкциям пpoтив ceктopoв poccийcкoй экoнoмики.

4 мaя. B вocкpecнoй пpoгpaммe GPS (CNN Channel) US Treasure Department Deputy Secretary в oтвeт нa пpямoй вoпpoc вeдyщeгo Фapидa Зaкapиa дaл пoнять, чтo кypиpyeмый им Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence имeeт тoчнyю и иcчepпывaющyю инфopмaцию o бaнкoвcкиx cчeтax и aктивax, кoнтpoлиpyeмыx B. Пyтиным и eгo ближним кpyгoм.

7 мaя. Пocлe вcтpeчи c Пpeзидeнтoм Швeйцapcкoй Кoнфeдepaции B. Пyтин пpeдлoжил oтлoжить нaзнaчeнныe нa 11 мaя peфepeндyмы в Дoнeцкe и Лyгaнcкe и выpaзил yбeждeниe, чтo выбopы Пpeзидeнтa Укpaины, нaзнaчeнныe нa 25 мaя, – шaг в пpaвильнoм нaпpaвлeнии.

http://www.kasparov.ru/material.php?id=536A463FE0340

[247crypto]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF-pU3o28s8

[bryant.coleman]

True colors of a Right Sector Nazi. Right Sector candidate for the Ukrainian president election Oleg Liashko humiliating a civilian from Donetsk by stripping him in the public. Brings back memories from the WW2, when Poles, Jews, Gypsies and Slavs were treated like this by the SS Waffen: