US creating 'permanent war zone' around Russia: Analyst Joaquin Flores.

US creating 'permanent war zone' around Russia: Analyst Joaquin Flores.

Global Empire's Grand Game, strategic arc in Ukraine reveled. Joaquin Flores is a left-leaning analyst who his friends say has the gift of being able to synthesize complex systems quickly and precisely.






mh

Globe and Mail's 'Globe Unlimited' hides content about Ukraine Civil War

While reading at 'The New Cold War: Ukraine and Beyond' - an article about the misinformation that the popular media across the Empire are promulgating - I came across mention of a piece of writing by Mark MacKinnon entitled, What I’ve seen in the year since Yanukovych fled Ukraine.

A very different view of Kharkiv compared to the Foreign Policy article below was published several days ago in the national, daily newspaper in Canada, the Globe and Mail. Writing in the wake of the military debacle suffered by Ukraine’s armed forces and militias at Debaltseve, in Donetsk (Donbas) region, earlier this week and the deep disquiet and unrest which that event has unleashed, reporter Mark MacKinnon writes, “Today, Kharkiv and Odessa are more firmly in the Ukrainian fold than ever before in the country’s 24 years of modern independence. They’ve seen what Novorossiya means in Donetsk and Lugansk – war, accompanied by thugocracy – and they’ve rejected it… And the rest of the country is more proudly Ukrainian than it has ever been.”

When I tried the link, the G&M page throws up a pitch to buy the content - when one clicks the 'X' to close the pop-up, the page reloads away from the content to a front page that does not list the article in search.

Using the link at New Cold War (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/world-insider/what-ive-seen-in-the-year-since-yanukovych-fled-ukraine/article23065203/) I was able to reconstruct the title of the piece and use that Search for it ... at commonly owned CP24 they list the article - but under the title is the pay-wall announcement.

Harrumph.

http://www.24news.ca/the-news/world-news/100389-what-ive-seen-in-the-year-since-yanukovych-fled-ukraine

One news for those able to pay; and one news for those without means?

Sort of the opposite of the enlightenment that flowed out of the invention of the Printing Press - which freed information to all those who could read - and as well the opposite of what the inventors of the world wide web had in mind when they built the 21st Century's version of the printing press - the HTTP protocol.



The New Cold War - Ukraine and Beyond - February 21, 2015 | Kharkiv: A Ukrainian city holds its breath | http://newcoldwar.org/kharkiv-a-ukrainian-city-holds-its-breath/




mh

The War in Ukraine - presentation by Paul Robinson, Centre for International Policy Studies, University of Ottawa

The War in Ukraine video is a multimedia presentation on the War in Ukraine by Paul Robinson of the Centre for International Policy Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa. The talk was presented on October 9, 2014 at the University of Ottawa.

Great description of the military situation in east Ukraine from April to September 2014.

All Washington's talking points are nicely refuted using a multitude of sources including breaking Youtube posts from the war fronts - made possible uniquely in this particular war by Russia as she maintains besieged eastern Ukraine's connection to the world wide web.

The professor avoids the political in this presentation, and as a result does not address the fact that the Ukrainian Army has fascist brigades embedded in it, and that we know that the command and control of the army has a mirror command structure which is fascist. That and a slowly revealing extreme nationalism amoungst all the leading political forces in the (US backed coup) Kyiv government.

The professor escapes possibly a deeper understanding of the progress of empire, for example (what he calls conspiracy theories), and rests upon the theory of chaos in geopolitics (a series of blunders). This position however, does give him a secure place from which to speak truth to power.

Pointedly - and I think this is fatal - the professor trough this blinkered, apolitical take does not address the use of terror by the Right Sector contingents both embedded in the Ukraine Army and in separate Special Ops. battalions.. Ukrainian nationalists on the far right control the army - it is a fascist army, we know this - and we know their long arc plan of the war: the cleansing of the Ukraine of all the 'visitors' (Russian speaking Ukrainians).

That means: Run; or Die.

Thus the shelling of apartment buildings, schools ... and ethnic cleansing operations - both of which are designed to cause the entire population to head for the Russian border..

Now you can better understand the Ukrainian Army's tactics.


The War in Ukraine


Centre for International Policy Studies uOttawa


Published on Oct 9, 2014

Paul Robinson presents:

The War in Ukraine
The war in Ukraine has involved the most intense combat seen in Europe since 1945. Thousands of people have been killed, and hundreds of armoured vehicles and other items of military equipment have been destroyed. Paul Robinson examines the composition of the warring armies, charts the course of the main events and battles, and analyzes the causes of the rebel victory in late August.

Youtube Channel: Centre for International Policy Studies uOttawa | The War in Ukraine | http://youtu.be/hccScI_UvyA




mh

OSCE monitoring civilian death in Donetsk People’s Republic - eastern Ukraine

The view from the front lines of the Ukraine Army's 'Anti-terrorist Operation' - via the OSCE 'Special Monitoring Mission' to the Ukrainian Civil War.

50 miles from two Ukrainian cities, Donetsk and Luhansk - the two Provincial Capitals of the breakaway, anti-fascist 'Donetsk People’s Republic' (DPR) - one of the OSCE  Mission teams is camped next to the Ukrainian Armed Forces forward command. They are monitoring, inspecting and publishing daily reports on incidents of violence.

At the time of this publication the OSCE appear to have access to forward stationed Ukraine Military Command bases - and - to DPR controlled areas as well.

Interestingly, a Major-General of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is present; observing the monitoring process.

Scary Shit.


Via New Cold War: Ukraine and Beyond - Jan 10, 2015 | Heavy shelling in Donetsk on Jan. 7-9 | newcoldwar.org/heavy-shelling-donetsk-jan-7-9/

From the OSCE report for Jan 9, 2015:

"At the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) headquarters in government-controlled Debaltseve (55km north-east of Donetsk), the Ukrainian Major-General, head of the Ukrainian side to the JCCC, and the Russian Federation Major-General, representative of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to the JCCC, said that the security situation in “DPR”-controlled areas had markedly deteriorated in the previous 24 hours, to an extent not seen since 15 December. In the 24 hours preceding 08:00hrs, 9 January, they said they had recorded 91 ceasefire violations, 50 of them at the Donetsk airport. Among the recorded incidents during this period, they said that the use of heavy weapons was particularly pronounced, with 12 cases involving the use of BM-21 Grad rockets, 19 artillery shelling incidents, and 44 uses of mortars. Four Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and nine wounded, and two “DPR” and two “Lugansk People’s Republic” (“LPR”) members killed in the violence, they said. Six civilians had also been injured on the south-western outskirts of Donetsk, they added.

[...]

For PDF attachments or links to sources of further information, please visit: http://www.osce.org/ukraine-smm/133771

..."

References:

New Cold War: Ukraine and Beyond - Information and analysis of the political crisis in Ukraine and the NATO offensive in eastern Europe | http://newcoldwar.org/

OSCE | News and Press Releases | Latest from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) based on information received as of 18:00 (Kyiv time), 9 January 2015 | http://www.osce.org/ukraine-smm/133771

OSCE | News and Press Releases (rss feed) |  http://www.osce.org/press-releases/rss



mh

Rising Fascism in Ukraine - liberals must begin to reconsider one of their core beliefs - sometimes non-violence begets more violence

Written February 23, 2014 - just after (as-yet unclear nature of the thing) the Washington orchestrated fascist coup in Kyiv - published inadvertently while labeling Ukraine posts a year later; but I think it stands - so I'll leave it up.

The piece does not intend to be a call to violence - but a warning to liberal democrats about the nature of the historical period we appear to be entering - great power war between imperial capitalist blocks willing to use any means necessary (including racial, cultural, sexuality and class divisions) to attain their goals.

"Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."

- King James Bible, Matthew 26:52

What is Fascism? is a question that that I've been thinking about for about ten years. As the events in the Ukraine have unfolded an answer to the question has become apparent to me.

Fascism is the unenlightened in power.

Of coarse it's not as simple as that, how, in a meritocracy, do the unenlightened come to power? And sustain that power? The answer of coarse is they have backing from the very powerful: kings, corporations or empires.

As the fascists in the "Euromaiden" movement rise in prominence and in power inside of a larger movement against economic injustice and state repression via the police - they are having to walk a delicate line. The Parliament is full of (to one extent or another) enlightened members.That, after-all - is the point of the thing. Right now in Ukraine, Parliament has all power - with no apparent leadership. No Prime Minister, no President, no ruling political party.

Lawlessness on the streets and bungling by the just resigned elected government has resulted in a revolution against the status-quo - but FOR WHAT is still undecided. Will they rebuild a liberal democracy? This is unknown at this time.

When the Euromaiden leader, and deputy leader of the opposition party Batkivshchyna, wears a bullet proof vest into parliament - it strikes the global audience as odd. Is it populism? That's a sure way to get on the front page of every newspaper. Or is it deeper than that? A strange symbol of victory now that the mob have won the day, the anti-protest law repealed, the trade deal with Russia rescinded.

Why now a fear for one's life inside the Parliament itself?

The answer to that question is that the Fascists don't need a Parliament. They despise Parliament. They are not democrats - they believe in one strong leader and social conformity enforced with state violence against it's own citizens.

In complex modern societies though, one strong leader is a ridiculous idea - the system of governance is much too complicated. The checks and balances of a republic are required to run such a complex machine. The barometer of Parliamentary Democracy is needed to govern. In this comlex system the rule of one results is a twisted reflections of an powerful individual; all their fears and all their insanity (that we all harbour to one extent or another) begin to become reflected in law and in policy - and the result can be holocaust camps, industrial scale genocide, and world war.

The last world war.

If the fascists within the ferment in Ukraine rise to establish a Fascist government it will rock Europe and greatly weaken the US empire's grand game metric that has held Europe together since world war II (united against totalitarianism).

This is a call to all liberals: understand this moment; all things normal - all business as usual - just ended.

This is a call to arms to all liberals - begin to reconsider your most cherished core beliefs. Sometimes, non-violence begets more violence; corporatism will use your unwillingness to abandon peaceful resolution, compromise and facilitation to put you in a box of silent terror.

If Ukraine becomes a Fascist State, at some point in the very near future - the only way forward will be to fight your way out of that box.


Your reason for being is before you now - and it's brand name is Anti-Fascism!



mh

'Roses Have Thorns' video documents Kyiv & Washington's so-called "Anti-terrorist Operation"

In this documentary by 'Watchdog Media Institute', about the beginning of the Ukrainian Civil War (aka Kyiv & Washington's, "Anti-terrorist Operation"), smart phone, internet news reports and lots of video from several professional independent news reporters on the ground in Ukraine (Donetsk People's Republic) is edited to tell the 9 month story of the beginning of the Ukrainian Civil War.

(Perhaps the beginning of WWIII.)

A must-see new-media news production, "Roses have Thorns".



Watching military commanders in early May 2014 trying to figure out how to apply their military training in a civilian setting demonstrates just how difficult it is to start a war when the people are using non-violent civil disobedience.

How it is done is also revealed - by sending in fascist terror group 'Right Sector' in combined operations with Ukrainian army conscripts. These Right Sector fascist SS style shock troops are highly disciplined psychopaths who can come to a quiet neighbourhood street and kill innocents with the disposition of a machine.

Their targets: all those who think there should be a Federation.

But with the American's hovering over their every move, this is just phase I. The new Ukrainian nationalists ultimately want One Ukraine --- meaning one language, one race, one religion. To get it: as they have warned their 'Enemies',

'You have two choices: Run; or Die.'

Orcs* is what they are.



* Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien (1937)



mh

Washington Empire's Ukraine Civil War caper spawns global economic war

Two interesting threads on the Real News Network in the past few weeks - the first about the new low Oil Price - and the other about the recent splitting of the Global Economy into two powerful camps

Together I consider these as part of the continuing fallout from the Washington Empire's recent annexation of western Ukraine from the Russian sphere of influence ...

Below are embeds and links to three The Real News Network stories from second half of December 2014:

______________

Update - Dec 30 2014: Part II of the Larry Wilkerson Interview on Economic Warfare is up - where Wilkerson does make the connection between the Ukraine Civil War and the new low Oil Price.

Update Video:

TRNN - December 29, 2014:

What are U.S. Objectives in Weakening Russia's Economy?

Larry Wilkerson and Paul Jay discuss the "tactical strength and strategic weakness" of Putin in Ukraine and whether the West is trying to turn Russia into another "Greece".

What are U.S. Objectives in Weakening Russia's Economy?

Youtube- TRNN Channel | What are U.S. Objectives in Weakening Russia's Economy?: http://youtu.be/_ai9nDDk3sQ

1st Video:

TRNN - December 28, 2014:

US/Saudi Oil Play Is Economic Warfare

Lawrence Wilkerson says the target of low oil prices is Russia and Iran, throwing their economies into turmoil and opening their doors to sovereign raiders.

US/Saudi Oil Play Is Economic Warfare

Youtube- TRNN Channel | US/Saudi Oil Play Is Economic Warfare: http://youtu.be/fux6lsz9HU8

The 2nd Video:

TRNN - December 15, 2014

Russia Rejects South Stream Pipeline Through Europe

Hudson Report: Europe's effort to join the US in isolating Russia has backfired, it makes no sense to build an oil and gas pipeline for Russian exports that would be owned and leased to them by the US and Europe.

Russia Rejects South Stream Pipeline Through Europe

(Embedding disabled by request)(?)
Youtube - TRNN Channel | Russia Rejects South Stream Pipeline Through Europe | http://youtu.be/7YAIiF3hvzM

The 3rd Video:

TRNN - December 14, 2014:

Russia Pivots to Eurasia for Trade and Military Alliances

Michael Hudson Report: The United State's renewed cold war policy to isolate Russia is dividing Europe and changing the orbit for China and Asia

Russia Pivots to Eurasia for Trade and Military Alliances

Youtube- TRNN Channel | Russia Pivots to Eurasia for Trade and Military Alliances | http://youtu.be/nflZSjiofr8

______________

In the top video I think Lawrence Wilkerson misses the chance to make the connection between the Eastern Ukraine Civil War (Washington, Russia proxy war), and this Oil Price Economic Warfare.

This Ukraine Adventure is the first great test of the American Empire. The Empire's gambit is to break Russia's hegemony in Central Asia through a Crimean Civil War (which they started, and will supply). The Russian embargo has lead to Russia to create other trading relationships - and this is the reason for the flood of cheap American oil in the market today.


I look at it in an historical context:

Today at the wsj they say US Oil production is to remain high; and the Saudi's announced last week they will not drop production.

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, The Global Empire Project has been probing Russia's sphere of influence for weakness. To Russia's west - new NATO members (Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania); and to her south (coupes, black-ops in Kyrgyzstan¹, Georgia² and Azerbaijan - and in 2014, Ukraine).

These ancient boundaries and sphere's have been in place for millennia. It is common knowledge amoung historians³ that in order for Russia to maintain her global position she must hold the Black Sea (and in the modern naval era - 1750 to present⁴ - that means a naval port at Sevastopol, Crimea).

In Georgia in 2008, when the CIA/US Embassy tried to pull of a putsch, Russia sent in crack armies into Georgia. Russia was saying - this region is strategic. Here is a line that you shall not cross (at threat of mutually assured destruction - great-power war).


But this isn't American two-super-power tactics - where a hot war is just left to simmer - now this is Empire. In the Ukraine The Empire has taken a bold march east; and she must now hold on to it, and project it. An Empire is too over-stretched to allow a perception of mortality - it cannot lose or draw; cannot be seen to lose or draw.

Oil (and other energy) is what projects the Empire's power around the globe. So to use the price of oil as a weapon in this cracking of the Russia sphere at Crimea shows the observer just how important The Ukraine is the the geopolitical chess masters in Washington.

For Russia their understanding is that the G7 is no longer pretending to be the world government that all economies would somehow share a representative say in - Russia knows now, it is just another a weapon of the Global Empire - with Russia looking on from the outside.

Russia's response is to try to expand trade agreements with China - and other not-so-globally-supreme powers. The Eurasian Economic Union⁵ for example.

So now with lower energy prices China is enticed back to her seaports to import her energy needs - and all of a sudden a pipeline deal with Russia seems a lot less important. China's ease is Russia's worry - just the way the US has always played this part of the grand game. Geo-politically, unity of the economies of China and Russia would be a disaster for the Global Empire.

So deals that China and Russia are making right now take them out of the US Oil Dollar economy, creating economies outside the US economic sphere. These 'sub-economies' are created by using state-to-state bond transfers, the creation of internal subsidies and the use of internal monetary mechanisms not based on World Bank policy (not allowed in G7 economies).


Next step towards WWIII is a political one - the fascist-quisling puppets in Kiev are to vote to join NATO next.

This little skirmish in eastern Ukraine is Russia's last military stand before Volgograd - her gateway on the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

References:

¹ EurAsiaNET - December 28, 2014 | While U.S. Negotiated Over Manas, Pentagon Intensified Kyrgyzstan Special Forces Training | http://www.eurasianet.org/node/71496

² NYT - August 13, 2008 | Bush, Sending Aid, Demands That Moscow Withdraw - reported by Steven Lee Myers, Sabrina Tavernise, Ellen Barry - written by Sreven Lee Myers | http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/14/world/europe/14georgia.html?oref=slogin&_r=0

³ Recent History of Empires in Crimea:

Map (image via Wikipedia | The Golden Horde | http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Golden_Horde ) shows the extent of the Mongol state known (in the west) as 'The Golden Horde' (1240s–1502).

Later - the Ottoman Empire(1299–1923) controlled the region. As soon as it controlled Crimea(1481) it controlled the Black Sea coast and parts of Asia to the east. As soon as it lost Crimea (Russian Empire - 1774) the Ottoman's no longer controlled the northern coast or any part of Asia north of Georgia. (Check the "Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Empire 1300-1923int.gif" from Wikipedia)

This border alignment is reflected in the later Russian Empire (1721-1917) and the Soviet Union's borders (1921-1998).

If you control Crimea, then you control the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, and Central Asia east to the borders of China and Mongolia.

In modern times that means huge proven sources of natural resources - including Oil and Gas that could supply  China's emerging advanced industrial economy.

⁴ Wikipedia | Naval Artillery, Scientific Gunnery, New Principles in Gunnery (1742) | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_artillery#Scientific_gunnery

⁵Eruasian Economic Union | Guardian Weekly - October 28, 2014 | "Vladimir Putin’s Eurasian Economic Union gets ready to take on the world" - by Benoît Vitkine | http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/28/eurasian-economic-union-russia-belarus-kazakhstan

Video News Stories at TRNN:

TRNN - December 29, 2014 | What are U.S. Objectives in Weakening Russia's Economy? | http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12894

TRNN - December 28, 2014 | US/Saudi Oil Play Is Economic Warfare | http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12892

TRNN - December 15, 2014 | Russia Rejects South Stream Pipeline Through Europe | http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12811

TRNN - December 14, 2014 | Russia Pivots to Eurasia for Trade and Military Alliances http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12786

Recent History of Crimea - at Wikipedia:

 Wikipedia | The History of Crimea | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Crimea

Wikipedia | The Golden Horde(1240s–1502) | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Horde

Wikipedia | The Ottoman Empire (1300-1923) | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_the_Ottoman_Empire

Wikipedia | The Russian Empire (1721-1917) | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Empire



mh

Truth Out - Ukrainian Fascist coup from Democratic #Maidan Protest against 5 #Ukraine Oligarch Families

The Real News Network - Mar 30, 2014  | Oligarchs, Fascists and the People's Protest in Ukraine

"Derek Monroe - The Ukrainian far right, backed by local oligarchs, the US and the EU - hijacked the peaceful protest against corruption"

What he said:

Oligarchs, Fascists and the People's Protest in Ukraine




Read Derek Monroe's report:

Truth Out - SpeakOut 17 March 2014 | "Euro Maidan 2014: The Ruptured Rebellion of Incoherent Revolution" | By Derek Monroe | http://truth-out.org/speakout/item/22515-euro-maidan-2014-the-ruptured-rebellion-of-incoherent-revolution



mh

"Third Force" behind #Kyiv Maidan Sniper shootings Feb 19-20 - events that precipitated #Ukraine #Fascist Revolution

 All progressives must rally for Peace.

- Yanukovych Feb 19-20 Repression at Maidan, Order of the battle; Right Sector leads revolutionary occupations of Regional Authorities;
 - In Kyiv: Svoboda holds session of Parliament as Party of Regions members flee Kyiv as Police administration collapses;
 - Svoboda Parliament Feb 22 throws out Yanukovych Constitution, reconstitutes State, issues arrest warrant for President, declares Russian language not official, considers ban on Communist Party, Yanukovych's Party of Regions;
 - Neo-nazi group C18, attack Kyiv Communist Party Offices, occupy them.

During the days after the Viktor Yusenko ordered clearing of the Maidan that started on the evening of February 19th and which resulted in 125 deaths of strangely nearly equal numbers of police and protestors - I began to compile evidence of what I thought were important events in a chaotic situation - which appeared to me then to be not just the resignation of the government - but an overthrow of the State in Ukraine.

Order of Battle:

1) 8pm - Feb 19, 2014 - Maidan Attacked by a coordinated assault by Police working closely with all levels of Government (Streets Closed, Subways didn't stop at Maidan subway).

2) Evidence those occupying Maidan were very well organized:
The initial police tactic - simultaneously advance on the Trade Union Building (Occupied by the elite Maidan defense forces lead by 'Right Sector') - and at the same time Police began a slow march into the tent city portion of the square using a barrage of water cannon and gas.
In response the Trade Union building was set on fire as the Right Sector retreated from the building. At the same time in the Maidan Tent City, Right Sector set the tent city on fire and retreated behind it. The tent city acted as a barricade to stop the police advance. Protestors added tires and Molitof's onto the fire to prevent water cannon and fire crews for extinguishing the flames - stopping the Police advance.

3) I extrapolate (by what I know happened next) that an outside force was introduced in the mayhem at Maidan that night - there was to be slaughter at Maidan that night, no matter what the Government tactics were - so as to facilitate the seizing of Regional Government Buildings all around Kyiv - to the east and south of Kyiv (as far into the Party of Regions Provinces as possible - the western Ukraine Government buildings had mostly all been seized by Right Sector and other neo-nazi groups the week before).

______________

Today a leaked phone call from the Estonian Ambassador to the Estonia President was leaked - the Ambassador tells her that he talked to doctors on the scene at Maidan on the bloody day - Feb 19-20. He said the chief of Maidan Doctor Corps. told him that from pictures she had seen of dead Police Officers and the wounds she noted on shot Protestors that she treated - both were shot by the same bullets (I'm assuming hollow point assassination bullets), and in the same manner of shooting - to the head in the eye in the base of the neck - in short, she thought those killed that day (both Police and Protesters) were shot by the same snipers.

______________

The news of the massacre at Maidan the next day - caused the Police to defect from their posts, and I expect caused the army to split at the same time (evidenced by the defection of army and navy elements since Russia landed troops to protect Black Sea coast positions that are tactical to securing their navel base and airport on Crimea 3 days later)  - the with news from someone in the anti-Party of Nations, Union Coalition that that Parliament had been suspended, plus the roaming gangs of violent thugs beating everyone they came across plus the coordinated seizure of all government buildings caused a defacto collapse of the Government. Then Slovida called a rump Parliamentary Session with almost all the Party of Regions members had left Kyiv - and struck down Viktor Yancovich's constitutional changes made in 2010 and thus dismantled the State with a Parliamentey vote in a rump Parliament.

______________

On Feb 20 - the day of the sniper shootings, the Right Sector used the news of deaths coming out of Kyiv to lead angry pro-democracy demonstrators in occupations of Regional Government buildings wherever they could - this resulted in the collapse of not just the Government - but the Ukrainian State.
In Kyiv Svoboda (the fascist Party in the anti Yanchovich group) used the killings on the Maidan - with Party of Regions members defecting to the Unity Coalition and others fleeing the city under threats of murder - to hold a 'rump' Parliamentary session.
In this rump session they threw out the Yanchovich Constitution (which had a super strong presidency at it's core), banned the Russian Language and out-lawed the Communist party - essentially tipping any new session of Parliament in the Unity Coalition's favour.
What this new government and new State represents can be seen in how many, and what, government posts that the fascist Svoboda Party members got as the State reconstituted:

Rabble.ca - March 9, 2014 | What's really at stake in Ukraine | by Murray Dobbin | http://rabble.ca/columnists/2014/03/whats-really-stake-ukraine

Among the members of Svoboda in the cabinet are, according to Raimondo:

"*Andriy Parubiy -- National Security Council chief, and co-founder of the party when it was called (not so subtly) the "Social-National Party."

* Oleh Makhnitsky -- Svoboda member of parliament, is prosecutor-general.

* Andriy Moknyk -- the new Minister of Ecology, has been Svoboda's envoy to other European fascist parties. Last year, he met with representatives of Italy's violent neo-fascist gang, Forza Nuovo.

* Ihor Tenyukh -- interim defense minister and a member of Svoboda's political council. Formerly commander of Ukraine's navy, in 2008, during Russia's war with Georgia, he ordered Ukrainian warships to block the entrance of the Russian Navy to the bay of Sevastopol."

Wikipedia | Cabinet of Ukraine - #Cabinet | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_Ukraine#Cabinet
(Retrieved 2014-03-10 - 1:30am est)

_____________

@DemocracyNow #Ukraine Roundtable http://t.co/fWjTRfWyis Anton Shekhovtsov Snipers likely Third Force Key event that lead to revolution #OWS
— Michael Holloway (@m_holloway) March 10, 2014

Anton Shekhovtsov was arguing the State Departmen position, others were confused about the sniper report on Thursday thinking the Maidan fired on their own people, and the police for some unknown reason - Anton Shekhovtsov comment on Friday March 7th reflects my thinking and what I wrote above - writing days before - the key words are "Third Force".

And we all know who the third force in Kyiv is - the US Embassy, the CIA and US Special Operations.

And that Svoboda (and their military wing Pravy Sektor) was ready (previous week they had greened leaders in taking over Western Provincial Rada) - and executed take-overs of Regional Government apparatus - ***as the sniper fire was happening*** - all over the proximate Kyiv Provinces and as far east and south as they could muster forces for.

For the timing of events on Feb 19-20 see Wikipedia linked  - note Feb 20 (I have a screen print of the page as it appeared on Feb 25 which I publish here as well - but the page has not been altered in the interim):

Wikipedia | 2014 Ukrainian Regional State Administration occupations | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Ukrainian_Regional_State_Administration_occupations#20_February

Understanding this series of events we then understand that the US was using troops on the ground, in the name of fascist Pravy Sektor to execute a well timed and provocated coup d'tat.

A look at the previously progressive - or at least 'truth searching' Twitter list #Ukraine - today shows a massive onslot of pro-US Empire Tweets. The Empire is in full blown propaganda and disimformation mode as we speak. The same was true at Twitter list #Euromaidan the weeks before.

Un-like Georgia, where the fascists were hurled back easily by Russian troops - in this case the Kyiv government can be supported with troops through new NATO member countries on the Western boarder.

With unconfirmed reporting of Blackwater Fascist Ukraine hired US military forces on the streets in the Eastern Ukraine Industrial city of Donetsk - expect a shooting war in Ukraine between US Mercenaries and Russian troops sooner rather than later - if this report is true. 
(It looks a little if-y. But it could be a faint to get an advance north by the Russians - an attempt by the US to choose the site of the first battle ... of World War 3).

Charles Shoebridge is a Soldier and Intelligence officer, and a progressive:

Are #Blackwater now in #Ukraine? http://t.co/x8kWbBb9Rb If so, may suggest a new hired militia for the now far right run security ministries
— Charles Shoebridge (@ShoebridgeC) March 9, 2014

Written Feb 25 to March 9th 2014




mh

#Ukraine - Jan 30 2014 - Democratic #Euromaidan has defeated Government - #fascists hold the street - want to overthrow the State and pivot to power

2014-02-25 - This piece was written Jan 30, 2014 - I held back this piece as the situation was unclear and very volatile. Since the weekend of Feb 19-22 the situation has some-what clarified. I'm corralling my sources and real-time documentation now, for my next piece on this unfolding situation. At this writing according to several sources in the field, the situation seems to have pivoted as I had feared it might when the article below was written. The State has collapsed as revolutionary "People's Rada" have sprung up all over the country. Around Kyiv to the proximate east and South - and especially to the West - Right Sector has lead in an apparently focused, organized and well timed  popular uprising that resulted in the decapitation of local government offices and institutions - which has resulted in the collapse of the central government and it's Constitution.


Jan 30, 2014 - The #Euromaidan movement is represented in Parliament by the United Opposition - which includes the fascist Svoboda "third position" neo-nazis.

With an understanding of the situation that flows from an historians perspective - what I see is that the fascists at this moment - in this very fluid situation - hold the keys to the next developments - and that - it appears that if western liberals remain divided and in this state of considering all the facts - the moment may be lost to effect this in a positive fashion - and at the same time, and most importantly - prevent a fascist government from coming to power in the Ukraine.

I just listened to Russian Studies expert Professor Stephen F Cohen's way-to-short debate with Anton Shekhovtsov on DemocracyNow! (Debate: Is Ukraine’s Opposition a Democratic Movement or a Force of Right-Wing Extremism? | Democracy Now!).

Professor Cohen says the fascists, through their control of the street demonstrations - have control of the #Euromaidan democratic movement - just at this moment now - .

At this time Professor Cohen is reading the situation as I see it also.

Here's how I saw the last 9 days play out:

When the government fell last week and all power resorted to Parliament, we saw the government fire all it's Ministers and dissolve the session of Parliament and promise the first new order of business would be to repeal all the anti-protest laws. (the laws that turned the peaceful protest into a week long running street battle run by the fascists, and which caused an ungovernable state of affairs --- the exact occurrence that toppled the government).

At that point the President proposed a power sharing government of national reconciliation. And the deputies of the opposition at first began to respond to that by asking the street to give up the occupations of the government buildings. That resulted in divisions on the street with one group holding the Agriculture Ministry being fired upon by the Svoboda fascists:


According to a NY Time Opinion piece from today the Agriculture Ministry is still occupied - by the fascists:

"Another problem is that the opposition is united largely in its disgust with the corruption and authoritarianism of the Yanukovych-led political elite and a vague longing for Westernization and transparency. Beyond that, the protesters are sharply divided. The differences were on display Wednesday when five people were wounded in a spat over who would control the occupied building of the Agriculture Ministry."

(NY Times Editorial - Time for a Deal in Ukraine - by The Editorial Board - JAN. 30, 2014 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/31/opinion/time-for-a-deal-in-ukraine.html).

After prolonged discussion in Parliament the amnesty law was passed by the majority government party - without the support of the United Opposition deputies:

Tiahnybok votes to fight on
5:48 a.m, Jan. 30 -- EuroMaidanPR report: After parliament voted to pass the amnesty laws, Svoboda Party opposition leader Oleh Tiahnybok addressed protesters from the main stage of Independence Square, saying that until all the main demands of the opposition are fulfilled, the opposition will continue fighting. Tiahnybok added that the opposition demands are aligned with those of the protestors and that the opposition will continue representing the protesters’ interests and demands. -- Brian Bonner

(EuroMaidan rallies in Ukraine (Jan. 28-29-30 live updates)


It was at this point - and how it stands now - that the fascist hold the trump card in what happens next. If they won't give up the street positions the United Opposition can't negotiate with the majority.

I think it is important to understand that the Ukraine is a capitalist liberal democracy in name only - it has none of the deep institutions of a robust liberal democracy we understand here (that are very tenacious and difficult to dismantle). So the Ukrainian State is very fragile - with just a little push this Ukrainian state could fall - and a fascist government could come to power in the centre of Europe.

As the US has been funding this radical element in an attempt to destabilize and disrupt the Russian Commonwealth of Independent States region (a geopolitical plan that is diametrically opposed to NATO's plan for the region - a US plan to weaken Russia systemically - and at the same time provide for the moving of Southern Eurasian oil and resources West, rather than East or North.

Therefore the US will have no choice but to support this new Ukrainian fascist state - or lose this particular round in the 'grand game' at a moment when it's economic house is collapsing.

This fact of a fascist state in the middle of Europe will have the effect of a cancer inside Europe. Like a house divided - it will either become all one thing - or all the other.

And as the lynch pin of American hegemony in Europe - it must therefore become all fascist - and so then too the fascist forces inside America would also then gain ascendancy in the grand game inside the gates of Rome Washington.


As the fascist maintain their pivot point at the centre of the Ukrainian popular revolution - so too will we see a continuation of the inability of the opposition to negotiate in Parliament.

A continuation of the dysfunction of the state will lead to further economic hardship in the very short term - thus drawing more and more angry young men to the fascist barricades.

Maintain the truce at the barricades in the squares - but end the occupations of the Government buildings and let the government begin to do it's work.

Begin the coalition government that the majority party has offered. Politically dislodge the fascists from that pivot point they now occupy.




mh

Failure of #Ukraine Progressives - rise of Fascist leadership in #Euromaidan movement

A source on the ground in Kiev - from any stated (democratic) perspective - would be nice...
 ..Voila:

The Final Straw Radio (AshevilleFM)

A weekly Anarchist Radio Show

Euromaidan: An Ukrainian Anarchosyndicalist perspective on these protests

December 31, 2013

In late November of 2013, Kiev and other parts of Ukraine saw the building of spontaneous plaza occupations and street demonstrations against President Yanukovych apparent decision to stall steps towards integrating Ukraine into the European Union. The protests, known as Euromaidan or EuroPlaza in Ukrainian, called on the ruling government to move forward with the integration, fearing that the stalling was a sign that the Ukraine was giving in to pressure from the competing Customs Union (made up of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan) which had been courting Ukrainian participation. The protests are ongoing, despite the signature of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych into a deal with Russia for promised purchases of billions of dollars of Ukrainian products and a 30% discount on Russian Natural Gas. Euromaidan have been compared in scale, and sadly in lack of critical debate about issues among the populace, to the 2004 Ukrainian Orange revolution which saw the rising to power of those who would become the status quo today.

This week on the Final Straw, we’ll be speaking with Denys. Denys is an organizer and activist with the Kiev Local of the Autonomous Worker’s Union

..."

read the rest and listen to the podcast... http://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2013/12/31/euromaidan-an-ukrainian-anarchosyndicalist-perspective-on-these-protests/

Podcast link: https://archive.org/download/AfmFinalStraw12222013/afm-final-straw-12222013.mp3



mh

Great Powers in Proxy War in #Ukraine - spilling out into global internet propaganda war

Original Daily Telegram Slideshow - from my search the photo set was published in an article from early morning 2014-01-23. Slideshow http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/10591246/Ukraine-protests-in-pictures-Riot-police-clash-with-protesters-on-Kiev-streets.html



Faked propaganda image Tweeted by Jon Williams - Foreign editor @ABC (previously foreign editor @BBCNews) @WilliamsJon 2014-01-22 - 3:40 pm est -  hours before the Daily Telegram published - https://twitter.com/WilliamsJon/status/426091902958837760/photo/1/large





Timeline is only available via search inside the Daily Mail website - I've taken an image showing a related article post showing the date that the Slideshow was published (retrieved 2014-01-28) - the link goes to the Slideshow that includes the top image above.
(for large, right click, chose 'view image', click on image to rebigulate)






mh