Today I will begin by looking at how the Ukrainian conflict is covered in the international media thanks to this blog’s network of 55 correspondents and translators in the following regions: Europe, North America, South…
Tag: Ukraine
Break the silence: a world war is beckoning Why do we tolerate the threat of another world war in our name? Why do we allow lies that justify this risk? The scale…
As Russia procrastinates, as the US doubles risks, the world draws nearer to the nuclear abyss. It is not much fun to be in Kiev these days. The revolutionary excitement is over, and hopes for new faces, the end of corruption and economic improvement have withered. The Maidan street revolt and the subsequent coup just reshuffled the same marked deck of cards, forever rotating in power. The new acting President has been an acting Prime Minister, and a KGB (called “SBU” in Ukrainian) supremo. The new acting Prime Minister has been a Foreign Minister. The oligarch most likely to be “elected” President in a few days has been a Foreign Minister, the head of the state bank, and personal treasurer of two coups, in 2004 (installing Yushchenko) and in 2014 (installing himself). His main competitor, Mme Timoshenko, served as a Prime Minister for years, until electoral defeat in 2010.
The German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov had a telephone conversation on Sunday, to discuss the situation in Ukraine and Kiev’s continued use of military force in the country’s southeastern…
FireDogLake reported on Monday: Breaking during the weekend was a story by Der Spiegel and Bild that American mercenaries were on the ground in Kiev. According to the report 400 mercenaries from Academi (formerly Blackwater) were on the ground “involved in a punitive operation mounted by Ukraine’s new government.” Der Spiegel claims “the information originates from U.S. intelligence services and was presented during a meeting chaired by the Chancellor’s Office chief Peter Altmaier (CDU). At the meeting were present the president of the intelligence agencies and the Federal Criminal Office, as well as the intelligence coordinator of the Chancellor’s Office and senior Ministry officials.” Indeed, the German newspaper apparently claim that the American mercenaries are directing andcoordinating the attacks by the fascist Right Sector militia. Blackwater is more or less an extension of the CIA.
In Defense of the Donetsk People’s Republic This week the war in East Ukraine continued, despite the referenda held in Donetsk and Lugansk on Sunday. In the circumstances, the referenda were well organised….
Finance in today’s world has become war by non-military means. Its object is the same as that of military conquest: appropriation of land and basic infrastructure, and the rents that can be extracted as tribute. In today’s world this is taken mainly in the form of debt service and privatization. That is how neoliberalism works, subduing economies by indebting their governments and using unpayably high debts as a lever to pry away the public domain at distress prices. It is what today’s New Cold War is all about. Backed by the IMF and European Central Bank (ECB) as knee-breakers in what has become in effect a financial extension of NATO, the aim is for U.S. and allied investors to appropriate the plums that kleptocrats have taken from the public domain of Russia, Ukraine and other post-Soviet economies in these countries, as well as whatever assets remain.
In Krasnoarmeysk Ukrainian mercenaries … Yesterday, the Fascistic Ukrainian regime showed its high regard for the social, cultural and political traditions of the Donbas by unleashing armoured APC’s on the streets of Mariupol…
While the world attention is focused on Ukraine, the events in Syria may significantly affect the situation in the Middle East and the world. The forces of Bashar Assad have fully liberated Homs, the third largest city of the country with a population of one million where the uprising started around three years back. According to agreement, about two thousand militants with small arms left the city. They need to be armed to repel possible attacks by Islamic State Iraq and Syria (ISIS) forces which accuse them of treason. In return civilians held as hostages were freed and aid was allowed to get into besieged populated areas. After the agreement expired, the forces leaving the city were attacked by rockets. Many died along with the force commander Abade Rahman. The two army brigades that liberated the city are expected to be re- deployed to the north where a decisive battle for Aleppo is going to start. The government forces are also successful in Eastern Guta, a Damascus suburb. They have recently received reinforcements from Qalamoun region where the government army has recently held a victory.
Following the massive popular votes calling for independence in Eastern Ukraine, Western political leaders engaged in a predictable contest of who could throw the biggest stones in a glass house. The referenda held in the…