The world reacts in shock at Paris attacks of innocent victims, and we pledge solidarity with the French people after horrendous assaults by terrorists killed 132 people across the French capital in deadliest violence in decades.
Ethnic Russians in Ukraine were also innocent victims that were attacked, tortured, shut in the head, and burnt alive by paid Kiev supporters who new they were committing war crimes.
The first anniversary of the Odessa massacre (aka the Odessa coverup), a group of French people gathered together in Paris to pledge solidarity with the families who lost their sons and daughters, parents and friends in such a horrendous attack to our people in Ukraine. And we won’t forget that.
The news that ISIS/ISIL is financed from 40 countries, including G20 members is not only shameful but also shows that those countries involved don’t care about innocent civilians being
kidnapped, tortured and killed.
If the United States had a real leader, the Islamic State (ISIS) would already be wiped off the map.
But they don’t. And as Yousef al-Salfi, an ISIS leader in Pakistan just admitted during interrogation, ISIS is being FUNDED by the the United States and other countres. What an incredible story, as it confirms our worst fears.
Salafi told the Pakistani government that America paid $600 per terrorist recruit if they joined the fight in Syria against the West.
The American military is opposed to what ISIS is up to, but hasn’t been able to stop the funding that is flowing through America. To try to kill these rumors, the Obama administration has supported military attacks in Iraq, but have avoided the issue of Syria entirely.
It is shameful to learn that America’s leaders are involved in supporting the most oppressive regime in recent history. ISIS wants to destroy the West and Christianity, while murdering all non-believers. In Pakistan, Christians have already been slaughtered as ISIS fights to instill a Sharia regime. ISIS should be eliminated, not funded by tax dollars:
It is critical that we understand what is really going on, starting with an acknowledgement that Islam – the moderate kind – has an integral role to play. If you tell your kids that the Qu’ran represents the words of God, then they’re uniquely vulnerable to someone telling them that all the words in the Qu’ran are true, including the ones that don’t match with 21st century democracy and liberalism.
It’s absurd to carry on insisting that all this has nothing to do with the ‘religion of peace’. And it’s condescending in the extreme to behave as if any acknowledgment of this will unleash some sort of Fourth Reich in Europe – it won’t. It’s possible to distinguish between people (who deserve respect) and their ideas (which don’t). No one, of any religion or none, should be afraid to walk the streets of Europe. But it’s not ‘far-right fear-mongering’ to point out that Islam is diametrically opposed to every value that defines us, even when it’s not being used to actively harm us.
Recently, the Guardian ran a piece called “Terrorism has come about in assimilationist France and also in multicultural Britain. Why is that?” – this sort of wilfully insane questioning has gone on far too long. We all know why, and it’s not about our policies.
A Russian flight crashed in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt on Oct. 31, killing all 224 people on board. Officials are investigating what might have caused an explosion that brought down the plane.
UPDATED Nov. 5
The Egyptian government has long promoted the glittering resort of Sharm el Sheikh as both the crown jewel of its tourist industry and a redoubt of security against jihadist violence.
As a militant insurgency based in northern Sinai has raised alarms about travel to broad sections of the country, the Egyptian authorities and Western governments held out Sharm el Sheikh as a safe haven. The steady flow of sun-seekers — increasingly budget-minded Russians — was a bright spot in Egypt’s deeply troubled tourism industry.
Now, the crash of a Russian passenger jet that took off from Sharm el Sheikh has threatened the resort’s reputation.
So what? What is more important, the reputation of a resort or the lives that were lost? [AA}
The tail of the Metrojet airliner that crashed in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt on Saturday.
Mystery Deepens Over Russian Plane Crash in Egypt NOV. 2, 2015
Vladimir Puchkov, left, Russia’s emergency situations minister, with other officials on Sunday at the site of the Metrojet crash on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.
Who’s Involved in the Metrojet Crash Investigation NOV. 2, 2015
Grieving at Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg, where a plane from Egypt on Monday returned the bodies of some of the 224 victims.
Families and Experts Begin to Identify Sinai Plane Crash Victims in St. PetersburgNOV. 2, 2015
Flowers and stuffed animals piled up at a makeshift memorial at Pulkovo Airport on Sunday, forming a somber scene as Russians commemorated their dead.
Amid Vigils and Debris, Officials Seek Cause of Sinai Peninsula Crash NOV. 1, 2015
Although the cause of the crash remained unknown pending investigation of the wreckage, an Egyptian arm of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has claimed responsibility. The claim has focused attention on the possibility that the militants might have penetrated the Sharm el Sheikh airport in order to plant an explosive inside the airplane.
And who funds, trained, and provide weapons to ISIS ?
It’s way too early to know why Russian Kolavia Metrojet Flight 7K9268 crashed 23 minutes after takeoff from Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt en route to St. Petersburg, Russia – killing all passengers and crew members.
At least weeks are needed to examine the crash site and evaluate black box information, vital to understand what happened. A definitive assessment will likely take months, including reconstructing the aircraft from its shattered parts.
Comments now making headlines are pure speculation. Yet major media reports now circulating say US and UK sources claim information they have suggests a bomb planted aboard the aircraft downed it.
AP: “Bomb May Have Downed Russian Jet, US, UK Officials Say.”
The New York Times published the AP report.
Reuters: “Bomb by Islamic State likely caused Russian plane crash: security sources”
Washington Post: “Britain suspends flights from Sinai, citing bomb fears”
It’s a short leap to suspending flights to Russia or discouraging travelers from going there. Would fear-mongering follow a US airliner crash, whatever the possible cause? Normal activities always resume.
Wall Street Journal: “UK Suspends Flights from Sinai Airport, Saying ‘Explosive Device’ May Have Downed Russian Jet”
London Guardian: “Russian plane crash in Egypt may have been result of bomb, US and UK say…”
BBC: “Sinai plane crash: Bomb may have downed airliner, US and UK say”
These type fear-mongering headlines now circulate throughout the Western media – suggesting flights to Russia (on Russian or other airlines) may be hazardous.
According to UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Philip Hammond:
“We have concluded that there is a significant possibility that the crash was caused by an explosive device on board the aircraft…We are now advising against all but essential travel by air through Sharm el-Sheikh airport. That means that there will be no UK passenger flights out to Sharm el-Sheikh from now.”
A Number 10 spokesman said
“(t)he prime minister chaired a COBR (Cabinet Office Briefing Room) meeting this evening to agree what steps we should take to help ensure the safety of British citizens traveling to and from Sharm el-Sheikh.”
“The meeting considered the implications of a range of information, including some that has recently come to light, which has increased our concerns that the plane may well have been brought down by an explosive device.”
“Consequently, ministers agreed…to temporarily suspend flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh with immediate effect.” The Irish Aviation Authority also suspended operations from Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh airport.
CNN headlined: “Russian plane crash: US intel suggests ISIS bomb brought down jet,” saying:
“(A) US intelligence analysis now suggests that the terror group or its affiliates planted a bomb on the plane…The latest US intelligence suggests that the crash was most likely caused by a bomb planted on the plane by ISIS or an affiliate, according to multiple (unnamed) US officials who spoke with CNN.”
Britain and America have no access to crash site forensic evidence, the only way to determine what happened. So-called intelligence (real or invented) is suspect based on communications chatter. Anything can be said by anyone for any purpose. Reliability is dubious at best.
Crash site forensic and black box evidence is definitive. Other assessments are hype, especially from Washington and close allies about Russia.
On Wednesday, Egypt’s Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper said black box information available so far indicates an engine blast, possibly powerful enough to render both aircraft engines inoperative.
“The investigation did not point yet have any links to terrorists,” the broadsheet said. Forensic evidence is being evaluated to learn if explosive materials were on the plane, or if engine blast failure was mechanical.
It’s unknown either way so far. Hyping terrorism is irresponsible. Let the evidence speak for itself once analyzed properly. So far no official announcements were made.
A Russian source said “(t)here were no signs of an explosion impact found during the preliminary examination.” An Egyptian expert added “there were no signs of external impact” found on recovered bodies.
Why the current Western hype? Russia bashing propaganda persists – part of longstanding US-led NATO policy, wanting Moscow co-opted, contained, isolated, destabilized, weakened and eventually made a US vassal state.
Timing is always significant. Moscow is successfully challenging Washington’s imperial agenda – waging real war on terror, changing the dynamic on the ground in Syria and the Middle East with potential global implications, a major geopolitical development.
US policymakers are desperate to counter it, so far with no success. Tactics include propaganda, sanctions, deploying more combat troops to Iraq, dozens to Syria illegally, and now fear-mongering – efforts to scare travelers from visiting Russia.
2717545 10/10/2015 Russian Su-25 attack aircraft take off from the Khmeimim airbase in Syria. Dmitriy Vinogradov/RIA Novosti
RT NEWS
Russian warplanes have bombed a training camp in Syria where foreign instructors trained potential suicide bombers, the Russian defense ministry said. It was one of 49 terrorist targets hit by the Russian Air Forces over the day.
“Not far from Salma in Latakia province, a Su-24M bomber delivered a strike at a building, which was used as a terrorist training ground. According to intelligence, there were ISIL foreign instructors, who were training people, including suicide bombers, for guerrilla warfare in areas liberated by the Syrian army,” ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.
He added that the facility had its own explosives workshop, which was also destroyed by an airstrike.
Точечный удар по командному пункту боевиков в пров. Идлиб корректируемой авиабомбой КАБ-500
Russian warplanes conducted 36 combat sorties on Saturday and attacked 49 militant targets in Syria, including command points, weapons workshops, firing positions, depots and fortified bunkers, Konashenkov added.
The general said that the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS/ISIL), which suffered serious damage from Russian bombings, is working to rebuild its infrastructure.
“The militants’ new tactics is to spread their supply and command facilities, but it does not work. All their new infrastructure objects are being identified and destroyed,” he said.
READ MORE: Russia offers US ‘broader cooperation’ in Syria, but Washington not ready – Defense Ministry
Konashenkov said the civilian population in the areas under terrorist group’s control are aiding the Russian airstrikes by providing intelligence about IS to the Syrian government.
“This information is double-checked by our aviation group with various technical means of reconnaissance. Following this, a decision is made on which objects we should target,” he said.
Точечный удар по бункеру террористов ИГИЛ в провинции Латакия бетонобойными бомбами БЕТАБ-500
Russia is providing air support to Syrian government troops, which are currently undertaking an offensive to retake villages and cities captured by terrorist groups. Moscow says its goal is to stabilize the situation in the country enough to allow political dialogue between Damascus and moderate opposition to start.
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). Unruly Hearts will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article.
As fighting rages around eastern Ukraine despite a tenuous ceasefire agreement between anti-Kiev self-defense forces and the fascist Ukrainian government, bodies continue to pile up in the morgues of Donetsk, with officials reporting at least 20 deaths over the last two days, according to Russian media.
At least 11 civilians were among those killed in the latest round of fighting, Dmitry Kalashnikov, the head of Donetsk’s main morgue, told Russia Today, a news outlet that reports on the
civil war in Ukraine and Russian foreign policy.
“Twenty bodies have arrived at the morgue over the past 24 hours. Among them are 11 civilians, who were killed by shell explosions. I find it hard to call this a ceasefire,” Kalashnikov said. “Last week there were many civilian deaths, and I’m not even counting the soldiers.”
The rising number of civilian fatalities came over the weekend amid reports of heavy fighting between separatists and Ukrainian forces for control over the Donetsk airport. The Ukrainian military confirmed that rebels had launched a fresh offensive to seize Ukraine’s second-largest airport, which is located on the outskirts of the restive city.
It didn’t take long for Russia’s launch of a genocide investigation into Ukraine’s political and military leadership to draw counter-fire from Kiev. Just hours after Moscow’s announcement, the Ukrainian prosecutor-general’s office opened its own inquiry, this time into alleged Russian support for “terrorist and separatist groups”.
The Russian investigation follows a call from Moscow last week for an independent inquiry into alleged mass graves discovered in the area surrounding the village of Nyzhnia Krynka, approximately 20 miles northeast of Donetsk city, from where locals say the pro-Kiev National Guard battalion had recently retreated.
“Died for Putin’s lies” reads the inscription on a makeshift plaque that marks two of the three grave sites at Komunar mine, according to a report by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Another sign nearby – written in Russian – lists the date of death as “27/08/2014” alongside the names of four individuals, and in one additional case a simple set of initials.
According to initial statements by rebel leaders, the burial sites discovered on September 23 contained scores of bodies.
Speaking to the Russian News Service, Alexander Zakharchenko, self-declared Prime Minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, claimed there were about 40 bodies of civilians, prisoners of war and Ukrainian militia soldiers. Over the weekend, the rebels claimed a fourth grave had been found close by with an unknown number of victims; the report could not be independently identified.
Other pro-Kremlin media outlets have reported as yet unsubstantiated claims by the rebels that amongst the dead were victims with their hands tied behind their back and who had been shot point blank in the head, or beheaded.
Since then, however, the number of confirmed dead has been significantly reduced and there has been no independent verification of the identity of the bodies or the causes of death.
“Around ten bodies have been removed from the site,” a senior official in the rebel defense ministry told VICE News. “There could be many more, but we can’t continue digging until the area has been demined,” he added.
The director of Donetsk morgue, Anatolievich Kalashnikov, told VICE News by telephone that nine bodies had been brought to the morgues in the region from the area of the burial sites.
Four bodies seen at the grave by OSCE representatives on September 24 were in “such an advanced state of decomposition, there was no immediate way to tell how they died or who they were,” Michael Bociurkiw, spokesperson for the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, told VICE News. “There are no forensic experts in our team, and we did not meet with any at the site, but we are happy to facilitate access for any outside experts as we did with MH17,” he added.
Speaking about the claims that some of the bodies were found with their hands bound, the OSCE’s Bociurkiw said he had “nothing further to add on that”.
Announced on Tuesday, Ukraine’s counter-war crime investigation is expected to focus on the detention of Ukrainian military pilot Nadezhda Savchenk – accused by Moscow of killing two Russian journalists in Ukraine.
However, the statement released by the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said that other issues will also be examined and accused officials from the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation of “illegal interference” in the work of Ukraine’s law enforcement bodies and armed forces.
“[The interference] is aimed at aiding the terrorist organizations ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ and ‘Luhansk People’s Republic’ in their criminal activities and obstructing the performance of duties by government officials,” it said.
Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have highlighted mounting evidence that both sides in the conflict have violated international laws of war in a host of ways, including indiscriminate use of artillery in populated areas, irregular detention, torture and even executions.
The opening of legal inquiries by both sides in the conflict comes as continued shelling in pockets of the region puts further pressure on a ceasefire agreed in Minsk on September 5.
Despite now being more than three weeks into the supposed peace deal, shelling has not stopped in several flash points across the region including Donetsk airport, Shchastya and Popasna.
On Monday the worst outbreak of fighting in a week left at least 12 dead.
Ukraine Clashes Kill 12 as Donetsk Airport Battles Threaten Fragile Ceasefire. Read more here
Ukrainian army officials said at least nine soldiers were killed and 27 wounded in just one day of clashes, seven of them in a single attack by rebels close to Donetsk airport, which has been the focus of fierce battles as the separatists try to rout Kiev’s forces from their last foothold in the city.
According to city officials, three civilians were also killed and five wounded by shelling overnight Sunday on a residential neighborhood near the aerodrome in the north of Donetsk.
Despite a deal on September 20th to create a buffer zone which saw both sides tentatively agreeing to withdraw heavy artillery from within firing range of one another, the details of the pact were almost immediately contested, with the area around the airport cited as a key bone of contention.
Speaking to journalists on Saturday, Ihor Kolomoysky, the oligarch governor of Dnipropetrovsk who has bankrolled several of the pro-Kiev battalions fighting on the frontline of Ukraine’s anti-terror operation, said that an agreement had been reached with the rebels to abandon the airport in return for a large swathe of territory to the south of Donetsk.
However, military spokesperson Andriy Lysenko later denied the claim saying the airport “was, is and will be under the control of the Ukrainian military.”
Meanwhile, in a move that could spark a backlash in the divided Ukrainian held city of Kharkiv, pro-Kiev demonstrators felled a 66-feet tall statue of Vladimir Lenin late on Sunday evening.
Several monuments to the Soviet era were desecrated and pulled down by protesters during the Maidan revolution in early 2014, but the latest toppling is amongst the first in the country’s east where anti-Kiev ethnic Russians have a pro-Russian sentiment.
Back in April thousands took to the streets for pro-Russian demonstrations in Kharkiv, some of which descended into violent clashes. Now, in a bid to keep the peace the city’s mayor Gennady Kernes, who has managed to straddle the divide between the two warring factions, called the destruction “barbaric” and pledged to rebuild the monument.
In Kiev, however, Ukraine’s interior minister, Arsen Avakov, expressed little sympathy for those who might object to the statue’s toppling. “Lenin? Let him fall down. As long as nobody suffers under his weight,” the minister wrote on his Facebook page. “I ordered the police to protect the people and not the idol.”
Ukraine Have Accepted That Crimea And The Donbass Are Lost on: September 22, 2015
Ukrainians have accepted that not only Crimea is lost, but the Donbass, too? There were signs a year ago that there was little appetite to recover it by force of arms, at least among those young people who would have to do the fighting. But there was still fierce (albeit impotent) anger about Crimea. There were also totally unrealistic expectations about Western military help and Ukraine’s European future. Had its sacrifice not earned it fast-tracked EU membership?
A year on, the mood seems incomparably more realistic and less angry. There is concern, at many levels, that the West in general is losing interest – in part out of frustration that Ukraine’s institutional reform is too slow; in part because of the press of other concerns – refugees, Syria, Islamic State.
But perhaps being out of the international limelight has been beneficial, in helping to convince Ukrainians that, in the end, their fate lies primarily in their own hands. The US and the EU can provide – conditional – economic assistance and debt relief. They can supply templates for tax, judicial and regulatory reforms. And they can help to train and equip the country’s relatively small, and backward, armed forces.
From last year to this, acceptance seems to have settled that Kiev’s early expectations were hopelessly inflated. And the change sounded loud and clear at the conference of the annual Yalta European Strategy forum, which I attended.
The first difference was that few Ukrainian officials voiced any serious criticism of the Minsk-2 agreement. President Petro Poroshenko announced early in his speech that the previous night had been the first in the whole conflict with no shelling. The lull is seen as a chance to extend the ceasefire and fulfil the rest of the agreement, rather than another pretext for demonising Putin.
A second change was on the Western side, where even inveterate cold warriors – such as the ultra-hawkish former Nato secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and the US assistant secretary for European affairs, Victoria Nuland (the official overheard treating Ukrainian government appointments as if they were in the gift of the US and dismissing the EU with a profanity) – were singing a different song.
While insisting on Ukraine’s right to make its own choices of alliance, they were far less militant than before. Alluding to Russia, Nuland even corrected herself, replacing the word “aggression” with “pressure”, as though instructed not to jeopardise the fragile peace. Nato membership was almost universally ruled out. The overall impression was of a wiser West, but a wiser Ukraine – with a young, energetic and well-qualified team of ministers. It is a Ukraine that may finally have understood its eastern lands must be wooed, rather than bombed, back into a more devolved Ukraine.
The country’s prospects are excruciatingly finely balanced. Pervasive corruption remains barely tackled, despite a newly trained and equipped police force in major cities. Nor is it clear that the bright, young government can carry public opinion with it on such basics as new tax structures and higher fuel bills. And if it can’t, then Ukraine will all too easily sink back into the resigned cynicism that followed independence in the early 1990s, and the Orange Revolution in 2004. Its leaders may plead not to be forgotten, but a period for reflection outside the international spotlight could be exactly what Ukraine needs.
Pravy Sektor rejects original protesters’ goal of closer links to EU, demanding ‘national revolution’
Kiev protesters vs Nazis
“We’re peaceful men,” said 46-year-old Mikhailo cheerfully, as he poured petrol into a row of glass bottles to create molotov cocktails. “We’re just making them. Other people will throw them.”
The intensity of the violence in Kiev, which began late on Sunday night and culminated on Wednesday morning with three deaths, has taken many people both inside the country and abroad by surprise. While during the two-month course of the protests there were two incidents when riot police attacked protesters brutally, there has not been a large-scale response from the protesters. Suddenly, this week, the police found themselves under a hail of molotov cocktails, their buses torched and several hundred people unwilling to give their ground and ready to engage them in violent clashes.
After two months of protest with little result, the mood is very different to that back in December. Then, when riot police attempted to remove the barricades surrounding Independence Square in a night-time charge, protesters handed back helmets and shields to officers who got stranded in the crush and sent them on their way. After the surge, groups of officers could stand unmolested at the side of the square. Now, feelings have intensified. When a molotov cocktail lobbed at police lines broke on the torso of an officer and turned him into a human candle, whoops of joy went up from the crowd.
But while some of the violent inclination appears to stem from the frustration of those who saw their peaceful stance ignored, there also appear to be more shadowy forces at work. Pravy Sektor, a murky grouping of nationalist and far-right groups, has said it is co-ordinating the violence, and the coalition represents very different ideals from the initial protest goal of closer links with the European Union.
Andriy Tarasenko, one of Pravy Sektor’s co-ordinators, agreed to meet the Guardian in a cafe in central Kiev. Wearing a rollneck jumper and with a quiet voice, he seemed a far cry from the warriors on the street, but his message was clear.
Andriy Tarasenko, one of Pravy Sektor’s co-ordinators, agreed to meet the Guardian in a cafe in central Kiev. Wearing a rollneck jumper and with a quiet voice, he seemed a far cry from the warriors on the street, but his message was clear.
“For us, Europe is not an issue, in fact joining with Europe would be the death of Ukraine. Europe means the death of the nation state and the death of Christianity. We want a Ukraine for Ukrainians, run by Ukrainians, and not serving the interests of others.”
Tarasenko said the goal of the group was a “national revolution” that would result in a “national democracy” with none of the trappings of the “totalitarian liberalism” that the EU represents for him.
He also has little time for the trio of opposition politicians who have been the de facto protest leaders, including the former heavyweight boxer Vitali Klitschko. “The only negotiations with [President Viktor] Yanukovych should be about how he gives up power. If any of these leaders were capable of seizing power, they would have done it already.”
The number of people taking goggle-eyed selfies in front of the burning barricades and looking on in disbelief suggests that those who feel they are peaceful protesters who have been driven to this by the uncompromising nature of the authorities are still in the majority.
Hardcore Ukrainian nationalism is not even the predominant feature of those involved in active clashes with police. Neither of the two people killed by bullets on Wednesday morning were ethnically Ukrainian. But it is clear that the popularity of Pravy Sektor is growing and that many of those lobbing molotov cocktails and preparing for all-out battle are influenced by their ideas.
Tarasenko said it was hard to say how many active members of Pravy Sektor there were, but noted that its page on the social network Vkontakte had more than 50,000 members. On the barricades, “hundreds are quickly turning into thousands”, he claimed.
As the clashes have continued, the international community has continued to put strong pressure on Yanukovych to avoid violence, but in recent days there has also been an acknowledgement of the darker side of the protest movement. A US state department statement issued on Wednesday blamed Yanukovych for the violence but added: “The aggressive actions of members of extreme-right group Pravy Sektor are not acceptable and are inflaming conditions on the streets and undermining the efforts of peaceful protesters.”
Even amid the violence, there is a certain orderliness and purpose of mind to the protests. While a small number of buildings have suffered from the flames of the burning barricades, there has been no wholesale looting or random violence. Despite the fact that for two months people have been out on Independence Square protesting against Ukraine’s move towards Moscow, a branch of Sberbank – a Russian state-controlled bank – which is adjacent to one of the entrances to the square has remained completely untouched, its glass facade undamaged.
But the number of people wielding baseball bats, planks of wood, golf clubs or even hammers has dramatically increased. There have been other disturbing scenes, such as when protesters captured groups of paid-for government thugs earlier in the week, and forced them to speak Ukrainian or sing the national anthem under duress, making videos of them and issuing threats.
The majority of protesters are horrified at the bloodshed and would be satisfied with some kind of compromise agreement, or at least willing to accept it to rule out the chance of further violence.
But Pravy Sektor says that if Yanukovych does not resign, he should be forced out.
“We would give him and his family 24 hours to leave the country, or there would be a revolutionary tribunal,” said Tarasenko. Asked what he thought the most likely medium-term outcome of the clashes would be, he said: “Prolonged guerrilla warfare.”
Ordinary Ukrainians have every reason to oppose fascist governance far worse than what they rejected earlier – a Nazi-infested monster responsible for mass unemployment, growing poverty, hyperinflation, social injustice, horrific deprivation, police state repression, and endless war on its own Donbass citizens wanting fundamental democratic rights.
Anti-Russian, Jew-hating, overt Nazi, Interpol wanted criminal (for “public incitement to terrorist and extremist activities”) Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh called on Ukraine’s National Guard, army and security forces to disobey Kiev orders as internecine warfare threatens to erupt into Maidan 2.0.
Calling regime officials “traitors,” he said “(l)et’s stop betrayers who hold high office and want to destabilize the situation in the enemy’s rear and…dismiss volunteer movements.”
They’re “bandits” only wanting self-enrichment. “While we are shedding our blood defending our Motherland, they are making fortunes and doing everything they can so that the war will continue as long as possible.”
Poroshenko ordered security forces to disarm unauthorized armed groups. Right Sector spokesman Artem Skoropadsky responded saying:
“The statement by Petro Poroshenko is addressed to illegal armed groups. We are not an illegal armed group.”
“Illegal armed groups are bandits, and we are volunteer Ukrainian corps, which protects the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Therefore, this statement does not apply to us.”
The group demands Interior Minister Arsen Avakov resign, among other ultimatums made. They called for Maidan mass anti-regime protests.
They denounced “crooks and oligarchs” in power. On July 21, thousands from their ranks and supporters rallied in central Ukraine calling on regime officials to resign. “Death to enemies,” they chanted.
Yarosh announced a “new stage of the Ukrainian revolution. (W)e are a disciplined revolutionary force.” He announced plans for a no-confidence referendum.
Right Sector field offices and “revolutionary committees” nationwide will begin working on setting things in motion for regime change.
Yarosh favors rule by martial law. Maybe he has something like Hitler’s Enabling Law in mind – empowering him as a dictator, letting him enact laws without Reichstag involvement.
“People must voice their attitude to what’s happening in the country,” said Yarosh. “(T)he government should know that if the people are not pleased with it, then it must go.”
If Kiev rejects a referendum, Right Sector officials will conduct one on their own. RT International correspondent Murad Gazdiev reported from Ukraine saying ordinary people joined Yarosh’s rally – angry about dismal conditions.
Last Sunday, Kiev protesters rallied against high prices, low wages, none at all for unemployed workers, lost benefits and regime officials caring only about power and self-enrichment. Banners read “Where are the reforms?” “We are dying of hunger.”
Right Sector members, supporters and other angry Ukrainians held protests in other cities. Polls show majority anti-regime sentiment.
Russian lower house State Duma foreign affairs committee chairman Alexei Pushkov said protesters “are plotting a new ‘revolution’ in Kiev, and Dmytro Yarosh is ready to give his fellow Ukrainians a set of new guidelines for revolutionary changes in the country.”
Days earlier, Right Sector spokesman Artem Skoropadsky said Poroshenko won’t be able to flee Ukraine like Yanukovych if ousted from office.
He “can’t expect anything, but an execution in some dark basement carried out by a group of young Ukrainian soldiers or members of the National Guard.”
Thousands of well-armed Right Sector members are a force to be reckoned with. It’s an ultranationalist, Nazi-infested criminal gang formed during fall 2013 Maidan protests in Kiev.
It’s banned in Russia for good reason. Yarosh is a wanted man. Whether he and supporters can topple Ukraine’s government for the second time in less than 18 months remains to be seen.
Poroshenko is at war on two fronts. He lost earlier in Donbass – likely again against a much more formidable force than earlier if he resumes full-scale fighting.
Challenge by angry, well-armed Right Sectors battalions may be his undoing. Obama’s February 2014 coup opened a hornet’s nest of trouble.
He’s got a tiger by the tail. His new Nazi-infested client state looks like more than he bargained for. Maybe blood in the streets of Kiev again may follow.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
GENOCIDE IN DONBASS 