Saturday 10 May 2014

US, Kiev puppet regime escalate Ukraine conflict after Russian concessions

9 May 2014
Yesterday, officials in Washington and in the US puppet regime in Kiev dismissed attempts by Russian President Vladimir Putin to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine, vowing to step up attacks on anti-Kiev regime protesters in eastern Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Putin had asked the protesters, who are calling for a May 11 referendum on autonomy or separation from the unelected regime in Kiev, to postpone the vote. He also endorsed the May 25 presidential elections planned by the Kiev regime and announced that Russian troops along the Ukraine-Russian border had returned to their normal bases.

The Kiev regime responded by threatening that military operations that have left dozens dead across eastern Ukraine and in last Friday's fascist massacre in Odessa would continue. Yesterday, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk mocked Putin's statements as “hot air.”

“Ukraine hasn't planned any referendum on May 11. If terrorists and separatists, who are supported by Russia, were ordered to postpone what wasn't planned, then it's their internal affairs,” he said.

Defense Secretary Andriy Parubiy—a founding member of the Social-National Party, the precursor of the fascist Svoboda Party that now holds top ministerial posts in Kiev—said attacks would continue, whether or not pro-Russian protesters canceled the referendum.

“The counter-terrorist operation will continue unhindered, despite the presence of terrorist and insurgent groups in the Donetsk region,” he said.

Bloody clashes are in particular feared for today and the weekend. Today is the anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and the Allies over Nazi Germany. Earlier this week, several reports emerged of fears of a new fascist massacre in Odessa, directed against participants in May 9 rallies. Several officials in eastern Ukraine canceled planned festivities, citing the risk of bloodshed.

Obama administration officials turned reality on its head, denouncing Russia as the aggressor, and US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland attacked the Kremlin, saying that to date, Russia “has fulfilled none of its commitments” to reduce tensions in Ukraine.

With monumental hypocrisy, Nuland—who was caught on tape plotting the installation of Yatsenyuk during the right-wing protests that led to the putsch of February 22 in Kiev—attacked the Kremlin for its “efforts to destabilize eastern and southern Ukraine.”

US congressmen echoed the hard line of the Obama administration. “Despite the warnings issued and sanctions imposed by the US and our allies, Russia continues its aggression against Ukraine,” said Representative Ed Royce (R-California) in a House hearing on the Ukraine crisis. Royce also called for harsher sanctions to bring down Russia's economy: “Instead, we must adopt a proactive strategy that will convince Putin that his aggression will have a significant and lasting cost to the Russian economy.”

The response of the anti-Kiev protesters in eastern Ukrainian regions around Donetsk and Luhansk undermined claims that the protests are simply an intelligence operation concocted by the Kremlin. They said they intended to ignore Putin's request to postpone the referendum.

“The referendum will happen on May 11,” said Donetsk People's Republic leader Denis Pushilin. “The date of the referendum will not be postponed.”

Officials in Slavyansk—which has been besieged by forces from the pro-Kiev Ukrainian National Guard and fascist Right Sector paramilitary group, suffering dozens of casualties in repeated Kiev regime attacks—also dismissed Putin's advice to postpone the referendum.

“If we don't have a referendum on the 11th, then we will lose the trust of the people,” a spokesman in Slavyansk said. “We face the choice: referendum or war, and we choose the peaceful way.”

The rejection by Washington and Kiev of Moscow's attempt at an accommodation exposes the fraud of the presentation of the Ukraine crisis by Western governments and media outlets. The aggressor is not the Kremlin, which is ineffectually seeking to work out a truce that neither the Kiev regime nor its Western backers wants.

Rather, it is Washington and its European allies that have stoked up the situation by installing and encouraging an unpopular, far-right regime in Kiev that is determined to drown internal opposition in blood.

A recent poll by the Washington, DC-based Pew Research Center found that only 41 percent of Ukrainians support the Kiev regime. Disapproval ratings are above the national average of 59 percent in the eastern Ukraine, reaching 67 percent. Popular opposition can be expected to grow this month, as the Kiev regime's unpopular 50 percent price increases for natural gas go into effect.

As for Kremlin oligarchs, while they are stunned by the drive for regime change and civil war in Ukraine unleashed by Washington and Berlin, they are above all afraid of the risk that popular opposition to the Kiev regime in Ukraine and in Russia could trigger a movement in the working class.

May Day rallies in Russia—the first since before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991—reportedly gathered millions throughout the country and over a hundred thousand in Moscow for the international holiday of the working class.

Members of the anti-Kiev self-defense militia in Slavyansk denounced Putin for making concessions to Kiev. “He is a coward. He is afraid of losing his money,” one fighter, who gave his name as Rustem, told the Guardian .

“Instead of helping Russian people here, he is betraying us. He will pay for this with a revolution in Red Square,” Rustem added. “Russian people will not stand by and watch this happen.”

Rustem spoke during the funeral in Slavyansk for four men killed in the nearby town of Semovka by units loyal to Kiev—three anti-Kiev militia fighters and a truck driver who died when his truck became trapped in the crossfire and burned. A separate funeral had already been held for Irina Boevets, a 30-year-old teacher who was killed by a stray bullet when she walked out onto her balcony.

As mourners filed by the coffins of the four men, they chanted slogans against Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the two heads of state who have led the imperialist intervention in Ukraine: “Glory to Russia, shame on America, shame on the EU, Shame on Obama and Merkel!”

A Slavyansk housewife said, “It is impossible to turn back to Ukraine after the events in Slavyansk. We will not forgive the killing of our people.”

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Nuland Testifies to House Foreign Affairs Committee: “No Neo-Nazis in Ukraine”

nazis_em_kiev

Victoria Nuland Lies to House Foreign Affairs Committee; Congressman Rohrabacher Challenges Nuland's Claim No Nazis in Kiev


Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, lied by denying that there were armed Nazis supporting the ouster of Ukraine’s “free and fairly elected” President Victor Yanukovych, in testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Thursday, despite repeated questions posed by Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA) about pictures of neo-Nazis armed with guns in the Maidan, and their affiliations with neo-Nazi groups in other countries.

The full committee hearing on the Ukraine crisis featured an opening statement by Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA), as Chair of its Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia. Rohrbacher stated that the situation in Ukraine is “much murkier” than is being pretended. It is not simply a case of Russian aggression. Chaos began, said Rohrbacher, when the elected President of Ukraine (Yanukovych), who won an election — an election which observers from the OSCE declared “free and fair” — was forced out of office by street involvement. (emphasis in original). The problem started without any Russian involvement. It started when the Ukraine President decided to make an economic agreement with Russia, not the EU. It gets murkier. We should not be jumping into it.
Later, in his turn to question Nuland, Rohrbacher asked:
Rohrbacher: What will [intervening in Ukraine] cost the U.S., bottom line?
Nuland: $187m + $50m + $18m DOD budgeted for security services and border guards.
Rohrbacher: Did we guarantee any loans from the World Bank to Ukraine?
Nuland: $400m for Treasury of $1 billion from the IMF.
Rohrbacher: Do we have preferential payback?
Nuland: I don’t know; I’ll get back to you….
Rohrbacher: I think I know the answer.
We had a legitimate election before, but [the President] was removed. About the violence. There are pictures of neo-Nazis. Were the neo-Nazis involved in the street violence?
Nuland: The vast majority were peaceful protesters. We saw firebombs being thrown, and people people shooting into police ranks. All of these incidents are subject to investigation.
Rohrbacher: Guns were involved.
Nuland: As the demonstration became more violent both…
Rohrbacher: Was the neo-Nazi group affiliated with Nazi groups in other countries?
Nuland: I don’t know about the early period. Later, we see recruiting on neo-Nazi websites in Russia. We don’t have any information against neo-Nazi groups from Europe. There is no information to corroborate. Ukraine is investigating…

Victoria Nuland with leader of the Neo-Nazi Svoboda Part (left)
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) also pointed to the anti-Russian bias of U.S. foreign policy in the alternating cases of U.S. support at times, for territorial integrity, and at other times, independence, as shown in South Sudan, South Ossetia, Moldova, and other cases. “It seems haphazard,” Sherman said, but “Every decision we make is anti-Moscow.”
Sherman: Has the Right Sector militia been disarmed?
Nuland: Ukraine has made a massive effort—
Sherman: How successful has it been?
Nuland: There’s progress, but more to do.
Sherman: Kiev wants to repeal the Russian language law.
Nuland: Language rights will be protected.
Other useful questioning of Nuland occurred. Rep. Albio Sires (R-NJ) asked Nuland why, if the Russian people were impacted by the sanctions, “Putin is getting more popular.”

Nuland’s testimony made clear that the plan for the May 25 referendum is a large vote turnout, with thousands of observers, and she claimed that 39 million voters had been registered online, while the International Republican Institute is predicting 84% are likely to vote. (Note: Non-quotes are paraphrases.)
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Lessons Of Second World War Forgotten: South Ossetia Says Georgian And Ukrainian Fascists Backed By Same Western Powers

In South Ossetia, was held an anti-fascist rally of solidarity of the people of South Ossetia with the people of Ukraine, Odessa residents, Kramatorsk, Slavyansk, Kharkov and Luhansk. On the church square of Tskhinval gathered a lot of people – the leadership, the public and guests of the Republic.

The participants strongly condemned the criminal actions of the current Ukrainian authorities against the civilian population of the country.

Participants of the meeting made an appeal to the UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the OSCE chairman Mr Didier Burkhalter and PACE President Ms Anne Brasseur, which contribute to call an immediate halt of the carnage in the south-east of Ukraine.

Below is the complete text of the letter:
"Today in Ukraine as a result of a military coup with the direct technological, financial and information support of the USA and some European countries the power was seized by fascist junta. Millions of Ukrainian citizens on the basis of ethnicity and rejection of crimes of the Kiev regime have become outlawed.

The Constitution is trampled. The Army is thrown against civilians and acts as a punitive squad against their own people. In order to destroy the protesters against the Kiev junta in Ukraine are acting foreign mercenaries, are being violated human rights and freedoms. Against the people of the South-East of Ukraine is being conducted ruthless and criminal war.

Inhuman, deliberate burning of the people alive in the house of Trade Unions in Odessa shocked the entire civilized world. It is a crime which cannot be forgiven. Such atrocities can only be committed by monsters.

For many years people of South Ossetia stubbornly resisted Georgian aggression. We are confident that the Georgian fascism and national fascists in Ukraine today have the same promoters in the West.

Today, the United States and some Western European countries openly support the neo-Nazi forces in Ukraine, promoting further bloodshed and incite the Kiev junta to continue terror against the people of the South-East of Ukraine. The crimes of the junta against its own citizens are not condemned by the West. Are forgotten the lessons of the Second World War.

We, citizens of the Republic of South Ossetia, strongly condemning all manifestations of fascism and expressing our commitment to peaceful development encourage people of goodwill throughout the world to have an impact on the world community and to promote the immediate cessation of the carnage in the South-East of Ukraine. We demand the International Tribunal for the Kiev junta which is guilty of the death of dozens of citizens of Ukraine and crimes against humanity".

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Syria: Terrorists’ Infiltration Attempts Foiled, Their Gatherings Destroyed

Local Editor

The Syrian Army units pounded Saturday terrorist groSyrian Armyups’ gatherings and dens in various areas across the country, inflicting heavy losses upon the terrorists’ ranks in lives and equipment.

A military source told SANA reporter that the Army and Armed Forces units foiled an attempt of an armed terrorist group to infiltrate from al-Rashedeen and Bani Zaid area into the safe areas in Aleppo, killing a large number of terrorists.

Army units killed big numbers of terrorists during targeting their dens and gatherings in Aleppo and its countryside.

A military source told SANA that army units killed many terrorists, injured others and destroyed their weapons after targeting their gatherings in al-Lairamoun, al-Ameriyeh and the villages and towns of al-Jandoul, Handarat, Khan al-Asal, Deir hafer, al-Atareb, Tal Jabin, Ain Jara, al-Shiekh Said.

Earlier, army units foiled a terrorists' infiltration attempt from al-Rashideen and Bani Zaid toward safe areas in Aleppo, killing many terrorists.

Army units targeted terrorists' gatherings in the area between al-Herak and al-Kark towns, in al-Bajabeja neighborhood, to the north of the old customs HQ and Busra al-Sham town, destroying a number of their vehicles during targeting their gatherings in the area surrounding Jordan Street, Bilal al-Habashi Mosque and Journalists Building in Daraa city.

Army units also killed many terrorists near Samlin-Zamrin crossroads and to the northern west of Samiln in Daraa countryside, destroying a number of their motorcycles.

Units of the army and armed forces killed and wounded terrorists and destroyed their dens and criminal tools in Homs countryside.

According to a military source, an army unit targeted terrorists' gatherings in Kafr Laha, Taldao, Talaf in al-Hula and in Khaleej Kisen in al-Rastan in Homs countryside, leaving them killed and wounded.

The source added that other units wiped out many of the terrorists in the village of Aydoun in al-Rastan countryside and west of Hassya and Tall al-Kanz and Kherbet al-Khabieh in the southern countryside of al-Qssier and destroyed weapons in their possession.

The old city of Homs on Friday was declared a safe and free of weapons and gunmen.

A military source said that the army units killed and injured terrorists and destroyed their criminal tools in Bennish, the vicinity of al-Hahmdieh and Khan al-Sobol north of al-Insha'at in Idleb countryside.

Source: Agencies
10-05-2014

MEANWHILE, Locals of Old Homs Continue Flocking to Their Hometown


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Nasser Kandil; 60 minutes on Ukraine, Lebanon, Syria and "Friends of Syria"



 
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Tunisian parliament questions ministers over Israeli tourists


A picture taken on April 26, 2013 shows a Jewish boy praying in the Ghriba synagogue on the Tunisian resort island of Djerba at the start of a three-day pilgrimage. (Photo: AFP - Fethi Belaid)
Published Friday, May 9, 2014
Tunisia's parliament questioned two ministers Friday accused of promoting "normalization" with Israel, after Israeli tourists were allowed into the North African country, which does not recognize the Zionist state.
A motion of censure was filed last month against Tourism Minister Amel Karboul, who is accused of receiving a group of Israelis recently, and Deputy Interior Minister for Security Ridha Sfar, suspected of facilitating their entry into Tunisia.
The debate, focused on Israelis only and not all Jews, comes just a week ahead of an annual pilgrimage that draw Jews to Tunisia from around the world.
For reasons of "national security," the government had asked for the hearing to be held behind closed doors. The majority of parliamentary group leaders said they supported that, but they failed to muster the votes necessary to force it.
Leftist MP Faycel Jadlaoui said allowing Israelis into Tunisia "undermines state sovereignty."
"We did not have our revolution so that the first revolutionary measure taken was normalization with the Zionist entity," he said, to enthusiastic applause from the National Assembly.
Sfar defended himself against charges of promoting normalization with Israel, saying he merely followed procedures that have been in force for years.
"The case is purely administrative... We do not deal with Israeli papers," he said, explaining that the tourists coming from the Zionist state had been issued with Tunisian passes, because Tunis does not recognize Israeli passports.
The debate comes just weeks after Israeli tourists aboard an American cruise ship were denied entry.
In response, Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line announced that its ships would not return to Tunisia in a potentially severe blow to a struggling economy three years after the ouster of autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Sfar justified his authorizing the Israelis' entry by the need to respond to an "international campaign" accusing Tunisia of discrimination.
Like most other countries in the Arab world, the North African nation does not recognize Israel, primarily out of solidarity with Palestinian demands for a state of their own.
Tunisia is home to some 1,500 Jews. More than half are on the island of Djerba. It is there that Africa's oldest synagogue is located, the focus of the three-day pilgrimage that begins next Friday.
(AFP, Al-Akhbar)
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ALEPPO TERRORIST DEFENSES CRACKING EVERYWHERE WITH NO RESUPPLY


We are astounded by the silence of the Turkish state-controlled media over the Syrian Air Force bombing of what Erdoghan tried to tart up as some “humanitarian” convoy entering Syrian territory – ostensibly to help out the needy.  As it turned out, and as we reported a few hours ago, the convoy carried weapons and Turkish commandos whose apparent task was to attack with rockets the SAA Air Defense complex at Handaraat.  Amazing silence.  Not even a peep so far from Erdoghan’s loyal barking pest,  Davutoghlu.

Central Prison:

Another feeble attempt to rescue credibility by attacking this now newly reinforced bulwark of military steadfastness.  Yesterday, the Nusra pack, tried it again, with some really disoriented Pakistanis, and received another lifetime supply of fertilizer bags for its trouble.  Number of dead?  Unknown at this time, but, Wael says the terrorists came in without any regard for cover and were gunned down like flies.

Huraytaan:  A pack of terrorists in 2 vans were intercepted and told to stop, alight, strip their shirts to check for bombs, and to put their hands behind their backs.  They were foreigners, the whole lot, and they were intent on taking the Silver Bullet into Hell’s intestines.  And so they went – all 9 of them.  No names.

Al-Shaykh Sa’eed at the cement factory, an attempted infiltration went nowhere.  The SAA destroyed all weapons and ammunition.  No details available.

Old Aleppo:

10245349_685337144845287_7336974135273968008_n (1)


I just want to comment on the bombing of the Carlton Hotel.  This is obviously a sign of desperation attendant tocomplete defeat.  The hotel is old and pretty useless.  To take the trouble to dig tunnels under it in order to supposedly kill some SAA soldiers billeted there indicates how enfeebled these terrorists have become and how indifferent they are today to their own reputation among the people.  I am told that the hotel was used at times by some SAA people when tasked with security matters near the Citadel.  Other than that, it just stood empty.  Another example of Cameron’s plan to destroy the state of Syria.

Old Aleppo: A nest of 7 terrorists was found and its denizens exterminated like sticky grubs on the side of a trash can:
  • Saa`eb ‘Askari
  • ‘Abdul-Tawwaab Hoori
The other 5 were not named.

Hayyaan:  Fighting with no details.

  • Fighting reported in these areas: Khaan Al-‘Asal, Daarat ‘Izza, Al-Jandool Roundabout, Al-Raashideen, Castillo, Kafr Hamraa (a pack of terrorists destroyed), ‘Anadaan (another pack of terrorists destroyed).
Expect announcements soon of the complete liberation of these areas of Aleppo:

Al-Raamoosa where only remnant terrorists remain. It appears that Muhammad Al-Jawlaani, Al-Nusra’s leader,  may have escaped certain doom by sneaking away in a truck and hiding between the toilets, an appropriate place for excrement of his ilk.

Al-Shaykh Najjaar and Al-Burayj Axis:  Only remnant feral pigs remain.  Wael estimates 300, at most, foreign terrorists here.

Layramoon:

It’s about to end, finally.  This area is totally under artillery control of the SAA.  When the big push comes is only known to a few officers of the SAA high command.

Industrial City (Zone):  More leftovers from Al-Shaykh Najjaar trying to survive on sawdust.  It’s going to end shortly.

HOMS:

Updated report.
SAA has uncovered a field hospital in Baab Hood containing all stolen medicines, diagnostic equipment and drugs.  Also, in Al-Qaraabees, both a field hospital and a network of tunnels were uncovered.  The tunnels were mostly dug under people’s homes.

Baab Hood:

IEDs and a mortar rocket factory were found.  The former were dismantled and the mortar rockets sent for destruction. The rockets contained very high explosive contents like C-4.
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Russia Celebrates Victory Day with Massive Parade amid Ukraine Tensions




Russia Celebrates Victory Day with Massive Parade amid Ukraine Tensions
Local Editor

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday hailed all-conquering patriotism as thousands of Russian troops marched through Red Square celebrating victory in World War II.

“This is a holiday when all-conquering patriotic force triumphs, when we all feel especially strongly what it means to be true to the Motherland and how important it is to be able to stand up for its interests," Putin told massed troops to shouts of "Hurrah! Hurrah!"

Russia's Victory Day parade in Red Square (Moscow)
"Sixty-nine years have passed since the end of the Great Patriotic War. But May 9 has been and will be our main holiday," said the head of state in his address at the Victory Day parade in Moscow's Red Square on Friday.

"It is a day of national triumph and national pride, a day of grief and everlasting memory," he said.

The traditional May 9 military parade on Moscow’s Red Square featured 11,000 troops, 149 military vehicles and 69 warplanes.

The clock on the Kremlin’s Spasskaya tower rang its chimes at 10:00 AM Moscow time to signal the start of the Victory Day parade.

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Similar Victory Day celebrations were planned for later Friday in Sevastopol, with Russian media reporting that Putin could make a triumphant appearance at the Crimean port.

Russia's annual parade celebrating victory over the Nazis held special resonance this year amid the crisis in Ukraine, which has seen Russia annex Crimea and fighting in pro-separatism areas in the east where activists are threatening to break away.

Live announced on Thgursday it was going on with its deadly offensive against separatists, as the pro-Kremlin activists insisted that the independence vote is to take place as scheduled on Sunday.

The European Union voiced concern over the referendum, saying it would worsen the situation in Ukraine.

For his part, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said he fears recent softer comments from Putin are a prelude to provocation.

"I am concerned about Vladimir Putin's statement. It caused a bad feeling. They say one thing and do another. After this statement, I asked law enforcement officers to strengthen security measures on May 9," Yatsenyuk told Ukrainian television.
On Wednesday, the Kremlin strongman stunned the world with an abrupt U-turn on Ukraine, calling on pro-Russian separatists in the east to delay independence referendums planned for this weekend and welcoming a May 25 presidential election.

Source: Agencies
09-05-2014


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