It has been a very long while since I have posted a Ukrainian SITREP and there are good reasons for that: nothing much has happened there, at least nothing nearly as dramatic as the developments in the past. In fact, ever since the crisis in Syria has taken center stage in US foreign policy preoccupations, the Ukraine appears to have been almost forgotten. Did anybody even notice that local elections have taken place there recently? Or that they were the most marred by every conceivable form of cheating and irregularities imaginable?
I don’t think so.
And, again, this makes sense. Election in Banderastan are really irrelevant and they decide nothing. So why vote anyway (abstention was record high)? Or why care about the results? The real power struggle in the Ukraine is not at the ballot box, it is with the Kalashnikov (that is, until the Ukies develop their own assault rifle). And on the “Mafia wars” from there have been some very interesting developments.
The big news is that the Poroshenko clan has openly launched a repression campaign against the Kolomoiski clan. We all remember how Poroshenko succeeded in pushing Kolomoiski out of Odessa replacing him with Saakashvili and Gaidar’s daughter! The big fear at the time was that Saakashvili would be used to trigger some kind of “08.08.08” against Transdnistria and the Russian peacekeeping forces there. Thank God, this has not happened. As for Kolomoiski, he began funding the UKROP Party headed by his fellow Jewish mobster Gennadii Korban.
Korban
If Svoboda, Right Sector and the Radical Party are the bona fide Nazis, while the Poroshenko clan fills the CIA-run puppet regime slot, then UKROP would be the Jewish Mafia party. Interestingly, UKROP also has ties with Dimitri Iarosh, who apparently wants to keep his Nazi and Jewish friends apart but who covers all his bases. The power base of UKRPO is, of course, Kolomoiskii’s Privat Bank, the largest commercial bank in Ukraine.
And now, UKROP’s leader, Korban, has been arrested for being an organized crime boss. No kidding! Who would have though?!
Kolomoiski has immediately organized some “spontaneous protests” in support of Korban because he fully understands that he now needs to fight back before he becomes the next one to be arrested by the Ukrainian secret services. And, make no mistake, Kolomoiskii has plenty of resources left.
Kolomoiskii
First, he can always use the various death squads he has financed over the past years. Second, he does control Privat Bank which wields huge economic power in the Ukraine. Third, Kolomoiski most definitely has links with Iarosh and the Right Sector who also can be mobilized to threaten Poroshenko. Finally, even though it is Saakashvili and his allies who are in formal control of the Odessa region, Kolomoiskii still controls the local mobster gangs which he can also activate in his defense. In contrast, all the Poroshenko really can count on, at least for the time being, is the support of the USA and, especially, the US ambassador in Kiev, Geoffrey R. Pyatt, the man who basically run the Ukraine.
The timing of the latest move by Poroshenko against Kolomoiski is also interesting: right after the recent elections, of course, but also at a time when the world has more or less forgotten about the Ukraine. Last, but not least, the IMF has now broken its own rules just to keep funding the regime in Kiev (the IMF money will go only to the pockets of the oligarchs and to finance the war against Novorussia) and that means that Poroshenko now has the means to strike at his main opponents.
Poroshenko
Does that mean that Poroshenko is securing his power? Maybe, but I don’t think so. As I said, Poroshenko only real “weapon” is the support of the USA, but that support is very over-rated. If, for example, it came to an open armed opposition between pro and anti Poroshenko forces, there is very little the USA could do. Furthermore, the USA have a long history of dumping embarrassing or disappointing puppet dictators. Finally, the simple fact that the Ukrainian economy is basically dead guarantees that popular anger and frustration will, sooner or later, turn into rage at which point none of the freaks in power (Poroshenko, Iatseniuk or Turchinov) will be safe while those who opposed them will have at the very least a power base of support to mobilize against the regime bosses.
That is not to say that Poroshenko is not doing the right thing by cracking down on his competitors. I just don’t think that this will be enough to protect him. Now that Liashko and Timoshenko have also dumped him, he looks awfully isolated to me.
The Saker
Thanks for a Russian version of The Godfather.
Reminds me that I have an angry godfather in me under cover. And I also have cold, calculating Michael who is not the angel Michael. Maybe he was before his beloved Apollonia was car-bombed.
My ex-wife and now friend is Apolonia so maybe that’s why I cry when I re-read that incident.
I hate Patriarchy in its mafia manifestations but it doesn’t hit me until it gets personal, like my child’s mother’s name. Can’t even imagine her or him being murdered like those millions of victim’s of patriarchy.
What to do? What to do? “Carry fire in one hand and water in the other.” Russian proverb.
“The monsters were never under my bed
Because the monsters were inside my head
I fear no monsters, for no monsters do I see
Because all this time the monster has been me
-Nikita Gill
All maternal lineages of central Asia Europe mid east start in India. So I guess when you say mother worship, you mean same thing as Bharat Ma.
to mods this is re previous discussion we had months back, I was in process of leaving the train wreck Canada back then. :)
that’s a wonderful poem, especially the last line. Thanks for poetry Dennis…
The only observation one can make, is that the present Nazi regime in Kiev is there to stay. And for a long, long time, well beyond Putin’s presidential mandate expires. The names of those in charge may change, not the regime.
That at least is the centuries old plan by the zombies calling themselves ‘the Exceptional Nation’ or the ‘Chosen People’ or similar nonsense. Be it in the Ukraine or anywhere else.
The logic is simple. There are two ways to win a race. Either you run faster, or you break your opponents legs.
And because zombies can’t run, or feel, or love, or do anything creative, they always chose option 2.
Kiev’s regime will surely not survive the next financial crisis. But I bet it will breakdown sooner than that.
Kiev’s authority does not seem to have the consistency needed for a fascist regime to function. The Ukrainian “night of the long knives” had an undecided outcome. The Ukraninan brownshits were not vanquished; they still roam the land, and their leadership is intact. Also, Kiev’s security forces now have little authority over the various brownshirt factions.
What would have happened to Nazi Germany if Hitler and its SS had not been able to kill Röhm and disband the SA?
Further to the above:
Open Appeal To the President of Ukraine By Dmytro Yarosh
https://shar.es/15sCiW
“…Patriots have more than enough options to act to prevent the defeat of Ukraine. Because not elections but UKRAINE IS ABOVE ALL.”
“(that is, until the Ukies develop their own assault rifle)”
Shudders at the thought what an indigenous bandera butt bandit ASSualt rifle would incorporate.
Obviously spurs to poke your eyes with… A coffee cup holder to holds the vodka in-between shooting schools and a cigarette lighter and butt flipper to throw the butt far enough into the other persons position, have to keep our own land clean and neat for those shale gas drillers…
Interesting update about oligarchs in Ukraine…what a tribe…too bad…they don’t even seem Slavic to me. Aliens fighting on Russia’s soil…
I guess this could drag out now for years.
Maybe more true than you might think.Today Poroshenko signed a law allowing “foreigners” to serve in the Ukrainian military. Maybe “shades” of jihadis in Syria and Iraq.
OT but a good interview on Ron Paul Liberty Report of David Talbot who has written a book about ‘The Rise of the Secret Government’.
The interview covers the JFK assassination from the Allan Dulles point of view…I keep hearing that name these days….
https://youtu.be/gJPMcsFIwnk
Thank you Saker.
So I wonder would Rus leave IMF or can do anything to prove it is now unconstitutional, or is awaiting its 3b before doing so-will it take action against Kiev for “assisting” in sending anti aircraft missiles in conjunction with Turkey(hence US warplanes sent to protect Turkeys planes/) to Syrian moderates, also being supplied by Saudi Arabia……
various items from anna-news below
Yats is going to dismiss Ministers of Health, education and energy-mistakes were made, right, little gas for the winter, why educate people and children that could use their brains to discover the truth re ukraine…no money for those with health problems eg elderly, infirm cos they only cost money………debt increases…http://www.anna-news.info/
no further negotiations on Ukr-Rus ban on flights…
“According to the report the Ministry of Finance in September the total amount of state (direct and guaranteed) debt of Ukraine increased by 109 million US dollars (0.2%) – up to 70.671 billion dollars.
Recall during the 2014 direct foreign debt increased by 10.3% (to 2.877 billion dollars) and as at 31 December amounted to 30.809 billion dollars (27.932 billion against US $ as at 31 December 2013).”
but
“According to the Ukrainian company “Ukrenergo” Ukraine in November resumed the import of electricity from the Russian Federation.
“The size of imports of electricity to the maximum load (1800) was 278 MW (400 MW target is),” – said in a statement.
Recall, 20 October, Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Volodymyr Demchishin said that Ukraine is planning to extend the contract for the import of electricity from Russia.”
Moldova Transnysria situation a bit fragile? Merkel is aware ???of possible war by Balkans if immigration crisis not sorted ….http://www.anna-news.info/
Poland probably still not wanting Ukr refugees….does Germany?
Poland still nervous of ukr
“Polish MP calls attention to Ukrainian state policy in relation to the past. It offers the Ukrainians self-determination and if they want to be a European nation, that is, “to join the family of Latin civilization,” then they should stop to justify and support the aspects related to the organization of the OUN-UPA. Polish politicians believe that Ukrainians took a rather strange formula, according to which they are supporting the “genocide as a formula for the solution of international disputes”, tend to Europe. On the other hand, the glorification of Bandera and his creation of the monuments, means that they (the Ukrainian authorities and politicians) are ready to use these instruments…..Evaluating this historic campaign, it can be replaced by: first, Poland objectively amplified right and they demand trends; Secondly, Ukraine, on the road to Europe at risk to give up all that was once “occupied” in its western neighbors. Similar sentiments prevails not only in Poland but also in Hungary and Romania.”
(sorry, anna-news link number is not coming up on google translate)
members of Azov arrested in Moscow for arms smuggling……
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“US Secretary of State John Kerry called the conditions under which the West is ready to cancel the anti-Russian sanctions and commented on the situation in Ukraine.
Kerry said that the Donbass should be granted special status and heavy weaponry reserved.
“Heavy weapons should be as far back as the international borders must remain inviolable. The OSCE must be allowed to monitor the situation. International observers should be present at the elections, and the elections must be held in accordance with Ukrainian law. Donbass should be granted special status” – Kerry said.
If that happens, it will be removed from the Russian sanctions and reduce tension. This is a compromise between Moscow and Washington with respect to Ukraine. Diplomat supports the Minsk Agreement, and stresses the importance of compliance.”
anna-news
Donbass is against international advisors I recall……..that is not in Minsk….
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“November 2 press conference in LuganskInformTsentre chairman of the People’s Council of LC Alex Karjakin said that the LC becomes independent of Ukraine, despite the attempts of Kyiv to prevent it, and that a year ago, 2 November 2014, the inhabitants of the Republic are not afraid of Ukrainian “Grad” and tanks and made their choice by voting for candidates to the People’s Council of LC, and said that the People’s Council of LC for a year of work has taken more than 120 laws.
According to the first deputy chairman of the People’s Council Svetlana Giza, the People’s Council deputies work in public reception in all cities and regions, helping people to solve their immediate problems.
She also said chtobolee of 200 children visited on a trip to Moscow in the framework of the People’s Council “The child’s eyes – a mirror of the world.”
As deputy chairman of the National Council Vladislav Dane, Kiev does not want the elections to the LC and the DNI, as this will strengthen the republic’s status, and the aggravation of the situation on the contact line in the NPT shows that Kiev is not ready for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in the Donbass.”
anna-news google translate
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German DeutscheBank not pay 4 billion and 200 million fine for violating sanctions against Russia, says the American edition of “Bloomberg”.
Note various other Eu countries still upset over losses from sanctions against Rus, still awaiting promised subsidies that don’t arrive………….
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“Official representative of the command of the US Army in Europe Donald Rennes said that the Pentagon intends to November 23 to start training six battalions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the framework of the military assistance to Kiev.
According to Tass, Rennes said that the training “of up to five battalions of the Ministry of Defence and one battalion forces for special operations” to be implemented in the framework of the “second stage” of the American program Fearless Guardian.
“In addition to the preparation of the aforesaid six battalions, we will work with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence on the development of (its) institutional level, as well as a training center, and the staff of the” – said Renn.
He said that Ukraine will be trained soldiers, as was the case with the National Guard under, engaged in international peacekeeping and security center on the basis of Yavoriv polygon in the Lviv region of about 300 military advisers and staff representatives of US support.”
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“The head of the Evangelical Association of the United States Franklin Graham, who is known as the most influential Christian country, recently visited Moscow.
Remembering a recent interview with the Russian president to the American television channel CBS, Franklin Graham, he said that Putin’s speech was impressed.
Franklin Graham: “It was a great performance. I heard this interview, millions of Americans want to him to come and ran for the US presidency. He’s definitely an intelligent, smart, strong leader. ” As Graham spoke about the Syrian crisis and said that Bashar al-Assad, no matter how bad he felt in the West, has always defended the minority in Syria.
“Christians have lived peacefully for centuries. And now by the ISIS simply destroy”, – he said.
The head of the Evangelical Association called for Washington and Moscow to work together to maintain peace in the world”
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“November 1 is the deadline privileged stay for the citizens of Ukraine in Russia.
The deadline for extension of temporary stay in Russia ended October 31st.
The exception is for the Ukrainian citizens, who arrived en masse in an emergency from the south-eastern regions of Ukraine, – said the representative of the Federal Migration Service.
Now with 1 to November 30, Ukrainians should come to the division of the Federal Migration Service. Foreigners need to determine their legal status. They can either issue a patent or a work permit or – a residence permit. Those who do not do so, while being in Russia for more than 90 days without the relevant documents, will have to leave the country. For the violation – a fine and even deportation.
For citizens of Ukraine, who arrived en masse to our country because of the fighting in the Donbass, the order of stay in Russia remains the same. They are more than two and a half million citizens of Ukraine.”
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Red Cross Committee humanitarian convoy got through, 19 trucks, another Rus convoy last week……bit of a falling out over Medecins sans frontieres being banned by Donbass for use of psychtropics drugs…………….being accused of spies……
still problems with prisoner exchanges…many held by months by SBU for nothing….
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state of european economy
“Analysts point out that although the EU economy shows growth, but about 25% of the population of this association is already living on the brink of poverty. At the same time, what people are younger, the overall situation worse. Bertelsmann Foundation has prepared a report on the subject, from which it follows that “the gap between the North and the South of Europe is still enormous”, and almost a quarter of EU citizens “living on the edge of poverty.”
The number of poor in the countries of the EU is not the same, since according to research in Greece of 36%, in Spain – more than 29%, in Portugal – more than 27%. Best of all things in Northern Europe: Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The lowest rates (below the European average) – in Greece, Romania and Bulgaria. Of particular concern is the state of the authors with children and youth. For example, in Greece at risk (falling into poverty) fall nearly 37%, in Spain – around 36% of children and adolescents under the age of 18 years, in Portugal – almost 32%. However, the highest in the category identified in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary – all above 40%. In the same direction, according to the researchers, there are processes (in the seemingly safe), the United Kingdom, where the index “distress” among the youth category was 32.6%.
The EU’s number of those who have not reached 18 years of age and may be below the poverty line and in social exclusion amounted to 27.9% (approximately 26 million. People). A positive aspect authors consider only that the situation has not changed compared to last year, more than half of the EU countries. You can estimate this study as a look at some kind of trend. However, if this trend to add an aging European population and “imported” migration flows, it becomes clear that the simple inhabitants of the European Union in the long term will not be socially better. Moreover, not only retirees, as their children and grandchildren.”
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bit extra
“SouthFront: Analysis & intelligence has information that the Montenegrin authorities have invited Ukrainian radicals and Neo-Nazis to the country. The operation is planned and exercised with the US officials’ assistance.
#SouthFront #Montenegro #Ukraine”
“Germany now is somewhere at the edge of anarchy and sliding towards civil war, or to become a “banana republic without any government,” says Hansjoerg Mueller of the Alternative for Germany party.”
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/320651-germany-refugees-crisis-bavaria/
German economy
http://russia-insider.com/en/business/china-outbidding-germany-build-russian-high-speed-rail/ri10955
“The Russian Railways company (RZD) is not satisfied with cooperation terms for the construction of Russia’s high-speed railway (HSR) Moscow-Kazan suggested by the German Initiative consortium, RZD vice-president for high-speed railway development said on Tuesday.
“The German Initiative offered a memorandum of cooperation and equipment import investment,” Alexander Misharin told TASS. “We are analysing the proposals, but their equipment supply funding offers do not satisfy us.”
The Russian Railways official noted that the prices for some equipment were too high. “Moreover we cooperate with Chinese counterparts who have the same equipment for more appropriate prices,” Misharin said.”
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‘The rallies of the PEGIDA movement taking place in Dresden, in the federal state of Saxony, almost every Monday. At the very beginning this movement was mainly comprised of middle class Germans, dissatisfied with the government’s policy over handling of the refugee crisis, chiefly people against the Islamization of the Occident. As well, they are criticizing its antagonistic policy towards Russia with some people waving signs denouncing the agitation against the Russians. Very much tied at the hip with this is their anger with the German mass media for their systematic, willful dissemination of lies for public consumption (a.k.a Lügenpresse). People have been marching through the center of the city week after week shouting “we are the people“ – the exact same slogan used in Leipzig, during the peaceful protests that took place there, shortly before the Berlin Wall came down in 1989.
Now, with the refugee crisis raging all over Europe, and especially in Germany, the movement, it seems, is becoming ‘in vogue’ with people with a more ‘far right’ mindset, contributing to its radicalization.
At a rally held on Monday October 19th some PEGIDA protesters ratcheted up the tensions by carrying posters with slogans and images clearly directed against the top members of the current German government, Chancellor Merkel and Vice Chancellor Gabriel among them.”
http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/german-minister-justice-maas-denigrating-russia-friendly-citizens/ri10949
http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/stratfor-germany-reconsidering-its-russia-position/ri10946
as it says
“Berlin is ready to restore its relationship with Russia, clearly understanding that it would “create friction” with Washington, which, in turn, will use all its influence over Eastern European states to restrain the rapprochement of the two. But for now, Germany is only “testing the waters” before its final decision, according to Stratfor.’
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http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/ruin-europe-will-be-end-result-refugee-crisis/ri10933
as it says
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“Russia has preliminarily listed Switzerland as well as 118 other countries as tax havens. If the list is approved by the authorities in November, double taxation looms for Russian enterprises in Switzerland. That is also a risk for the Swiss economy.
Its ties with foreign business has long been a trade mark of Switzerland as a business place, in the banking system and elsewhere. Irrespective of the crisis in Eastern Europe there could be a number of changes next year. This week, the Russian tax authority FNS has published a new draft for a regulation.
According to the draft, there are a total of 119 countries and territories which do not conform to the standards of exchange of tax information with Russia, as claimed by Russia’s authorities.
For this reason these places can now be found on the preliminary list of tax havens. Besides Estonia, Great Britain and Liechtenstein, Switzerland is now also on the list. ”
http://russia-insider.com/en/business/russia-go-after-swiss-tax-havens/ri10929
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“Chevron, which led the charge into eastern European shale exploration, has pulled out of Lithuania, Ukraine, Romania and Poland
Whatever happened to the much-heralded eastern European shale gas boom? The answer is that, for now at least, it has quietly become a bust.”
http://russia-insider.com/en/gamechanger-russian-gas-eastern-european-shale-exploration-quietly-goes-bust/ri10897
I suppose cross references to Sakers articles re LNG?
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http://russia-insider.com/en/some-prize-ukraine-faces-years-dependence-western-aid/ri10898
extract:”If Ukraine fails to pay the loan at the end of the year, Russia could try to obstruct future aid to Ukraine from the IMF, of which it is a member.”
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KIEV, November 4. /TASS/. Foreign ministers of the Normandy Four countries (Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine) will discuss the plans for increasing the number of the OSCE monitors in Donbass at this week’s talks in Berlin, a spokesperson for Kiev’s envoy to the Minsk talks has said.
At the video conference on Tuesday, the Trilateral Contact Group listened to the reports made by the representatives of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission and the officers of the Joint Center for Control and Coordination.
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We might have something to say on the Ukrainian elections if we knew how they came out.
There seems to be a news blackout. Or are the official results still being negotiated?
Still waiting to hear what Saker makes of the MH17 report. Dead silence from all sides on this.
The NY Times headlined “Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Most Likely Hit by Russian-Made Missile, Inquiry Says”, meaning that the aircraft may or may not have been hit by a missile, the missile may or may not have been an air-to-air or a BUK, which may or may not have been fired by Ukraine or Novorossian militia forces, and a SU25 is not ruled out.
Both Moscow and Washington, not to mention the entire western press, have quickly dropped the issue, but Russia has no official comment other than the BUK manufactures’s report that – IF – it was hit by a BUK, the damage pattern would be consistent with being hit from a launch position to the south of the aircraft in an area under control of Ukrainian military. That still doesn’t rule out an SU25 air-to-air followed by 30mm gunfire as the aircraft descended into gun range, accounting for all those same-size round bullet holes in the wreckage.
The Russian military was hinting at the SU25 in it’s early reports and has never withdrawn those comments, but Moscow seems to have put them on the back burner and gone with the Almaz-Antey BUK missile analysis. Does that mean they are conceding it was a BUK? Where are the eyewitnesses that should have seen a smoke trail from the solid fuel rocket? What about the armament loader/mechanic who claimed to have witnessed an SU25 returning with it’s air-to-air missiles missing and the pilot claiming “wrong plane”, likely in reference to being told he was shooting at Putins’s IL-96? What about the Canadian OSCE observer, one of the first witnesses on the scene, who claimed the aircraft appeared to have been riddled with “heavy machine gun fire” and not hit by a missile in a CBC interview a week after the shoot-down?
I still think the evidence points to Saker’s original analysis of a SU25, likely using an Israeli Python air-to-air missile to disable the plane and finishing it off with it’s 30mm cannon. Did anyone ever measure the many round bullet holes and compare them to the holes made in the Russian military test where a SU25 fired its gun at a scrapped MIG to get an precise sample of the holes made in an aircraft’s skin by the SU25’s gun?
It seems Moscow is just as happy to “move on” and drop this story as Washington, raising some questions about whether they did have some involvement, and/or, maybe had supplied the militias with one or more BUKs to shoot at Ukrainian high-altitude transports like the one downed a few days earlier near the Russian border. Other than releasing the Almaz-Antey report, which implies a BUK was the likely agent of destruction, they have been very quiet about it ever since.
What is your analysis of the Dutch report and the subsequent silence on all sides about it, other than a one-day headline quickly back-paged?
The Dutch report had nothing in it. Ukraine has to agree with anything it publishes, remember.
Look for signs of Dutch antipathy to Ukraine. There have been some lately.
To answer your question about Russia’s official position concerning a Buk missile strike, Russia has objected to both the methods of the investigators and their conclusion that MH17 was shot down by a lone unseen and unheard Buk missile.
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150716/1024699993.html
http://www.nst.com.my/news/2015/10/russians-angered-dutch-probe
https://www.rt.com/news/318628-russia-regulator-dutch-report/
http://www.firstpost.com/world/russia-appeals-to-un-aviation-body-to-open-new-mh17-probe-2468520.html
http://tass.ru/en/politics/828861
http://sputniknews.com/world/20151021/1028890923/malaysian-official-complains-mh-17-crash-probe.html
Regarding the Python missile report that leaked from the private LiveJournal account of Albert Naryshkin (albert_lex), I’m in the process of turning a machine translation of the Russian text into readable English.
Dear The Saker,
Thanks for the Sitrep – I have been keeping an eye on Ukraine and it was interesting how the Opposition did very well in the former Russian areas of East Ukraine. In the West a dead person even won a seat! Chocie boy only did ok in some central areas. So as you say not only is he isolated with past allies but the public too.
FR has an article about Euromaidan by a 35 year old Ukrainian – language is raw but it kind of says it all:
http://fortruss.blogspot.ca/2015/11/alexander-rogers-goes-off-euromaidan.html
The “Ruin” of Ukraine.
Rgds,
Veritas
“Two human-rights groups have teamed up to oppose a plan by the outgoing Conservative government to allow the sale of so-called prohibited weapons to Ukraine, including automatic assault rifles and armoured vehicles.
Amnesty International Canada and Project Ploughshares have written to the Department of Foreign Affairs expressing concern about the potential consequences of adding the embattled eastern European government to the list of countries to which Canada can sell automatic firearms.
There are 39 countries on Canada’s automatic firearms country control list, including Saudi Arabia, to whom General Dynamics Land Systems in London, Ont., recently sold $13-billion in armoured vehicles despite the opposition of human rights groups.
Both Amnesty and Project Ploughshares say exporting weapons should be withdrawn until the human rights situation in the country improves, citing brutal police tactics used to suppress the anti-government protests in the fall of 2013 – something that led to the overthrow of Viktor Yanukovych’s government the following year.
Despite the change in government and police reforms undertaken by the international community, the groups say there is still the threat of possible human rights abuses.
“We recommend that until they have mitigated these risks, Ukraine should not be added to the AFCCL,” said a letter to the Foreign Affairs Department, obtained recently by The Canadian Press.
Getting on to the list is the first step in approving the export of arms to the country. Each sale would still require federal government approval; it is unclear what Justin Trudeau’s incoming Liberal government will do about the Ukraine proposal.
Both human rights groups also question whether Canadian-made weapons would be used against civilians in the conflict against Russian-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country.
“Individuals have been abducted, and prisoners have been brutally beaten and subjected to mock executions. Civilians who have not committed any crime, but who sympathize with the opposing side, have been held arbitrarily. Both sides have failed to take reasonable precautions to protect civilians during fighting.”
Marko Shevchenko, Ukraine’s Charge d’Affaires in Ottawa, said apprehension about the security forces relates to actions of the former government and don’t reflect the current situation.
“My point of view is that a big part of these concerns are based on irrelevant or even unfair arguments,” he said late Monday.
His comments were echoed by Taras Zalusky, executive director Ukrainian Canadian Congress, who noted that his organization also petitioned the Foreign Affairs department in support of adding the country to the list.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/human-rights-groups-sound-alarm-about-canada-selling-arms-to-ukraine/article27068830/
I would warn not to underestimate Poroshenko. Mind that he has already been secretary in a Janukovich government, so he is neither one of the orange “revolution” types, nor a right wing extremist. Basically, he is an opportunist, but mind that opportunists are far not the worst kind of politicians (the ideologists, fanatics and crusaders are).
Poroshenko took part in the creation of the “Normandie format” of negotiations between Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany, excluding the US. When Obama sullenly refused even to dine with Putin, Poroshenko gave him the shame that even he had good conversations with the evil Russian President. In both Minsk 1 and 2, the Normandie format was used, and the US kept out of the process.
In the meantime, Poroshenko managed to get many of the hardcore fascists of the Maidan coup out of the government, he displaced first Kholomoisky’s creature in Odessa, appeasing the US by installing the psychopath Sakaashvili, a man with no clan of supporters behind him, then Kholomoisky himself.
Somehow his seesaw policy resembles that of police minister Joseph Fouche, who served under kingdom, jacobines, post-jacobine republic, empire, and kingdom, again. Of course, he is serving himself and his clan, not his country or people. Still, he seems more calculable than the nazis and loonies. My impression is that Putin is not really unhappy with him.
a^2
Hmm. Interesting comment Aqua…you’re right, that Putin seems to think Porky has ability to ‘go along’
@Ukrainian authorities say that Korban, 45, was detained on suspicion of involvement in organized crime, embezzlement, and kidnapping.
Gosh, is that the same Korban of 2014?
“Fearing arrest, Mr. Korban and Mr. Filatov fled Ukraine for Israel last week. A Dnepropetrovsk judge ordered on Jan. 29 that Mr. Korban be detained and interrogated as a witness in connection with a previously dormant investigation of a 2012 murder… The businessmen do not regret their decision. “We decided that we had to do something as citizens, to send a signal that not all businessmen are afraid,” said Mr. Korban, an aggressive local tycoon whose interests include a string of hotels, three big shopping centers and stakes in many of Ukraine’s biggest companies.
“We want to live in Europe, not in an outpost of the Russian empire,” added Mr. Korban, 43, speaking by phone from Israel”.
@http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/06/world/europe/ukraine-chief-loses-support-in-stronghold.html
“A l’exemple de Saturne, la révolution dévore ses enfants” is the well known “boutade” of Jaques Mallet du Pan in his widely circulated 1793 essay “Considérations sur la nature de la Révolution de France, et sur les causes qui en prolongent la durée”.
As Marx said: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce”.
“Finally, the simple fact that the Ukrainian economy is basically dead guarantees that popular anger and frustration will, sooner or later”
But didn’t you say last spring that Ukraine would totally collapse by the summer? Yet summer is over and it’s mid-fall and there is no collapse. Despite the economy being “basically dead” you don’t see Ukrainians starving, freezing to death, or a mob attack against their government. The loans from the west seem to support Ukraine as it is indefinitely.
On May 6, 2014, the deputy head of Dnipropetrovsk, B. Filatov and Ukrainian oligarch Kolomoyski announced a plan to build a New Zion: Promised Land in the Zionist liberated Ukraine. Kolomoyski’s fellow Jewish oligarch Petro Poroshenko is the current president of Ukraine.
The radical Zionist Chabad Jewish sect in the United States wants its community to move to Ukraine, their original Khazarian homeland.
Jews, who make only 0.2% of Ukraine’s total population, have total monopoly over country’s government, media and finance. In 2005, professor Vasyl Yaremenko in an article, entitled ‘Jews in Ukraine today: reality without myths’, wrote: “Ukrainians need to know that the mass media is completely in the hands of Jews, and everything that we watch or read is the product of Jewish ideology…”