Amnesty International Fronts for Power
STEPHEN LENDMAN
September 7, it headlined “Ukraine: Mounting evidence of war crimes and Russian involvement.”
It said “(a)ll sides in this conflict have shown disregard for civilian lives and are blatantly violating their international obligations.”
It claimed so-called evidence showing “Russia is fueling the conflict, both through direct interference and by supporting the separatists in the East. Russia must stop the steady flow of weapons and other support to an insurgent force heavily implicated in gross human rights violations.”
Fact check:
Ukraine’s army, its neo-Nazi-infested National Guard and brigades, as well as Blackwater USA (now Academi) type mercenaries bear full responsibility for naked aggression and atrocities.
For committing high crimes against peace.
Southeastern Ukrainian freedom fighters responded in self-defense. They did so justifiably. They courageously resist. They’ve done so effectively. Nothing suggests they violated their international obligations. The right to self-defense is inviolable. It’s universal. AI didn’t explain. It lied suggesting otherwise.
Ukraine’s military suffered humiliating losses. Its ranks were decimated. They’re in disarray. They’re regrouping. They’re preparing for more aggression. Throughout months of conflict, Russia has gone all-out for diplomatic resolution. No evidence whatever suggests it’s fueling conflict. Plenty proves it wants peace and stability, not war.
Southeastern Ukrainian freedom fighters aren’t separatists. They’re not insurgents. They reject Kiev’s coup d’etat authority. They reject fascist rule. They want real democracy. They want local autonomy. They want the right to elect regional governors and other officials. Kiev appointed ones have no legitimacy. No evidence suggests Russia supplies Southeastern Ukrainian freedom fighters with weapons.
They’ve gotten tanks, artillery and other heavy ones abandoned by Kiev military forces. [And all areas of Ukraine are awash in weapons since the nation was a Soviet Republic and an armaments maker.]
They’ve used them effectively. Doing so doesn’t constitute human rights abuses. AI’s accusations are spurious. They include reports of captured Russian troops inside Ukraine. Previous articles discussed what happens. Parts of Ukraine’s border with Russia aren’t demarcated. Military forces and other nationals on both sides unwittingly cross over.
Russia returns Ukrainians without incident. Kiev wrongfully claims evidence of Russian involvement. So does AI. It lied claiming “separatist fighters abducted, tortured, and killed their neighbors.”
No evidence proves it. Plenty shows Ukraine’s neo-Nazi-infested National Guard and so-called volunteer brigades committed horrendous atrocities. AI reported on ones committed by the pro-Kiev Aidar Volunteer Battalion in Lugansk. It’s one of dozens of similar “Anti-Terrorist Operation” units in Southeastern Ukraine. It’s neo-Nazi infested. It actively supported ousting Yanukovych. According to AI:
“While hailed by many nationally as a committed fighting force, the Aidar battalion has acquired locally a reputation for brutal reprisals, robbery, beatings and extortion.”
Its abuses “amount to war crimes, for which both the perpetrators and, possibly, the commanders would bear responsibility under national and international law.”
Abducted victims were accused of being Russian collaborators. They were tortured and robbed. One victim described his treatment. He was forced to the floor at gunpoint. He was kicked and beaten. His jaw was broken. He was held at a makeshift detention center.
He was there with about 15 others. They were terrorized. They were blindfolded and bound with tape. They were released after their valuables were stolen. Ukrainian police and military authorities in Severodonetsk said 38 cases were pending against Aidar members.
Ukraine’s defense and interior ministries are handling them. It doesn’t matter. According to AI, they are “without tangible result(s) thus far.” Aidar and similar units “significantly (risk) aggravating tensions in the east of the country and undermin(e) the proclaimed intentions of the new Ukrainian authorities to strengthen and uphold the rule of law more broadly.”
Fascist regimes operate this way. Ukraine is Europe’s worst. Petro Poroshenko heads its putschist government. Washington supports and encourages his high crimes. He relies on neo-Nazi fighters. They’re part of his strategy to institutionalize hardline rule nationwide.
Aidar and similar groups operate free from oversight and control. Ukrainian authorities do nothing to curb their worst abuses. Some groups openly display Nazi insignia. According to German TV station ZDF, Ukrainian soldiers were shown wearing swastikas.
Extremist paramilitary groups are part of Kiev’s strategy for unchallenged control. Andriy Biletsky founded Azov. He heads the fascist Social National Assembly and Patriots of Ukraine. Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoysky sponsors various paramilitary units.
They influence government policy. They’re largely likeminded. They enjoy Western support. They’re anti-Russian.
They oppose peace. They make continued conflict more likely.
Expect it once Ukraine’s military regroups. Expect greater US-led NATO support.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
Luhansk Not to Give Kiev Control of Border Areas with Russia
Luhansk Not About to Lose Hard Won Strategic Advantages for the Sake of a Peace That May Not Last Igor Plotnitsky, Head of the Luhansk Republic |
| [T]he self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) in Ukraine’s southeast has no plans of handing control over the border area with Russia to Kiev, the republic’s head, Igor Plotnitsky, told RIA Novosti by telephone Tuesday.“I have already said that any attempts to turn the Minsk protocol against us won’t work. We signed this protocol like an agreement on peaceful existence. We cannot be isolated or smothered. We will not hand our borders with our brotherly Russia over to enemy control. We are ready for an economic competition with Ukraine. Soon the whole world will see that Ukraine is doomed to massive poverty and degradation without the industrious Donbas,” Plotnitsky said. . Plotnitsky’s statement comes in response to Yuri Lutsenko, an adviser to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who said earlier that the protocol signed in Minsk last week does not envisage a special status for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and only one third of the Donbas territory, controlled by militia, will get this status.. Lutsenko also claimed that the Minsk protocol means that Ukraine remains an integral country and the “temporarily uncontrolled areas of Donbas” are also part of it. Lutsenko also reportedly said that Kiev should control and isolate this zone.“ . During the meeting of Contact Group on Ukraine in Minsk on September 5, the representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) agreed to a ceasefire between Kiev and independence supporters that started at 15:00 GMT the same day. The sides also agreed to the international monitoring of the truce’s implementation, the exchange of all prisoners and the opening of humanitarian corridors. . The protocol entails adoption by Ukraine the law on special status for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in addition to holding early elections. |
Ukraine’s Whitewashed Odessa Massacre Report
Odessa fascists block firetrucks so no one can escape. (Click to enlarge.)
The Ukraine, thanks to Washington’s and the EU intrigues, is now the epicenter of European fascist reemergence.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour
APPENDIX
SCG Correspondents confirm the Neonazis deliberately burned people alive in the TUH building, where they sought refuge.
0.43-47 “Let us burn those motherfuckers right in the building, fucking faggots”
1.08 – Everything around is already burning. Injured people are lying on the ground.
1.18-1.20 Maidan activist Mykola is running and shooting at people, who are trying to escape from the window.
2.34-2.36 Older man is telling “Go from the other side around, through the bathroom!” «Ребята, с той стороны, через туалет!»
2.44 – He was told to continue his commands and then answered “ Do not film me” , «Меня не снимай»
3.20 – Fire inside. Operator is telling the building will start to burn now. Second floor is burning.
3.50 – Operator notices that someone is trying to extinguish the fire from the inside.
4.08 – Man is advising to throw more Molotovs. “Throw them, throw them!” , “Кидай кидай,блять!”
4.32 – You may see grenade explosion at the front of the entrance.
6.25 – 7.13 – The same man, Mykola, who is wearing yellow-blue bandage on his left arm, is shooting at people who are trying to catch air and are seen from the window.
8.07 – Operator is wondering what is going on inside. He says that the crowd has started to move inside the house.
8.10 – Maidan activists are telling each other to go to the backyard, because people are trying to escape from there
8.26 – Crowd is shouting “They are escaping! Run to the backyard!” «Они выходят сзади!»
8.42 –This is the front of the building. More cocktails are thrown.
9.41-9.47 – Nationalists are screaming “Fuck them right there, throw to the windows!” , «Хуярьте туда, кидайте в окна!»
10.40 Lady is filming the fire. In front of the building,tents, boxes, almost all found items are set on fire. The smoke from the fireplace is quickly absorbed to the building. If the firefighters would have been there, may be less people would have asphyxated inside.
13.00 – Operator is moving to the backyard.
14.17 – A bus, where police officers are situated.
14.41 – Man from the window is shouting “Citizens of Odessa city, rise up!”
15.40- менты стоят все это время ЗА Домом Профсоюэов и они спокойно общаются пока здание уже горит с центрального входа и на 1 этаже.
15.49 – Operator shows where police officers are situated. They are simply chatting, while the building is burning from the front and on the first floor.
16.40- People start to jump from the window. 2, 3,4 dead bodies.
21.00 still alive girls are shouting from the second and third floor.
23.00- Burning man has fallen from the window. Crowd is happy. Operator is asking them to help, but the answer is “They have cut off heads of activists in Kiev”.
23.20- Anti-nationalist man is lying on the roof. Maidan nazzis are shouting to him “Jump! Glory to the Ukraine!”, «Прыгай! Слава Украине!»
Believe it or not the Neo Nazi movement in Ukraine has not been shy about expressing their approval of the killings.
Click to enlarge.
The following is a screenshot I took of post by Ukrainian Nationalist Iryna Farion (Ірина Фаріон) on facebook (right click and choose “View Image” to view at full size):
40 Holocaust survivors condemn ‘massacre’ of Palestinians, call for BDS against Israel
A dispatch from MONDOWEISS • The War of Ideas in the Middle East
REPOSTED BY READERS REQUEST / SEE RELATED: A RESPONSE TO ELIE WIESEL
Holocaust survivors printed an ad in the New York Times condemning Israel’s attacks on Gaza. (Photo: Alex Kane) PLEASE CLICK TO ENLARGE. REPEATED CLICKS YIELD A MUCH LARGER PICTURE.
[A] group of Holocaust survivors and descendants of those targeted by Nazi Germany have harshly criticized Israeli actions in Gaza and called for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.
Following a letter from survivors of the Holocaust printed in the New York Times on Saturday, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, which helped coordinate the letter, organized a press call Monday, where some of those who signed the letter spoke out against the assault on Gaza.
Participants in the press call included Edith Bell, whose parents died in concentration camps and who was taken to four camps herself; Suzanne Weiss, whose mother was murdered in Auschwitz and who was hidden by French peasants; and Liliane Kaczerginski, whose father Schmerke was a Jewish fighter against the Nazis in Lithuania. Also joining the call were Monadel Herzallah and Hani Jamah, two Palestinians with family in Gaza who expressed appreciation at the descendants’ and survivors’ efforts.
Forty survivors of the Holocaust signed the letter and 287 descendants of victims also added their names.
“I resent anybody who will use those events as an excuse to exterminate Palestinians,” said Bell, who said she survived concentration camps by “pure luck.”
The letter printed in the New York Times has garnered international media attention from the likes of the BBC and Ha’aretz. “As Jewish survivors and descendants of survivors and victims of the Nazi genocide we unequivocally condemn the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and the ongoing occupation and colonization of historic Palestine,” the letter says. “We call for an immediate end to the siege against and blockade of Gaza. We call for the full economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel. ‘Never again’ must mean NEVER AGAIN FOR ANYONE!”
The advertisement cost $18,000. The funds were raised by some of the signatories.
“I applaud your courage for doing such a statement like that, that speaks from the heart,” said Herzallah, a member of the US Palestinian Community Network whose family was expelled from what is now Israel into Gaza. “I’m not surprised when I see these courageous statements by Holocaust survivors and their families…Our children and grandchildren will learn together in Gaza and all over Palestine that never again truly means never again for anyone.
The impetus for the letter came from Holocaust survivors and descendants of victims of the Nazis who were outraged that Israel used their histories to justify assaults on Palestinians. One of the signatories who helped organize the letter was Dr. Hajo Meyer, a German-Dutch physicist who survived Auschwitz and who died the day before the letter was printed in the Times. Meyer was an outspoken critic of Israel, telling the Electronic Intifada that he “had to quit grammar school in Bielefeld after the Kristallnacht…Therefore, I can fully identify with the Palestinian youth that are hampered in their education. And I can in no way identify with the criminals who make it impossible for Palestinian youth to be educated.”
The letter calls out Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, who was the author of another advertisement that ran in the New York Times calling on Hamas to reject “child sacrifice” and casting the Israel/Palestine conflict as a “battle of civilization against barbarism.”
“Reading the Elie Wiesel ad made me literally sick to my stomach,” said Maia Ettinger, whose mother and grandmother survived the Holocaust by escaping the Warsaw ghetto. “The ad is an act of towering and transparent projection because what is barbaric is collective punishment, and what is barbaric is indiscriminate bombing.”
The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network says that much of the response they have received has been positive, though there have been violent messages sent to their e-mail address. +972 Magazine’s Ami Kaufman reported that some Israelis have expressed revulsion at the letter on Facebook.
“It’s a shame Hitler didn’t finish the job,” one Israeli named Asher Solomon said, while another, Katy Morali, added that “Holocaust survivors who think like this are invited to go die in the gas chambers.”
Correction: This article originally reported 47 Holocaust survivors had signed the letter. The actual number is 40.
About Alex Kane
[A] standard attack on Putin is that he wants to “rebuild the Soviet Empire”. To support this notion, he is relentlessly quoted as saying the collapse of the Soviet Union was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century”. In fact, this is a misquote. The Russian word Putin used has two meanings, in the context which he spoke, most scholars agree that he clearly meant “one of the greatest”. The question of the meaning of this quote was recently vigourously debated on a leading Russian policy forum by Russia scholars, with the majority agreeing on “one of the greatest.” Closer scrutiny of his words show he was actually talking about the human cost to Russians of the Soviet collapse. Putin also said in the same speech that becoming a democracy was Russia’s goal. Those who claim Putin wants to recreate the Soviet Union ignore something else he said in an interview with German television: “Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart. Whoever wants it back has no brains.” This quote best summarizes Putin’s attitude towards the USSR: romantic nostalgia that has no place in making policy. Most Russians agree with him. Non-Russians underestimate the price Russians paid for the USSR’s collapse. Russians associate the Soviet Union with their victory in World War II. They remember it as a time when their country was a superpower. They compare it with the poverty and humiliation they suffered after its collapse in the 1990s. At a time when many Russians feel under pressure from the west the Soviet Union serves as a symbol of Russian identity. However that does not mean Russians want to recreate the Soviet Union any more than Putin does. Putin “wants to rebuild the Soviet empire”. Not
This Quote is Always Attributed to Putin. Problem is, He Never Said It.
