Odessa: Ukraine’s Waco
Kiev fascists show their faces
By Justin RaimondoMay 05 2014 "ICH" - "Anti War" - - The murder of at least 38 people in the city of Odessa in the midst of Kiev’s "anti-terrorist" offensive last Friday revealed the true face of the fascist regime that has seized power in Kiev – and the Western media is doing everything it can to cover up the truth.
Most "mainstream" accounts of what happened there are filled with ambiguity: it’s "not clear" who’s responsible, they say. Everybody was supposedly throwing Molotov cocktails and so who’s to say who started which conflagration? And yet the truth is getting out there. The Washington Postreported on Saturday that "police said at least 31 people were dead after pro-Kiev demonstrators hurled Molotov cocktails into a building where a pro-Russia contingent was holding out." The piece cites tweets from Howard Amos, a Guardian reporter on the scene, noting that the fire broke out on the main floor of the Trade Union building, where a pro-Kiev crowd had gathered and was storming the building – and where, as USA Today noted, "Witnesses and journalists reported that as the building burned with people inside, a crowd shouted, ‘Glory to Ukraine!” and ‘Death to enemies!’"
The USA Today headline read: "Fire Kills 31 in Odessa." But did the fire kill them – or was it the people who set the fire? And let’s go back to Howard Amos’ tweets to find out exactly who is fighting on the front lines on the pro-Kiev side: why it’s Right Sector! They’re leading the crowd, just as they did on Friday.
Right Sector is the violent neo-Nazi group that served as the Kiev coup leaders’ shock troops as they took over Ukraine’s capital city and drove Yanukovich and his supporters out. Their Fuehrer, Dymtro Yorash, is a fascist ideologue who recently announced he was moving the group’s headquarters to east Ukraine – the scene of recent fighting between pro-coup and pro-Russian factions.
By all accounts, the local police – under Kiev’s command – did nothing as the pro-Kiev crowd danced in the streets while the building burned. It took the fire department an hour to get to the scene.
Imagine if the roles had been reversed, with the pro-Russians outside the building and the pro-Kiev "activists" inside. John Kerry would be apoplectic with rage, threatening Russia with military force.Nicholas Kristof would be demanding the bombing of Moscow, and the neocons would be comparing it to China’s Tiananmen Square massacre.
Instead, what we hear from these folks is … nothing. Silence. Evasion. Ambiguity. Anything but the truth.
This is Kiev’s Waco – and a perfect analogy it is, indeed. Here we have a group of people – pro-Russian Ukrainians – who have been so demonized in the Western media that this mass murder is being framed as if the victims deserved it. They were executed by government officials in Kiev – imagine the Ukrainian version of Janet Reno – acting in concert with US officials in Washington, who no doubt gave the green light to the Ukrainian "anti-terrorist" operation in the first place. Like the Waco massacre, the Odessa mass murder was a political act designed to demonstrate the raw power of a State – and to serve as a warning to those who would defy its power.
On Twitter, former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, a fervent supporter of the Kiev coup, cries crocodile tears for Odessa, averring that the perpetrators must be "brought to justice." Yet the perpetrators are the very government he and his NATO-crat friends have been telling us is the rebirth of "democracy" and "European values" in Ukraine. And, what’s more – he knows it. Meanwhile, the clueless Kiev "activists" being subsidized with American tax dollars posted to YouTube an utterly disgusting and almost unwatchable video of the incinerated bodies in Odessa under the headline: "Russian Terrorists Burnt Alive." The video was posted under an account called "EuromaidanPR."This is "public relations" in Ukraine – oh but it’s the Russians (or Russian-speaking Ukrainians, to be precise) who are the "terrorists."
As the European news media isn’t holding anything back in their reporting of the Odessa slaughter, Bildt perhaps feels obligated to address it. Our own officials are less forthcoming: the response of the US State Department is that force used in the Ukrainian "anti-terrorist" operation was "proportionate and reasonable" – even as the Odessa death toll climbs.
This is an absolute outrage. Usually Washington’s propaganda is more nuanced: even when they’re defending the most repressive regimes on earth (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Bahrain, etc.) there’s an attempt to balance it out with "constructive" criticism. Not here: instead we are treated to the ridiculously obscene notion that burning down a building full of people is a "proportionate" response to a demand for … regional autonomy!
What’s wrong with these people? Is it stupidity – or something a bit more calculated?
The first phase of the US-bought-and-paid-for regime change in Ukraine involved the exercise of "soft power" – the mobilization of compliant local "activists" who would take the pro-EU anti-Russian cause to the streets. Millions were pumped into the Ukrainian opposition under the guise of "democracy promotion" – and when enough people were out in the streets the next phase, the militarization of the campaign, began.
That’s when Right Sector jumped into the fray, leading the charge against government buildings and breaking the truce mediated by the European Union that would’ve kept the elected government in power in return for reining in presidential authority. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland wasn’t cursing out the Europeans for no good reason: they were getting in the way of Uncle Sam’s plans, which had yet to fully unfold.
First, "democracy promotion," then – terror.
The burning of the Trade Union building in Odessa was meant to send the east Ukrainians – and, standing behind them, the Russians – a message: we mean business. And it isn’t only the authorities in Kiev issuing this warning. Because standing behind them is the United States of America: there’s a reason why CIA chief John Brennan allowed himself to be located in Kiev just prior to the Odessa massacre.
No matter what contortions the Western media engages in to spin Odessa as a morally ambiguous "tragedy," the facts are coming out and they point to one inescapable conclusion: this was mass murder for which the Kiev coup leaders and their American puppet-masters are directly responsible. In short, this is a war crime.
And I would argue it is a new type of war crime, which, on one level, the perpetrators deny, and yet on another level they proudly proclaim their guilt to the skies. Why else is "EuromaidenPR" postinggruesome videos of charred bodies on YouTube? Why is the US State Department declaring the bloody Ukrainian "anti-terrorist" operation is "proportionate"?
In the beginning, I thought this whole Ukrainian regime change effort was just sheer stupidity on the part our clueless leaders in Washington, who had no idea what they were getting into or what dark forces they were unleashing. Over time, however, as the crisis escalated, and we actually had the State Department defending Svoboda – a major factor in the "interim" government – against fully justified charges that it is fascist, I began to wonder. Why would the US government act as a lawyer for a party that traces its ideological lineage back to Stepan Bandera, the WWII Nazi collaborator whose "insurgent army" slaughtered 6,000 Jews in Lvov? Why would they go out of their way to characterize the party as having "moderated" its views?
It’s always a mistake to underestimate Washington’s capacity for evil. In retrospect, it’s clear they always knew what and who they were unleashing. It’s not ignorance of the historically specific and – to most Americans – unimaginably virulent hatred given free rein by our machinations in Ukraine. Washington knows perfectly well what they’re doing – and they’re doing it anyway.
One final point: I’ve noted before that the Russian "invasion" of Crimea was bloodless: no casualties, no deaths, no significant damage to property. If this was an "invasion," then we’re looking at a new kind of "warfare" entirely. Now look at Kiev’s invasion of east Ukraine, which they are calling an "anti-terrorist" campaign: I don’t think anyone has totaled the casualty count quite yet, but surely it is in the hundreds by now.
And the perpetrators of the violence are mostly supporters of the Kiev coup. Of the actual military personnel sent into restive regions, a good half have gone over to the other side or otherwise dropped out of the fight. The real fighters on behalf of the regime are mobs organized by Right Sector, which has in fact become a semiofficial arm of the Ukrainian "self-defense" forces, kind of like our National Guard. The Rada – the Ukrainian parliament – ratified Right Sector fuehrer Yorash as thedeputy chief of the National Security Council by majority vote, but he was vetoed by the executive branch. It wouldn’t have looked good. Yet anyone who doubts Yorash got the job anyway, at least unofficially, has only to look at videos of the confrontations in east Ukraine, and read the reportage coming out of there.
Phase three of Kiev’s terror campaign: attacks by Right Sector in Russia itself. Yes, and you can tell them you read it here first …
Justin Raimondo is the editorial director of Antiwar.com, and a senior fellow at the Randolph Bourne Institute. He is a contributing editor at The American Conservative, and writes a monthly column for Chronicles. He is the author of Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement [Center for Libertarian Studies, 1993; Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2000], and An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard [Prometheus Books, 2000]. You can buy An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard (Prometheus Books, 2000), my biography of the great libertarian thinker, here.
America’s “Immaculate Conception” Theory of War Crimes
Ukrainian War Crimes Whitewashed by Western Press
By WashingtonsBlog
May 05 2014 "ICH" - "WashingtonsBlog" - After more than 30 people died in a fire in the Ukrainian seaside resort town of Odessa, most of the Western press pretended that no one knows what happened or whose fault it was. For example, see these stories from the Guardian and BBC.
But USA Today reports:
Former Associated Press and Newsweek reporter Robert Parry points out how bad New York Times coverage of the Odessa attack has been:
America’s “Immaculate Conception” Theory of War Crimes
Ukrainian War Crimes Whitewashed by Western Press
By WashingtonsBlog
May 05 2014 "ICH" - "WashingtonsBlog" - After more than 30 people died in a fire in the Ukrainian seaside resort town of Odessa, most of the Western press pretended that no one knows what happened or whose fault it was. For example, see these stories from the Guardian and BBC.
But USA Today reports:
Witnesses and journalists reported that as the building burned with people inside, a crowd shouted, “Glory to Ukraine!” and “Death to enemies!” [These are neo-Nazi slogans.]At 5 seconds into this 15-second video, you can see a Molotov cocktail being thrown at the building in which the Russian sympathizers:
***
[T]he Associated Press reported that the Russian sympathizers took refuge in the trade union hall on Kulikovo Field Square after government supporters rousted their encampment outside and then burned their tents. Police said the building was set on fire with Molotov cocktails.
Former Associated Press and Newsweek reporter Robert Parry points out how bad New York Times coverage of the Odessa attack has been:
On Saturday, for instance, the dominant story from Ukraine was the killing of more than 30 ethnic Russian protesters by fire and smoke inhalation in Ukraine’s southern port city of Odessa. They had taken refuge in a union building after a clash with a pro-Kiev mob which reportedly included right-wing thugs.Billmon comments:
Even the neocon-dominated Washington Post led its Saturday editions with the story of “Dozens killed in Ukraine fighting” and described the fatal incident this way: “Friday evening, a pro-Ukrainian mob attacked a camp where the pro-Russian supporters had pitched tents, forcing them to flee to a nearby government building, a witness said. The mob then threw gasoline bombs into the building. Police said 31 people were killed when they choked on smoke or jumped out of windows.
“Asked who had thrown the Molotov cocktails, pro-Ukrainian activist Diana Berg said, ‘Our people – but now they are helping them [the survivors] escape the building.’” [Here's the Post story.]
By contrast, here is how the New York Times reported the event in its Saturday editions as part of a story by C.J. Chivers and Noah Sneider focused on the successes of the pro-coup armed forces in overrunning some eastern Ukrainian rebel positions.
“Violence also erupted Friday in the previously calmer port city of Odessa, on the Black Sea, where dozens of people died in a fire related to clashes that broke out between protesters holding a march for Ukrainian unity and pro-Russian activists. The fighting itself left four dead and 12 wounded, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said. Ukrainian and Russian news media showed images of buildings and debris burning, fire bombs being thrown and men armed with pistols.”
Note how the Times evades placing any responsibility on the pro-coup mob for trying to burn the “pro-Russian activists” out of a building, an act that resulted in the highest single-day death toll since the actual coup which left more than 80 people dead from Feb. 20-22.From reading the Times, you wouldn’t know who had died in the building and who had set the fire.
Not even “atrocities were commited,” just a fire “related” to clashes that “broke out.” Immaculate conception theory of war crimes.Postscript: While the Western press tries to paint the percentage of neo Nazis within the new Ukrainian government as small, the leader of the “protests” which ousted the previous president of Ukraine is a neo Nazi and follower of WWII Nazi sympathizer Stepan Bandera, and neo Nazis arelargely in control of the new government.
See also
Radicals shooting at people in Odessa’s burning building caught on tape: Video - : New video has emerged online which shows a man shooting at the windows of Odessa’s burning House of Trade Unions. At least 39 anti-government activists died in the flames on May 2 in the building besieged and set ablaze by radicals.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38410.htm
The stakes are high. Washington and its European allies, their puppet regime in Kiev and the Western mainstream media have for weeks been accusing Russia of covertly orchestrating protests in eastern and southern Ukraine. With no facts to support its claims, Washington alleges that Moscow is "building a pretext to invade and annex Ukrainian territory".
If Russia intervenes now, there will be howls of Western assertions that Moscow's "sneaky plot" is finally being executed. Already Washington is lining up more sanctions against Russia for alleged violation of Ukrainian sovereignty - again based on groundless assertions. And with NATO military forces assigned to Russia's neighboring countries, a Russian invasion of Ukraine might risk a broader war.
But regardless of Western propaganda accusing Russia of malfeasance and in the face of Western threats of punitive response, Moscow should act with boldness based on the facts.
Despite Western claims, the facts show that the unrest and violence in Ukraine has stemmed from Western subversion in that country, beginning with the CIA-backed street agitation in Kiev last November that led to an illegal coup against the elected government of Victor Yanukovych in February. We could go further back to the CIA-sponsored Orange Revolution of 2004 and the $5 billion invested by Washington for regime change from the early 1990s onwards.
The neo-Nazi paramilitaries and their political leaders who usurped power in Kiev have gone on to unleash a campaign of terror against ethnic Russians in the east and south of the country, and anyone else who opposes the regime's power grab.
The second "anti-terror" crackdown unleashed by the Kiev junta over the weekend was preceded by a similar operation last month following the visit of CIA boss John Brennan to Kiev on April 12-13. The latest more deadly crackdown has resulted in more than 50 dead. In the southern city of Odessa, more than 40 anti-Kiev protesters were killed when a building they were seeking refuge in was set ablaze by hundreds of neo-Nazi storm troopers acting on the tacit direction of the junta in Kiev and its Western state sponsors.
As Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, the Kiev regime and its Western sponsors are "up to their elbows in blood" following the weekend deadly violence.
There were mealy-mouthed condemnations of "violence by all sides" from the US Secretary of State John Kerry; and there were attempts in the Western media, such as the BBC, New York Times and Voice of America, to downplay the criminality of the Kiev junta in the deaths, saying that victims in Odessa came after "clashes between two sides". The BBC even gave prominence to the spin from the Kiev junta, which blamed the violence on police incompetence and "pro-Russian activists".
The fact is that people were massacred - including several others in the eastern city of Slavyansk - by Western-backed Kiev forces. Eyewitnesses in Odessa say that when people jumped from windows to escape the blaze they were "finished off" by neo-Nazis on the ground who had minutes before set the building alight with petrol bombs.
These forces comprise remnants of the Ukrainian national army loyal to the fascist junta, as well as Right Sector neo-Nazi paramilitaries outfitted as a "national guard", and very possibly the involvement of US-backed mercenaries and Special Forces.
Reports have emerged that the CIA is now officially collaborating with the regime in Kiev, although the US State Department uses Orwellian language to describe the liaison as "security consultation".
Kerry's disingenuous deploring of violence in Ukraine barely conceals the fact that Washington has given the green light to the lethal crackdown by the Kiev junta against its own citizens. President Barack Obama said while the crackdown was underway on Friday that "Ukraine has the right to restore order".
By "Ukraine" Obama is referring to the unelected criminal regime that Washington railroaded into office in complete violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and on the back of murderous street violence, including the covert sniper massacre on February 20 that killed up to 100 people.
The Kiev junta is warning that the current "anti-terror operation" is to continue apace. We can expect more deaths in the coming days among ethnic Russian populations in the east and south of Ukraine – carried out with the full approval of Washington and with the assistance of its covert forces.
Russian President Putin has already received authorization from his parliament in March to send in troops to protect the millions of ethnic Russians in Ukraine. He has moral and legal right on his side. The only "impediment" is Western propaganda claims - claims that have been discredited - and threats of sanctions and military response from NATO.
But Putin should not be blackmailed by baseless lies when peoples' lives are being threatened by a Western-backed fascist cabal and their murderous paramilitaries. Besides, more and more people around the world, including the US and European public, can see through the sordid tissue of lies that the Western governments and their pathetic news media have been peddling against Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
The present situation resembles the previous covert US-led operation in South Ossetia in 2008 when NATO-backed Georgian troops tried to destabilize that country, a Russian ally. Russia acted decisively then, sent in its troops and routed the NATO plot. And Washington backed down.
Washington is at it again: subverting, lying, killing and threatening. But it's a cowardly bluff that Putin should slap down immediately. The reality is much too serious to entertain these cynical Western games. Peoples' lives are in real danger in Ukraine from the fascist paramilitaries and politician-gangsters that Washington installed in Kiev and which it is now giving full vent to. The bloody events this weekend are tragic testimony to the urgent threat.
If Putin takes action, he can be sure that world public opinion is on his side. Washington will find that it is a loser, and deserves it. It has nothing on its side but malign and negative forces.
Seventy years ago, Russia defeated fascism in Europe. It is time to deliver that honorable blow again.
Putin Should Send Troops Into Ukraine
By Finian CunninghamMay 05 2014 "ICH" - "PTV" - With a death toll of at least 50 over the weekend inflicted by the Western-backed unelected, fascist regime in Kiev, has the time come for Russian President Vladimir Putin to send his troops into eastern Ukraine?
The escalating violence committed by the Kiev junta under the Orwellian guise of "an anti-terror operation" strongly warrants that President Putin should give the go-ahead.By Finian CunninghamMay 05 2014 "ICH" - "PTV" - With a death toll of at least 50 over the weekend inflicted by the Western-backed unelected, fascist regime in Kiev, has the time come for Russian President Vladimir Putin to send his troops into eastern Ukraine?
The stakes are high. Washington and its European allies, their puppet regime in Kiev and the Western mainstream media have for weeks been accusing Russia of covertly orchestrating protests in eastern and southern Ukraine. With no facts to support its claims, Washington alleges that Moscow is "building a pretext to invade and annex Ukrainian territory".
If Russia intervenes now, there will be howls of Western assertions that Moscow's "sneaky plot" is finally being executed. Already Washington is lining up more sanctions against Russia for alleged violation of Ukrainian sovereignty - again based on groundless assertions. And with NATO military forces assigned to Russia's neighboring countries, a Russian invasion of Ukraine might risk a broader war.
But regardless of Western propaganda accusing Russia of malfeasance and in the face of Western threats of punitive response, Moscow should act with boldness based on the facts.
Despite Western claims, the facts show that the unrest and violence in Ukraine has stemmed from Western subversion in that country, beginning with the CIA-backed street agitation in Kiev last November that led to an illegal coup against the elected government of Victor Yanukovych in February. We could go further back to the CIA-sponsored Orange Revolution of 2004 and the $5 billion invested by Washington for regime change from the early 1990s onwards.
The neo-Nazi paramilitaries and their political leaders who usurped power in Kiev have gone on to unleash a campaign of terror against ethnic Russians in the east and south of the country, and anyone else who opposes the regime's power grab.
The second "anti-terror" crackdown unleashed by the Kiev junta over the weekend was preceded by a similar operation last month following the visit of CIA boss John Brennan to Kiev on April 12-13. The latest more deadly crackdown has resulted in more than 50 dead. In the southern city of Odessa, more than 40 anti-Kiev protesters were killed when a building they were seeking refuge in was set ablaze by hundreds of neo-Nazi storm troopers acting on the tacit direction of the junta in Kiev and its Western state sponsors.
As Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, the Kiev regime and its Western sponsors are "up to their elbows in blood" following the weekend deadly violence.
There were mealy-mouthed condemnations of "violence by all sides" from the US Secretary of State John Kerry; and there were attempts in the Western media, such as the BBC, New York Times and Voice of America, to downplay the criminality of the Kiev junta in the deaths, saying that victims in Odessa came after "clashes between two sides". The BBC even gave prominence to the spin from the Kiev junta, which blamed the violence on police incompetence and "pro-Russian activists".
The fact is that people were massacred - including several others in the eastern city of Slavyansk - by Western-backed Kiev forces. Eyewitnesses in Odessa say that when people jumped from windows to escape the blaze they were "finished off" by neo-Nazis on the ground who had minutes before set the building alight with petrol bombs.
These forces comprise remnants of the Ukrainian national army loyal to the fascist junta, as well as Right Sector neo-Nazi paramilitaries outfitted as a "national guard", and very possibly the involvement of US-backed mercenaries and Special Forces.
Reports have emerged that the CIA is now officially collaborating with the regime in Kiev, although the US State Department uses Orwellian language to describe the liaison as "security consultation".
Kerry's disingenuous deploring of violence in Ukraine barely conceals the fact that Washington has given the green light to the lethal crackdown by the Kiev junta against its own citizens. President Barack Obama said while the crackdown was underway on Friday that "Ukraine has the right to restore order".
By "Ukraine" Obama is referring to the unelected criminal regime that Washington railroaded into office in complete violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and on the back of murderous street violence, including the covert sniper massacre on February 20 that killed up to 100 people.
The Kiev junta is warning that the current "anti-terror operation" is to continue apace. We can expect more deaths in the coming days among ethnic Russian populations in the east and south of Ukraine – carried out with the full approval of Washington and with the assistance of its covert forces.
Russian President Putin has already received authorization from his parliament in March to send in troops to protect the millions of ethnic Russians in Ukraine. He has moral and legal right on his side. The only "impediment" is Western propaganda claims - claims that have been discredited - and threats of sanctions and military response from NATO.
But Putin should not be blackmailed by baseless lies when peoples' lives are being threatened by a Western-backed fascist cabal and their murderous paramilitaries. Besides, more and more people around the world, including the US and European public, can see through the sordid tissue of lies that the Western governments and their pathetic news media have been peddling against Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
The present situation resembles the previous covert US-led operation in South Ossetia in 2008 when NATO-backed Georgian troops tried to destabilize that country, a Russian ally. Russia acted decisively then, sent in its troops and routed the NATO plot. And Washington backed down.
Washington is at it again: subverting, lying, killing and threatening. But it's a cowardly bluff that Putin should slap down immediately. The reality is much too serious to entertain these cynical Western games. Peoples' lives are in real danger in Ukraine from the fascist paramilitaries and politician-gangsters that Washington installed in Kiev and which it is now giving full vent to. The bloody events this weekend are tragic testimony to the urgent threat.
If Putin takes action, he can be sure that world public opinion is on his side. Washington will find that it is a loser, and deserves it. It has nothing on its side but malign and negative forces.
Seventy years ago, Russia defeated fascism in Europe. It is time to deliver that honorable blow again.
Finian Cunningham (born 1963) has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. He is a Master’s graduate in Agricultural Chemistry and worked as a scientific editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, England, before pursuing a career in journalism. He is also a musician and songwriter. For nearly 20 years, he worked as an editor and writer in major news media organisations, including The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent.
© Copyright 2012 Press TV. All rights reserved
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten