Magda Hassan Wrote:U.S. Points to Russia as Diplomats' Private Call Is Posted on Web

By PETER BAKERFEB. 6, 2014


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Viktor F. Yanukovych, president of Ukraine, and Victoria Nuland, the assistant secretary of state for European affairs, met in Kiev on Thursday. Pool photo by Mykhailo Markiv



WASHINGTON After months of taking grief for snooping on foreign leaders, the Obama administration found itself on the other side on Thursday after a private telephone call between two American diplomats appeared on the Internet in a breach that the White House tied to Russia.
In the recording, an assistant secretary of state and the ambassador to Ukraine are heard talking about the political crisis in Kiev, their views of how it might be resolved, their assessments of the various opposition leaders and their frustrations with their European counterparts. At one point, the assistant secretary uses an expletive in a reference to the European Union.

The conversation opened a window into the American handling of the crisis and could easily inflame passions in Kiev, Brussels and Moscow, where the role of the United States has been controversial. The White House on Thursday suggested that Russia, which has jockeyed with the United States and Europe for influence in Ukraine, played some role in the interception or dissemination of the conversation.
"The video was first noted and tweeted out by the Russian government," Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, told reporters. "I think it says something about Russia's role."
Asked if he was accusing Russia of recording the conversation, Mr. Carney said: "I'm not. I'm just noting that they tweeted it out."
In a later briefing, Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, said she had no information about who posted the recording but criticized Moscow for promoting it. "Certainly we think this is a new low in Russian tradecraft," she said.
Another administration official privately confirmed the authenticity of the tape, which was posted anonymously on YouTube on Tuesday under a Russian headline, "Puppets of Maidan," referring to the square occupied by protesters, and reported on Thursday by the Kyiv Post.
A recording posted on Tuesday of a conversation between Victoria Nuland, the assistant secretary of state for European affairs, and Geoffrey R. Pyatt, the ambassador to Ukraine. Ms. Nuland uses an expletive to describe the European Union. Re Post

A link to the secret recording was sent out in a Twitter message earlier Thursday by the account of Dmitry Loskutov, an aide to Russia's deputy prime minister. "Sort of controversial judgment from Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland speaking about the EU," the message said, clearly trying to drive a wedge between the United States and Europe.
Obama administration officials took that as confirmation of their suspicion that the conversation was intercepted or at least disseminated by Russia's government, which has sheltered Edward J. Snowden, the National Security Agency contractor who exposed American eavesdropping of foreign leaders like Angela Merkel of Germany.
While the revelation prompted the White House to cancel surveillance of friendly foreign leaders like Ms. Merkel, administration officials defended themselves by noting that many governments spy on American officials as well. American diplomats have long assumed that their telephone calls were tapped by Moscow, but rarely if ever have the Russians made recordings public.
The administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the fact that this one was made public was a sign of desperation by the Russians, who in this view are trying to stop the Americans from brokering a settlement of the standoff between President Viktor F. Yanukovych and the Ukrainian opposition. It came to light even as Ms. Nuland was in Kiev on Thursday talking with both Mr. Yanukovych and opposition leaders.
Mr. Loskutov, responding to messages from a reporter on Twitter, rejected the American assertion that he was first to disseminate the recording. "Disseminating started earlier," he wrote in English, adding that his Twitter post was being "used to hang the blame" on Russia. Asked if Russia had any role, he said: "How would I know? I was just monitoring the Internets' while my boss was off to a meeting with the Chinese leader."
In the recorded call, Ms. Nuland and the ambassador, Geoffrey Pyatt, were talking about an offer made on Jan. 25 by Mr. Yanukovych to bring two opposition leaders, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk and Vitali Klitschko, into the government as prime minister and deputy prime minister, respectively. The two Americans described Mr. Yatsenyuk, a former economics minister, in favorable terms, but viewed Mr. Klitschko, a former world heavyweight boxing champion now serving in Parliament, more warily.
"The Klitschko piece is obviously the complicated electron here," Mr. Pyatt said.
Ms. Nuland suggested that Mr. Klitschko should not go into the government. "I don't think it's necessary," she said. "I don't think it's a good idea."
Mr. Pyatt concurred. "In terms of him not going into the government, just let him sort of stay out and do his political homework and stuff," the ambassador said. "I'm just thinking in terms of sort of the process moving ahead; we want to keep the moderate democrats together."

Ms. Nuland described Mr. Yatsenyuk as "the guy who's got the economic experience, the governing experience," and said Mr. Klitschko's working for him was "just not going to work." Mr. Pyatt called Mr. Klitschko the "top dog" among the opposition leaders and suggested that Ms. Nuland call him directly.
Ms. Nuland seemed frustrated that European leaders had not put enough pressure on Mr. Yanukovych to respond to protesters upset with his decision not to sign a trade agreement with the European Union. She told Mr. Pyatt that Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, was preparing to send an envoy to Ukraine, which would "help glue this thing and to have the U.N. glue it."
"And you know," she said, and then used an expletive to say what could be done to "the E.U."
"Exactly," Mr. Pyatt said. He expressed concern that "the Russians will be working behind the scenes to try to torpedo it," and agreed that there would be value in an "international personality" traveling to Kiev to "midwife this thing."
Ms. Nuland said that she could get Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to call Mr. Yanukovych for "an atta boy" encouraging moves to work with the opposition, and that "Biden's willing."
Ultimately, Mr. Yatsenyuk and Mr. Klitschko declined to join the government later on Jan. 25. Mr. Biden called Mr. Yanukovych three days later, the day Prime Minister Mykola Azarov stepped down. Protests continue.
Ms. Nuland was in Kiev on Thursday trying to broker a deal to de-escalate the confrontation by assuring amnesty for protesters, moving demonstrations back from public buildings and restarting negotiations. Over a longer term, the Obama administration is trying to persuade Mr. Yanukovych to make constitutional and electoral changes that would allow for opposition participation in government and eventually lead to economic assistance from the International Monetary Fund.
Ms. Nuland met with opposition leaders on Thursday and spent four hours with Mr. Yanukovych, who later released a statement saying that he was ready to return to negotiations with the opposition and would accelerate the release of jailed protesters. "It is only through dialogue and compromise that we can overcome the political crisis," Mr. Yanukovych said.
After the intercepted telephone conversation became widely reported on Thursday, Ms. Nuland spoke with European Union officials to smooth over any ruffled feathers. Reached by telephone in Kiev, Ms. Nuland referred questions to the State Department, but seemed more amused than angry. "It's all part of the job," she said. Mr. Pyatt posted a picture on Twitter of the two of them laughing as they read the Russian official's tweet on an iPad. "Enjoying Dima's tweet here in Kyiv," Mr. Pyatt wrote, referring to Mr. Loskutov.
Correction: February 6, 2014
An earlier version of this article misidentified the Ukrainian opposition leader whom Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt called a "top dog." He is Vitali Klitschko, not Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/07/world/europe/us-points-to-russia-as-diplomats-private-call-is-posted-on-web.html

Magda Hassan Wrote:Just thought I'd mention that the US ambassador to the Ukraine is not just any old influential donor to the political party but is married to the co-author, Robert Kagan, of Project for a New American Century infamy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kagan

David Guyatt Wrote:

Magda Hassan Wrote:Just thought I'd mention that the US ambassador to the Ukraine is not just any old influential donor to the political party but is married to the co-author, Robert Kagan, of Project for a New American Century infamy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kagan

::doh:: Uh oh!

Quote:Washington's Dirty Game
By Stephen Lendman
Washington can't hide its dark side. It's too ugly to conceal. Its been exposed numerous times.
Here we go again. Assistant Secretary of State for European and European Affairs Victoria Nuland was caught red-handed. More on this below.
She's hardcore neocon. She's a career foreign service officer. She's worked with Democrat and Republican administrations.
Early in her career, she covered Russian internal politics at Washington's Moscow embassy.
She served on the Soviet Desk in Washington. She worked in the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. She served in Guangzhou, China.
She was Deputy to the Ambassador-at-Large for the Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union. She directed a task force on Russia, its neighbors and an expanding NATO.
She was Clinton's Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott's chief of staff. She was Deputy Permanent Representative to NATO.

She was Dick Cheney's Principal Deputy National Security Advisor. She was Permanent US Representative to NATO.
She was a National War College faculty member. She was Obama's Special Envoy for Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.
On September 18, 2013, she was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for European and European Affairs.
Her husband is Project for the New American Century (PNAC) co-founder Robert Kagan. He's a neocon foreign policy theorist/hardliner.
He advised John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. He served on Hillary Clinton's Foreign Affairs Policy Board.
The Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI) is PNAC's current incarnation. He's a board of directors member. He represents the worst of America's dark side. So does Nuland.
She supports regime change. She backs neo-fascist governance replacing Ukrainian democracy.
She's involved in manipulating street thug violence. She's part of a US-instigated insurrection.
She wants legitimate Ukrainian governance toppled. She wants pro-Western stooge governance replacing it. She lied saying: "We stand with the people of Ukraine..."
She demands Ukrainian President Viktor Yanokovych engage "with Europe and the IMF."
She was caught red-handed urging regime change on tape. Her conversation with US Ukraine ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt was recorded.
It's circulating on You Tube. It's more evidence of America's dark side. It bears repeating. It's too ugly to hide.
The leaked video is damning. It's four minutes long. It's titled "Maidan puppets." It refers to Kiev's Independence Square.
The Kiev Post (KP) broke the story. On February 6, it headlined " 'F..k the EU,' frustrated Nuland says to Pyatt, in alleged leaked phone call."
On February 4, the Nuland/Pyatt conversation was posted on You Tube. It's unclear by whom.
Both US officials expressed frustration over EU "inaction and indecision," said KP. Nuland was heard saying "f..k the EU."
Pyatt called opposition figure Vitali Klitschko the "top dog." He heads the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform party (UDAR). Pyatt and Nuland agreed he's "too inexperienced to hold a top government post."
A US Kiev embassy spokeswoman had no comment. State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki downplayed what happened.
"I'm not going to confirm or outline details," she said. "I understand there are a lot of reports out there and there's a recording out there, but I'm not going to confirm private diplomatic conversations."
When pressed about the You Tube's authenticity, she said she "didn't say it was inauthentic. I think we can leave it at that."
She was pressed again about the conversation revealing US intentions opposite of public comments about Ukrainians deciding their own future.
She lied saying they aren't "inconsistent in the least bit." Her convoluted explanation doesn't wash.
She claimed Washington is working with Ukraine's government, opposition elements, as well as "business and civil society leaders to support their efforts..."
Obama wants regime change. He wants Ukraine's democratically elected government toppled. Not according to Psaki.
She lied claiming it's "up to the Ukrainian people themselves to decide their future. (It's) up to them to determine their path forward, and that's a consistent message that we're conveying publicly and privately."
Psaki was hard-pressed explaining why Nuland felt the need to apologize. Doing so shows You Tube dialogue was authentic.
White House and State Department officials barely stopped short of accusing Russia of surreptitiously recording Nuland's conversation.
Psaki called the incident a "new low in Russian tradecraft in terms of publicizing and posting this."
"I don't have any other independent details about the origin of the You Tube video," she added.
Snowden exposed NSA's systematic global spying. Foreign leaders are targeted. Their phone calls are monitored. Their emails are read. Psaki left that issue unaddressed.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said "since the video was first noted and tweeted out by the Russian government, I think it says something about Russia's role."
He wouldn't comment on what Nuland and Pyatt said.
Hours before the You Tube surfaced, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin's aide, Dmitry Loskutov, was among the first to tweet information about it, saying:
"Sort of controversial judgment from Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland speaking about the EU."
According to the Kiev Post, "(t)he leaked phone call appears to have been made following (Ukrainian) President Viktor Yanukovych's Jan. 25 offer to opposition leader Arseniy Yatseniuk to be prime minister and Klitschko to be deputy prime minister..."
In 2005 and 2006, Yatseniuk was Ukraine's economy minister. In 2007, he was foreign minister.
In 2007 and 2008, he chaired Ukraine's parliament (the Verkhovna Rada). It's a unicameral body.
The All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" is Ukraine's second largest party. Yatsenyuk heads its parliamentary faction.
He and Klitschko refused Yanukovych's offer to join his government. On January 28, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov resigned. Yanukovych accepted his resignation. He signed a decree. He dismissed other cabinet officials.
He promised more concessions. He appointed a committee to propose constitutional revisions.
It didn't help. At the time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov condemned street violence by "fascistic youths."
He warned against external interference. Russia "stands for a political settlement within the framework of Ukrainian law," he said.
Washington's dirty hands bear full responsibility for street violence. Regime change politics is longstanding US policy. It involves every dirty trick imaginable.
Syria is in the eye of the storm. So is Ukraine. Conditions remain volatile. Nuland/Pyatt intentions reveal what Ukrainians have to fear.
In December 1994, Washington, Russia, Britain and Northern Ireland welcomed Ukraine's accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, saying:
They "reaffirm(ed) their commitment to Ukraine, in accordance with the principles of the CSCE (Helsinki) Final Act, to respect the Independence and Sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine."
They "reaffirm(ed) their obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine...in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations."
They "reaffirm(ed) their commitment…to refrain from economic coercion designed to subordinate to their own interest the exercise by Ukraine of the rights inherent in its sovereignty..."
Washington is duplicitous. It can't be trusted. It's word isn't its bond. It's history is treacherous.
It systematically ignores international law. It violates treaty obligations repeatedly. It wants all independent governments toppled. It goes all out to remove them.
It targets Ukraine for regime change. Nuland told Pyatt a UN official she spoke to said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon agreed to send someone to Ukraine to "help glue this thing and have the UN glue it."
She was told Ban will appoint former Dutch Ukrainian ambassador, Robert Serry, as his representative.
"That would be great I think to help glue this thing and have the UN glue it," said Nuland. At that point, she said "And you know, f..k the EU."
"Exactly," Pyatt replied. "And I think we got to do something to make it stick together because you can be sure that if it does start to gain altitude the Russians will be working behind the scenes to torpedo it."
"Let me work on Klitschko," he added. "I think we should get a Western personality to come out here and midwife this thing."
Klitschko "is obviously the complicated electron here," said Pyatt.
"And you've seen some of my notes on the troubles in the marriage (among opposition leaders) right now."
"So we're trying to get a read really fast on where he is with this stuff."
"But I think your argument to him, which I think you'll need to make...is exactly the one you made to Yats (Yatseniuk), and I'm glad you kind of put him on the spot in where he fits in in this scenario."
Nuland favors Yatseniuk for a leadership role. He's "the guy who's got the economic experience, the governing experience," she said.
"What he needs is Klitsch (Klitschko) and (Svoboda party fascist leader) Tiahnybok on the outside. He needs to be talking to them four times a week, you know."
"I think Klitsch going in, he's going to be at that level, working for Yatseniuk. It's just not going to work," she added.
"Yeah, I think that's right," said Pyatt. He urged Nuland to reach out directly to him and "help with the personality management among the three," he added.
The conversation ended with Nuland saying she can get Vice President Joe Biden to call Yanukovych "for an attaboy and to get the deeds to stick."
In December, Nuland spent days in Ukraine. She met publicly with opposition leaders. She joined their street protests. She handed out cookies.
Imagine if Russian, Chinese or other foreign officials acted the same way in Washington. Imagine the public rage. Imagine the threatening response.
On Monday, EU foreign ministers will meet in Brussels. They'll discuss imposing sanctions on Ukraine. Washington threatens its own.
On Thursday evening, Nuland met with opposition leaders Yatseniuk, Klitschko and Tiahnybok. They plotted strategy.
Hours earlier the European Parliament approved an anti-Ukrainian resolution. It called for imposing sanctions. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry responded saying:
"We're disappointed at prejudice with which the European Parliament assessed the Ukrainian government's actions and at the fact that it ignored the vast majority of constructive efforts made by the Ukrainian leadership in relation to the implementation of plans for building trust and engaging into a peaceful and inclusive dialogue with both the opposition and the civilian population."
"An unbalanced nature of the resolution and calls for introducing EU restrictions don't contribute to nationwide reconciliation and trust in Ukraine and undermine the process of settling the conflict."
Washington manipulated Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution. Yanukovych's earlier government was ousted.
In 2010, he was reelected president. He's targeted again. Orange Revolution 2.0 continues. At stake is Ukrainian sovereign independence.
What's ongoing involves weakening and isolating Russia. Washington's dirty game is transparent. Imperial ruthlessness is longstanding US policy.
All independent states are targeted. So are major rivals. America wants unchallenged global dominance. It wants world resources plundered for profit.
It wants ordinary people made serfs. It wants them impoverished. It wants vassal states beholden to US interests. It wants them trapped in debt bondage.
It wants ruthless control replacing democracy. It wants subservient stooges replacing legitimately elected officials.
Empire building is dirty. Tactics include bullying, intimidation, sanctions, assassinations, coups and lawless aggression.
Ukraine's future is at stake. Whether Yanukovych can save its democracy remains to be seen. The fate of 46 million Ukrainians hangs in the balance.

Quote:Israeli ex-officer leads Ukraine protests: Reports
Sun Feb 16, 2014 6:11PM GMT

21

Ukrainian media have reported that a former Israeli army officer is playing a leading role in the anti-government protests in the former Soviet republic.

According to reports, the unnamed Israeli commands a group of 20 Ukrainian militants.
Four other Israelis, who had previously served in the army, were recently reported to have taken part in opposition rallies in Ukraine's capital, Kiev.
They were born in Ukraine but migrated to Israel and joined its armed forces before returning to the European country for the demonstrations.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian media said that an Israeli tycoon provides financial support to the opposition in Ukraine, adding that Israel's Mossad intelligence agency is one of the instigators of the unrest in the country.
Ukraine has been rocked by anti-government protests since President Viktor Yanukovych refrained from signing an Association Agreement with the European Union on November 29, 2013, in favor of closer ties with Russia.
Russia has repeatedly accused the West of meddling in the internal affairs of Ukraine and fueling the crisis in the country.
In early February, a four-minute video was posted on YouTube by an anonymous user, in which US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and US ambassador to Kiev Geoffrey Pyatt discussed which of Ukraine's opposition leaders they would like to see in government.

Quote:

After Yugoslavia, Ukraine ?

by Thierry Meyssan

Public opinion in Western Europe is wrong to regard the Ukrainian crisis as a showdown between Westerners and Russians. In reality, Washington's goal is not to push the country into the arms of the European Union, but to deprive Russia of its historical partners. To do this, the United States is prepared to ignite a new civil war on the continent.

VOLTAIRE NETWORK | DAMASCUS | 14 FEBRUARY 2014 FRANÇAIS ESPAÑOL DEUTSCH ITALIANO ARMENIAN ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΆ TÜRKÇE

Senator John McCain, who monitored the «Orange Revolution» of 2004 and supports jihadism in Syria, addresses protesters on Maidan Square, 15 December 2013 . Nazi leader Oleh Tyahnybok can be seen on his right.After having dismembered Yugoslavia during a ten-year civil war (1990-1999), has the United States decided to destroy Ukraine in a similar way? This is what could be inferred from the maneuvers that the opposition is poised to launch during the Sochi Olympic Games.Ukraine has been historically divided between, in the West, a population turned towards the European Union and, in the East, a population oriented towards Russia, plus a small Muslim minority in Crimea. After the countrys independence, the government gradually crumbled. Taking advantage of the confusion, the United States organized the «Orange Revolution» (2004) [1], which brought to power a mafia clan, equally pro-Atlanticist. Moscow responded by lifting its subsidies on gas prices, but the Orange government could not rely on its Western allies to help pay the market price. Ultimately, it lost the 2010 presidential election in favor of Viktor Yanukovych, a corrupt politician, and an on again/off again pro-Russian.On 21 November 2013, the government renounces signing the Association Agreement negotiated with the European Union. The opposition responds with protests in Kiev and in the western part of the country, which quickly take on an insurrectionary appearance. It calls for early presidential and parliamentary elections and refuses to form a government when approached by President Yanukovych and the Prime Minister resigns. The events are baptized Euromaidan, then Eurorevolution, by Radio Free Europe (run by the State Department).The crowd control for the opposition is provided by Azatlyk, a group of young Crimean Tatars who returned from Jihad in Syria especially for the occasion [2].The Atlanticist media champion the cause of the «democratic opposition» and condemn Russian influence. High-profile Western figures turn up to manifest their support to the protesters, including Victoria Nuland (Assistant Secretary of State and former Ambassador to NATO) and John McCain (Chairman of the Republican branch of the NED). For its part, the Russian press condemns protesters who have taken to the streets to overthrow democratically elected institutions.Torch-lit march of 15,000 Nazis in Kiev on 1 January 2014.At first, the movement seemed to be an attempt to orchestrate a second «Orange Revolution.» But on 1 January 2014 the power in the street changes hands. The Nazi «Freedom» party organizes a 15 000-strong torch-lit march in memory of Stepan Bandera (1909-1959), the nationalist leader who allied himself with the Nazis against the Soviets. Since this event, the capital has been covered with anti-Semitic graffiti and people are attacked on the street for being Jewish.The pro-European opposition is made up of three political parties: The All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" (Batkivshchyna), led by the oligarch and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko (serving a prison sentence following her convictions for embezzlement) and currently headed by lawyer and former Parliament speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk. It stands for private property and the Western liberal model. It garnered 25.57% of the vote in the 2012 parliamentary elections. The Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (Udar), of former boxing world champion Vitali Klitschko. It claims to identify with Christian Democracy and picked up 13.98% in the 2012 elections. The All-Ukrainian Union "Svoboda" (Freedom), led by the surgeon Oleh Tyahnybok. This political group sprang from the National Socialist Party of Ukraine. It promotes the denaturalization of Jewish Ukrainians. It won 10.45% of the vote in the 2012 parliamentary elections.These parliamentary parties have the support of: The Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, a Nazi splinter group from the former NATO stay-behind networks in the Eastern Bloc [3]. A Zionist, he calls for the denaturalization and deportation of Ukrainian Jews to Israel. He received 1.11% of the vote in 2012. The Ukrainian Self-Defense, a nationalist splinter group that sent its members to fight the Russians in Chechnya and Ossetia during the Georgian conflict. It got 0.08% of the vote in 2012.In addition, the opposition has received the endorsement of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in revolt against the Moscow Patriarchate. Ever since the Nazi Party took over the streets, the demonstrators - many of them wearing helmets and dressed in paramilitary uniforms - have erected barricades and stormed government buildings. Certain elements of the police force have also displayed great brutality, going so far as to torture detainees. A dozen protesters were killed and nearly 2,000 were wounded. The unrest spread to the western provinces of the country.According to our information, the Ukrainian opposition seeks to import military materials acquired on parallel markets. It is obviously not possible to purchase weapons in Western Europe and bring them in without NATO's green light.Washington's strategy in Ukraine would appear to be a combination of proven "color revolution" recipes with others recently concocted during the "Arab Spring" [4]. Moreover, the United States makes no effort to hide it, having dispatched two officials, Victoria Nuland (deputy to John Kerry) and John McCain (who is not only a Republican senator, but also the chairman of IRI, the Republican branch of the NED [5]) to support the protesters. Unlike Libya and Syria, Washington does not have jihadists on hand to sow chaos (except for Tatar extremists, but they are only located in Crimea). It was therefore decided to lean on the Nazis with whom the State Department worked against the Soviets and has organized in political parties since Ukraine's independence.The inexperienced reader may be taken aback by this alliance between the Obama administration and the Nazis. However, it must be remembered that Ukrainian Nazis were publicly honored at the White House by President Reagan, including Yaroslav Stetsko, Ukrainian Prime Minister under the Third Reich, who became the head of the anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations and a member of the World anti-Communist League [6]. One of his deputies, Lev Dobriansky, became U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas, while his daughter Paula Dobriansky served as Under Secretary of State for Democracy (sic) during the George W. Bush administration. It is the same Ms. Dobriansky who for ten years sponsored a historical research with the aim of clouding the fact that the Holodomor, the famine that hit Ukraine in 1932-33, also devastated Russia and Kazakhstan, thereby reinforcing the myth that Stalin was determined to eliminate the Ukrainian people [7].In fact, Washington, who had supported the German Nazi party until 1939 and continued to do business with Nazi Germany until the end of 1941, never had a moral problem with Nazism, not more than it has today in providing military support to jihadism in Syria.Western European elites, who use Nazism as a pretext to harass firebrands - as seen with the "quenelle" controversy over French comedien Dieudonné M'Bala M'Bala [8] - seem to have forgotten what it really is. In 2005, they closed their eyes to the rehabilitation of Nazism by the President of Latvia, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, as if it were something trivial [9]. On the simple strength of statements in favor of the European Union, and wrapped up in their blissful Atlanticism, they are now in cahoots their worst enemy.Civil war could well start in the Ukraine during the Olympic Games in Sochi.

Truce crumbles amid gunfire in Ukraine, protesters claim 100 dead; as many as 15 police killed; thousands injured.....many seriously!

RFE/RL is hosting a live blog reporting the latest government killings in Kiev. The news overnight includes "sniper attacks" by government forces on protesters, as reported by the Telegraph.
A reader writes from Ukraine, citing a Facebook post by a doctor who is coordinating medical care at the protest center in Kiev. According to the doctor's page she is the founder of the Kiev Institute of Dermatology and Cosmetics. Her post (in Ukrainian) from around 5:00 a.m. US Eastern time indicates that in the previous hour 13 were killed by snipers. The doctor's Facebook page is here.
UPDATED by JOHN: This video is chilling, too; the scenes from Kiev are nightmarish, all the more so since it is sometimes hard to tell exactly what is going on:

In this video, you actually see protesters being shot by police:

The bodies of some of those killed are laid out in the street:

Many of the wounded are being taken to St. Michael's church, where medical personnel are treating them. I believe this is because if they go to hospitals, they will be identified by the regime. The makeshift hospital is weirdly beautiful:

News reports indicate that the regime is considering shutting down the internet, television and cell phones to try to prevent images like these from circulating around the world.

A New Cold War? Ukraine Violence Escalates, Leaked Tape Suggests U.S. Was Plotting Coup

Transcript

Peter Lemkin Wrote:Truce crumbles amid gunfire in Ukraine, protesters claim 100 dead; as many as 15 police killed; thousands injured.....many seriously!

Quote:Have Ukraine's protests been taken over by this ultra-right-wing group?

DOUG SAUNDERS
KIEV The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Feb. 07 2014, 9:19 PM EST
Last updated Monday, Feb. 10 2014, 9:15 AM EST


32 comments


For the thousands of protesters camped out in Kiev's Independence Square, there is a commonly understood rule: stay away from the fifth floor.
Inside the Soviet-era office building that has been seized as a barracks for protest organizers and guards, the fifth floor is blocked, from the moment you attempt to step off the elevator, by a phalanx of grim-faced men in camouflage fatigues, brush cuts and Mohawks, many of them holding iron bars or other improvised weapons. They don't want visitors.

This is the headquarters of Pravy Sektor, or Right Sector, the ultra-right-wing movement, described by some as fascist, whose hundreds of soldiers (they call themselves an army) have become the sharp edge of the two-month-old protest movement that has upturned the politics of Ukraine, cost several lives and forced President Viktor Yanukovych to dismiss the government and promise to reform the constitution.
The great majority of the hundreds of thousands of "EuroMaidan" protesters who have rallied against Mr. Yanukovych's rejection of a European Union treaty and his moves toward a deal with Russia appear to be either supporters of conventional, centrist or liberal opposition political parties, or pro-European citizens without much interest in party politics at all.
But the physical organization of these protests, the building of barricades around squares, much of the camp construction and policing, and the pitched and sometimes deadly battles with police are almost entirely the work of the extreme right. In some of Ukraine's smaller cities, the local protests and seizures of government buildings appear to have been entirely the work of Pravy Sektor.
Their highly visible presence has led Mr. Yanukovych to dismiss the protests as the product of "extremism, radicalism and incitement to hatred." While the accusation is largely inaccurate, some protest supporters worry that the very visible and largely uncontrollable far right is giving the pro-European movement a bad name.
Here in Kiev, some members of the ragtag army of pipe-wielding, helmeted marshals and guards say they are supporters of the more mainstream right-wing Ukrainian-nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) party, which won about 10 per cent of the vote in 2012 parliamentary elections and whose leader, Oleh Tyahnybok, has a history of using anti-Semitic insults.
But the people in the largest and most aggressive group, who generally refuse to speak to journalists, are members of Pravy Sektor, an umbrella group of fascist, nationalist, football-hooligan and right-wing extremist gangs some with neo-Nazi histories which is generally considered to the right of Svoboda and which tends to be very secretive. It has not, to this point, been a political party.
A senior Pravy Sektor official, in a rare interview, told The Globe and Mail that the admiration his group has won from protesters for its heroic battles with police has led it to consider entering the electoral arena.
"When this revolution is finished, then we will be willing to think about it if we were able to do so much for the country, then why not? People are disillusioned with the official opposition, and we should be listened to," says Artem Skoropadsky , a slight, mild-looking 32-year-old activist who agreed to an interview, after lengthy negotiations with the people on the fifth floor, over beers at a cellar restaurant.
Pravy Sektor's commander and figurehead is Dmitro Yarosh, a bald-headed, burly militant who rarely speaks. Mr. Skoropadsky describes himself as the group's spokesman, but his language suggests that he has a leadership role. And he chooses to speak in Russian, indicating that he is from eastern Ukraine which suggests that the group differs from the Ukrainian-nationalist focus of Svoboda, whose membership has sometimes been restricted to ethnic Ukrainians.
While he says Pravy Sektor is right-wing, Christian and intolerant of any foreign influence in Ukraine, he insists that they are not neo-Nazis or fascists and that they condemn outright racism. But keeping extremists out of a self-professed extremist group is, he admits, not always easy. Some Pravy Sektor members have been spotted wearing neo-Nazi symbols.
"Of course, it is difficult to control everyone," he says. "I know one guy who's got 14/88' [a symbol referring to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf] painted on his shield. But we're trying to purge them. We are a highly disciplined organization."
Despite their history of extreme intolerance, Pravy Sektor has won the admiration of a surprising number of mainstream protest organizers. "The real extremists are on the government side some see the Pravy Sektor people as being too extreme, but we need them now," says Andrey Dzyndzya, a founder of AutoMaidan, which started as a car owners' protest group against highway-police corruption and became a major organizing force in the protests. "We need their kind of radicalism to support the revolution."
There is a paradox here, Mr. Skoropadsky acknowledges. The EuroMaidan (literally "Euro Square") protests began as, and continue to be dominated by, a call for closer relations with the EU Union, yet Pravy Sektor's members are opposed to foreign influence and, like many on the far right, distrust Brussels.
"If you ask me which is better, Russia or the EU, I'd go with the EU Russia is a tyrannical empire," he says. "But we don't think everything's okay with the EU. We are Christians, and we share Christian values, and we don't want the things we see in the EU, such as the idea that gays should have the same rights as everyone."
He would prefer, he says, a "close dialogue and an alliance" with Europe.
Most political experts do not believe Pravy Sektor's popularity would translate into seats in Ukraine, a country that has not traditionally had strong support for the far right.
"Their popularity has been rising only due to public attention," says Volodymyr Fesenko, head of Kiev's Centre for Political Studies. "People support it not because they share its far-right ideology, but because they view it as the opposition's army. Will Pravy Sektor gain if it goes into politics? I don't think so, I even believe that they wouldn't get into parliament."
But Pravy Sektor has loftier ambitions. Its leader, Mr. Yarosh , has boasted of having a cache of weapons sufficient to fight a civil war. His spokesman agrees: "We are an army now, and our group is fully capable of fighting a civil war."