Ukraine: Fascism and Realpolitik

[aty]

Neo-Nazi may have fled to Ukraine

There is now an international warrant out for a Swedish neo-Nazi, who may have fled to Ukraine.
The man is suspected of murder, for an attack in Malmö in early March, when several people who had taken part in a feminist demonstration were stabbed.

"We suspect that he has gone to Ukraine, since he was there before," says police inspector Sten Ove Nilsson to TV4 News.
The suspect is a prominent figure in the neo-Nazi "Party of the Swedes", reports news agency TT. Several party members had travelled to Ukraine to support what they saw as a nationalist revolution.

A court has ordered the suspect remanded in custody in his absence. He is sought by Interpol, reports Aftonbladet.

http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel...rtikel=5819846

[cyu]

Just what the world needs - an entire nation where purveyors of hate crimes go because they feel they will be welcomed

[ckaihatsu]

Just what the world needs - an entire nation where purveyors of hate crimes go because they feel they will be welcomed

The Syrian opposition for the Arab (non-Western) fascists, and Ukraine for the *Western* fascists.... And the U.S. supports them both -- !

[cyu]

When you make a deal with the devil, only idiots wouldn't expect consequences

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...sters-evacuate

the "nationalists" who freed the country from Yanukovych's government in favor of a well-chosen US leadership, are now turning on the replacements:

•*UKRAINE NATIONALIST PRAVYI SEKTOR PROTESTS AT PARLIAMENT
•*UKRAINIAN PROTESTERS DEMAND INTERIOR MINISTER'S RESIGNATION
•*UKRAINE LAWMAKERS EVACUATED FROM PARLIAMENT BUILDING

Hundreds of the Right Sector members flood the square in front of Verkhovna Rada in the Ukrainian capital on Thursday night. Wearing masks and brandishing bats

[ckaihatsu]

http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_0...s-source-3828/


Ukrainian leadership to hire US mercenaries to suppress eastern regions - source


Photo: RIA


Private military company will be in charge of suppressing protest movements in Eastern Ukraine, said a source in the country's Security Service. According to him, the name of the company is Greystone Limited.

According to a source cited by ITAR-TASS, Ukrainian authorities believe that the Security Service is not able to suppress the protest mood and neutralize the leaders and activists of the pro-Russian movement in the eastern regions. In particular, the source said, the acting president Alexander Turchinov shares this opinion. "Therefore it was decided to attract foreign mercenaries, who will serve as political police and state security protection, " said the representative of the Security Service.

Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_0...s-source-3828/


---


http://news.yahoo.com/lawmakers-rush...060403820.html


Lawmakers rush to pass bill to aid Ukraine

Associated Press By DEB RIECHMANN

March 27, 2014 10:35 AM

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio wraps up a news conference on his legislative agenda, Wednesday, March 26, 2014, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Boehner touched on the Ukraine crisis, relations with Russia, the NSA surveillance program, jobs and other issues. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)


WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers are rushing to get a bill to the president's desk that would provide $1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine and sanction those who had a hand in Russia's takeover of Crimea.

[cyu]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...-balance-power

Russian Foreign Minister:

for major countries to use all their diplomatic resources to twist the arms of the entire world, including our closest partners, in order for them to agree with the argument about Ukraine’s territorial integrity while ignoring the rest of the principles outlined in the UN Charter?

some countries that are naïve enough for it are told, “Look, it’s such a great resolution, why don’t you sign it and become a co-sponsor.” The more experienced ones who realize what’s really going on are approached with, “If you don’t support this resolution, there will be consequences.” And then they describe these consequences. Our colleagues come to us and confide why this or that relatively small country has to cave in. For example, they were told contracts would not be signed or political dividends would be withheld.

I asked them a very simple question: “If you agree that we need to defuse the situation, why won’t you publicly say what the Right Sector really is?” Same to a degree goes for the Svoboda party.

At first they avoided the issue, and then at one of the recent meetings, John Kerry told me that after close scrutiny they concluded that the Right Sector was trying to become a political movement. The subtext was that it’s a good thing, and Svoboda is moving towards the mainstream. That’s a quote.

[ckaihatsu]

UKRAINE: What Now? The IMF Plan

http://socialistorganizer.org/gokhl

[ckaihatsu]

Say no to U.S. Intervention in the Ukraine

By Freedom Road Socialist Organization

What the U.S. is doing in the Ukraine is nothing short of criminal. The U.S. is backing outright fascists, in an effort to put the country under the domination of the West. The White House and Pentagon are acting as a threat to peace by imposing sanctions on Russia and sending warships and missiles into the region. All progressive people should oppose the ongoing U.S. intervention in the Ukraine.

In February, reactionary mobs with fascist gangs in the lead managed to bring down the democratically-elected government of President Viktor Yanukovych. This was the culmination of a process promoted by the U.S. and countries of the European Union to bring instability and turmoil to the Ukraine. The U.S. alone spent about $5 billion on the project. The result was there for all of us to see on TV: neo-Nazis trying to destroy monuments to the heroes of World War II and the socialist past and seizing government buildings.

To say that the movement that ousted President Yanukovych was something progressive or democratic is to confuse right and wrong. Certainly there were legitimate reasons to be dissatisfied with Yanukovych and his oligarch associates, but that does not change the reactionary nature of the anti-government turmoil.

It is a fact that the leading forces in this right-wing movement, such as Right Sector and Svoboda, have their roots in the most disgusting of Ukraine’s political currents. They see themselves as the political heirs of the Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, an anti-communist, anti-Semitic butcher who first did Hitler’s bidding and then went on to be a servant of the CIA. Look at the photos of the turmoil in Keiv and other Ukrainian cities; the portrait of Stepan Bandera shows up again and again. In the Ukraine, the White House and its EU allies are supporting ugly nationalists, who preach hatred against other nationalities, especially Russians, and who will carry out the most reactionary of agendas if they are successful in consolidating power.

Given this reality it is not surprising that the people of Crimea, who are mainly ethnic Russians, voted overwhelmingly to rejoin Russia. They did not want to live under the monsters who roam the halls of government in Kiev. They understand what these vicious chauvinists are all about. After all, one of the first measures passed by Ukraine’s new regime was abolishing the equality of languages.

It is also understandable and just that people in the eastern Ukraine are rising up and attempting to take things in their own hands. They are standing up to fascists and a U.S./EU power grab.

The Ukraine is an important prize for the Western imperialist powers, who covet its natural resources and industries and plan to make use of its strategic location. Their goal is the complete encirclement of Russia. Western powers have prepared a large loan from the International Monetary Fund, and in return, the Kiev authorities are preparing austerity measures that will further impoverish the people, starting with a 50% rise in the price of gasoline on May 1.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the U.S. has systematically expanded its aggressive military alliance, NATO, throughout Eastern Europe and the Baltic states. It has reached the point where Russia is close to being surrounded. Russia’s elite and their political representative Vladimir Putin want to expand their sphere of influence and control. As a result they find themselves being drawn into a conflict with the Western imperial powers.

The U.S. government has no right to complain about the actions of Russia. Its moral authority is less than zero. The U.S. invaded and occupied Iraq and Afghanistan. Along with NATO, it destroyed Libya. It is trying to subjugate Syria and finances the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The list of current U.S. wars and interventions is much longer, but the point is clear enough: Washington DC is the capitol of an empire and those that speak for it are hypocrites and liars.

All progressive people should oppose sanctions on Russia. We have seen this before. Sanctions are a step towards war. Likewise, we need to be clear about how we assess events in the Ukraine. A victory for fascists and their Western backers would be a setback for people everywhere.

Here in the U.S. we are under attack by a system that takes away our jobs, exploits us when we work and thrives on inequality and oppression. Our enemy is right here at home.

End U.S./European Union Intervention in the Ukraine!
Stop U.S. Funding for Ukrainian Fascists!
No Sanctions on Russia!

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]






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[ckaihatsu]

Chicago forum on U.S. role in Ukraine: fascists attempt disruption

By staff



Chicago, IL - Under attack from aggressive Ukrainian fascists, 40 anti-war activists held a teach-in here on the unfolding Ukraine crisis and NATO expansion, April 12. An equal sized crowd of Ukrainian reactionaries, one carrying the battle flag of the fascist Ukrainian Insurgent Army and another man wearing a scarf bearing the insignia of the violent neo-Nazi Right Sector, attempted to push their way into the door of the union hall during the speakers’ presentations.

When they failed to get inside, one of them slipped a Right Sector leaflet through the door. It included language used in Hitler’s Mein Kampf, such as the need for “living space” for Ukrainians. The flyer defines Ukrainians as a “genetic community,” meaning that the Russians and Jews that live there aren’t part of their nation.

Delivering his remarks over the muffled chanting from outside, Rick Rozoff from the Stop NATO Network detailed the U.S.’s imperialist maneuvers in Ukraine, emphasizing the role of NATO as a vehicle for American foreign policy. Rozoff explained the State Department intervention in Ukraine and arms build up in Eastern Europe as part of a long-term strategy to besiege Russia.

Speakers from the Anti-War Committee-Chicago included Kait McIntyre, who is running as an anti-war candidate for Boeing’s Board of Directors. McIntyre’s campaign targets the world’s second largest weapons manufacturer, headquartered here in Chicago, which profits off the billions poured into drone warfare and NATO expansion by the U.S. defense budget.

Sara Flounders of the International Action Center in New York outlined the historical cooperation between the U.S. and fascist forces in Europe. The U.S. propelled these forces into power during the violent breakup of Yugoslavia, aided by the NATO bombardment. She stated that the U.S. actively maintains right-wing opposition movements around the world in order to eliminate governments that assert their national independence.

With the fascist Svoboda party now occupying prominent positions in the new Ukrainian regime, the anti-war movement must take a strong stand against U.S.-funding of the Kiev junta, whose rise to power, as Rozoff noted, echoed Mussolini’s March on Rome. Alfonso Casal of the American Party of Labor (APL) told attendees about the history of fascism in the Ukraine. The panel was organized by Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Workers World Party (WWP) and APL, with Erich Struch of WWP as chair of the event.

Many young people attended and contributed to the engaging discussion.

The participants bravely defied right-wing intimidation to stage this important teach-in, refusing to allow the fascists to shut down the meeting.

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]

[cyu]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...t-by-whom.html

five men in masks got out, and handed them pieces of paper. Witnesses said that on reading the text of the leaflets a few elderly Jewish women burst into tears.

The flyers were addressed to “Jews of Donetsk” from the “Independent Donetsk Republic” and ordered Jewish residents of the city to pay the new pro-Russian revolutionary authorities $50 apiece for individual registration, otherwise “the guilty ones would be deprived of their citizenship and deported outside the republic; their property would be confiscated.”

In all of his 20-year service in Donetsk, Rabbi Pinhas Vyshedski said, he could never imagine that anything as “cynical” and “anti-human” could ever happen to his community. The text of the leaflet read like an accusation against Ukrainian Jews for their supposed support of the “Bandera Junta” in Kiev, which is what many Russian-speakers call the government that took over in February. The irony, of course, is that Bandera was for a time a Nazi collaborator.

The leaflet claimed that each Jew was to come to room 514 of the occupied administration building on Lenin Square and to pay the fee. The leaflet was stamped by the Donetsk People’s Republic and signed: “Your People’s Governor Denis Pushilin.”

Later Pushilin publically denied that he had ever signed such a letter, and indeed it could have been the work of provocateurs hoping to discredit the pro-Russian movement.

“Last time Donetsk saw similar messages was in 1941, when the Nazi German army occupied Donetsk. It is so painful for us to see that some cynical politicians dare to use us as an instrument in their political games.”

I went to see who was collecting the “Jewish fee” in room 514 at the seized administration. The office was empty.

[Hrafn]

According to the article I read, the Donestk Jewish community said that the events smelled of provocation, so it's not just the separatists denying.

[ckaihatsu]

Ukraine fascists kill many, burn trade unions building in Odessa

By Jafe Arnoldski

Thugs of the neo-Nazi political party Right Sector assaulted and set ablaze the House of Trade Unions in Odessa, Ukraine, May 2, murdering dozens and injuring over 200 anti-fascist, anti-coup protesters. The Right Sector is one of the fascist parties in the new, U.S.-backed coup government of Kiev. The vicious attack on the House of Trade Unions is only the most recent explosion of violence backed by the Kiev government.

In the wake of the secession of Crimea and its induction into the Russian Federation following a popular referendum in March, the crisis in Ukraine is intensifying. The fascist-dominated junta in Kiev, backed by the U.S. and NATO, is cracking down on ‘separatist elements’ in the east and now the south of the deteriorating country.

Within less than a month of Crimea’s secession, mass protests erupted in Eastern cities - Donetsk, Lugansk, Slavyansk and Kharkov and dozens of smaller towns. Occupying government, public and media buildings, the protesters declared their cities independent and issued a minimum demand: a referendum on the federalization of Ukraine in order to provide its heterogeneous population and ethnically varied regions choice in their official language and allegiance between Ukraine and Russia.

The uprisings in the east come on the heels of the U.S.-backed Maidan coup in February that ousted the Yanukovich government. The Yanukovich government turned down an EU deal on the grounds that EU integration would bankrupt and destabilize Ukraine.

The new coup government is comprised of several menacing parties that usurped power. The neo-Nazi Svoboda (Freedom) Party, which has promoted a campaign to “liquidate” the “Muscovites and Jewry” of Ukraine, holds key ministerial as well as judicial and military positions. The Right Sector party, whose leader has claimed that even Svoboda is “too liberal,” has claimed an equally significant number of military posts. The stubbornly right-wing Fatherland Party, led by the one of the most infamous, wealthiest and criminal oligarchs in Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko, is the other newly ascended party in the regime. In tandem with the rise of these parties to power, the portrait of Stepan Bandera, the notorious Ukrainian Nazi-collaborator of World War II, is hanging in government buildings.

Virulently anti-Russian, the new government is hitting hard with its first political offensives that target a vast portion of the Ukrainian population. Such ‘reforms’ included the proposed ban on any official use of the Russian language, which was formerly respected as the second official language of 13 out of 27 regions.

The predominantly Russian east, frightened by the new coup government’s fascist ambitions, is being devastated by the austerity imposed by Kiev as a prerequisite measure to join the EU. Cut off from funding and suddenly faced with the menace of fascism, one city and region after another is rising in defiance of the right-wing government.

Protesters in the east surged out in mass numbers to demonstrate against the new government. After demonstrations changed little and an offensive on the part of Kiev was impending, occupiers soon declared autonomy, formed self-defense teams, and looked to Russia for aid. The most famous instances include the declaration of People’s Republics in Donetsk and Lugansk and requests by newly appointed governors for Putin to intervene on Russians’ behalf. The Ukrainian left, including the Borotba Union and the Communist Party of Ukraine, are organizing and leading protests.

In mid-April, the Kiev junta announced an ‘anti-terrorist’ and ‘anti-separatist’ military operation to clear protests in Eastern Ukraine by force. The Ukrainian military launched offensives against numerous eastern cities, deploying tanks, helicopters and heavily armed soldiers against protesters.

While peaceful protesters initially greeted tanks, intense fighting has since broken out as Kiev makes it clear that it is determined to suppress any resistance to its new order. Although defections, mutinies and executions of soldiers who refuse to fire on protesters plague the Ukrainian army, the Kiev coup government offensive continues and the number of civilian deaths is rapidly increasing.

With Ukraine facing civil war and the U.S. mobilizing and deploying troops throughout Eastern Europe, all progressive people should adamantly oppose U.S. intervention and declare: “Hands off Ukraine!”

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]






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[ckaihatsu]

http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews...n%20Newsletter


Ukraine, Russia and the United States at the brink

The neo-Nazi menace is real

By Brian Becker

MAY 7, 2014


Thirty-eight anti-fascist activists were murdered when a neo-Nazi militia set fire to a trade union building into which they had fled

Are we moving to civil war in Ukraine? Russia is trying to prevent such a catastrophe. A civil war in Ukraine would invariably draw into the conflict the United States and its NATO allies on the side of the right-wing Ukraine government that seized power in a U.S.-backed coup d’état on Feb. 22 and Russia on the other.

Since the United States and Russia both possess large nuclear arsenals that, if used, would lead to the deaths of many millions of people, it would seem impossible to overstate the potential danger of this newest military crisis. Yet, U.S. elected officials including the White House and Congress seem glibly unfazed by the far-reaching potential consequences caused by their own foolhardy and arrogant interventionist actions in Ukraine. This includes their actions between November and the Feb. 22 coup and in their subsequent “tough stance” against Russia for its refusal to accept the half-fascist coup government in Kiev.

The majority sentiment in the United States, according to most public opinion polls, is decidedly opposed to an escalation of the crisis by the U.S. government. That sentiment has been ignored as the White House has dispatched war planes and troops to the region, imposed new sanctions on Russia, and dispatched first Joseph Biden and then FBI agents and CIA Director John Brennan to Kiev to help the new government set up an internal security apparatus.

The fascist menace is real

The full U.S. embrace of the coup government in Kiev has emboldened it to launch a military offensive against its political opponents in eastern and southern Ukrainian cities. The fascist militias from the Right Sector, whose leaders occupy key positions in the new Ukrainian government, are so emboldened by the U.S. support that they openly murdered 38 political activists in the Black Sea port city of Odessa on May 2 by attacking their tent encampment outside of a trade union headquarters building and, after they fled into the building for protection, torching the structure. While the trapped activists were incinerated, the neo-Nazis sang songs and chanted taunts against Vladimir Putin.

Ukraine’s acting Interior Minister Avakov announced on May 6 that Ukraine’s military offensive in southern and eastern cities led to the death of 30 more anti-fascist activists, labeled “terrorists” by the U.S.-backed government.

The U.S. media and the Obama administration are assisting the government in Kiev in maintaining the fiction that those in Ukraine who oppose the government are strictly puppets of Putin and Russia. They claim that the protests and demands to vote in a referendum about the status of the eastern and southern regions are simply a Russian manipulation.

The dominant narrative in the media, following the line of the Obama administration, is that Russia's agitation in defense of the Russian-speaking people in eastern and southern Ukraine is just fake propaganda, that there is no threat to Russians, Jews and other minority peoples from the new central government. They assert that there is no fascist menace and that Russian state media has created a caricature of Ukraine's “pro-European” government merely as a pretext for Russia to separate that part of Ukraine and annex the region into Russia.

The massacre in Odessa, however, gives the clearest evidence of the role of re-born fascism in the unfolding struggle in Ukraine.

Journalist Robert Parry, a former Associated Press reporter now with Consortium News, has produced some of the most objective analysis of the Ukraine struggle. He published another excellent piece May 5 about the rising tide of neo-Nazi mobilization in Ukraine and the refusal by both U.S officials and the mainstream media to cover its significance.

Parry, who played a major role in examining and exposing the Iran-Contra scandal of the Reagan administration in the 1980s, put the Odessa massacre in context:

“This brutal Nazism surfaced again on Friday when right-wing toughs in Odessa attacked an encampment of ethnic Russian protesters driving them into a trade union building which was then set on fire with Molotov cocktails. As the building was engulfed in flames, some people who tried to flee were chased and beaten, while those trapped inside heard the Ukrainian nationalists liken them to black-and-red-striped potato beetles called Colorados, because those colors are used in pro-Russian ribbons.

“Burn, Colorado, burn” went the chant.

“As the fire worsened, those dying inside were serenaded with the taunting singing of the Ukrainian national anthem. The building also was spray-painted with Swastika-like symbols and graffiti reading “Galician SS,” a reference to the Ukrainian nationalist army that fought alongside the German Nazi SS in World War II, killing Russians on the eastern front.

“The death by fire of dozens of people in Odessa recalled a World War II incident in 1944 when elements of a Galician SS police regiment took part in the massacre of the Polish village of Huta Pieniacka, which had been a refuge for Jews and was protected by Russian and Polish partisans. Attacked by a mixed force of Ukrainian police and German soldiers on Feb. 28, hundreds of townspeople were massacred, including many locked in barns that were set ablaze.

“The legacy of World War II – especially the bitter fight between Ukrainian nationalists from the west and ethnic Russians from the east seven decades ago – is never far from the surface in Ukrainian politics. One of the heroes celebrated during the Maidan protests in Kiev was Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, whose name was honored in many banners including one on a podium where Sen. John McCain voiced support for the uprising to oust elected President Viktor Yanukovych, whose political base was in eastern Ukraine.

“During World War II, Bandera headed the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists-B, a radical paramilitary movement that sought to transform Ukraine into a racially pure state. OUN-B took part in the expulsion and extermination of thousands of Jews and Poles.

“Though most of the Maidan protesters in 2013-14 appeared motivated by anger over political corruption and by a desire to join the European Union, neo-Nazis made up a significant number. These storm troopers from the Right Sektor and Svoboda party decked out some of the occupied government buildings with Nazi insignias and even a Confederate battle flag, the universal symbol of white supremacy.” Read the whole article on Consortium News

What Obama, McCain, the CIA and Pentagon want in Ukraine

Wars do not necessarily start because the principal antagonists desire war. President Obama acknowledged to the media Russia’s opposition to a new war, with a provocative barb: "They’re not interested in any kind of military confrontation with us, understanding that our conventional forces are significantly superior to the Russians. We don’t need a war."

In this case, neither the United States nor Russia wants to go to war with each other. The U.S. goal is not war with Russia but regime change in Ukraine with the goal of absorbing all of Ukraine into a U.S.-dominated sphere of influence and eventually establishing Ukraine as a NATO country on Russia’s border.

Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine’s president who was ousted by the Feb. 22 coup d’etat, wanted to integrate Ukraine into an economic arrangement with the European powers but publicly opposed Ukraine joining NATO. He sought a balanced relationship between Russia and the EU countries. The anti-government protests in downtown Kiev began in November 2013 on the day Yanukovych rejected an ultimatum from the EU that would have imposed a harsh austerity program on Ukraine as a requirement to get new financing from the IMF and Western bankers. He was thus labeled as “pro-Russian” by the Western media.

The anti-government “pro-Europe” protest movement that started in Kiev was an eclectic mix of right-wing, centrist and some left-wing opposition to Yanukovych's government. The movement grew with the active and vigorous support from Republicans and Democrats in Congress and the White House and from the EU countries. The imperialist backers of regime change in Ukraine turned a blind eye as the movement quickly came under the leadership of neo-Nazi parties that are virulently anti-Russian.

The February 21 Agreement – and the fascist-led coup

Under extreme pressure, Yanukovych agreed to meet with opposition leaders and sign an agreement, what became known as the February 21 Agreement, to end the crisis by making significant concessions to the demands of the right-wing opposition that were in turn supported by the United States and the EU powers.

The February 21 Agreement between Yanukovych and the opposition was signed in the presence of the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland and a special envoy from Russia, Vladimir Lukin.

The February 21 Agreement guaranteed early presidential elections, included a diminution of the constitutional authority of the office of the president, and provided a basis for ending violence from both the government side and the armed protesters.

The agreement read in part: “Both parties will undertake serious efforts for the normalisation of life in the cities and villages by withdrawing from administrative and public buildings and unblocking streets, city parks and squares. Illegal weapons should be handed over to the Ministry of Interior bodies within 24 hours of the special law, referred to in point 1 hereof, coming into force. After the aforementioned period, all cases of illegal carrying and storage of weapons will fall under the law of Ukraine. The forces of authorities and of the opposition will step back from confrontational posture. The Government will use law enforcement forces exclusively for the physical protection of public buildings.”

The day after the February 21 Agreement was signed, the fascist-led militias violated the agreement by storming the presidential palace and the Parliament building. In a hastily-called rump session of the Parliament they declared a new government and neo-Nazis took five of the 11 cabinet posts of the coup government including the Interior Ministry.

When the fascists scrapped the February 21 Agreement by their armed takeover of government buildings on Feb. 22, the U.S. State Department could not conceal their wild exuberance.

Putin’s orientation

The Putin government in Russia was stunned by the reckless and wildly aggressive support given by the United States to an armed and fascist-led coup toppling the government of Russia’s most populous neighbor, a country that was a strategic and historic ally of Russia.

Ukraine has nearly 46 million people and was historically one with Russia as the largest non-Russian republic in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. The Crimean Peninsula was the home of the Soviet Union’s largest naval base and remained a Russian naval base after the dissolution of the Soviet Union based on a leasing arrangement between Ukraine and Russia. The absorption of all of Ukraine into NATO would inevitably have ousted Russia from its largest naval base.

Since the scrapping of the February 21 Agreement, the struggle has entered a new and highly dangerous phase. Putin has been searching for a way to blunt and mitigate the U.S.-backed offensive in Ukraine while simultaneously looking for a way find a settlement before a larger crisis fully emerges.

The speed of events is breathtaking. Crimea held a Russian-supported referendum that voted to affiliate with Russia. Other eastern and southern cities are mobilizing in opposition to the U.S.-backed regime in Kiev. Fascist militias are hitting back with a campaign of terror and murder. NATO is sending troops, equipment and fighter aircraft into the region. Even as the confrontation grows and assumes a life of its own that could lead to an even greater struggle, the U.S. government and media continue with their smug arrogance. They approach the brink and no one in authority demands a pause and a sober evaluation of where this all ends.

The position today of the Russian Federation is to end the growing confrontation in Ukraine by going back to the February 21 Agreement, which would invalidate the legitimacy of the new semi-fascist coup government and reorganize nationwide elections following the end of the escalating armed confrontations initiated by Ukraine’s military in concert with armed attacks by the Right Sector militias. This position seems eminently reasonable. But it got no quarter in Washington where those who have become drunk with power demand that Russia and all others in the world accept their fate and simply bow and genuflect before the Empire.

Far from aggressively seeking to expand Russia’s power, Putin’s actions have been essentially defensive. His policy has centered on securing the Crimea from a NATO takeover and mitigating the Ukrainian offensive against the pro-Russian Eastern cities. Russia is not the driving force in the protests taking place in the south and east of Ukraine.

Fearing the recklessness of the U.S. and aware that some of the principal U.S. partners in NATO, and in particular Germany, are seeking for a way out of the crisis that Washington has been accelerating, Putin is emphasizing extreme prudence. Even now (as of May 7) he has announced that Russia has pulled its military forces back from its western border with Ukraine. He has also given a nod of approval to the May 25 elections in Ukraine that are being organized by the coup government in Kiev, reversing Russia’s official position from a few days earlier. Putin has now called for the eastern and southern cities' referendum on their “status” within Ukraine to be postponed.

The next days will be of critical importance. Anti-fascist forces in Ukraine’s eastern and southern cities have felt the groundswell of support from Russia and the Russian people. They represent a real, indigenous political force that exists within Ukraine.

Some favor autonomy from Kiev but want to remain inside of Ukraine. Others want the area to be part of Russia. What unites them is their fear and hatred of the semi-fascist coup government in Kiev and the ultra-nationalist Ukrainian militias. They are not puppets of Putin or Russia, but the policy orientation of the Putin Administration cannot but have an impact on their struggle to defend their cities and towns.

Content may be reprinted with credit to LiberationNews.org.

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Far from their stronghold cities, a militia of fascists trap dozens of innocent
civilians in Odessa's trade union building on May 2, singing pro-Nazi songs
to taunt those burning alive inside. Nazi symbols were spray painted on
the ashes. At least 38 people died, including many who were beaten to
death when they tried to escape the fire.


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Dear Chris,

We are writing to urge you to join the nationwide grassroots movement to demand that the U.S. government cut all funds and military aid to the Ukraine government, which has a large number of neo-Nazis in its top positions.

During the past several weeks, thousands of people in the United States have joined the ANSWER Coalition’s “No funds for neo-Nazis in Ukraine” campaign.

People are using our Take Action: No funds for neo-Nazis in Ukraine internet tool to send thousands of emails to President Obama and members of Congress. We are also organizing street protests and other events in Washington, D.C., and around the country.

The menace of neo-Nazism for the people of Ukraine is very real.

Its rise there is giving added momentum to other European fascist parties in Greece, France, Austria, Netherlands and more. The revival of fascism poses a grave danger to all people everywhere.

On Saturday, May, 3 neo-Nazi militias massacred 38 anti-fascist activists in the port city of Odessa after they chased them into a trade union building headquarters and then set the building on fire. As the trapped individuals unsuccessfully struggled to escape from the burning building, the neo-Nazi Right Sector militia sang pro-Nazi songs while shouting taunts and insults against Vladimir Putin and Russia.

“As the fire worsened, those dying inside were serenaded with the taunting singing of the Ukrainian national anthem. The building also was spray-painted with Swastika-like symbols and graffiti reading ‘Galician SS,’ a reference to the Ukrainian nationalist army that fought alongside the German Nazi SS in World War II, killing Russians on the eastern front,” Journalist Robert Parry, formerly with the AP and now with Consortium News, wrote in his vivid description of the massacre in Odessa.

The overthrow of Ukraine’s government on February 22 was part of an operation led by the same Neo-con politicians that brought us the Iraq war in 2003.

Victoria Nuland, who served as Dick Cheney’s principal foreign policy adviser, is the State Department representative to Ukraine who was caught on tape in January 2014 naming the individuals who would serve in Ukraine’s post-regime change government. She and John McCain joined the Kiev street protests where they had their pictures taken and gave U.S. credibility to the political opposition leaders who are in turn the leadership of the neo-Nazi Right Sector and Svoboda Party. Victoria Nuland is married to Robert Kagan, the co-founder of the Neocon Project for a New American Century, whose officials outlined and provided the blueprint for George W. Bush’s war on Iraq.

Nuland, who was openly promoting the fascist-led protests in Kiev as a State Department official, is virulently anti-Russian. She explained the importance of the Ukrainian protest movement to a reactionary anti-communist think tank in Washington, D.C., in a speech she delivered in December 2013, immediately following her return from the protests in downtown Kiev: "We have invested over $5 billion to assist Ukraine in these and other goals that will ensure a secure and prosperous and democratic Ukraine."

The people of this country are being badly misinformed about the unfolding crisis in Ukraine, which began with a U.S.-backed regime change effort whose goal was to absorb all of Ukraine into NATO, and thus reverse Ukraine’s strong economic and political ties to Russia. Nuland, McCain and now the entire U.S. government seem content with the fact that it was the neo-Nazis who were the driving military force in their regime change operation.

It was neo-Nazi militias who stormed and seized the Parliament Building on February 22, torpedoing a political settlement between Ukraine’s elected government and a street protest movement, and established a new semi-fascist government that immediately banned Russian as an official minority language in Ukraine.

The people of this country are taking action. We do not support even one dime going to a regime that is loaded with neo-Nazis. Join the thousands of people in the United States have joined the ANSWER Coalition’s “No funds for neo-Nazis in Ukraine” campaign by taking action today.

In solidarity,

—All of us here at the ANSWER Coalition

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[ckaihatsu]

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

DOSSIER UKRAINE

IN THIS DOSSIER ON UKRAINE:

1) Ukraine: After the May 11 "Popular Referendum" -- By Dominique Ferré [reprinted from the May 14-20 issue of Informations ouvrières (Labor News), the weekly newspaper of the Independent Workers Party (POI) of France.]

2) Ukraine on the Brink of War; Military Attack on Cities in the East, Pogrom in Odessa -- By Dominique Ferré [reprinted from the May 7-13 issue of Informations ouvrières (Labor News), the weekly newspaper of the Independent Workers Party (POI) of France.]

3) Any Interference Is Illegitimate -- Editorial of Issue No. 300 (May 7-13, 2014) of Informations ouvrières (Labor News), the weekly newspaper of the Independent Workers Party of France (POI).

http://izbris-blog.blogspot.com/2014...r-ukraine.html

[ckaihatsu]

Popular Rebellion Deepens in Eastern and Southern Ukraine

http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/982.php

[ckaihatsu]

Eastern Ukraine voters show courage, unity in the face of fascism

By Kait McIntyre

Chicago, IL - In spite of the coup government in Kiev, an electoral referendum on autonomy saw huge voter turnout in Donetsk and Lugansk in the east of Ukraine. People lined the streets and waited patiently to cast their votes for self rule.

The successful vote shows mass opposition to the U.S.-backed seizure of power in Kiev by fascists and pro-NATO oligarchs. On voting day, the U.S.-backed coup-makers in Kiev sent soldiers to intimidate voters, firing on civilian crowds and blocking polling stations with armed personal carriers. People still voted in big numbers.

Joining the U.S. government in backing the fascists in Kiev are German Chancellor Merkel and French President Hollande. Together they declared the referendum on autonomy illegal, while supporting an unelected government in Kiev.

Voter turnout reached over 74% in both regions of Ukraine. The referendums addressed the status of the regions, asking voters if they supported the act of state self rule. The results show the popularity and strength of the protest movement. Leading up to the vote, people occupied government, public and media buildings and set up barricades in the city. Some were killed resisting the Kiev coup government’s military crackdown in the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine. There are dramatic videos, one of unarmed civilians stopping a tank in the street at an intersection and the other of voters being shot at by soldiers outside a polling place. Last week in Odessa, fascists burned the trade union hall and murdered survivors of the fire.

The results of the referendums were announced on May 12: in Donetsk 89.07% voted in favor of state self-rule; in Lugansk 96.2% voted in favor. Clearly the people have spoken: they oppose the U.S.-backed, fascist forces that overthrew the elected government in Ukraine.

Still, U.S. corporate media tries to dismiss the results of these referendums as the work of a pro-Russian minority, despite Putin’s prior position that the referendums should be postponed. In reality, democratic and left forces such as the Borotba Union and the Communist Party of Ukraine promoted the referendum initiatives. The referendum is the work of brave people within Ukraine, not outside of it.

The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) is issuing a call for “Emergency Antiwar Actions” through May 26 to protest U.S./NATO war moves and to oppose the role of U.S. and NATO in Ukraine. The U.S. already spent $5 billion backing the fascist-dominated coup government. It is also being reported in Ukraine that 400 mercenaries from the U.S. private security firm Academi (formerly Blackwater) are participating in the Ukraine military attacks that are attempting to suppress the democratic opposition. NATO is positioning warships in the Black Sea in an attempt to bully Russia. This proves once again that the U.S. is not interested in peace or democracy; it is only interested in financial gain and global domination.

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]






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[ckaihatsu]

Organizing Union Opposition to U.S. Intervention in Ukraine . . .


Dear unionists and labor activists,

I thought you might be interested in the message below regarding U.S. intervention in Ukraine, which I received this morning from the chairperson of the Ohio State Labor Party. Please also note the resolution adopted unanimously by the San Francisco Labor Council that follows the OSLP statement. The SFLC resolution calls for an end to U.S. intervention in Ukraine.

It would be very important for labor bodies across the country, particularly unions affiliated with USLAW, to take a stand against the growing U.S. intervention in Ukraine.

As many of you may know, this intervention has involved funding and fomenting a coup against a democratically elected government (whatever one may think of that government), earmarking millions upon millions of our tax dollars toward this end, and now sending U.S. mercenaries to the region. According to the May 4 issue of the German newspaper Bild, more than 400 U.S. operatives of Academi (ex-Blackwater) were seen organizing the massacre of civilians in Eastern Ukraine -- a report that has not been contradicted by U.S. officials.

The Wall Street Journal and other news media have published polls showing that the overwhelming majority of the American people are opposed to the continued -- let alone expanded -- U.S. military intervention the world over; they want our tax dollars to create jobs and provide vitally needed social services here at home.

So let's get our unions and labor councils to pass resolutions against U.S. intervention in Ukraine, and let's join -- and where possible get our unions to join -- the demonstrations called by UNAC, ANSWER, UFPJ, Code Pink and other antiwar groups around this central demand: End U.S. Intervention in Ukraine Now!

In solidarity,

Alan Benjamin
Labor activist
San Francisco, Calif.

* * * * * * * * * *


To: U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW) Co-Convenors and the rest of the USLAW Steering Committee

From: Ohio State Labor Party (OSLP)
Subject: Ukraine

Greetings:

The last paragraph of the statement on Ukraine adopted by the USLAW Steering Committee on April 2, 2014 notes, "USLAW officers and Steering Committee will continue to follow developments in the Ukraine and will issue additional statements or calls to action as circumstances require."

As an affiliate of USLAW, the OSLP emphatically believes that an additional statement should be issued now by USLAW that would contain the following points:

First, a clear-cut and unambiguous call for the U.S. government to end its intervention in Ukraine.

Second, the U.S. working class has no stake or interest in intervening in Ukraine in support of the Kiev regime.

Third, the regime in Kiev that Washington is supporting with funds, intelligence and other forms of aid is anti-working class to the core and is strongly influenced by the Svoboda Party and other fascist and neo-Nazi formations.

Fourth, the billions of dollars that the U.S. is providing to bolster the Kiev regime should go instead for jobs, infrastructure, extension of unemployment compensation, food stamps, education, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other essential safety net programs at home.

Five, that Washington should stop such provocative actions as deploying U.S. destroyers in the Black Sea, supporting NATO troop deployments eastward, stationing jets and missile bases in eight countries encircling Russia and scheduling U.S./NATO war games in the region.

Sixth, all the polls show the U.S. public's overwhelming opposition to U.S. intervention in Ukraine.

Seventh, the U.S. antiwar movement is united in opposing U.S. intervention in Ukraine, the latest example being the resolution unanimously adopted on May 12, 2014 by the San Francisco Labor Council, one of USLAW's major affiliates. This resolution is being sent to the national AFL-CIO calling upon it to circulate the resolution widely throughout the labor movement. (The resolution is re-printed below.)

Eight, USLAW should call upon the labor movement to educate, organize and mobilize to end U.S. intervention in Ukraine.

Most of these points were not addressed by USLAW's earlier statement. We believe it is high time that they be addressed now.

Jerry Gordon
Chair, OSLP

[The above statement was unanimously adopted by the OSLP Executive Board on May 18, 2014.]

cc: Donna Dewitt, Dennis Serrette, Alan Benjamin, OSLP Executive Board
**************************************************


Resolution on Ukraine and Russia

(adopted unanimously by the Delegates Meeting of the San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO, on Monday, May 12, 2014)

Whereas the United States and other Western countries have intervened in the internal affairs of Ukraine, and behind the uprising are millions of dollars of our tax money used in the covert campaign to destabilize and topple the democratically elected former regime, and

Whereas this money comes from the federal budget where it competes directly with funds for human needs programs that directly benefit education and other services and public sector employees as well as students and their families, and

Whereas the Western Powers have historically attempted encirclement and the weakening of Russia by incorporating Eastern European countries into NATO, and

Whereas intervention by Western powers and threats of war are contrary to the interests of the Ukrainian, Russian, and American people and undermine peace and stability in the region, and

Whereas the new Ukrainian government, backed by the United States and European powers, has a fascist-minded element that threatens much of the population, and recalls racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic views that go against our fundamental values, and

Whereas fascist movements historically have sought to destroy the organized labor movement, and

Whereas the region is now a tinder box easily ignited, and

Whereas war in Europe will have horrific consequences to the world economy, to the human race and the planet, and

Whereas a peace oriented, productive economy serves not only the needs of all faculty and students, union members and all workers, but also all strata of society, except war-profiteers and the super-rich,

Therefore be it Resolved that the San Francisco Labor Council urges the U.S. government to use diplomacy with Russia and Ukraine to work out a peaceful resolution of the brewing conflict, one that respects the sovereignty, democratic right to self-determination, and security of all the peoples of Eastern Europe, and

Be it Further Resolved that the San Francisco Labor Council urge the U.S. government to stop all military aid to the new Ukraine government, and

Be it Finally Resolved that the San Francisco Labor Council will send copies of this resolution to Bay Area Congressional Representatives, Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, Secretary of State John Kerry, Senator John McCain, Senator Mitch McConnell, President Barack Obama, and the national AFL-CIO.

Submitted by Allan Fisher, AFT 2121

[ckaihatsu]

Ukraine on the Eve of the May 25 Presidential Election

By Dominique Ferré

(reprinted from the May 21-27, 2014, issue of Informations ouvrières [Labor News], the weekly newspaper of the Independent Workers Party of France)

Setting the presidential election in Ukraine on May 25 had the goal of conferring a "democratic" and "European" legitimacy to the new government installed in Kiev.[1] Today, Ukraine is on the brink of war and dislocation. Neither the allegedly "anti-terrorist" military offensive in the east of the country nor the "national reconciliation round-tables" decided one after the other by the top people in power have achieved the desired results.

Obama, Merkel, Hollande, Fabius . . . are all repeatedly issuing statements aimed at giving the May 25 elections a veneer of legitimacy. A U.S. official added the threat of "bleeding Russia" through new sanctions in case the Russian government decided to interfere. For his part, Putin was compelled to say that the May 25 election "was a step in the right direction."

But what are the stakes of May 25 for workers in Ukraine?

The end of State subsidies to industry

It is clearer and clearer that whatever the result of the election, all the major decisions have already been made. Thus, the agreement reached in late March with the IMF launched a series of murderous announcements.

- May 1: The Kiev government announced a 50% hike in the price of gas.

- May 13: "Pavel Sheremeta, Ukraine's Minister of Economic Development and Commerce declared that Ukraine was ending State subsidies to industry. . . . Experts explain that Ukraine's industry should expect catastrophic consequences. . . . 'During the next six months, the State can no longer subsidize production. We have cut all subsidies to avoid having to end all social programs -- though some of these programs will have to be cut anyway.'" (Gazeta.ru)

Such a measure will surely sound the death knell of the metal works and mines. Take the mines, for example. A mineworker explains that, "[W]ithout public funding, the mines would have closed down long ago. He says that this is the fault of mine owners who, ever since the mines were privatized, have never invested money in them. Exports to Russia, which amount to about half of mining production, have slowed down badly. Production is plummeting." (Le Nouvel Observateur, May 2)

The working class is trying to make itself heard

Despite the terror and rampant war, the working class is trying to express itself on its own ground, from the east to the west of Ukraine.

- On May 5, the mineworkers of the Lviv Mine Works (in the west) downed their tools to protest the non-payment of 90% of their January to March wages.

- On May 11, in Krivoi Rog (in the center of the country), the miners of the iron complex of Evraz Sukhaia Balka marched to demand a wage increase.

- On the morning of May 13, a strike broke out at the Kharkiv fertilizer factory (in the east). Workers set up a picket line in front of the factory entrance demanding the payment of back pay. Wages were several months in arrears.

And in the middle of all this, the Yatseniuk government has just announced the end of all state subsidies to industry!

"Oligarch vampires"

All these developments have led to a process of differentiation in the eastern cities. In Sloviansk, the "self-proclaimed" authorities are demanding "the immediate nationalization of the oligarchs' properties" . . . while, on the contrary, the draft "People's Constitution" in Donetsk calls for "recognizing the multiple forms of private, public, and mixed property." . . .

Worried by the calls raised by workers in some sectors to seize the properties of the "oligarch vampires," Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's richest oligarch (who is acting as a broker between the "separatists" and Kiev), announced the creation of so-called "militias," sending his employees to patrol the cities of the major industrial cities of the east -- alongside the Ukrainian police forces -- to "restore order."

- - - - -

Endnote

[1] On May 25, elections will be held throughout Europe to elect deputies to the so-called European Parliament -- a body that is nothing but a rubber stamp for the policies decided by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF. -- Translator's Note

* * * * * * * * * *

SIDEBAR

Petro Poroshenko, "Oligarch" and Front-Runner in the Presidential Election

After the collapse of the USSR, Petro Poroshenko took his cut in plundering state property. He privatized several confectionery and automotive firms for his own benefit, not to mention a shipyard and a TV channel. . . .

Forbes magazine reports that his net worth is more than US$1.6 billion. In 1998, Poroshenko became a deputy on behalf of the Unified Social Democratic Party of Ukraine, which supported President Kuchma. In 2001, he participated in the founding of the Party of Regions, the party of Victor Yanukovych.

Feeling that the political winds were shifting, Poroshenko put himself at the service of Yushchenko and was re-elected deputy in 2002. He then he funded the "Orange Revolution" in 2004.

Dismissed from the SNBO (Council of Security and Defense) on charges of corruption, he was elected again deputy in 2006 and was appointed as Yushchenko's foreign affairs minister in 2009, taking a stand in favor of Ukraine joining NATO. Then, in 2012, under Yanukovych, he was appointed Minister of Commerce. . . The United States and the European Union support his candidacy because he appears to be "less corrupt" than the "Gas Princess" (as she is known) Yulia Timoshenko, who is also a presidential candidate.

On May 15, Andryi Parubiy, another presidential candidate, published in The Wall Street Journal a column titled, "Ukraine Needs Immediate U.S. Military Aid; Antitank and Antiaircraft Weaponry are Essential to Deterring Putin's Aggression." Back in 1991, Parubiy was a co-founder of the National Social Party of Ukraine (later renamed Svoboda). He later was a deputy for the Batkivshina Party in 2012. Currently he is the president of the National Defense and Security Council (SNBO).

It should be noted that Petro Simonenko, leader of the Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU), has withdrawn his candidacy. This party -- which had been totally part of the institutions for 23 years -- was removed summarily from the Rada (parliament) on April 15 after Simonenko, in the name of his party, denounced "the political powers that sent tanks and assault vehicles against its own citizens." Those words were considered "separatist" and resulted in Bill No. 4896, which "removed the KPU parliamentary group" from the Rada. As he was exiting the TV premises, where he had announced the withdrawal of his candidacy, Simonenko was targeted with Molotov cocktails.

[ckaihatsu]

Are Western energy giants' interests behind Ukraine violence? 17 May 2014 Economic interests, such as untapped shale gas resources, already sliced and diced by Western energy giants, are behind the Kiev government's 'anti-terrorist' operation against the pro-federalist regions, foreign policy expert Nebojsa Malic tells RT. The eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions cut ties with Kiev and declared independence from Kiev after a popular vote last Sunday. Yet federalist activists have no doubt that a new wave of government crackdown is on its way...It's in the Donetsk Region that Shell signed, in January 2013, a 50-year profit sharing deal with the government of Ukraine to explore and drill for natural gas in shale rock formations. US energy giant Chevron signed a similar deal for $10 billion last year, but it is focusing on developing shale gas reserves in the West of Ukraine.

http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news