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TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Both US and Britain leaders spoke out against France’s planned delivery of a second Mistral helicopter carrier to Russia after the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine.

http://www.tasnimnews.com/English/Home/Single/438989

British Prime Minister David Cameron said that fulfilling such an order would be ‘unthinkable’ in Britain under the present circumstances, France24 reported.

“We need to put the pressure on (Russia) with all our partners to say that we cannot go on doing business as usual with a country when it is behaving this way,” he told reporters.

The British leader said that the European Union should consider hard-hitting economic sanctions against Russia, including freezing the assets of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies whom he referred to as "cronies and oligarchs".

A senior US administration official concurred with Cameron, re-stating the opposition US President Barack Obama voiced against the deal back in June because of Russia's support for Ukrainian separatists.

French President Francois Hollande said on Monday that the decision on whether to deliver a second Mistral helicopter carrier to Russia will “depend on Moscow’s attitude.”

"For the time being, a level of sanctions has not been decided on that would prevent this delivery," Hollande said, speaking during a dinner with the presidential press corps.

"Does that mean that the rest of the contract - the second Mistral - can be carried through? That depends on Russia's attitude," Hollande added.

EU foreign ministers might agree to ratchet up sanctions on Russia when they meet on Tuesday, though targeting deliveries of defence equipment was not planned, a French government official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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France to deliver Mistral warship to Russia despite US, UK criticism

Published time: July 22, 2014 16:56


The Mistral-class helicopter carrier Vladivostok is seen at the STX Les Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard site in Saint-Nazaire, western France (Reuters / Stephane Mahe)

http://rt.com/news/174740-france-mistral...ry-russia/

France will go ahead with the delivery of the first of two Mistral warships to Russia – despite protests by the US and UK, prompted by Moscow's stance in the Ukrainian crisis. The ship is nearly completed and will be presented in October.

French President Francois Hollande said the plan to deliver the two Mistral helicopter carriers was made in Paris and will go forward despite calls from the US and UK.

“The Russians have paid. Should we repay 1.1 billion euros if the boat was not delivered to the purchaser?” he asked while speaking to reporters late on Monday – the night before EU foreign ministers are to meet in Brussels to discuss tougher sanctions on Russia over the Ukrainian crisis.

"For the time being, a level of sanctions has not been decided on that would prevent this delivery," he said. “The contract was signed in 2011, the boat is almost finished and should be delivered in October."



On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law exempting the deliveries of France's Mistral-class helicopter carriers to Russia from value-added tax (VAT) payments, which will be in effect from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2016. The law was adopted to prevent an increase in the cost of the contract regarding the Mistral ship deliveries.

France will be the first NATO country to supply Russia with military equipment. Under the 1.2 billion euro contract (US$1.6 billion) signed by Russian defnse exporting company Rosoboronexport and French DCNS in June 2011, Russia is to receive two Mistral-class helicopter carriers. The first one, the Vladivostok, will be received in October. The second, the Sevastopol, will be delivered at the end of next year.
‘French officials say Paris must keep its word’

Hollande’s decision has found support among French officials, despite going against the wishes of the US and UK.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday that the order is "unthinkable,” calling for tougher sanctions and to halt all arms sales to Russia.

"Hollande is not backing down. He is delivering the first (ship) despite the fact he is being asked not to," Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, head of Hollande's ruling Socialist Party, told iTélé television on Tuesday.

"This is a false debate led by hypocrites...When you see how many (Russian) oligarchs have sought refuge in London, David Cameron should start by cleaning up his own backyard," he continued.

US President Barack Obama expressed concern in June about France continuing significant defense deals with Moscow, following Crimea's accession to Russia in March. He said that it “would have been preferable to press the pause button” on the deal.

On Monday, a senior US administration official reiterated that Washington has not changed its stance and continues to oppose the deliveries.

Meanwhile, French officials insist that Paris must keep its word.

"France's word, its signature, must be respected," Xavier Bertrand, a former minister under Sarkozy and senior member of his conservative opposition UMP party, told France Inter radio. "Just because the Americans say 'jump' we shouldn't jump."

However, it is not yet clear whether France will go through with the delivery of the second ship, which is planned for the end of next year.

"Does that mean that the rest of the contract - the second Mistral - can be carried through? That depends on Russia's attitude," Hollande said on Monday evening.

Meanwhile, EU leaders on Tuesday decided to impose further sanctions on Russia in the wake of the Malaysia Airlines civilian plane crash on July 17 over eastern Ukraine. The EU and US blame local militia forces supported by Moscow for downing the plane – though they have provided no evidence to support their claims.

Read more: Malaysia Airlines MH17 plane crash in Ukraine LIVE UPDATES

Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said the EU's “forceful decision” imposes visa bans and asset freezes on more officials that are connected with Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Timmermans has not named the officials yet.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said an extended ‘black list’ will be published on Thursday. It will include the energy and defense sectors, as well as financial markets.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin believes it is very unlikely that France would break the Mistral contract because of the sanctions.

“Billions of euros are involved. The French are very pragmatic,” Rogozin said on Monday. “I doubt it [that they will break the contract].”

He noted that if France decides to suspend the contract, it will be “much less harmful for Russia than it would be for France.”

Russia will not only demand its “money back but also the sterns (link) that were made in Russia. They will have to disassemble them,” Rogozin said.

Internal EU competition.....?

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You all heard that Iatseniuk has resigned. But did you know that the Ukie KGB (called SBU) is investigating three top military commanders for state treason? Yup, the blame game for the disaster at the southern cauldron has begun in Kiev. In fact, if you want to read a detailed assessment of how bad things are for the Ukies there, and if you read Russian, just click here (If you do not read Russian, use your favorite online machine translator). Keep in mind that this is written by a Ukie who called the Resistance "terrorists" and compares Russia to the Nazi occupier of WWII. And yet the image one get's from his report from the scene is one of a total military disaster.

Guys, if the Ukie were winning there would not be these resignations, blame games and reports. All the signs are the Banderastan is collapsing under the weight of its own stupidity and blind hatred.

Source: http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com.br...rom-saker.html

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Catastrophic Desertions and Losses in the Ukrainian Army - Official Ukrainian Reports, July 19, 2014

Preamble by Gleb Bazov: It is rare that we report on the workings of the aggressor across the battle lines. This item is different. Before you is a translation, kindly prepared by Valentina Lisitsa, of a report from the head of the Ukrainian Security Service, V.O. Nalyvaichenko, to the President of Ukraine, P.A. Poroshenko. It is an important document, which, we hope, you will distribute widely.

No further commentary is necessary, other than the following brief quotation. According to V.O. Nalyvaichenko, "2/3 of the active combat military units currently participating in the ATO will simply cease to exist in as little as 4 to 5 days" due to mass desertions and casualties. To provide context for this letter, provided below is another document recently publicized as an internal memorandum from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, which details recent casualties of the Ukrainian army, equally as catastrophic as its desertion rates

Source: http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com.br...losses-in.html

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http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/07/26/...r-ukraine/

Fighter bombers attacking civilian targets in Eastern Ukraine, flying with Ukrainian Air Force markings, have been traced to air bases in Romania, Moldova and Azerbaijan, armed and some perhaps piloted by Poles and even Israelis.

Canadian journalist, Geoffrey West, working with online “plane spotting” groups has identified combat aircraft flying “packages” over Ukrainian air space as taking off from NATO and other facilities.

“What I discovered on Thursday evening using the tracking website… that a number of ‘no call sign’ flights were detected in the Ukraine/Black Sea region. My friend observed one that appeared to land in Bucharest. I observed one that appeared to land in Chisinau, Moldova.”

Others appeared to originate from what were believed to be abandoned air fields in Azerbaijan, facilities identified in 2012 by defectors from the Azerbaijani military, as Israeli bases to be used in an attack on Iran.

This is more than an attempt to avoid detection by Russian air defense radars capable of warning pro-Russian separatists opposing the Kiev junta.

This is a gross violation of international law, of national sovereignty of the nations involved and an unauthorized use of NATO military forces, some under the direct command of General Breedlove, in a clandestine terror war against civilians, many of them Russian passport holders.

BACKGROUND
This week, two SU25 fighter bombers were shot down over the Ukraine after dropping chemical weapons and white phosphorous bombs, on a small village in a predominantly pro-Russian region of eastern Ukraine. There are even more curious and frightening aspects of this attack.
• American news organization, MSNBC, referred to the attack, clearly a terrorist war crime, as a “task” in their reporting of the incident.
• The weapons used not only parallel current attack in Gaza but the bombs dropped duplicate the Israeli chemical attacks in other ways as well. The weapons themselves perform identically, as though they were manufactured in the same lot, American weapons.
• The planes involved in the attack didn’t take off from Ukrainian bases but rather from Romania and were seen entering radar near an America air base.

MSNBC had been using radar-driven plane tracking websites to sell their version of the downing of flight MA17, one American military satellite imagery has debunked, not only based on the 25 mile debris field but imagery that identifies all missile operations in the region as controlled by the Kiev junta. In fact, in a Pentagon briefing, it was suggested that junta air defense units may well have defected “and then defected back again,” explaining their bizarre hypothesis, more conspiracy theory.

NATO CHEMICAL WEAPON INVENTORIES
With reports of chemical weapon use against population centers in the Eastern Ukraine, available inventories of these illegal munitions and their locations are critical to understanding the threat.

The US maintains inventories of illegal chemical weapons around the world, some of them convenient for deployment against civilian targets in the Ukraine. America’s current inventory of chemical weapons stored in Israel has been significantly depleted by that nation in its attacks on population centers in Gaza.

Other weapons storage centers are at Aviano Air Force Base in Italy, Camp Darby US Army Weapons Depot outside Pisa in Italy, on the British held Indian Ocean base on the Island of Diego Garcia and in forward deployment at MK Air Base in Romania. From Stars and Stripes:

“’It’s an ideal location for us as far as capability,’ Maj. Gen. John O’Connor, commander of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command said in a recent interview with Stars and Stripes. The U.S. had already constructed 85 buildings capable of supporting roughly 1,500 personnel at Mihail Kogalniceanu – or MK Air Base – for previous missions, O’Connor said. Beginning in late December, elements of the 21st expanded the infrastructure to accommodate up to 2,000 transiting troops and 400 military personnel who run the operation.”
This facility, initially designated as a “stopover” for troops returning from Afghanistan, regularly sees huge C 17 cargo planes capable of carrying, not only weapons inventories but any American heavy weapons system.

Satellite Photo of Advanced Mig Aircraft “Stored” at US MK Air Base, Romania (courtesy of Google Earth)
More inventories of American weapons are in Azerbaijan, unloaded at the Georgian port of Poti by the USS Grapple in June of 2010 and transferred, according to sources in Georgia, by truck into Azerbaijan.

STRATEGY
As US Senator John McCain could so very well tell us, were he so inclined, giving an enemy access to air attack “package” information, routes used for attack and withdrawal, can lead to losing planes. While a prisoner in North Vietnam, McCain gave such information to the North Vietnamese in trade for special treatment. According to US Army Colonel Earl Hopper (ret. Deceased), McCain’s information led to the shoot down of over 60 American aircraft by North Vietnamese gunners. Similarly, with full knowledge of Ukrainian military bases, all of which are under direct radar observation by Russian defenses, bombing attacks on the Eastern Ukraine are far more risky than similar attacks on civilian targets perpetrated by Israeli jets on Gaza.

It would seem sensible to use bases outside Ukraine, particularly if advanced chemical weapons, fuel and maintenance and even pilots and planes were furnished by NATO and “others.” Radar based evidence suggests specifically that this is being done.

What is not sensible, however, is the thinly veiled deception used to broaden the conflict in the Ukraine. This week, General Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, while speaking at the ultra-conservative Aspen Institute, warned of how President Putin threatened to broaden the conflict in Europe through alleged use of Russian artillery in support of separatist forces.

Giving General Dempsey the benefit of the doubt, he may well be “out of the loop” on the fact that the United States aided by Poland, Romania, Moldova, Azerbaijan and Israel, the latter two not NATO members, has violated both international and American law, or so the evidence would indicate.

GD/NN

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http://rt.com/news/175572-ukraine-phosph...-evidence/

Ukraine used phosphorous incendiaries, cluster bombs against cities – Russian military
Published time: July 25, 2014 13:23 Get short URL
Aftermath of an artillery attack by the Ukrainian army on the Artyom district in Slavyansk. (AFP Photo / Andrey Stenin)Aftermath of an artillery attack by the Ukrainian army on the Artyom district in Slavyansk. (AFP Photo / Andrey Stenin)
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Ukrainian troops have on many occasions used incendiary weapons and cluster bombs against militia-held cities, acts that are banned under the international law regulating warfare, the Russian military said.

The accusation was voiced on Friday by Major General Viktor Poznikhir, the deputy commander of the chief operations branch of the Russian General Staff. Earlier some media reports claimed that munitions, which are not allowed to be used against civilian targets, were used in eastern Ukraine by the Kiev troops in their assault on armed militias.

According to the general, the Russian military are certain of a number of such attacks by Ukrainian troops. Those include artillery shelling with incendiary shells on June 12 in Slavyansk, on June 24 and June 29 in Semyonovka and on July 7 in Lisichansk. There were also air strikes with incendiary bombs on June 21 in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk and on July 23 in Donetsk and shelling with cluster shells on June 24 in Semyonovka.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzCcBbP1VjA

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http://en.ria.ru/world/20140727/19134990...ation.html

Pentagon May Inform Ukraine of Militia's Missiles Location - Report
Topic: Situation in the South-East of Ukraine
The Pentagon
The Pentagon
© Flickr/ dbking
16:46 27/07/2014
Tags: surface-to-air missile (SAM), independence supporters, Ukrainian Armed Forces, US intelligence service, Pentagon, John Kerry, Russia, USA, Ukraine
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MOSCOW, July 27 (RIA Novosti) - The Pentagon and the US intelligence services are working on a plan to provide Ukraine with the information on the location of the surface-to-air missile, allegedly in possession of the independence supporters in the east of the country, The New York Times wrote late on Saturday, citing officials.
“Although providing the Ukrainian forces with target location data may seem like a panacea, the actual destruction of these mobile launchers by Ukrainian forces may be quite a bit more difficult,” the paper quoted Reed Foster, an analyst at IHS Jane’s.
US Secretary of State John Kerry offered to provide the information to Ukraine so the latter could destroy the missiles. The United States does the same for Iraq, helping the government fight the extremists. The issue of whether to help Ukraine has not gone into the White House, yet, according to the newspaper.
Foster said that Ukraine lacked the proper experience to use foreign intelligence data if provided with such. He also said if Ukrainian planes attempted to destroy the missile systems from the air, they could become targets of attacks from the surface.
Although it is a technologically easy task, reporting the location to the Ukrainian authorities raises “issues of escalation with the Russians, and the decision about whether it’s wise to do it,” a senior military official told The New York Times.
“The debate is over how much to help Ukraine without provoking Russia,” the official said.
Media reported earlier that the United States was going to assist Ukraine's special forces with $33 million this year.
The United States sees Russia as responsible for providing independence supporters in eastern Ukraine with the missiles allegedly used to shoot down the Malaysia Airlines plane 10 days ago. The MH17 crash in the Donetsk Region killed all 298 people on board.
Kiev authorities launched a special military operation in eastern Ukraine in mid-April in a crackdown on the independence movement. The fighting intensified,causing hundreds of casualties, after Donetsk and Luhansk regions proclaimed themselves independent people’s republics, .
Moscow has described the military action as a punitive operation and has repeatedly called on Kiev to end the bloodshed.

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NATO invades Ukraine, not Russia: US columnist

Sun Jul 27, 2014 5:22PM GMT
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An American political commentator says Washington’s allegation that Russia is attacking Ukrainian troops is bogus, adding that NATO is currently doing military action in the country.

“We were very disappointed to hear the recent comments by General Dempsey. Basically what we feel was a gross exaggeration if he is claiming that Russia is starting to interfere directly in the Ukrainian conflict,” Veterans Today columnist Jim Dean said in an interview with Press TV on Sunday.

Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey said the Pentagon is looking at possible military responses to Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

The Pentagon claimed Russia is directly shelling eastern Ukraine and channeling tanks and other powerful weaponry to pro-Russian forces there in what it characterized as a clear “military escalation” of the conflict.

“It has been claimed that’s a big escalation of Putin actually coming in and firing on a sovereign town, I mean that’s a psychological operation and we feel it an act of disloyalty to the American people to tell us something so fraudulent, if he [Dempsey] is aware and we hope that he’s been given false information by people in his own command. So, it’s bogus,” Dean said.

“Russia knows that NATO will respond by making a big NATO push with military in Ukraine,” he added.

“If anybody wants to find out who is invading and doing military action on a sovereign nation, it’s been done by NATO right now,” the analyst said.

US officials stepped up their rhetoric against Moscow following the shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet on July 17 in which all 298 people onboard were killed.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Friday that US intelligence has concluded that President “Vladimir Putin and the Russians are culpable” for the incident.

A new Russian revolution: The cracks are starting to appear in Putin’s Kremlin power bloc

With EU sanctions starting to bite, Russia’s oligarchs are trying to put pressure on Vladimir Putin. But according to German intelligence, they are meeting resistance from Kremlin hardliners
TONY PATERSON Author Biography Sunday 27 July 2014






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German intelligence is reported to have obtained evidence of a power struggle under way in the Kremlin, with hardliners and oligarchs at loggerheads over Western sanctions. Some reportedly want to “put the brakes” on President Vladimir Putin to rescue their business interests.

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Der Spiegel magazine reported on Sunday that the head of Germany’s intelligence service, Gerhard Schindler, had told the Berlin parliament’s foreign affairs committee that cracks were beginning to appear in the united front that President Putin’s government was seeking to present to the world.

Mr Schindler was said to have told the committee and subsequently Chancellor Angela Merkel in person that a struggle had broken out in the Kremlin, with hardliners and oligarchs seeking to exert their influence on Mr Putin.



“According to German intelligence it is quite possible that some of the oligarchs who are worried by European Union sanctions will soon start putting economic interests above political concerns and try to put the brakes on Putin,” Der Spiegel wrote.

Vladimir Putin: Inside the Russian President's Daily Life
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He likes a simple yet sizeable breakfastHe’s big on exerciseThe gym is followed by readingHe likes cold bathsHe’s not keen on the internetHe can’t be given milkHe’s learning English via sing-alongsHe’s an animal-loverHe has a travel regime to rival Mariah CareyHe’s not a big conversationalist

Mr Schindler told MPs that unlike at the beginning of the Ukraine crisis, cracks were now beginning to appear in Mr Putin’s power bloc. He was said to have made his comments during a weekly intelligence report to parliament and the Berlin Chancellery.

Evidence of a Kremlin power struggle emerged after the EU this weekend expanded its list of Russians subject to sanctions to a total of 87 people and 20 organisations.

The EU is also drawing up a list of close Putin cronies who will also be targeted. Later this week it is due to decide on the first significant economic sanctions against Russia.

The measures are in response to the failure of Russian separatists in Ukraine to allow a full investigation into the downing of flight Malaysian airlines flight MH17, and Russia’s unwillingness to stop the flow of arms to the rebels.



VIDEO: THE LATEST FROM UKRAINE
European officials have drawn up potentially damaging options for economic sanctions which include banning Russian banks with more than 50 per cent state ownership from raising capital on European markets.

Der Spiegel identified the chief Kremlin hardliner as Sergei Glasjev, 53, a Putin adviser who is responsible for Russia’s relations with Ukraine. It claimed that Mr Glasjev considered Europe “degenerate” and the United States to be Russia’s enemy. It said he wanted Russia to turn its back on the West and that he believed China should replace Europe as the country’s most important partner. Der Spiegel said Mr Glasjev welcomed the prospect of EU sanctions.

However, the magazine said Russia’s oligarchs were well aware that their country depended on Western machinery and know-how. Alexei Kudrin, a liberal former Russian finance minister, told Der Spiegel: “If sanctions are imposed against the entire Russian finance sector then our economy would collapse within six weeks.”

The German intelligence service’s assessment of the power play under way in the Kremlin is likely to have played an important role in deciding Berlin’s attitude to economic sanctions. Navy Day celebrations in Vladivostok Navy Day celebrations in Vladivostok

Ms Merkel’s coalition had until recently been wary of imposing sanctions for fear of damaging Germany’s wide-ranging business interests in Russia, which accounted for €36bn (£28bn) worth of exports last year. German industry heads had warned that if sanctions were imposed there would “only be losers”.

However last week Ms Merkel dropped her initial reservations and demanded that the EU rapirly impose sanctions including economic penalties against Russia. The move underlined Germany’s exasperation with Mr Putin’s failure to ensure a thorough investigation of flight MH17.

Eckhard Cordes, the head of German industry’s key Eastern committee, which oversees trade and business interests in Russia, also dropped his opposition to the idea. “For German industry politics must take first place. If economic sanctions are decided upon, then we will support them,” he said.

Germany’s Economics Minister, Sigmar Gabriel, appeared to endorse the intelligence service findings about a Kremlin power struggle. He told Der Spiegel that sanctions should specifically target wealthy Russian business leaders. “Above all we must hit the oligarchs. We have to do this, this coming week,” he said. “We must freeze their bank accounts in Europe’s capitals and cancel their travel permits.”

His remarks were echoed by the veteran Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble. In an interview with the Bild am Sonntag newspaper he said German business interests were “second” in importance when it came to foreign policy and Russia.

“Safeguarding stability and peace have top priority,” he told the newspaper. “Any threat to peace and stability would moreover be the biggest danger for economic development.”

Mr Schäuble said the existing sanctions were already beginning to take effect. “The rouble is losing value, Russia’s budget deficit is growing and its economic development is bad. Even the Russian president sees this,” he said.

According to German business reports, Russian companies are becoming increasingly reluctant to order machinery and other materials from Germany because of the uncertain political climate. German exports to Russia dropped by 15 per cent during the first four months of 2014 and declined “massively” in June.

Calling for Europe to present a united front against Russia, Mr Schäuble insisted: “Nobody in Moscow should start thinking that Russia can win with its approach.”


AMHANTS 16 hours ago
'1.US spent $5 billion to destabilize Ukraine, not to mention the millions NGOs spent on “opposition groups“. The State Department was even caught playing kingmaker in Ukraine in secret recordings during the takeover.
2.November 21st, 2013 - Ukraine’s President abandons an agreement on closer trade ties with EU, instead seeking closer cooperation with Russia. Violent pro-EU protests begin to organize.
3.December 17th, 2013 - Putin offers to buy $15bn of Ukrainian debt and discount the price of Russian gas by about a third.
4.February 2014 – Violence of coup peaks on the 20th. On 22nd protesters took control of Kiev and Parliament votes to remove president from power.
5.February 23rd – New interim government named, replaces head of Ukraine central bank.
6.March 6th – Obama signs national emergency executive order to punish Ukrainians that ”undermine democratic processes and institutions” of the coup government in Ukraine. You can’t make this stuff up.
7.March 16th - Crimea holds voter referendum to split from coup government in Kiev and ally with Russia, passes by over 95%.
8.March 20th – Obama announces more unilateral sanctions on Russia.
9.March 24th – Leaked tape where former prime minister of Ukraine and darling of the West, Yulia Tymoshenko, calls for wiping out all Russians with nuclear weapons.
10.April 29th – Obama unilaterally expands sanctions on Russia.
11.April 30th – Newly installed regime in Kiev receives $17 billion from the IMF for “economic reforms”. (December deal from Russia with better terms for Ukrainian people discarded.)
12.May 3rd – Obama calls Kiev’s coup government “duly elected“.
13.May 11th – Eastern Ukraine votes for independence from Kiev and for self-rule. Kiev mobilizes military to punish citizens for disloyalty.
14.May 15th – US Vice President’s son Hunter Biden named to the board of Ukraine gas company.
15.May 21st – Russia and China sign historic $400 billion “Holy Grail” gas deal not using petrodollars.
16.May 27th – Second day in office, new Ukraine president launches military ”anti-terrorist operation“ against eastern Ukrainians.
17.June 3rd - NATO pledges military support for Ukraine to battle dissidents.
18.June 16th – Ukraine refuses to pay its gas bill to Moscow’s Gazprom, Russia cuts off gas.
19.June 26th – Gazprom agrees to drop the dollar to settle contracts with China.
20.June 27th – The EU signs an association agreement with Ukraine, along with Georgia and Moldova
21.July 15th – BRICS nations fund international development bank to compete with the IMF, World Bank, and the dollar itself.
22.July 17th – Commercial airliner MH17 shot out of the sky over eastern Ukraine. Appears to be classic false flag event after the West immediately blamed Russia citing sketchy YouTube videos.
23.July 2014 – US announces yet more sanctions on Russia. EU and Canada both join in calls for more sanctions for Russia.
24.July 2014 – Joe Biden’s son’s company prepares to drill shale gas in east Ukraine.
25.July 2014 – Pentagon creates military plan to clear path for gas drilling in rebel-held areas of Ukraine...' Eric Blair and Anthony Freda Art.

[Захумље]

http://beforeitsnews.com/war-and-conflic...53438.html

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that “Kiev authorities are ready to immediately stop” fighting in the Donbass. According to available information, cause a sudden attack of peace in Washington in the deaths of several American military trainers and wounded Pentagon General Randy Allen Key (Kee Randy Alan) who commanded the Ukrainian punishers in the southeast.
On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry , after a meeting with Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavel Klimkin made ​​a statement that the Kiev authorities are ready for a ceasefire in the Donbas “not in the future, and now” , based on “peace plan President Poroshenko” .
Note that the U.S. official is already making statements on behalf of the head of the “independent” Ukraine. Guys guys are palyatsya, yes. But it is, bar, for illusions about who is now actually taxis in Kiev, no longer exist.
What is important is that this call for a truce sounded very suddenly and goes against all previous U.S. policy.
Immediately note the version that the U.S. leadership horrified the horrors of the civil war in Ukraine and decided to fight for peace on humanitarian grounds of conscience and morality. It’s fantastic that you can only voice Jen Psak either already late John Ronald Reuel Tolkien .
A more realistic assumption that the Ukrainian army and natsgvardiya suffered lately heavy losses and just are not able to fight on without respite.Yes and fund military operations Kiev has nothing to what expressly stated Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksandr Shlapak and former PrimeYatsenyuk . In this light, Washington and Kiev requested a truce could be a ploy to gain time to regroup and pull-up reserves.
But there is another version. According to reports, militia Novorossia destroyed several U.S. “military advisers” and wounded General Key Randy Allen , who actually commanded all the troops of the Kiev junta.
Recall, last week it became known that the Ukraine arrived 180 U.S. Army trainers representing the Rangers, airmobile forces and specialists to restore aviation. Many of them have recently been intensively studied Ukrainian language.
Arrived in Kiev July 23 American officers and NCOs assigned to the Fort Benning base in the states of Alabama and Georgia, and obey the command of the Force Special Operations Command and the training and development of the military doctrines of the U.S. Armed Forces, saidpravosudija.net .
Most instructors have experience in training military personnel in Central and South America, which was held in the framework of the military-industrial and military cooperation.
Sending military advisers to Ukraine and reported in the American media. Thus, the newspaper “The Washington Times” July 22 wrote : “Since the Ukrainian army crumbles soon Ukraine will be sent to a group of American advisers who strategize suppression of pro-Putin separatists and determine what material investments and other assistance required for this suppression “ .
A direct leadership Ukrainian law enforcers Pentagon sent Maj. Gen. Randy Allen Key, Head of policy, strategy and partnership opportunities for European command of U.S. forces. July 21 he started to work, coordinating of 12 working groups, which are intended to “improve the security of Ukraine” . Under the leadership of the Pentagon’s general these working groups discussed including the fighting in the south-east.
However, upon arrival to Ukraine American “military experts” immediately began to suffer losses. So, in summary number 83 armed forces command Donbass reported the destruction of two U.S. advisers:
“July 24 in Mariupol partisans carried out a successful military campaign, during which the streets of the city were destroyed by two U.S. military advisers from among 180 officers of the U.S. Army instructors, days earlier arrivals to control punitive operation and training punitive” .
At Monday, July 28 Commander forces DNR Igor Gunmen told details about military engagement marinating, where among the security forces were killed Ukrainian blacks.
“ By marinating militias attack reflected the height of 198.3. During this battle destroyed four tanks, four armored personnel carriers. All of them were burned. Among those killed are people blacks. Militia commander is ready to provide for the filming of the corpses “ - told Shooters.
Another day later, it was reported new casualties among U.S. military and among the victims were the general himself Randy Allen Key.
Tuesday, July 29 at the social networks reported: “In the area of intelligence and Raisins subversive group (RDG) militia attacked a convoy of U.S. military trainers. Killed three U.S. officers and wounded General Key Randy Allen, who commands the punitive operation “.
And right after that John Kerry requested ceasefire.
U.S. leadership could ignore the deaths of their mercenaries from the private military companies (PMCs) such as “Greystone” and the like. Donbass such militias killed at least several dozen, if not hundreds. But the loss of mercenaries (even with American passports) Washington could not help noticing as “gray geese” formally act on their own risk and the state is not responsible for them.
But hush quietly death ordenonosnogo personnel officers from elite units of the U.S. Army no longer happens. These bodies have to drive home in coffins covered with the Stars and Stripes, and solemnly buried under fireworks and cameras. And if in a coffin, or even in the hospital would be a general at the Pentagon – it is quite a scandal for which Obama will have to justify in front of Congress and the public outcry.
In addition there is a very interesting information published HERE . The author, who has access to confidential sources, said that the other day a very senior GRU officer of the General Staff of Russia held a series of private conversations with colleagues from several Western countries.Expressed surprise at the claims to Russia from the United States, which for years arming and training around the world most of these terrorists, GRU officer came to the point.
The point was in two main theses:
1. On the intentions and capabilities of higher authorities officer;
2. On its own capabilities and intentions.
He told me that his boss has irrefutable evidence in the case of the Malaysian “Boeing” and will be forced to publish them, if the stream of slander from the White House about this tragedy does not stop immediately.
Note that information about Boeing , which previously outlined at the briefing Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Kartapolov very likely kept deliberately left a gap, which could not fail to draw attention to its Western counterparts.
And myself a senior GRU officer asked him to convey it, even without reference to the commander in chief, has the authority to send the aid of Donbass hundred compatriots highly professional and properly instructed volunteers. And the result of their trip will be that “all one hundred eighty”unlikely to survive for more than four weeks.
European interlocutors General Staff immediately understood what it was about and in their professional (and not so narrow) range started a lively discussion. Some, in particular, reminded of the tactics of the Viet Cong, oriented only certain groups of snipers shooting at officers.
As a result, the competent circles formed the view that aimed to base Fort Benning to Ukraine 180 elite U.S. Army trainers were held hostage, which at any moment can turn into the status of “victims.”
In the capacity of his Russian interlocutor during the month an “all one hundred eighty ‘ home in coffins, no reason not to doubt. Europeans gave a warning to their U.S. counterparts, and as if by magic, Secretary Kerry begged the world.
PS
July 30 in Mariupol while swimming in the sea was shot another one of 180 military advisers. sniper bullet caught up with American when he swam in the sea. After the shot, he immediately plunged into the water. Those on shore colleagues could not help him, because they themselves were trying to find shelter from the shelling, which on the beach was not a goal. When, finally, the American soldier dragged ashore, he was dead.
Thus, for a full week of 10 180 have already been destroyed.
Source: http://vg-news.ru/n/110397

This came out earlier in the day on the Russian forums!

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US Senators Push for Lethal Military Aid to Ukraine
As World Pushes for Ukraine Ceasefire, US Looks to Escalate War
by Jason Ditz, July 30, 2014
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Most of the world is struggling mightily to get the Ukrainian military and the separatist eastern rebels to agree to a ceasefire and negotiations aimed at settling their ongoing conflict. The US is taking another approach.

Led by Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D – MI), a number of hawks are now pushing for the US to begin shipments of “lethal aid” to the Ukrainian military to wipe out the rebels as well as to confront the Russian military.

Sen. Levin, who has been predicting an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine for months now, insisted the US needs to send massive amounts of lethal aid to set the Ukrainian military up for a “guerrilla-type effort against the Russians,” after they finish off the mostly ethnic Russian rebels.

Senate Republicans blasted the Obama Administration for not rush shipping every weapon Ukraine’s military asked for, saying it was “shameful” not to be preparing them for a war with Russia.

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The collapse of the Kiev parliament came as a result of the harsh IMF conditions which the right wing coalition did not want to approve. – Really? – These conditions were known long in advance. The Yatsenyuk government was begging the IMF for the US$ 17.5 billion line of credit, long before he was even the PM of a sham elected Government.

The IMF complied promptly, disbursing a first tranche of 3.5 billion to pay off Kiev’s gas debt to Russia. That happened hastily. The IMF’s motto – bind them to our conditions of social restructuring – pension cuts, salary cuts, work force cuts — before taking the risk that Ukrainians, those who were allowed to vote, may vote with reason, against the Nazi junta.

Happily for the IMF – and the US and the EU – and of course for Wall Street – that did not happen.

Yatsenyuk and his right-right coalition knew the conditions. Indeed, the PM pretends he resigned because Parliament did not want to approve this draconian IMF loan. Yatsenyuk went on to lie that without these funds Ukraine will starve, will have no money to buy wheat for bread and gas for the winter. Yet, he knows, the Parliament knows that not a penny of this money goes into the Kiev Treasury, but is transferred straight to Ukraine’s creditors.

So – why resign now and feign a collapse of the Ukraine Government, when manipulating parliament in a Nazi dictatorship is so easy? – After all, dictatorships all over the world have so-called Presidential decrees to bypass parliament.

Was the PM involved in the downing of MH17? – With the killing of almost 300 people – to provoke Russia into a Third World War?

Just pretend that indeed the Malaysian airliner was flying 200 km south of the conflict zone, well clear of a potential danger, as asserted by the Malaysian Transport Minister; that Malaysia Airlines had a long-standing policy not to fly over conflict zones throughout the world, as recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization – ICAO, an advice followed by many other airlines – and let’s pretend that two Ukrainian fighter jets caught up with MH17 to escort and guide it over the Donbass conflict zone – once there, they disappeared and in less than 3 minutes, according to recorded air controllers conversations, the Boeing 777 exploded.

In the meantime, despite Obama’s early demonizing and unproven blame on Russia, the CIA as much as cleared Russia from direct involvement, and according to Kiev’s own admission radar installations were disabled by the Kiev military in the conflict area, so as to prevent the pro-Russian militia to use guided land-to-air missiles to shoot down the junta’s fighter planes.

Who else remains? – The Kiev Nazi junta, of course, the extended arm of Washington that would not dare to touch a gun if not authorized by their NATO masters. And if so, would not the Ukraine PM – Yatsenyuk, know about it? – Possibly even have given orders to his air force for the escorting and shooting down operation? – Could that be the true reason for his resignation and the ‘collapse’ of the right-right parliamentary coalition? – Trying to sink into oblivion before an investigation somehow might uncover the truth?

Food for thought.

Meanwhile, US arrogance keeps churning out anti-Putin lies through the Anglo-Saxon corporate dominated propaganda killing machine, repeating lies after lies – spread throughout the Western media. As we all know – and in Goebbels words – a lie repeated often enough becomes the truth.

At the same time, the US Joint Chief of Staff, General Dempsey’s declaration at the “Aspen” club of ‘US intelligentsia’ (sic) that Russia was stepping up the war in Eastern Ukraine, that never since 1939 has a country so recklessly invaded another sovereign nation for purposes of territorial expansion as Russia is doing today. This is ridiculous statement, disregarding all the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama wars and invasions throughout the world. This outright lie remains uncontested by American intellectuals – not to mention the public at large.

But careful - this amateurish and reckless arrogant trigger-happy crowd of politicians and senior officials may just press the red button and pull humanity down the drain.

Peter Koenig is an economist and former World Bank staff. He worked extensively around the world in the fields of environment and water resources. He writes regularly for Global Research, ICH, the Voice of Russia and other internet sites. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed – fiction based on facts and on 30 years of World Bank experience around the globe.

Revelations of German Pilot: Shocking Analysis of the “Shooting Down” of Malaysian MH17. “Aircraft Was Not Hit by a Missile”

By Peter Haisenko
Global Research, July 30, 2014
anderweltonline.com
Region: Russia and FSU
Theme: US NATO War Agenda
In-depth Report: UKRAINE REPORT
5247 670 102 6602


Malaysia MH17
Zur deutschen Version bitte hier anklicken
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The tragedy of Malaysian MH 017 continues to elude any light of clarity being cast over it.

The flight recorders are in England and are evaluated. What can come of it? Maybe more than you would assume.

Especially the voice recorder will be interesting when you look at the picture of a cockpit fragment. As an expert in aviation I closely looked at the images of the wreckage that are circulating on the Internet.



Peter Haisenko in Cockpit of Condor DC 10

First, I was amazed at how few photos can be found from the wreckage with Google. All are in low resolution, except one: The fragment of the cockpit below the window on the pilots side. This image, however, is shocking. In Washington, you can now hear views expressed of a “potentially tragic error / accident” regarding MH 017. Given this particular cockpit image it does not surprise me at all.

Entry and exit impact holes of projectiles in the cockpit area

Source for all photos: Internet

I recommend to click on the little picture to the left. You can download this photo as a PDF in good resolution. This is necessary, because that will allow you understand what I am describing here. The facts speak clear and loud and are beyond the realm of speculation: The cockpit shows traces of shelling! You can see the entry and exit holes. The edge of a portion of the holes is bent inwards. These are the smaller holes, round and clean, showing the entry points most likely that of a 30 millimeter caliber projectile. The edge of the other, the larger and slightly frayed exit holes showing shreds of metal pointing produced by the same caliber projectiles. Moreover, it is evident that at these exit holes of the outer layer of the double aluminum reinforced structure are shredded or bent – outwardly! Furthermore, minor cuts can be seen, all bent outward, which indicate that shrapnel had forcefully exited through the outer skin from the inside of the cockpit. The open rivets are are also bent outward.

In sifting through the available images one thing stands out: All wreckage of the sections behind the cockpit are largely intact, except for the fact that only fragments of the aircraft remained . Only the cockpit part shows these peculiar marks of destruction. This leaves the examiner with an important clue. This aircraft was not hit by a missile in the central portion. The destruction is limited to the cockpit area. Now you have to factor in that this part is constructed of specially reinforced material. This is on account of the nose of any aircraft having to withstand the impact of a large bird at high speeds. You can see in the photo, that in this area significantly stronger aluminum alloys were being installed than in the remainder of the outer skin of the fuselage. One remembers the crash of Pan Am over Lockerbie. It was a large segment of the cockpit that due to the special architecture survived the crash in one piece. In the case of flight MH 017 it becomes abundantly clear that there also an explosion took place inside the aircraft.

Tank destroying mix of ammunition

Bullet holes in the outer skin

So what could have happened? Russia recently published radar recordings, that confirm at least one Ukrainian SU 25 in close proximity to MH 017. This corresponds with the statement of the now missing Spanish controller ‘Carlos’ that has seen two Ukrainian fighter aircraft in the immediate vicinity of MH 017. If we now consider the armament of a typical SU 25 we learn this: It is equipped with a double-barreled 30-mm gun, type GSh-302 / AO-17A, equipped with: a 250 round magazine of anti-tank incendiary shells and splinter-explosive shells (dum-dum), arranged in alternating order. The cockpit of the MH 017 has evidently been fired at from both sides: the entry and exit holes are found on the same fragment of it’s cockpit segment!

Now just consider what happens when a series of anti-tank incendiary shells and splinter-explosive shells hit the cockpit. These are after all designed to destroy a modern tank. The anti-tank incendiary shells partially traversed the cockpit and exited on the other side in a slightly deformed shape. (Aviation forensic experts could possibly find them on the ground presumably controlled by the Kiev Ukrainian military; the translator). After all, their impact is designed to penetrate the solid armor of a tank. Also, the splinter-explosive shells will, due to their numerous impacts too cause massive explosions inside the cockpit, since they are designed to do this. Given the rapid firing sequence of the GSh-302 cannon, it will cause a rapid succession of explosions within the cockpit area in a very short time. Remeber each of these is sufficient to destroy a tank.

What “mistake” was actually being committed – and by whom?



Graze on the wing
Because the interior of a commercial aircraft is a hermetically sealed pressurized chamber, the explosions will, in split second, increase the pressure inside the cabin to extreme levels or breaking point. An aircraft is not equipped for this, it will burst like a balloon. This explains a coherent scenario. The largely intact fragments of the rear sections broke in mid air at the weaker points of construction most likely under extreme internal air pressure. The images of the widely scattered field of debris and the brutally damaged segment of cockpit fit like hand in glove. Furthermore, a wing segment shows traces of a grazing shot, which in direct extension leads to the cockpit. Interestingly, I found that both the high-resolution photo of the fragment of bullet riddled cockpit as well as the segment of grazed wing have in the meantime disappeared from Google Images. One can find virtually no more pictures of the wreckage, except the well known smoking ruins.

If you listen to the voices from Washington now who speak of a “potentially tragic error / accident”, all that remains is the question of what might have been the nature of this “mistake” perpetrated here. I am not given to hover long in the realm of speculation, but would like to invite others to consider the following : The MH 017 looked similar in it’s tricolor design to that that of the Russian President’s plane. The plane with President Putin on board was at the same time ”near” Malaysia MH 017. In aviation circles “close” would be considered to be anywhere between 150 to 200 miles. Also, in this context we might consider the deposition of Ms. Tymoshenko, who wanted to shoot President Putin with a Kalashnikov.

But that this remains pure speculation. The shelling of the cockpit of air Malaysia MH 017, however, is definitely not speculation.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/german-pilo...17/5394111

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Ukraine To Impose Military Tax to Finance Ongoing War

The Ukrainian government intends to introduce a temporary 1.5% military duty, which will be an addition to the personal income tax.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk told a briefing on Monday the duty, if introduced, will stay in effect until the end of this year.

“There will be another temporary tax, a 1.5% military duty, which will be an addition to the personal income tax. It will only be until the end of this year. This 1.5% will go directly to the Armed Forces,” he said.

The Ukrainian Finance Ministry estimates that the introduction of this military duty will help accumulate UAH 2.9 billion, which will be used for financing the defense sector.

Gaza, Ukraine and the Fraud of “Human Rights” Imperialism

July 30 saw back-to-back atrocities in Gaza that made it clear to anyone with eyes to see that Israel is carrying out a war of terror against civilians. Its aim is to break the will of the Palestinian people through the murder of children, the destruction of homes, and the driving of an entire population back to Stone Age conditions.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck first at a UN-run school in the Jabaliya refugee camp, where some 3,000 people driven from their homes had sought shelter, killing at least 16 and wounding over 125 more. Then, in the middle of an IDF-announced cease-fire, shells were rained down on a crowded market place in Shejaiya, killing 17 and wounding over 200.

As the horrific images of these massacres emerged from Gaza, newspapers carried the report that the Obama administration had agreed with the European Union to impose sweeping sanctions—not against Israel, but against Russia.

The punitive actions by the US and the EU are being carried out in the context of a provocative global propaganda campaign blaming Moscow and President Vladimir Putin personally for the crash of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine and the deaths of its 298 passengers and crew.

While indicting Putin and the anti-Kiev militias in eastern Ukraine as mass murderers, Washington and its allies have kept a stony silence on the killing of over 1,000 civilians in the region, as the Ukrainian regime they installed through a fascist-led coup last February continues to unleash artillery and rocket fire on residential neighborhoods.

Despite the Western sanctions and denunciations, Washington has presented not one shred of evidence that Flight MH17 was brought down by a missile either fired by the anti-Kiev forces or supplied by Moscow. Instead, it has pointed to videos and audio recordings posted on YouTube by the Ukrainian intelligence agency, which is notorious for fabricating false charges against Russia. The vast US intelligence apparatus has produced no satellite photos, communications intercepts or anything else to back the allegations against the Putin government.

The Russian military, on the other hand, has released radar and other intelligence data raising significant questions about the Western narrative. They show that the pro-Kiev forces had at least three anti-aircraft batteries in the area on the day of the crash, and that a Ukrainian warplane armed with air-to-air missiles had flown to within striking distance of the Malaysian airliner shortly before the crash. This hard evidence—and Russia’s call for an impartial investigation—have gone largely unreported in the Western press or dismissed as “propaganda” and “conspiracy theories.”

While the precise circumstances of the Boeing 777’s crash have yet to be proven, two things are clear. First, the area over which it flew was turned into a war zone thanks to the intervention of the US and Germany to bring down Ukraine’s elected government. And second, while neither Moscow nor the so-called separatists had anything to gain from this tragedy, it has provided the means for Washington and its puppets in Kiev to rally the previously reluctant Western European powers to the provocative and highly dangerous campaign against Russia.

Whatever doubts there are about the events in eastern Ukraine, there exist none as to the responsibility for the carnage in Gaza, where the number of dead children alone has surpassed that of all the victims of MH17. Israel’s Zionist leadership, having failed to suppress the heroic Palestinian resistance, has reacted with demoralized rage, demolishing entire neighborhoods, bombing schools and hospitals, and killing some 1,400 people, 90 percent of them civilians.

Yet in this case, the Obama administration insists that no one can be held responsible, save the Palestinians for refusing to capitulate. While Obama cynically laments the deaths in Gaza, Washington is moving rapidly to approve hundreds of millions of dollars more in emergency arms aid to Israel to ensure that the killing can continue without interruption.

It is significant that one of the key architects of this criminally duplicitous policy is Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations. She oversaw the casting by Washington of the sole vote opposing the formation of a UN commission to investigate Israeli actions in Gaza. She has worked tirelessly to block the Security Council’s passage of any binding resolution imposing a ceasefire. And she has warned other council members that even in non-binding statements on Gaza, any attribution of blame on Israel is a “red line” for Washington.

Ms. Power, it should be recalled, is the same individual who became the leading advocate within the Obama administration of the so-called policy of R2P (responsibility to protect civilians) as the foundation for “humanitarian” interventions. Waving the flag of “human rights,” the most hypocritical of all justifications for imperialist war, Power was a leading advocate of the US-NATO war for regime-change in Libya, which toppled and murdered Muammar Gaddafi, leaving the country awash in violence and chaos three years later.

She has likewise been a key promoter of the US proxy war for regime-change in Syria, helping to foment a sectarian civil war that has killed over 100,000 people, and then using this catastrophe created by imperialism as justification for more direct intervention. Last February, she invoked images of “dead and dying children” in Syria to support her demand that the Security Council pass a resolution with “meaningful consequences on the ground,” i.e., one that provided a pseudo-legal fig leaf for direct US aggression.

Images of “dead and dying children” in Gaza, however, evoke no such response, proving once again that all morality is class morality, and that the tear ducts of imperialist operatives like Samantha Power are activated only to justify aggression and plunder and advance the interests of the US financial oligarchy.

Given its track record, today’s human rights imperialism makes the old “white man’s burden” of colonialism’s heyday seem like a noble cause by comparison. Nothing has been more rapidly discredited. When Washington tries to peddle it, people all over the world recognize it for the garbage that it is.

However, this has not stopped an entire pseudo-left layer from jumping on the blood-soaked R2P bandwagon. There is less than one degree of separation between elements like Power and groups like the International Socialist Organization or academics like University of Michigan’s Professor Juan Cole, who have helped sell US aggression as a defense of “human rights” and portrayed civil wars waged by CIA-backed Islamists in Libya and Syria as well as the fascist-spearheaded coup in Ukraine as “revolutions.”

The struggle against war, which the events in both Gaza and Ukraine pose with ever greater urgency, can be waged only in a struggle for the political independence of the working class against the influence of these forces, whose politics reflect an upper-middle class layer whose privileges are bound up with the interests of imperialism.

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Twin businessmen targeted in murder attempt
March 29, 2006, 11:34 p.m. |
Well-known Kyiv businessmen Oleksandr and Vyacheslav Konstantinovsky targeted in murder attempt, which FBI alleges was part of a plot to take over their business States Federal Bureau of Investigation alleges was part of a plot to take over their business.

A joint investigation by the FBI and Ukrainian police helped prevent the murder attempt and eventually led to the arrest of both suspects, Monya Elson and Leonid Roytman, in New York on March 24. A press release from the U.S. Department of Justice referred to the arrested suspects as “Russian organized crime figures.”

Elson, an allegedly prolific hit man for the so-called Russian mafia, was born in Kishinev, today known as Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, and moved to the “Little Odessa” section of Brooklyn during the mass exodus of Soviet Jews in the early 1970s. In and out of prison, Elson has been connected to a range of criminal activities, from drug trafficking and racketeering to extortion and murder. “Red Mafia,” an investigative paperback focusing on the Russian mob published in the 1990s, describes Elson as one of the deadliest gansters to emerge from the USSR.

The Justice Department report said that the murder plot was masterminded in late 2004, with one of the hit men hired by Elson and Roytman in Ukraine having previously worked as a body guard for Ukrainian-born businessman and reputed Russian organized crime figure Semyon Mogilevich. According to the report, Roytman promised the hit men $100,000 and a “percentage of the brothers’ businesses” once the murders had been carried out.

Roytman, who had himself handled security for the brothers in Kyiv, according to the report, showed the hit men where the brothers lived and spent their free time and explained how their security could be penetrated.

Luckily for the brothers, instead of spending the $50,000 advance that they had received in February 2005 to buy weapons needed to pull off the job, the hit men used this money to cover their personal expenses, according to the report.

Fearing retribution from Elson for taking his money without carrying out the contract, the hit men decided to cooperate with Ukrainian law enforcement and turned over the tapes they had made of their meetings with Roytman as insurance, according to the FBI.

Elson had given them a deadline of March 15 to kill one of the brothers. The Justice Department report said that at the direction of Ukrainian law enforcement, on March 14, one of the hit men told Elson in a recorded telephone conversation that Vyacheslav Konstantinovsky had been killed as promised. They then hid Vyacheslav and had his brother, Oleksandr, file a missing person’s report.

When Elson arranged to make a payment to the men, he was instructed to pay an associate in New York and was videotaped giving $30,000 in cash to an undercover NYPD agent posing as the associate.

According to a report by The Associated Press, investigators believe that Elson himself has been the target of several murder attempts connected to the case. Investigators also told The Associated Press that Elson may have wanted to take over the Konstantinovsky brothers’ businesses, including a major Ukrainian bank, the FBI’s arrest warrant application said.

No connection to ‘nut case’

The Konstantinovsky brothers, who spoke with the Post on March 27 in a posh lounge bar in a five-star Kyiv hotel, didn’t appear shocked by the recent events, although they did say that this was the first attempt on their lives.

The brothers founded and are the top managers of the Kiev-Donbass group of companies, which includes the CarteBlanche restaurant group and Puzata Khata chain of fast-food restaurants. The group also has interests in construction.

Vyacheslav, the brother who was made to disappear, refuted media reports claiming he was sent to a well-protected “secret place” by the police.

“I simply stayed at home for two weeks and watched all the soap operas on TV. I also ate a whole bucket of sunflower seeds,” he said.

The other brother, Oleksandr, denied that either of them has ever known Elson. Both brothers admitted to knowing Roytman, however, and Oleksandr didn’t think twice when describing him as “a nutcase with paranoia, who has already been to a mental hospital several times.”

“Taking over the business in such way is simply the product of his sick imaginationm,” he added.

Oleksandr said that the last time he and his brother met Roytman was about five years ago, but denied that Roytman had ever worked for them, as the FBI claims. The brothers also denied having any joint business interests with either Elson or Roytman.

The brothers also said that they did not have a banking business, as also cited in the FBI’s report. They said that the confusion likely stems from Index Bank owning office space in the Kiev-Donbass building. However, Oleksandr said that the Kiev-Donbass group and Index Bank do have common shareholders.Ironically, the same day that Elson and Roytman were arrested in New York, France’s Credit Agricole announced its purchase of 98 percent of Index Bank’s shares.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...d-jet.html

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http://rt.com/news/177472-ukraine-soviet-drone-down/

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http://rt.com/op-edge/177136-stepashin-g...r-cameron/

British PM backs the Ukrainian Nazis and threatens Moscow with a new war’ – open letter to Cameron


David Cameron’s article in The Sunday Times, presenting unfounded allegations against Russia, marks a major escalation in the Ukraine crisis, seeking to pull the EU into a war against Russia.

Until now, the warmongering campaign was led by US politicians and European officials who encouraged the Ukrainian Nazis they brought to power in Kiev to commit mass crimes against the people of eastern Ukraine – in order to drag Russia into the hostilities.

It’s the first time the leader of a key European country has called for a war against Russia. Against this backdrop, the Ukrainian army launched an operation to annihilate Lugansk and Donetsk, along with their residents.

It’s déjà vu. Back in 1938, Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister at the time, tried to nudge and cajole European leaders into giving their blessing to the German Nazis’ campaign against the USSR. Likewise today, the current British prime minister unequivocally backs the Ukrainian Nazis, aggressively pushing his European counterparts to “fundamentally change our approach to Russia” and threatening Moscow with a new war. This letter is an attempt to avert a new world war.

Let’s take a closer look at your statements, Mr. Cameron.

1. Your claim that “the growing weight of evidence points to a clear conclusion: that MH17 was blown out of the sky by a surface-to-air missile fired from a rebel-held area” is unsubstantiated. On the contrary, every day we are seeing more evidence emerging that supports Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement made right after the crash that the plane was downed by Ukraine’s military.

Flowers and a teddy bear, left by parents of an Australian victim of the crash, laid on a piece of the Malaysia Airlines plane MH17, near the village of Hrabove (Grabove), in the Donetsk region. (AFP Photo / Bulent Kilic)Flowers and a teddy bear, left by parents of an Australian victim of the crash, laid on a piece of the Malaysia Airlines plane MH17, near the village of Hrabove (Grabove), in the Donetsk region. (AFP Photo / Bulent Kilic)

You must be aware of the clear evidence released by the Russian Defense Ministry (and earlier by a Spanish air traffic controller in Kiev and local eyewitnesses) that a Ukrainian fighter jet was in close proximity to MH17. The data on the build-up of air-defense systems and their increased activity around the crash site area, as well as the forced diversion of the plane from its regular flight path right into a trap set up by the Ukrainian army, clearly indicate that this crime had been planned well in advance.

The fabrication by Ukraine’s Security Service of allegedly intercepted phone calls to implicate the militia is even more glaring evidence that this crime was planned beforehand by the Ukrainian intelligence agencies controlled, as you well know, by the CIA. The sole purpose was to provoke European countries into going to war with Russia, which they planned to accuse of shooting down the plane. And you, Mr. Prime Minister, are part of this despicable provocation.

2. Relying on pseudo-facts, you put forward an unfair and illegitimate accusation, saying that “this is a direct result of Russia destabilizing a sovereign state, violating its territorial integrity, backing thuggish militias, and training and arming them. We must turn this moment of outrage into a moment of action.” But it was your actions, distinguished leaders of NATO member states, which led to this tragedy. You and your allies supported the armed uprising and the coup in Ukraine staged by nationalist groups.

You probably get reports on the massacres that the authorities you support carry out against civilians in Ukraine. If you are not aware of them, I strongly advise you to read the White Book on crimes in Ukraine. The blood of the women and children burned alive in Odessa, the blood of thousands of civilians killed in Mariupol, Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Lugansk, Donetsk and other Ukrainian towns and cities is on your protégés’ hands.

Ukrainian servicemen stand next to an armoured vehicle topped with a Ukrainian flag as they take up a position near the eastern city of Debaltceve, in the region of Donetsk (AFP Photo / Genya Savilov)Ukrainian servicemen stand next to an armoured vehicle topped with a Ukrainian flag as they take up a position near the eastern city of Debaltceve, in the region of Donetsk (AFP Photo / Genya Savilov)

You ignored reports of mass slaughter committed by the Ukrainian authorities – until your own nationals became its victims. Likewise, you have failed to bring up the daily shelling of cities in eastern Ukraine with cluster and white phosphorous bombs and deliberate destruction of essential public utilities. Now the Ukrainian authorities you are supporting have the blood of your citizens on their hands, too, after they lured the Malaysian plane into a trap and downed it. I am sure it will come as a surprise to you that the Ukrainian military are trained by American and European instructors, while the CIA takes part in planning punitive operations against the people of eastern Ukraine.

3.“If President Vladimir Putin stops the support to the fighters in eastern Ukraine and allows the Ukrainian authorities to restore order, this crisis can be brought to an end,” you insist. No doubt, in this case the end would simply mean annihilation or exile of all Ukrainian citizens who disagree with the ruling regime.

4. In saying the rebels do not represent the people of Ukraine, you act as an advocate of the Ukrainian authorities who simply deny dissenters the right to be called Ukrainian citizens. Basically, it means you support ethnic purges and killings of civilians. In this case, you push Kiev to commit more crimes.

5. “We should not need to be reminded of the lessons of European history.” Absolutely, Mr. Cameron. By making these sweeping accusations and fomenting a war, you seem to take upon yourself the right to pit nations against each other, to pass judgments on other countries and rule the world through lies and violence.

That’s exactly the behavior of your predecessors, Mr. Chamberlain and other Europeans leaders. They supported Hitler and pushed him towards a war against the USSR; they destroyed Iraq on a false pretext of weapons of mass destruction, and bombed Belgrade. Libya is a more recent example where you had your own role to play. Your crimes have claimed the lives of millions of innocent civilians, including the passengers of the jetliner that was shot down by your protégés, seeking to provoke a new wave of crimes against humanity.

A kiosk destroyed in the Ukrainian army's artillery attack on the town of Gorlovka, Donetsk Region (RIA Novosti / Mikhail Voskresenskiy)A kiosk destroyed in the Ukrainian army's artillery attack on the town of Gorlovka, Donetsk Region (RIA Novosti / Mikhail Voskresenskiy)

I do agree with you that we must conduct a full investigation into the accident. Just as you have requested, Russia has made fully available its own data related to the accident, and assisted in collecting evidence and searching for the bodies.

We handed this data over to your experts, who will hopefully conduct an unbiased probe into the real cause of the crash.

We hope you will find out why the Ukrainian authorities are hastily deleting all the data from the radars deployed along the plane’s flight path, and get the testimony of Ukraine’s air traffic controllers who are forbidden to make any statements on the issue by the Ukrainian Security Service.

Finally, you’re saying that we must establish proper, long-term relations between Ukraine, the EU and Russia and that the path for the future now depends on how Russia responds to this tragedy. The Russian leadership has responded in exactly the way that you’ve requested. We are calling upon the warring parties to immediately stop the hostilities and begin negotiations.

Actually, this is exactly what Russia did during the anti-terrorist operations in the Chechen Republic.

We apologize for the strong language but we’ve really had enough.

Sergey Stepashin

Prime Minister of Russia, 1999

Interior Minister of Russia, 1998

Justice Minister of Russia, 1997

Head of Federal Security Service, 1994-1995

Sergey Glazyev

Full Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Aide to the Russian President

http://rt.com/op-edge/177136-stepashin-g...r-cameron/

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EU ‘quietly’ lifts ban on supplying Kiev with weapons and technology – Russia
Published time: August 02, 2014 10:02
Edited time: August 02, 2014 16:35 Get short URL

The European Union has “quietly” agreed to lift restrictions supplying Kiev with military technology and equipment which can be used for the “repression” in the country, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"During a recent meeting of the Council of Europe in Brussels, leaders of EU member states agreed 'on the quiet' to remove restrictions on exports to Kiev of equipment that could be used for internal repression," the ministry said in a statement on its website. "Exports of military technologies and equipment were also allowed."

Moscow slammed the move as "contradicting the rules of military technologies and ammunition exports which have been earlier applied by the EU" and also "pierced" by double standards.

‘Situation atrocious’: Russian Red Cross says E. Ukraine faces humanitarian catastrophe

The EU approved its rules for controlling the export of weapons and ammunition on December 8, 2008. Criterion #3 calls on the EU member countries to stop issuing export licenses for military equipment and technologies that can provoke or prolong conflict.

A woman is seen outside a residential building destroyed in an artillery attack by the Ukrainian army on Lugansk.(RIA Novosti / Valeriy Melnikov)A woman is seen outside a residential building destroyed in an artillery attack by the Ukrainian army on Lugansk.(RIA Novosti / Valeriy Melnikov)

The decision to restart issuing licenses for special military equipment exports came despite the continuing “anti-terrorist operation” in eastern Ukraine, the ministry said.

“It is obvious why the EU is ignoring indisputable facts of shelling of Russian territory [in the southwest Russian region of Rostov] from the Ukrainian side: the perspective of feeling your own involvement in such actions creates certain discomfort in Brussels,” the statement said.

The ministry called upon its European counterparts “to follow logic,” not the "prodding" from Washington.

“The decision to limit the supply of ammunition and weaponry to Ukraine should have been introduced after the launch of the so-called ‘anti-terrorist operation’ in the Donbas and Lugansk Regions. It is not too late to restore the ban,” the ministry said.

Donbas, a historical, economic and cultural part of eastern Ukraine, includes the northern part of the Donetsk Region and the south of the Lugansk region.

Over 30 civilians killed during two days of shelling in Gorlovka, E. Ukraine (VIDEO)

The restrictions were introduced by the EU Council in February when Viktor Yanukovich was the country’s president and there was a severe confrontation between Maidan protesters and police.

“Then the EU decided that it was ‘wrong’ to supply ‘Yanukovich regime’ with weapons,” Moscow pointed out.

The restrictions were first introduced by the European Council in February 2014 when Viktor Yanukovich was the country’s president and there were violent clashes between Maidan protesters and police. “Then the EU decided that it was ‘wrong’ to supply ‘Yanukovich regime’ with weapons,” the ministry said.

AFP Photo / Genya Savilov AFP Photo / Genya Savilov

Kiev’s so-called “anti-terrorist operation” in the eastern regions of Ukraine has intensified lately. The most recent crackdown was in the village of Gorlovka, in the Donetsk Region. It resulted in 31 civilians being killed there.

According to UN figures, at least 1,129 people have been killed and nearly 3,500 wounded in eastern Ukraine since the start of the operation in April. Also, 100,000 people have been forcibly displaced.

The UN report said that the cause of the rising death toll is intensified artillery shelling of civilian residential areas and so-called “collateral damage” in heavily-populated areas.

http://rt.com/news/177552-eu-kiev-weapons-export/

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http://en.itar-tass.com/world/743288

http://en.itar-tass.com/world/743321

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http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/02/us/us-...?hpt=hp_t1

Washington (CNN) -- The Cold War aerial games of chicken portrayed in the movie "Top Gun" are happening in real life again nearly 30 years later.
A U.S. Air Force spy plane evaded an encounter with the Russian military on July 18, just a day after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was downed by a suspected surface-to-air missile that Ukraine and the West allege was fired by pro-Russia rebels in eastern Ukraine.
The RC-135 Rivet Joint fled into nearby Swedish airspace without that country's permission, a U.S. military official told CNN. The airplane may have gone through other countries' airspace as well, though it's not clear if it had permission to do so.
Russians push Cold War talk
The U.S. plane had been flying in international airspace, conducting an electronic eavesdropping mission on the Russian military, when the Russians took the unusual action of beginning to track it with land-based radar.
The Russians then sent at least one fighter jet into the sky to intercept the aircraft, the U.S. official said Saturday.
The spy plane crew felt so concerned about the radar tracking that it wanted to get out of the area as quickly as possible, the official said. The quickest route away from the Russians took them into Swedish airspace. The U.S. official acknowledged that was done without Swedish military approval.
As a result of this incident, the United States is discussing the matter with Sweden and letting officials know there may be further occurrences where American jets have to divert so quickly they may not be able to wait for permission.
"We acknowledge a U.S. aircraft veered into Swedish airspace and will take active steps to ensure we have properly communicated with Swedish authorities in advance to prevent similar issues before they arise," the U.S. State Department said.
The incident was first reported by the Swedish news agency Svenska Dagbladet.
Russian officials did not provide any immediate reaction about the encounter.
This was at least the second potentially-dangerous encounter between a U.S. plane and Russia over the past few months. On April 23, a Russian Su-27 Flanker fighter jet buzzed within 100 feet of the nose of a U.S. Air Force RC-135U reconnaissance plane over the Sea of Okhotsk between Russia and Japan, a Defense Department official said.
Russian fighter jet nearly collided with U.S. military plane in April
Russian and U.S. aircraft often encounter each other, both in Northern Europe as well as the area between the Russian Far East and Alaska. But the official said the land radar activity by the Russians in this instance was unusual.
The ongoing civil unrest in Ukraine and the downing of MH 17 over eastern Ukraine on July 17, which killed all 298 people aboard, have heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was brought down by a suspected missile.
Pro-Russia rebels have denied allegations from Ukraine and the West that they shot down the Malaysian airliner, or that Russia supplied equipment used to shoot it down.

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Complicity in genocide’: Russian MP slams US collaboration with Ukraine National Guard
Published time: August 03, 2014 03:39
Edited time: August 03, 2014 04:33 Get short URL
Ukrainian servicemen of the National Guard (AFP Photo / Genya Savilov) Ukrainian servicemen of the National Guard (AFP Photo / Genya Savilov)
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US steps to increase military cooperation with Ukraine, providing its National Guard arms and training amid Kiev’s military operation, can be considered complicity in war crimes, Russian MP Irina Yarovaya believes.

“In a situation, when the National Guard of Ukraine is leading punitive operations in the Donbass, the US promises to allocate $19 million for training and equipping this military structure – which also includes militants of the ultra-nationalist organization Right Sector – can be considered a direct financial and organizational complicity of the US in the genocide of civilians in south-east of Ukraine, as well as war crimes,” the head of Russia’s Lower House committee for security and countering corruption, Irina Yarovaya, told the press.

READ MORE: California and Ukraine National Guard gear up for military collaboration in 2015

The Obama administration officially informed Congress on Friday of its plans to train and equip the Ukrainian National Guard.

“The Defense Department and State Department have notified Congress of our intent to use $19 million in global security contingency fund authority to train and equip four companies and one tactical headquarters of the Ukrainian National Guard as part of their efforts to build their capacity for internal defense,” Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said.

Servicemen of Ukrainian National Guard (AFP Photo / Alezander Khudoteply)Servicemen of Ukrainian National Guard (AFP Photo / Alezander Khudoteply)

In the meantime, Moscow is concerned that the European Union has “quietly” agreed to lift restrictions on supplying Kiev with military technology and equipment which can be used in the “repressions” in the east of the country.

“During a recent meeting of the Council of Europe in Brussels, leaders of EU member states agreed 'on the quiet' to remove restrictions on exports to Kiev of equipment that could be used for internal repression,” Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website.

It seems that the arm-twisting from Washington has finally succeeded and the European Union has ceased to be an autonomous or even semi-autonomous “foreign policy actor” in its own right, at least in terms of the Ukrainian crisis, foreign affairs analyst Srdja Trifkovic told RT.

“The US is effectively dictating the terms of the EU foreign policy, and is in fact present on the European continent as a key architect of the security situation, to a greater extent than at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962,” Trifkovic said.

People cross a damaged bridge with their car on August 1, 2014 near the village of Debaltseve, in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine. (AFP Photo / Genya Savilov) People cross a damaged bridge with their car on August 1, 2014 near the village of Debaltseve, in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine. (AFP Photo / Genya Savilov)

The United States also pledged about $8 million in new aid to bolster the Ukrainian Border Guard Service, apparently to cut what western officials often refer to in their public comments as a flow of Russian weapons. However, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said this week that the United Nations did not possess any “firm evidence” that Russia supplied anti-Kiev forces with weapons, Itar-Tass reported. And this remark was ignored by the western media as “not fitting the “purposeful campaign of disinformation, which aims at trying to shuffle off the responsibility for the events in Ukraine onto Russia,” Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out.

Although the US plan requires Congressional approval, this is expected to be forthcoming judging by the level of anti-Russian rhetoric coming from US legislators. Moscow has already highlighted the apparent efforts by the US to spin and distort facts to provide the media with anti-Russian “propaganda brew,” with Foreign Ministry slamming the US over its double standards on Friday.

http://rt.com/news/177620-us-arms-ukraine-russia/

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www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28637569

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...eapon.html

http://rt.com/news/177708-nato-exerting-pressure-mh17/

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/08/04/...civilians/

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Kiev deploying missile launchers, multiple rocket systems near Donetsk - Moscow
Published time: August 04, 2014 14:00
Edited time: August 04, 2014 16:11 Get short URL
FILE: Tactical Operational Missile Complex "Tochka" (RIA Novosti/Igor Zarembo)
FILE: Tactical Operational Missile Complex "Tochka" (RIA Novosti/Igor Zarembo)
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Kiev keeps deploying missile launchers, including SS-21 (Scarab) and multiple rocket systems Uragan and Smerch in Donetsk as it “wants to continue the war” in eastern Ukraine, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“The Ukrainian army continues deploy Tochka U [which NATO refers to as SS-21 or Scarab], Smerch [the BM-30 Tornado] and Uragan [the BM-27] missile complexes to Donetsk. How many more lives will this weapon take? However, the Kiev authorities, it seems, are no longer concerned about the lives of civilians, military and militias. Kiev wants to continue the war,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in its statement, which was posted on its website.

Representatives of the Donetsk self-defense forces have also said that the Ukrainian army is “trying to close in on Donetsk, aiming its strikes on Krasnogorovka and Mariynka, which remain under militia control.”

In July, Human Rights Watch accused the Ukrainian army of using Grad missiles to attack densely populated areas in Donetsk.

In its statement, issued July 25, the rights organization said that its “investigation on the ground strongly indicates that Ukrainian government forces were responsible for the attacks that occurred between July 12 and 21,” despite the fact that “Ukrainian government officials and the press service of the National Guard have denied using Grad rockets in Donetsk.”

The ministry stressed that Kiev’s “punitive operation,” which it is carrying out with “the Western regime sponsors’ incitement,” is claiming the lives of innocent civilians and leaving a “significant number of injured.”

“The humanitarian situation is deteriorating in the region,” the Foreign Ministry said. “Despite Russia successive appeals to the Ukrainian authorities and international organizations to take urgent joint action with regard to the humanitarian disaster and sufferings of the people in the southeast of the country, very little has changed there,” it added.

Kiev is also continuing its crackdown on Russian journalists who have come to the region to cover the situation in eastern Ukraine. The ministry was referred in particular to a recent case when Alina Eprimian, a producer for RT’s video agency Ruptly, was deported from the country.

“The reporter was accused of an attempt to destabilize the situation in the country while shooting [her story] at one of the protests against the mobilization [of the Ukrainian army] in Trans-Carpathia,” the ministry said in its statement.

RT’s video agency producer kicked out of Ukraine

The ministry has stressed the necessity of an “immediate” ceasefire in eastern Ukraine and the “start of negotiations to resolve vital issues of the further state structure of the country.”

The ministerial statement comes as violent clashes are continuing in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

In Ukraine, the town of Pervomaysk, one hotspot in the Lugansk Region, is running out of resources due to heavy shelling. One of the recent attacks, on August 2, left the town without gas and water supplies, and without mobile phone connections. Hospital and kindergartens buildings were also damaged.

On the same day a school in Donetsk was targeted, killing one man and one woman.

“In Donbass, an exchange of prisoners and bodies of killed took place between the militias and the Ukrainian security forces. According to militia representatives, the bodies of three out of 12 victims showed signs of torture. In addition, most of the prisoners from militia units had broken bones and all the internal organs were damaged,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Meanwhile, the number of refugees seeking asylum in Russia is growing.

According to information issued Saturday by Russian authorities, “there are 39,265 people, including 12,735 children, living in 537 temporary shelters.”

The UN has estimated that at least 100,000 people have been forcibly displaced since the conflict in Eastern Ukraine began.

http://rt.com/news/177856-missile-rocket...s-ukraine/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/0...7E20140803

http://rt.com/news/177868-russia-air-force-exercises/

Russia’s air force has begun five days of large-scale military exercises in the south of the country. As the world’s attention is focused on the conflict in neighboring Ukraine, Russian military has stressed that the drills were scheduled last year.

“These air force and air defense exercises are taking place in accordance with military preparedness plans for 2014 approved last year,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement. “For the first time ever they will involve three military districts.”

More than 100 aircraft – including SU-27, SU-24, SU-34 and MiG-31 planes, and Russia’s array of military helicopters – are rebasing themselves from airfields in the north and west of the country, to create a massed force at the Ashuluk test site near Astrakhan.

From there they will carry out “multiple sorties that will take tactical and practical actions against ground and air targets, using electronic and live weapons in unfamiliar conditions.” The war games will “also work to improve cooperation between anti-aircraft units and airborne equipment.”

RIA Novosti/Pavel LisitsynRIA Novosti/Pavel Lisitsyn

At a later stage, airplanes and helicopters will conduct joint maneuvers, flying out from several different southwestern bases, in Armavir and Krymsk in Krasnodar region, Mozdok in North Ossetia and Morozovsk near Rostov.

In a parallel exercise in the Arctic Circle, MiG-31 and SU-34 jets will be refueled in-flight with the aid of the massive Il-78 air tanker, doubling their flight times from four to eight hours.



Much of the Western media has focused on Russia’s exercises on its Ukrainian border, but Ashuluk, their training hub, is more than 700 kilometers away from the conflict zone, and is in fact almost on the border with Kazakhstan in Central Asia.

Nonetheless, Russia has conducted a series of notable war games since the start of the political and later military crisis in Ukraine that began at the end of last year.

RIA Novosti/Pavel LisitsynRIA Novosti/Pavel Lisitsyn

In March and April the Russian military conducted separate mass ground exercises, which officials explicitly linked to the growing unrest in eastern Ukraine. In June, Russia conducted an “unplanned” test of combat readiness of recruits in its central district, which involved units numbering 65,000 soldiers. And just last week, Russia finished tactical maneuvers in the Rostov region bordering Ukraine, which incorporated simulated conflicts between ground troops and over 30 helicopters.

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https://twitter.com/ofehr_en/status/4958...28/photo/1

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/au...sia-rebels

Ukrainian army closes in on Donetsk as rebel fighters call on Russia for help
Advances by Ukrainian army lead to intense fighting as separatists renew calls for Moscow to send troops

Ukrainian troops patrol near the eastern Ukrainian city of Debaltseve in the Donetsk region. Photograph: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images
Fighting has raged on the western outskirts of Donetsk as the advancing Ukrainian army tried to seize control of the rebel stronghold.

The separatists, who are in danger of being encircled, have renewed their calls for Russia to send troops to their aid.

To support their operations, the pro-Russia fighters have been confiscating vehicles and food from residents and businesses in Donetsk. The centre of the major industrial city is all but deserted, with few people or cars on the streets and most stores and restaurants closed.

A spokesman for the Ukrainian military operation, Alexei Dmitrashkovsky, told Associated Press that government soldiers were fighting on Sunday to hold positions they had taken on the edge of Donetsk, but were meeting resistance.

In the part of the city closest to the fighting, an artillery shell hit a school overnight, but no one was reported hurt.

"The shell went through the roof and exploded inside the building, setting off a fire, but we still don't know who fired it," said Dmitry Levonchik, a 45-year-old coal miner. "Who needs this war? What are they fighting for?"

The sounds of gunfire and explosions were heard to the west.

Ukraine Donetsk
Pavel Gubarev, the self-proclaimed governor of the separatist Donetsk region, said the rebels would win quickly if Russia sent troops.

"Of course it would be great to see Russian peacekeepers here: strong artillery units, tank brigades," Gubarev said. "This war would be over in a day, maybe two."

Ukraine and western leaders say they have evidence that Russia is arming the separatists. Russia denies this and describes the Russian citizens fighting in eastern Ukraine as volunteers.

The ongoing battles had delayed the start of an international search for body parts still lying in the fields where Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down on 17 July, killing all 298 people on board.

Dutch and Australian experts were able to begin their search on Friday. Early on Sunday, the remains and personal belongings they had found so far were delivered in refrigerated trucks to the city of Kharkiv. The recovered remains will be checked there before being flown to the Netherlands.

Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, the head of the recovery mission, said in a statement late on Saturday that the entire area around a chicken farm near the village of Hrabove had been searched and the experts would move to other sites where aircraft wreckage was found. He previously estimated the search would take at least three weeks.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/au...sia-rebels