Kiev Riots
Jason P
Posts: 19,138
Crazy that this situation is getting more media attention. It makes the Egypt uprising look like a trip to the beach as of now. See the link below for an explanation of what is behind it.
A Ukrainian Journalist Explains 10 Things The West Needs To Know About The Situation In Kiev
[Editor's note: This article was submitted to Business Insider by Taras Ilkiv, who felt that outsiders needed to understand these 10 things to really comprehend the situation in Kiev. Ilkiv is the Editor-In-Chief of Newsradio.com.ua, the website for Voice of Capital radio, and formerly an editor at Korrespondent.net. He is from Ivano-Frankivsk in Western Ukraine, and has lived in Kiev for the past seven years. The opinions expressed in this article are his own.]
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/understanding-euromaidan-2014-1#ixzz2rG2oUY1Q
A Ukrainian Journalist Explains 10 Things The West Needs To Know About The Situation In Kiev
[Editor's note: This article was submitted to Business Insider by Taras Ilkiv, who felt that outsiders needed to understand these 10 things to really comprehend the situation in Kiev. Ilkiv is the Editor-In-Chief of Newsradio.com.ua, the website for Voice of Capital radio, and formerly an editor at Korrespondent.net. He is from Ivano-Frankivsk in Western Ukraine, and has lived in Kiev for the past seven years. The opinions expressed in this article are his own.]
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/understanding-euromaidan-2014-1#ixzz2rG2oUY1Q
0
Comments
Protester stripped naked and abused by police. NSFW
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.aspx?from=&to=en&a=http://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2014/01/23/7010998/
And here is a live stream of the protests
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/euromajdan/pop-out
And more links about these events can be found here
http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/1vwshh/ukraine_revolt_livestream_sticky_post/cewjqb8
Maybe the Most Orwellian Text Message a Government's Ever Sent
http://motherboard.vice.com/en_ca/blog/maybe-the-most-orwellian-text-message-ever-sent“
Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.”
That's a text message that thousands of Ukrainian protesters spontaneously received on their cell phones today, as a new law prohibiting public demonstrations went into effect. It was the regime's police force, sending protesters the perfectly dystopian text message to accompany the newly minted, perfectly dystopian legislation. In fact, it's downright Orwellian (and I hate that adjective, and only use it when absolutely necessary, I swear).
But that's what this is: it's technology employed to detect noncompliance, to hone in on dissent. The NY Times reports that the "Ukrainian government used telephone technology to pinpoint the locations of cell phones in use near clashes between riot police officers and protesters early on Tuesday." Near. Using a cell phone near a clash lands you on the regime's hit list.
See, Kiev is tearing itself to shreds right now, but since we're kind of burned out on protests, riots, and revolutions at the moment, it's being treated as below-the-fold news. Somehow, the fact that over a million people are marching, camping out, and battling with Ukraine's increasingly authoritarian government is barely making a ripple behind such blockbuster news bits as bridge closures and polar vortexes. Yes, even though protesters are literally building catapaults and wearing medieval armor and manning flaming dump trucks.
Hopefully news of the nascent techno-security state will turn some heads—it's right out of 1984, or, more recently, Elysium: technology deployed to "detect" dissent. Again, this tech appears to be highly arbitrary; anyone near the protest is liable to be labeled a "participant," as if targeting protesters directly and so broadly wasn't bad enough in the first place.
It's further reminder that authoritarian regimes are exploiting the very technology once celebrated as a vehicle for liberation; last year, in Turkey, you'll recall, the state rounded up dissident Twitter users. Now, Ukraine is tracing the phone signal directly. Dictators have already proved plenty adept at pulling the plug on the internet altogether.
All of this puts lie to the lately-popular mythology that technology is inherently a liberating force—with the right hack, it can oppress just as easily.
Kiev is tearing itself to shreds right now, but since we're kind of burned out on protests, riots, and revolutions at the moment, it's being treated as below-the-fold news. Somehow, the fact that over a million people are marching, camping out, and battling with Ukraine's increasingly authoritarian government is barely making a ripple behind such blockbuster news bits as bridge closures and polar vortexes. Yes, even though protesters are literally building catapaults and wearing medieval armor and manning flaming dump trucks.
Hopefully news of the nascent techno-security state will turn some heads—it's right out of 1984, or, more recently, Elysium: technology deployed to "detect" dissent. Again, this tech appears to be highly arbitrary; anyone near the protest is liable to be labeled a "participant," as if targeting protesters directly and so broadly wasn't bad enough in the first place.
businessinsider.com/ukraine-protest-leader-claims-he-was-abducted-crucified-and-mutilated-2014-1
businessinsider.com/protestors-in-ukraine-fight-a-crackdown-2014-2
Looks that way
I googled the book for some reviews and would like to read a passage you think is fitting to offer.
Not to be lazy but this is a heavy busy week for me so rather than type out some excerpts here a few I found on line.
http://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=4588
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Imperium-Ryszard-Kapuscinski/dp/1862079609 (click on "look inside" and you'll get a good part of the first -and excellent- chapter)
Warning NSFL
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/28/headlines
Armed Men Seize Control of Airports in Crimea, Ukraine
Armed men have taken control of two airports in the Crimea region of Ukraine as tension escalates. The new Ukrainian government, which seized power last weekend, described the move as an invasion and occupation by Russian forces. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, which is based in the region, denied its forces were involved in seizing the airports. Crimea is the only Ukrainian region that has an ethnic Russian majority. It was a Russian territory until it was transferred to Ukraine in 1954, during the Soviet era. Protests have been held in Crimea condemning the ouster of Ukraine’s democratically elected president, Viktor Yanukovych.
Genadiy Vlasof, member of Russian Block Group: "The new authority in Kiev includes — not all of them, but some — people who were wearing masks and shouting, 'Moskals on the knife!' on the square, who fueled national anger, who are enemies of every Russian-speaking person on Ukrainian territory, who are realistically capable of using force to kill people living in south-southeastern Ukraine."
Yanukovych is now in Russia and is expected to hold a news conference today. Meanwhile, the United States is rejecting claims that the change in power in Ukraine constitutes a coup. On Thursday, White House spokesperson Jay Carney said Yanukovych had "abdicated his responsibilities" and "undermined his legitimacy" by fleeing Kiev. Carney outlined U.S. plans to work with the new government.
Jay Carney: When it comes to U.S. assistance, we are continuing to consider a range of options, Jim, including loan guarantees to support Ukraine economically. The next step is for the new government to resume talks with the IMF. And as the government engages the IMF, we will also begin taking steps in coordination with multilateral and bilateral partners as well as with the new government."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/01/putin-russian-troops-crimea_n_4880076.html
Putin Gets Permission To Move Russian Troops Into Crimea
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia's parliament granted President Vladimir Putin permission to use the country's military in Ukraine and also recommended Saturday that Moscow's ambassador be recalled from Washington over comments made by President Barack Obama.
The unanimous vote in an emergency session formalized what Ukrainian officials described as an invasion of Russian troops in the strategic region of Crimea. With pro-Russian protests breaking out in other parts of Ukraine, Moscow now could send its military elsewhere in Ukraine.
"I'm submitting a request for using the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine pending the normalization of the socio-political situation in that country," Putin said before the vote.
Putin's call came as pro-Russian demonstrations broke out in Ukraine's Russian-speaking east, where protesters raised Russian flags and beat up supporters of the new Ukrainian government.
Russia's move sharply raised the stakes in the conflict following the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Russian president last week by a protest movement aimed at turning Ukraine toward the European Union and away from Russia. Ukraine has accused Russia of a "military invasion and occupation" — a claim that brought an alarming new dimension to the crisis, and raised fears that Moscow is moving to intervene on the strategic peninsula where Russia's Black Sea fleet is based.
President Barack Obama warned Moscow on Friday "there will be costs" if Russia intervenes militarily. In Saturday's parliamentary session in Moscow, one Russian legislator said Obama had crossed a "red line" and the upper house recommended the Russian ambassador in Washington be recalled. It will be up to Putin to decide whether that happens.
In Crimea, the pro-Russian prime minister who took office after gunmen seized the regional Parliament claimed control of the military and police there and asked Putin for help in keeping peace, sharpening the discord between the two neighboring Slavic countries.
Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, said the election of the election of Sergei Aksyonov as prime minister of Crimea was invalid.
It was the latest escalation following the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Russian president last week by a protest movement aimed at turning Ukraine toward the European Union and away from Russia.
Ukraine's population is divided in loyalties between Russia and Europe, with much of western Ukraine advocating closer ties with the European Union while eastern and southern regions look to Russia for support. Crimea, a semi-autonomous region of Ukraine, is mainly Russian-speaking.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk opened a Cabinet meeting in the capital, Kiev, by calling on Russia not to provoke discord in Crimea.
"We call on the government and authorities of Russia to recall their forces, and to return them to their stations," Yatsenyuk was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "Russian partners, stop provoking civil and military resistance in Ukraine."
Obama once again threatened a foreign leader that if there is an invasion "that there will be costs...." Sounds like another empty threat like the one we heard in Syria.
I will offer my advice to president Obama. Let the European Union take charge in this so called problem. Stay out if it.
recidivist
noun
One who relapses: specifically: a habitual criminal.
Seriously???
One of the replies to the article I posted above mentioned this: "The bottom line for Putin and the rest of Russian power broker hierarchy is that 9 of the 15 former members of the U.S.S.R. are either approaching a crisis or are in the middle of one." There's definitely some major shaking going on over there. Will that unrest be contained to those regions and how much will spill over? I suppose time will tell. One thing for sure, I can't t even imagine what life is like over there. Very lucky to be here.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
It's in everyones interest to use diplomacy right not (which Obama is doing) to try and solve this before it could get much worse.
Like fortyshades said, Ukraine is the doorstop to Europe. We don't need to go back to post WW2 cold war b.s. like Putin seems to desire.
Read on:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/29/ukraine-fascists-oligarchs-eu-nato-expansion
In Ukraine, fascists, oligarchs and western expansion are at the heart of the crisis
The story we're told about the protests gripping Kiev bears only the sketchiest relationship with reality
Seumas Milne
The Guardian, Wednesday 29 January 2014
We've been here before. For the past couple of months street protests in Ukraine have been played out through the western media according to a well-rehearsed script. Pro-democracy campaigners are battling an authoritarian government. The demonstrators are demanding the right to be part of the European Union. But Russia's president Vladimir Putin has vetoed their chance of freedom and prosperity.
It's a story we've heard in one form or another again and again – not least in Ukraine's western-backed Orange revolution a decade ago. But it bears only the sketchiest relationship to reality. EU membership has never been – and very likely never will be – on offer to Ukraine. As in Egypt last year, the president that the protesters want to force out was elected in a poll judged fair by international observers. And many of those on the streets aren't very keen on democracy at all.
You'd never know from most of the reporting that far-right nationalists and fascists have been at the heart of the protests and attacks on government buildings. One of the three main opposition parties heading the campaign is the hard-right antisemitic Svoboda, whose leader Oleh Tyahnybok claims that a "Moscow-Jewish mafia" controls Ukraine. But US senator John McCain was happy to share a platform with him in Kiev last month. The party, now running the city of Lviv, led a 15,000-strong torchlit march earlier this month in memory of the Ukrainian fascist leader Stepan Bandera, whose forces fought with the Nazis in the second world war and took part in massacres of Jews.
So in the week that the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army was commemorated as Holocaust Memorial Day, supporters of those who helped carry out the genocide are hailed by western politicians on the streets of Ukraine. But Svoboda has now been outflanked in the protests by even more extreme groups, such as "Right Sector", who demand a "national revolution" and threaten "prolonged guerrilla warfare".
Not that they have much time for the EU, which has been pushing Ukraine to sign an association agreement, offering loans for austerity, as part of a German-led drive to open up Ukraine for western companies. It was Viktor Yanukovych's abandonment of the EU option – after which Putin offered a $15bn bailout – that triggered the protests.
But Ukrainians are deeply divided about both European integration and the protests – largely along an axis between the largely Russian-speaking east and south (where the Communist party still commands significant support), and traditionally nationalist western Ukraine. Industry in the east is dependent on Russian markets, and would be crushed by EU competition.
It's that historic faultline at the heart of Ukraine that the west has been trying to exploit to roll back Russian influence since the 1990s, including a concerted attempt to draw Ukraine into Nato. The Orange revolution leaders were encouraged to send Ukrainian troops into Iraq and Afghanistan as a sweetener.
Nato's eastward expansion was halted by the Georgian war of 2008 and Yanukovych's later election on a platform of non-alignment. But any doubt that the EU's effort to woo Ukraine is closely connected with western military strategy was dispelled today by Nato's secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who declared that the abortive pact with Ukraine would have been "a major boost to Euro-Atlantic security".
Which helps to explain why politicians like John Kerry and William Hague have been so fierce in their condemnation of Ukrainian police violence – which has already left several dead – while maintaining such studied restraint over the killing of thousands of protesters in Egypt since last year's coup.
Not that Yanukovych could be mistaken for any kind of progressive. He has been backed to the hilt by billionaire oligarchs who seized control of resources and privatised companies after the collapse of the Soviet Union – and fund opposition politicians and protesters at the same time. Indeed, one interpretation of the Ukrainian president's problems is that the established oligarchs have had enough of favours granted to an upstart group known as "the family".
It's anger at this grotesque corruption and inequality, Ukraine's economic stagnation and poverty that has brought many ordinary Ukrainians to join the protests – as well as outrage at police brutality. Like Russia, Ukraine was beggared by the neoliberal shock therapy and mass privatisation of the post-Soviet years. More than half the country's national income was lost in five years and it has yet fully to recover.
But nor do the main opposition and protest leaders offer any kind of genuine alternative, let alone a challenge to the oligarchy that has Ukraine in its grip. Yanukovych has now made sweeping concessions to the protesters: sacking the prime minister, inviting opposition leaders to join the government and ditching anti-protest laws passed earlier this month.
Whether that calms or feeds the unrest will be clear soon enough. But the risk of the conflict spreading – leading political figures have warned of civil war – is serious. There are other steps that could help defuse the crisis: the creation of a broad coalition government, a referendum on EU relations, a shift from a presidential to a parliamentary system and greater regional autonomy.
The breakup of Ukraine would not be a purely Ukrainian affair. Along with China's emerging challenge to US domination of east Asia, the Ukrainian faultine has the potential to draw in outside powers and lead to a strategic clash. Only Ukrainians can overcome this crisis. Continuing outside interference is both provocative and dangerous.