Merged Ukraine erupts in riots and general strike.

[LSSBB]

More juvenile whining. How goes the German saying? "Wie der Herr, so's Gescherr." Pepe Escobar:

Of course Russia is not Somalia, Somalia has no government, and Russia is spreading it's government to neighboring countries.

 

[jimbob]

I think she's saying that your view isn't "edgy alternative" in a punk-rock contrarian sort of way. You know, you aren't cool enough to be in her West-hating dictator hugging club.

Of course, that her view is whatever is spewed by the Kremlin contributes to it's "edgy alternativeness", as everything Russian is cool.

Except no doubt, Pussy Riot.

Which is somewhat ironic.

 

[uke2se]

Except no doubt, Pussy Riot.

Which is somewhat ironic.

I heard something about Caustic Logic trying to concoct a conspiracy theory that Pussy Riot is a George Soros plot. Anyone have any link to that? That would be highly amusing to read.

 

[jimbob]

I heard something about Caustic Logic trying to concoct a conspiracy theory that Pussy Riot is a George Soros plot. Anyone have any link to that? That would be highly amusing to read.

Google was my friend

Betty White has a good line about that, but "pounding" and is used. Worth looking up.

I still think Pussy Riot is more a Milli Vanilli for the George Soros crowd than real home-grown Anarchy in the USSR punk rock.

 

[uke2se]

Google was my friend

Well, that doesn't really sound like what I imagined. It seems more a case of his normal mistrust of anything anti-Putin.

I am disappoint.

 

[jimbob]

Well, that doesn't really sound like what I imagined. It seems more a case of his normal mistrust of anything anti-Putin.

I am disappoint.

His(?) "explanation" of his post would support your previous recollections (I think)

If you're lucky you don't even have to try.

Morrigan: What was hard to follow in that? Too young to know Milli Vanilli? Soros in context of OSI, meddling, etc. If you still need help, let me know.

 

[Childlike Empress]

Something happened tonight on Maidan, nobody is sure about the details yet. But the videos show that THEY showed up again. They who do only exist in Russian Propaganda: Hordes of real Nazis with torches and their Swastika-surrogates Wolfsangel and Cross-in-a-circle, marching on Maidan towards the Right Sektor headquarter, and then after a little thuggery spread all over the place. Must be filmed in some backyard studio in Moscow, eh John Kerry? Oh, I forgot he's anti-semitic himself now, so nobody will be surprised that he covered it up with denial for so long. Right folks?

 

[Belgian thought]

Something happened tonight on Maidan, nobody is sure about the details yet. But the videos show that THEY showed up again. They who do only exist in Russian Propaganda: Hordes of real Nazis with torches and their Swastika-surrogates Wolfsangel and Cross-in-a-circle, marching on Maidan towards the Right Sektor headquarter, and then after a little thuggery spread all over the place. Must be filmed in some backyard studio in Moscow, eh John Kerry? Oh, I forgot he's anti-semitic himself now, so nobody will be surprised that he covered it up with denial for so long. Right folks?

And your point is?

 

[uke2se]

And your point is?

Childlike Empress is busy knocking down straw men. Pay her no attention.

 

[eirik]

Childlike Empress is busy knocking down straw men. Pay her no attention.

He thinks you're John Kerry. Omg, please say you are!

 

[LSSBB]

And your point is?

I wonder if CE donates to Swiftboat Veterans for Truth.

 

[Childlike Empress]

Excellent Crosstalk episode with Stephen Cohen and John Mearsheimer. Incidentally they talk quite a lot about the problem illustrated in my new sig.

 

[LSSBB]

Excellent Crosstalk episode with Stephen Cohen and John Mearsheimer. Incidentally they talk quite a lot about the problem illustrated in my new sig.

RT

 

[uke2se]

RT

Of course. The only news source CE trusts is the Kremlin propaganda. Everything else is too "Westerny".

 

[carlitos]

You have to like "crosstalk" featuring two Putin apologists as the opposing sides.

 

[carlitos]

It’s all nonsense. There are no Russian units in eastern Ukraine, there are no Special Forces, there are no instructors. These are all local residents, and the best proof of this is that the people have literally removed their masks

Pro-Russian militiaman in Luhansk:

Pro-Russian activists in Donetsk:

 

[eirik]

No insignias. Even bikers show their allegiance, but not these guys. Just hanging out casually inn recently Russian army issued uniforms, wielding Russian army issued weapons.

 

[Belgian thought]

Excellent Crosstalk episode with Stephen Cohen and John Mearsheimer. Incidentally they talk quite a lot about the problem illustrated in my new sig.

And your point is?

 

[angrysoba]

Interesting side-story here.

On Thursday, while Ukrainian government troops began an attempt to disarm, arrest and if it came to it kill the heavily armed pro-Russian fighters who have taken over government buildings in the Ukrainian town of Slavyansk, Russian government troops carried out an almost identical operation in the Russian town of Khasavyurt, in the Caucasus. Ukrainian troops killed between one and five anti-government fighters in the course of their operation. Russian troops killed four anti-government fighters during theirs. I say ‘almost identical’, but in fact, while Ukrainian special forces were trying to clear anti-Ukrainian rebels from government buildings they had illegally taken over, Russian special forces killed four anti-Russian rebels in a private house. If they were rebels. In the version given by the Russian information outlet Vesti, a woman, described as an ‘accomplice’, was the first to open fire on the heavily armed Russian soldiers. They fired back, killing two men and two women; or rather, in the douce euphemism of the report, ‘they received injuries incompatible with life’. Another difference was in the way the events were reported. Vesti described the Ukrainian mission as a ‘punitive operation’ and the victims as ‘local inhabitants’. It described the Russian mission as ‘a special operation’ and the victims as ‘four fighters’. The headline adds cheerfully: ‘Children saved!’ The report is a little unclear, but it appears that the dead men and women were the children’s parents.

 

[angrysoba]

Pro-Russian militiaman in Luhansk:
[qimg]http://i.imgur.com/4Jg2TXo.jpg[/qimg]


Pro-Russian activists in Donetsk:
[qimg]http://i.imgur.com/hbBcTos.jpg[/qimg]

No insignias. Even bikers show their allegiance, but not these guys. Just hanging out casually inn recently Russian army issued uniforms, wielding Russian army issued weapons.

To be fair, they don't look like most people's idea of Russian special forces. And their "uniforms" look extremely un-uniform to me.

I'm not saying there are no special forces or other Russian troops in there, but those pictures don't look like evidence that they are.

I take it that these photos are from the article on the BBC where Ukraine's president is said to be "helpless":

Ukraine's acting President Olexander Turchynov has admitted his forces are "helpless" to quell unrest driven by pro-Russian activists in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Mr Turchynov said the goal was now to prevent the unrest spreading.

Activists have seized scores of government buildings and taken hostages including international monitors.

Mr Turchynov also said Ukraine was on "full combat alert", amid fears Russian troops could invade.

"I would like to say frankly that at the moment the security structures are unable to swiftly take the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions back under control," he said during a meeting with regional governors.

The events in Ukraine are increasingly like watching the proverbial train wreck in slow motion. Acting President Olexander Turchynov's admission that the government is "helpless" and has lost control over large parts of the country's east only solidifies that sensation.

Mr Turchynov said the focus now was to stop the unrest from spreading to other regions, especially Odessa and Kharkiv. So far these cities have seen some turbulence, but nothing on the level of what has happened in Donetsk and Luhansk.

The government's hope is to keep a lid on the situation until the 25 May presidential elections. That date now seems an eternity away, and one wonders if the government, or the country, will last that long.