Something really interesting happened on Sunday in Kiev. As several times before, a group of about one hundred rioters stormed the building of the Energy Ministry which is located close to the Maidan square and city center. The heavily armed rioters rapidly overcome the building’s security service (which had orders not to shoot) and penetrated into the building which they immediately began to tear about. Then something really interesting happened: the Minister of Energy himself, Eduard Savitskii, came out and confronted the rioter. The scene was filmed by a bystander. This is the dialog shown in the video:
Savitskii: do you understand that you are threatening all our lives? Get the hell out of here!
Rioter: we need to control the activities of the ministry
Savitskii: according to the Ukrainian law I am the one in charge of this ministry and your actions are illegal! You have crossed the line, you have penetrated a high-security facility. Do you understand what it means to provide an entire country with energy? If you are a terrorist, just tell me, and I will deal with you like with a terrorist. I have all the reasons to treat you as a terrorist!
See the video for yourself:
Savitskii, a former coal industry worker, told the rioters to get out, and they complied. And that just goes to show what one strong personality can achieve even in the worst kind of situation. The example of Savitskii also shows the catastrophic role a personality like Yanukovich has had in this crisis who, by failing to show any leadership qualities at all, only ended up exiting and angering the rioters even more. Frankly, even I feel like throwing a brick each time I see his face, how could I blame other for feeling likewise?
The other lesson from this small side-event is that crisis situations to often create their own personalities and that it is possible that some strong and respectable leader will come out of the current chaos. There is only that long that a country can exist with no power at all, sooner or later somebody will seize power. I just hope that this “somebody” will be a decent and pragmatic person of courage.
The Saker
Saker:
do you get the impression this has much more to do with Russia then it should?
I saw some news articles, very strange, about sanctioning Russia along with Ukraine
head scratching stuff?
Then of course there is Sochi???
I am just turning this one around and around in my head…
Proves superbly how Fascist imbecility and depravity only get a chance of prevailing through massive foreign backing and open signs of weakness and confusion in the enemy camp. Spineless, clueless, and useless utter dwarfs such as Yanukovich serve as truly excellent “moral boosters” of fascism and imperialism.
Excellent display of courage and resolve, Mr. Eduard Savitskii!
“I just hope that this “somebody” will be a decent and pragmatic person of courage.”
Question: can an individual that seizes power, be one of integrity?
There is a saying that goes something like “The people that seek power are precisely the type of folks that should not have it.” A “catch-22” I think is the term.
Hi Saker, let us suppose that the Ukrainian President is “pro-russian” or pro-ruble, maybe he wants to split the country, so he may be hiding his true personality.
@Penny: do you get the impression this has much more to do with Russia then it should?
This is exclusivley about Russia. Nobody in the West gives a damn about the Ukraine itself. And its way bigger than Sochi – this is about not letting Russia reunite and this is a desperate attempt at weakening Russia has much as possible. As for the Ukrainian people, they are just used like expandable pawns.
@Nussiminen: Spineless, clueless, and useless utter dwarfs such as Yanukovich serve as truly excellent “moral boosters” of fascism and imperialism.
Yes, fascism literally “feeds” on the weakness and cowardly nature of corrupt folks like Yanukovich.
@SGQuestion: can an individual that seizes power, be one of integrity?
Not very often, I have to admit that. But there is bad, worse and better. Better a Putin, Nazarbaev or even a Lukashenko than a Yanukovich. But yes, when you say “the people that seek power are precisely the type of folks that should not have it” I can only grind my teeth, sigh, and agree. And yet, we have to keep fighting to keep the likes of Yanukovich *out* of power as there is a different between “bad” and “much worse”.
@:Chema Martinez:let us suppose that the Ukrainian President is “pro-russian” or pro-ruble, maybe he wants to split the country, so he may be hiding his true personality.
No, alas, the guy is known to be extremely corrupt and he is in bed with other oligarchs, and always remember that for three years he was the one pushing for signing a treaty with the EU. His role in causing the current crisis is absolutely HUGE, I am sorry to say.
Cheers,
The Saker
Is this merely Russia asserting a de facto suzerainty over Sevastopol? Could Sevastopol even conceivably make such a move without impetus from Moscow?
Well, they are terrorists. Mercenary terrorists.
It’s possible Yanukovich has a strategy that uses his weakness in some manner, but like the Saker I get the feeling he he doesn’t have a strategy at all. Hope that feeling is wrong. Personally, I would have chucked all those “protesters”, at least the hardcore ones, into Poland. Where they belong.
It is interesting the Syrian guv is taking a different track to their western terrorists. Perhaps Ukraine could pay attention to what the zionists did to Syria, because the way things are going, Ukraine could end up similarly devastated if decisive preventative action isn’t done soon.
вот так
This is the latest from the Syrian guv in the Geneva negotiations, that I alluded to above, which the zionist terrorist org rejected outright:
“Following is the full, exact text of the communiqué:
Basic elements for a political communiqué
1-Full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and inadmissibility to give up any part of its territory. Commitment should be made in order to restore all its occupied territories.
2-Rejection of all forms of dictate and foreign interference in the Syrian internal affairs directly and indirectly so that the Syrians decide the future of their country through democratic means and the ballot box as the Syrians are the ones who have the sole right of choosing their political system without compromising on any subject unacceptable to the Syrian people.
3-The Syrian Arab Republic is a democratic country on the basis of political pluralism, the rule of law and the independence of judiciary and citizenship and protecting national unity and cultural diversity of the components of the Syrian society and protecting public freedom.
4-Rejeciton of terrorism and combating it and rejecting all forms of extremism, racism, and takfiri Wahabi thinking and asking the countries to stop providing terrorist groups, supplying them with armaments, training, financing and providing them with information or financing for those and also stopping all kinds of media hatred incitement to perpetrate terrorist acts in accordance with international resolutions relevant to combating terrorism.
5-Preserving all state institutions and the country’s infrastructure and public and private properties and protecting them.”
From SANA
вот так
O man, that’s the kind of guy needed there. I do realize what the problem is.
Yet, since we agree this has everything to do with Russia, and Yanukovich is portrayed as the Russian puppet, then everything “bad” (= responding to provocations) he does will be blamed on Putin, not on him. That has been my point all along.
This man, however, showed that the order could be preserved without spilling blood. Kudos to the guy!
Hi Saker
yah, I get that this is really about Russia, but, some of the stuff was so blatant..
Why?
And this talk of sanctions?
Other then steal other peoples money- which is what banks do
What are they going to do- not take energy that comes from Russia via the Ukraine.
In this piece I have up the author mentions how the EU is stuck buying gas from Russia because of the sanctions on Iran
So, what is all this talk of sanctions and sanctioning Russia too
Are the Europeans willing to freeze in the dark?
I am freezing, but, have heat!
It’s been one heck of a cold winter where I live!
The great lakes are very nearly frozen..
I don’t know how Europe is faring, weatherwise, but the EU seems totally subservient to the edicts of the US
So much so that the EU seems insane and irrational..
Like this whole thing with the Ukraine
Me talking out loud and bouncing thoughts around….
Hello Saker,
I’d like your frank opinion on the corruption charges leveled against Russia concerning the Olympic-related construction in Sochi. It’s difficult to get past claims made by those with an agenda. Although I’m positive that there is definitely much corruption, how high up does it go and what measures has Putin or the Kremlin taken against such corruption?
C
@Anonymous: modern Russia is corrupt, that is a fact. To change that will take years, and will be a most difficult task. Putin, I really believe, is trying to fight corruption, but it is a fact that so far he has failed, even though I am not sure that anybody else could have done better especially by remaining within the rule of law. I did not hear any reports of some special corruption around the Olympics, but neither did I try to find or follow these reports. Sorry about this half-answer, but that is the best I can honestly say.
Kind regards,
The Saker
C – 27 January, 2014 20:45
About the Sochi Olympics:
Myths about Russia: Is Sochi that ‘bloody’ and expensive?
“The international media adopted the exaggerated price tag of $50 billion; “the highest in Olympic history”. This huge sum, whose sources can be traced back to the Russian anti-corruption “crusaders” with vested political interests, worked as a kind of perverted advertising for the games. If something cost that much, then it would probably make sense to watch it.
The truth is that the $50 billion figure does not stand up to even the mildest scrutiny, unless of course we count every road or airport built in Russia over the last 7 years as an indirect preparation for the Sochi Olympics. The Russian vice-premier, Dmitry Kozak, who was in charge of overseeing the work of Olympstroy, the umbrella group of companies running construction in Sochi, yesterday estimated the total expenses at 6.5 billion dollars. That’s 214 billion rubles in Russian money. Kozak also specified that only one half of this amount was provided by the state, the remaining 50 percent being represented by private investment.
This, of course, will do nothing to cool the hot heads of foreign correspondents, who have already chosen Sochi as one of the main targets for their pre-game criticism. Hopefully, the games themselves will provoke more positive than negative emotions.”
Like everything else about Russia in the western media, it’s mostly bernaysian/goebellsian propaganda. In fact probably most things in that media about any subject are likely false.
вот так
@ Penny
Concerning heating: No, up until four to five days ago there was no winter in Europe at all. It was rather like a mild autumn. Since then temperature dropped like a stone but the weather forecast for February says it will be mild again.
Gas from Russia comes along the Nord Stream pipeline:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Stream
Construction of the second line was completed in August 2012. Wikipedia fails to mention that the third and fourth line were completed and tested on 5th of December 2013. Since than 110 billions cubic metres of gas are transported via Nord Stream.
http://www.nord-stream.com/press-info/press-releases/nord-stream-final-load-test-successfully-completed-445/
I don’t think the EU would dare to try anything in Ukraine in the winter months without this. The population didn’t forget the gas disputes between Russia and Ukraine, especially the one in 2009.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia%E2%80%93Ukraine_gas_disputes
Sorry, Wikipedia doesn’t give the whole picture. It forgets to mention the whole bag of dirty tricks of Naftogaz and the then Ukrainian government. But I suppose EU politicians did not forget them. The EU population didn’t, that’s for sure.
I sometimes ask myself if some politicians of the EU want to take over (“integrate”) Ukraine only to take control of the pipelines leading through Ukraine:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Major_russian_gas_pipelines_to_europe.png
Just bouncing thoughts around… :-)
@ Penny
“EU seems totally subservient to the edicts of the US” – I don’t know. Take the example of Nord Stream: The USA hated the construction of Nord Stream pipelines and tried a lot of political manoeuvrings (using the Baltic states and Poland as sock puppets) to disrupt it. Same in Sweden: “Der US-Botschafter in Schweden, Michael M. Wood, forderte die Regierung in Stockholm in einem ganzseitigen Artikel in der Tageszeitung „Svenska Dagbladet“ auf, den Bau der Pipeline zu verhindern. … Die deutsche Regierung mochte die vorgetragene Absicht des US-Botschafters, Europa vor unsicherem russischen Erdgas bewahren zu wollen, nicht nachvollziehen und protestierte bei der US-Botschaft in Berlin gegen die Einmischung.”
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nord_Stream#Kritik_und_Interessen (Sorry, I found no English source for this story and it is not mentioned in the English version of Wikipedia).
And nevertheless the construction was completed.
Things are never one-dimensional straight line in the EU: “In Germany, members of the SPD have ties with Kremlin and Gazprom, including posts at company boards or party donations. Gerhard Schröder signed Germany into an agreement to build the Nord Stream pipeline, just before general elections. Schröder later received a post at Nord Stream AG. In addition, Germany’s policies have been accused of undermining human rights in Russia. Oleg Orlov, head of the Memorial human rights group in Russia, says that Schröder’s and Steinmeier’s policies on Russia have been “extremely bad for civil society, democracy and the country as a whole”.[24] An article published by the Financial Times Deutschland suggested that close ties may lead the world to view Russia’s human rights violations as Germany’s human rights violations.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia_in_the_European_energy_sector
Steinmeier became foreign minister again on 17th December 2013. Wait and see. I don’t trust Steinmeier but he always knows “where his bread is buttered”.