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I have just finished watching a very interesting panel discussion on the First Russian TV channel about the events in the Ukraine. The participants were a rather diverse mix of Russian and Ukrainian experts, all very strongly opposed to the nationalist insurgents but otherwise with a wide spectrum of opinions. The majority of the panelists, both from Russia and the Ukraine, were extremely critical of Yanukovich whom they blamed for
Sure enough. Yanukovich has backed down. Again. RT reports: Ukraine’s president, opposition agree to a truce. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich and opposition leaders agreed to a truce following a meeting which focused on how to end the crisis in Ukraine peacefully, the president’s press office confirmed. “Following the meeting, the parties announced: 1. Truce 2. The start of negotiations to end the bloodshed, to stabilize the situation in the country,
Written for the Asia Times As the dramatic events in the Ukraine are unfolding the topic of what President Yanukovich can, or can not do, regularly comes up and I think that this is a good time to go back to basics and look at what a government – any government, regardless of its political orientation – can and even must do when confronted with an urban armed insurrection.First, a
This pearl from the BBC and “Radio Liberty”: Ukraine’s “We are Europeans” movement urges the country’s Olympians at the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, to stop competing to show solidarity with the protesters, Radio Liberty reports. Nine policeman are killed, all of them by gunshots, and the “Ukrainian Europeans” want the athletes to disrupt the Games in Russia in solidarity with the gunmen who killed the cops.You got to admire
A full scale armed insurrection seems to be taking place in the center of Kiev. RT reports 7 dead policemen, 11 dead civilians. 135 cops have been hospitalized, 35 are in critical condition. A total of 221 people have sought medical attention, 114 of them were hospitalized. The offices of the Regions Party of Yanukovich have been torched. The opposition leaders are demanding a constitutional change and Yanukovich’s departure. Communist
RT reports:Russia is creating a new command for the armed forces to defend Russia’s strategic interests in the Arctic region, based on the present Northern Fleet Navy division and include various existing Arctic-based military units as well as new formations.The HQ will be named the Northern Fleet – Joint Strategic Command, and its main task will be to defend Russia’s national interest in the Arctic, the Itar-Tass news agency reported
Alexander Solzhenitsyn used to say that a single teaspoon of sea water can give you the taste of the ocean. This morning, I had a taste of a teaspoon of what I would call creeping Fascism, and I would like to share this experience with you.My wife has a business which requires her to go and see people at their homes. I drive her to the needed address and wait
Since nothing dramatic is going on (thanks God for that!), I can mention little things which want to share with you. This time, yet again, its the BBC which triggered my disgust. This is the BBC article about the airplane crash which took place in Algeria today: An Algerian military transport plane has crashed in the north-east of the country, killing all but one of the 78 people on board.
This morning I was watching the pairs figure skating when it suddenly hit me: the couples were always one man and one woman. How reactionary! After all, the homo lobby wants to be called the LGBT or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community. Okay. But then, there is also an “asexual” or “non-sexual” community out there. They even have a cool little website out there. According to Wikipedia, that community
Thanks for Karin for sending me the link to this great “confession” by Victoria Nuland (wife of Robert Kagan and former Hillary “spokesperson”):
Check out the subtle message of Google to Russia: The suggested notion is simple: Russia does not give the “possibility of practicing sport without discrimination” to homosexuals.Pathetic.The Saker
This is a conversation between two senior German diplomats: Helga Schmid, Deputy Secretary General for Catherine Ashton’s European External Action Service and Jan Tombinski, the EU ambassador to Ukraine.It goes like that: (my own quickie rough translation from German) Hello?This is Helga. I wanted to tell you in confidence that the Americans are going around saying that we are too weak and that their stance is stronger on sanctions. I
As foreign leaders have begun to arrive in Sochi, something quite unique happened at the arrival of Chinese President Xi Jinping. First, he was greeted by President Putin, like all the other heads of state, but then the two men left of a special communications room to speak with the senior commanders of the Russian and Chinese navies. The amazing thing was that this was a joint videoconference which saw
Today I just want to share with you my very real fears about either a terrorist attack or an “accident” of some kind in Sochi. What frightens me is that the list of potential “sponsors” for such an event is very long: the Saudis, of course, and their overt threats, but also the Anglosphere and it’s covert subcontractors of al-Qaeda and its affiliates worldwide. Less likely, but still possible, is
An anonymous commentator has just drawn my attention to this recording, and even though I am, of course, not sure that it is real, it is simply too good not to pass on. So with the usual caveat emptor, here is this gem: Now, is it really real? A sound recording of this type is really easy to fake, I could do that on my home computer using a sound
Yet another absolutely *excellent* CrossTalk show:
I normally don’t do movie reviews here, but after watching “The Fifth Estate” yesterday I felt that I ought to warn everybody that this is a crude hatchet job clearly aimed at maliciously slandering Julian Assange and, through him, his defiance of our “1%” overlords.A quick visit on Wikipedia showed me that there was some “controversy” around the movie. I will let you read that section yourself, but let me
According to the BBC Western leaders are having a great time in Munich: they are re-igniting the Cold War under the pretext of – what else? – “supporting democracy” in the Ukraine: European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said the “future of Ukraine belongs with the EU” while US Secretary of State John Kerry said the US backed Ukraine’s “fight for democracy“.(…) Mr Van Rompuy’s opening speech referred to the
