Ukraine SITREP for 24th May 2015 By Baaz

US vs Russia , The Ukraine ,Russia ‘s Near Abroad and US’s Fake Far Abroad plus The EU,Friends and Foes

• US Blinks in Face-Off with Russia ( Source)

After staring Russia in the face for the best part of a year, the poker-faced Americans finally realised they are holding a bunch of worthless cards. And the Americans blinked.

• Diplomatic Victory, and Affirmation, for Putin (From New York Times of all ) (Source)

For Russia, victory came three days after Victory Day, in the form of Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit this week to the Black Sea resort city of Sochi. It was widely interpreted here as a signal of surrender by the Americans — an olive branch from President Obama, and an acknowledgment that Russia and its leader are simply too important to ignore.

• Why the US is Finally Talking to Russia By Pepe Escobar (Source)

So a woman walks into a room… That’s how quite a few jokes usually start. In our case, self-appointed Queen of Nulandistan Victoria “F**k the EU” walks into a room in Moscow to talk to Russian deputy foreign ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Grigory Karasin. A joke? Oh no; that really happened. Why?

• Vasserman: The West finally understood that pressuring Russia will get it nowhere (Source)

Anatoliy Vasserman is a relatively well known Soviet, and currently Ukrainian, engineer, writer, and political advisor. In his view, the US fears a close economic partnership between Russia and China because it would spell the end of the dollar. Moreover, the West can’t exert pressure on Russia the same way that it can on, say, Libya or Syria–by sending in mercenary terrorists and/or bombers. Commenting on recent developments, Vasserman said that Poroshenko’s pledge to retake the Donbass Airport was inconsistent with the US-promoted notion that Ukraine was a helpless victim of Russian aggression–however, Poroshenko’s words and behavior are inconsistent with how a “victim” ought to look and act, which meant that relatively minor statement meant for a specific narrow domestic audience became a source of embarrassment for the US.

• Fateful Steps That Led to the Crisis in Ukraine (Part One) (Source)

• Ukraine Deceives Europe (Source)

A year and a half has passed since the well-known dramatic events took place in Ukraine. Having come to power the regime started to practice a kind of Newspeak, or fictional language. Misleading terms are routinely used to deceive people.

• Russia asks Riga to answer for controversial art installation (Source)

Russia’s Embassy in Latvia has sent a note to the country’s Foreign Ministry over an installation in Riga which features a crucified person

• Poroshenko’s political life hangs in the balance’ ( Source)

President Poroshenko of Ukraine is trying to walk a fine line between an extreme right fascist position to uphold for his political survival in Ukraine, and a more conciliatory tone he has to take internationally, says geopolitical analyst Eric Draitser

• Poroshenko signs decommunization law (Source)

Apart from that, the Ukrainian president also signed the laws on access to archives of the agencies of repression of the communist totalitarian regime for of 1917-1991

• Ukraine’s Poroshenko Wants Russians Interned in Prison Camps (Source)

Ukraine is a US-installed Nazi-infested fascist police state – waging war on its own people.

Criticizing regime policy is strictly forbidden. Anyone opposing state policies is targeted for elimination – by imprisonment or cold-blooded murder.

Free and open media don’t exist. Authorities want only their own views disseminated. Reporting hard truths on issues mattering most is criminalized

• Vandals smash Zhukov memorial plaque in Kiev (Source)

All participants in the incident were taken to the district police department. “On Saturday, young people wearing masks smashed a memorial plaque in honor of Marshal Georgy Zhukov. All participants in the incident were taken to the district police department,” the press service report says. “The group comprises residents of Kiev and the Kiev region. They are students aged between 14 and 18.” In all, 14 people were detained, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said.

Meanwhile, Verkhovna Rada’s deputy from the Ukraine’s Radical Party Igor Moseychuk famous for his involvement in several scandals interfered with the work of the law enforcers. The lawmaker wrote about this on the Facebook page. “Police detained activists. I had to lecture the cops on de-communization,” he wrote, calling Zhukov a “Ukrainophobe”.

• Kiev Recognizes Ultranationalist Nazi Era Collaborators as Freedom Fighters (Source)

Ukraine’s new law equates communism with Nazism. Poroshenko signed it on Friday.

It blatantly contravenes fundamental international law. It’s part of Kiev’s thinly veiled scheme to ban regime opposition.

Police states operate this way. Ukrainian ruthlessness increases with each new repressive act. Expect the worst to come.

• Kiev legalizes foreign “volunteers” and outlaws foreign “mercenaries” by Oleg Tsarev

Former Presidential candidate of Ukraine, Chairman of Novorossia Parliament (Source)

• OPG “Right Sector” and “Azov” Received Instructions for the Overthrow of the Junta (Source)

Last weekend, on the bases of radical groups “Right Sector” and “Azov” was a presentation of the book with a great name “Kiev City Junta.” These kinds of events are not widely reported in the Ukrainian media, which is not surprising

• Pyatt’s days in Ukraine numbered (Source)

The article predicts that Pyatt is not long for this world, given that his ambassadorship has had a record of total failure, and moreover his militant rhetoric only served to antagonize Russia and the Donbass militia. Therefore he would be a logical sacrifice to make as a sign that the US policy toward Ukraine (and Russia) is in fact changing.

• Poroshenko says there is no alternative to complete fulfilment of Minsk agreements (Source)

“This is a clear position coordinated with the United States and with our Normandy format partners – Germany and France,” Poroshenko said

• EU believes Kiev is deliberately delaying reforms (Source)

European media are showing growing impatience with the Kiev government’s slow pace of reforms, accusing it of using the continuing conflict on the Donbass as a pretext for doing nothing.

• Amsterdam district court gives Ukraine time till July to reply on Scythian gold case ( Source)

The Scythian gold exhibits were put on view at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam as part of the “Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea” exhibition in February 2014

• Mission Impossible: Poroshenko’s Bold ‘Four Ds’ Plan Doomed (Source)

Ukrainian President Poroshenko has presented his plan aimed at creating “a new, democratic, European Ukraine;” however, the question remains open if Poroshenko’s “Ukrainian Dream” will come true?

• Ukraine offers up a sales catalog (Source)

The Ukrainian government has adopted a list of properties to privatize in 2015. The list includes 285 assets, among them, 30 coal mines, including the Zassiadko mine of Donetsk.

• Glory to Ukraine No Money for Bribes? Kiev Police Now Accept Vodka ( Source)
• Ukraine Doubles Down, Uses Money Owed to Creditors to Fund War ( Source)

Sensing weakening Western support, Ukraine, under the cover of a debt moratorium, diverts money it owes its creditors to fund more war

• Ukrainian government approves privatization of more than 300 state-owned enterprises (Source)
• Ex-PM: Ukraine’s default is a culmination of a plan (Source)
• Liberal Ukraine Is a Basket Case, While Illiberal Russia and Belarus Have Flourished (Source)

The West often forces its institutions on developing countries, when they would be better off with their native ones.

• Why does Belarus have twice the GDP per capital of Ukraine (before the civil war)?

• Defanging the Ukrainian Oligarchs (Source)

Poroshenko, however, has proven himself to be a politician of compromise; he learned from his polarizing predecessors Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovych that division is not a viable approach to governance. The main actors on all sides of the battle with the oligarchs must surely understand that a third Maidan might finish off the country for good. Although reshaping the contract with the oligarchs is an important goal, Poroshenko and his government must work on developing a new social contract with the population, which, after all, was the main objective of the Maidan.

• Kiev’s Ongoing Aggression on Donbass by Stephen Lendman (Source)
• No people there, only terrorists’: Pro-Kiev governor eyes cutting road transport with rebel areas (Source)

There are no people there, only terrorists. Normal people have all gone to our side,” Moskal told a truck driver while studying cargo papers. “If you are feeding the terrorists, then you are aiding and abetting them.”

“But it’s all Ukraine. Nobody declared martial law here,” the driver argues.

“I banned everything from crossing except cars and pedestrians. And starting 12th there would be only pedestrians. Because of the likes of you,” the governor replies.

“Yesterday we detained 168 freighters, and they started rioting at the checkpoint and threatening me. I don’t give a f**k about your threats,” Moskal continues. “As for the beer, let them drink urine!”

• The Chilling Statistics of Ukrainian Police State (Info graphics) (Source)
• Ukraine’s capital to remove Soviet symbols by late August (Source)

The move follows the adoption of the controversial law that aims to ‘de-communise’ Ukraine. The law, which bans the use of both Soviet and Nazi symbols, was passed by the Ukrainian parliament on April 9 but has not been yet signed by President Pyotr Poroshenko. The law also envisages renaming scores of towns across Ukraine, as well as some 30,000 streets named after Vladimir Lenin, which may require at least $217 million.

• Kiev junta targets Ukrainian preschoolers with propaganda (Source)

A temporary lull in the combat zone, unfortunately, only means that the main efforts of the Kiev authorities are focused on other areas, for example, such as propaganda.

The easiest “prey” are youth and children whose psyche and consciousness less critically perceive everything broadcasted to them. Teachers and psychologists are sounding the alarm – a generation of zombies is being raised in the country, and parents remain one on one with this problem.

“On the eve of the Victory day we had a special parent meeting at the preschool. Subject – how and whom we honor this year considering the wishes of the Ministry. Of course, no St. George ribbons, no poems and songs about Victory, we were ordered to buy the red poppies symbols for 25 UAH. And most importantly – now, along with veterans of the Great Patriotic War and the Afghan veterans, we need to honor those who fought in the anti-terrorist operation as heroes”, — says Marina, a mother of a four year-old Vladik living in the Odessa region.

• Hard tackle: Polish rugby fans threaten to kill Ukrainian nationalists, return Lvov to Poland (Source)

Ukraine’s rugby team received a frosty welcome in neighboring Poland where local fans put up a banner, threatening to kill Ukrainian nationalists and demanding the city of Lvov to be returned to Poland.

“Take back Lvov. Kill Banderovites [followers of Ukrainian nationalist icon, Stepan Bandera],” the banner, written in both Polish and Ukrainian, read.

• Yatsenyuk not happy with the Lavrov-Kerry meeting in Sochi ( Source)

The list of Things Yatsenyuk is Not Happy With continues to grow…Yatsenyuk limited himself to saying that Sochi was not the best place for the meeting to take place, and that he “trusted” Kerry voiced his support for Ukraine to Putin and Lavrov.

• Treason! NATO is demanding Ukraine enter into talks with DPR/LPR (Source)

The NATO summit in Antaliya included a declaration, issued by Stoltenberg himself in a pretty categorical terms, that called not only on DPR/LPR but also on Kiev to fulfill Minsk Agreements, including the law on special status and local elections whose results Kiev must recognize

• Taste of Ukrainian patriotism: ‘Enforcer’ pub in Kiev serves ‘grilled rebels’ (Source)

A new nationalist-styled pub in the Ukrainian capital lures clients with a menu containing gastronomic jibes against political opponents of the ‘true patriots’ of Ukraine.

The pub has a special counter for those ‘enforcers’ who come for a drink with a ‘slave’.

• Kiev junta’s priorities in the event of defeat of Novorossia ( Source)

• Border fortifications will earn the UAF the Darwin Award (Source)

Since the industry can no longer manufacture armored vehicles in large quantities, fortifications are the new in-thing for the UAF. However, judging by this and other photos at the link, it’s like the UAF is preparing to refight Napoleonic Wars or something. Even in 1914 the bunker pictured above would have been considered a death trap. Hinges on the outside of the (somewhat) armored door, seriously???

• New Russian humanitarian aid convoy ready to travel to Donbass (Source)

The 26th humanitarian convoy of more than 100 vehicles will carry to the troubled Donetsk and Lugansk regions mainly foodstuffs, as well as essentials, construction materials and textbooks

• Strelkov: Poroshenko is a puppet, just like Zakharchenko, Pushilin, and Purgin (Source)

Modern Ukraine RIP (Born 1991- Died 2014) (Source)

Due to the political passivity of the Communist Party of Ukraine and without a solid political party or movement offering a socialist alternative, in February 2014 the Euromaidan liberals were quickly swept aside by armed far right organisations. The working class of Ukraine, the unemployed, the retired, those who fought fascism in the 1940s, have been betrayed.

• Deconstructing the Ukraine War: The Players and Their Interests (Source)
• How the Donbass is coming back to life (Source )

• Nazism of Ukraine’s Western-Backed Government Is Hidden by Western ‘News’ Media

(Source)

How much of this, which has been shown in Russia and in other countries that aren’t yet controlled by the U.S., has been shown also on the nightly ’news’ in the West, and reported in ‘news’papers such as The New York Times, and the Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung — ‘news’ organizations that deny these realities, whenever they’re brought up, but that can provide no counter-evidence and therefore prefer to ignore altogether these realities, even while claiming to ‘report the news’?

But how else can democracy be killed, than by such a coordinated campaign to hide reality and deceive the masses? After all, what you’ve just now seen documented here is “Leftist.” But it’s also reality. So: fascist regimes need to hide it.

And, similarly, how much coverage, and how much public discussion and debate, occurred about the Obama regime’s having made the U.S. one of only three nations in the entire world that voted in the U.N.’s General Assembly against a resolution condemning the recent rise (in unnamed nations) of racist fascism and ethnic cleansing, and of Holocaust-denial? (Ukraine and Canada were the other two nations.)

News-cleansing fits well with ethnic-cleansing.

• This US Investor Lost $3 Billion in Ukraine. Watch His Hilarious Video Explaining It (Source)

• Only 0.06% Ukrainian school-leavers demonstrate excellent command of Ukrainian (Source)

“Only 158 schoolchildren out of 300,000 have managed to score 200 points in the basic-level test”, Igor Likarchuk, the director of the knowledge testing centre, said

• Ukraine President “Porky” Poroshenko is cooked. US Media exposes $25 million land deal cover up (Source)

Grab your knives and forks folks…some tasty Porky is about to get cooked! Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has published a report on Ukraine’s putsch President Poroshenko, revealing how he used presidential influence to quietly appropriate historic sites and bury subsequent inquiries.

• German state TV not buying what Poroshenko is selling (Source)
• US is leaving Ukraine because they realized Ukrainians can’t fight (Source)

Ukrainian Anti-Maidan  journalist Yuriy Kot argues that the 173rd Airborne didn’t go to Lvov to train the UAF but to inspect it, and the results of that inspection were uninspiring. The US learned that the UAF can’t, won’t, and doesn’t know how to fight. It is an assessment that rings awfully true, because the timing and scope of the US training mission suggested either a token effort by the US or, well, a desire to assess the UAF first-hand. It was evident from the start Poroshenko wanted to impress his US guests, so if these woefully untrained soldiers was the best that the UAF had to offer, it was hardly a military that could be entrusted with US weapons, no matter what the US Congress thinks of the matter. It seems like more than a coincidence that Kerry’s trip to Sochi took place shortly after news reports on UAF’s poor state appeared in US media

• Ukrainians’ FB posts deleted because of hate speech, not ‘Russian trolls’ – Zuckerberg (Source)
• Ukraine to honor groups that killed Jews in World War II (Source)

New law outlaws the display of Nazi and Communist symbols but another law requires that nationalist groups involved in the killings of Jews and Poles be honored

• Even Game Theory Confirms It: Only Russia Can Win in Ukraine by Alexander Mercouris (Source)

Game Theory analysis confirms what we have been saying all along: In Ukraine, Russia holds all the strong cards.The Western aim of a unitary Ukraine inside the EU and NATO and allied against Russia

• Poland has new problem with Kiev (Source)

Poland’s ambassador to Ukraine Henryk Litwin said that Kiev’s “de-communization campaign” harms the dialogue between the two countries by promoting the memory of OUN-UPA nationalists and even raising them to the level of national heroes. Moreover, as Russian historian Oleg Nazarov points out, the relationship is liable to get even worse, as Ukraine’s academics are feeling the pressure to toe the party line and rewrite history books in accordance with the new nationalist dogma. To be sure, Poland’s sudden realization of the ideological nature of the Maidan Revolution has more to do with Ukraine’s disappointment in Poland’s hopes for economic expansion into its eastern neighbor.

• The most googled product in Russia – MIG, in Ukraine – prostitutes (Source)

• Ukraine’s Ultra-Nationalists Try to Stir up Discord in Crimea and Fail (Source)

A fighter of notorious ultra-nationalist battalion Azov confessed that he came to Crimea to provoke discontent among local Tatars, Crimea’s Deputy Prime Minister Ruslan Balbek said

• Alekander Zakharchenko sums up one year since independence vote in Donetsk (Video)(Source)

Excerpt from comments by Alekander Zakharchenko, Prime Minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic,

Last year, on 11 May, we declared our independence. A year ago, our people unanimously said “yes” to freedom and independence. I’d like to sum things up.

We are still an unrecognised Republic, but no one can force us to turn from the path we’ve chosen. We’re an established state now; we’ve shown the world that not only can we defend our freedom by force of arms, but also that we can build a country, one that could fulfil our dreams.

The previous government [in Donetsk] didn’t differ from any other in the other regions of Ukraine. The only thing that it did for the people was to give empty promises, which people believed at first.

Indeed, 11 May saw our first national referendum. The people gave a firm “no” to slavery and fascism. Immediately after the referendum, we had to deal with constructing our new state. If it were not for Kiev’s decision to throw troops, aircraft, and armoured vehicles at us, we would have very quickly redirected the region’s energies to economic development, provided for a budget, and solved many things that we had to postpone because the war began. War brings death to ordinary civilians; it destroys homes, schools, and hospitals. It’s impossible to estimate our human losses, but we can estimate our economic losses.

During the summer and autumn of 2014, 70 percent of enterprises had shut down or found themselves in deep trouble, but we’re taking steps to help them now.

After the Minsk Agreement on 5 September 2014, we had to fight a series of military campaigns, and I want to emphasise that we endured them with honour. By signing these agreements, we said to Kiev, “We don’t want to solve the problem with military means, but with diplomatic and peaceful efforts”.

Our task as a government is to build a relationship with Kiev, not as a part of the Ukraine, but as an equal partner, as an equal neighbour. We must ensure that Kiev respects our independence. We’re an independent state – the Donetsk People’s Republic.

The territory of our republic now under the control of the Ukrainian forces is under illegal occupation, we must liberate it. I’m willing to consider any proposals to resolve the issue peacefully. A peaceful resolution of this would be a huge victory for all of us.

I want to emphasise that we intended all the events that took place during this year to protect the life of our citizens.

I pay tribute to the heads of DPR ministries and departments for their part in reconstructing our infrastructure. I also express my special gratitude to the citizens, the government, and the President of the Russian Federation for their invaluable assistance

• Donetsk suffers massive Ukrainian shelling night of May 18-19, 2015 (Videos) ( Source)

• Ukraine’s Geopolitical Spillover Officially Makes it to Afghanistan (Source)

Russia’s closure of the NDN marks the end of an era

• We’ll never be brothers ( Source)

Maksim Sokolov argues that Russia and Ukraine will never be brothers because, unlike brothers, they are really one and the same creature, just as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are one and the same individual. Which means this is not a conflict between two sovereign states but rather conflict over national identity of the Russian people, with Ukraine laying a claim to Russia’s heritage and accomplishments rather than trying to stake out its own independent identity.

Sokolov also notes that Galicia (“Ukraine’s Piedmont”) is nowhere to be seen on the political scene anymore and that even in Russia itself the so-called “liberal opposition” was busy promoting the idea of Ukraine as Russia 2.0, a “new and improved”, “Europeanized” and “de-imperialized” version of Russia that would meet with the approval of the West and which would present the Russia 1.0 with a choice of either joining Ukraine or perishing.

What Sokolov doesn’t mention that, at the time, much of the US reporting on the Maidan Revolution were positively salivating at the prospect of Ukraine’s unrest spreading to Russia. Of course, that was about a year ago…The fact that even outlets like Novaya Gazeta are looking on the Ukrainian project with skepticism, even criticism, suggests the outcome of that particular round of struggle is already in sight.

• Bigger role’ for US in Minsk II accords: Are you sure, Ms. Nuland? (Source)

One year into the Ukrainian crisis, Washington reveals a desire to jump on the bandwagon of the Minsk peace accords – brokered by France and Germany. Not bad news, after all, but when it comes from Victoria Nuland…

To conclude, as we witness the hawkish Nuland mutating into the great white dove of European peace in Kiev, her NeoCon husband, Brookings think tank fellow Robert Kagan gesticulates on more military spending on the Washington Post. For this Washington think tank thinker it’s hard to decide which member of the family is a less likely peacemaker for great nations. Since we mentioned Pyatt and Twitter viability, here’s a bit of United States of America social media proof, there’s a big fat hawk with a Raytheon emblem flying over the peace process in Minsk. As an American citizen this whole US involvement in Ukraine is simply an embarrassment for me.

Finally, what serves as proof for the US State Department, should be verifiable proof for everyone, no?

• Moscow plans to discuss efforts towards dialogue between Kiev, Donbass with Nuland (Source)

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, told that Russian diplomats planned to discuss with the visiting US Assistant Secretary of State the Russian-US relations and the situation in Ukraine

• Nuland to discuss implementation of Minsk accords in Moscow (Source)

She will also discuss bilateral issues with Russian officials and meet with civil society representatives

• John Tefft meets with Russian bloggers, Nuland pays a visit to a curious Museum of Modern Art in Moscow (Source)

• Russia not to join international Arms Trade Treaty (Source)

• Russian Tu-160 Heavy Bomber to Be Invisible to Air Defense (Source)

The Tupolev Tu-160 strategic missile carrier/bomber will be equipped with an advanced radio-electronic warfare system, which is highly effective against anti-aircraft missiles, Russia’s Concern Radio-Electronic Technologies (KRET) reported.

KRET is developing a new aircraft guidance system, a targeting and navigation complex, a weapons control system and other electronic equipment. A total of 800 firms and organizations are involved in the modernization of the Tu-160 aircraft.

• Russia Reveals New ‘Super’ Aircraft Carrier Plans (Source)
• Moscow says it will retaliate if Ukraine hosts US anti-missile defenses (Source)

• IHS Jane’s: Russia made revolutionary changes in its military-industrial complex (Source)

Jane’s Defence Weekly is impressed with the scale and scope of the transformation within the Russian defense industry which showed itself once again to be a global leader with the wide range of highly innovative and capable weapon systems that were on display during the May 9 parade.

• A $10 Billion Missile Defense System Gets Added to ‘Government Waste’ (Source)

The Pentagon’s $10 billion–and counting–missile defense system is under intense scrutiny after new reports suggest that the entire operation is a “boondoggle” that isn’t capable of protecting the United States.

• Countering Russian Strategic Missile Threat Too Hard, Costly for US (Source)

• Pentagon Report: China Deploys MIRV Missile (Source)
• China Preparing for Drone Warfare (Source)

PLA plans to build 42,000 UAVs, Pentagon says

• The Bear Awakens: Russia’s Military Is Back (Source)

A million men under arms. Thousands of new tanks and planes. A hundred new satellites. Next-generation weapons. Inside Vladimir Putin’s massive plan to restore Russian might.

• Rasputin to Putin – Coming Full Circle (Source)

For the sake of humanity, let’s hope Vladimir Putin is ‘Real’ – like his name sake Rasputin, and pray that he will win where Rasputin had lost – Bringing to Full Circle the Century old saga.

• What is up with Putin ? (Source)

Putin is no idealist and no saint, he is just a realist and a practical person whose objective is to protect his own people and his own turf – The Russian billionaires club is his turf, and, the billionaires are his first people – But, the Russia and the Russian people are the close second. Still, in comparison the public in the west -where they are just counted as mere chattel, it is good enough for Russian people.

Putin is the president of Russia, and, so far, has served the interest of his people better than any one in the west can be credited with. In comparison to the clowns and turkeys in the West, he certainly qualifies to be called a world class leader – a statesman. But, as a matter of fact, he is not a Saint nor an Evil – certainly not the Savior of Humanity.

Above all, at this juncture, he is the token of hope to the humanity suffering from the onslaught of the Empire. And, he is a tough cookie for The Empire to chew on.

As for saving the humanity, you have to assume the responsibility and take charge of your own affairs. No savior is going to come to save you – There is No One!

• Inside source: Putin will not abandon Syria or Ukraine (Source)

• What China Thinks of the Pentagon’s Report on the Chinese Military (Source)

China’s Foreign Ministry voiced “strong opposition” to a recent DoD assessment on Chinese military strength

• Russia – China Put Up United Front Against US With Cyber Treaty (Source)

Experts say China and Russia’s agreement not to “hack” each other is really political posturing designed to show a “united front” against the United States’ new cybersecurity strategy.

• US to Deploy Strategic Bombers in Australia as Chinese Concern Grow( Source)

The United States announced that it will deploy nuclear-capable strategic bombers in Australia as China becomes increasingly concerned about US interference at its borders.

• Brazil embraces third wave of Chinese investment (Source)

Russia-NATO: Moscow mission sums up 25 years of myths vs reality( Source)

Russia’s permanent mission to NATO has prepared a report summing up complicated relations between the alliance and Moscow over the last 25 years, which differs substantially from what the report calls NATO’s simplified “black and white” picture.

The ‘Russia-NATO: facts and myths’ report investigates in detail the difference between NATO’s declared efforts to maintain peace and security in Europe and historic facts, which expose the alliance’s reason for existence: to confront Russia as its primary adversary.

• Russia-NATO: facts and myths’ report  (Source)

• Russians Unite Under Western Pressure as Never Before (Source)

The feeling of patriotism is rapidly growing in the Russian society. The US and EU policy towards Russia makes many people believe that Western countries are trying “to force Russia into a box” and that this is “a time of great opportunity” for the country, the Christian Science Monitor wrote

• Russia plans army training exercises with China, India ( Source )

Russian land forces will join troops from China, India, Mongolia and Belarus in a series of joint military training exercises during the second half of this year, President Vladimir Putin’s office said on Wednesday.

The announcement, issued as Putin met top Russian military brass in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, will stir unease in Western capitals, whose relations with Moscow have deteriorated sharply during the year-long Ukraine crisis.

• How the Senate Armed Services Committee Is Undermining Minsk II (Source)

A peaceful solution to the crisis in Ukraine may be at risk.

• Russian paratroops arrive in Tajikistan for CSTO exercise (Source)

According to earlier reports, 500 Russian paratroops and 60 pieces of equipment, as well as four planes and four helicopters will participate in the drills

• Russia – reason to keep NATO alive (Source)

A great opportunity to dissolve military alliances was wasted at the end of Cold War and since then Western commanders have been looking for reasons, like Russia, to keep NATO alive, says Tony Robinson, co-director at Pressenza News Agency.

A huge NATO military march is about to start in Romania. The Pentagon says they aim is to show the US’s strong relationship with the East European country. The exercises come after NATO troops marched through six EU countries in March. That military display was met by protests in a number of cities along the route including the Czech capital Prague.

• Georgia Poll: Support for Russia Small, but Growing (Source)

Georgian support for joining the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union
appears to be on the increase, based on data from a survey conducted
for the National Democratic Institute, a US-based NGO.

Others (The Balkans and The Middle East Etc )

• Why Armenia turned to Russia instead of the West (Source)

• Russia accuses West of trying to destabilise Macedonia (Source)

Russia has often been critical of Western policy in the Balkans. It strongly backed the Serbs — fellow Orthodox Christian Slavs — in their conflict with their mainly Muslim ethnic Albanian minority in the 1990s.

• Macedonia: Under Attack by NATO (Source)

In this Morris Report, Flores discuses some of the details and history of the recent Albanian terrorist attack in Macedonia.

He categorizes these as classic Color/Spring type attacks, which are being coordinated by an astro-turf (fake “grass-roots”) protest movement in Macedonia.

• Who Instigates Tensions to Explode Macedonia? ( Source)

On should realize that the conflict may entail grave implications. The Ohrid Agreement actually made the country divided into two parts – the Macedonians of Bulgarian descent (in the south-east) and Albanian minority in the north-west. The government based in Skopje has little influence on the life in the Albanian part of the country

• Kosovo Mafia Marching On (Source)

• Democracy American Style – Macedonia (Source)

• US-Russia Round Three: Macedonia by Andrew KORYBKO ( Source)

The unipolar and multipolar worlds are once more clashing in Eurasia, this time in the tiny Balkan country of Macedonia. A major proxy war is unfolding between the US and Russia over this geostrategic state, and it’s following the exact same patterns of the previous conflicts in Syria and Ukraine. As with the prior two, the US once more wants to gain control of a key energy route and preempt it from becoming a platform for multipolarity, and it’s resorting to a Color Revolution and Unconventional War to attain its objective. Russia, on the other hand, is again on the defensive, once more indirectly supporting a beleaguered partner in surviving the unipolar onslaught. Everything is coming to a head on 17 May when the Color Revolutionaries/Unconventional Warriors have planned their next regime change push, and it’s up to Macedonians and their government (with Russian intelligence and strategic guidance) to repulse the aggressors and protect their homeland from destruction. Given the enormous long-term strategic stakes involved (liberating Europe with multipolarity or keeping it shackled in unipolarity), the Third Round of the US-Russian geopolitical confrontation might be its most climactic one yet

• A “Macedonian Maidan” may become an obstacle to “Turkish Stream” (Source)

Lavrov commented on the unrest in Macedonia by saying that “we also can’t avoid the impression that there is a connection here.” The government of Macedonia is facing two threats all at once, the Albanian militancy that is being supported from elements in Kosovo who are pursuing the Greater Albania project, and internal unrest that is beginning to resemble the early stages of Maidan. Lavrov also said that “the EU understands perfectly well what is going on”, implying the US is somehow behind these processes. While the EU definitely does not want to see a “Greater Albania”, it’s not clear what the US position is. On the other hand, Kosovo Albanians may simply want a cut of the action, and the recent violence is just their way of getting attention.

• Macedonia Struggles for Identity as Political Violence Grows (Source)

Macedonia’s opposition pledges more protests amid growing violence and attacks on police officers, as the country is forced to decide between a national identity and EU/NATO integration.

• Albania threatens to block Macedonia’s NATO bid (Source)
• Macedonia: Playing Solitaire with Marked Cards (Source)

As the events in Macedonia unfold, the situation starts to look more like an orange revolution orchestrated from outside. Those who stay behind it use the experience of former Yugoslavia, the post-Soviet space, North Africa and the Middle East.

• Will West Unleash New War in Libya? (Source)

In 2011 the aviation of France and Great Britain bombed Libya. Muammar Gaddafi, the leader of the country, was brutally murdered. Now Europe is considering plans to intervene in Libya again. On May 13, the Guardian published an article devoted to a European plan for a military campaign to smash the migrant smuggling networks operating out of Libya. The scenario envisages the use of ground forces

• Saudi Option of Yemen War to Blow Iran P5+1 Deal (Source)

That festering resentment towards Washington among the Saudi rulers especially may play out in an escalation of the Yemen crisis by the Saudis as a calculated way to sabotage the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran. The Saudis see that potential deal as a sell-out by the Americans. The temptation will be for them to force Washington to take sides over a ramped-up war in Yemen, which they are trying to portray – without any evidence – as an «Iranian backdoor» to the Arabian Peninsula. An escalation of the conflict in Yemen and provocations to Iran, such as attacks on its humanitarian aid convoys, may draw Tehran into an open war. That result would scotch any P5+1 nuclear deal, which is what the Saudis really want.

• Is America About to Make a Fatal Mistake in the South China Sea? (Source)

“Now is the time for flexible, creative diplomacy focused on protecting America’s core maritime interests, not the territorial ambitions of favored East Asian countries.”

• Beijing’s South China Sea expansion: The salami slices back! (Source)

The South China Sea escalation mechanism received another crank last week.

In response to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) crash island-building program in the South China Sea (itself apparently a response to the arbitration case filed by the Philippines concerning the validity of the “nine-dash-line”) and thanks to the Japanese government’s rather obliging (and not too popular) willingness to sidle away from the so-called “Peace” constitution and participate in faraway U.S. military adventures, the United States signaled that it’s ready to respond to PRC “salami slicing” & “cabbage wrapping” i.e. incremental expansions of the PRC presence in the South China Sea designed to fall below the threat response threshold a.k.a. Chinese “assertiveness” in the South China Sea with a new gambit:

• America’s Dangerous South China Sea Gambit (Source)

• US Threats against China: “Play with Fire” (Source)

US media reports indicate that there is possibility that US military ships and planes will attempt to enter the 12 nautical miles zone around Chinese reefs near the Nansha Islands.

Such a possibility is the latest, and a particularly dangerous, part of a proto-war, so far an indirect one, being waged by the US government against China.

• Plotting Against Beijing? US Holds Asian Military Summit, Excludes China (Source)

As the United States struggles to maintain influence in the South China Sea, it has pushed Pacific nations to assert themselves against Beijing. In that effort, Washington organized a gathering of military leaders from over 20 countries, specifically excluding China.

• Plotting Against Beijing? US Holds Asian Military Summit, Excludes China