Speaking today before a parliamentary commission, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko lifted his objections to any granting of any autonomy in Eastern Ukraine, offering some limited decentralization referenda on a city-by-city basis.
The offer is far short of what the Minsk ceasefire deal spoke of, and Poroshenko reiterated his opposition to outright federalism inside Ukraine, terming it “a biological weapon which they are trying to impose from outside Ukraine to destroy our unity.”
After the protesters ousted Ukraine’s previous elected government, Poroshenko’s government started a harsh crackdown on ethnic Russians in the east, banning their language and trying to limit trade across the border.
That led to an eastern rebellion, with a call for federalism to grant them enough autonomy to demand some basic rights. Poroshenko, it seems, still isn’t there yet, and the rebels, unsurprisingly, spurned today’s offer of city-by-city votes on limited decentralization for individual towns.
There have been reports of rebels threatening to take Kiev and overthrow Porshenko if he attempts to end the civil war. The real face of the Ukraine uprising is about to be revealed.
I meant the Ukraine fascists fighting the rebels have said they would overthrow Poreshenko.
On a city-by-city basis? That's moronic. And so is Poro the murderer.
It was moronic for Yanukovych to deploy the Berkut and kill protestors too. Maybe even more moronic for the Russians to shoot down MH17.
But hey let's watch the fireworks once forces their regroup, weather improves, and the Russians make a go for Mariupol.
Oh, we're supposed to believe that after several weeks of protesters setting police afire with Molotov cocktails and the police showing restraint, that suddenly the police started shooting and killing not only protesters, but their own police? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2573923/E…
What happened to the official investigation into MH17? Surely it doesn't take a year to analyze the black boxes or cockpit wreckage. Why the official silence? Obviously, there's no evidence to support the theory that Russia or separatists shot down MH17, and since the agreement is that Kiev can unilaterally block any release of the results of the investigation, one must wonder what Kiev is afraid of.
Your ignorance astounds.
Oh, we're supposed to believe that after several weeks of protesters setting police afire with Molotov cocktails and the police showing restraint, that suddenly the police started shooting and killing not only protesters, but their own police? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2573923/E…
What happened to the official investigation into MH17? Surely it doesn't take a year to analyze the black boxes or cockpit wreckage. Why the official silence? Obviously, there's no evidence to support the theory that Russia or separatists shot down MH17, and since the agreement is that Kiev can unilaterally block any release of the results of the investigation, one must wonder what Kiev is afraid of.
Your ignorance astounds.
All the black box could reveal is that it was indeed an external impact that caused the crash and not what that impact actually was. Even if they found bits of the missile, it would be difficult to determine who fired it since both the Russian mercenaries and the Ukrainian military use the same antiquated ex-Soviet equipment. In addition, since the Russian propaganda line is that the "rebels" are not being armed from Russia but are using equipment stolen from the Ukrainian military, even proving that the missile came from Ukrainian army stocks would prove nothing. Thus, the crash report is a diversion.
Ahem, they made Ukrainian the national language, they didn't outlaw Russian (if they did cite some sources?) They had to restrict the border with Russia which of course impacts trade because they needed to control the border where Russia was funneling money and provocateurs.
There are plenty of other majority Russian areas that aren't protesting, so riddle me this Antiwar, if you're being honest in your reporting, how do you reconcile Some Russians in Some places rebelling and magically acquiring tanks, AAA, helicopters, UAVs, body armor, artillery…vs. no protests by Russians anywhere else other than in areas of strategic interest to GRU? That said, be more clear about what is editorial on this site and what is reporting. Stated opinions without sources that clearly parrot one view alone is not responsible reporting, people can go to FOX for that.
Making Ukrainian the only official language does outlaw Russian in official documents. However, you are correct it was not a total ban, and it was reversed quickly, but it did contribute to the fears of people in the east, as did the rapid replacement of mayors and other officials in the east with Euromaidan supporters against the popular sentiment of the region.
The weapons used in the initial uprising were looted from local arsenals, supplied by Ukrainian soldiers and police who refused to fire on peaceful protester and instead defected or captured from defeated army units or units that refused to fight.
It's a civil war, touched off by power hungry oligarchs, politicians and "religious" leaders inflaming ultra-nationalist Ukrainians from the center and west, with support from right sector elements who want to ethnically cleanse eastern Ukraine of all Russian speakers, and with financial support from the US and Western backed NGOs.
Kill a Ruskie for Christ: http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/04/07/killings-i…
I hardly think a change in state language would incite a military-coup aimed at Kiev and integration with Russia.
Use logic. If Maidan was western backed, that doesn't account for the million+ people that showed up to protest. Never in the history of any countries intelligence service has anyone been able to pull off a popular revolution out of thin air. Please cite legitimate press that indicates post-Maidan troops attacked civilians in East Ukraine. Go ahead, I'll wait. You have absolutely no proof beyond your own opinion and editorializing regarding the situation in Ukraine.
Using logic again, if rebels did raid local arsenals, then how did they get ahold of general issue Russian equipment that was never part of the Ukrainian order of battle, e.g. T90 tanks, later issue assault rifles and so on. Heck, if they raided local arsenals they would be wearing the same Ukrainian general issue uniforms but they aren't. While I respect that you have an opinion, it makes 0 sense in context with the realities on the ground in Ukraine.
If you don't like the way Antiwar.com runs their website, you could set up your own. Maybe Victoria Nuland will finance it for you.
The "We're objective reporters" nonsense is a very tiresome smokescreen hiding endless lies spewing from establishment media. Personally, I support the idea that the job of a journalist is to "Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the Comfortable". The editors here do that quite well.
Hardly Nuland! All this started when Nuland tried to use Putin, no doubt with his consent, as a weapon to attack the EU (supposedly composed of US "allies"!). The land Putin is now trying to grab back by force from Russia's former Ukrainian colony was probably promised to him by Nuland and her neocon cronies, including local "assets", as a payoff for helping her attack the EU. When Nuland panicked and overthrew Yanukovych, Putin panicked and tried to grab his "reward" by force. The US neocon propaganda machine has been trying to save his neck ever since. So no chance of Nuland or any other neocon source funding an anti-Putin site!
That is absolutely not the job of the journalist! That by definition is not journalism! That's the same irresponsible nonsense that Fox news does to advance it's own agenda and its inexcusable. Glad to see on both sides of the political aisle there are the same authoritarian corrupt tendencies.
There is not now, nor has there ever been, any such thing as "objective journalism." The whole notion is itself propagandistic codswallop. If you think you're getting "just the facts, ma'am," with no bias or viewpoint, from anywhere, you're deluded.
My friend in Kharkov, a Russian-speaking ethnic Ukrainian and 1/4 Crimean Tatar, knows nothing about any "ban" on the use of Russian or any other form of discrimination against Russian-speakers. So the "harsh crackdown" seems to be a neocon propaganda scam. There was an attempt to foment fake "rebellions" in Kharkov, Odessa and Mariupol, but the local populations chased the "rebels" off.
Your friend should keep up with the news.
http://www.sott.net/article/274702-Ban-of-Russian…
http://rt.com/news/tymoshenko-calls-destroy-russi…
Lots of pro-Nazi-coup posters today. I hope at least they get paid for it.
To what ¨unity¨ might Poroshenko be referring to? Present day Ukraine is a consequence of the First World War, made up of a Russian eastern part and an Austro-Hungarian western part. When the Germans pulled back, the Bolsheviks eventually occupied it. This man is merely following the script handed down by his ´sponsors´, who dream the extremest of Atlaticists dreams. Soon he will be claiming ¨he wants peace but can´t find a reliable partner to deal with¨.
Only four provinces in the extreme west were never under Russian colonial rule. Thus the "east v west" distinction is wholly unreal. The unity of Ukraine derives from its specific, non-Russian, ethnicity. Ethnic Ukrainians are in the majority in all provinces except Crimea. In Donetsk, for example, Russians constitute only 38% of the population. In Lugansk, 39%. And those two provinces have the largest Russian minorities in the entire country. Language isn't a factor. The Irish are English-speaking but not ethnicly English. Ditto for the Scots. History doesn't count either. The English conquered Ireland in 1169. The Austrians conquered Hungary in the year 1000 and ruled it until 1918. Here in Europe, it's ethnicity that counts. Colonialism is dead.
Poro is some kind of crazy neonazi, and precisely therefore valuable for the American government. Unthinking robots are the kind of people american leaders generally prefer.
No, he's just a self-serving oligarch. But he does fear for his position and his life.
The Ukrainians are calling Putin's bluff. They know that the "rebels" are not Ukrainian citizens but Russians sent in from Russia. Any sort of internationally-supervised vote will reveal that the supposed "rebel" leaders are neither eligible to vote nor to run for office. If Putin allows a free vote, he capitulates. According to a pro-Putin author on another site who has just visited Donetsk, the "rebels" are indeed Cossack mercenaries from Russia, as the Ukrainian military has said from the start, and that they will be ready to resume their offensive next month. The latter, of course,could be bravado designed to frighten the Ukrainians into backing down but since they have nothing left to lose, it's unlikely that they will. If they allow Putin to grab any more territory, he'll just continue, Israeli-style, stealing land piece by piece until Ukraine has disappeared entirely. Thus, the world drifts a little bit closer to war. And the root cause of all of this is Israel.
Pray tell me Oh great Oracle, if the Ukrainians are being invaded by the bad old Russians, why are most of the refugees fleeing eastwards into Russia? And if Ukraine isn't a country of two halves how do you explain these maps?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp…
huh… Have the feds begun hiring their own trolls like the Israelis? I don’t remember reading such nonsense in the comments section at antiwar. I haven’t been reading the comments lately. Is this new or have they been here awhile?
no it is just this character MK BUT AS YOU CAN SEE NOBODY PAYS ATTENTION TO HIM
Sorry there was a time when Antiwar actually made an effort to expose the truth, not publish opinion as fact.
Michael Kenny is the only regular troll on the Ukraine threads, he has been here ever since the trouble started. If the quantity of his twilight zone garbage is any guide, he is probably being paid by the word. Initially almost every comment included 'Israel is the big loser here' (allegedly because if the US doesn't get its own way in every detail then Israel's enemies are emboldened) More recently he has been pretending to be anti-Israeli and anti-neocon, presumably in order to court popularity on this site and perhaps also to muddy the waters. Personally I find his absurd drivel entertaining and since most readers of this site have functional critical faculties he can do little harm here.
All comments show that nobody knows that Ukrainian idea appeared at different periods in headquaters of Poland and later german in order to destroy Russian empire.Some people started to believe that they are different from russians and have something "more" than russians. The founder of Kiev Rus -prince Vladimir called himself Russian and founded also Russia uniting people around a religion -orthodoxy- and not around Ukrainian idea which did not exist at that time.The present leaders of Ukraine are very far from the ideas of the founder of Ukraine.People of Ukraine start to understand what is happening and than the west will regret its unfair positions about separatists.
For anybody who wants evidence of Russian activity in Ukraine, that this is a manufactured conflict and not a civil war, please refer to bellingcat.