New Ukraine Thread

[Valin]

Since the Cold War ended, Poland has joined Europe while neighboring Ukraine has remained in Russia’s shadow. The result? In 1992, Ukraine’s economy was slightly larger than Poland’s, based on purchasing power parity. Today, Poland’s economy is more than twice as large as Ukraine’s.

(BBC)

[Valin]

PRISM US Gov ‏@PRISM_NSA Mar 6

Yep, we're on the line too, now what's going on in the #Ukraine? pic.twitter.com/tPbUojpYjp

[Valin]

Armed men confiscate AP equipment in Crimea

The Associated Press

March 7, 2014

 

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine Armed men in Crimea's capital city have confiscated equipment from Associated Press employees and contractors working there.

 

AP's Global Media Services, a division of the news cooperative that provides services to broadcasters, said a crew was setting up a satellite uplink for a live camera position above a Simferopol restaurant Thursday. They were approached by unarmed men who asked them to turn off their broadcast lights and prevented them from leaving the building.

 

Two other men then came and took photos of AP's equipment, including protective jackets, and accused the crew of being spies.

 

Later, armed men showed up and ordered the crew to put their hands against the wall while they cut cables and took the equipment away. Some of the equipment has been recovered, but much is still missing. The contractors and employees were kept at the building for about two hours before being released unharmed.

 

(Snip)

[nickydog]

Oooo. Sheperd Smith better be careful.. Except he's back in Kiev now, I think.

[Valin]

Who Will Protect the Crimean Tatars?
Natalia Antelava
3/6/14

At first, Rustem Kadyrov could barely make out the mark outside his house, in the Crimean town of Bakhchysarai, but it filled him with terror. It was an X, cut deep into the gray metal of the gate, and its significance cut even deeper, evoking a memory Kadyrov shares with all Crimean Tatars. Kadyrov, who is thirty-one, grew up hearing stories about marks on doors. In May of 1944, Stalin ordered his police to tag the houses of Crimean Tatars, the native Muslim residents of the peninsula. Within a matter of days, all of them—almost two hundred thousand people—were evicted from their homes, loaded onto trains, and sent to Central Asia, on the pretext that the community had collaborated with the Nazi occupation of Crimea.

 

Kadyrov’s grandmother, Sedeka Memetova, who was eight at the time, was among those deported. “The soldiers gave us five minutes to pack up,” she told me, when I visited the family on Thursday. “We left everything behind.” Memetova still has vivid memories of her journey into exile: the stench of the overcrowded train carriage, the wailing of a pregnant woman who sat next to her, and the solemn faces of the men who had to lower the bodies of their children off of the moving train—the only way, she said, to dispose of the dead. Four of her siblings were among the thousands of Crimean Tatars who never even made it to their final destination, Uzbekistan.

 

Starting in the nineteen-sixties, the Soviet Union began to allow survivors of the deportation to return. Memetova and her family came back to Crimea almost three decades ago, in 1987. This weekend, at around 3 P.M. on Saturday, Memetova’s forty-four-year-old daughter, Ava, looked out the window and saw four young men, strangers to the neighborhood, walking down the street, armed with batons. The men were also carrying pieces of paper, Ava told me—which she believes were lists of homes belonging to Crimean Tatars. Seventy years after Memetova’s deportation, her house had been marked once again. “Just as we thought we finally had a future,” she said. “How could anyone do this in the twenty-first century?”

 

(Snip)

[nickydog]

Who Will Protect the Crimean Tatars?

Natalia Antelava

3/6/14

 

At first, Rustem Kadyrov could barely make out the mark outside his house, in the Crimean town of Bakhchysarai, but it filled him with terror. It was an X, cut deep into the gray metal of the gate, and its significance cut even deeper, evoking a memory Kadyrov shares with all Crimean Tatars. Kadyrov, who is thirty-one, grew up hearing stories about marks on doors. In May of 1944, Stalin ordered his police to tag the houses of Crimean Tatars, the native Muslim residents of the peninsula. Within a matter of days, all of them—almost two hundred thousand people—were evicted from their homes, loaded onto trains, and sent to Central Asia, on the pretext that the community had collaborated with the Nazi occupation of Crimea.

 

Kadyrov’s grandmother, Sedeka Memetova, who was eight at the time, was among those deported. “The soldiers gave us five minutes to pack up,” she told me, when I visited the family on Thursday. “We left everything behind.” Memetova still has vivid memories of her journey into exile: the stench of the overcrowded train carriage, the wailing of a pregnant woman who sat next to her, and the solemn faces of the men who had to lower the bodies of their children off of the moving train—the only way, she said, to dispose of the dead. Four of her siblings were among the thousands of Crimean Tatars who never even made it to their final destination, Uzbekistan.

 

Starting in the nineteen-sixties, the Soviet Union began to allow survivors of the deportation to return. Memetova and her family came back to Crimea almost three decades ago, in 1987. This weekend, at around 3 P.M. on Saturday, Memetova’s forty-four-year-old daughter, Ava, looked out the window and saw four young men, strangers to the neighborhood, walking down the street, armed with batons. The men were also carrying pieces of paper, Ava told me—which she believes were lists of homes belonging to Crimean Tatars. Seventy years after Memetova’s deportation, her house had been marked once again. “Just as we thought we finally had a future,” she said. “How could anyone do this in the twenty-first century?”

 

(Snip)

 

This is awful.. Who will protect them?

[Valin]

 

Who Will Protect the Crimean Tatars?

Natalia Antelava

3/6/14

 

At first, Rustem Kadyrov could barely make out the mark outside his house, in the Crimean town of Bakhchysarai, but it filled him with terror. It was an X, cut deep into the gray metal of the gate, and its significance cut even deeper, evoking a memory Kadyrov shares with all Crimean Tatars. Kadyrov, who is thirty-one, grew up hearing stories about marks on doors. In May of 1944, Stalin ordered his police to tag the houses of Crimean Tatars, the native Muslim residents of the peninsula. Within a matter of days, all of them—almost two hundred thousand people—were evicted from their homes, loaded onto trains, and sent to Central Asia, on the pretext that the community had collaborated with the Nazi occupation of Crimea.

 

Kadyrov’s grandmother, Sedeka Memetova, who was eight at the time, was among those deported. “The soldiers gave us five minutes to pack up,” she told me, when I visited the family on Thursday. “We left everything behind.” Memetova still has vivid memories of her journey into exile: the stench of the overcrowded train carriage, the wailing of a pregnant woman who sat next to her, and the solemn faces of the men who had to lower the bodies of their children off of the moving train—the only way, she said, to dispose of the dead. Four of her siblings were among the thousands of Crimean Tatars who never even made it to their final destination, Uzbekistan.

 

Starting in the nineteen-sixties, the Soviet Union began to allow survivors of the deportation to return. Memetova and her family came back to Crimea almost three decades ago, in 1987. This weekend, at around 3 P.M. on Saturday, Memetova’s forty-four-year-old daughter, Ava, looked out the window and saw four young men, strangers to the neighborhood, walking down the street, armed with batons. The men were also carrying pieces of paper, Ava told me—which she believes were lists of homes belonging to Crimean Tatars. Seventy years after Memetova’s deportation, her house had been marked once again. “Just as we thought we finally had a future,” she said. “How could anyone do this in the twenty-first century?”

 

(Snip)

 

This is awful.. Who will protect them?

 

 

 

Have no fear, our friends in the Islamic Terrorist community say they are ready to step in.

(This is not a good thing)

[Valin]

PHOTOS: Crimean Tatars on edge as Ukraine-Russia tension boils

Crimean Tatars, hundreds of thousands of whom Stalin deported in the 1950s, make up between 15%-20% of Crimeas population and have historically been suspicious of Russian rule. The pro-Russian Crimean Parliament voted yesterday to secede from Ukraine, join Russia and hold a referendum on the issue on March 16. The Crimean population is majority Russian, a large number of whom are enthusiastically supporting annexation to Russia. In the city of Lviv on Friday, March 7, 2014, across Ukraine from the crisis gripping Crimea, a group of Tatars fleeing the troubled peninsula disembarked on a train platform looking for security away from Russian forces.

[nickydog]

 

 

Who Will Protect the Crimean Tatars?

Natalia Antelava

3/6/14

 

At first, Rustem Kadyrov could barely make out the mark outside his house, in the Crimean town of Bakhchysarai, but it filled him with terror. It was an X, cut deep into the gray metal of the gate, and its significance cut even deeper, evoking a memory Kadyrov shares with all Crimean Tatars. Kadyrov, who is thirty-one, grew up hearing stories about marks on doors. In May of 1944, Stalin ordered his police to tag the houses of Crimean Tatars, the native Muslim residents of the peninsula. Within a matter of days, all of them—almost two hundred thousand people—were evicted from their homes, loaded onto trains, and sent to Central Asia, on the pretext that the community had collaborated with the Nazi occupation of Crimea.

 

Kadyrov’s grandmother, Sedeka Memetova, who was eight at the time, was among those deported. “The soldiers gave us five minutes to pack up,” she told me, when I visited the family on Thursday. “We left everything behind.” Memetova still has vivid memories of her journey into exile: the stench of the overcrowded train carriage, the wailing of a pregnant woman who sat next to her, and the solemn faces of the men who had to lower the bodies of their children off of the moving train—the only way, she said, to dispose of the dead. Four of her siblings were among the thousands of Crimean Tatars who never even made it to their final destination, Uzbekistan.

 

Starting in the nineteen-sixties, the Soviet Union began to allow survivors of the deportation to return. Memetova and her family came back to Crimea almost three decades ago, in 1987. This weekend, at around 3 P.M. on Saturday, Memetova’s forty-four-year-old daughter, Ava, looked out the window and saw four young men, strangers to the neighborhood, walking down the street, armed with batons. The men were also carrying pieces of paper, Ava told me—which she believes were lists of homes belonging to Crimean Tatars. Seventy years after Memetova’s deportation, her house had been marked once again. “Just as we thought we finally had a future,” she said. “How could anyone do this in the twenty-first century?”

 

(Snip)

 

This is awful.. Who will protect them?

 

 

 

Have no fear, our friends in the Islamic Terrorist community say they are ready to step in.

(This is not a good thing)

 

 

Tatars are Muslim? In that case, Putin may have met his match.

[Valin]

Tatars are Muslim? In that case, Putin may have met his match.

A Place To Start...

Wikipedia: Tatars

 

I don't really know that much about them, but there is (surprisingly) quite a bit out there on them and other nomads from the steepes.

[Draggingtree]

What La Raza Learned From Vladimir Putin About Barack Obama

The Alinskyite Gets His Community Organized

By: Repair_Man_Jack (Diary) | March 7th, 2014 at 09:17 PM

 

Putin’s Method of Dealing with Obama

 

Last guys don’t finish nice.

 

Saul Alinsky

 

There is a lyric from an old Nine-Inch Nails song titled “Head Like A Hole” that describes how to properly negotiate with Barack Obama if you want him to respect your wishes. He understands power exactly the way Saul Alinsky taught him how to understand power. Here’s how you deal with a man who believes at his core that in life you are either the subject or the photographer at a Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit.

 

Bow down before the one you serve,

You’re going to get what you deserve.

 

This is not immediately clear to most Americans. I and most other people, want to believe our President shouldn’t be sharing very much in common with a Nine-Inch Nails song, but Vladimir Putin saw into his soul.* You see Barack Obama is currently jabbering over Russia’s aggressive posture towards the Ukraine. He told Comrade Vladimir the following http://www.redstate.com/2014/03/07/la-raza-learned-vladimir-putin-barack-obama/

[Valin]

Ukraine Liveblog Day 19: Nerves of Steel Tested

 

1540 GMT: A massive column of Russian troop carriers, APCs, and support vehicles have been filmed, reportedly on the road between Krasnodar to Novorossiysk (map), in Russia just east of Crimea. With Russian troops in firm control of the ferry routes between the Taman Bay and Kerch, the eastern-most point in Crimea, this begs the obvious question:

Is this an invasion force, prepared for the final Russia push into Crimea, or perhaps beyond?

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________________________

 

2037 GMT: More Ukrainian forces on the move? This was reportedly filmed today in Bila Tserkva, south of Kiev (map):

 

http://youtu.be/4u9K8pHGTqQ

[Valin]

What La Raza Learned From Vladimir Putin About Barack Obama

The Alinskyite Gets His Community Organized

By: Repair_Man_Jack (Diary) | March 7th, 2014 at 09:17 PM

 

 

Unless and until Obama actually does something he is irrelevant to this situation and so should be ignored.

[Valin]

Ukraine Liveblog Day 19: Nerves of Steel Tested

 

1540 GMT: A massive column of Russian troop carriers, APCs, and support vehicles have been filmed, reportedly on the road between Krasnodar to Novorossiysk (map), in Russia just east of Crimea. With Russian troops in firm control of the ferry routes between the Taman Bay and Kerch, the eastern-most point in Crimea, this begs the obvious question:

 

Is this an invasion force, prepared for the final Russia push into Crimea, or perhaps beyond?

 

 

______________________________________________________________________________________________

 

2037 GMT: More Ukrainian forces on the move? This was reportedly filmed today in Bila Tserkva, south of Kiev (map):

 

http://youtu.be/4u9K8pHGTqQ

 

Threat Watch ‏@ThreatWatch1 2h

 

UKR Blog reports UKR 152 Self-propelled howitzer unit deploying

 

http://youtu.be/wf7LoBSClT8

[Valin]

Ukraine: Russia sends more troops to Crimea

DALTON BENNETT IN SEVASTOPOL

3/8/14

 

DOZENS of military trucks transporting heavily armed soldiers rumbled along Crimeas roads last night as Russia reinforced its armed presence on the disputed peninsula on the Black Sea.

 

Moscows foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, ruled out any dialogue with Ukraines new authorities, whom he dismissed as the puppets of right wing extremists.

 

The Russians have denied their armed forces are active in Crimea, instead claiming that masked troops bearing no military badges or insignia are local militia. But one military convoy of army-green vehicles bore Russian licence plates and numbers indicating that they were from the Moscow region. Some towed mobile kitchens and what appeared to be mobile medical equipment.

 

Vladislav Seleznyov, a Crimean-based spokesman for the Ukrainian armed forces, told reporters that some witnesses saw amphibious military ships unloading around 200 military vehicles in eastern Crimea on Friday night after apparently having crossed the Straits of Kerch, which separates Crimea from Russian territory.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Four nations urge US gas exports amid Ukraine crisis

Saturday, March 8, 2014 6:51 pm

Associated Press

 

WASHINGTON Four Central European nations are urging the United States to boost natural gas exports to Europe as a hedge against the possibility that Russia could cut off its supply of gas to Ukraine.

Ambassadors from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic made their appeal Friday in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. A similar letter was expected to be sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

 

The letter from the four nations, known as the Visegrad Group, asks for Congress to support speedier approval of natural gas exports, noting that the "presence of U.S. natural gas would be much welcome in Central and Eastern Europe."

The ambassadors warn that the unrest in Ukraine has brought back Cold War memories and that energy security threatens the region's residents on a daily basis.

 

"Gas-to-gas competition in our region is a vital aspect of national security and a key U.S. interest in the region," the ambassadors wrote in a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

 

(snip)

[Valin]

Inside the lair of the 'Goblin' handing Crimea to his puppet master Putin

Ian Birrell

8 March 2014

 

Shoved to the ground by a Russian stooge, I suffered nothing more than a cut knee. But as protesters are attacked, women abused, activists intimidated and families terrorised, the Russian invasion of Crimea is turning nasty.

 

(Snip)

 

But the mysterious businessman dubbed Putins Puppet who orchestrated these events could not display more insouciance when I corner him in the ornate splendour of the aptly-named Russian Theatre in Simferopol.

Sitting in a side room of the 19th century theatre, the besuited Sergei Aksyonov now a wanted man in Ukraine and nicknamed The Goblin for his allegedly shady past cheerily dismisses fears of conflict as he accuses foreign powers of conspiring against him.

My aim is to make Crimea the happiest place on earth! he says. But in case I had failed to notice where his loyalties lie, he adds: Undoubtedly, that is with Russia.

 

(Snip)

 

 

FIY Wikipidea: Sergey Aksyonov

[Valin]

BBC News (World)Verified account ‏@BBCWorld

Serb volunteer at #Crimea roadblock, here to help Russian "Orthodox brothers" - via @marklowen http://bbc.in/Pc1dUa

 

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Should come in handy for killing unarmed civilians...they are very good at that.

[Valin]

John Kerry who served in Vietnam is On The Job

 

 

Words cannot express my apathy towards anything this clown says.

[Valin]

Ukraine's Prime Minister Flying to US for Talks

KIEV, Ukraine March 9, 2014 (AP)

JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG

 

(Snip)

 

Later Sunday, following an extraordinary meeting of the Ukrainian government, Yatsenyuk announced he would be flying this week to the United States for high-level talks on "resolution of the situation in Ukraine," the Interfax news agency reported.

 

Crimea, a strategic peninsula in southern Ukraine, has become the flashpoint in the battle for Ukraine, where three months of protests sparked by President Victor Yanukovych's decision to ditch a significant treaty with the 28-nation European Union after strong pressure from Russia led to his downfall. A majority of people in Crimea identify with Russia, and Moscow's Black Sea Fleet is based in Sevastopol, as is Ukraine's.

 

This weekend, Russia reinforced its armed presence on the peninsula. Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign minister ruled out any dialogue with Ukraine's new authorities, whom he dismissed as the puppets of extremists.

 

The regional parliament in Crimea has set a March 16 referendum on leaving Ukraine to join Russia. Senior lawmakers in Moscow have said they would support the move, ignoring sanctions threats and warnings from President Barack Obama that the vote would violate international law.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

ITS ALL A CIA PLOT!

[Valin]

Ukraine Liveblog Day 20: A Military Standoff

March 9 2014

 

 

BBC News (World)Verified account ‏@BBCWorld

 

Serb volunteer at #Crimea roadblock, here to help Russian "Orthodox brothers" - via @marklowen http://bbc.in/Pc1dUa

 

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Should come in handy for killing unarmed civilians...they are very good at that.

[Valin]

Ukraine Liveblog Day 20: A Military Standoff
March 9 2014

1446 GMT: Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron, and he stands behind the legitimacy of the Crimean parliament:

In a statement, the Kremlin said Mr Putin “underlined in particular that the steps taken by Crimea’s legitimate authorities are based on international law and aimed at guaranteeing the legitimate interests of the peninsula’s population”.

The Kremlin also said that Mr Putin discussed the lack of action by Kiev “to limit the rampant behaviour of ultra-nationalists and radical forces in the capital and in many regions”.

It said the three leaders “exchanged points of view on what the international community could do to normalise” the situation in Ukraine.

(Snip)

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

1639 GMT: The separatist authorities in Crimea are apparently presenting the choice in the referendum due on March 16 as one between Russia and Nazism.

 

 

The text on the billboard reads “On March 16 we choose between [Nazi Crimea] or [Russian Crimea]. This fits with Russian presentations of the Maidan movement in Ukraine as a neo-Nazi manifestation. The choice suggested on this poster does not, however, conform to what the referendum will actually ask voters. As noted below, the referendum only asks whether citizens wish to declare independence from Ukraine, or join the Russian Federation immediately.

 

_______________________________________________________________________________

 

1910 GMT: Censor.net reports on an arson attack on a Tatar home in Crimea. On the night of March 7/8, unknown arsonists set fire to a hotel and two cars belonging to representatives of the Tatar community.

Photo: Censor.net.ua

A security guard alerted firefighters and then tried to tackle the blaze himself, but power was soon cut off, shutting down water pumps. Although the nearest fire station is only 800 metres away from the site of the attack, firefighters took half an hour to arrive, by which time, there was little left to save. The hotel owner made no comments regarding his suspicions, saying that it was a matter for the police to deal with, and that the Crimean Tatars will not respond to any provocations. Fear amongst the Crimean Tatar community has been rising following reports of Tatar houses being marked with crosses by pro-Russian activists.

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

[nickydog]

Ukraine Liveblog Day 20: A Military Standoff

March 9 2014

 

 

BBC News (World)Verified account ‏@BBCWorld

 

Serb volunteer at #Crimea roadblock, here to help Russian "Orthodox brothers" - via @marklowen http://bbc.in/Pc1dUa

 

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Should come in handy for killing unarmed civilians...they are very good at that.

 

 

 

What a mess.

 

It's amazing what some guys do for a living. This reporter speaks Serbian, Ukrainian, and who knows what else?

 

And how about those beards on some of those Serbian guys?! Eeeek!

[Valin]

Ukraine Liveblog Day 21: A Crackdown on Crimean Tatars?
March 10 2014

1412 GMT: Russian troops have taken over a base in western Crimea. Interfax, quoting the naval base commander, says shots were fired and Ukrainian troops are now hostage to the Russian troops.

We’re not sure if this is the same base or not:

Ian Birrell @ianbirrell Follow

Just watching attempted takeover of #Ukrainian naval base by Russians


7:35 AM - 10 Mar 2014





____________________________________________________________________________________________________

1428 GMT: The Kyiv Post reports on renewed Russian military action across Crimea today:

Russian forces have taken over Ukraine’s main military hospital in Simferopol today and a military transport base in Bakhchysari as the Kremlin’s military operation stayed on the offensive at strategic locations in the peninsula…

Some 20-30 men in military uniforms captured the military hospital at about noon today. They carried truncheons and threatened hospital workers and some 30 patients, who are Ukrainian soldiers or veterans.

“People are really fearing for their lives,” said Evgen Pyvoval, the hospital’s director. He said the captures crammed him into a bus and kept him there for 30 minutes. “We don’t know what their demands are,” Pyvoval said.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

1437 GMT: The Crimean parliament has voted to join with Russia, and next Sunday, the Crimean people will get to vote on a referendum on the same question. But the interim government in Kiev may be working to, at least legally, block that vote from happening:

(Snip)

 

Of course, it’s not clear what the government in Kiev could do about it, as a rather large and growing presence of Russian military soldiers are now in Crimea — and they’re digging in with the help and support of Crimean parliament.