Ukraine

[Voynich]

2/3

139. Negative information of a more general nature about Internally Displaced Persons has also been spreading on social media and through the internet. In Lviv, the authorities said the misinformation about IDPs was deliberately planted to cause further divisions between people from the east and west. Some of this misinformation related to the notion that male IDPs were shirking their military duty to serve back where they came from. In Rivne, the city council decided to no longer host IDP men of military conscription age. (Women make up two-thirds of all adult IDPs)...

148. There were some worrying trends observed in the area of freedom of expression in both the eastern and western parts of the country. ...the level of hate speech has escalated dramatically, especially on social media, but also in demonstrations and protests and even in Parliament.
Footnote18: During a parliamentary session on 20 June, MP Ivan Stoyko: ‘We are now at war with the Mongoloid race, fascist Russia, which climbs on Ukraine like a locust in order to destroy our country, our nation.’
...The increasing level of hate speech must be addressed by the country’s political leaders, who have yet to speak out publicly against it.

152. In the east, attempts at manipulation of the media have been especially egregious. Many journalists previously working in the east have already fled after being abducted, harassed,
intimidated or otherwise threatened. Those that remain in Luhansk have been instructed by the armed groups on how they should report the news... In Donetsk, all media outlets are required to register with the armed groups’ ‘Ministry of Information and Communications’. This extends to online resources, including individual bloggers, as well as distributors of print media

Ukrainian television channel ICTV and the local municipal TV channel 12 in Donetsk were replaced by Russian TV channel broadcasts. On the other hand, four Russian TV channels have already been banned from broadcasting in Ukraine and the process is underway to ban three more following complaints about their content...

156. The freedom of religion or belief has come under increasing pressure in the last weeks. A disturbing number of incidents have been reported in the east and Crimea. The armed
groups have declared that the main religion in Donetsk region was Orthodox Christianity (of the Moscow Patriarchate) and that sects were prohibited. This approach explains to a large extent, the increasing number of attacks on Protestant, Mormon, and Roman Catholic churches in the areas controlled by the armed groups.

158. In Kyiv, on 22 June, a more violent protest targeted a religious group perceived as being affiliated with the Russian Federation. The demonstrators included men armed with baseball bats and hammers, some wearing bulletproof vests and clearly intending to do damage. However, once again a large law enforcement presence prevented any violence.

 

[Voynich]

3/3 Economy

161. ...Unemployment increased from 8% to almost 9% in the first 6 months of this year, the inflation rate has reached 16% and utility rates have increased by an average of 30%. Meanwhile salaries and social benefits have been frozen since December 2013. The majority of the registered unemployed are women (at 52.2%) and young people aged 15 to 35 (42.3%). According to the Federation of the Trade Unions of Ukraine, every third person is employed illegally without any social guarantees or protection...

162. The trade unions are warning that because of these factors, coupled with the lack of meaningful social dialogue or transparency in government, there may be major social unrest in autumn.

163. The Government has proposed that in order to finance the security operation ... the Ukraine budget would be amended. Currently the Government estimates that repair of east Ukraine will cost 8 billion UAH (about 750 million USD).
Social programmes would be cut by 4.6 billion UAH (about 420 million USD) while the defence and security sectors would grow by 8 billion UAH (about 750 million USD). The budget cuts would include a reduction of 2 billion UAH (about 180 million USD) in unemployment and disability benefits; funding for education and health would also be cut.
The salaries of State employees would not be adjusted to keep pace with inflation.

Crimea
Residents of Crimea had a one month window, 16th March to 18th April, to opt-out of automatic registration as citizens of the Russian Federation. People like prisoners were of course not able to do that...

190. The whereabouts of three pro-Ukrainian activists who disappeared in May 2014 are still unknown. On 23 June, the director of a Crimean human rights organization was told by an investigating officer from Crimea that the three were neither in a pre-trial detention centre nor in an FSB facility.

192. ...New laws have been rapidly introduced... For example, for employment purposes, Ukrainian nationals resident in Crimea who rejected Russian citizenship are now considered foreigners, and may be employed only if their employer has a permit to employ foreigners. A quota system providing the number of foreigners who may be employed in Crimea is provided by the Russian Federation. Employers had very little notice of the need to apply for a permit by 15 July, and those without could be fined 800,000 RUB

195. The situation of people living with HIV/AIDS is difficult, particularly for prisoners. Due to the differences in the approved schemes for HIV treatment in Ukraine and the Russian Federation, patients in Crimea have been forced to change their medications. Drug users have been put in a particularly vulnerable position, as they do not have access to the Opioid Substitution Therapy, which is prohibited by legislation of the Russian Federation. Since 10 June, 20 patients have reportedly died due to the lack of necessary medication and some have allegedly returned to the usage of illegal drugs.

 

[Voynich]

Someone in the comments section (yeah I know) reckons this was shot in west Ukraine (dialect), anyone know if that's true?

It is. It's Chernivtsi Oblast, where Romania meets Moldova, meets Ukraine - so South Western. If I remember correctly from some infographic-or-other, southern Western Ukraine did not at all follow the pattern of engagement with the elections of the bigger Western cities. The East/West attitudes divide seems to be really patchy. There are other videos too (no subtitles), of even bigger demonstrations there against mobilisation, blocking the roads (just no burning papers).

 

[Akito]

Ukraine needs democracy!
Let those Ukrainian freaks to vote for whom they want. I want this U-theme out of my webfeed and forums I read.
Imao let those crazy beggars make their choice during future election and let them calm down. I think OCSE and Human Rights watchers and European leaders could bear down the situation.
The key point is honesty and transparency of this election. So that another maniacal money-bag wouldn't come to power.
I was in Ukraine during the last election as international watcher. The Central Electoral Commission registered me... and took my IDcard and phone and didn't let to electoral district! When I asked what should I tell then? They answered "the truth that you haven't seen any violations." Also they hinted that anything may happen to me during my trip to home.
So don't want to hear anything about those Ukrainian morons anymore. Help them get rid of rich bandits and let them along.

 

[seventh bullet]

Yes.

 

[Voynich]

This is a video documenting, primarily, government Grad-barrages in the last couple of months. It's sign-in only given there are many corpses. It also begins with other footage of families physically trying to stop the conscript mobilisation (...after footage of an Azov battallion swear-in, which doesn't set the tone for the rest of the video). It is sadly on a dogshit lunatic youtube channel.



Human Rights Watch and the UN human rights office have noted the use of Grads into populated areas, pretty clearly from Government positions (although militia definitely have at least a couple of Grad trucks themselves).
This includes hitting utilities, schools and hospitals,

Explosive weapons such as artillery shells and unguided rockets have struck at least five hospitals in eastern Ukraine since June 2014, killing at least two medical staff, Human Rights Watch found. The circumstances of the attacks, most of which took place in insurgent-controlled areas under attack from government forces, suggest that government forces were responsible, but further investigation is needed to determine whether such attacks amounted to violations of humanitarian law.

HRW and the UN also both note that the Ukrainian government denies using Grads.

Although Ukrainian government officials and the press service of the National Guard have denied using Grad rockets in Donetsk, a Human Rights Watch investigation on the ground strongly indicates that Ukrainian government forces were responsible for the attacks that occurred between July 12 and 21.

From HRW- Ukraine: unguided rockets killing civillians

An all-round depressing video that underscores the futility of it all, if genuine.




Lately, militia have apparently comandeered ambulances,

One line from the article that particularly surprised me - "While the laws of war do not explicitly prohibit requisition of civilian hospitals for treatment of wounded fighters, such requisition should not be detrimental to patients"...
Another case of a population who surely can never be reconciled. I can't possibly see how.

 

[butchersapron]

Interesting piece:

Economics and politics of an escalating war

Prime Minister Yatseniuk predicts that GDP will fall by 6% in 2014, inflation will go up by 19.5% and nominal wages will fall by 6.3%. The rate of unemployment according to the IMF will be between 10 and 15% by year end. These are conservative estimates, but they still represent a further serious decline from an already grave economic position for the great majority of Ukrainian workers, small farmers, students and pensioners. The hryvnia has already devalued by 47% against the US dollar since the start of 2014 ($1=12.2UAH). The combined impact of devaluation and inflation since the beginning of this year has cut the real income of workers by 50% and of middle class professionals by 30%.

The revisions to the 2014 budget that were adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on 31 July were driven principally by the need to increase funding for the war effort. The main changes are as follows:

• to introduce a 1.5% war tax on all wages and salaries;

• to cut public services responsible for enforcing standards of environmental protection, quality of medicines, food quality and occupational health and safety,

• ministries will at their own discretion to lay off public sector workers without pay for up to two months in order to balance their budgets

• to decouple the rates of public sector pay, state pensions and student stipends from index linking to the rate of inflation,

• to freeze the minimum wage and official poverty line,

• to reduce workers’ protection against unfair or arbitrary dismissal under the Labour Code,

• to reduce availability of HIV-AIDS treatment,

• to cut support for the resettlement of deported Crimean Tatars.

• to suspend in time of martial law the law on tendering for state contracts to supply the Armed Forces of Ukraine, “other military formations”, law enforcement bodies and other institutions responsible for state security

Elections will not touch the old regime

The old regime is still very much alive in the ministries, regulatory bodies, courts and tax authorities that make up the carcass of the Ukrainian state. Politician – public official – private businessman: this is the holy trinity that fears disruption by the current crisis. Elections could threaten its unity if there was a radical, progressive party – a genuine Workers Party – to contest them. But it has not yet appeared, while the forces of the far right both inside and outside parliament do offer the new/old Ukrainian regime a channel to divert the anger and frustration of the lower classes away from themselves. This is a real danger of the current situation.

And Poroshenko escalating whilst Putin builds an army rather than an insurgency.

 

[danny la rouge]

Thanks for the C&ps. I'm liking this so I can find the link later.

 

[butchersapron]

Thanks for the C&ps. I'm liking this so I can find the link later.

Get yourself a pocket account - then all you need do is click the save to pocket button and then when you go to the pocket site every article will be saved there for you - really useful. No need to got trawling to find stuff again.

 

[butchersapron]

Spanish Stalinist jihadis getting chance to play role of heroic ww2 anti-fascist freedom fighters:

 

[Casually Red]

Fuck me. Al Jazeera are even worse than Sky. "The Donbass Battalion prepares to save Ukraine from separatists".

Oh look, pretty girls can be 'patriots' too.



Makes me fucking sick.

yeah, they are fucking desperate. A few weeks ago they were airing some documentary on Moldova and they made mention of tensions in Odessa. They claimed that rotten massacre was something to do with steadfast locals making a stand against a small group of putchists and a tragedy then somehow happening, where people died.

fucking shit station

 

[coley]

Interesting piece:

Economics and politics of an escalating war

http://observerukraine.net/2014/08/05/economics-and-politics-of-an-escalating-war/
The revisions to the 2014 budget that were adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on 31 July were driven principally by the need to increase funding for the war effort. The main changes are as follows:

• to introduce a 1.5% war tax on all wages and salaries;

• to cut public services responsible for enforcing standards of environmental protection, quality of medicines, food quality and occupational health and safety,

• ministries will at their own discretion to lay off public sector workers without pay for up to two months in order to balance their budgets

• to decouple the rates of public sector pay, state pensions and student stipends from index linking to the rate of inflation,

• to freeze the minimum wage and official poverty line,

• to reduce workers’ protection against unfair or arbitrary dismissal under the Labour Code,

• to reduce availability of HIV-AIDS treatment,

• to cut support for the resettlement of deported Crimean Tatars.

• to suspend in time of martial law the law on tendering for state contracts to supply the Armed Forces of Ukraine, “other military formations”, law enforcement bodies and other institutions responsible for state security

Hope Cameron & Co don't read this, we will be at war with some bugger the next day.




And Poroshenko escalating whilst Putin builds an army rather than an insurgency.

 

[Casually Red]

"Decadent" cultural centre seized in Donetsk http://www.euronews.com/2014/06/10/...tists-target-seize-decadent-cultural-centre-/

Nice try, more than a bit disingenuous there I reckon . The building most certainly wasnt seized because it was hosting decadent art as you and the headline writer are clearly trying to imply..surprise surprise. Its in a besieged city being shelled mercilessly and indiscriminately and the rebels wanted the space..which also has a bomb shelter.. for a humanitarian shelter to store red cross aid. They phoned in advance to arrange a visit and there only seems to be a couple of them there.
And it turns out ...surprise surprise again..the culture centre is owned by a Ukrainian outfit who are part of an EU funded network whose own website admits to having a strong political agenda. And this particular group...surprise surprise again, engage in activities such as

organising an event “supposed to teach representatives of various Ukrainian non-governmental institutions how to implement new media effectively for developing and managing their cultural and social projects.”



Massive stench that reeks of the usual rotten mix of USAID, National Endowment for Democracy, Otpor colour revolution wolfbaggery that seems to have been going on. The groups leader himself admits the reason for the building being commandeered ..apparently by a fellow art afficianado..is due to ideological differences and not because of decadent art. So plainly the group has a political agenda and not simply an artistic one .
Anyway lets hope none of the beseiged locals needing shelter and humanitarian assistance drip any blood over the various hipster nick nacks within. The polka dot revolution or whatever they were trying to cook up will have to wait a while in Donetsk for the time being and let the fascist National Guard do the job instead.

 

[Casually Red]

dunno if this has been posted but these mothers dont seem to happy with the efforts of fascist MP and would be army recruiter Ivan Papadyuka to drag their sons into this mess

one minute in, probably the first time in his life his manky fash ponytail proved irresistible to women. Then off comes the shirt and hes squaring up Rambo stylee to middle aged non too impressed housewives



but the Guardian of course would have you believe this military campaign has been so popular the Ukrainian army have been beating people away from the doors of the recruiting centres

 

[likesfish]

The russians have sent a huge humantarian aid convoy for rebel held ukraine to much mockery from russians.
The red cross and the ukrainian goverment are not overjoyed the ICRC have very strict rules about what and how they operate.

 

[Casually Red]

the Ukrainian government wont permit it entry despite the humanitarian situation being extremely severe in some places theyve got under siege...no power, water, food,fuel, medical supplies. And it looks like the main problem stems from US and British public opposition to the aid. As it looks like theyre afraid Russian aid will somehow stop the people in DPR from seeing what theuir best interests are. They..Brits and Yanks..are using the bizzare excuse the provision of humanitarian aid will somehow encourage Russia to launch an invasion. Possibly little green men concealed among the sacks of baby formula or something.
Basically what this means is the military seiges and offensives the west have encouraged ..and most likely planned as well just like they did in Krajina...should continue apace and be all the more effective because humanitarian aid wont be permitted in. Not much point having a siege if your going to let food water and medicine in really.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-28751447

On Monday, Western officials warned that Russia could be planning military operations in eastern Ukraine, using humanitarian aid as a cover.


"We see the Russians developing the narrative and the pretext for such an operation under the guise of a humanitarian operation, and we see a military build-up that could be used to conduct such illegal military operations in Ukraine," said Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.


Responding to news of the convoy's departure, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius warned that the mission could be a way for the Russian military to install itself in eastern Ukraine and present the world with a fait accompli.

utter horseshit from the NATO mouthpieces

These are the very same powers who deliberately murdered hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children with their sanction siege of that country. The bastards are pulling the same shit here. The waters been cut off there for weeks now for fucks sake. Western calls to prevent aid from being sent in in case theres a Russian hiding in the boxes are utter bullshit. They want maximum effective ness from their siege is all. Putin should deliver an ultimatum if they stall the aid much longer.

 

[Casually Red]

Big Russian column moving into Ukraine, according to this:

http://pressimus.com/Interpreter_Mag/press/3134

But is it for real? Who the hell knows.

august now andk no sign of them , apparently not.

 

[DownwardDog]

Putin has dressed the drunk muzhiki operating the aid convoy/invasion in weird Hitlerjugend style uniforms.

 

[Casually Red]

oh yeah, imagine wearing shorts, t shirts and a baseball cap in 38 degree heat in the dead of a Russian summer . Only a nazi would consider that . Never knew the Hitlerjugend wore flip flops mind. Wouldk invaders not find a pair of sturdy boots a bit more useful though ?

Do you have the article to hand which explains why Putin chose this design personally and ordered these chaps to wear it ? And to be drunk as well .

While its well known the drunken russian stereotype is used as a racial slur in some quarters Im sure youre not like that and have the actual evidence these chaps were indeed drunk at the time. Presumably also on Putins instructions.

 

[hipipol]

These are the very same powers who deliberately murdered hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children with their sanction siege of that country. The bastards are pulling the same shit here. The waters been cut off there for weeks now for fucks sake. Western calls to prevent aid from being sent in in case theres a Russian hiding in the boxes are utter bullshit. They want maximum effective ness from their siege is all. Putin should deliver an ultimatum if they stall the aid much longer.

Ultimatums usually result in a lot of dead people
Whatever he may think of the govt in Ukraine, if he wants the people to get aid, Putin must trust the Red Cross

 

[Casually Red]

The Red Cross must first do as the Ukrainian government tell them. They cant take it unless Ukraine assents andk guarantees its security...basically agree not to drop bombs on it . And I believe very strongly the Ukrainian puppet government is doing what the NATO powers are telling them. Keeping the aid out very deliberately for military purposes. To ensure beseiged districts collapse as soon and as completely as possible.

Well see the same dicking about here as with the investigation into the airliner. Investigators dealing with Kiev being constantly dicked about andk given the run around. And then the site becoming a warzone.

Id hazard the prediction Kiev dicks about on access for as long as possible on NATO instructions , western powers talk shite about Russian invaders hiding in the aid convoy to give Kiev political cover so nobody in the west worries about the beseiged populations...who are russians and therefore scum and fair game in many western eyes anyway. And then if it eventually does get in it gets bombed..and they blame the DPR as suspects...and then theyre not sure but there might be an invasion....umm err..theyre Russians

 

[DownwardDog]

While its well known the drunken russian stereotype is used as a racial slur in some quarters Im sure youre not like that and have the actual evidence these chaps were indeed drunk at the time. Presumably also on Putins instructions.

You know the Urban rules when it comes to pejorative generalisations based on nationality; you can say anything you like about Americans and Israelis and a bit about Russians but that's it.

Also, why have they removed the licence plates from the hastily repurposed Russian army trucks?

 

[Casually Red]

You know the Urban rules when it comes to pejorative generalisations based on nationality; you can say anything you like about Americans and Israelis and a bit about Russians but that's it.

Also, why have they removed the licence plates from the hastily repurposed Russian army trucks?

Well id be the last one on here to insist on political correctness. But in a scenario were ethnic Russians are being driven from their homes in tens of thousands shelled suppressed beseiged killed and maimed indiscriminately by people whose political leaders are openly calling them a mongoloid race then racial slurs mightnt be wholly appropriate in this particular instance.

i have no idea why there arent any numberplates on the back of the trucks in that photo. You appear to be suggesting theres a nefarious and sinister reason . itd be interestng to hear your theory on this nefarious skullduggery . How might the lack of a number plate assist the little green men craftily hiding in the back behind the baby powder ?

 

[Fuchs66]

the Ukrainian government wont permit it entry

and I don't blame them. The loads in every one of those trucks should be inspected preferably by the ICRC (seeing as Russia seems to be determined to claim that they are involved in this convoy despite the ICRC not having any idea about what Russia is up to) before entry into the Ukraine.

 

[laptop]

The Telegraph* this morning reported that the convoy had disappeared: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ssian-convoy-vanishes-on-road-to-Ukraine.html


* Well, I'm not buying the Guardian for the bus ride given its turning into the Daily Hasbara...

 

[Casually Red]

and I don't blame them. The loads in every one of those trucks should be inspected preferably by the ICRC (seeing as Russia seems to be determined to claim that they are involved in this convoy despite the ICRC not having any idea about what Russia is up to) before entry into the Ukraine.

By any chance have you ever had work experence n Gaza ? Perhaps near Eretz ? You sound eminently qualified for the job.
Just to recap the waters been cut off in Luhansk for weeks now. No power either no food city totally cut off with nothing getting in. People are being buried were they fall pretty much. Elderly and infirm in old peoples homes... families... bus queues...thats the people getting slaughtered here. Thousands dead.
And youre adding your voice to the NATO demands for no aid.

Fuck me. The last time i saw such undisguised hatred for an entire ethnic group in the uk was back during gulf one when even Asian shops called Hussein were getting targetted...or mebbe during the Malvinas episode. But the brits arent even at war wth the Russians and havent been since Churchill attacked them in 1919. Hard to fathom the psychology behind this.

 

[Fuchs66]

I never said no aid, and neither did the Ukrainians, but the Russians are playing silly fuckers. If they worked together with the ICRC in a transparent manner then I doubt there would be many problems at all.

 

[Fuchs66]

Some interesting points on the convoy here:

http://www.examiner.com/list/russia-s-top-100-lies-about-ukraine

 

[Fuchs66]

Rats and sinking ships come to mind:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28792966

 

[butchersapron]

Rats and sinking ships come to mind:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28792966

On him, this is a fantastic read:

Ukraine: Russian White Guards in the Donbass

Who is this Strelkov? “I consider myself a supporter of the autocratic monarchy in Russia”, he explains. Moreover: “I am firmly convinced that to this day the Bolshevik power continues to exist in Russia. Yes, it has changed, become unrecognisable, but in its essence it remains unchanged: from the point of view of its anti-Russian, anti-patriotic and anti-religious orientation. In its ranks can be found the direct descendants of the people who ‘made’ the revolution of 1917. Quite simply, they have been disguised, but their substance has not changed. They have remained in power, having thrown away the ideology that prevented them from enriching themselves and enjoying material goods. But the process of direct destruction of the Russian nation (and of other aboriginal peoples of the Russian Empire) continues by other means; with a ‘success’ such as makes one dizzy. In 1991 there was a putsch; but the counter-revolution has not been completed.”

“To save the situation, we need in Russia a fundamentally new White ideal”. New, Strelkov explains, because “a large part of the population meets the ideology of the White movement with hostility. To take it to the masses ‘in its pure form’ would mean to condemn ourselves in advance to failure.”

In the “Constitution of the Donetsk People’s Republic”, Borodai and Strelkov inserted a formula copied verbatim from the Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire of 1906, which states that “the supreme and ruling faith” in this “republic” is the Orthodox faith. They also wrote there that this faith “is the matrix of matrices of the Russian World”. They added that it is the faith “professed by the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)”. In Ukraine, there are also other churches, including the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches.