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Cult

Best of the Web: Nazism: History is repeating itself in Ukraine


NEO Journal Media
Wed, 14 May 2014 08:30 UTC
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It's been said those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it...

In the 1930s, special interests backed the Nazis as a means of achieving greater power and wealth. Today in Ukraine, they are doing it again. Play by play, word for word- using the same toxic demagoguery and arraying troops, armor, and airpower against their own people and their neighbors.

History is repeating itself because some of us have clearly failed to learn from it. For those of us that have learned history's lessons, it is time to spread the word.

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Megaphone

Best of the Web: German journalist and activist Ken Jebsen: 'The system is demasking itself'

WuweiTranslations
YouTube
Wed, 14 May 2014 06:06 UTC
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Watch this extraordinary speech by former mainstream journalist Ken Jebsen at a demonstration against globalization and for peace - Berlin, May 5th 2014.

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Quenelle - Golden

Best of the Web: Despite terrorist attacks and killings by Kiev fascists, Donetsk People's Republic comes into being with 90% popular support, Luhansk People's Republic with up to 98% support


RIA Novosti
Mon, 12 May 2014 16:37 UTC
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© ReutersDespite continued attacks from assorted militias (very possibly including American mercenaries), people turned out in huge numbers across eastern Ukraine, now the independent republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Nearly 90% of Voters Support Independent Donetsk People's Republic

Up to 89.7 percent of voters in a referendum on Sunday in Eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Region backed independence for the region, the head of the election committee said Monday.

"89.7 percent have voted 'yes,' while 10.19 voted 'against,' and 0.74 percent of the bulletins were deemed invalid. The number we mentioned yesterday coincide completely," Electoral Committee Head of the Donetsk People's Republic Roman Lyagin said.

According to the DPR Co-Chairman Denis Pushilin, the republic may now decide in the next few hours whether to remain part of Ukraine or secede.

On Sunday, residents in Ukraine's southeastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions held a self-rule referendum on the status of their respective regions.

The single question on the ballot read as follows: "Do you support the act of state self-determination of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics?"

Earlier it was reported that over 96 percent of Luhansk voters backed independence for the self-proclaimed republic.

The Kremlin said in a statement Monday it respected the will of the people in Ukraine's southeast and urged the regime in Kiev to do the same.

Comment: Donetsk has formally asked the Kremlin for accession into the Russian Federation... it's going to be an interesting week.

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USA

Best of the Web: Clinton, Obama, and Boko Haram Yup, we armed them and let them run wild


Sott.net
Sat, 10 May 2014 08:26 UTC
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Clinton's State Department refused to put Boko Haram on the list of terror groups.

Boko Haram received arms indirectly from the US.

Now this group's activity is softening American and British minds to the idea of putting US and UK troops in Nigeria in"'purely an advisory role."

Do you think this tolerance for and "indirect" arming of terror groups that just happen to create outrages to justify our latest indefensible military adventures is an accident?

We don't.

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USA

Best of the Web: "The Russians are coming ... again ... and they're still ten feet tall!"

William Blum
Killinghope.org
Sat, 10 May 2014 06:06 UTC
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The US Government's 'allies' in Ukraine
So, what do we have here? In Libya, in Syria, and elsewhere the United States has been on the same side as the al-Qaeda types. But not in Ukraine. That's the good news. The bad news is that in Ukraine the United States is on the same side as the neo-Nazi types, who - taking time off from parading around with their swastika-like symbols and calling for the death of Jews, Russians and Communists - on May 2 burned down a trade-union building in Odessa, killing scores of people and sending hundreds to hospital; many of the victims were beaten or shot when they tried to flee the flames and smoke; ambulances were blocked from reaching the wounded. Try and find an American mainstream media entity that has made a serious attempt to capture the horror.

And how did this latest example of American foreign-policy exceptionalism come to be? One starting point that can be considered is what former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director Robert Gates says in his recently published memoir: "When the Soviet Union was collapsing in late 1991, [Defense Secretary Dick Cheney] wanted to see the dismemberment not only of the Soviet Union and the Russian empire but of Russia itself, so it could never again be a threat to the rest of the world." That can serve as an early marker for the new cold war while the corpse of the old one was still warm. Soon thereafter, NATO began to surround Russia with military bases, missile sites, and NATO members, while yearning for perhaps the most important part needed to complete the circle - Ukraine.
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Coffee

Best of the Web: Chaos: The Ukrainian Banderastan - as ugly as it is pathetic

The Saker
The Vineyard of the Saker
Sat, 10 May 2014 06:22 UTC
We all saw the pictures coming out of Mariupol today. I won't re-post them here. Simple people trying to stop a gang of heavily armed thugs who fancy themselves as some kind of "special forces" but whose "specialty" seems to be in shooting unarmed - or very poorly armed - civilians.

Pavel Gubarev
© UnknownPavel Gubarev in Slaviansk
It would be wrong to compare these Ukie thugs to the SS, as some have done. For all their wrongs, the Waffen-SS fought well, and not only against defenseless civilians, but also in real combat. But these Ukie "special units" still have not managed in taking over Slaviansk or Kramatorsk! Yes, there even was a Victory Day parade in Slaviansk were Pavel Gubarev, the "people-elected governor" of the Donetsk region spoke at an official rally. Same thing in Kramatorsk where a Victory Day celebration also took place.

Amazing, no? We are, by Kiev's official count, already in the second phase of the second anti-terrorist operation and the "special" forces have yet to capture a single town!

And then there is Mariupol. What happened there is almost as disgusting as the massacre in Odessa. The main difference is that at least in Odessa the junta did not use uniformed "special forces" but soccer hooligans and specially bused-in neo-Nazi thugs from Kiev. In Mariupol civilians were shot by "official" unifomed personnel. And for what purpose exactly? How many *armed* "terrorists" have been captured or killed in Mariupol?

A single sniper in Slaviansk has "succeeded" in shooting a 12 year old kid in the chest. Something the freaks in Kiev can be proud of, I suppose. The local press is now reporting that the SBU is sending more reinforcements to Slaviansk. It's pathetic, really.
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Chess

Best of the Web: Putin offers Obama a gambit the latter cannot refuse

The Saker
The Vineyard of the Saker
Thu, 08 May 2014 09:24 UTC
putin obama syria gassing
© Unknown
I have to admit that today's move by Putin caught me completely off-guard. My first impression was that by asking the folks in the Donbass to postpone the referendum, Putin was basically tossing aside a valuable bargaining chip. Even more disturbing was his apparent backing for the upcoming May 25th presidential election.

Let me also say, however, that the notion of Putin "caving in" never even crossed my mind if only because categories such as "caving in" are simply not applicable in the real world of international politics - they are only good for the talking heads on the Idiot Tube and their zombified audience.

But if Putin was not "caving in" - what in the world was he doing? I submit that what Putin did is give us his reply to yesterday's quiz. Remember what I wrote?
Let us assume that Russia does not intervene and that, with time and effort, the nationalists regain control of most of the eastern and southern Ukraine. Let is further assume that the referendum wanted by the Russian-speakers is either not held or ignored, while the Presidential election goes ahead and that Poroshenko or Tymoshenko get's "kind of elected" in a farcical election which, however, the USA and its EU protectorate will immediately recognize as "legitimate".
This is *exactly* the option chosen by Putin today. To see why, we have to look at this not from Moscow's perspective, but from Kiev's perspective. From the point of view of the junta this outcome looks something like this:
"So we have managed to get most of the East and South more or less under control. We have stopped the 'terrorists'' referendum and we got our leader Oligarchenko elected President in an election fully backed the US and Europe. What do we do next?"
This is when things get really interesting for a number of reasons. For one thing, the economy is completely dead and nobody, really nobody, has any idea as to what to do about it. Second, the degree of hatred between the western Banderastan and the eastern Donbass is at an all-time high and nobody has any idea as to how to make all these people coexist together. Third, and there are a lot of signs in Kiev and elsewhere that this is already beginning to happen, social unrest triggered by the economic collapse is going to go from bad to worse with each passing week. Fourth, now that the neo-Nazi thugs do not have a "patriotic" job to do anymore - what kind of "activities" will keep them busy next?
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Cow

Best of the Web: Ron Paul Institute: US hypocrisy over Ukraine 'absolutely stunning'

Daniel McAdams
RT
Wed, 07 May 2014 11:44 UTC
Ukrainian soldiers at a checkpoint
© AFP Photo / Vasily MaximovUkrainian soldiers stand at a checkpoint near the eastern Ukranian city of Slavyansk on May 5, 2014.
The US approach to violence in Ukraine is hypocritical, executive director of the Ron Paul Institute, Daniel McAdams, told RT. Holding an election in such a climate is impossible, yet the US will accept any result of the "wonderfully democratic" vote.

RT:The US has repeatedly praised Kiev for trying to de-escalate the situation, yet we all saw what happened in Odessa and what looks like it was allowed to happen...How do those things tally up?

Daniel McAdams: Well it is interesting, because in Kiev, not that many months ago, a couple of months to be exact, unarmed police forces were sent out against the violent protesters, and the US government - including the president and the secretary of state have - said they were "disgusted" by the show of force against these protesters. And you see in Ukraine, it is obvious that the government in Kiev is using the military against its own citizens. It is blockading cities, starving people out. This is exactly what the US used as a pretext for attack in places like Libya and elsewhere. So the hypocrisy of the US side is absolutely stunning.

RT: We heard Marie Harf from the US State Department again praising Ukraine's "restraint," where she said that Kiev has a "responsibility to maintain law and order for their own people," and that "the onus really is on the Russian government to pull back." What is your comment to that?

DM: You have to wonder what reality these people are occupying. They have tried pulling a fast one, the State Department did. A couple of weeks ago when they put out those phony photos what they claimed were the Russian forces in Ukraine. The person who took those pictures, as you know, said they are completely phony. The New York Times was burned on the US State Department lies. To its credit, the NYT has actually sent some people into eastern Ukraine, and they have reported just a couple of days ago, that actually these militias don't contain any Russians whatsoever and the people are not necessarily wanting to join Russia anyway. They are using old, worn out weapons, so the State Department just continues to pile lie upon lie. It is absolutely revolting.
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Gold Coins

Best of the Web: The IMF goes to war in Ukraine with austerity package while the US prays for a Russian intervention in Ukraine

Pepe Escobar
RT
Wed, 07 May 2014 10:00 UTC
Ukraine
© Unknown

The IMF has approved a $17 billion loan to Ukraine. The first $3.2 billion tranche has arrived on Wednesday.

It's essential to identify the conditions attached to this Mafia-style "loan." Nothing remotely similar to reviving the Ukrainian economy is in play. The scheme is inextricably linked to the IMF's notorious, one-size-fits-all "structural adjustment" policy, known to hundreds of millions from Latin America and Southeast Asia to Southern Europe.

The regime changers in Kiev have duly complied, launching the inevitable austerity package - from tax hikes and frozen pensions to a stiff, over 50 percent rise on the price of natural gas heating Ukrainian homes. The "Ukrainian people" won't be able to pay their utility bills this coming winter.

Predictably, the massive loan is not for the benefit of "the Ukrainian people." Kiev is essentially bankrupt. Creditors range from Western banks to Gazprom - which is owed no less than $2.7 billion. The "loan" will pay back these creditors; not to mention that $5 billion of the total is earmarked for payments of - what else - previous IMF loans. It goes without saying that a lot of the funds will be duly pocketed - Afghanistan-style - by the current bunch of oligarchs aligned with the "Yats" government in Kiev.

The IMF has already warned that Ukraine is in recession and may need an extension of the $17 billion loan. IMF newspeak qualifies it as "a significant recalibration of the program." This will happen, according to the IMF, if Kiev loses control of Eastern and Southern Ukraine - something already in progress.
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War Whore

Best of the Web: Prepping for a Ukrainian massacre a la Iraq

Robert Parry
ConsortiumNews.com
Tue, 22 Apr 2014 12:27 UTC
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© Alexei Nikolsky/AP
Exclusive: As the rhetoric rages out of control, worsening violence in Ukraine grows more likely. Official Washington is readying the American people to view the slaughter of eastern Ukrainians as justified because they are "terrorists" and linked to the hated Russians, Robert Parry reports

Between the anti-Russian propaganda pouring forth from the Obama administration and the deeply biased coverage from the U.S. news media, the American people are being prepared to accept and perhaps even cheer a massacre of eastern Ukrainians who have risen up against the coup regime in Kiev.

The protesters who have seized government buildings in ten towns in eastern Ukraine are being casually dubbed "terrorists" by both the Kiev regime and some American journalists. Meanwhile, it's become conventional wisdom in Official Washington to assume that the protesters are led by Russian special forces because of some dubious photographs of armed men, accepted as "proof" with few questions asked by the mainstream U.S. news media.
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