Civil War in Ukraine: Western Empire vs Russia

[angelburst29]

New Maidan Predicted in Ukraine: It Will Be Short and Bloody
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/05/new-maidan-predicted-in-ukraine-it-will.html

Yulia Tymoshenko's analyst Viktor Nebozhenko predicts another uprising and a lot of bloodshed for Ukraine. The next Maidan will be short and bloody, either for its initiators or for those against whom it will be directed. This opinion was voiced in an interview with the media by the expert. He noted that President Poroshenko, who came to power thanks to Maidan, cannot see out the end of his term – the same crowd in balaclavas will overthrow him and tear him to pieces, if it will be a team from outside.

"It will depend on internal and external political processes that are controlled not by Poroshenko nor us" — the analyst believes. Nebozhenko reminds: there are four million units of arms in the hands and more than 150,000 men who fought in the ATO, they are evil, hungry, and eager to kill.

You won't make them stand to attention on Khreshchatyk and peacefully listen to the empty rhetoric of demagogue politicians. They remember how it once ended. The next Maidan will be short and bloody. Either for its initiators or for those whom it is directed against, " he said. "That's why I really want the President Poroshenko to remember that Ukrainians might support his dismissal... He mustn't continue to live with the illusion that Ukrainians can be fooled indefinitely. Because the way to hell, even for the President, is paved with deception, cynicism, greed, and noble intentions," concluded Nebozhenko.

By the way, the commander of the battalion "Azov" announced the "flamboyant show" all over Ukraine by analogy with the Maidan uprisings in autumn 2013. Yesterday, his militants "occupied" BP and seized the "Borispol" international airport, showing that the authorities cannot so easily escape by a chartered plane to Panama.

""Freeze the conflict" and "peace at any price" – this is unacceptable for our people. Not all politicians in the West and in Ukraine understand this, unfortunately. No matter what is done to push us into these negotiations and no matter if the elections in Donbass are wanted, it will meet the active condemnation of society. I am sure that this firm stance will only strengthen the credibility of our country" - said the leader of the punishers.

"Yesterday we held the action not for mass participation, but to declare principles, that compromise with the occupants and recognition of any kind of occupation of Ukrainian lands, elections in Donbass for the Ukrainian society is unacceptable," said the battalion commander.

Additionally, Biletsky said that in the near future "Azov" will begin a tour of cities of Ukraine, during which these issues will be raised. "Today, all who are willing to fight must be at the forefront," said the MP. In fact, this is a rehearsal of a large-scale uprising and the mobilization of regions for another assault on Bankova. However, "Azov" is used secretly - they will become just the executors of the bloody cleansing of power, and after the punishers will be "eaten" themselves.


3 reasons of the conflict growth in Donbass
http://novorossia.today/3-reasons-of-the-conflict-growth-in-donbass/

The head of the department of the News Service of the political department of the DPR Defence Ministry Vladislav Breege announced to the Ukraina.Ru that Ukrainian authorities are trying to provoke Donetsk to start attack and to leave Minsk process demonstratively.

I think it is obviously provocation to wreck Minsk agreements. New representative of the Contact Group from Ukraine Olga Ayvazovskaya announced yesterday that Law ‘On amnesty’ will be signed after elections that in regard to her opinion will take place when Kiev receives control over Russian-Ukrainian border. Now there are provocations with purpose to make us to carry out counterattack. And after this Kiev is able to state loudly that DPR and LPR broke up Minsk’, Breege pointed out


Russian diplomat: Euronews discredited by its English language service
http://novorossia.today/russian-diplomat-euronews-discredited-by-its-english-language-service/

The English language service of Euronews is discrediting the entire news television channel, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Facebook account on Monday in comments on a screenshot of Russian foreign minister’s nonexistent Twitter account.

“As an official Russian reaction to a resolution adopted by the regional council of the Italian region of Veneto, urging to recognize the de-facto status of Crimea and lift anti-Russian sanctions, the English language website of the TV channel posted ‘a screenshot of Sergey Lavrov’s Twitter account’,” Zakharova wrote. “All is fine except for one thing – Sergey Lavrov has no Twitter account. The Russian language website, as you see, did not post the fake,” she went on.

“One cannot reproach us of giving no reaction on the Veneto subject. I made a comment to this respect,” Zakharovs said. “It is difficult to accuse the Foreign Ministry of non-transparent work in social networking systems. Probably, we are one of the few agencies giving a full list of the official accounts of its foreign missions and the leadership on our website,” she said.

“I used to think that such policy of the television channel’s English language service was aimed against the Russian side, but no there is no doubt that it is a blow to Euronews from inside, discrediting activity of this media outlet,” she said. “What else should the English language service of the TV channel’s website do to get attention of its leadership?” she asked.

Last Wednesday, the regional council of Veneto approved by a majority of votes a resolution calling on the national government of Italy to recognize the status of Crimea and push for cancelation of sanctions imposed by the EU against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis.


Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said that the possibility of Georgia and Ukraine joining the NATO should not be ruled out, and Montenegro's process of accession to bloc proves that the principle of the "open door" policy works.

Georgia, Ukraine Not to Join NATO in Foreseeable Future - Latvian FM
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160524/1040185599/georgia-ukraine-nato-membeship.html

Georgia and Ukraine will not become NATO member states in the foreseeable future, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said Tuesday.

"NATO has always declared its 'open door' policy. Though, we are not currently speaking about the possibility that Georgia and Ukraine will join NATO in the foreseeable future. Of course, there was a summit in Bucharest, where it was stated that if these countries were ready [to join the alliance] all NATO member states agreed then it could happen. But today, NATO itself is not unanimous on this issue," Rinkevics told the Delfi news agency in an interview.

According to Rinkevics, the possibility of Georgia and Ukraine joining the alliance should not be ruled out, and Montenegro's process of accession to NATO proves that the principle of the "open door" policy works.

Chairman of the NATO Military Committee Gen. Petr Pavel said that NATO's responsibility is to support Ukraine without fueling the internal conflict.

NATO Military Committee Rules Out Lethal Weapons Deliveries to Ukraine
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160519/1039904833/nato-ukraine-lethal-weapons.html

Chairman of the NATO Military Committee Gen. Petr Pavel said he did not believe lethal arms supplies to Ukraine to be necessary, as such a move would "only aggravate the suffering of people."

A two-day North Atlantic Council (NAC) session at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels started earlier on Thursday, gathering the foreign ministers of the military bloc's member states. According to media reports, Chief of the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces Viktor Muzhenko has arrived in Brussels with the intention of holding negotiations on arms deliveries to Kiev.

 

[Ca.]

The same situation seems to be occurring in Syria within the different factions and groups. FWIW

Yeah it's all a real mess. Under such extreme battle condition's it is inevitable that soldiers go beyond PTSD and just plain crazy.

I can only imagine how difficult it must be to find some peace with shells and genocide occurring mouths on end, day in day out.

It's all just one bad dream for so many, and this is only the beginning of some serious reality checks for the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Just keep on keeping on.

Stay safe goyacbol....!

Apocalypse Now (1979)
Quotes:

General Corman: Well, you see, Willard, in this war, things get confused out there. Power, ideals, the old morality, and practical military necessity. But out there with these natives, it must be a temptation to be God. Because there's a conflict in every human heart, between the rational and irration, between good and evil. And good does not always triumph. Sometimes, the dark side overcomes what Lincoln called the better angels of our nature.

Willard: [voiceover] Saigon... shit; I'm still only in Saigon... Every time I think I'm gonna wake up back in the jungle.
Willard: When I was home after my first tour, it was worse.
Willard: I'd wake up and there'd be nothing. I hardly said a word to my wife, until I said "yes" to a divorce. When I was here, I wanted to be there; when I was there, all I could think of was getting back into the jungle. I'm here a week now... waiting for a mission... getting softer. Every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker, and every minute Charlie squats in the bush, he gets stronger. Each time I looked around the walls moved in a little tighter.

Willard: [voice-over] Charlie didn't get much USO. He was dug in too deep or moving too fast. His idea of great R&R was cold rice and a little rat meat. He had only two ways home: death, or victory.

 

[angelburst29]

Putin to Poroshenko (and Merkel and Hollande) "Stop shelling Donbass, now!"
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/05/putin-to-poroshenko-and-merkel-and.html

Putin called on APU to stop shelling of Donbass immediately.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, and President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has called for an immediate end to the attacks on settlements in Donbas from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, according to the Kremlin press service.

A telephone conversation between the leaders of the Norman Quartet was held on Tuesday night.

"Putin has called for an immediate end to attacks by the armed Ukrainian formations on the settlements Donbass. It was emphasized that a key element of the settlement should be direct dialogue with Kiev-Donetsk-Luhansk for the full and comprehensive implementation of the Minsk agreement of 12 February 2015," concluded the press release.

German soldiers once again in Donbass: Have the lessons of history been forgotten?

http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/05/german-soldiers-once-again-in-donbass.html

The Nazi fascist occupation of Donbass lasted for about two years. In some places a bit less; in some a bit more. In the memory of the land’s population, this occupation remained years of a continuous nightmare from which occupation cost enormous sacrifices of Soviet soldiers.

We are not merely talking about Saur-Mogila which became a symbol of the fight for the liberation of the Donetsk region. The memories of that time have been kept by each family of Donbass' descendents. My wife’s grandfather on the paternal side died whil liberating Stanitsa Luganskaya. Her uncle on her mother’s side was almost shot in Yasinovataya for throwing a stone at a German soldier. The ten-year old boy was only saved by the other occupants, the Italians, who knocked the rifle out of the German’s hands.

Today a front line with Nazis once again runs through Stanitsa Luganskaya and Yasinovataya. In the first, Azov and and Aidar Nazi battalions are based. In the second, there is another unit of Azov formed from members of the Social National Assembly which, despite the truce, constantly goes on assaults and shells. These are battalions of Ukrainian Nazis, but they are also participated in by foreign mercenaries, including from Germany.

Moreover, soon enough in Donbass could appear soldiers from the regular German army. Although two years have passed since the news was released that 200 paratroopers from Seedorf, Lower Saxony stationed in Bremen will be transferred to the zone of the punitive operation against the population of Eastern Ukraine, nothing goes unnoticed.

Poroshenko and co. have insisted on the introduction of foreign military forces in the area for about a year. The calculation is simple: by hiding behind the foreigners like an umbrella, Kiev will be able to shoot at the cities of Donbass and the positions of the Novorossiyan army with impunity. Any retaliatory strike would be treated as an attack on peacekeepers followed by the armed “peacekeeping” of a foreign contingent. This is in fact what the “president of peace” is after, whose hands are stained with the blood of the civilian population of the DPR and LPR.

The Ukrainian leadership and its generals are ready to fulfill the UN Security Councils’ resolution on settling the situation in Donbass only in words. Although there is silence over plans to destroy the DPR and LPR according to the “Croatian scenario”, the following can be heard in the defense council of Ukraine: “The establishment of a special armed policing mission of the OSCE...will aid us in peacefully ensuring a transition period.” That means using the truce to accumulate significant military forces and then suddenly attack and seize the unrecognized republics and massacre the “separatists”, who the entire population of the territory currently not controlled by Kiev are considered to be.

In the Serbian Krajina of Croatia, the demarcation lines were also controlled by peacekeepers, which did not prevent the Croatian government from conducting a series of military operations and in the end destroying the unrecognized republic. Moreover, the actions of the Ukrainian leadership fully resemble the actions of the Croatian leadership. Like Tudjman, Poroshenko is well aware that the actual execution plan for a peaceful settlement is political suicide for him, but under the pressure of American diplomats he was forced to pay lip service in adopting the plan. Poroshenko, like Tudjman, categorically refuses to hold direct dialogue with the breakaway region, all the meanwhile busying himself with preparations for a purely military resolution of the problem.

There is little doubt that the situation in Ukraine will unfold to be exactly like this scenario since Ukrainian authorities insist on the deployment of some kind of “peacekeepers.” They adamantly rejected the Belarusian contingent and instead demanded that only foreign troops from the NATO bloc of countries could come, who would be manipulated by and have their tone set by the Americans, the greatest friends of the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev. NATO instructors are already training Ukrainian punitive forces and the NATO countries, as the Ukrainian ambassador to the US, Valeriy Chaly, admitted, are secretly supplying the Ukrainian army with weapons, and NATO officers are fighting in the conflict zone on the side of Kiev. Senior leaders of the alliance long ago officially rushed in “to assist Ukraine in countering Russian aggression” with troops and weapons. So far, the only restraint has been the discretion of the leadership of NATO countries. But, as we have seen, this discretion is coming to an end.

The German contingent was planned to be deployed to Donbass as an armed defense force of the Special Monitoring Mission of the OSCE. But only 50 people out of 200 are to be allocated for these purposes. The remaining 150 will be engaged in the maintenance and management of unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. That is, they will under totally lawful conditions collect intelligence in the interests of the country and military block sending them to Ukraine.

Just the defense aspect is not so simple. These 50 personnel are supposed to act as an armed guard for the observers whose numbers are to be increased to up to 800 people. Yet on this note, over the course of the entire conflict, not a single threat to the lives of the observers, except during artillery fire coming from the Ukrainian side, has arisen.

There is only one exception. The command of the neo-Nazi punitive battalion Aidar has refused to let observers into the battalion. One German paratrooper for sixteen unarmed observers against a platoon of Ukrainian soldiers with weapons is not only ridiculous, but stupid.

The second conflict situation was the nighttime arson of several SMM OSCE vehicles in Donetsk, but the lives of observers were not threatened. And this was done in protest against the blatant bias of the mission.

The bias of the OSCE began with the very moment of the SMM’s creation when ethnic Ukrainians of Canadian origin were appointed its leaders and deputies, which is strictly against the principles of the organization, openly condoning the views and beliefs of the punishers.

OSCE observers have refused to go out on demand for recording ongoing shelling, and they refuse to record the these attacks on the grounds that they cannot go to the necessary place due to... ongoing shelling! Fighters of the army of Novorossiya have more than once recorded that Ukrainian shelling ceases when an observer group is about to arrive only to resume immediately after their departure. The intelligence services of the DPR and LPR have more than once recorded the vehicles of the OSCE SMM delivering ammunition to and even providing cover through their convoys for the punitive forces during attempts to occupy neutral zones.

The question of introducing an armed contingent as “support for the OSCE” was discussed back in October, 2015, but analysts’ opinions as to whether or not it will be deployed were divided.

Not long ago, the OSCE leadership, which is now chaired by Germany, refused to arm observers in Donbass, considering instead that they would operate more efficiently without weapons. Just the other day, the Secretary General of the OSCE, Lamberto Zannier, said that during elections the OSCE would “be ready to allocate hundreds of employees, possibly armed, so that the election process will take place in a peaceful atmosphere.” Maybe “possibly” means “everyone agrees,” but the fact nonetheless remains.

On May 21st, during a telephone conversation with French president Francois Hollande and German chancellor Angela Merkel, Poroshenko urged Germany to accelerate the development of proposals on sending an OSCE police mission to Donbass. Not just anywhere, but “to those areas of Donbass controlled by the militia.”

It appears that Europe knows that on this same day, May 21st, Poroshenko stated during his address on the occasion of Europe Day: “Today it is we Ukrainians who are protecting Europe from barbarism, tyranny, terrorism, aggression, and militarism which haunts our entire continent. We, Ukrainians, are now on the front line of defense of European civilization.”

But Europe ignored these statements. Then the return to the question of introducing German paratroopers to Donbass was possible again, as proposed by experts from the military departments of Germany and France.

From the point of view of international law, this is called interference in an internal conflict of a state on the side of one of the conflict’s participants.

There is yet another aspect of the deployment of foreign troops to Donbass, a moral and historical one. For the inhabitants of Donbass, today’s attacks by neo-Nazi punishers, this war, is associated with the events of the Great Patriotic War when their grandfathers and great grandfathers shed blood in the fight against the German Nazis. Thus, the arrival of German paratroopers in a region which suffered so badly from the Germans in 1941-1943 causes an entirely natural reaction: “Stand up for the fatal battle with the dark fascist force, the damned horde.” [These are the lyrics of the famous Soviet song “Sacred War” - J.A.]

Sending German troops to the border with Russia, against whom, as Poroshenko asserted, Ukraine is at war and defending “European civilization” is a well-planned provocation against not only Donbass but Russia. First and foremost, this is a provocation against Angela Merkel who will now be blamed for following in the footsteps of Hitler. However, as Gleb Zheglov said, punishment does not come without guilt: the lessons of history should not be skipped over by Frau Merkel and her generals!

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree pardoning Nadezhda Savchenko, who was sent to Kiev, Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.

Putin Signs Decree Pardoning Savchenko
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160525/1040219317/putin-decre-savchenko-pardoning.html

Relatives of the murdered journalists requested that Vladimir Putin pardon Nadezhda Savchenko as a humane gesture, Peskov added. President Putin, in turn, thanked the slain journalists' relatives for their request for clemency.

"Before the pardon was signed, Vladimir Putin met with the relatives of our killed journalists. In turn, this meeting was preceded by the request from the relatives sent on March 22 and 23 where they asked to pardon [Savchenko] on humanitarian grounds," Peskov said.

The Russian president said he hopes his decision to pardon Savchenko as a humane gesture will help in easing the confrontation in East Ukraine.

"I just want to thank you for this position, and I hope that such decisions are dictated by humane considerations which will lead to a reduction of hostilities in that well-known conflict zone, and will help to prevent others from experiencing such terrible and unnecessary loss," Putin said.

Savchenko was sentenced in late March to a 22-year jail term in Russia for her part in killing Russian journalists in Donbass. On June 17, 2014, a court ruled that she had directed the artillery fire at a group of Lugansk militia and Russian journalists, which lead to deaths of Russian journalists Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin.

The lawyer for a Russian national serving a prison sentence in Ukraine, Alexander Aleksandrov, announced that a prison swap involving his client and another jailed Russian national, Yevgeni Yerofeev, in exchange for Ukrainian Nadezhda Savchenko, who is serving 22 years in Russia, has begun.

Russian Lawyer Reveals Savchenko Prison Swap Deal Reached
http://sputniknews.com/world/20160525/1040212842/russia-ukraine-savchenko-swap.html

Aleksandrov and Yerofeev were each given 14-year jail terms by a Ukrainian court after being convicted of fighting on the side of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic in the country’s east. Aleksandrov’s defense attorney Valentin Rybin told RIA Novosti early on Wednesday that his defendant had filed a mercy petition with the office of the Ukrainian president.

When asked to specify if this meant that Savchenko was being swapped for the two Russians, Rybin said, "Yes, that’s how it is."

This appears to be at odds with what is known to the Russian presidential office, whose press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters at Wednesday’s regular briefing that he had "no information" regarding the alleged swap plans.

Russian Upper House Speaker Valentina Matvienko confirmed that two Russian citizens who had been jailed in Ukraine, Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Alexander Alexandrov, had been freed, and that Nadezhda Savchenko had been returned to Ukraine.

Two Russian Citizens Jailed in Ukraine Freed, Return to Moscow
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160525/1040223448/russians-jailed-ukraine-land-moscow.html

The transfer of Nadezhda Savchenko to Ukraine and Russians Alexandrov and Yerofeyev to Russia has been completed. This happened on the basis of the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, ratified by Russia and Ukraine," Matvienko said.

This is not a prisoner swap," she added.

The plane carrying Russian citizens Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Alexander Alexandrov has landed at Vnukovo Internatinal Airport.

In May 2015, Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Alexander Alexandrov were detained by Ukrainian forces near a front-line town in the Lugansk Region in eastern Ukraine. A Kiev court sentenced them to 14 years in prison, having found them guilty of terrorism-related activities.

 

[Voyageur]

Came across a letter published on the New Cold War site - https://newcoldwar.org/committee-to-protect-journalists-urges-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-to-condemn-threats-to-journalists/ ) written to Poroshenko from the Committee to Protect Journalists:

'Committee to Protect Journalists urges Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to condemn threats to journalists': https://cpj.org/2016/05/cpj-urges-ukrainian-president-petro-poroshenko-to-.php

Published by the Committee to Protect Journalists

May 24, 2016
His Excellency Petro Poroshenko,
President of Ukraine
Bankova st, 11
Kiev, Ukraine
Sent via e-mail and facsimile: presidentpressoffice@apu.gov.ua; pressoffice@apu.gov.ua; +380 44 255 6161

Dear President Poroshenko:

We at the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, press freedom advocacy group, write to express our support for Ukrainian prosecutors’ investigation into a Ukrainian website’s defamation of thousands of local and international journalists and human rights activists as “terrorist accomplices,” and to express our shock that instead of condemning the act that puts our colleagues’ lives at risk, senior Ukrainian government officials have praised this deliberate attempt to intimidate journalists and potentially to put them at risk.

A group of hackers on May 7 announced on a website called Myrotvorets (Peacemaker) that they had breached computers pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine used to keep track of journalists they had allowed to work in the region, and published a database containing the names, affiliations, and contact information of more than 7,000 individuals. The database included 4,508 local and international journalists and media workers who have reported from the conflict zone. According to CPJ research, the separatists have been collecting journalists’ contact information as part of an accreditation process even though their authority over eastern Ukraine is not internationally recognized.

Human rights groups report that journalists have been threatened following the publication of their contact details. Ukrainian journalist Roman Stepanovych, for example, told the group Mapping Media Freedom that he had received threatening emails since the list’s publication.

We are troubled that Ukrainian officials, including Anton Geraschenko, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, and Arsen Avakov, Ukraine’s interior minister, praised the publication of the list in statements published on their social media accounts. In a post to Facebook, Geraschenko praised Mirotvorets for publishing the data, accused the journalists on the list of aiding terrorists and of spreading Russian propaganda, and suggested that Ukraine should take tough measures, including censorship, in response.

We are shocked that Avakov, who, as interior minister is ultimately responsible for investigating the incident and protecting journalists, praised the website and blamed the journalists for registering with separatists [sic].

“Do not blame Myrotvorets in this case,” Avakov wrote on Facebook. “The journalists made their choice when they handed their own personal data to the bandits from the occupying regime.”

The publication of the journalists’ contact information, and the unfounded accusations that accompanied it, drew domestic and international outcry. Local and international reporters and press freedom advocates noted that reporting on a conflict is not a crime. CPJ unreservedly agrees that the journalists did nothing wrong in reporting on a conflict of international concern.

As Thorbjørn Jagland, secretary general of the Council of Europe, wrote in a May 13 open letter to you, the release of the journalists’ information violated Ukraine’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and the data-protection standards of the Council of Europe. In a May 24 meeting with Avakov, European Union ambassadors to Ukraine Jan Tombinski and Christof Weil urged the minister to ensure the removal of journalists’ data from the website, to prosecute those responsible for the leak, and to protect reporters in light of the threats they have received since the publication of their personal information.

We applaud Ukrainian prosecutors’ May 11 announcement that they had opened a preliminary investigation into the website, and we call on them to complete their investigation thoroughly. We call on you to support this investigation, and to make clear your government’s committment to press freedom and the safety of journalists.

We view this is especially urgent because Myrotvorets continues to release journalists’ personal information.

In a statement published on May 20, the creators of Myrotvorets wrote: “Many journalists demanded an apology from us, and now we understand the reason for this. The staff of [Myrotvorets] offer their sincere apologies in regards to the list’s not being fresh.”

The statement said that the website initially published data retrieved in December 2015, whereas the new list, which it said consists of contact details for 5,412 reporters, among them 2,082 Russian journalists, 1,816 international correspondents, and 1,514 Ukrainian journalists, was collected in February 2016.

On May 24, Myrotvorets released yet another list, this time also including the home addresses for 239 Ukrainian and international journalists working in Russia, news reports said.

Announcing today’s release, the website said that the list includes journalists who “cooperate with the aggressor state that funds international terrorism and has occupied a part of Ukrainian territory.”

We call on you to condemn the unfounded and damaging allegations published on Myrotvorets, and to clarify publicly that the Ukrainian Interior Ministry is dedicated to protecting journalists and apprehending the people responsible for threatening them, in contrast to Interior Minister Avokov’s previous statements.

Sincerely,

Joel Simon
Executive Director

CC:
Arsen Avakov, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
Pavlo Klimkin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
Yuriy Lutsenko, Prosecutor General of Ukraine
Valeriya Lutkovska, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights
Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe
Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights
Johannes Hahn, EU Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations
Valeriy Chaly, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States
Geoffrey R. Pyatt, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine
Stavros Lambrinidis, EU Special Representative for Human Rights
Dunja Mijatovic, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media

 

[angelburst29]

Putin Signs Decree Pardoning Savchenko
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160525/1040219317/putin-decre-savchenko-pardoning.html

Relatives of the murdered journalists requested that Vladimir Putin pardon Nadezhda Savchenko as a humane gesture, Peskov added. President Putin, in turn, thanked the slain journalists' relatives for their request for clemency.

"Before the pardon was signed, Vladimir Putin met with the relatives of our killed journalists. In turn, this meeting was preceded by the request from the relatives sent on March 22 and 23 where they asked to pardon [Savchenko] on humanitarian grounds," Peskov said.

The Russian president said he hopes his decision to pardon Savchenko as a humane gesture will help in easing the confrontation in East Ukraine.

Savchenko was sentenced in late March to a 22-year jail term in Russia for her part in killing Russian journalists in Donbass. On June 17, 2014, a court ruled that she had directed the artillery fire at a group of Lugansk militia and Russian journalists, which lead to deaths of Russian journalists Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin.

Below is some information gathered on Nadezhda Savchenko, for I suspect we will be seeing more of her in the news. Savchenko is a Ukrainian subversive operative and member of the ukro-nazi battalion Aidar, and will be used by Kiev to further their propaganda. The two Russians were kidnapped by Ukraine subversives inside DNR territory, then dragged across the border to the Ukrainian side and put on trial on trumped up charges. In short, Russian leadership used Savchenko as a bargaining chip and humanitarian gesture.

Ukrainian national Nadezhda Savchenko, who was convicted as an accomplice to the murder of two journalists in Donbass, said that if Ukrainians demand, she could become a president of the country.

Savchenko Says Ready to Become President of Ukraine If Public Demands
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160527/1040348798/savchenko-ukraine-president.html

"Ukrainians, if you need me to become a president, sure, I will be president… Honestly, I would not say I want it, but, if necessary, I will do it," Savchenko said at press conference.

Knut Fleckenstein, the vice-chair of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, stated that the elease of Ukrainian military officer Nadezhda Savchenko by the Russian authorities will contribute to improved cooperation between all sides for the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

Savchenko’s Release to Contribute to Minsk Deal Implementation
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160526/1040296057/ukraine-minsk-agreements-savchenko.html

The release of Ukrainian military service member Nadezhda Savchenko by Russia is a positive development toward settling the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Stephane Dion said in a statement on Wednesday.

Savchenko Release ‘Milestone’ in Resolving Ukrainian Conflict - Canadian FM
http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160525/1040255495/savchenko-release-ukrainian-conflict.html

German Foreign Minister said that Berlin hopes that freeing Ukrainian Nadezhda Savchenko from her 22-year prison term in Russia will help in building trust between Moscow and Kiev, as well as give a positive impulse to the Minsk agreement process.

Berlin Considers Freeing of Ukraine's Savchenko Good for Minsk Process
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160525/1040231127/russia-ukraine-savchenko-steinmeier.html

Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko has been pardoned by the Russian president and has returned to Ukraine in a prisoner swap. The international community welcomed the the move, with many praising her as a hero. Yet is she one?

Villain or hero? The many faces of Nadezhda Savchenko (Video)
https://www.rt.com/news/344395-savchenko-factsheet-pardon-ukraine/

National hero or convicted murderer? Savchenko served as a radio operator and a paratrooper with the Ukrainian army. At 23 she went to Iraq as a peacekeeper and was the only female soldier in her regiment. She graduated as a military pilot from the prestigious Air Force University of Kharkov, which was male-only until Savchenko entered.

When the conflict in eastern Ukraine escalated, she volunteered and went to the hot-spot. According to Savchenko’s attorney, during her service she mainly trained the fighters and did not participate in battles.

During the fighting near the town of Metallist in June 2014 she was rescuing her wounded fellow-servicemen from the battlefield. According to Ukrainian media, her friends from the Air Force University and from her army regiment described her as a person who is always ready to come to the rescue. In March 2015 Savchenko was awarded the title “Hero of Ukraine.”

Two months ago, a Russian court found 35-year-old Savchenko guilty of murdering Russian journalists Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin who were with rebel forces near Lugansk, in eastern Ukraine.

According to prosecutors, she relayed the coordinates of a checkpoint where the two reporters had been and they were subsequently killed by Ukrainian artillery fire near the town of Metallist in June 2014. The attack also resulted in the deaths of Ukrainian civilians. In an interview after her capture, she confirmed that she directed artillery fire.

Patriot or Fanatic? You probably will not find a video with Savchenko, where she doesn’t proclaim “Glory to Ukraine.” Upon arrival in Ukraine earlier on Wednesday after almost two years in a Russian prison, she proudly told reporters she is “always ready to sacrifice my life for Ukraine on the battlefield.”

She was an active participant of Euromaidan, a wave of demonstrations in Ukraine demanding tighter European integration, resulting in the 2014 uprising and government coup.

Her book “It's a strong name, Hope” [‘Nadezhda’ means ‘hope’ in both Ukrainian and Russian] is full of praise for her motherland and contemplations about its plights. While behind bars in Russia Savchenko was elected to the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election.

She is also a member of the permanent Ukrainian mission to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. In her book, she vowed to take up her duties in parliament as soon as she was freed from prison. Upon her arrival home on Wednesday she promised: “We will work together to make Ukraine strong, so that our people keep the right to be Ukrainians and live on their land with dignity.”

But ever stronger was the impression she gave off during her hearings, when she screamed profanities and sang nationalistic songs, showing contempt to the Russian authorities with her erratic behavior.

“O my judges, you’ve judged me for two years, but you will perish in prison yourselves…! Glory to Ukraine! Death to our enemies!” sang Savchenko, interrupting the judge, Leonid Stepanenko, who ruled that her correction is only possible in isolation from society.

The Aidar Battalion, in which she served during her ‘vacation’ in eastern Ukraine, is a volunteer military division of the country’s armed forces. It is also a group of some 400 men with a far-right agenda and nationalistic views. Savchenko herself has been known for her expressly nationalistic creed.

Victim or Criminal? In March, a court in the Russian city of Donetsk found Nadezhda Savchenko guilty of murdering Russian journalists and illegally crossing the Russian border. She was sentenced to spend 22 years in prison and pay a fine. Previously on Wednesday she was swapped for two Russian nationals who had been jailed by Kiev.

She was pardoned at the request of relatives of the journalists who died in the Ukrainian shelling. The global community rejoiced at the news of her release, with the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier among the first to welcome the “long awaited good news.”

Savchenko has been exchanged. Kiev is full of glee and Poroshenko can enjoy a PR victory. In Russian social-networks, the patriotic public is breaking spears and throwing a rage in comment sections. Some believe that Savchenko should not have been exchanged regardless of the proposed terms, while others, on the contrary, believe that this was quite alright.

Why and what did Russia win with the Savchenko exchange
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/05/why-and-what-did-russia-win-with.html

If we look at the very essence of the event while ignoring the formalities, then it turns out that we have just witnessed an exchange of prisoners of an undeclared hybrid war. One can talk about the unequal weight of the exchange, just as it can be argued that Russian propaganda has not made the Russian prisoners into national heroes, and still more one can argue that murderers should not be exchanged for soldiers. All these emotions are understandable, as is a negative reaction, but I would suggest that the situation be looked at from a different angle.

We could have shot Savchenko, but in doing so we would have only strengthened the myth that Ukrainian PRists built around her. Russia could have left her to rot in jail, but again this only would have aided the myth of Savchenko which has made her into some kind of Ukrainian Nelson Mandela. Exchanging her, ironically, was the only way to kill and destroy the myth created around her.

This Ukrainian Joan of Arc is but a banal fool and psychopath. We should remember this immortal quote of Vitaly Klitschko as the highest manifestation of political wisdom in modern Ukraine. The realization of this bitter truth will cause the Maidan herd serious psychological injury. If Savcheko gets into a ministerial or, as some would like, a prime ministerial position, then this would be quite alright, because the psychological damage will be complemented by economic damage.

Those who are analyzing the exchange of Savchenko should pay attention to three important points:

The Ukrainian side long ago said that it was ready for such an exchange. If we agreed to it only today, then it is logical to assume that the Ukrainians wanted to add something else to the trade earlier, which the media has not talked about.
2.The exchange took place in Russia. International practice suggests that in the case of an equivalent exchange, it should take place on a neutral territory. It is therefore logical to assume that the exchange’s occurrence on Russian territory was largely beneficial for Russia and for sure cannot be called equal.
3.Not so long ago, Ukrainian Prime Minister Groysman stated that there was an agreement with the IMF on getting a new loan this summer. But here’s the thing: the conditions for obtaining this loan were never disclosed. If one remembers the whole story of the IMF, then Ukraine can apply for a new loan only in the case of reaching a decision on the 3 billion Eurobonds in debt with Russia and after adopting a law which essentially puts all major assets of the country up for sale to other countries.

Perhaps these facts are not associated with the release of Savchenko and are merely a coincidence, but I don’t think so. The topic of Savchenko will be the main one in the Ukrainian information field for a while, while other, more important developments for the country’s life, the newest “victories,” will not be given any attention.

Lastly, perhaps after this exchange someone might come up with the illusion that Russian citizens can be hunted without punishment. But, on the other hand, it seems to me more important that our soldiers, and our citizens in general, know that they can be rescued even from the most hopeless of all situations. The security of our country is much more important than the punishment of Savchenko.


Lada Ray Report: Real Reason Putin Pardoned Murderer Nadezhda Savchenko
https://futuristrendcast.wordpress.com/2016/05/26/the-real-reason-putin-pardoned-murderer-nadezhda-savchenko/

Nadezhda Savchenko is a Ukrainian subversive operative and member of the ukro-nazi battalion Aidar. For some incomprehensible reason she is often referred to as ‘pilot,’ which is false since she had never flown a single mission anywhere. The ‘pilot’ title is clearly attached to her to give her more weight. Those who knew her report that she always had sadistic tendencies and enjoyed torturing prisoners.

Savchenko was captured after she subversively and knowingly directed the fire of Ukraine artillery to the territory of DNR, which killed two accredited Russian journalists. She is also accused of directing Ukraine fire against a large crowd of unarmed refugees, many of whom were killed. Savchenko was tried and received 22 years in Russian prison. The Russian trial was accompanied by unprecedented pressure on Russia by the West and the pogroms of the Russian embassy and consulates in Ukraine.

During her trial Savchenko behaved like a crazed maniac, screaming out profanities, showing rude gestures to the judges, jumping up and down chairs. Her ‘support club’ made a lot of noise during court sessions, waving Ukrainian flags and screaming ukro-nazi slogans. All this happened in Russia, which, as we may conclude, is the most liberal, forgiving and democratic country in the world.

I can only imagine what would happen to Savchenko and her bouncing of the wall supporters if they tried such stunts in a US court. Savchenko would have never seen the light of day again, and said supporters would be in jail before they could say ‘oops.’

Certainly, none of this would have been possible in Ukraine at all. If anyone ever dared to publicly support during their Kiev trial the two Russians, Erofeev and Alexandrov, who ended up being exchanged for Savchenko, they would simply be tortured and killed. That’s exactly what happened to the defense attorney representing one of the Russians. A well-known Ukrainian lawyer Yury Grabovsky, originally from Odessa, was defending Alexander Alexandrov. According to testimonials, he managed to make a pretty good case against conviction. While Grabovsky was there, junta simply could not seal the case against the two Russians.

Incidentally, these two Russians were kidnapped by Ukraine subversives inside DNR territory, dragged across the border to the Ukrainian side and put on trial on trumped up charges.

How lawyer Yury Grabovsky was killed by Kiev ukro-nazis Grabovsky, who was too successful in proving the charges of terrorism to be bogus, was kidnapped, tortured and killed. His only crime was doing his job as a public defender. When he didn’t show for trial, his friends became suspicious. To confuse the investigation Grabovsky’s killers for two weeks made bogus entries into Grabovsky’s Facebook page. In these entries, Grabovsky supposedly wrote that he was tired and that he was leaving abroad on vacation. Two things rose red flags: the fact that he was due in court and the uncharacteristically illiterate style of writing.

Grabovsky’s body was found over two weeks after his disappearance. It was dumped in an abandoned orchard very far from Kiev, where the Russians’ trial was taking place. Ukro-nazi thugs responsible for his death published his video admission, extracted under torture. In it, disoriented and, apparently, in much pain Grabovsky is made to repeat after the invisible man, whose voice sounds very young – no more than 20 or so. This young man forces Grabovsky to say that he was wrong to defend the ‘Russian terrorist,’ that he asks for forgiveness and that he won’t do it again.

I watched Grabovsky’s ‘apology’ video when it first came out (there may still be something left on YouTube, but I wouldn’t hold my breath – YT is usually very good at removing the truth). I had chills watching it.

Humanitarian exchange: Russians Erofeev and Alexandrov swapped for Savchenko This is the video of the two men landing in Russia, after a year in Ukrainian prison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKJDCb8yZdU (RT)

Below is a video of the young wives of the Russian officers Erofeev and Alexandrov saying how hard it was for them to live through their husbands’ capture and sadistic trial, in which they were denied any semblance of normal defense and were constantly intimidated. But, the women say, they always knew their loved ones wouldn’t be abandoned by the country. As we see from the Grabovsky story, there was a very legitimate reason to fear for the men’s lives, should they remain in Ukraine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGuo43GS-qM (RT)

Video of Vladimir Putin meeting with two women, relatives of slain Russian journalists (Marianna Voloshina and Ekaterina Kornelyuk). Putin thanks them for their humanitarian position and hopes that this gesture of good will will help peace in Donbass.

Путин встреча с Марианной Волошиной и Екатериной Корнелюк 25 мая 2016 года.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5VaYVcWi6A

Savchenko = bargaining chip Firstly, I believe that she was from the start perceived by Russian leadership as a bargaining chip. She was taken prisoner, tried and convicted, while the hysteria in Ukraine and West around her intensified. While unpleasant, I believe that Russians wanted this hysteria to take place, for one purpose: to hype up her value as a bargaining chip. (Article continues.)

 

[angelburst29]

Flooding Donbass with "hundred's" of new (OSCE) special police and arming them - sounds like perfect cover to building a Military force?

Ukraine’s General Staff chief Viktor Muzhenko said Saturday that the possible police mission in east Ukraine's Donbass region should include some thousands of people.

Police Mission in Donbass Needs Thousands of Personnel - Ukraine Military
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160528/1040414691/police-donbass-ukraine.html

On Monday, the leaders of the so-called Normandy Quartet, comprising Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine held phone talks and confirmed their commitment to implementation of the Minsk agreements on settling the crisis in eastern Ukraine. Soon after the negotiations, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's press service said that the sides supported deploying an Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) special police mission to Donbass.

The following day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the parties to the Monday negotiations discussed arming the existing OSCE monitoring mission in Donbass, but not creating a police mission.

"We have thought about it, estimated [possible personnel of the mission]. It should be some thousands [of people]," Muzhenko said in an interview with the Ukrainian UNIAN news agency, answering a question about possible scale of the mission.

Both Poroshenko and Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin have repeatedly called for deployment of a police mission to Donbass in order to control the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine maintains that local elections in Donetsk and Lugansk regions are possible after border closure, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) armed mission and addressed security issues, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Saturday.

Poroshenko Maintains Donbass Elections Possible After Border Closure
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160528/1040410515/poroshenko-elections-security.html

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday the two-year Ukraine crisis could only be resolved by providing the Lugansk and Donetsk regions with special constitutional status and decentralized power.

"The Minsk agreements expressly stipulate the withdrawal of occupation forces from the whole Ukrainian territory, restoring Ukrainian control of the state border, bringing in an armed OSCE international police mission… Only then, according to the Ukrainian legislation, with international observers, the participation of Ukrainian parties, with security measures, when we protect everyone and allow in Ukrainian media, will we hold elections that clearly meet the international standards of the OSCE," Poroshenko stressed.

Speaking at events commemorating the state border guard service, Poroshenko maintained that "there will be nothing else, I insist on it."

A group of United Nations inspectors investigating allegations of torture in Ukraine has suspended its work, the team’s leader said this week, citing a lack of cooperation from government security services.

United Nations Inspectors Investigating Torture By The Ukraine Junta Has Suspended It’s Work
http://novorossia.today/121291-2/

Sir Malcolm Evans, leader of the four-member team from the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, said in a statement Wednesday that his group had been denied access to sites under control of Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency, known as the SBU.

The end of the team’s weeklong trip a day earlier than scheduled comes at a time when Ukraine’s government is trying to demonstrate that it can be a bastion of European values, even as it is engaged in a bloody conflict in eastern Ukraine with Russian-backed rebel militias.

The United Nations team had been in Ukraine since May 19 trying to investigate what rights groups have said are signs of detainee abuse by the SBU.

After prisoner exchanges in the east between government forces and rebels, some detainees have left Ukrainian jails limping and saying they had fingers or ribs broken by guards.

In a report published in March on extrajudicial detention and torture in Ukraine, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights cited the case of a 74-year-old woman who was detained and beaten because her son had been accused of terrorism.

Another detainee reportedly had a plastic bag placed over his head, and was then hit in the face, head and body. Later, his son was taken to a separate room from which he could hear his son’s screams, the report said.

Natalya I. Sevostyanova, a deputy justice minister in Ukraine, said on Thursday that the United Nations investigative team had been denied access to SBU centers in Mariupol and Kramatorsk.

Vasyl S. Hrytsak, the SBU director, denied that detainees were being held at the local offices of the security services in the two towns. He could not permit the United Nations team to visit, he said, because the offices held weapons and documents that he was not obliged to share with the agency.

“If you arrive, for example, in the United States and ask to come to the C.I.A. or the F.B.I., to visit a basement or an office, do you think they will ever let you do it?” he told the Ukrainian news media.

Ukraine’s first military radio station Army FM is in the works with help from a US non-profit organization. It would broadcast for Ukrainian soldiers fighting with militia forces in the Donbass conflict.

US Helps Ukraine Launch Radio Station to Boost Morale of Kiev Troops
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160528/1040411694/us-ukraine-military-radio.html

One of the goals of the new radio station is to counter radio stations and channels broadcasting in the conflict zone, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Among the organizers of the initiative is Alexei Makukhin, an adviser to the Ukrainian military. He said that troops fighting militia forces in eastern Ukraine hear a "steady barrage of radio and TV broadcasts that seem crafted to sow doubts about their mission."

"In setting up the Ukraine army radio station, Mr. Makukhin has had help from a US nonprofit called Spirit of America. Unlike many nongovernment organizations in war zones that pledge neutrality, this one tries to align its efforts with US objectives," the article read.

Moreover, according to WSJ, Spirit of America worked in Afghanistan, helping provide non-lethal equipment to local police forces working with US Special Forces.

In Ukraine, the organization is providing $200,000 to outfit Army FM’s studio and to set up transmitters, one just 58 kilometers from Donetsk.

The radio station will broadcast front-line news, songs, particularly "rap, hard rock and metal" as well as "long tales of historical Ukrainian war heroes," WSJ reported.

Kiev launched a special military operation in Ukraine’s southeast in April 2014, after local residents refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities, which came to power as a result of a coup.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s appointment of NATO’s former secretary general as his adviser will do nothing to boost security and will distract Kiev from more constructive policies, retired US Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor told Sputnik.

Poroshenko’s Turn to Ex-NATO Chief Won’t Help Ukraine Safe
http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160528/1040395755/poroshenko-nato-ukraine-security.html

Earlier in the day, Poroshenko announced he had appointed former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen as his non-staff advisor, according to a decree posted on the presidential website.

"It is hard to see how this helps Ukraine at this point," Macgregor, a leading US combat tactician and military historian said on Friday.

However, Macgregor said that the ploy of trying to associate Ukraine more closely with NATO by bringing in the Alliance’s former head as a personal adviser would add nothing tangible to the security of Ukraine.

Macgregor argued that instead of trying to woo past NATO leaders and associate himself more closely with the West, Poroshenko would have done better to model his security policy on Austria and Finland during the Cold War, when both nations remained neutral between NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

Poroshenko "would have been smarter to hire a former Finnish Defense Minister" as his personal adviser, Macgregor remarked.

Policymakers in Kiev in the current government should have studied the post-World War II history of Austria as a successful example of how to enjoy peace, security and prosperity with full political freedom by steering clear of any close security ties with Washington and Moscow at the same time, he added.

"The Austrian State Treaty is a good model for Ukrainian independence from Moscow; hence, the value of listening to the Finnish advisor, not the former NATO official."

Macgregor also pointed out that Russia did not want to fight any full-scale war in Ukraine.

However, Macgregor cautioned that Moscow would become increasingly concerned about the Kiev regime’s efforts to identify fully with NATO.

"Bringing NATO into the mix is counterproductive."

Doug Macgregor holds a doctoral degree in international relations from the US Military Academy at West Point. He commanded in the Battle of 73 Easting, a decisive tank fight during the 1991 Gulf War.

Yesterday Kyiv announced that former NATO chief, Danish Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has been appointed advisor to the President of Ukraine.

US instates former NATO chief as advisor to Poroshenko
http://novorossia.today/us-instates-former-nato-chief-as-advisor-to-poroshenko/

Anders Fogh Rasmussen was the Danish Prime Minister from 2001 to 2009 when he was appointed Secretary General of NATO.

While Rasmussen is treated like royalty in Danish media and politics he is a controversial figure that divides public opinion.

In 2003 Rasmussen redefined Danish self-understanding during World War 2 by saying the Danish politicians who cooperated with Nazi-Germany were immoral. Then invasion of Denmark cost 16 Danish soldiers their lives because they did not get the information that Danish government had already surrendered.

Later the same year Denmark went to war in Iraq, a decision made by the smallest possible margin in the Danish parliament. Fogh-Rasmussen handed over power to his successor Løkke Rasmussen (no relation) when he was appointed Secretary General of NATO in 2009 but Løkke Rasmussen lost the election in 2011. The opposition started investigation of the legality and basis of the Iraq war but this investigation was not completed by 2015 when Løkke Rasmussen again came to power it was shut down.

Former Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconio said that Fogh had gained support for the position by promising Turkey to close the Kurdish television station broadcasting form the Danish capital.

There are speculations in Denmark that Fogh also promised Berlusconi to keep malfunctioned trains delivered by Italian AnsaldoBreada in order to gain Italian support for the position. The trains are still not in operation in Denmark and it is common knowledge that they never will be.

Upon leaving his position in NATO Fogh visited Denmark and told that Danish government had to step up support for NATO. Ten days after that the Danish government approved corporation in NATOs missile defense and bombing raids in Iraq.

After leaving NATO Fogh established a consulting company ‘Rasmussen Global’ with legal address in the tax heaven Andorra and was officially a lobbyist for Goldman Sachs and Boston Consulting Group, his work including arms sales for Governments.

Fogh belives that ISIS is a result of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and the new Iraqi regime who has “misunderstood” what democracy is.

Fogh Rasmussen in an event celebrating the liberation of Denmark:

“In reality, what unites Putin, Islamic State and North Koreas Kim Jong-un is exactly the fight against freedom and liberal democracy”

DPR and LPR leadership should understand that they are dealing with a sociopath war criminal who has no regard for civilian or military casualties. The appointment of Fogh Rasmussen as “advisor” to Poroshenko spells bad news and neither his cynicism or professionalism should in any way be underestimated.

 

[angelburst29]

Drum roll ... Please ... and if things aren't convoluted enough .......

Crazy Ukrainian Propaganda Claims Exchanged Savchenko Is a Double (Photo - Video)
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/05/crazy-ukrainian-propaganda-claims.html

A video edited by unknown Ukrainian "analysts" is gaining popularity on the Internet, in which a terrible secret is revealed – the Savchenko who returned to Kiev is not the real one, and is a double. This was reported by the website "Russian spring".

Allegedly, the real Ukrainian pilot Savchenko died in a Russian prison from hunger. Instead, the one who returned to Ukraine is Arkady Shestitko, who had a sex change operation and tried to achieve maximum similarity with the gun-layer, convicted in Russia for 22 years.

Ukrainian "experts" were initially confused by the Savchenko's new complexion – according to many, after months of hunger strike, she should be somewhat slimmer. However, Internet users have joked repeatedly on the subject. It was also noted by the creators of the video the fact that supposedly the real Savchenko had a slight squint, which is not present with her twin.

The Russian President has pardoned Savchenko on May 25th, 2016, who the Russian court sentenced to 22 years in prison. She was jailed for the murder of VGTRK journalists Anton Voloshin and Igor Kornelyuk in the Donetsk region.

 

[bjorb]

[quote author= Angelburst29]Drum roll ... Please ... and if things aren't convoluted enough .......[/quote]

Yeah, its getting more ridiculous. The Western SMS will not copy this. They still have a better sense of what the public will consume or not. Tho, I am starting to have my doubts, after they portrayed the Russian orchestra in Syria as evil and propaganda.

I mean, why did they even touched it in that way. Just made them ridiculous. It seems to me that their masks are slipping. Putin will bow for no man and it's making the PTB furious as he keeps standing in their way.

Sadly the population itself also lost all common sense. Maybe the SMS is just keeping up with their degenerating state of mind. Maybe over some years. They actually believe that this hateful women was cloned by Putin or whatever. Just a matter of time if you ask.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Media: Ukrainian security forces fired Dokuchaevsk night of heavy weapons

http://ria.ru/world/20160530/1440592572.html

DONETSK, May 30, -. RIA Novosti Ukrainian security officials on Monday night fired Dokuchaevsk in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic of heavy weapons, said Donetsk news agency , citing a source in law enforcement agencies DNI.

"From 1:30 to 5:40 Ukrainian troops fired Dokuchaevsk 26 rounds of caliber 122 mm guns" - quoted source words DAN. Also, he said, the fire was of the caliber of 120 mm mortars from positions near the village of Birch. In total, according to him, it was released 45 minutes.

The shelling on inert dust factory in Dokuchaevsk lit tank.

On Monday morning, security forces accused Ukrainian militia in the 25 shelling of its positions in the Donbass per day.

The government of Ukraine in April 2014 launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed LNR and DNR, which declared independence after a coup in Ukraine in February 2014. According to the latest UN figures, victims of the conflict began more than 9 thousand people.

The question of resolving the situation in the Donbass is discussed, including during meetings of the contact group in Minsk, which since September 2014 has adopted three documents regulating the steps to de-escalate the conflict, including the armistice. However, after the armistice agreements between the parties to the conflict continue to skirmish.

Donbass militia source says Ukraine's forces shelling causes fire at DPR plant

http://tass.ru/en/world/878841

The source says storage tanks near a stone dust plant caught fire as a result of the night shelling of a village near Donetsk

MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/. Ukrainian forces’ shelling attack has caused a fire at a plant in Dokuchayevsk, located 20 km south of Donetsk, a source in law enforcement agencies of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) told the Donetsk News Agency on Monday.

"Storage tanks in the territory of a stone dust plant caught fire as a result of the night shelling of Dokuchayevsk," the source said, without specifying information about possible casualties.

The DPR Defense Ministry reported earlier that the Ukrainian security forces opened fire on Dokuchayevsk on the night to May 30 using heavy artillery. In addition, 230 shells were fired from mortars by the Ukrainian side overnight on the DPR areas are adjacent to the contact line.

"A total of 126 mortar shells of 82-mm caliber and 104 mortar shells of 120-mm caliber were fired from the Ukrainian forces’ positions in the period from 18:30 to midnight. The shelling attack of the Ukrainian battalions was aimed at the Spartak, Veseloye, Kominternovo, Kulikovo, Oktyabr, Yasmoye, Zaitsevo, Sakhanka, Dokuchayevsk, Yasinovataya localities, as well as the environs of the airport and Gagarin mine outside Gorlovka", the source said.

Members of the Contact Group on settling the situation in east Ukraine agreed on observing Easter ceasefire starting from April 30. However, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics (DPR and LPR) and Kiev forces continue accusing each other of violating the ceasefire regime in Donbass.

LPR Defense Ministry reports Kiev forces shell militia from tanks

http://tass.ru/en/world/878844

The ministry says Ukrainian forces 11 times opened fire on militia positions near Lugansk, using tanks, which must be withdrawn under bilateral accords

MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/. The Ukrainian forces 11 times opened fire overnight on the positions of the people’s militia of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR). The shelling was also conducted from tanks that under the bilateral accords should be withdrawn from the contact line, the LPR Defense Ministry reported on Monday.

"The fire on the areas of the Logvinovo, Kalinovka and Lozovoye settlements was opened from weapons of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, from 120-mm and 82-mm mortars and grenade launchers," the LuganskInformCenter quotes a DPR defense official as saying.

The Ukrainian forces opened fire from the positions near the Luganskoye and Boguslavskoye settlements.

"There have been no casualties," the people’s militia said.

Members of the Contact Group on settling the situation in east Ukraine agreed on observing Easter ceasefire starting from April 30. However, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics (DPR and LPR) and Kiev forces continue accusing each other of violating the ceasefire regime in Donbass.

 

[Keit]

Since the West plans on using Savchenko in their war against Russia, they should prepare themselves for her "manners". This picture was taken during a meeting in Ukranian Rada.

 

[angelburst29]

Since the West plans on using Savchenko in their war against Russia, they should prepare themselves for her "manners". This picture was taken during a meeting in Ukranian Rada.

Nadezhda Savchenko does seem to be a "problem child"? Some of her background has been given but nothing on family. Is she related to one of the elite Oligarchs?

Poroshenko Asked Savchenko to Hold Meetings With European Leaders
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/05/poroshenko-asked-savchenko-to-hold.html

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, at a meeting with Nadezhda Savchenko, who was sentenced to 22 years in jail in Russia for the murder of VGTRK journalists in Donbass, and after being pardoned she returned home, asked her to visit a number of European countries and to hold meetings with European leaders.

According to reports on Saturday from the press-service of the Ukrainian President, Poroshenko gave Savchenko greetings from the Vice-President of the US Joseph Biden and the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz".

"The President proposed Nadezhda (Savchenko) to visit a number of European countries and hold meetings with European leaders," stated the message.

For her part, Savchenko said at the meeting that she is ready to join the work in the international sphere. The liberation of Ukrainian prisoners was also discussed at the meeting. According to Poroshenko, this work should be intensified.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Wednesday to pardon Nadezhda Savchenko, who was sentenced in Russia to 22 years for the murder of VGTRK journalists in Donbass. After a request for her pardon, the Russian head of state addressed the relatives of the dead Russians. Putin expressed hope that such a decision was dictated by humanitarian considerations, and will contribute to reducing the conflict in the southeast of Ukraine.

Nadezhda Savchenko gives the impression of a deranged, sadist, noted American journalist Michael Bom.

Michael Bom: Inadequate Savchenko Similar to a Deranged Sadist
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/05/michael-bom-inadequate-savchenko.html

Operating in Russia, American journalist Michael Bom analyzed some aspects of the case of the Ukrainian gun-layer Nadezhda Savchenko, and came to the conclusion that she was partly a victim of her own inadequacy. Bom's thoughts were shared on the talk show "Majority", which was broadcasted on NTV on Friday, May 27th.

In his opinion, Savchenko being selected as the person for the role of the accused in the murder of Russian journalists is no accident.

"Who could think of a better target than this very strange, inappropriate Nadezhda Savchenko, who in every word and movement creates an absolutely terrible impression of a deranged sadist," commented Bom on the outcome of the controversy. "For the vast majority of Russians, looking at her is enough to finally "see" that she is the killer of these two journalists."

Experts in the studio talk show "Majority", Ukrainian and Russian politicians, discussed that it may actually turn out to be the return of a national heroine for Ukraine.

 

[angelburst29]

This article has another photo of Savchenko at the Ukraine Rada. I don't know if my eyes are playing tricks on me but there seems to be some kind of round dark patch (like a bandaid ) under the shirt on her right shoulder?

The foreign minister considers handing the ex-servicewoman over to Kiev the right decision as Moscow had to bring back its citizens sentenced on terrorism charges in Ukraine.

Lavrov says Savchenko will be headache for Ukraine
http://tass.ru/en/politics/879229

Ukrainian ex-servicewoman Nadezhda Savchenko’s release in exchange for Russian citizens was a right step, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the Konsomolskaya Pravda website on Tuesday.

"I think it was right [to release Nadezhda Savchenko]. We had to get our citizens back home. And it was done," Lavrov said. "What if Savchenko does dirty things to us? And who can boast of not doing that to us in Ukraine?"

"Savchenko… let her be a headache for Ukraine. The girl is peculiar, fleshy, despite her hunger strike," he added.

On May 31 Savchenko for the first time appeared at the parliament meeting and delivered a speach

Savchenko to deal with national security issues in Ukraine’s Rada
http://tass.ru/en/world/879288

Ukraine’s former pilot and now member of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Nadezhda Savchenko will take charge of national security issues in the parliament, Ivan Krulko - an MP from the Batkivshchina (Fatherland) faction said on Tuesday.

Savchenko was elected to the Rada from Batkivshchina.

"It has been decided that she will join the Verkhovna Rada National Security and Defense Committee", he said.

On Tuesday morning, Savchenko for the first time appeared at the parliament meeting where, as it was announced on Monday, she was to deliver a speech. However, the former military servicewoman decided to say just a few words of gratitude to those who contributed to her release and also urged not to forget those who died in Donbass. She ended her speech with singing of the national anthem.

After the meeting, Savchenko on the sidelines of the parliament accused her new colleagues of inactivity. "It seems to me that the deputies, as schoolchildren, are lazy and skimp work", she said.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian social media have rather ambiguously taken Savchenko’s first appearance in the parliament, especially her singing during which she has mixed up the anthem words.

"In contrast to the rather adequate news conference, her speech in the Rada with singing of the anthem has left a strange impression," wrote a user on 112 Ukraine TV channel website.

Another user commented that "Savchenko, of course, is a heroine, but there are also many people in the hall who fought in the ATO (anti-terrorist military operation in Donbass)."

"If they have not been killed or taken prisoner - it's not their fault," he wrote. "And if they have not been promoted by the whole country - it’s not their fault ... And there are also plenty of women-deputies there who have done a lot in combat conditions. Shall we measure who has done more? Invent a "patriotometer?"


Lavrov explains why Russia has not recognized DPR/LPR
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/05/lavrov-explains-why-russia-has-not.html

Behind closed doors, the West is now putting pressure on Kiev to fulfill the Minsk Agreements. If Russia “slams the door” and decides to recognize the DPR and LPR as separate states, then the Minsk Agreements could be forgotten. This opinion was expressed by the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov, in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda.

“The door could be slammed and an example could be taken from those who are behind such an ineptitude [to fulfill the Minsk Agreements] and use diplomatic and political instruments to start to threaten that we will recognize them, and that we will introduce sanctions,” Lavrov remarked.

“I am convinced that this would be counterproductive which, as a minimum, would mean losing the current, albeit “delicate” position of pressuring Kiev,” he continued.

The minister emphasized: “Now no one can oppose this document (Minsk 2) in any way, and it is impossible to doubt.”

“If we were to now say that ‘we have lost patience; we are going the other way,’ then they’ll say: ‘Wonderful,’ now the West does not have to put any pressure on the current Ukrainian government whatsoever.”

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s appointment of former NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen as his personal adviser marks a significant step in the US masterplan to fully integrate Ukraine into the Atlantic Alliance, global peace campaigner Helen Caldicott told Sputnik.

Ukraine President Hires Ex-NATO Chief in Bid for Alliance Membership
http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160601/1040578339/ukraine-nato-membership.html

On Friday, Poroshenko announced on his website he was appointing former NATO Secretary-General Rasmussen as his personal adviser.

"That the US puppet Poroshenko should appoint the ex-NATO chief of staff as his advisor says it all," Caldicott, founding president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, the co-winner of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize, said.

Caldicott said the move was a direct and logistical consequence of the US and EU-backed coup that toppled the democratically-elected government of Ukraine under President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.

Rasmussen, a former prime minister of Denmark, was still NATO Secretary-General at the time of the coup. He only stepped down from the position in October 2014 after serving with US support for five years.

"The US coup in Ukraine is achieving its end: To include the country in NATO, a US run organization," Caldicott stated.

She cautioned that the appointment of Rasmussen as adviser would serve to further inflame Moscow’s concerns that the United States and NATO were using Poroshenko’s increasingly unpopular government in Kiev as a forward platform hostile to the security of Russia.

Rasmussen’s appointment "will serve to further antagonize an already antagonized [Russian President Vladimir] Putin," she warned.

Caldicott, one of the world’s leading experts on the global nuclear arms race, also noted that Rasmussen’s appointment came at a time when both Russia and the US-led NATO alliance were carrying out military exercises.

She predicted that Rasmussen’s appointment and likely hawkish advice to Poroshenko would dangerously intensify tensions in the region.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Ukrainian parliament refuses to investigate Panama Papers offshore scandal

http://tass.ru/en/world/879480

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was involved in the scandal that followed the leaks from the Panamanian company Mossack Fonseca

KIEV, June 1 /TASS/. Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) has refused to support the creation of a temporary commission to investigate an offshore scandal, which involved, among others, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Only 108 deputies out of the necessary 226 voted for the draft resolution proposed by Radical Party’s leader Oleg Lyashko.

"The draft has been turned down," Parliamentary Speaker Andrei Parubiy said after the vote.

The draft resolution suggests creating a temporary commission to investigate if President Poroshenko, Head of Ukraine’s National Bank Natalya Gontareva; Finance Minister Alexander Danilyuk and other senior Ukrainian officials own any offshore companies.

The radicals had sought the vote on the resolution for three weeks. All that time they had blocked Verkhovna Rada’s rostrum.

Earlier, Lyashko asked President Poroshenko not to obstruct the creation of a commission to investigate offshores, power abuse and corruption. The radicals continued blocking the rostrum after the failed vote.

According to a report (the Panama Papers) of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) based on information leaks from the Panamanian company Mossack Fonseca, Poroshenko has not yet handed over the assets of his confectionary corporation Roshen to a trust but has created an offshore company for their restructuring. Mossack Fonseca renders legal assistance in the registration of offshore companies. The president’s financial advisers denied the allegations.

The size of funds of Ukrainian origin that sink in offshore zones range between $117 billion to $167 billion, according to various international estimates.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Meet the Israeli-Ukrainian politician who demanded genocide for Donbass

http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/06/meet-israeli-ukrainian-politician-who.html

June 1, 2016 -
Oleinik -
Translated by J. Arnoldski

http://oleinik.win/luchshee-v-seti/tak-nachinalas-vojna-na-donbasse/

On June 1st, 2014, the bookseller from Troeshchina and Israeli citizen Borukh Blyakher (now famous as the people’s deputy Borislav Bereza) wrote a long text calling for the mass murder of residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions who, in his opinion, are “traitors” by virtue of their place of residence.

Borislav wrote that some “military guys” allegedly guaranteed someone (probably him) “a full cleansing of Eastern Ukraine in 20 days.” But everyone knows the results [of what actually happened].

Borislav proposed five phases for the cleansing operation. Borislav saw the first phase of the “operation” like this: “loudspeakers should announce that the civilian population should leave the territory within three days, after which everyone still on the territory will be declared accomplices of the enemy. People should be put through filtration camps.”

The second phase: “The city should be subject to a massive attack using all kinds of weapons.”

The third phase: a complete repetition of the first one.

The fourth phase: a complete repetition of the second one.

Then will be the final phase of the operation. “The spotless purging of the city should be followed by a street sweeper.”

Here is his assessment of the local residents: “Those who want to stand as a human shield to protect the occupiers are not brainwashed citizens of Ukraine, but accomplices of a hostile state and are traitors. They should always and at all times be destroyed. The inhabitants of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions still have some time to decide on whose side they’re on and if they will leave or stay in the area of the future operation.”

Thus, the future deputy declared the local residents who did not leave the place of residence “traitors,” and for this reason has called for them to be liquidated. Did I get this right? If this is not an incitement of genocide, and incitement of hatred by virtue of place of residence, then what is this?

The worst thing of all is that this misanthropic text was reposted by 2,427 people on their accounts, and more than 4.2 thousand liked it.

Borislav Bereza is now a people’s deputy and the deputy chairman of the committee for fighting corruption. Last year, he bought his wife a new car and showed in a declaration that he has millions in income. He’s had a “successful life.”

But real millions - millions of people - will remember him totally differently.

 

[angelburst29]

The authorities of Ukraine and the US have signed an agreement on the allocation of the third loan tranche of $1 billion to Kiev. This was reported by the press-service of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine.

US to Give Ukraine Next Tranche Worth $1 Billion
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/06/us-to-give-ukraine-next-tranche-worth-1.html

"On June 3rd, an agreement was signed on granting credit guarantees worth $1 billion between the governments of Ukraine and the USA. From the government of Ukraine, the agreement was signed by the Minister of Finance of Ukraine Alexander Danylyuk, and from the US government — US Ambassador Geoffrey R. Pyatt and the authorized representative of the USAID mission Joel Sandefur," stated the message.

As was reported, funds to the amount of $1 billion will be gained from issuing bonds under the credit guarantee of the United States, and will go into the general state budget fund of Ukraine.

"These funds will be allocated for social support of the most vulnerable economic areas, including bringing gas tariffs to market levels," said the press-service.

In May, the US plans to provide Ukraine with the third tranche of credit guarantees worth $1 billion, confirmed the Vice-President of the US Joe Biden.

*Whilst geopolitics is much more complex than simply defense contracts, it is important to understand what exactly the US gains from incursions that do not benefit them in the medium to long term. For a greater insight into this seemingly absent motive, read this Fort Russ article: Israel's realism creates irrational US policy against Russia in the Middle-East. Please note that this article about the MIC focuses on airstrikes from conventional jets, and not drones*

No Lives Matter: Theaters of War and the US Military Industrial Complex (Photos - 13 Videos)
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/06/no-lives-matter-theaters-of-war-and-us.html

Since the founding of the United States of America in 1776, the country has been at war 93% of the time - 222 out of the 239 years of its existence. While we are familiar with depictions of field artillery and Enfield rifles being used in the American civil war, today the weapons we see being used by America in combat are very different.

William S. Lind has written extensively about the evolution of warfare, from the early days of the First generation, to the current days of the Fourth generation. As technology progressed in conjunction with developments in scientific paradigms, it wasn't long before warfare could be conducted from the air.

In today's post-modern world, media consumers are seemingly used to seeing footage on their televisions of country 'X' being bombed. No other country has embraced aerial warfare like the US has post WW2, with companies like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon becoming richer with every bomb dropped, and with every jet shot out of the sky. The infographic below illustrates how the US lobbying system works with regards to defense companies offering politicians cash in order for a theatre of war to remain open.

As a result of this parasitical structure leeching on US taxes, the US has been and continues to be the world leader in military expenditure. The table below from the World Bank shows how the US are spending roughly twice as much on 'defense' as their nearest rival - Russia - who is actually now curbing spending (quality, not quantity).

According to the Federal Procurement Data System, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman Corporation are the top 5 contractors for the US government for the fiscal year of 2013.

In 2015, the top 5 contractors were Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman. In fact, this pattern is true for every single year since the turn of the millennium.

The above information, while alarming in itself, requires some context to really see the darkness surrounding the US air force. What follows are some examples of the US Military Industrial Complex doing what it does best - 'blindly' dropping munitions for financial profit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BENNmooFtFM

Nagasaki - 1945 On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese military attacked a US military base known as Pearl Harbor on Hawaiian territory. Prior to the attack, the US placed an Oil Embargo on Japan, their most valuable export, crippling the country. Japan fell for the trap and retaliated, giving the US their much needed reason to enter World War 2. Apparently, dropping 2 nuclear bombs on 2 Japanese cities was deemed an appropriate response to the attack on a naval base that wasn't even in American territory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qeYaMavxH8

Vietnam & Laos - 1965-1973 A classic example of the Military Industrial Complex swimming in profits is the Vietnam war. The US had no intention of 'winning' the war, and merely wanted to drop munitions. Huey helicopters were deliberately sent over areas where central command knew they'd be brought down, and 'spare' bombs were dropped 'anywhere' over Laos (like in the video below) and Vietnam in order to fulfil quotas. The stocks must be depleted to warrant a new order.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6wM9Aiy_kY

New Baghdad - 2007 Bradley Manning, a US army analyst, released a video of a US AH-64 airstrike on civilians in Iraq. The attacks were conducted using 30mm rounds and killed 20 people, including 2 journalists (Reuters). AGM-114 Hellfire missiles were then unleashed at the building the civilians fled into. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in jail for daring to show the world just how vile the American military can be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw442y2fTeU

Belgrade - 1999 After a prolonged period of fighting with the Kosovo Liberation Army, Slobodan Milosevic, the President of Serbia at the time, became a target for NATO forces which, after Belgrade refused to allow foreign troops on its territory, launched a military campaign all over Yugoslavia to force Serbian forces away from Kosovo. Even though a US F117 Nighthawk was shot down, it was not enough to prevent the partition of Yugoslavia. Javier Solana, the Secretary General of NATO at the time, made the following announcement on the eve of the bombings: (Copy of announcement.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gelCe981y0I

Baghdad - 2003 After falsifying evidence at the UN in the form of a mock vial of anthrax and cartoons of "mobile weapons labs" (with the help of Judith Miller), which supposedly tied Al Qaeda to Iraqi officials via a supposed meeting in Prague, the US was given the green light to launch Operation Shock & Awe - to bombard Iraq back into the stone age. In true fourth generation warfare fashion, CNN streamed the bombings live, as Americans and Europeans alike celebrated the decimation of an invisible enemy. Accurate statistics on the number of civilian casualties, not just from the bombing of Baghdad, but also from the campaign in Iraq as a whole is difficult to find. The table below is taken from the Iraq Body Count project, and offers a low-end estimate; ORB International offers 1.2 million as the highest figure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NktsxucDvNI

The top 10 defense contracts in 2002 before the US obliterated Iraq were as follows:

1.Lockheed Martin Corp - $17.0 billion
2.Boeing - $16.6 billion
3.Northrop Grumman Corp - $8.7 billion
4.Raytheon - $7.0 billion
5.General Dynamics Corp - $7.0 billion
6.United Technologies Corp - $3.6 billion
7.Science Applications International Corp - $2.1 billion
8.TRW Inc - $2.0 billion
9.Health Net, Inc - $1.7 billion
10.L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc - $1.7 billion

Gaza - 2012 Every year, the US gives Israel a forgiven loan to the sum of ~$3bn, which is then used to buy weapons from American 'defence' companies. 2012 was not an unusual year for Gazans, who are now used to waking up to rubble, should they wake up at all...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwObSeJ7FEQ

In the video below, the Israeli Airforce's weapon of choice is the F-16, manufactured by what is now Lockheed Martin:

Mosul - 2016 In April, 2016, the US-led coalition bombed Mosul University as part of Operation Conquest - another mission aimed at sending the Middle East back to the stone age. The pretext used on this occasion was that ISIS had started to use the chemistry labs at the University to manufacture chemical weapons. F-15s, F-16s, A-10s, and B-52s have all featured in the Gulf War 2.0, which surely has put a smile on Lockheed shareholders' faces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_ebg95XayY

Syria - 2014 Whilst the video below is a report on a US airstrike from 2014, the reality is that these 'accidental' attacks on civilians and infrastructure are as common as a day ending in 'y'. While the US and allies violate Syrian airspace (Assad didn't invite anyone from the coalition) every single day, the results of the war crimes are masked by falsified reports from State Department bullhorns like CNN, New York Times, Fox News etc, which aim to flip the blame 180° onto Russia or the Syrian Army. As a supplementary note, multiple instances of Israel's bombing of Syrian Arab Army positions have been documented by numerous sources.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw0o1EhFzD0

Afganistan - 2008 Before Iraq could be used as the next theatre of war for US war toys, Afghanistan needed some 'democracy' - specifically the highly-profitable Opium fields. Osama Bin Laden, the man who the US trained and mentored in the 80's, was hiding somewhere in an underground cave, and was somehow invisible to the sophisticated technology at the disposal of the Pentagon... The best way to ensure he was found was to carpet bomb the country, or at least that's what Dick Cheney and his Military Industrial Complex 'partners' said....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6CATc9ZBHY

Yemen - 2016 On November 16th, 2015, Reuters reported that the US had approved the sale of $1.29bn worth of smart bombs (Boeing and Raytheon) to Saudi Arabia. Previously, the Saudis had purchased patriot missile defence systems from Lockheed Martin totalling $5.4bn. The video below (double tap on Yemeni civilians) shows how a Boeing F-15 ensured stock prices would continue to rise:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gYaArAnkvQ

Tripoli - 2011 In a North African version of the bombing of Belgrade, NATO launched 20 airstrikes at Tripoli on the 19th March, 2011. Instead of Milosevic being the 'bad guy', this time it was Gaddafi. No one really knows why the government's SAM systems were left in the hanger, but it can be assumed that the NATO would have upped the dosage even if the Libyan Army had deployed the systems. The video below shows one example of many war crimes committed in Libya that year, with the purpose of creating the Jihad factory that would soon spread to neighbouring Syria and Iraq.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgDA9c9nBIc

Donetsk - 2014 While the bombings of Donetsk and Lugansk by the Ukrainian Army did not feature a Western-manufactured jet, the order to kill certainly came from the Pentagon, who are still licking their lips at the thought of Ukraine's accession to NATO. Much like Saudi Arabia and Israel, the government in Kiev is also receiving military 'aid' from Washington, London, and other EU lapdogs. Perhaps Kiev is gullible enough to buy the F-35, although to purchase a single unit would require a phone call to the IMF...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85YXl-CfEHY

Lugansk - 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bwLMw4138U

The reader should be aware that the US is currently bombing Somalia using the usual pretext of "combatting the Islamic State". Unfortunately, the general public will never find out about the vast majority of US illegal airstrikes due to the boardroom of companies like Disney being littered with shareholders of genocidal corporations like Lockheed Martin.