Saturday, March 8, 2014

VIDEO-Portrait of Terrorist Activities by "Peaceful Demonstrators" in Ukraine 2014.



klagemauer.tv : The terrorist attacks of so-called "peaceful" demonstrators in Ukraine. German journalists told ...
Tags: Ukraine US
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2014/03/09/terrorist-activities-peaceful-demonstrators-ukraine-2014-video.html
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8. März Internationaler Frauentag: NEIN zur weiblich verkleideten Kriegspolitik!

Der 8. März 2014 sollte im hundertsten Kriegs-'Jubiläumsjahr'  dem Friedensgedanken gewidmet sein. Davon  ist katastrophalerweise heuer  keine Spur.  Ob wohl ein Aufschrei gegen die  schon wieder  einmal waffenstarrende,  diesmal weiblich- kriegerisch  geführte deutsche Aggressionspolitik dringend auf die Tagesordnung gehörte.

Immerhin lesen wir in der online Informationsquelle Nummer 1, der Wikipedia "Der Internationale Frauentag, Weltfrauentag, Frauenkampftag, Internationaler Frauenkampftag oder Frauentag ist ein Welttag … Er entstand in der Zeit um den Ersten Weltkrieg im Kampf um die Gleichberechtigung und das Wahlrecht für Frauen. Die Vereinten Nationen erkoren ihn später als Tag der Vereinten Nationen für die Rechte der Frau und den Weltfrieden aus. 

Und Immerhin  der Landkreis Friesland  weiß noch folgendes:

"Der 8. März ist ein Tag

der Erinnerung an den Kampf um das Frauenwahlrecht und das Recht auf Selbstbestimmung. Viele Frauen setzen sich am 8. März für die Gleichstellung von Frauen und Männern, für bessere Arbeits- und Lebensbedingungen, für gerechte Entlohnung, gegen soziale Armut und für den Schutz vor Gewalt ein.

Elke Rohlfs-Jacob • Gleichstellungsbeauftragte / Bündniskoordinatorin Landkreis Friesland Lindenallee 1 • 26441 Jever • Tel.: 0 44 61-919 25 00 Email: e.rohlfs-jacob@friesland.de Internet: www.friesland.de


Aber wo sind die Frauenzusammenschlüsse für den Frieden alle geblieben? Warum positionieren sich Frauen nicht massenhaft gegen das neuerliche  Säbelklirren gegen Russland? Warum schreien Frauen nicht ihr  NEIN zu Aufrüstungsmaßnahmen, die in aller Öffentlichkeit erörtert werden, heraus! 

Warum ertönt nicht laut vernehmlich der Ruf "Die Waffen Nieder".

Die großartigste aller Errungenschaften, eine weibliche Kriegsministerin nebst kriegerisch gestimmter Kanzlerin, haben, so scheint es, die Frauenrechtlerinnen aller Couleur in Trance versetzt.

Die scheinbare oder tatsächliche blinde Zustimmung zum aktuellen Kriegskurs der Regierung macht immerhin eines deutlich: Frauen sind nicht gescheiter als Männer!

Gefühlter Friedenswille reicht  eben noch lange nicht aus, um dem Frieden eine Chance einzuräumen.

 Eine Bewegung  gegen die pestartig um sich greifenden imperialistischen Kriege setzt die Fähigkeit voraus, die Demagogie der Herrschenden zu durchschauen. Diesmal kommt der kriegerische Geist nämlich im Toleranz- und Menschenrechtsgewande daher. Der Faschismus, die Zwillingsschwester des Krieges,  hat  wie dieser sein Kleid gewechselt  aber ganz und gar nicht seinen Charakter. Das neue Gewand  ist schmeichlerisch schön und riecht honigsüß nach Menschenrechten. Die dahinter liegende Fratze wird nur sichtbar, wenn man ganz genau hinschaut und wer möchte wohl dem Teufel ins   Antlitz schauen?

Dennoch Frauen und trotz alledem: Wir haben noch eine Aufgabe zu erfüllen. Das Anliegen unserer frühen Schwestern ist noch nicht abgegolten. Tun wir es für unsere Kinder und Kindeskinder:

Erwachen  wir zu unsrem wahren Selbst! Hören wir und lesen  wir genau, was unsere  Politikerinnen da vorhaben. Sagen wir es ihnen dann  direkt, was wir von ihren militaristischen Plänen halten, nämlich NICHTS!

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Review of Grover Furrs “Khrushchev Lied” by Alfonso Casal





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by Alfonso Casal*
There are certain assumptions one can make, with a high degree of certainty, regarding Grover Furr’s Khrushchev Lied. The first is that, had Furr written a similar book in any area of historical specialization other than Soviet-era studies, Khrushchev Lied would be immediately hailed as a work of major significance. Had Furr succeeded in proving that Thomas More’s biography of Richard III was pure invention and that, far from being Shakespeare’s resentful deformed villain, Richard was a kindly and benevolent monarch; or had Furr demonstrated that Tacitus consciously twisted his account of the Julio-Claudians in order to willfully defame the first Roman emperors; had Furr, in short, managed to definitively prove that a major historical source, one on which the interpretation of an entire epoch is often based, was fraudulent, Furr and his book would have been catapulted to the center of scholarly debate. There would have been workshops and symposia; indeed, a special issue of the American Historical Review would have likely been printed, featuring essays arguing pro and con Furr’s findings. Needless to say, that has not been the case, for the simple reason that Furr’s book deals with Soviet history, specifically with the history of the Stalin period; and here different rules apply.
Despite the advance praise for Khrushchev Lied offered by Soviet-era specialists such as Robert Thurston and Lars Lih, one searches in vain for any scholarly journal reviewing the book. Indeed, aside from comments posted on online political blogs, of both Left and Right, it would appear that the historical profession has chosen to ignore Khrushchev Lied. This is the second assumption one could have safely made. Khrushchev Lied directly challenges the anti-communist, Cold War paradigm still dominant in academia. Not only that, Furr manages to demonstrate that one of the essential documents on which that paradigm rests is a tissue of lies. Not only historical interpretations are at risk here, but academic reputations, and entire careers as well. Thus, a conspiracy of silence has descended on a book that merits the widest possible readership and discussion.
Again, in and of itself, this is nothing new. Baldly put, any book that presents a positive interpretation of the Stalin period or that disputes the conventional wisdom that the Soviet head of state was a blood-soaked megalomaniac will have a difficult time finding a publisher. This is not to say that there have not been a number of non-paradigmatic studies of the Stain era published. Books by Getty and Kirkpatrick, to cite just two authors, have put a dent in the dominant view of Stalin and his government held in academia. However, there is a question of balance and accessibility. For example, in the years since the collapse of the USSR, there has been a tidal wave of studies of the Stalin years published in Russia. Some of these studies are critical of Soviet policy during that period, others praise those same policies. Interestingly, none of the those supportive of the Stalin regime are translated into English; while a number of Russian works hostile to Stalin or the Soviet experience of the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s have been issued by major American publishers.
Of all the recent reassessments of Soviet history, Grover Furr’s Khrushchev Lied strikes at the very heart of Cold War history, Nikita Khrushchev’s famed “Secret Speech” to the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Presented to a closed session of the Party Congress on 25 February, 1956, Khrushchev’s speech, putatively, denounced Stalin’s many “crimes” and lay bare the former Soviet leader’s reign of error and terror. Khrushchev’s denunciations of Stalin caused a crisis in the world communist movement, providing, as it seemed to, an “insider’s” confirmation of all the worst accusations raised by anti-communists for decades. An immediate result of Khrushchev’s efforts was the political isolation of his opponents within the Soviet Communist Party, Molotov, Malenkov, Kaganovich, etc., who still upheld Stalin’s legacy. A longer-term consequence was a split within international communism, with those who seemingly defended Stalin, led by Albania and China, breaking with the Soviet Union and those parties worldwide which hewed to the new Soviet line. Furthermore, the “Secret Speech” became a cornerstone of modern history, and the main documentary buttress for anti-Stalin interpretations of Soviet history and politics.
Furr set for himself the task of examining each and every one of the accusations Khrushchev leveled at Stalin (and Beria as well) and examining, point by point, their veracity or falsity. The conclusion he came to is evident in the title of the book. Furr divides Khrushchev’s charges into nine general categories, ranging from “Lenin’s Testament” to Stalin’s supposed complicity in the Kirov assassination, to Stalin’s supposed mismanagement of the Soviet war effort in World War II to Stalin’s last years when he, according to Khrushchev, was planning a major purge of his oldest associates and collaborators. In determining his findings, Furr based himself exclusively on primary sources and archival materials, many of which he has scanned and uploaded for public review athttp://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/research/kl/bibliography.html.
The essence of Furr’s investigation is the claim that not one accusation leveled by Khrushchev against Stalin and Beria is true. Not one. Indeed, Furr becomes the accuser, in turn, and charges Khrushchev with consciously and maliciously warping the truth about Stalin for political gain. Furr provides a mountain of documentation refuting Khrushchev. So much so, that, in fact, this becomes the book’s main shortcoming. Furr is so painstaking and meticulous in marshalling his evidence that the reader is often numbed by the sheer volume of documents, quotes, and citations he provides. This is not a book for the casual reader or for anyone not versed in Soviet history. However, despite its non-reception in professional historical circles, Khrushchev Lied is an essential work of Soviet history. Moreover, it is a work that not merely solidly proves its premise; but one that stands out as a courageous effort to restore historical truth and balance.
Khrushchev Lied is solid in its research, thorough in its method and scope, sound in its judgments and conclusions, and deserving of the highest praise. It is a book every serious student of Soviet history and politics must read and grapple with. It is, in a word, a major contribution to historical science.
Highly recommended by BY  on  • ( 2 )

*
Professor Alfonso Casal from North Central College Naperville

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"Ukraine: Israeli Special Forces Unit under Neo-Nazi Command Involved in Maidan Riots" by M. Chossudovsky


Neonazis Ukraine
Image: Neo-Nazi Militia
Under the title “In Kiev, an Israeli army vet led a street-fighting unit”, the Jewish News Agency JTA confirms that soldiers from the IDF were involved in the EuroMaidan protest movement under the direct command of the Neo-Nazi Svoboda Party.  The Svoboda Party follows in the footsteps of World War II Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera.
The leader of the “Blue Helmets of Maidan” is Delta “the nom de guerre of the commander of a Jewish-led militia force that participated in the Ukrainian revolution”. Delta is a Veteran of the notorious Givati infantry brigade, which was involved in numerous operations directed against Gaza including Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009.
The Givati brigade was responsible for the massacres in the Tel el-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza. Delta, the leader of the EuroMaidan IDF unit acknowledges that he acquired his urban combat skills in the Shu’alei Shimshon reconnaissance battalion of the Givati brigade.
Delta, the nom de guerre of the Jewish commander of a Ukrainian street-fighting unit, is pictured in Kiev earlier this month. (Courtesy of 'Delta')
Delta, the nom de guerre of the Jewish commander of a Ukrainian street-fighting unit, is pictured in Kiev earlier this month. (Courtesy of ‘Delta’)
According to the JTA report, Delta was in command of a force of 40 men and women including several former IDF veterans. In the EuroMaidan, Delta was routinely applying his skills of urban warfare which he had used against the Palestinians in Gaza.
The Maidan “Street fighting unit” under Delta’s command was involved in confronting government forces. It is unclear from the reports whether the EuroMaidan combat unit was in liaison with IDF command headquarters in Israel:
The Blue Helmets comprise 35 men and women who are not Jewish, and who are led by five ex-IDF soldiers, says Delta, an Orthodox Jew in his late 30s
Delta, who immigrated to Israel in the 1990s, moved back to Ukraine several years ago … He says he joined the protest movement as a volunteer on Nov. 30, after witnessing violence by government forces against student protesters.
“I saw unarmed civilians with no military background being ground by a well-oiled military machine, and it made my blood boil,” Delta told JTA in Hebrew laced with military jargon. “I joined them then and there, and I started fighting back the way I learned how, through urban warfare maneuvers. People followed, and I found myself heading a platoon of young men. Kids, really.”
The other ex-IDF infantrymen joined the Blue Helmets later after hearing it was led by a fellow vet, Delta said.
In a bitter irony, Delta, the commander of the IDF militia unit was taking his orders directly from the Neo-Nazi Party Svoboda:
As platoon leader, Delta says he takes orders from activists connected to Svoboda, an ultra-nationalist [Neo-Nazi] party that has been frequently accused of anti-Semitism and whose members have been said to have had key positions in organizing the opposition protests.
“I don’t belong [to Svoboda], but I take orders from their team. They know I’m Israeli, Jewish and an ex-IDF soldier. They call me ‘brother,’” he said. “What they’re saying about Svoboda is exaggerated, I know this for a fact. I don’t like them because they’re inconsistent, not because of [any] anti-Semitism issue.”
Neither the Tel Aviv government nor the Israeli media have expressed concern regarding the fact that the EuroMaidan protests were led by Neo-Nazis.
With the formation of a new government composed of NeoNazis,  the Jewish community in Kiev is threatened.  This community is described as “one of the most vibrant Jewish communities in the world, with dozens of active Jewish organizations and institutions”. A significant part of this community is made up of family members of holocaust survivors. “Three million Ukrainians were murdered by the Nazis during their occupation of Ukraine, including 900,000 Jews.” (indybay.org, January 29, 2014).
“It’s bullshit. I never saw any expression of anti-Semitism during the protests”
In a bitter twist, the Blue Helmet IDF unit in the EuroMaidan has been the object of praise by the Israeli media. According to Ariel Cohen of the Washington based Heritage Foundation: “The commanding position of Svoboda in the revolution is no secret”. The participation of Israeli soldiers under Neo-Nazi Svoboda command does not seem to be an object of concern:
On Wednesday, Russian State Duma Chairman Sergey Naryshkin said Moscow was concerned about anti-Semitic declarations by radical groups in Ukraine.But Delta says the Kremlin is using the anti-Semitism card falsely to delegitimize the Ukrainian revolution, which is distancing Ukraine from Russia’s sphere of influence.
“It’s bullshit. I never saw any expression of anti-Semitism during the protests, and the claims to the contrary were part of the reason I joined the movement. We’re trying to show that Jews care,” he said.
See Svoboda and Right Sector militants honoring Stepan Bandera(image below)
Bandera was a Nazi collaborator involved in the Third Reich’s Einsatzgruppen (Task Groups or Deployment Groups) . These “task forces” were paramilitary death squads deployed throughout the Ukraine.
Reuters / Gleb Garanich
Neo-Nazis Honoring Stepan Bandera

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STATEMENT OF U.S. PEACE COUNCIL ON UKRAINE


Dear Friends, 

Once again the U.S. peace movement is silent in the face of another coup d’état that is being promoted as a democratic uprising. Troops are moving, war threats are being thrown. 

Peace Organizations must urgently act to illuminate the travesty of justice that is taking place. We spoke together for negotiations with Iran. We must raise our voices now.

Ukraine’s democratically elected president has been forcibly removed with the financial and political support of the United States and European Union. There are now two governments in Ukraine and one is controlled by neo-Nazis. 

We must not forget how protests have historically been instigated and/or used by the CIA for nefarious purposes.  The CIA playbook has been repeated so many times - from Iran in 1953 to Chile in 1973 to Haiti 1991 and 2004, Yugoslavia in 1998, Honduras in 2009, Libya, Egypt and Syria, Venezuela, among many others. How can we forget the devastation these coups bring? Sometimes the government being deposed is democratically elected, sometimes not, but in either case a government is targeted because it shows independence from U.S. policy demands.  

The CIA instigates "democratic" uprisings, pays thugs to carry out violence. The State Department assisted by the corporate media demonizes a government, its leaders and anyone who supports them, and decimates the country’s economy to encourage even more disruption and violence. The thugs attack government entities, private property and threaten, intimidate and attack at will. Six corporations own 90% of our U.S. media. They flood news communications with propaganda here and abroad that the “democratic” opponents just want to get rid of corrupt government, install democracy and save their economy. The issue is sovereignty of the country. We are not advocating for any government. It is the right of the people of that country to determine their own destiny without imperialist intervention. How can we accept such lies? 

What the U.S. and Europe are doing to Ukraine is only slowly being exposed. 
We must not be silent!

We know that neocon Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland and U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt were caught in a phone conversation plotting the coup here: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSxaa-67yGM>

Several useful articles on the coup and aftermath may be found here; here; here 
(where you'll also find a wonderful clip from the movie Good Will Hunting that in a few seconds cuts to the chase on the actions of U.S. secret services). 

NYU and Princeton Professor Stephen Cohen has also provided an alternative to the establishment’s narrative:  

Despite denials by U.S. representatives of the Fascist character of the protesters,  Ukrainian Chabad Chief Rabbi Reuven Azman has recommended that Jews leave the city and perhaps the country." See the Jewish Press: 
And Israel has been asked to protect Ukraine’s Jewish population, from the Times of Israel. 

An atomized Ukraine is more susceptible to corporate exploitation, austerity and impoverishment of the population imposed from outside. NATO continues to move further east, rapidly encircling Russia with bases and “anti-missile” batteries, another step on the way to confronting Russia. Zbigniew Brzezinski calls for breaking up Russia, even as Ukraine is being divided, here: <http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1254548/posts> 

The goal of the corporate monopolies is to steal first Ukraine’s sovereignty and then  Russia’s vast resources. Divide and conquer. A long-term policy of the U.S., Britain and other imperial states. 

These events exacerbate the danger of an explosive war, a conflagration that could envelope the planet. The Peace Movement is commemorating the tragedy of WWI. Today’s events are reminiscent of the imperial competitions that led to it. 

Stephen Kinzer's book "The Brothers" details how the Dulles brothers, John Foster as Secretary of State and Allen heading the CIA, used extensive government resources starting in the 1950’s to destroy democracies such as Iran, Guatemala and Congo. Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine” shows how disasters, natural and human-made, are exploited to benefit the 1% at the expense of the majority and democracy. 

What can we do? We can generate local demonstrations. 
Let our elected officials know that we see through the fog. The people of the U.S. stopped Obama’s bombing of Syria. We must demand that the U.S. back away from more war, violent regime change and the imposition of austerity. 

Then we must demand that Congress investigate another U.S. instigated coup to determine which laws, national or international, were violated.

We must mobilize!
Peace and Justice, 
  For the Executive Board March 2,2014
U.S. Peace Council
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Spring Fails in Ukrainian Plunderland by Pepe Escobar, ASIA TIMES



Here's the US's exceptionalist promotion of "democracy" in action; Washington has recognized a coup d'etat in Ukraine that regime-changed a - for all its glaring faults - democratically elected government. 


And here is Russian President Vladimir Putin, already last year, talking about how Russia and China decided to trade in roubles and yuan, and stressing how Russia needs to quit the "excessive monopoly" of the US dollar. He had to be aware the Empire would strike back. 

Now there's more; Russian presidential adviser Sergey Glazyev told RIA Novosti, "Russia will abandon the US dollar as a reserve currency if theUnited States initiates sanctions against the Russian Federation." 

So the Empire struck back by giving "a little help" to regime change in the Ukraine. And Moscow counter-punched by taking control of Crimea in less than a day without firing a shot - with or without crack Spetsnaz brigades (UK-based think tanks say they are; Putin says they are not). 

Putin's assessment of what happened in Ukraine is factually correct; "an anti-constitutional takeover and armed seizure of power". It's open to endless, mostly nasty debate whether the Kremlin overreacted or not. Considering the record of outright demonization of both Russia and Putin going on for years - and now reaching fever pitch - the Kremlin's swift reaction was quite measured. 

Putin applied Sun Tzu to the letter, and now plays the US against the EU. He has made it clear Moscow does not need to "invade" Ukraine. The 1997 Ukraine-Russia partition treaty specifically allows Russian troops in Crimea. And Russia after all is an active proponent of state sovereignty; it's under this principle that Moscow refuses a Western "intervention" in Syria. 

What he left the door open for is - oh cosmic irony of ironies - an American invention/intervention (and that, predictably, was undetectable by Western corporate media); the UN's R2P - "responsibility to protect" - in case the Western-aligned fascists and neo-nazis in Ukraine threaten Russians or Russian-speaking civilians with armed conflict. Samantha Power should be proud of herself. 

Don't mess with Russian intelligence
The "West" once again has learned you don't mess with Russian intelligence, which in a nutshell preempted in Crimea a replica of the coup in Kiev, largely precipitated by UNA-UNSO - a shady, ultra-rightwing, crack paramilitary NATO-linked force using Ukraine as base, as exposed by William Engdahl. 

And Crimea was an even murkier operation, because those neo-nazis from Western Ukraine were in tandem with Tatar jihadis (the House of Saud will be heavily tempted to finance them from now on). 

The Kremlin is factually correct when pointing out that the coup was essentially conducted by fascists and ultra-right "nationalists" - Western code for neo-nazis. Svoboda ("Freedom") party political council member Yury Noyevy even admitted openly that using EU integration as a pretext "is a means to break our ties with Russia." 

Western corporate media always conveniently forgets that Svoboda - as well as the Right Sector fascists - follow in the steps of Galician fascist/terrorist Stepan Bandera, a notorious asset of a basket of "Western" intel agencies. Now Svoboda has managed to insert no less than six bigwigs as part of the new regime in Kiev. 

Then there are the new regional governors appointed to the mostly Russophone east and south of Ukraine. They are - who else - oligarchs, such as billionaires Sergei Taruta posted to Donetsk and Ihor Kolomoysky posted in Dnipropetrovsk. People in Maidan in Kiev were protesting mostly against - who else - kleptocrat oligarchs. Once again, Western corporate media - which tirelessly plugged a "popular" uprising against kleptocracy - hasn't noticed it. 

Once again, follow the money

Ukraine's foreign currency reserves, only in the past four weeks, plunged from US$17.8 billion to $15 billion. Wanna buy some hryvnia? Well, not really; the national currency, is on a cosmic dive against the US dollar. This is jolly good news only for disaster capitalism vultures. 

And right on cue, the International Monetary Fund is sending a "fact-finding mission" to Ukraine this week. Ukrainians of all persuasions may run but they won't hide from "structural adjustment". They could always try to scrape enough for a ticket with their worthless hryvnia (being eligible for visa on arrival in Thailand certainly helps). 

European banks - who according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) hold more than $23 billion in outstanding loans - could lose big in Ukraine. Italian banks, for instance, have loaned nearly $6 billion. 

On the Pipelineistan front, Ukraine heavily depends on Russia; 58% of its gas supply. It cannot exactly diversify and start buying from Qatar tomorrow - with delivery via what, Qatar Airways? 

And even as 66% of Russian gas exported to the EU transits through Ukraine, the country is fast losing its importance as a transit hub. Both the Nord Stream and South Stream pipelines - Russia not on-the-ground but under-seas - bypass Ukraine. The Nord Stream, finished in 2011, links Russia with Germany beneath the Baltic Sea. South Stream, beneath the Black Sea, will be ready before the end of 2015. 

Geoeconomically, the Empire needs Ukraine to be out of the Eurasian economic union promoted by the Kremlin - which also includes Kazakhstan and Belarus. And geopolitically, when NATO Secretary General, the vain puppet Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said that an IMF-EU package for the Ukraine would be "a major boost for Euro-Atlantic security", this is what clinched it; the only thing that matters in this whole game is NATO "annexing" Ukraine, as I examined earlier. 

It has always been about the Empire of Bases - just like the encirclement of Iran; just like the "pivot" to Asia translating into encirclement of China; just like encircling Russia with bases and "missile defense". Over the Kremlin's collective dead body, of course. 

Let's plunder that wasteland

US Secretary of State John Kerry accusing Russia of "invading Ukraine", in "violation of international law", and "back to the 19th century", is so spectacularly pathetic in its hypocrisy - once again, look at the US's record - it does not warrant comment from any informed observer. Incidentally, this is as pathetic as his offer of a paltry $1 billion in "loan guarantees" - which would barely pay Ukraine's bills for two weeks. 

The Obama administration - especially the neo-cons of the "F**k the EU" kind - has lost is power play. And for Moscow, it has no interlocutor in Kiev because it considers the regime-changers illegal. Moscow also regards "Europe" as a bunch of pampered whining losers - with no common foreign policy to boot. 

So any mediation now hinges on Germany. Berlin has no time for "sanctions" - the sacrosanct American exceptionalist mantra; Russia is a plush market for German industry. And for all the vociferations at the Economist and the Financial Times, the City of London also does not want sanctions; the financial center feeds on lavish Russian politico/oligarch funds. As for the West's "punishment" for Russia by threatening to expel it from the Group of Eight, that is a joke. The G-8, which excludes China, does not decide anything relevant anymore; the G-20 does. 

If a wide-ranging poll were to be conducted today, it would reveal that the majority of Ukrainians don't want to be part of the EU - as much as the majority of Europeans don't want the Ukraine in the EU. What's left for millions of Ukrainians is the bloodsucking IMF, to be duly welcomed by "Yats" (as Prime Minister Yatsenyuk is treated by Vic "F**k the EU" Nuland).

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The Nation "After Latest Incident, Israel´s Future in FIFA is Uncertain"


The Palestinian national soccer team, a source of pride for many, has been under attack by the Israeli state. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)

Their names are Jawhar Nasser Jawhar, 19, and Adam Abd al-Raouf Halabiya, 17. They were once soccer players in the West Bank. Now they are never going to play sports again. Jawhar and Adam were on their way home from a training session in the Faisal al-Husseini Stadium on January 31 when Israeli forces fired upon them as they approached a checkpoint. After being shot repeatedly, they were mauled by checkpoint dogs and then beaten. Ten bullets were put into Jawhar’s feet. Adam took one bullet in each foot. After being transferred from a hospital in Ramallah to King Hussein Medical Center in Amman, they received the news that soccer would no longer be a part of their futures. (Israel’s border patrol maintains that the two young men were about to throw a bomb.)
This is only the latest instance of the targeting of Palestinian soccer players by the Israeli army and security forces. Death, injury or imprisonment has been a reality for several members of the Palestinian national team over the last five years. Just imagine if members of Spain’s top-flight World Cup team had been jailed, shot or killed by another country and imagine the international media outrage that would ensue. Imagine if prospective youth players for Brazil were shot in the feet by the military of another nation. But, tragically, these events along the checkpoints have received little attention on the sports page or beyond.
Much has been written about the psychological effect this kind of targeting has on the occupied territories. Sports represent escape, joy and community, and the Palestinian national soccer team, for a people without a recognized nation, is a source of tremendous pride. To attack the players is to attack the hope that the national team will ever truly have a home.
The Palestinian national football team, which formed in 1998, is currently ranked 144th in the world by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). They have never been higher than 115th. As Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association Jibril al-Rajoub commented bluntly, the problems are rooted in “the occupation’s insistence on destroying Palestinian sport.”
Over the last year, in response to this systematic targeting of Palestinian soccer, al-Rajoub has attempted to assemble forces to give Israel the ultimate sanction and, as he said, “demand the expulsion of Israel from FIFA and the International Olympic Committee.” Al-Rajoub claims the support of Jordan, Qatar, Iran, Oman, Algiers and Tunisia in favor of this move, and promises more countries, with an opportunity at a regional March 14 meeting of Arab states, to organize more support. He has also pledged to make the resolution formal when all the member nations of FIFA meet in Brazil.
Qatar’s place in this, as host of the 2022 World Cup, deserves particular scrutiny. As the first Arab state to host the tournament, they are under fire for the hundreds of construction deaths of Nepalese workers occurring on their watch. As the volume on these concerns rises, Qatar needs all the support in FIFA that they can assemble. Whether they eventually see the path to that support as one that involves confronting or accommodating Israel, will be fascinating to see.
As for Sepp Blatter, he clearly recognizes that there is a problem in the treatment of Palestinian athletes by the Israeli state. Over the last year, he has sought to mediate this issue by convening a committee of Israeli and Palestinian authorities to see if they can come to some kind of agreement about easing the checkpoints and restrictions that keep Palestinian athletes from leaving (and trainers, consultants and coaches from entering) the West Bank and Gaza. Yet al-Rajoub sees no progress. As he said, “This is the way the Israelis are behaving and I see no sign that they have recharged their mental batteries. There is no change on the ground. We are a full FIFA member and have the same rights as all other members.”The shooting into the feet of Jawhar and Adam has taken a delicate situation and made it an impossible one. Sporting institutions like FIFA and the IOC are always wary about drawing lines in the sand when it comes to the conduct of member nations. But the deliberate targeting of players is seen, even in the corridors of power, as impossible to ignore. As long as Israel subjects Palestinian athletes to detention and violence, their seat at the table of international sports will be never be short of precarious.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/178642/after-latest-incident-israels-future-fifa-uncertain

Suspend the Israeli Football Association's FIFA membership
Please sign HERE: http://www.change.org/petitions/fifa-suspend-the-israeli-football-association-s-fifa-membership?recruiter=59581336&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=petition_invitation
    1. Petition by
      Red Card Israeli Racism
      London, United Kingdom
Membership of the Israeli Football Association (IFA) should be suspended until Israel respects the human rights of Palestinians and observes international law, thus enabling Palestinian footballers to play and compete nationally and internationally.
Since 1967, Israel has maintained a brutal military occupation of Palestine, building illegal settlements and a separation wall on stolen land, despite condemnation by the UN and International Court of Justice. Within Israel, over fifty laws discriminate against its Palestinian citizens. When influential sports organizations say nothing in the face of an injustice of such magnitude they are complicit.
Commercial and cultural actions worldwide are increasingly demanding an end to Israel’s repressive policies.
It is now time for sports initiatives to add their voice.
The Israeli occupation specifically impacts on Palestinian football by restricting movement of players within the West Bank, between the West Bank and Gaza, and preventing them from taking part in international competitions. Israel limits imports of vital sporting equipment. Players have been harassed, detained, imprisoned and killed.
There is blatant well-documented racism within Israeli football. Players of Palestinian origin suffer insults from the terraces: Beitar Jerusalem football club is arguably worse than any in Europe with chants of ‘Death to Arabs’ and arson attacks. Any efforts made by the IFA to stop this abuse have been ineffective. 
In 2013, footballers like Eric Cantona, Frederic Kanoute and 50 other international players challenged UEFA’s decision to hold the Men’s U-21 tournament in Israel. Eminent human rights activists questioned how an organisation that clearly promotes anti-racism can place a major competition in an openly racist country. Yet UEFA still plans to hold the U-19 Women’s final there in 2015 and may consider Israel as a venue for preliminary matches in Euro 2020.
FIFA has recognized some Israeli abuses and created a Task Force aimed at facilitating the movement of players and equipment. But its success depends on the goodwill of the Israeli Defence Forces.
When FIFA formally suspended the membership of the South African FA between 1964 and 1992, its action contributed to international pressure to end apartheid.
Therefore, the petition asks FIFA to follow this precedent and suspend the Israeli FA. The Israeli government must at some point take notice.
References
http://rcir.org.uk/?page_id=428
http://www.uisp.it/newsletter_remote/mossawa.doc
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