McCain and Obama spar in first debate

You can sum it up with the exchange on the issue of Russia - whose petro-dollar fuelled resurgence as a regional power is going to test the next president throughout his term of office.

Mr McCain was able to describe meeting Vladimir Putin, "looking into his eyes and seeing three letters, K, G and B" - a reference to the old Soviet intelligence agency for which Mr Putin once worked.

Does it sound corny to foreign ears, with a slight B-movie flavour to it? It probably does. I would say in America it plays much better as a tough-guy sound-bite, suggestive of a president who knows how to stand up to Moscow.

Mr Obama's answer on Russia rambled quite a bit and veered off into a dissertation on the need to develop alternative energy sources - not his first of the night.

You could see the logic - Russia is an oil exporter and one of America's biggest problems is dependence on imported oil.

Click here for complete story.

Source: BBC

Russian Neighbors Urge U.N. to Stand Against Kremlin Aggression

Victor A. Yushchenko, the president of Ukraine, told the General Assembly that his country condemned Russia’s action and he hinted that Ukraine would not succumb to Russian intimidation over its ambition to join NATO.

“It is essential to turn down blackmailing and threatening vocabulary,” Mr. Yushchenko said.

Click here for complete article.

Source: NewYork Times

Disputes Strain Ukrainian-Russian Ties

The deterioration of relations between Ukraine and Russia accelerated after Kyiv sided with Georgia during last month's conflict in South Ossetia. Worsening ties coincide with next year's expiration of the bilateral Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership, which both sides ratified in April 1999. The strategic 10-year agreement will be automatically extended, unless Ukraine or Russia declares its intention not to do so within six months of the expiration. The deadline for signaling such intent is October 1. While observers say it is likely to be renewed, the treaty is being reviewed by politicians, experts, and military officials on both sides. VOA Correspondent Peter Fedynsky has this report from a review conference in Moscow.

Click here for full article.

Source: Voice of America

Ukraine rejects Russian pressure to prevent NATO entry

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Wednesday rejected Russian pressure to prevent his country from joining NATO.

"It is essential to turn down blackmailing and threatening vocabulary," he told the UN General Assembly here.

"Ukraine rejects pressure of any kind regarding ways to ensure its own security and to determine membership in collective security structures," he added. "Such attempts of infringement are short-sighted and counter-productive."

Without ever naming Russia, Yushchenko also condemned "all acts of aggression and the use of force that occurred in the region."

He was apparently referring to both Georgia's recent offensive against separatists in its breakaway enclave of South Ossetia and the ensuing Russian military intervention there to dislodge Georgian troops.

"Ukraine vigorously denounces the violation of the territorial integrity and inviolability of the Georgian borders and armed annexation of its territory," the Ukrainian leader said.

"Ukraine does not recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia (and) condemns the endeavor of the illegitimate and separatist affirmation of the statehood of any territories," he added.

Click here for complete article.

Source: AFP

Ukrainian Leader Cautiously Condemns Russian Aggression

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has denounced Russia's recent military incursion into Georgia, and Moscow's ongoing armed occupation of Georgian territory.

Mr. Yushchenko told the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday that Ukraine does not recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia - the pro-Russian breakaway territories in Georgia that Moscow has recognized as independent states.

The Ukrainian leader said his country sympathizes with all those hurt by last month's conflict in Georgia - Ossetians, Russians and Georgians alike. He called on the General Assembly to work towards peaceful settlement of the conflict, and he said Ukraine will support all such efforts.

He also voiced concern about the rise of what he called Cold War rhetoric. But he said tensions in the Caucasus can not be solved either by isolating Russia or by the continued use of military force.

Mr. Yushchenko also noted that his country is marking the 75th anniversary of the Great Famine, known as Holodomor. He called on all former Soviet-bloc countries to commemorate their national tragedies and never to forget the crimes committed under the totalitarian regimes of Stalin and other leaders.

Ukrainian president to meet Bush next week

KYIV, September 24 (RIA Novosti) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko plans to meet with his U.S. counterpart, George Bush, next Monday, national media reported Wednesday.

Ukraine's pro-Western leader told the press about the upcoming meeting while attending the UN General Assembly session in New York, the UNIAN news agency said.

The agency quoted Yushchenko as saying that the two presidents would focus on bilateral relations. He said Kiev and Washington could extend a bilateral agreement on security.

The United States is a staunch supporter of Ukraine's bid for EU and NATO membership, while Moscow strongly opposes the former Soviet republic joining the military bloc as a threat to Russia's national security.

Russia, which is Ukraine's major energy supplier, leases its main Black Sea naval base from the country. At least 50 warships and smaller vessels, along with 80 aircraft, are stationed in the Crimean port of Sevastopol.

The base has been a source of friction between Russia and Ukraine, and Yushchenko has demanded that the Black Sea Fleet must leave the base when the lease expires in 2017.

Plus ca change, plus ce le meme chose?

We all need to look truth in the eye and knowledge of our shared history, without distortions and embellishment, is simply vital. Repeating Soviet lies and pushing an image of Ukrainians as Nazi-supporters, anti-Semites and the like, are hardly ways of seeking the truth. It is to be hoped that Michael Prazan did not recognize the familiar odour of the information he churned out. As far as his source of information is concerned, coming only a month after an attempt by Russian-language media outlets and one Polish journalist to fabricate a "pogrom" in Lviv and just a few months after a number of western media outlets were obliged to issue apologies for lies about a "Hitler doll" supposedly produced and popular in Ukraine, it is increasingly difficult to believe that this suddenly spurt of interest and total distortion of another country`s history and present situation was entirely spontaneous.

Click here for complete story.

Source: UNIAN

Q&A: Yushchenko balances Russian, EU relations

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko arrives in the U.S. Monday to participate in the 63rd session of the U.N. General Assembly. This is a partial transcript of an interview with reporter Natalia A. Feduschak conducted prior to his departure:

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is to arrive in the U.S. on Monday for the U.N. General Assembly.

Click here for complete story.

Source: Washington Times

Rice Says Georgian War Leaves Russia Isolated

Dialogue between Washington and Moscow since the war in Georgia broke out six weeks ago has been harsh, and Rice's speech on September 18 elevated the level of rhetoric. The secretary at no point raised her voice, but her words were stern, and at one point even sarcastic.

Rice called Russia's move into Georgia "premeditated," and noted that after hostilities ended in Georgia, the world rushed to help rebuild the country's infrastructure that had been damaged by the presence of Russian troops.

Meanwhile, she said, Russia had to be satisfied with encouragement from only the most trivial of backers -- from Nicaragua and the Palestinian group Hamas, which she described as "not a diplomatic triumph."

And Rice said Russia failed to reap any lasting benefits from the war in Georgia. It proved the obvious, she said, namely that it could easily defeat a small neighbor. But she noted that Georgia's democracy remains intact, its economy will soon thrive again, and with the help of its allies, its independence will be guaranteed.

Russia, meanwhile, will have gained nothing. "Russia's invasion of Georgia has achieved -- and will achieve -- no enduring strategic objective," she said. "And our strategic goal now is to make clear to Russia's leaders that their choices could put Russia on a one-way path to self-imposed isolation and international irrelevance."

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Source: Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Bitter Medicine for Little Volodya Putin, aka Lilyput Putin

Russia was supposed to be the harbinger of the “new economy” that would dissolve U.S. hegemony by relying on Russia’s vast stores of fossile fuels and their hyper-inflated value. But as Boris Nemstov has shown, in fact Russia is rapidly running out of natural gas because it has to sell so much abroad in order to subsidize the remainder of its economy, which is a total and abject failure. How could it be otherwise, when it is run by a proud KGB spy with no more knowledge of how to build a real market than of how to run a real election.

So now little Volodya Putin is frowning and screaming and bitterly resenting having to swallow so much distasteful reality. How the mighty have fallen! It seems like only yesterday that Putin was strutting and preening and being called “person of the year.” How utterly vacuous and stupid those fawning statements now seem, in the light of Russia’s barbaric military action in Georgia — which totally failed to unseat Georgia’s hated president — and in light of the stock market’s humiliating implosion and the neo-Soviet manner in which Putin has helplessly, impotently responded to it.

Click here for full article.

Source: La Russaphobe

President thinks BYuT, PR and communists coalition has minimal chances

Making comments to journalists on possibility of parliamentary coalition between Byut, Party of Regions and communists, in Luhansk, President Yushchenko said that there are minimal chances such an alliance can exist.

He also added that such a coalition may be created but some forces would be forced to resign from a number of priorities they had declared before. In case with Byut these would be promises to aim for Ukraine gaining NATO MAP.

Beside that, according to President Yushchenko the electorate of ByuT and PR would not accept the alliance between these two political parties.

Speaking about contacts between these political forces President Yushchenko stressed that he welcomes any political dialogue because the parliamentarians have their right for it. “If final agreement is reached on these alliance, as the President I will accept them. I will not try to reverse that agreement by any attempts to create a coalition in the Parliament ... Howewer if political partners don't say their word, than the President will say his”, - he added

Source: Official Website of President of Ukraine

Ukraine's Ruling Coalition Collapses

Ukraine's pro-Western coalition government formally collapsed, deepening a political crisis that has clouded the country's prospects of joining the NATO military alliance.

President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko worked together in an "Orange" coalition for nine fractious months, but their alliance gradually unraveled, not for the first time, faltering on serious policy and personality differences.

Their failure to patch up differences after a 10-day cooling-off period came as Mr. Yushchenko -- whose supporters have charged Ms. Tymoshenko with collaborating with Moscow -- accused Russia of trying to destabilize Ukraine.

Associated Press

Policy and personality differences led Ukraine's Yulia Tymoshenko, right, with Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, and Viktor Yushchenko to end their coalition.

"For some of our partners, instability in Ukraine is like bread and butter," he said in an Associated Press interview, suggesting Moscow was stirring up separatists on the volatile Crimean Peninsula, where Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based.

He said Ukraine wouldn't allow itself to be drawn into a war in the way he said Georgia had last month when Russian troops responded to a Georgian attack on South Ossetia by occupying large swaths of its territory.

Click here for complete story.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Russia eyes Mediterranean as alternative to Sevastopol naval base

Russia has accused Kiev of 'unfriendly' policies toward the Black Sea Fleet base.

Yushchenko has called for the Russian navy's early pullout, tougher deployment requirements and higher fees, demands that have not been backed by his former coalition ally, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
Russia-Ukraine tensions heightened after several Black Sea Fleet warships dropped anchor off the Georgian coast during and after the armed conflict with Tbilisi over breakaway South Ossetia last month.

Russia's naval base in the Crimea currently has 50 warships and patrol boats, along with around 80 aircraft, and employs coastal defense troops.

Would we really miss Russian fleet?

Click here for complete story.

Source: Ria Novosti

Ukraine Prez: Russia Wants To Destabilize Ukraine

Many fear Moscow could lay claim to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that once belonged to Russia and is now home to Russia's Black Sea fleet. More than half its residents are ethnic Russians.

Yushchenko said Russia was interested in causing "internal instability" in parts of Ukraine.

"Without a doubt, such scenarios exist," he said.

Click here for complete story.

Source: Yahoo News

Shots in the back half a century later Do the communist leaders have the right to accuse the OUN and the UPA of treason?

The communists have always accused their political adversaries of “shooting them in the back.” This accusation has been applied at various times to the so-called treacherous peoples of the USSR, Poland’s Armia Krajowa, the Baltic “forest brothers,” and generally to all those whom Stalin could not control.

But the communists maintained a discreet silence about the fact that the USSR concluded the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and was supplying Germany with material resources in the heat of Hitler’s offensive in Europe, and that the West’s Lend-Lease program, although it did not play a decisive role in the victory, came to the USSR during the most critical days of the war, when it was desperately needed.

As for “shooting in the back” of the Soviet Army, this was the handiwork not of the mythical “UPA bandits” but the communists themselves. Recall the notorious Order no. 227 of July 28, 1942, authorizing the formation of penal battalions and barrier troops in which 427,910 men saw service. Most of them were killed in action or became disabled (see, the statistical reference book Russia and the USSR in 20th-Century Wars edited by Col.-Gen. G. Krivosheev, Moscow, OLMA-Press, 2001).

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Source The Day

After The Georgian Crisis, The Breaking Of Europe

Has the EU allowed Russia to get away with breaching international law?

The EU is nearly paralyzed by a fragmentation of the will, a condition which was in ample evidence at the EU-Ukraine summit in Paris on September 9. On that occasion, in a feat of extreme verbal contortionism, the EU promised Ukraine everything but a guaranteed prospect of membership. Most EU member states fear Ukraine may already face a real threat from Russia, yet the bloc's strategic interests were nowhere in sight at the ambassadorial meetings in Brussels preceding the summit, where the Netherlands and other member states skeptical of enlargement argued that giving Ukraine a binding pledge of membership would be too unpopular back home.

Neither has the EU done anything to match the U.S. diplomatic "surge" in which top State Department officials have visited Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan, not to mention Georgia. Again, the bloc's 27 member states have conspicuously failed to marshal the requisite collective resolve.

Seems like they (EU) are castrated. Especially the French and Germans. Click here to read full article.

Source: RFERL

Diplomat: Russia stalling over Georgia observers

Talks with Russia on sending additional international monitors to keep tabs on South Ossetia and Abkhazia collapsed Friday, a senior Western diplomat said, warning that Moscow's hard-line stance had thrown into question its pledge to withdraw troops.

Russian soldiers stand at a checkpoint in Karaleti district, northwest of Gori.

The official, who has been intimately involved in three weeks of negotiations, accused Russia of stalling for time in an effort to keep observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe out of the two breakaway regions.
"It has become clear that Russia doesn't want any agreement. I think they're afraid of what the observers will see," the diplomat told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the talks.

Click here for full story.

Source: CNN

Russian aggression could pull U.S. into war: Palin

Here is a strong statement issued by the Republican V.P. Sarah Palin. The US always stood strong and supported Ukraine, not by their fear of Russia as is being evidenced by the woosey French and Germans and other annonomys coutries from the European Union.

Ms. Palin said she "definitely" supports a U. S. strategic alliance with Ukraine and Georgia because "the Rose Revolution, the Orange Revolution, those actions have showed us that those democratic nations, I believe, deserve to be in NATO."

The United States needs to strengthen NATO because it "is the group that can be counted upon to defend one another in a very dangerous world today," she said.

Click here for complete story.

Source: The National Post

Ukraine: Cheney IOU against Russia

Sept. 4, 2008 Cheney and Yushchenko shake on U.S. guarantees against Russia

Another pre-emptive threat by Washington
Last week as McCain made his speech to the Republican faithful, Vice President Dick Cheney visited Ukraine and unconditionally pledged America's support against any attempt by Moscow to corrupt, much less invade, that giant.
This is hardly popular stuff in a war-embattled America where billions are spent each month in an unnecessary occupation of Iraq.
But another entanglement may loom. The United States (under Clinton) signed an iron-clad agreement in 1994 with Ukraine, Britain (under John Major) and Russia (Boris Yeltsin). The Ukrainians back then got these three to guarantee its sovereignty as the quid pro quo for Ukraine's agreement to dismantle and hand over its entire arsenal of nuclear weapons and missiles to Russia.

Click here for full story.

Source: The National Post

Ukraine comes to the forefront

THE first priority for Europe after Russia’s short August war with Georgia was to secure a ceasefire and a genuine pullback of Russian forces (see article). The second was to start fretting about Russia’s other neighbours. And the most significant of these by far is Ukraine. Ukraine could not have ignored the war even if it had wanted to. Sebastopol, on the Crimean peninsula, is home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet, some of whose warships dropped anchor off the Georgian coast during and after the fighting. Evidence of Ukraine’s proximity to the conflict is also on show at Moscow’s military museum, where visitors can gawp at war booty: Georgian T-72 battle tanks that were modernised in Ukraine. This, say the Russians, shows Kiev’s support for what it sees as a “criminal regime”. Indeed, Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s president (pictured above) flew to Tbilisi to support his counterpart and friend, Mikheil Saakashvili.

Click here for complete story.

Source: The Economist

Cracks in Putin's kingdom

An even bigger problem, perhaps, is that Putin is looking backward.

He can best be characterized by the term "sovok," one of those many-layered pieces of word play in which Russians delight. In this case, it can be summarized as someone who embodies the dark and circumscribed world view of the Soviet man in the street, suspicious of the outside world, resentful, who holds a grudge and remembers a slight. Putin speaks passionately about the "tragedy" of the Soviet Union's collapse, a personally scarring time when he found himself unemployed.

He trusts very few people. Aides say he makes policy on key issues – Georgia, Ukraine, NATO – himself, along with a small circle, and tends to improvise. He shows little interest in the Russian stock market, which has taken a battering since the outbreak of the Georgia crisis, while most of the mega-rich, many of them close associates, have attained their fortune by obeying one rule: Do exactly what Putin says.

In the past, everybody obeyed this rule, and many in the ruling elite were genuinely convinced that he was the right leader for these times. Now, doubts are creeping in, and people are bracing themselves for tense years. The strong man has started to show his weaknesses.

Click here for full story.

Source: Yahoo News.

U.S. accuses Russia of waffling on cease-fire

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States on Wednesday criticized Russia for failing to live up to the cease-fire agreement in Georgia and for refusing to remove its military forces.

U.S State Department spokesman Sean McCormack says the Russians "need to get out of Georgia."

"Look, these guys are trying to, at every turn, trying to wiggle out of a commitment that they made and that their president put his name to," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at his morning briefing. "We've seen it since August and it continues. They need to get out of Georgia and they need to stop finding excuses to do that."

Click here for full story.

Source: CNN

EU offers reassurance to Ukraine

Mr Sarkozy's reassurance comes after rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine over its Crimea region.

Ukraine has also been offered an association agreement with the EU, to be signed next year.

The accord represents cautious support for possible eventual EU membership for Ukraine.

"In the eyes of Europe, [territorial integrity] is absolutely non-negotiable," Mr Sarkozy said in a response to a question from reporters in Paris.

He underlined that the accord left the path for future membership of the 27-member state bloc open, saying: "This association accord does not close any avenues."

Click here for full story.

Source BBC On-line

Dmitry Medvedevi a 'political corpse' or a puppet?

President Medvedev said Russia did not fear calls for its isolation

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has described his Georgian counterpart as a "political corpse", saying Moscow does not recognise him as president.

Same can be said about this clown of a president, who in reality is a puppet to Lilyput Putin, and has the nerve to come out with such absurd statement.

US gives $1bn to rebuild Georgia

Bravo to the US and hopefully more EU countries will be brave to join on board in helping to rebuild and re-arm Georgia. (we know the wussy French and Germans will not be in the formula), but time will tell.
Meanwhile, another country, Nicaragua, whose leftist government fiercely opposes the US, now appears to have become the second nation to recognise the independence of the republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Adrug wielding puppet from Nicaragua and a Alexander Lukashenko, the last dictator in Europe at the head of an outpost of tyranny. We are really impressed now Lillyput Putin. Are there any more takers out there?
Click here to read the following interesting article in BBC on line.

Source: BBC

Georgia's Human Chain Stronger than Russian Tanks

On Monday, Georgia came to a halt or, rather, it came to life. A massive human chain gripped the avenues of Tbilisi, the streets of Russian-besieged Poti, the squares of every city, the lanes of every village and the country roads that connect them. Maybe Russian Czar Vladimir Putin watched on television the human chain that will defeat his tanks. This is no maudlin deviation from this column's traditional realist analysis. It is a sober argument that Georgia's human chain represents the march of history from which Putin has kept his country.

Click here for complete story.

Source: American Thinker

Roger Cohen: Loose talk that lost Georgia

So the West should not overplay its hand. Breaking off arms reduction and missile defense talks with Russia is in nobody's interest. Nor are cheap shots like throwing Russia out of an (ever less relevant) G-8.

But nor can the West be cowed. It must shore up the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, with financial and other support. It must keep the trans-Caspian, Russia-circumventing energy corridor open. It must bolster Ukraine's independence. And, at the NATO foreign ministers' meeting in December, it should replace Bucharest blather with basics: a Membership Action Plan for Georgia and Ukraine.

Click here to view complete article.

Source: International Herald Tribune

Europe must stand up to the Russian bully

However, Russian aggression against Ukraine that would be the deepest crisis for the international community. We are right to back the democratic government of Georgia but our strategic interests in that country are only slightly greater than our interests and support for the struggling people of Zimbabwe or Tibet.

A tough reaction by the United States and Europe over Georgia and South Ossetia is necessary not because changing the frontiers in the Caucasus will directly affect our security but because, if Russia sees the West as weak and indifferent, it will be emboldened to repeat its behaviour in Ukraine - and in Crimea, in particular.

Such a crisis would cause massive instability in Europe. Ukraine is a major country with a frontier with the EU. While it is true that parts of Ukraine - including Crimea - have a largely Russian-speaking population, that is far from unique in Europe.

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Source: Telegraph

UK warns over 'Russia aggression'

Mr Brown said: "When Russia has a grievance over an issue such as South Ossetia, it should act multilaterally by consent rather than unilaterally by force."

He went on: "My message to Russia is simple. If you want to be welcome at the top table of organisations such as the G8, OECD and WTO, you must accept that with rights come responsibilities.

Read full story here.

Source: BBC

The return of the Russia the west loves to loathe

What is most striking about Russia’s justifications is that they are demonstrably inconsistent with its own beliefs, except for the one that matters – the need to be feared. Nothing in the histories of the Russian or Soviet empires suggests that the principle of self-determination matters a jot. Nor has the Russian state ever cared much about the lives of its citizens. Post-Soviet Russia is no different, as the two Chechen wars, with their tens of thousands of dead, have demonstrated. Those, too, were Russian citizens. We can safely discount such hypocritical justifications for its actions. Indeed, I wonder how Russia sells its new-found attachment to the principle of self-determination to its Chinese ally.
Click here for complete article.

Source: Financial Times

The dark shadow of Russia's ambition

When Putin goes on, as he did this week, to state that the whole affair was contrived by the Bush administration, to advance Republican prospects in the coming U.S. election, we get a glimpse of how reckless he has become.

However, the open display of Soviet-style thuggery has had the opposite to the intended effect. European countries are rightly alarmed, and somewhat intimidated, in the expectation that Russia will now play power games with their oil and gas supplies. But the overall effect has been to remind Europe of its military dependence on the United States, and drive wavering parties into closer association with NATO.

Ukraine, the Baltic States, and the various ex-Communist states of Central Europe have spoken out sharply against Russia's aggression, and have accelerated the pace of their integration with the West, in every possible area of endeavour. The Poles and Czechs have finished buying into the U.S. anti-missile shield. Even Belarus, Russia's most obsequious ally in the past, has been shocked into extending diplomatic feelers westward.

Click here for full article.

Source: Ottawa Citizen

Does Russia Care What The West Thinks?

Moscow's motives in entering into a military confrontation with Georgia are obviously far more complex than what Russian officials claim -- a simple, humanitarian desire to rescue South Ossetian civilians from Georgian aggression.
On one level, I don't think Putin cares too much -- he goes by his gut and he considers himself a tough guy. But I think he is going to find it a little more rough going than he thought.Russia, humiliated by a decade of post-Soviet chaos and frustrated by what it perceives as the West's patronizing attitude, has signaled it will no longer shy away from using force to restore its superpower status.

Click here for full article.

Source: Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Ukraine, Russia and European stability

Kudos to David Miliband, who has been spearheading the campaign to settle the Georgia issue, as well as prevent further escalation there as well as in Ukraine and Moldova. We need more courageous people such as Mr. Miliband to get on the band wagon. Here are some of his comments and link to full story below:

Ukraine is a leading example of the benefits that accrue when a country takes charge of its own destiny, and seeks alliances with other countries.

Its choices should not be seen as a threat to Russia or an act of hostility. Equally its independence does demand a new relationship with Russia – a partnership of equals, not the relationship of master and servant.

It is not an act of hostility towards Russia for Europe to support Ukraine, but a positive move towards lasting peace.

Click here for full article.

Source: Guardian

Rewards are easy, punishment is hard

Whatever the EU decides on Monday, the most important pressure on Russia may come from China. For years it has joined Russia in defending the notion of territorial integrity, saying that sovereign borders were inviolable. Now it sees Moscow jettison this principle to both countries’ potential cost. Russia’s sour myopia may have gained it two tiny scraps of land but lost it its main ally, and perhaps, in the future, some of its own troubled provinces.
Click here for full story.

Source: Times On-line

Russia's propaganda warfare

Even quiet Sweeden has come on board. Sweden's normally soft-spoken Foreign Minister Carl Bildt retorted that Russia's resort to that argument echoed that of Hitler in annexing pre-World War Two Czechoslovakia.

A way out for Russia lies in the precise pledge made by Mr Medvedev when he became president of Russia only three months ago - that he would strive to make Russia a nation that truly respects the rule of law and international norms.

Otherwise Russia could be undone by its own myths, and be isolated in the new Cold War that its leaders still say they do not seek.

Click here for complete article from BBC On-line.

Putin accuses U.S. of orchestrating Georgian war

Now this Lilyput Putin has really gone off the deep end. Russian Prime Minister Lilyput Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of orchestrating the conflict in Georgia to benefit one of its presidential election candidates.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino blasted Putin's statements, saying they were "patently false."

"To suggest that the United States orchestrated this on behalf of a political candidate just sounds not rational," she said.

On Wednesday a U.S. ship carrying aid docked in Georgia, while Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband traveled to the Ukraine, which is worried about Russia's intentions in the region, to offer the UK's support.

Miliband equated Moscow's offensive in Georgia with the Soviet tanks that invaded Czechoslovakia to crush the Prague Spring democratic reforms in 1968, and demanded Russia "change course," AP reported.

Living in a world of their own, they (Russia), still think of themselves as a great empire. But, sorry to say, NOT / NYET, wake up and smell the coffee!!! I recommend to send in the doctors to examine this loony tune (Putin).

Click here for full coverage of this story.

Source: CNN

Beginning of the end for Putinism

Russia's invasion of Georgia was a sign of weakness rather than strength. My guess is it will mark the beginning of the end for Putinism, just as the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 sounded the death knell of communism. Something is going seriously wrong in Putinland. The Russian economy chips in barely 2.5 per cent to the total global gross domestic product. Oil revenues are being earmarked for modernisation, but the investment is likely to be mismanaged and trickle away. Last week I was in Sebastopol to witness the pride of the Russian Black Sea fleet, which has just seen action in Georgia. Expecting a superpower force, I saw nothing but rust-bucket vessels. Oil cash may be going to the armed forces of the "resurgent" Russia, but most of it is spent on pensions. China's investment in R&D now accounts for 1.42 per cent of its GDP. Russia, well ahead of China a decade ago, barely invests 1 per cent. It is a country in decline.

Click here for the complete article.

Source: New Stateman

'Russia Wants to Change the Map of Europe by Violence'

And the German's too have come out strongly against the Imperialist Russian goons.

German commentators on Thursday write that now is the time for a stronger and more coherent response from Europe.

The Financial Times Deutschland writes:

"Any doubt as to Russia's goals in Georgia has vanished into thin air. By recognizing the Georgian territories Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states, against international law, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has made Moscow's intention clear: The Russian government wants to change the map of Europe by violence."

"This war never had much to do with South Ossetia, much less with Georgia. Moscow wants to use this invasion -- which it has prepared for years -- to rebuild its imperium, to expand its control over Europe's energy reserves, and to punish anyone who believes that democracy should bloom along Russia's borders. For Europe this is reason enough to worry."

Click here for full article.

Source: Spiegel On-line

Shevardnadze: Russia will be sorry

Even your previous mouthpiece Mr Shevardnadze thinks you are bunch of mumbling stumbling fools.

According to Mr Shevardnadze, he feels the recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia by the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev badly thought out. After all Russia has got its own breakaway republics.

"If you recognise Abkhazia and South Ossetia, then you cannot blame a republic like Chechnya for wanting the same. Or Dagestan. Or Tatarstan. They also can be recognized if Abkhazia can be."

Full story can be read here.

Source: Radio Netherlands Worldwide

China rebuffs Russia's moves in Georgia

Your own communist compatriots are realizing what stupid idiots Russia is, while refusing to support their communist allies. Now isn't this an embarrassing moment Lilyput Putin for you and your cronies?

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang was quoted by state news agency Xinhua as saying "the situation in the region ... should be resolved in dialogue."

Full story here.

Source: MSNBC

Russia faces diplomatic isolation on Georgia

Russia faced diplomatic isolation over its military action against Georgia on Thursday, with its Asian allies failing to offer support and France saying EU leaders were considering imposing sanctions.

Moscow accused the West of heightening tension by a naval build-up in the Black Sea, and said talk of punishing Russia for recognising the independence of two breakaway Georgian regions was the product of a "sick" and "confused" imagination.

The Group of Seven rich nations condemned Moscow's "continued occupation of Georgia" and a group of Asian allies led by China, meeting at a regional summit, failed to follow Russia's lead on independence for two breakaway regions of Georgia.

Click here for full story.

Source: International Herald Tribune

EU threatens sanctions against Russia

"We ... condemn the action of our fellow G8 member. Russia's recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia violates the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia and is contrary to UN security council resolutions supported by Russia."

In his interview, Miliband rejected the notion that his visit to Ukraine had been provocative. He said he went there because it was important to say to a friendly country that "we support their democratic choices". The foreign secretary reiterated Britain's support for Ukraine's wish to be in Nato and rebuked Russia for treating its neighbours as if they were either "enemies or vassals".

Incredible actions being taken by UK and the other European nations. Time to isolate Russia and let it choke on its own fecus.

Complete story here.

Source: Gaurdian

The West pledges its support for Ukraine - up to a point

Mr Miliband offered strong words of support during his talks in Kiev, but did not stray beyond EU and Nato policy of offering Ukraine eventual membership of both organisations.

"My visit is designed to send a simple message," he told an audience of students and diplomats gathered at Kiev's oldest university. "We have not forgotten our commitments to you. Nor shall we do so." He went on: "The Russian President [Dimitri Medvedev] says he is not afraid of a new Cold War. We don't want one. He has a big responsibility not to start one."

Let us hope?

Click here for full story.

Source: The Independent

West tells Russia to keep out of Ukraine

Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s pro-west president, highlighted the potential for conflict by questioning the agreement under which Russia uses the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol, in Crimea, for its Black Sea fleet. He said Russia’s actions were “a threat to everyone, not just for one country”.

His remarks were echoed by Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgian president. In Thursday’s Financial Times, Mr ­Saakashvili writes: “This story is no longer about my small country, but the west’s ability to stand its ground to defend a principled approach to international security.”

Meanwhile, the US avoided a potential clash with Russia by diverting a navy ship carrying aid to the Georgian-controlled Batumi instead of the Moscow-controlled Georgian port of Poti.

Click here for full article.

Source: The Financial Times

Russia's Delusion

Not only is there great press coming out of the UK, but many great articles being published in US press also, here is a sample:

IN TIME WITH Russia's unilateral recognition of the independence of the two Georgian provinces it invaded this month, President Dmitry Medvedev issued a statement, penned an op-ed and granted an unusual flurry of interviews. His intent was to justify Moscow's latest provocation of the West, which has been united in condemnation -- as was demonstrated yesterday by a statement by the Group of Seven industrial nations. Instead Mr. Medvedev merely revealed the dangerously arrogant and reckless mood that seems to have overtaken the Kremlin in recent weeks.

Click here for full story.

Source: Washington Post

Standing up to the Russian bully

The invasion of Georgia is the first significant step towards restoring part of the old hegemony. Disagreement over the Sevastopol base could provide the pretext for the next; thus Mr Miliband's visit to Kiev yesterday.

His presence in the Ukrainian capital was symbolically important and his analysis of the situation forthright. When it came to sanctions, however, he had little to suggest beyond lessening energy dependency on Russia.

Once again, let us rehearse the minimal steps the West should take to counter Kremlin bullying: expulsion from the G8; freezing consultation within the EU Partnership and Cooperation Agreement and the Nato-Russia Council; an invitation to Georgia and Ukraine by the alliance to join its Membership Action Plan; and the blocking of Russia's WTO membership.

Click here for full article

Source: The Telegraph

Like any bully, Russia can be faced down. Let's do it sooner rather than later

Another great article can be found about KGB Liliput Putin and his cronies in The Daily Mail Online, regarding the many possibilities that can come out of the Georgian conflict.
Here is a preview:

Ukraine is a free country with a lively media where nobody lives in fear of the midnight knock on the door, forcible incarceration in psychiatric hospitals or the arbitrary confiscation of property. Such things are the hallmarks of the ex-KGB regime in Russia.

Source: The Daily Online

"International outlaw"

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called Russia an "international outlaw" and said the real worry was not a new Cold War but a "hot" one, suggesting that another Russian objective might now be Ukraine's mainly Russian-speaking territory of Crimea.
Full story here.

Source; BBC

Russia Is Dangerous But Weak

The Soviet Union wasn't invincible. And here's a crazy thought: The same laws of social, economic and geopolitical gravity that applied in Brezhnev's U.S.S.R. apply equally in Mr. Putin's KGB state.
Here is an interesting retrospective on this in the Wall Street Journal.

New mouthpieces for tyrany

Just as they had their mouthpieces before the likes of Duranty, new one's seem to be splurting out even today. To read this garbage, click here.

Source: Times On-line

Putin wins gold medal for bullying

After dounanciations from US President George W Bush and Canada's Prime Minister Steven Harper, on Russia's invasion of Georgia, the Australians have joined in on the melee.
We are certainly getting great coverage around the globe and the real truth about Liliput Putin the bully. Only the Moskali and their press seem to be licking the behinds of their incompetent leaders. Being scared in being sent to the gulag.

It is enough to make even the cynical shake their heads in disbelief. Europe's approach is weak and will cause bigger problems. So Putin wins the gold medal in his favourite event - bullying his smaller neighbours.

Click here for full article.

Is Dima Medvedev a Liar, or Simply an Idiot?

I would certainly lean on the side of idiot. Likewise to all of the cronies involved in trying to make it seem as Russia being the good guys? Yes, the list is long, Liliput Putin, Lavrov, Ivanov,Rogozin, Nogovitsyn, Solovtsov, Konoshenkov, Borisovand of course, Idiotov, Srakov and all that crap!!!

There are only two explanations for Russian troops "digging in" and driving over police cars blockading the major commercial port and taking prisoners when the "president" of Russia told the world they wouldn't:
(a) the "president " was lying,
(b) the "president" isn't really in charge, he only thinks he is - in other words, he's one of the greatest morons of world history.

Way to go Kyiv !!!!

Kyiv is on the new Monopoly board. It is twice as gratifying for me since Montreal got the top spot on the board as well, push over Boardwalk!!!! Glad to see Moscow not picked to be on the board, but knowing Putin, and his cronies board game strategists, they will probably want to bomb all the cities picked and take Imperial rule of the game. NOT/NYET!!!!!
Here is the link to the results.

Protecting Russian intrerests $$$$$$$

And here we thought that they (Russia - Moskali) are protecting Russian interests. And we do not mean human interest do we $$$$$$$
Today's Russian leaders, despite the paranoia learned in KGB training, have far more profound relationships with Western institutions, not only the Group of Eight and the Council of Europe but also with the Western banks and companies that invest their money and manage their property. Time to put a kybosh on this wouldn't you say?
Read following article by Anne Applebaum in the Washington Post.

Also, the West needs to respond to Russia's aggression in a clear and determined manner. That doesn't mean with force as we are witnessing from Russia. But the West, particularly the U.S., should continue to mobilize the international community to condemn Russia's behavior.

Ukraine risks wrath of Russia as Yushchenko sides with the West

But who's side is Ukraine supposed to take?
Russia has never completely reconciled itself to Ukraine's independence which Moscow viewed as an affront to the vision nurtured by Vladimir Putin, of Russia restored to its former might. Ukraine humiliated Mr Putin in 2004 when millions joined in demonstrations that became known as the Orange Revolution to overturn the results of a presidential election rigged in favor of a pro-Moscow candidate.
Click here for full story.

Courtesy: The Independent

Looney ville aka: Moskovska propaganda

President Dmitry Medvedev said: "The world has seen that even today, there are political morons who are ready to kill innocent and defenseless people in order to satisfy their self-serving interests, while compensating for their own inability to resolve complicated issues by using the most terrible solution -- by exterminating an entire people.
"I think that there should be no mercy for that. We will do our best not to let this crime go unpunished."
Is he talking about himself in such a manner?

Also Sergei Lavrov accused Nato of being "unobjective and biased".
"It appears to me that Nato is trying to portray the aggressor as the victim, to whitewash a criminal regime and to save a failing regime," he said.
These cookoos are really off the wall. First they play the role of GOD, saying what is right and whom it is right to punish.
Click here for full story.
Meanwhile, we can base our own opinions of what is really going on in Georgia.
Finally, Russia’s accusations of Georgia committing “genocide” in South Ossetia to justify invasion? Turned out to be a big fat lie:
Thanks to Ukrainian Canadian Andrew and Paulette at Nash Holos

Source: BBC

Shoulder to shoulder against Russia

We cannot remain deaf to cries for help from countries threatened by Moscow.
To do so would be to repeat Chamberlain's mistake.
Read full story here.

Source: The Guardian

Boot Russia out of the G8

Looks like the only muscle on Liliput Putin can be seen below his neck. Having a brain would be to much to ask for!!!!
Canada, hardly a world power, should do three things immediately: Prohibit any more Russians or Russian entities from acquiring any more Canadian corporations or assets; oppose its WTO membership and join the movement to boot Russia out of the G8.
Click here for full story.

Source: National Post

Ukraine torments Russia with show of solidarity

Ukraine, which to the fury of Russia is looking towards Europe and membership of Nato, announced last week that it would require the Russian fleet to seek permission whenever ships entered its territorial waters.
Click here for full story.

Source: Times On-line

Your time is running out Liliput Putin

Just as we get the news that President Mikhail Saakashvili, signed a EU-brokered ceasefire deal, Russia and their tyrannical leadership starting with Liliput Putin, started entrenching themselves in Georgia territory, with the looks of continued occupation and further destruction of a small free democratic country.

These war mongers are shooting themselves in the foot. They think by containing free press in their own backward country, that they will be able to do the same in the west with their propaganda machine. You still might have your mouthpieces scattered around the like's of Duranty, who was one of the main culprits in denial of the Ukrainian Holodomor in Ukraine.
But, today people can see through this smoke screen you keep spewing. This is not the 1950's Lilyput Putin, you are certainly no Stalin, even though you deep down in your little mind you might think so ( and little we mean very literarily).
Today, we have the freedom of speech and the free use of the Internet. So, whatever you and your cronies might think you might be getting away with today, the whole free world sees what a bunch of stumbling, bumbling losers you are. Your time is running out.................
Slava Hrusiyi (Georgia)

Slava Ukraini (Ukraine)

"Cold-blooded killers" and "barbarians"

These were the exact words coming from President Mikhail Saakashvili, which were delivered at a new conference after signing of an EU-brokered ceasefire deal that was delivered to Georgia by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He could not have given a clearer description of the present Russian clan that is running the backward state.
To read more about this click here.

Ukraine snubs Moscow on port

The surprise decree by Ukraine’s pro-western president requires Russian naval vessels to request permission 10 days in advance before returning to the strategically important port, which Russia leases from Ukraine. Russia’s defense ministry quickly denounced it as “not serious”.
Being not serious is something Russia must know quite well. After watching former president Gorbachev on Lary King live, it certainly shows how desperate the present corrupt regime is. Having to resort to Gorby's take on what is happening in Geoergia is really resorting to desperate. measures. After the interview Larry King had Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili on and in 10 minute interview he laid out the true picture of what is happening in Georgia. How liliput Putin and his KGB henchmen are destroying and pillaging Georgia.
I think Russia needs to resurrect some of the older guards from their graves, maybe Stalin can come and explain to Larry how he starved 10 million Ukrainian during the Ukrainian Holodomor 1932-1933. What a farce from the Russians.

Liliput Putin and Fifi Lavrov

At some time it will be necessary to choose between supporting this virtual project and [a] real partnership on questions which actually require collective action," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Article from BBC On-line

I would definitely chose the VIRTUAL PROJECT!!!! Virtual is the wave of the future, meanwhile Russia still lives in the past and can't face the reality of the future passing them by. Say it ain't so Liliput Putin?

Canada's Harper Condemns Russian Military Offensive in Georgia

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper condemned Russia`s military offensive in Georgia and called on the country to return its troops to positions held before the conflict.

``In escalating the conflict through its attacks on Georgian towns and cities outside South Ossetia, Russia has ceased to act as a peacekeeper,`` Harper said in an e-mailed statement.

Russia sent tanks, troops and warplanes into Georgia on Aug. 8 in what it said was a response to a Georgian offensive on South Ossetia, which won de facto independence from Georgia after a war in the early 1990s. Russia had peacekeeping forces in the breakaway province.

Russian forces crossed into Georgia`s heartland for the first time yesterday and took several towns and a military base, drawing criticism from U.S. President George W. Bush.

``It is imperative that Russia respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia,`` Harper said.

Story courtesy: Bloomberg

US has only tough talk for Russia

With the world watching, George Bush made the first move to stop bloodshed and further escalation of Russian troops encroaching into Georgia.
He said, "Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people," "Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century."
Unfortunately Russia still has not awakened up to the realities of 21st century, Putin and his despots are still living in their glory days of Soviet Union, which in reality has collapsed, last time I checked the world map. Wake up and smell the coffee comrades!!!!
To read more click here Source; BBC

Also, even though there has been an announcement to a cease fire, it looks like Russia is still doing what it wants.
Attacks continuing despite Russia halt claim (Source: CNN)

URGENT: VOTE TO HELP GEORGIA
PLEASE SIGN THIS ON-LINE PETITION TO HELP STOP RUSSIAN MILITARY
AGGRESSION AGAINST INDEPENDENT GEORGIA!
http://www.petitiononline.com/557799/

Russia Georgia fighting...U.S., Ukraine warn Russia

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Ukraine is telling Russia it could bar Russian Navy ships from returning to their base in the Crimea because of their deployment to Georgia's coast. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry says the deployment could draw Ukraine into the conflict which gives Kiev the right to bar the ships from coming back to their base.
Source: http://www.kxmc.com/News/263154.asp

Georgia declares state of war with Russia

"We are dealing with absolutely criminal and crazy acts of irresponsible and reckless decision makers, which is on the ground producing dramatic and tragic consequences," Saakashvili said Saturday afternoon. Click here for full article from CNN.
Doesn't all this sound familiar? I guess daddy Stalin must be looking on proudly onto his

protégé Putin and company of wild bandits and criminals. And what kind of implication will this have on Ukraine?

I think all the world leaders should condemn this action taken up by Russia to bully it way into the world arena.

Solzhenitsyn's tarnished legacy

And what a tarnished legacy it was. It was startling to see Solzhenitsyn, the chronicler of the gulag, chatting with Putin, a career KGB officer. A month later, in an interview with the German magazine Spiegel, Solzhenitsyn explained that Putin "was not a KGB investigator, nor was he the head of a camp in the gulag," but rather an officer in foreign intelligence, an honorable career in many countries. But what about Putin' s dad, who fought on the side of the Nazi's. Good thing younger Putin did not want to kiss Solzhenitsyn on his belly, who knows what would have come out of that, purrrrrrrrr!!!! :-))) Not sure how kissing children's bellies ranked in Nazi guidebook? How would elder Putin look upon all this? And who has been kissing your cute belly, oh Mr. former Mr. President?
Never mind that, whatever division he worked in, Putin served in the same institution that hounded dissidents and sent people to the gulag; or that, after his ascent to power, he moved to restore the KGB and its predecessors to a place of honor in Russian history and society.
Click here for full article.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

With the death of Russia's Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the world has lost one of the great figures of the past century. In Germany, though, editorialist's criticize the role the Nobel Prize winner played in his later life in pushing Moscow away from the West. (Click here to view article.)

I also found this quite relevent in one of my favorite blogging sites, Cyber Cossack.

To end this piece here is Roman Sebyn's take on Solzhenitsyn denial of Ukrainian Holodomor.

Rest in piece black bird.....

Auschwitz survivor to be honoured

For most people, luck is just an idea. The hope that things might go their way and the fear that something bad could happen to them with no rhyme or reason.

Stefan Petelycky wears a symbol of his luck on his arm, a tattoo emblazoned with the numbers 154922. The number was branded on him when he was taken to Auschwitz when he was only 20 years old.

“I’m lucky, I think God needs me,” Petelycky said

To read full story click here.

SBU publicizes list of Soviet officials who engineered Holodomor Genocide

SBU publicizes list of Soviet high-ranking officials who engineered
Holodomor and repression in Ukraine
The Security Service of Ukraine has released on its website the first
list of high-ranking Soviet state and party officials and NKVD
henchmen who perpetrated and executed the man-made famine and
repression in 1932-1933 in Ukraine. The list also includes documents
signed by Holodomor perpetrators that served as organizational and
legal base for repression, SBU July 23 press service report says.
The documents taken from SBU archives convincingly prove that the
Famine of 1932-1933 was engineered by the criminal totalitarian
Communist regime. Now these hitherto classified documents have been
made available to the Ukrainian public.
Visitors to the SBU site can now not only acquaint themselves with
the list of Soviet officials but also read the documents signed by
them, protocols of Politburo sessions, secret instructions to party
members, the text of the infamous law imposing cruel punishment for
the theft of grain by famine-stricken peasants and death statistics
by law-enforcement bodies.
The publication is the start of a new project by the SBU to present
to the public classified documents from Soviet archives. The SBU
urges the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, the State Committee
on Archives, experts in regional state archives, Holodomor
researchers to join the project with the purpose of evaluating the
role of organizers and executors of the Famine and repression to
bring them to account.

Comment by ZIK
SBU says it has made public all available archive materials about the
Famine in 1932-1933. For the first time, SBU opened its archives in
2006, notably, the Soviet documents on Holodomor. These documents
have been included in "Declassified Memory. 1932-1933 Holodomor in
Ukraine as represented by NKVD documents,"
Kyiv, 2007. Its electronic version is available on the SBU site.
http://ssu.gov.ua/sbu/control/uk/publish/article?art_id=80420&cat_id=39574

In the light of historical truth

The Holodomor in Ukraine of 1932-33 is still an open wound in our national consciousness. Those years, which were the most terrible in all of Ukraine’s history, demand from each one of us not only liberation from the stereoptypes of the past but also the truth that comes from scholarly knowledge.
Of course, documented facts that expose a terrible tragedy like the Holodomor do not ease the pangs of conscience that are experienced by normal individuals once they become aware of what Stalin’s band of murderers did to Ukraine. However, it is the sacred duty of each one of us to feel (at least partially) the pain of that time.
Click here for full story fron Den news.

Vlad and the spinmeister: The ABC’s of Holodomor denial

This year Ukraine commemorates the 75th anniversary of the 193233 Holodomor, during which at least 5 million Ukrainians are estimated to have died as a result of forced starvation and collectivization under Stalin. Kyiv’s efforts to gain worldwide recognition of the tragedy as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people have been fiercely opposed by Russia, who has recently succeeded in using its political influence to prevent such recognition. Most recently, the United Nations General Assembly refused to discuss the Holodomor’s commemoration in the current session’s discussions at a plenary session on July 11. The decision came after one Member State, Russia, opposed a proposal by Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe passed a resolution on July 3 to acknowledge the Ukrainian Famine, despite objections from Russia and Kazakhstan. The resolution fell short of calling it an act of genocide. Speaker of the Russian Federation Council, Sergey Mironov, called the resolution “complete nonsense.”
Click here for full article from Kyiv Post about - Vlad and the spinmeister: The ABC's of Holodomor denial.

The famine in Ukraine through the eyes of foreign diplomats

In 1933 Mendel Khataevich, a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolshevik) 'I wonder which bolshivik party he represented?', declared that “a bitter struggle is being waged between the peasants and our government. It is a life-and-death struggle. This year was a decisive test of our strength and endurance. We needed a famine to show them who is boss here. It claimed millions of lives, but the collective farm system has been established, we have won the war.”
Click here to view full story.

U.N. denies Ukraine's genocide claim

NEW YORK, July 12 (UPI) -- The United Nations General Assembly has decided not to put genocide claims by Ukraine onto its current session agenda, Russian officials said Saturday.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin lobbied the General Assembly against opening discussions on Ukraine's claim that the catastrophic 1932-33 famine, which historians blame on Josef Stalin's failed efforts at collectivization, amounted to genocide.

The U.N.'s Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe went so far as to adopt a resolution condemning the famine, but fell short of recognizing it as an act of genocide, Churkin said.

"We believe it would be a disservice to the memories of hundreds of thousands of people who died of hunger in other countries and regions of the former Soviet Union to raise this issue at the U.N., in relation to only one of the regions that suffered," he told the Russian news service RIA Novosti.

Churkin said it wasn't only Ukraine that starved in what he called "a tragic page in the shared history of the peoples of the Soviet Union," but also Belarus, the Volga area, the Black Sea area, the Don area and the North Caucasus.

Source:UPI

Ukraine to investigate whether devastating 1932-33 Soviet-era famine was genocide

The probe is likely to anger neighboring Russia, which insists the famine was not genocide because Russians and other ethnic groups also suffered.

Verstyuk said the investigation is not aimed at extracting any compensation from Russia, the Soviet Union's legal successor.

"We are not putting forward any material or moral claims. What matters for us is to condemn Stalin's regime and those who surrounded him," Verstyuk said.

Estimates of the number of people who perished differ wildly. Yushchenko estimates up to 10 million Ukrainians died, while Stanislav Kulchitsky, a Ukrainian historian, believes 3.5 million perished.

Click here to view full article published in Kyiv Post

Annals of Neo-Soviet "Education" -- Denying Holodomor

A May 15th story in the Moscow Times about the repugnant parade of Soviet military hardware through Red Square a few days earlier stated:

After the parade, Medvedev hosted a champagne reception at the Kremlin for veterans. Medvedev has also sent out congratulatory telegrams to the leaders of other former Soviet republics. In his note to Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko, Medvedev warned him against any attempt to justify the Nazi crimes and "question the liberating mission of the Soviet Army," the Kremlin said. Many in Ukraine sided with Nazi Germany during the war, and who fought against the Soviets have been recognized and praised Ukrainian veteransunder Yushchenko. Putin, for his part, sent out congratulations to the prime ministers of the same countries, and in his telegram to Tbilisi he wished peace and well-being to the Georgian people. Relations with Georgia recently sank to a new low after Moscow increased the number of peacekeepers in Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia, sparking fears of an armed conflict.

Click here for full article from Publius Pundit.

Ukraine is Russia’s best hope for geopolitical and cultural survival

Ukraine is a threat, however, not to the safety of Russia, but to Vladimir Putin's authoritarian state model, which is absolutely hostile to the West. It is essential for the Kremlin masters that the experience of their former neighbors who have chosen their own directions and models will never seem appealing to Russian citizens. They fear Ukraine, and its success, because it could offer an alternative to their path for Russia.
Click here to view full story from Kyiv Post website.

The truth about the Ukrainian genocide

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Great Famine in Ukraine, during which up to 10-million Ukrainians perished. The United States and others have recognized that it amounted to genocide. The Russian Duma, however, maintains the famine was only an unfortunate result of Soviet collectivization.

What actually happened in Ukraine in 1932-33? And did it really amount to genocide?

Full article from the National Post can be viewed here.

Britain and Russia: All is still not well

The conclusion to be drawn from these latest comments is that Britain believes that the Russian security service the FSB was operating largely independently, but in a permissive environment in which the Kremlin signalled that action against critics was allowed.

The Russian parliament even passed a law making it legal to carry out assassinations abroad.

You can read the full story here.

OSCE passes resolution on 1932-33 famine in Ukraine

ASTANA, July 3 (RIA Novosti) -- The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution on Thursday condemning the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine but falling short of recognizing it as an act of genocide.
Members of parliament from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's 56 member states are currently meeting in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, for their annual session.
At its spring session in April, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) endorsed a move by a number of Ukrainian politicians that the famine or the Holodomor be considered an act of genocide against Ukrainians by the Soviet authorities.
Russia's delegation, however, objected to the use of such language.
In late 2006 Ukraine's parliament recognized the Stalin-era famine as an act of genocide, but Moscow has consistently rejected Ukraine's interpretation of the Holodomor.
Estimates vary widely as to the number of deaths in Ukraine in the early 1930s caused by the forced collectivization, along with the devastating purges of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, religious leaders and politicians under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Some sources cite figures of over 7 million. ASTANA, July 3 (RIA Novosti) -- The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution on Thursday condemning the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine but falling short of recognizing it as an act of genocide.
Members of parliament from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's 56 member states are currently meeting in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, for their annual session.
At its spring session in April, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) endorsed a move by a number of Ukrainian politicians that the famine or the Holodomor be considered an act of genocide against Ukrainians by the Soviet authorities.
Russia's delegation, however, objected to the use of such language.
In late 2006 Ukraine's parliament recognized the Stalin-era famine as an act of genocide, but Moscow has consistently rejected Ukraine's interpretation of the Holodomor.
Estimates vary widely as to the number of deaths in Ukraine in the early 1930s caused by the forced collectivization, along with the devastating purges of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, religious leaders and politicians under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Some sources cite figures of over 7 million.

Why the Kremlin Is So Scared of Ukraine

Ukraine's success will mark the political death of Putinism -- the squalid and bankrupt philosophy of "KGB capitalists." If Ukraine succeeds in its European choice, if it is able to make it work, it can settle the question that has bedeviled Russian culture for centuries -- Russia or the West? So the best way to help Russia today is to support Ukraine's claim that it belongs to Europe and its institutions. This will influence the Kremlin's political mentality more than anything else.
Read full story from Moscow Times here.

Ukraine to erect statue of wartime nationalist leader

LVIV, July 1 (RIA Novosti) - A statue of Ukraine's wartime nationalist leader Stepan Bandera will be erected in Lutsk in western Ukraine, the city council said Tuesday.

The city's mayor, Bohdan Shyba, has instructed the local land department to allocate a plot for the monument by July 10.

Bandera was one of the leaders of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) which fought with the Soviet Army during the World War II. Following the invasion of German troops in the summer of 1941, Bandera called on Ukrainians "to help the German army in the fight against Moscow and Bolshevism."

Russia and Ukraine have been involved in a series of disputes concerning their common history.

Ukraine has decided to celebrate next year the 350th anniversary of the 1659 Battle of Konotop, in which the Ukrainian army of Ivan Vyhovsky and his Polish allies defeated Russian forces.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said certain political forces in Ukraine were trying to "find in the ... Russian-Ukrainian common history events and characters memorable only for the fact that they were acting against Moscow, Russia and Russians."

The historical sparring has developed into an unofficial war of monuments. In October 2007, the western Ukrainian city of Lvov inaugurated a statue of Stepan Bandera and adopted a resolution establishing the "Award of Stepan Bandera," while a sculpture of Catherine the Great was erected in the Crimean port of Sevastopol as part of its 225th anniversary celebrations this June.