Ukraine

[HansTrappist]

Ukraine has named Oleksandr Turchynov, a Baptist pastor and top opposition politician in Ukraine, as acting president.
christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2014/february/ukraine-names-baptist-pastor-as-acting-president.html
Considering the fact that Protestants compose fewer than one percent of the population of Ukraine, does this seem like it is a choice which would have been favored by the people in the eastern section of Ukraine, who voted overwhelmingly for Yanukovych?

Very strange indeed.

As for developments in Crimea, here is a very good source: twitter.com/howardamos

 

[josie_L]

Sun News (February 25th 2014)

OTTAWA – Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird will head to the Ukrainian capital Friday to see for himself what’s happening on the ground and encourage opposition forces.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the visit Tuesday during a meeting with parliamentarians and members of the Ukrainian-Canadian community.

Harper said he was encouraged by developments in Kiev over the last few days.

Ukrainian authorities issued an arrest warrant for ousted president Viktor Yanukovich Monday after the leader fled Saturday. Yanukovich hasn’t been seen since but is suspected to be hiding out in the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea – a stronghold of Russian support.

Harper spoke over the phone with British PM David Cameron Tuesday afternoon. Both agreed that “every possible option should be explored” in seeking a diplomatic solution in Ukraine and that they would consider what role the International Monetary Fund could play in effectively sending financial aid.

Ukrainian authorities recently said they need $35 billion or else risk bankruptcy.

“We offer support for what the Ukrainian people have achieved thus far,” Harper said.

The government will hold a take-note debate on the evolving Ukrainian situation Wednesday.

Tory MP James Bezan the “next steps in the transition to peaceful elections” would be discussed.

**Earlier in the day, Russian Ambassador Georgiy Mamedov told reporters rumours of Russian military intervention in Ukraine were simply that: rumours. He said to discuss rumours would be to “insult the intellect” of Canadians.

“The last thing you should be worried about (is Russian military intervention in Ukraine),” Mamedov said.**

sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/politics/archives/2014/02/20140225-174859.html

 

[Tomdstone]

Sun News (February 25th 2014)
“Ukrainian authorities recently said they need $35 billion or else risk bankruptcy.”
sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/politics/archives/2014/02/20140225-174859.html

And guess who is going to have to pay a large part of that? It wouldn’t be the American taxpayer, even though the USA has been in one of the worst depressions in its history?
And will these billions of dollars go to the Ukrainian people, or will a large amount be siphoned off and land in the pockets of corrupt politicians in Ukraine so that they can build themselves fabulous mansions in the countryside?

 

[josie_L]

And guess who is going to have to pay a large part of that? It wouldn’t be the American taxpayer, even though the USA has been in one of the worst depressions in its history?
And will these billions of dollars go to the Ukrainian people, or will a large amount be siphoned off and land in the pockets of corrupt politicians in Ukraine so that they can build themselves fabulous mansions in the countryside?

Well, that was the point of the demonstrations, i.e., to get rid of corruption, so let’s hope that Ukrainian politicians take the people seriously this time around. Moreover, I believe that the International World Fund, as well as other Western nations will help monetarily. Here’s an interview from Sun News with Ukrainian activist Ihor Kozak detailing this to some degree:

sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/3255864557001

 

[GraceSofia]

Some of the latest developments:

"Moscow to present video proving extremists responsbile for Ukraine unrest":voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_02_25/Moscow-to-present-video-proving-extremists-responsbile-for-Ukraine-unrest-2662/

Ukrainian Riot Police Forced to Beg for Forgiveness in Public: youtube.com/watch?v=-b2GlLtgA1k

"Israel urged to send forces to guard Ukrainian Jews: Rabbi asks Netanyahu for urgent protection against a ‘growing wave of anti-Semitic attacks’" timesofisrael.com/israel-urged-to-send-forces-to-guard-ukrainian-jews/

"Russia Deploys Ships and Troops in Crimea" ibtimes.co.uk/russia-deploys-ships-troops-ukraines-crimea-raising-tensions-1437762

All interesting. I saw in another article at the Times of Israel this:

On Sunday, as Glanz walked in war-torn areas of Kiev, there were “no anti-Jewish slogans, at least in the streets and in the epicenter of the demonstration, and I didn’t witness any anti-Jewish issues being brought up by anyone.”

Azman concurs that the violence has lessened and told Maariv, “Things could be a lot worse” in Ukraine. Azman, a messianic Chabadnik, said women and children should not be out on the streets, but “there is no need to run away from Ukraine.”

It seems like they are worried more about possibilities than anything much that has happened.

Read more: Volunteers brave ‘war zone’ to aid elderly Jews in Kiev | The Times of Israel timesofisrael.com/volunteers-brave-war-zone-to-aid-elderly-jews-in-kiev/#ixzz2uPagSTfH

Ukraine has named Oleksandr Turchynov, a Baptist pastor and top opposition politician in Ukraine, as acting president.
christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2014/february/ukraine-names-baptist-pastor-as-acting-president.html
Considering the fact that Protestants compose fewer than one percent of the population of Ukraine, does this seem like it is a choice which would have been favored by the people in the eastern section of Ukraine, who voted overwhelmingly for Yanukovych?

I wonder if this Protestant connection will mean a flow of money from the U.S.?

 

[HansTrappist]

And guess who is going to have to pay a large part of that? It wouldn’t be the American taxpayer, even though the USA has been in one of the worst depressions in its history?
And will these billions of dollars go to the Ukrainian people, or will a large amount be siphoned off and land in the pockets of corrupt politicians in Ukraine so that they can build themselves fabulous mansions in the countryside?

More excellent insight from Dr. Paul Craig Roberts:

As Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland made clear in her speech last December and in the leaked recording of her telephone conversation with the US ambassador in Kiev, Washington spent $5 billion of US taxpayer dollars engineering a coup in Ukraine that overthrew the elected democratic government.

There is no doubt whatsoever that the coup is a strategic move by Washington to weaken Russia. Washington tried to capture Ukraine in 2004 with the Washington-funded “Orange Revolution,” but failed. Ukraine was part of Russia for 200 years prior to being granted independence in the 1990s. The eastern and southern provinces of Ukraine are Russian areas that were added to Ukraine in the 1950s by the Soviet leadership in order to water down the influence of the nazi elements in the western Ukraine that had fought for Adolf Hitler against the Soviet Union during World War II.

The loss of Ukraine to the EU and NATO would mean the loss of Russia’s naval base on the Black Sea and the loss of many military industries. If Russia were to accept such strategic defeat, it would mean that Russia had submitted to Washington’s hegemony.

Whatever course the Russian government takes, the Russian population of eastern and southern Ukraine will not accept oppression by Ukrainian ultra-nationalists and neo-nazis.

The hostility already shown toward the Russian population can be seen in the destruction by Ukrainians of the monument to the Russian troops that drove Hitler’s divisions out of Ukraine during World War II and the destruction of the monument to Russian General Kutuzov, whose tactics destroyed Napoleon’s Grand Army and resulted in the fall of Napoleon.

The question at the moment is whether Washington miscalculated and lost control of the coup to the neo-nazi elements who seem to have taken control from the Washington-paid moderates in Kiev, or whether the Washington neocons have been working with the neo-nazis for years. Max Blumenthal says the latter: informationclearinghouse.info/article37752.htm

The moderates have certainly lost control. They cannot protect public monuments, and they are forced to try to pre-empt the neo-nazis by legislating the neo-nazi program. The captive Ukrainian parliament has introduced measures to ban any official use of the Russian language. This, of course, is unacceptable to the Russian provinces.

As I noted in a previous column, the Ukrainian parliament itself is responsible for the destruction of democracy in Ukraine. Its unconstitutional and undemocratic actions have paved the way for the neo-nazis who now have the precedent to treat the moderates the same way that the moderates treated the elected government and to cover up their illegality with accusations of crimes and arrest warrants. Today the illegally deposed President Yanukovych is on the run. Tomorrow will the current president, Oleksander Turchinov, put in office by the moderates, not by the people, be on the run? If a democratic election did not convey legitimacy to President Yanukovych, how does selection by a rump parliament convey legitimacy to Turchinov? What can Turchinov answer if the neo-nazis put to him Lenin’s question to Kerensky: “Who chose you?”

If Washington has lost control of the coup and is unable to restore control to the moderates whom it has aligned with the EU and NATO, war would seem to be unavoidable. There is no doubt that the Russian provinces would seek and be granted Russia’s protection. Whether Russia would go further and overthrow the neo-nazis in western Ukraine is unknown. Whether Washington, which seems to have positioned military forces in the region, would provide the military might for the moderates to defeat the neo-nazis is also an open question, as is Russia’s response.

In a previous column I described the situation as “Sleepwalking Again,” an analogy to how miscalculations resulted in World War I.

The entire world should be alarmed at the reckless and irresponsible interference by Washington in Ukraine. By bringing a direct strategic threat to Russia, the crazed Washington hegemon has engineered a Great Power confrontation.

 

[kelvinf]

Ukraine could become like Libya, a country basically being run by a mob that clearly has nothing important to do. Why are these folks still on the streets? Don’t they seriously have important things to do in life? Why does the parliament have to consult with them? Too bad for Ukraine.

 

[Seamus_L]

I predict Ukraine’s next president will have strong ties to the West and will fully support the country’s integration into the EU, and membership in NATO.

 

[pepipop]

rt.com/news/crimea-ukraine-protest-clashes-840/

*Bottles, stones and flags flew in the air as thousands of pro- and anti-Russian demonstrators clashed in front of the parliament building in Simferopol, the capital of Ukraine’s autonomous Crimea region.

Tension between the rival groups rallying next to one another intensified after hours of demonstrating, with people wielding Russian, Ukrainian, Crimean and Crimean Tatar flags getting involved in clashes. Demonstrators slammed each other with flags and threw stones as leaders on both sides urged their followers to avoid provocations.

One person taking part in the demonstrations died of a heart attack, local ATR TV quoted the Crimean Health Ministry as saying. Five people also sought medical help due to high blood pressure and two more received light injuries in clashes.

Two separate rallies, consisting of several thousands of protesters, are facing each other. Russians are shouting “Russia-Russia!” and “Berkut!”, the name of the special police task force disbanded yesterday by the new Ukrainian authorities, who blame them for heavy-handed policing of opposition activists in recent months in central Kiev. The Muslim community protesters are shouting “Ukraine-Ukraine!” and “Crimea is not Russia!” Pro-Russian demonstrators are holding Russian flags, while Tatars are holding Ukrainian flags and flags of their own nationalist organizations.*

 

[grotto]

Checking news sources last evening, I discovered a picture of Yury and Putin (the gruesome
twosome) engaged in a conversation that included and wink and a smile - the story read that Yury had just got word from Putin that he would be loaned 19 Billion dollars and a cut in the price of gas! So - thats awkward… I’m sure the Ukraine would rather borrow from a more reputable lender and if the deal was in the works - Putin will have to stop payment on the check! Sure Hope Yury didn’t get the bag before he hot footed it out of there!!

 

[grotto]

:tanning: ekathimerini.com , Wednesday February 26, 2014 (15:32) Yanukovych hiding in Greece’s Mount Athos, Ukrainian media claims
Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is hiding in Mount Athos, Ukrainian media reported on Wednesday.

Kathimerini reporter Costas Onishenko, who is in Kiev, said that the rumor has not been confirmed but that local media outlets are reporting that Yanukovych has fled the country for the Greek semi-autonomous monastic community.
Yanukovich was stripped of his powers by Ukrainian Parliament last Saturday. On Tuesday, Parliament voted to send the ex-president to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to answer charges in connection to the death of 82 protesters in Kiev last week.

---

BOLO Last seen leaving henchmen and fellow criminals “alone” in unknown direction.

 

[Tomdstone]

Moreover, I believe that the International World Fund, as well as other Western nations will help monetarily. ]

Would that be just like the IMF helped Greece? All that money from the IMF hasn’t helped Greece much.
imf.org/external/country/GRC/index.htm

 

[Seamus_L]

Among the day’s news. A temporary cabinet is being picked in Kiev. Muslim Tatars in Crimea are chanting Uk-Raina and Allahu-Akbar in counterprotests against pro-Russian groups, and a Euromaidan ringleader is openly boasting of having killed Russians in Chechnya.

 

[KyivAndrew]

Ukrainian Catholic leader fears neighboring nation may provoke civil war

“In an evident reference to Russia, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has told Vatican Radio that “the danger that one of our neighbors will provoke a civil war has not blown over. Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk called for continued “solidarity” from European foreign ministers in the wake of the danger.”

catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=20608

I believe the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church knows well of what he speaks, better than what comes out of the Kremlin.

In a previous post I noted the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyvian Patriarchate) held ex-President Yanukovych as responsible for the violence, and now the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) has as well come out in full defense of Ukraine’s territorial integrity:

"The Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) at a meeting on February 24 adopted an appeal to the government in connection with the recent developments in Ukraine, in which the Synod condemned the “criminal actions of the government that provoked the bloodshed on the streets and squares of the gold-domed Kyiv” and assured of prayers for the dead and care of the wounded.

The Synod of the UOC-MP also stressed the importance of “building a new country on the principles of good and justice, territorial integrity, and consolidation of society” and that “the authorities should be aware of its responsibility before God, its own conscience, past, present and future generations. The UOC-MP stressed that it supports maintaining the integrity of the Ukrainian state…"

risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/state/national_religious_question/55476/

The Heads of Ukraine’s main Churches have all come out in full support of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Putin conducting military drills on Ukraine’s border is irresponsible and raises the temperature in a country that badly needs now to find stability as it mourns the losses of people killed just last week. As I said some days ago, my main fear is provocations (whether desecrating houses of worship, explosions) possibly done by “titushky” or the Kremlin’s secret services, which Putin would use to justify a military response. This is a real worry, and not without foundation, especially for Ukrainians.

The moderate leader Yatseniuk has been declared Ukraine’s temporary prime minister, as well, just in the last hour.

 

[josie_L]

Would that be just like the IMF helped Greece? All that money from the IMF hasn’t helped Greece much.
imf.org/external/country/GRC/index.htm

As opposed to Russian funds that have??

 

[Tomdstone]

As opposed to Russian funds that have??

The winters are cold and Russian gas is needed for heating. And you are perhaps forgetting about the Russian imports of goods from Ukraine. The IMF had imposed rather strict conditions on its loans, conditions which many felt were impossible for Ukraine to meet. And the EU is in no hurry to have Ukraine as a member.

 

[Tomdstone]

Ukrainian Catholic leader fears neighboring nation may provoke civil war

“In an evident reference to Russia, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has told Vatican Radio that “the danger that one of our neighbors will provoke a civil war has not blown over. Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk called for continued “solidarity” from European foreign ministers in the wake of the danger.”

catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=20608

I believe the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church knows well of what he speaks, better than what comes out of the Kremlin.

In a previous post I noted the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyvian Patriarchate) held ex-President Yanukovych as responsible for the violence, and now the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) has as well come out in full defense of Ukraine’s territorial integrity:

"The Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) at a meeting on February 24 adopted an appeal to the government in connection with the recent developments in Ukraine, in which the Synod condemned the “criminal actions of the government that provoked the bloodshed on the streets and squares of the gold-domed Kyiv” and assured of prayers for the dead and care of the wounded.

The Synod of the UOC-MP also stressed the importance of “building a new country on the principles of good and justice, territorial integrity, and consolidation of society” and that “the authorities should be aware of its responsibility before God, its own conscience, past, present and future generations. The UOC-MP stressed that it supports maintaining the integrity of the Ukrainian state…"

risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/state/national_religious_question/55476/

The Heads of Ukraine’s main Churches have all come out in full support of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Putin conducting military drills on Ukraine’s border is irresponsible and raises the temperature in a country that badly needs now to find stability as it mourns the losses of people killed just last week. As I said some days ago, my main fear is provocations (whether desecrating houses of worship, explosions) possibly done by “titushky” or the Kremlin’s secret services, which Putin would use to justify a military response. This is a real worry, and not without foundation, especially for Ukrainians.

The moderate leader Yatseniuk has been declared Ukraine’s temporary prime minister, as well, just in the last hour.

Can the Orthodox Church do anything to improve the disastrous economic conditions in Ukraine? I didn’t see anything like this happening in Greece, where the situation is dire, in spite of the fact that the Orthodox Church is quite strong in Greece.

 

[josie_L]

Would that be just like the IMF helped Greece? All that money from the IMF hasn’t helped Greece much.
imf.org/external/country/GRC/index.htm

The situation in Greece is such that governments were spending money which they did not have, for a populace which felt entitled to many benefits, i.e., there were many socialist/economic policies that were implemented that were not sustainable, and it didn’t help that the government was just another bloated bureaucracy. Policies in Greece have to change, austerity is necessary but the people from my understanding do not want austere measures to be implemented.

 

[josie_L]

The winters are cold and Russian gas is needed for heating. And you are perhaps forgetting about the Russian imports of goods from Ukraine. The IMF had imposed rather strict conditions on its loans, conditions which many felt were impossible for Ukraine to meet. And the EU is in no hurry to have Ukraine as a member.

Honestly, Tombstone, if you feel that taking Russian funds is going to improve the political and economic landscape of the Ukraine, then believe it, but I don’t!! Too many strings attached by taking Russian monies, and the fact of the matter is that Russia is withholding funds purposely, yes, purposely, their position is one of “if you don’t do what we want you to do than you’re not getting the money”. I think some would call it strong-arming.

 

[Seamus_L]

On one hand Arseny Yatsenyuk opposes same sex marriage, on the other he supports EU membership.