RUNNING UPDATES ON THE CONFLICT IN UKRAINE - 04.07.2024
Including geopolitical issues affecting the balance of power in the ongoing end game war to establish our common future, a closely monitored prison planet or tolerance for diverse modes of governance.
THE ROAD TO THE ULTIMATE CONCLUSION OF WORLD WAR III RUNS THROUGH HERE.
*** WORLD GRAVITATES EAST AS WEST FAST LOSES PLOT ***
“Ukraine. What is the truth...?
Why won’t western media tell both sides…?”
VIRTUALLY UNREPORTED ATROCITY IN LUGANSK, 2nd JUNE 2014
A lot has been said about atrocities in the western media claimed to have been perpetrated by the Russians, for example at Bucha and Mariupol among others. These assertions are conveyed on the say so of the Ukrainian authorities. How willing though are western news broadcasters to convey atrocities attributed to the Ukrainians? The following will I think provide the answer.
If anyone wonders if they are receiving accurate coverage of the conflict in Ukraine I would suggest watching the video below of an event which occurred on the 2nd of June 2014 and ask themselves if they recall hearing about it on any mainstream media news channel at the time.
The video is harrowing to watch. The bodies (five women and three men) are real. Yet across western media there was only one single news report that occurred a day later. This was from CNN and occurred only because a CNN team happened to be nearby at the time of the atrocity and so the network could hardly ignore it as all others so obviously did.
The video below shows the unvarnished truth that was not considered newsworthy in western mainstream news.
THE SINGLE WESTERN MSM REPORT ON THE LUGANSK ATROCITY, 3rd JUNE 2014
The video at the CNN link below is the crime scene sanitised by CNN, though played straight with honest reporting on the scene not playing things to Kiev’s tune.
(There was a time early in the war in the Donbass when CNN were not afraid to contradict the Ukrainian regime in Kiev.) Watch, because it's the first and last time you will see this.
5 women and 3 men died, all civilians.
Air attack on pro-Russian separatists in Luhansk kills 8, stuns residents.
COLLECTIVE WEST-UKRAINE <-> RUSSIA
SHAMELESS WESTERN MEDIA IGNORED THIS:
Airstrike in Lugansk - 10 Year Anniversary.
The Heat: Russians Entered Petrivske Hora, Large Fuel Depot Was Destroyed. Military Summary 2024.7.4
ALEXANDER MERCOURIS of THE DURAN: Biden Support Weakens, Demand Stand Down; Macron Defies French Voters; Rus Routs Ukr Troops Toretsk.
ALEX CHRISTOFOROU of THE DURAN: Tucker-Elensky interview, on then off. Van Jones, Biden full-scale panic. Scholz, daily Macron SMS.
BRIAN BERLETIC of THE NEW ATLAS: US Role in Deadly ATACMS Strike on Crimean Beach & Why Ukraine Calls Crimeans "Civilian Occupiers".
SCOTT RITTER: Russia has Destroyed Ukraine's Army and Demilitarized NATO.
DMITRY ORLOV: Russia is Prepared for the Worst Coming from the West and Ukraine.
LEVAN GUDADZE: Defeat of Ukraine in Chasov Yar, ZNPP, Carlson interviews Zelensky, Michelle Obama, Economics.
PROFESSOR GLENN DIESEN - COLONEL DOUGLAS MACGREGOR: Ukraine Collapses & NATO Escalates.
TUCKER CARLSON: Andrey Melnichenko (One of Russia’s Richest Men) on Nuclear War and Why Biden Wants to Destroy Him.
EMIL COSMAN: West about to lose the "Cold War." Club of the "Good" forms. Putin meets Xi, Erdogan, Sharif, Modi.
THROUGH THE EYES OF... ANIA: TRUE or FALSE?"ZELENSKA BUYS NEW BUGATTI SUPERCAR ($4.8 MIL)". ORBAN IN UKR FOR PEACE OR BUSINESS?
After Cuba, Putin Sends Warships To Another Nation In USA's Backyard: Russia Threatening West?
PM Shehbaz Meets Russian President Putin at SCO Summit.
BORZZIKMAN: IT'S A VICTORY! Ukrainian Nationalists From The 'KRAKEN' Regiment Fled CHASIV YAR!
1.5-Ton Vacuum Bomb Destroys AFU Control Center.
ISRAEL-WEST <-> PALESTINE-IRAN-SYRIA-IRAQ-LEBANON-YEMEN-DPRK
KATIE HALPER: Palestinian Journalist DESTROYS Israel’s Defenders.
COLLECTIVE WEST <-> GLOBAL MAJORITY
‘Free Fall’: Western Elites Lose Grip on Power Amid Political Crisis in US, France.
Neoliberal policy and support for Western imperialism in Ukraine and Palestine is discrediting establishment political forces on both sides of the Atlantic.
US President Joe Biden is considering dropping out of the 2024 US presidential race after last week’s disastrous debate performance, according to reporting from The New York Times.
The news emerged early Monday after the president was said to be in discussions with members of his family over the weekend on whether to continue his candidacy amid widespread concern over his age. Last week’s televised debate with former President Donald Trump, where Biden frequently appeared to have trouble finishing thoughts and responding to questions, stoked public anxiety among many Democratic Party officials. Opinion surveys since Thursday night’s event appear to show the octogenarian head of state falling further behind in the polls.
The renewed panic comes as observers in France are urging a center-left alliance ahead of elections this weekend to deny Marine Le Pen’s party a parliamentary majority. Observers fear the controversial figure could prevail in the second round of voting Sunday, ushering in the country’s first right-wing government since World War II.
Both incidents are drawing concern internationally as establishment political forces struggle to fend off increasingly potent challenges to their power, according to Dr. George Szamuely, a senior research fellow at London’s Global Policy Institute. The author joined Sputnik’s The Final Countdown program Wednesday to offer analysis on the twin developments and their implications for Western countries.
“This makes the United States look weak because if Biden does step aside and they say ‘I'm not physically and mentally competent to run,’ then the next question will be, ‘well, are you physically and mentally competent to remain president?’” said Szamuely. “It's going to be very hard for Biden to say, ‘yes, I can still function for another six months as president while there are two serious wars taking place in which America is actively involved. I think there will immediately be calls for Biden to resign forthwith and the result will be great anxiety.”
“So already you have people concerned about Trump, but at least Trump is a known quantity,” he added. “But now, well, what's going to happen now? I mean, what happens during the next six months? What happens at the convention? Everything is up in the air. So internationally there's just a great deal of concern of an America in turmoil.”
“Yeah, it feels like a bit like a free fall for sure,” agreed host Angie Wong.
European leaders are said to be worried over the potential of a second Trump term amid concerns the former president would pull the United States out of the NATO military alliance. The European Union has investigated ways to ensure continued funding for Ukraine’s proxy war against Russia in the event the former president ends US support for the conflict upon returning to the White House.
But Europe’s political establishment is also losing its grip on power as support surges for right-wing populist parties throughout the continent. Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party won the most support in the first round of recent French parliamentary elections, leading President Emmanuel Macron to seek alliances to prevent her triumph in the second round.
Although Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s coalition bested Macron’s centrist party in the first round of voting, the French president is unlikely to include the leftwing in figure in any coalition, said Szamuely, noting that ”Macron seems to really hate him.” The analyst suggested the French leader would seek more moderate allies, forming a center-left alliance of establishment political figures to deny Le Pen power.
“Once [Le Pen] did so well last Sunday, it was clear that there would be a gathering momentum to keep out National Rally because that's really what the French elite have been about now for several decades, ever since probably in 2002 when Jean-Marie Le Pen was the presidential candidate against Chirac,” Szamuely recalled. “The elite has been absolutely determined to do whatever it can to keep out National Rally. So I wasn't at all surprised that this is what they would do.”
“Now the question is – and this is obviously the rather salient issue – whether you can keep creating all these alliances to keep out National Rally, and you can just keep whipping up hysteria every few years about National Rally,” he continued. “It hasn't really worked because step by step, year by year, National Rally's vote has been going up. So even if they manage this time to form a coalition government that keeps out the National Rally, then what happens in 2027?”
“There's going to be a lot of anger and a lot of frustration among the French that France's problems are not being addressed. The ruling elites keep whipping up hysteria about National Rally and there's going to be a presidential election and this time they may well vote in Marine Le Pen.”
‘Free Fall’: Western Elites Lose Grip on Power Amid Political Crisis in US, France.
SEAN FOO: G7 Panic: China Plastics “Overproduction”, Russian Fertilizer Flood, Canada To Punish China EVs.
USA
GARLAND NIXON: BBC PRESENTER SAYS BIDEN SHOULD TAKE OUT TRUMP PLUS BIDEN TELLS EXTINCTION LEVEL LIES.
CALEB MAUPIN: Blinken says Biden is doing a great job. The world disagrees.
KIM IVERSEN: Establishment Democrats In Chaos As Biden Insists He's Still Running.
CALEB MAUPIN: How Does America Fit Into the Rising New World?
LENA PETROVA: DESTRUCTION OF U.S. MIDDLE CLASS: Home Affordability in the US Sinks to Lowest Point Since 2007.
MULTIPOLARITY - RUSSIA-CHINA / BRICS
PROFESSOR JOHN J. MEARSHEIMER: China In the Wings.
China, Russia Encircling US? After Putin’s Warships, Now Xi’s Spy Bases Found In America’s Backyard?
EUROPE / UK
GEORGE GALLOWAY MP: ELECTION SPECIAL - MOATS with George Galloway Ep 357.
AFRICA
Here’s how the Soviet legacy in Africa is paving the way for the multipolar world.
The president of the Republic of the Congo recently paid a state visit to Moscow.
By Vsevolod Sviridov, expert at the Center for African Studies, Higher School of Economics, Moscow
Denis Sassou Nguesso, the President of the Republic of the Congo and one of Africa’s political heavyweights, has paid a state visit to Russia. African leaders regularly come to Russia on working visits. In fact, since the Russia-Africa summit held in July 2023, five African heads of state (from South Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Guinea-Bissau, and Zimbabwe) have visited Russia. However, a state visit, the highest level of an international visit and the one with the strictest protocol, is a unique event. In 2023, such a visit was made by the President of Algeria, Russia’s strategic partner in Africa, Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
State visits demonstrate an extremely high level of bilateral relations. They include a multiday business and cultural program and visits to several cities (in Sassou Nguesso’s case – Moscow and St. Petersburg). The fact that the president of the Republic of the Congo came to Russia on a state visit is not surprising. For many years, the political dialogue between Brazzaville and Moscow has been stable and marked by trust. Only last month Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Congo (the final preparations for the state visit were probably discussed at that time), and a high-level Congolese delegation headed by the minister of planning, statistics, and regional integration participated in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Sassou Nguesso also hold regular telephone conversations.
READ MORE: Lavrov’s African tour: What Western media won’t tell you
Sassou Nguesso is one of Africa’s most influential politicians. Although the Republic of the Congo is not a leading country on the continent in terms of economic growth, population, or international influence, Sassou Nguesso has trusting relations with many politicians and representatives of the traditional elites, and due to his extensive ties beyond Africa, is an important political mediator and arbitrator. For example, he chairs the AU High Level Committee on Libya and plays an important role in resolving the crisis in the Central African Republic. We must also note Sassou Nguesso’s contribution to the development of an African peace initiative in the Ukraine conflict.
It is noteworthy that when the leaders of the African countries that developed the peace initiative visited Russia and Ukraine, Sassou Nguesso visited only St. Petersburg (in June 2023). He did not go to Kiev personally but sent the head of his office there, which demonstrated his views about the conflict.
Sassou Nguesso has been the leader of the Republic of the Congo since 1979, with only a short break from 1992-1997. Back in 1981, as president of the then socialist-oriented People’s Republic of the Congo, he visited Moscow, and met with Leonid Brezhnev. The friendship treaty which was then signed between the Congo and the USSR is valid to this day.
READ MORE: Fellowship: Why African students decide to connect their lives with Russia
In recent years, Russia’s economic relations with the Republic of the Congo have grown stronger. Trade turnover has reached $200 million annually, cooperation in the fields of healthcare and education is developing at a fast pace, and the Russian private company Lukoil is implementing a major oil and gas project in the Congo jointly with the Italian energy company Eni.
At the same time, Russian projects must ensure the country’s internal development, its diversification and economic growth – for example, by providing wider access to electricity, improving food security and education. The trust-based political dialogue and friendly ties between the leaders of the two countries established a good foundation for the development of economic relations, but the key point is the development of mutually beneficial bilateral economic initiatives.
According to the Kremlin website, in addition to officials, representatives of Russian state-owned companies Rosatom and Zarubezhneft also participated in the negotiations. Rosatom – one of the largest Russian state-owned corporations – has been a systemic player in Africa for a long time. In the Republic of the Congo, the company is considering constructing two mini-hydroelectric power plants with a total capacity of 500 MW.
Zarubezhneft, which has cooperated with the Congo since Soviet times, can assist in creating pipeline infrastructure and developing domestic markets for petroleum products, oil, and gas. The African delegation’s visit, which lasted several days, also allowed it to hold a series of private talks with other representatives of Russian businesses and government agencies.
READ MORE: Unstoppable march of the Global South: How Russia and Africa made 2023 a pivotal year for bilateral relations
Although no agreements were signed during the visit, as is traditional during state visits, Sassou Nguesso was awarded a number of honorary awards and titles. In particular, he was awarded the Order of Honor “for his contribution to the development and strengthening of ties between the Russian Federation and the Republic of the Congo,” and the title of Honorary Doctor of the St. Petersburg branch of one of Russia’s top universities – the Higher School of Economics. On receiving the awards, the president delivered a short lecture on international relations and ecology.
Denis Sassou Nguesso is an outstanding example of a long-serving African politician. Maintaining contacts with Paris, Washington, Beijing, and Moscow, he also enjoys stable support in his own country, which allows him to retain power and maintain relative economic stability.
For Sassou Nguesso, friendship with Russia is not a conjunctural but rather a strategic choice based on the long-term understanding of his country’s development prospects and the global situation. Of course, the Soviet legacy plays an important role in these relations. The example of Sassou Nguesso – a former Marxist-Leninist and the head of the Congolese Labor Party, with its red emblem decorated with a star and crossed hammer and hoe – demonstrates how closely Russia and the USSR are intertwined in Africa, and how Soviet Russia’s experience helps modern Russia to this day.
Here’s how the Soviet legacy in Africa is paving the way for the multipolar world.
NON-ENGLISH NEWS
ВС РФ Вошли В Петровскую Гору: Уничтожен Крупный Склад ГСМ, Военные Сводки И Анализ За 04.07.2024
Ruska Vojska Zauzela Vošgod: Situacija u Torecku Kritična, Uništena Rafinerija u Poltavi.04.07.2024
Russen betreten Petrivske Hora in Niu York | Großes Öl-Depot zerstört. Military Summary 04.07.2024
SIVAYA: TREMENDAS EXPLOSIONES: RUSIA FULMINA UNO DE LOS OBJETIVOS MÁS ESTRATÉGICOS DE UCRANIA (y Occidente).
MAPPING CHANNEL UPDATES
The Heat: Russians Entered Petrivske Hora, Large Fuel Depot Was Destroyed. Military Summary 2024.7.4
Russia Keeps It Coming! Ukraine Losses Village On Sumy Border; Large Gains Towards Vovcha River.
Frontline Starts To Collapse As Russia Opens Multiple New Fronts - Ukraine War Map Update News.
New Military Aid Package: Novoselivka Persha Was Encircled. Military Summary And Analysis 2024.07.04
TOTAL COLLAPSES.... and Russia is still not satisfied; starts new front - Ukraine War SITREP.
How Did Russia Do This? 3 Breakthroughs Towards Ukraine's New York & Toretsk.
VICTORY BELONGS TO RUSSIA: IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME
Each day that passes makes a conclusive Russian victory in the Donbass and beyond more certain. As Russia bolsters her forces, and weaponry, those of Ukraine decrease. Russian forces gain ready access to rest and recuperation as troop numbers increase. The increasingly exhausted and demoralised Ukrainian troops have an ever decreasing prospect of such respite. This situation is likely to bring them to complete breakdown as Russia unleashes the firepower of the more modern and advanced weaponry that is arriving with the newly mobilised Russian troops.
The various Ukrainian offensives are now weak when confronted by the reinforced Russian lines. A few futile efforts achieve quite miserable results before fire reigns down on the Ukrainian troops and they are forced back to their starting positions.
And now, all this being said, we have arrived at the wet, and later, freezing conditions where these pathetic Ukrainian forces will be subject to myriad forms of abject misery with death and injury all around them while they lie sodden or frozen, abandoned to their fate by Kiev.
The pitiable young and old of Ukraine have been frogmarched to their deaths as cannon-fodder while the bestial elites of the collective West urge their "president" to add more to their number there at the gates of Hell and their doom. We must feel for the majority of them as they are not the Nazis we revile, in most part they are decent men, fathers, sons, brothers, husband and uncles, who no doubt saw through the coup of 2014 for what it was. But sadly, their fate seems sealed.
Nothing will stop Russia now. Every factor favours them. Victory will be Russia's. In Donbass and beyond and in due course across the world.
Victory belongs to Russia: It is now only a matter of time.
UPDATES TO BE ADDED HERE AS AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS.
UPDATES TO BE ADDED HERE AS AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS.
A VERY PERSONAL LOOK AT HOW IT ALL BEGAN IN UKRAINE ON MAIDAN SQUARE
There was obviously a lot at stake. But at first, and even at second glance, it was almost impossible to ascertain the motivations behind the smoke, fire, brick-throwing and club wielding, medieval-looking siege-mentality that prevailed on Kiev’s Maidan Square in the winter of 2013. I came at it completely ignorant of all that had preceded this open display of human emotion and unbridled violence.
I searched the internet for anything that might throw light on the situation. This was in late November or early December 2013. There was very little information to be gleaned. There didn’t appear to be much reporting going on and that which met my eye talked of ultranationalists and those who seemed to have a predilection for books such as ‘Mein Kampf’. In those days the BBC had a reporter on the square who was apparently also attempting to find out what all the chaos was meant to achieve. Those he spoke to were not very articulate on this point and gave the impression that they were against all sides.
The most detailed commentary I came upon at that time was the text of a conversation between two young men who were attached to some anarchist group or other. All I recall is one of them relating that in the initial stages, those who were on the square were peaceful enough, staging their protest quietly urging the government to look west toward the EU rather than east toward Russia and that in general they were respectful of the law. He related that this changed when more radical elements arrived. According to him these radicals took charge and even began beating the original, peaceful protestors. That is unfortunately as much as I recall from what was a reasonably long text.
As far as I know there are no images of that original group of protesters on the square so it is unclear just how many they were and whether the discussion above was accurate. I should say however that the two anarchist types who were speaking appeared to have no axe to grind in the situation, they appeared to take no side whatsoever. I suspect therefore it was as the text appeared, a straightforward discussion trying to understand what the hell had happened and what was happening, for themselves.
As I looked on over the next days and weeks it was in horror. Molotov cocktails flew in great numbers through the air landing on groups of helmeted policemen who were instantly set on fire. Their colleagues rushed toward them with fire extinguishers operating as they tore off their helmets and rolled on the ground. Groups of young men tore bricks from the street and hurled them toward the lines of police who stood stationery, holding their shields in front of them. Another young man wielded a long thick chain lashing it toward the police line. Others took over a bulldozer and drove it at the line. Another man in what appeared to be his early thirties pointed a can of some toxic fluid at a group of policemen causing them to put their hands to their eyes. All the while the noise from every side was deafening.
A young policeman was chased by a large group. He stumbled and fell and began to be beaten by several youths using large clubs fitted with metal fixtures making them resemble (once again) something from medieval times. Behind a barrier of corrugated iron a catapult contraption had been erected by which Molotov cocktail bottles could be sent high into the sky to come down on the police. This was manned by what appeared to be a quite elderly man. At one point some of the flaming liquid escaped a bottle and flamed down his trouser leg.
These scenes of absolute mayhem went on day after day. The chief of police had requested of the president that his force be issued guns to better keep order. This request was denied. They would have to make do with their perspex shields and relatively useless batons. This impotence was reflected in the static quality of the policing that obtained on the square. In reality they were not enforcing order at all, or at least only symbolically by being there. They stood in their line and simply took whatever was thrown (or driven) at them.
The above did not cover all the police forces. The Berkut special police were tougher and more highly trained than the relatively inexperienced young men who could only stand behind their shields and shelter as best they could. The Berkut guys no doubt had a few psychopathic individuals among them as well as those who were simply burly thugs who found police life suited their mentality. These men tolerated very little from those they came across and there can be no doubt that some broken heads and bones came as a direct result of their fury.
I came across a very interesting video interview quite early on, perhaps in mid-March. Down a side street with the tumultuous noise of the fighting going on within earshot two young journalists with a camera interviewed a late middle-aged copper. He was in a state of some agitation pleading with the journos to report the truth and not twist the facts. He spoke of how the opposition parties in the Ukrainian parliament had called on these people to come to the square and create this chaos. He opined that all the questions involved should be resolved in parliament, not here in the streets and on the square. He bemoaned the fact that swastikas had appeared on walls all around and that we should not be having anything to do with fascism. He talked of the school holidays coming up and soon the cherry trees would be blossoming. It was clear he was very deeply saddened at all that was going on.
As I continued my investigations as best I could I became aware of various American officials appearing on the square. Senator John McCain, the American ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt and the then Assistant Secretary of State, Victoria nuland. Senator McCain even stood on the platform with speakers such as the head of the Svoboda Party (which had originally been named the ‘Social-National Party’ and in which the Hitler salute, the ‘Seig Heil’ was used often. His name, Oleh Tyahnybok. He was not one of those selected for high office by Geoffrey Pyatt and Victoria Nuland in their infamous ‘Fuck The EU’ leaked phone call, but at least two members of his party were.
It is estimated that some 17 young policemen died as a result of what occurred on Maidan Square during those hellish months that winter and early spring. However, the crucial event was the mass shooting that took place from the Hotel Ukraina. The reporting of this event has been confused and most of the time highly prejudiced, however the report from the official investigation concludes that both the police and those protesting were shot. Various claims have been made and in the initial stages it was simply assumed that Ukrainian special forces had committed these crimes. It was much later that evidence tended to show that the protesters had control of the hotel, not the security forces at the time these shootings took place. Later too a group of Georgians gave a detailed explanation of how they had been charged with coming in and doing the deed at the behest of anti-government individuals.
At any rate the event above proved the crucial break point in the entire catalog of chaotic events that had stretched over many months. The militarisation of those protesting/demonstrating/rioting had been clear for some times. I recall images of those wearing symbols reminiscent of the Nazi Wolfsangel posing with weapons in some forces (quite likely in Poland) where they appeared to have been training in army fatigues and various military accessories. A squad of men claimed to have been ex-IDF troops who had come all the way from Israel to fight on the square. The atmosphere had reached fever pitch where there was no longer simply a protest going on but an all out constant riot and violent insurrection. Government buildings had been set on fire and every possible attempt had been made to kill as many of the young police forces as possible.
It was finally enough for the president (Yanukovich) and he fled, making it safely to the Russian Federation where he is to this day. The government fell, the party that had largely composed it, the ‘Party of Regions’ was soon after disbanded and banned. The main opposition leader was jailed. Members of Parliament were then regularly ambushed outside the doors of the Ukrainian Rada parliament building and unceremoniously thrown into rubbish dumpsters. Those who had brought down the president and government now ruled the streets attacking whatever targets they saw fit. If you dared wear the Russian St. George ribbon you would be surrounded and be in danger of losing your life for it. Just as every gravestone in Jewish cemeteries had been daubed with swastikas without noticeable attention from the law the atmosphere of pure fear through the license of youth must have been palpable.
Videos appeared of rampaging youths smashing into offices and destroying everything inside. A Russian bank was attacked by every possible means by a large mob. Videos of any, whether elderly or not objecting to the lawlessness being beaten up were commonplace. Another video showed a head of a militia brandishing a machine gun and demanding a newspaper editor do as he said, or else. The new Minister for Education, a woman was seen walking round a primary school classroom asking the children their names. If it was a name of Russian origin she would bemoan the fact and tell such children they had bad parents and were unlucky. Those with Ukrainian names were of course greeted with praise.
Before long TV and radio stations where the Russian language was used were closed down. One of the first laws enacted demanded that Ukrainian be the first language everywhere and strongly implied that all schools where Russian was used would be closed down. Russian speakers were seen beaten up on the streets by people who may well have been their neighbours or local shopkeepers. An atmosphere of terror reigned if you spoke Russian or had any inclination to honour the memory of the Soviet Red Army liberating Ukraine in the Second World War.
Murders became more frequent with very little chance of the perpetrators being caught. The strongest and most violent reigned. Democracy was no more to be found in the land, a land that had been more or less divided between two ethnicities living relatively peacefully together now had only one ruler and that was the nationalistic Ukrainian force determined to drive down or out all Russian influence and all Russian-speakers if necessary. There would no longer be power sharing through the democratic process… and so the uprising in the Donbass region began by the Russian-speakers now completely robbed of their ability to vote for the president or party of their choice. And who among them knew what else they would be robbed of over time…
And so it was that what we have now ten years on began. The violence exhibited in place of the democratic process has continued through many, many cruel and terrible stages until today.
But for the western political elites there was not then and there apparently is not now any problem. Where the result suited those elites' democracy was apparently in the shape of a club, hand gun, hunting rifle, toxic spray, Molotov cocktail… or even a bulldozer. Make of that what you will… but democracy as we commonly understand it, it is not. It is convenience for certain individuals at the expense of SO very much pain and suffering. One can only assume those who sought this path were of the type whose blood flows cold as ice, as cold as the many dead of all sides who lay, lost to their loved ones, among the hard stones of the Maidan.
