Bulletin 610

 

 

Subject:  ON THE IMPORTANCE OF CALLING THINGS BY THEIR NAME.

 

 

6 May 2014
Grenoble, France

 

Dear Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,

 

WHAT THE UNITED STATES AND ITS ALLIES ARE DOING IN UKRAINE IS CRIMINAL AND INSANE.

 

I KNOW OF NO EUROPEAN PRESS THAT IS CALLING THIS US-LED MILITARY VIOLATION OF UKRAINE BY ITS REAL NAME: AN IMPERIALIST ATTACK ON RUSSIA FOR THE EVENTUAL US CONQUEST OF EURASIA.

 

THE ARCHITECHTS OF THIS AUDACIOUS IMPERIALIST INTERVENTION IN UKRAINE CALL THEMSLEVES NEO-CONSERVATIVES IN WASHINGTON, D.C. THEIR STAGETGY IS THINLY DISGUISED --WITH AN ATTEMPT AT ‘THE BIG LIE’-- AS AN ANTI-TERRORIST INTERVENTION IN EASTERN EUROPE.

 

THEY ARE ALLIED WITH THE INTIMIDATED POST-IMPERIALIST AND PRO-FASCIST EUROPEANS.

 

OUR DUTY IS TO STAY INFORMED AS BEST WE CAN, AND ‘CEASE BUSINESS AS USUAL !’

 

 

The 11 items below should serve as a wake-up call to victims of corporate media disinformation. Never has the social media been of greater service to civil society than now, on the brink of World War III, when we find ourselves led by Barack Obama selling the ‘big lie’ for US corporate interests. This situation calls for public debate and free discussion immediately . . . . We urge CEIMSA readers to contact their lawmakers, the corporate press, and above all to organize locally for political power to prevent their isolation in the dangerous times ahead.

 

Item A., from Consortium News, is an early article (written in March 2014) by investigative reporter Robert Parry, who describes the American Neo-conservative strategy of US “full-spectrum dominance,” and “regime change” in Middle Eastern countries opposed to Israel.

 

Item B. is a photo essay from the Sunday May 4 New York Times, beginning to question who are the rebels resisting the US sponsored coup d’état in Ukraine; are they authentic resistance fighters or Russian mercenaries? (to be subtitled: “the US Neocons screw up once more !).

 

Item C., from Information Clearing House, is an article by Seumas Milne on the origins of war in Ukraine.

Item D., from The Financial Times of London is an article by John Reed, et al. describing war in Odessa on May 2, 2014.

 

Item E., from Information Clearing House, is a video of the United Nations’ May 2 Emergency Meeting with UN envoys from Ukraine, Russia and the United States.

 

Item F. is an article from The New York Times on Obama and Merkel discussing sanctions against Russia.

 

Item G., from The Real News Network, is a video interview with Lucky Crosby, Chief Shop Steward, AFSCME Local 467, and labor historian Bill Barry on working class consciousness in American.

 

Item H., from Information Clearing House, is an article sent by Agence France Presse describing Civil War activities in Eastern Ukraine.

 

Item I., from Truth Out, is an article by Renfrey Clark on the future prospects for the Ukraine economy.

 

Item J., from Information Clearing House, is an article by Paul Craig Roberts, on the future plans of the US for Russia.

 

Item K., from Information Clearing House, is an article by Zbigniew Brzezinski advising President Obama to raise the volume of his jingoistic rhetoric against Russia and to mobilize more Americans to pay…, go…, and die…. for us.

 

 

And finally, we invite CEIMSA readers to visit the cartoon explanation of unreason, as it concerns the schooling system under late American capitalism:

 

The One Comic That Explains Just How Screwed America Is

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/06/26/1103368/-The-One-Comic-That-Explains-Just-How-Screwed-America-Is?detail=email

by occupy posters

 

 

Sincerely,

Francis Feeley

Professor of American Studies

University of Grenoble-3

Director of Research

University of Paris-Nanterre

Center for the Advanced Study of American Institutions and Social Movements

The University of California-San Diego

http://dimension.ucsd.edu/CEIMSA-IN-EXILE/

 

 

_______________

A.

From Consortium News :

Dates: 19 March 2014       

Subject : A Description of the ‘Neocon Strategy’.

http://consortiumnews.com/2014/03/19/neocons-ukraine-syria-iran-gambit/

 

 

The Ukraine crisis – in part stirred up by U.S. neocons – has damaged prospects for peace not only on Russia’s borders but in two Middle East hotspots, Syria and Iran, which may have been exactly the point, reports Robert Parry.

 

Neocons’ Ukraine-Syria-Iran Gambit

http://consortiumnews.com/2014/03/19/neocons-ukraine-syria-iran-gambit/

by Robert Parry

 

 

_______________

B.

From The New York Times :

Dates: 4 May 2014 

Subject : Who are the Rebels?

http://www.nytimes.com/

 

Yuri commands the 12th Company, part of the self-proclaimed People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic, a previously unknown and often masked rebel force that since early April has seized government buildings in eastern Ukraine and, until Saturday, held prisoner a team of European military observers it accused of being NATO spies.

His is one of the faces behind the shadowy paramilitary takeover. But even with his mask off, much about his aims, motivations and connections remains murky, illustrating why this expanding conflict is still so complex.

Behind the Masks in Ukraine, Many Faces of Rebellion

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/world/europe/behind-the-masks-in-ukraine-many-faces-of-rebellion.html?emc=edit_th_20140504&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=30100672&_r=0#

by C. J. Chivers & Noah Sneider

 

_______________

C.

From Information Clearing House :

Dates: 1 May 2014 

Subject : Who has pushed Ukraine to the brink of War?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/


The attempt to lever Kiev into the western camp by ousting an elected leader made conflict certain. It could be a threat to us all.

 

 

It's not Russia that's pushed Ukraine to the brink of war
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38387.htm
by Seumas Milne

_______________

D.

From Financial Times :

Dates: 2 May 2014          

Subject : War in Odessa.

http://www.ft.com

 

 

Violence in Odessa leaves dozens dead

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/466d9bba-d1c1-11e3-8b5b-00144feabdc0.html#axzz30djnFxwZ

by John Reed in Donetsk, Roman Olearchyk in Kiev and Courtney Weaver in Moscow

 

+

 

Civilian deaths deepen east Ukraine alienation

May 5 - At the town hall in Kramatorsk on Monday morning, about 300 people waited, some clutching bunches of carnations or roses, to pay their last respects to Yulia Izotova, whose coffin was displayed outside.

The 21-year-old nurse was shot on Saturday, local people said, while standing ready to provide first aid during the Ukrainian government’s offensive against pro-Moscow separatists, which had been launched the day before.

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2ac179c0-d46b-11e3-bf4e-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz30vN0TV4U

The mood was sombre and angry. The separatist Donetsk Republic’s red, blue and black flag was flying over the municipal building, which separatists occupied on Saturday along with the SBU security service headquarters.

“It is a crime to shoot at your own people,” said a woman named Anna, who declined to give her surname because she holds a government job. “They call us terrorists, separatists – look at us,” she said, pointing at herself. “Do I look like a terrorist?”

On Monday Ukraine’s military continued its offensive against pro-Moscow rebels who want to hold a May 11 referendum on autonomy. Sirens and church bells sounded and shots were heard in Slavyansk, the separatist stronghold that is Kiev’s prime target in the operation.

The interior ministry said four Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 30 wounded in fighting on the city’s outskirts. There were unconfirmed reports in the afternoon that an Mi-24 helicopter had been shot down.

The campaign to take the town, which Ukrainian and some western officials say is in the hands of heavily armed men, including Russians, is seen in Kiev as crucial in efforts to reimpose authority in the east.

However, it is making fitful progress at best, as Ukrainian forces strike from helicopters or armed vehicles at checkpoints and other separatist positions, then retreat or are driven back.

At two separatist roadblocks south of the town, charred tyres and detritus – in one case still smoking on Monday afternoon – marked the spot where Ukrainian forces had struck. But men wearing the orange-and-black separatist St George ribbon were back at work, stopping and checking cars.

At the weekend, Ukrainian national guard forces managed to seize control of a television transmission tower near Kramatorsk, a strategic gain in a conflict where information and propaganda are being deployed on both sides. They positioned snipers outside and switched broadcasting from Russian to Ukrainian TV.

While some pro-Kiev Ukrainians are criticising their government for pursuing the operation too gingerly, the deaths of an unknown number of civilians such as Ms Izotova – for now documented mostly by word of mouth – have enraged others who are alienated from their government or sympathetic to the pro-Russia cause.

People attending the woman’s funeral in Kramatorsk, a strategic town because of its airfield and proximity to Slavyansk, voiced anger over what they described as “fascists” fighting them on Ukraine’s behalf.

Images of unarmed civilians blocking Ukrainian armoured cars in the area have been widely transmitted in Russian-language media, reinforcing the Moscow-supported narrative that Kiev is brutally suppressing a peaceful citizen’s revolt for regional autonomy with a “punitive operation”.

 

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin moved swiftly to annex Crimea, in the first land grab in Europe since the second world war, and the EU and US are worried over Moscow’s intentions elsewhere in Ukraine

Emotions are running high in eastern and southern Ukraine after clashes in Odessa on Friday that killed 42 people.

“We do not want to live with fascists,” Anatoliy, a pensioner, said as he described how Ukrainian armoured vehicles had entered the town from Slavyansk during the campaign.

People came out to block them, he said, and Ukrainian troops turned around, retreating from the city to positions on approach routes.

Armoured vehicles headed north through Kramatorsk again on Monday on their way north to battle in Slavyansk.

“We have no government here,” said Valentina Shevlekova, who closed her shoe shop last week as the security operation began, then reopened on Monday. “We have been left on our own.”

She said that since Ukrainian troops had captured the TV transmission tower, programming had been all films and concerts. People did not know what was going on, she said.

Two burnt-out vans blocked the road in front of Ms Shevlekova’s shop, apparently put there by separatists during the weekend’s fighting to halt the approach of Ukrainian armoured vehicles.

On another city street stood the burnt-out husks of three small buses blocking the road, also set alight at the weekend.

A woman photographing wreckage on Monday, when asked whether she knew what had happened there, said: “War, that’s what happened.”

 

Odessa holds vigils

 

In the Black Sea port city of Odessa, where clashes claimed 40 lives last Friday, hundreds of pro-Russians gathered to lay flowers and hold vigils at the entrance to the building where at least 30 people died in a blaze police said was ignited by Molotov cocktails, writes Roman Olearchyk in Odessa.

The doors to the building were open even though an investigation into the incident was still being held, with people walking through the charred interior. “I came here to see what Europeanisation looks like,” said Nikolai Zvyagin, 67, a former Soviet army officer who opposes Kiev’s interim pro-western government.

“My father died on the front fighting fascist Europeans in the Great Patriotic war [second world war]. Now I have a chance to see the dirty work of these European fascist nationalists from western Ukraine.”

Standing at the entrance to the building alongside placards that read “the Americans are killers,” a female pensioner shouted to an approving crowd: “Ukraine has created a totalitarian state here on Russian soil. It will not last long – Putin will come soon to bring order.”

Yet elsewhere in Odessa the mood was calm. A 48-year-old businessman who gave his name as Alex said: “Most of the people on both sides clashing on Friday were not from Odessa. Most [of us here] don’t care for either side and do not want to be pulled into [the fighting].”

Local pro-Ukrainian activists claimed that the risk of more “provocations” by separatist groups would increase as Soviet nostalgia took hold ahead of the May 9 Victory Day celebration commemorating the victory over Nazi Germany. Later on Monday, reports emerged that the government was sending extra police units – described as “civil activists” by Kiev – to Odessa to try to prevent the city from coming under the control of separatists in the manner of Slavyansk and other eastern urban centres.

 

 

 

 

_______________

E.

From Information Clearing House :

Dates: 2 May 2014 

Subject : Who has pushed Ukraine to the brink of War?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

 

Catastrophic consequences are inevitable if Kiev authorities do not stop their “criminal venture,” Russia’s envoy Vitaly Churkin stressed at the emergency UNSC meeting summoned by Moscow on Friday.

Emergency Meeting
Ukraine's, Russia's and US Envoys to UN
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38399.htm
Video
(23 mins)
May 02, 2014

 

 

_______________

F.

From The New York Times :

Dates: 2 May 2014 

Subject : Obama and Merkel on Ukraine.

http://www.nytimes.com/

 

The president and the visiting Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany delivered remarks on finding a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Ukraine.

 

Obama and Merkel on Ukraine

http://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000002859513/obama-and-merkel-on-ukraine.html?playlistId=100000002829479

by AP, May 2nd, 2014

 

Related:

Article: Merkel Says Gaps With U.S. Over Surveillance Remain

 

 

 

_______________

G.

From The Real News Network :

Dates: 1 May 2014 

Subject : Working Class Consciousness in America.

http://therealnews.com/

 

Bill Barry is retired director of labor studies at The Community College of Baltimore County in Dundalk, and was a union organizer for 20 years before that. He has written three books on unionism: I Just Got Elected, Now What: The New Union Officer's Handbook ; Union Strategies for Hard Times ; From First Contact to First Contract: An Organizer's Handbook and will have a new book running--appropriately on May 1--off the press, The 1877 Railroad Strike in Baltimore , which grew from the historical marker erected last year at Camden Yards. Bill has also been a 3-time candidate for Baltimore City Council as Green Party member in northeast Baltimore.

Lucky Crosby is the chief shop steward of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 467.

 

Workers' Struggle in Baltimore (1/2)

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=11794

 

 

_______________

H.

From Information Clearing House :

Dates: 2 May 2014 

Subject : Video Documentary of Civil War in Eastern Ukraine.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

 

Ukraine has launched a military assault on the flashpoint town of Slavyansk, raising the stakes in the showdown with Russia, which has promised "catastrophic consequences" if Kiev stepped up operations.

 

2 Killed - Gunfire and Explosions Outside Pro-federalist Town of Slavyansk:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38390.htm
by AFP

&

The Ukrainian army has begun a special operation against pro-autonomy activists in the eastern town of Slavyansk. The city is now blockaded by the Ukrainian military, with 20 helicopters reportedly deployed to crack down on self-defense forces.

Ukrainian troops begin special operation in Slavyansk

(PHOTOS, VIDEO)

http://rt.com/news/156292-slavyansk-army-special-operation/

 

_______________

I.

From Truth Out :

Dates: 2 May 2014 

Subject : What is the future of Ukraine’s post-coup-d’état economy?

http://www.truth-out.org/

 

The Economic Plans of the Kiev Government Will Spell Ruin for a Great Many in Ukraine

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/23449-the-economic-plans-of-the-kiev-government-will-spell-ruin-for-a-great-many-in-ukraine

by Renfrey Clarke

 

 

_______________

J.

From Information Clearing House :

Dates: 2 May 2014 

Subject : Washington D.C.'s rendez-vous with destiny in Moscow ?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

 

Washington is licking its chops, seeing an opportunity to gain Russia as a puppet state.

 

Washington Intends Russia’s Demise
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38396.htm
by Paul Craig Roberts

_______________

K.

From Information Clearing House :

Dates: 5 May 2014 

Subject : Brzezinski to Obama : “Tell the 99% one more time to pay…, go…, and die… for us.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

 

“The crisis is getting worse. It’s time for the president to rally the nation.”

 

 

What Obama Should Tell Americans About Ukraine
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38392.htm
by Zbigniew Brzezinski