On May 4, Fars News headlined “S. Arabia Relocating Takfiri Fighters from Syria to Ukraine.”
It sent extremist militants against Eastern Ukrainian freedom fighters. An unidentified Arab security official told Fars News:
“A large number of terrorist Takfiri fighters in Syria, who bear Saudi and Chechnian nationalities and receive financial and military backup from the Saudi intelligence agency, have been transferred to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, on several planes to help the Ukrainian army in its fight against the pro-Russian population.”
“The forces have been immediately dispatched to Kramatosk city in Eastern Ukraine, and are now fighting beside the Ukrainian army forces against the pro-Russians under the name of militias who support the government.”
Saudi Arabia seeks revenge, said Fars News. It wants Moscow punished for supporting Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.
Last July, Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan visited Moscow. He tried bribing Vladimir Putin.
In return for billions of dollars in Russian arms purchases and other economic incentives, he wanted him to stop supporting Assad.
He chose the wrong leader. Putin isn’t for sale. He rejected Bandar’s blood money. He diplomatically said no deal.
According to Fars News:
He acted responsibly. He “redoubled his support for the Syrian government in response to Bandar’s blend of bribes and warnings.”
He “issued his own thinly veiled threats against the Saudis.” They have large oil reserves and huge wealth “soft power.”
Russia has formidable “hard power.” It’s a force to be reckoned with. Targeting it irresponsibly risks retaliatory toughness.
Slapping down Saudi ruthlessness is long overdue. Whether getting involved in Ukraine angers Moscow enough to do it remains to be seen.
On May 5, Itar Tass headlined “Ukrainian troops resume military action in eastern regions.”
On a Slovyansk to Donetsk highway near Semyonovka village, fighting raged between special Kiev National Guard task units and activist self-defense forces.
Overnight reports said four armored vehicles attacked a checkpoint. They advanced toward Donetsk. According to its People’s Republic spokesman Alexander Maltsev: “All Kostyantynivka is on fire.”
Donetsk defense coordinator Vasily Kiselyov said activists couldn’t stop them.
Self-defense forces occupied Donetsk’s State Security Service and executive committee office. They did so without opposition. The city’s administration head expressed willingness to dialogue.
Freedom fighters operate in over a dozen Eastern Ukrainian cities. Ukrainian military forces and neo-Nazi Right Sector thugs oppose them.
On Sunday, May 11, a Donetsk referendum is planned. Residents will be asked one question:
“Do you support the act of independence of the Donetsk Republic?” Yes or no.
On May 5, Ukrainian forces attacked Slovyansk. Twenty or more deaths were reported. So were dozens of injuries.
Slovyanstk city hospital treated seven wounded self-defense fighters. Two couldn’t be saved. They succumbed to severe gunshot injuries.
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said four of its troops were killed. Around 30 others were injured. Civilian casualties were reported.
RT International’s Paula Slier twittered:
“Dead woman brought into hospital & doctor told her parents she was already dead #Slavyansk – colleague in hospital who saw this telling me.”
Independent journal Graham Phillips twittered:
“Shops closed, streets deserted in central Sloviansk as fighting reported as waging on outside of city now.”
Ukrainian helicopter gunships attacked railway cars with rockets. Self-defense forces tried using them as an armored train.
Overnight Sunday was tense. Hostilities continued unabated through Monday. Government forces blocked transport in and out of Slavyansk.
They haven’t made territorial gains. They used hit and run tactics. Armed standoff began in mid-April. It continues.
Responsible Russian calls for dialogue go unanswered. Washington controls ongoing belligerence. It deplores diplomatic resolution.
It wants war on Ukrainian freedom intensified. It wants it crushed altogether. It wants fascist ruthlessness entrenched.
It wants Ukraine controlled. It wants it incorporated into NATO. It wants more bases on Russia’s borders.
It wants long-range nuclear-armed missiles targeting its heartland. It wants what Moscow won’t tolerate.
It wants Ukraine plundered for profit. It wants its people exploited. It wants Ukrainian workers transformed into impoverished serfs. It risks mass rebellion in the process.
On May 5, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) head Valentin Nalivaychenko ordered his Odessa’s SBU chief to prepare for May 9 special operations.
They’re planned to suppress anti-Kiev activists. Moles were planted to provoke riots. Fabricated evidence will be used.
It falsely suggests Russia supplied arms through regional Orthodox churches. Once riots erupt, neo-Nazi Right Sector thugs will intervene.
They’ll pose as outraged city residents. Specially trained riot police will get involved. It remains to be seen what follows.
Russian lower house State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said pro-Kiev fascists threaten Eastern Ukrainians. They do so for honoring their culture and history as well as speaking their native language.
“They are already responsible for many crimes. But now they threaten the southeast of the country and violate all rights of local residents, including their right to life,” said Naryshkin.
“And only because these people remember their history, commemorate the great victory and want to speak their native language.”
“In Kiev, radicals organized a military coup, which led to casualties and launched a disgraceful attack on the Russian language.”
They want Ukrainian history rewritten. They want it their way. They want Nazi era collaborators rehabilitated.
“We warned about this danger long before but unfortunately it came,” said Naryshkin. “It is a great pity that our words have not been heard.”
They fell on deaf ears. On Monday, extremist Svoboda party parliamentarians moved to ban all Russian symbols.
Included are black and orange St. George ribbons. They’re a former Russian empire military decoration. Federalists wear them.
According to Ukraine’s UNIAN news agency, legislation seeks to “outlaw the use of any state symbols of the Russian Federation, unrecognized republics or St. George ribbons, by individuals as well as on official buildings, self-administration buildings, company offices, organizations and institutions, disregarding the form of ownership.”
Violators face criminal prosecution. Legislative language targets “extremism instigators and separatists.”
Activists proudly wear these ribbons. They represent fascist opposition. They display resistance. They signify right over wrong.
Ukrainian Jews are threatened. Anti-Semitism is rife. Radical ultranationalism is virulent. Odessa Jews are scared.
They’re preparing for mass evacuation. They’re ready if violence too great to control erupts. So far they haven’t been targeted.
They’re vulnerable. According to Rabbi Refael Kruskal:
“When there is shooting in the streets, the first plan is to take (children) out of the center of the city.”
“If it gets worse, then we’ll take them out of the city. We have plans to take them both out of the city and even to a different country if necessary, plans which we prefer not to talk about which we have in place.”
He fears more clashes. “(N)ext weekend is going to be very violent,” he said. Friday, May 9, is Victory Day.
It marks Nazi Germany’s capitulation to Soviet Russia. It was late May 8 evening Berlin time. It was May 9 Moscow time.
Fascist provocations are planned. Migdal International Center of Jewish Community Programs head Kira Verkhovskaya said:
“If the situation gets worse, we are preparing to move.”
Rabbi Avraham Wold represents Chabad community hassidic Jews. He said they’re taking extra security precautions.
They posted armed guards. They prepared for possible evacuation. They allied with International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
They have 70 buses fueled. They’re ready to go if needed. Odessa’s population approaches one million. Nearly one-third are Jews.
They’re justifiably scared. Nazis murdered many thousands in Ukraine in cold blood. Some were burned alive.
Odessans remember. They know how fascists operate. Anti-Semitism is rife. Neo-Nazi Right Sector thugs threaten them. So do likeminded extremists.
They may have to flee for their lives. They may have on short notice. They fear the worst if not.
On May 5, RT International said Kiev fascists targeted independent journalist Graham Phillips. He’s an RT stringer.
He reports daily from the Eastern Ukrainian front lines. He explains accurately what’s going on. He commented, saying:
He “received threats putting a bounty on (his) head to be kidnapped and that has been offered from Dnepropetrovsk, as (he) understand(s), connected to the Right Sector.”
Reportedly it offered $10,000 for capturing “a Russian spy.” A Twitter message said:
“ANYONE WHO CAN CAPTURE RUSSIAN SPY @Graham WP_UK GETS 10.000$ FROM DNIPRO. SO LETS DO IT!”
Right Sector thugs have one of RT’s cameramen.
According to RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan:
“Our camera-man-stringer in Odessa received a call from the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU).”
It “said that he is now on the radar of the Right Sector.(His) former colleagues gave him up.”
“SBU said that the Right Sector now has all his phone numbers and addresses.”
“They gave him up for his anti-Maidan views which he never kept secret.”
RT’s Irina Galushko said her cameraman was threatened. She twittered:
“cam’man i’m working with just informed his addresses and contacts are in hands of Security Service, Right Sector and Nat’l Guard #Odessa.”
Kiev fascists want only their own message getting out. Truth-tellers are endangered.
On April 26, RT and other major Russian TV broadcasters called on human rights organizations to “defend the professional rights of journalists working in Ukraine.”
“Ukraine’s Donetsk, Lugansk, Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk and other regions are witnessing the ruthless suppression of civil liberties on a daily basis,” they said.
“Journalists are being threatened with their lives if they continue to report from Ukraine.”
“The new Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly taken illegal actions barring our staff journalists covering the Ukraine crisis from performing their professional duties and violating their human dignity.”
It bears repeating. Fascism operates this way. Obama wholeheartedly endorses it.
He represents the worst of imperial ruthlessness. He shames the office he holds. He risks global conflict. Stopping him matters most.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected].
His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.
It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour
