Putin's anger in 'overdrive'

Claire Rosemberg (left)  and Oleksandr Savochenko report that,

" Controversial laws designed to leave Ukraine's Soviet past behind stoked tension in the war-divided country Friday and prompted an angry reaction from Russia which called the ban on communist-era symbols "totalitarian".......Ukraine's parliament voted on Thursday to ban communist-era and Nazi symbols in what supporters said was a bid to break with the country's tragic World War II past and Moscow's domination through most of the 20th century.(AFP (Yahoo News): April 10,2015) (my emphasis)

And in Kharkiv, 48 Hours after these laws were passed,

"Activists toppled three statues of Communist leaders overnight Friday in Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, days after parliament passed a controversial bill designed to purge the country of Soviet-era symbols." (FRANCE 24 with AFP : 11 April, 2015)

And whilst Putin is lashing out at this law to erase the symbols of Ukraine's Soviet past, Sarah Rainsford informs us that,

"A central Russian gallery has cancelled the opening of an exhibition of World War Two images by US and British photographers, sparking claims that the event was pulled for political reasons.....

A staff member at the state-run gallery told the BBC that the decision to cancel the exhibition was "political", and said they did not believe it would ever open. They said they had been "ordered" not to comment further." (BBC News :11 April 2015) (my emphasis) (picture: 1945: US and Soviet troops finally met at Torgau, deep inside Germany)

Meanwhile, the OSCE Monitoring Mission to Ukraine is reporting multiple instances where the Minsk2 'ceasefire' has recently been broken. 

Olena Gordiienko (left) also informs us that,

"Russian forces and their proxies fired 20 times at Ukraine-controlled positions in the past 24 hours, while employing an alarming number of 30 surveillance drones over Kyiv-controlled territory in war-torn eastern Ukraine." (KyivPost : April 11, 2015) (my emphasis)
 
This continuous breakdown of the Minsk2 'ceasefire' since its adoption in February has prompted Angela Merkel to announce that,

"Berlin has ... plans to bring dozens of mothballed tanks back into service. There is speculation the move is in response to increased demands from the Ukraine crisis." (DW : 11 April,2015) (my emphasis)

At the same time as Merkel is 'reviving' her mothballed tanks, Mercedes Stephenson of CTV News reports that,

"Canada will be sending troops to Ukraine to participate in a non-combat role in the region in the coming months." (CTV News : Friday, April 10, 2015)

But perhaps most alarming for Putin, Pavel Polityuk reports that,

"Ukraine, locked in conflict with Russian-backed separatists in its east, on Thursday drew up a new security doctrine denouncing Russia's "aggression" and setting its sights on joining the U.S.-led NATO military alliance." (Reuters : Thu Apr 9, 2015)

All these developments yet again indicates that Putin is preparing for an invasion of Mariupol, as well as preparing the Russian people 'emotionally' for this imminent invasion.

To this end, Putin's propaganda machine is in overdrive.  

On the 8th of April, Natalia Antelava (left) and Abdujalil Abdurasulov reported that,

"Russian television stations recently report claims that a 10-year-old girl had been killed by shelling." (BBC News : 8 April,2015)

What is frightening about this story is that while this event never happened, the Russian people actually believe that is has simply because Putin's propaganda machine solemnly reported it on Russian TV.

This type of cruel and cynical false reporting on Russian TV occurred as early as in July of 2014 when it was reported that a young child had been crucified in Slovyansk for simply speaking Russian, and that his unconscious mother was then bound to a tank and driven 3 times around the square where her child had been crucified. (English subtitled version)

Is Putin now so furious at the toppling of Lenin statues in Kharkiv, and with Ukraine setting its sights on joining NATO, that his anger will get the better of him and he WILL step into the abyss and fall headlong into an unsuspecting Black Swan event, the consequences of which is simply too ghastly to contemplate?

(to be continued)