Putin has his sights on more than just Ukraine, whilst walking in the shadow of Patriarch Kirill

Lest we forget,

"A court in southwestern Russia has adjourned a preliminary hearing against captured Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko to decide on her lawyers' request to move the trial to Moscow." (Daniel Schearf : VOA : July 31, 2015)

"Savchenko’s lawyers and critics say Russian authorities are staging a political trial against the pilot, who became a symbol of Ukrainian unity and resistance to the Russia-backed rebels.

The pilot says she was abducted inside Ukraine in June of last year by pro-Russia rebels and forcibly taken to Russia. She denies any involvement in the journalists' deaths, and her lawyers say they have telephone records proving Savchenko was already in custody at the time the two journalists were killed." (ibid Daniel Schearf) (my emphasis)

And whilst Putin's cruel saga over the fate of Savchenko continues, James Dunn informs us that,

"The French have reportedly struck a compensation deal with Russia after refusing to give them two warships because of their aggressive role in the Ukraine.
.......
"Russia's business daily Kommersant reported that the compensation could amount to as much as 1.16 billion euros (£820million) and a deal definitively inked in the first ten days of August. (Daily Mail : 31 July 2015) (my emphasis)

In many ways, Putin's cruel saga over the fate of Savchenko, and his receiving of compensation from French president Francois Hollande, rather neatly sums up both Putin's contempt for the Rule of Law, his contempt for the life of others, as well as the 'fear' that he has engendered amongst many western politicians (including President Obama) because of his 'nuclear sabre rattling'. 

Indeed, the public revealing that his Russian soldiers and proxies in eastern Ukraine are attempting to construct a 'dirty nuclear bomb' illustrates his contempt for the lives of others.

Recall that when Putin was Prime minister of Russia during the Yeltsin era, the culprits behind the Russian apartment bombings in Moscow in September of 1999, together with the failed attempt to blow up Russian apartments in Ryazan, have still not being brought to justice. The evidence, however, strongly points to Putin and his FSB as being responsible for these heinous crimes.

With Putin's Russian soldiers and proxies in eastern Ukraine attempting to construct a 'dirty nuclear bomb' on his mind, Poroshenko (right) is also having to deal with President Obama and some EU leaders, especially Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande, who are forcing him to cave in to the demands of Putin that the area controlled by his Russian soldiers and proxy rebels in eastern Ukraine be given special status.

Consequently, just recently,

"Ukraine's highest court has approved constitutional changes that would allow limited self-rule to the rebel-held eastern areas of Donetsk and Luhansk.

The changes are part of a peace deal aimed at ending fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia rebels." (BBC News :31 July 2015) (my emphasis)

These developments have precipitated Dmytro Yarosh (right), Right Sector’s leader, to rally those behind him to try and confront Poroshenko.

As Jessica Menton (left) reports,

"Fears are growing among troops in Ukraine that members of the Right Sector, the far-right group that grew from the militant protesters who toppled former President Viktor Yanukovych, could turn on the new government. " (International Business Times : August 02 2015) (my emphasis)

More disconcerting, however, is the fact that, in a joint telephone briefing in which ERR News participated in, the top US and EU diplomats in Ukraine emphasized that the Western aim is to help Ukraine overcome the systemic weaknesses from its past and give a boost to reforms while,

“Russian drones are operating over Ukrainian territory every single day. Russian cruise surface-to-air missile systems are operating on Ukrainian territory.

And as we were reminded by the capture of a Russian soldier and Russian origin ammunition last weekend, Russia continues to fuel the conflict here with the military equipment that it is sending across Ukraine’s sovereign international border,” [US Ambassador to Ukraine] Pyatt (right)  said, adding that Kremlin and its proxies are maintaining the capability to continue seeking to grab territory at a time and place of the Kremlin’s choosing." (Estonian Public Broadcasting : 31/7/2015)

As a consequence,

"Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (left: Ukraine Foreign Minister Klimkin) says in its statement on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act that Russian aggression against Ukraine has violated most of the fundamental principles and obligations of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)." (UNIAN : 01.08.2015)

It is therefore no wonder that,

"Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday (3 August, 2015) accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of wanting to take over the "whole of Europe" and potentially aiming his sights next at Finland and the Baltics.

"Putin wants to go as far as we allow him -- not only Ukraine, but the whole of Europe," Poroshenko said in an interview with French radio station RFI." ([Agence France Press] AhramOnline :  Monday 3 Aug 2015)

And marching alongside Putin we have none other than Partiarch Kirill. (right), the former 'tobacco oligarch' of the mid 1990's.

"On the eve of the 1000th anniversary of death of Vladimir the Great, Patriarch Kirill (of the Russian Orthodox Church) sent “letters of similar content” to the presidents of Russia and Ukraine urging them to “use all efforts to stop the bloodshed in east Ukraine. Drawing attention to the plight of civilians in the conflict, the patriarch urges: “a full cessation of hostilities, the strict observance of the Minsk accords, and the establishment of direct dialogue between all parties to the conflict…”

On the one hand, the language used in this letter places Kirill in the “moderate” pro-Russian position, that direct talks between the “rebels” (read, Russian stooges) and the Ukrainian government are necessary to terminate the conflict..." (Alex L. Leonor : EuroMaidan Press : 29/7/2015)

And as if to underline that Putin and Kirill are walking together in lockstep, Roland Oliphant informs us that,

"An obscure row between supporters of the Russian Orthodox Church and Russian archaeologists reached the Kremlin on Saturday when President Vladimir Putin declared Unesco-listed ruins in Crimea a national heritage site.

The governor of Sevastopol last week appointed a priest as the director of a historical area that contains Chersonesus, an ancient Greek city on the Crimean coast.
.....
Sergei Menyailo, the governor of Sevastopol, appointed Father Sergei Khalyuta, the archpriest of the city’s diocese, to run the site, saying it should be “a place of pilgrimage, not just tourism.” (The Telegraph : 02 Aug 2015)

Is it any wonder that Patriarch Kirill is on record as saying in 2012 that,

"...the 12 years of Vladimir Putin's rule [was] a "miracle of God" and criticised his opponents, at a gathering where religious leaders heaped praise on the prime minister." (Gleb Bryanski : Reuters : Wed Feb 8, 2012)

(to be continued) 
 

Putin and the 'dirty nuclear bomb'!

In my last blog entry I said that,

"And, as I have said before, Putin becomes very dangerous when he discovers that he has painted himself into a 'diplomatic' corner."

In April of this year Putin threatened to use 'nuclear' weapons if anyone should try to reclaim Ukrainian Crimea.

As John Hall reported on 2 April 2015,

"Vladimir Putin is planning to exploit the threat of nuclear war to force Nato out of countries bordering Russia, it has been claimed.

A secret meeting between intelligence figures in Moscow and Washington reportedly revealed Putin will consider any attempt to return the Crimean peninsula to Ukraine as declaration of war and will take any necessary step - including using nuclear weapons - to retain control of the region." (MailOnline : 2 April, 2015) (my emphasis)

This is now coming true in the case of eastern Ukraine. As Taku Dzimwasha (right), International Business Times journalist, informs us,

"Pro-Moscow rebels in Ukraine building 'dirty' bomb with help of Russian scientists" published on August 1 that pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine are "building a dirty bomb" with the assistance of Russian nuclear scientists, according to a Ukrainian security service report seen by The Times." (UNIAN : 01.08.2015) (my emphasis)

Taku Dzimwasha further reports that,

"When the accusations were put to an unnamed DPR official, he initially denied that the factory stored radioactive waste, but eventually admitted to its existence, The Times reported.

"Everyone knows that there is a small repository with [radioactive] waste," he said. "But the story that we signed an agreement with Russia is fake."

Russia's state-owned nuclear agency Rosatom denied that its staff had travelled to Donetsk and challenged the idea that radioactive material was being stored in the area.

However, a spokesman did acknowledge that there were private companies and individuals in Russia capable of removing the material from the bunker, IBTimes wrote." (ibid UNIAN) (my emphasis)

The OSCE is currently being denied access to a large part of the eastern Ukrainian area controlled by Putin's Russian soldiers and his rebel proxies.

"The SMM is restrained in fulfilling its monitoring functions by restrictions imposed by third parties and security considerations, including the presence – and lack of information on the whereabouts – of mines, and damaged infrastructure. The security situation in Donbas is fluid and unpredictable and the ceasefire does not hold everywhere. (OSCE : 29 July 2015)
 
Is this because Putin's proxies and Russian soldiers are secretly building a 'dirty nuclear bomb'?

That they would do so is fully in line with Putin's own threats to use 'nuclear force' to retain annexed Ukrainian Crimea.   

In a recent address in Aspen, Colorado, Bill Browder (right) ended by saying that,

"We have a man [Putin] who is a mafia boss, whose stolen a lot of money, whose terrified of losing power, whose ready to do anything to stay in power, including using the nuclear arsenal [of Russia] if that's what it takes. And that's terrifying."

In light of this terrifying news, for just how long will the EU and President Obama continue to appease Putin?

As Vladimir Socor (right) explains,

"Berlin, Paris, Brussels and even Washington lack the means or the will to deal with that situation on the ground. Instead, they have taken to urging Kyiv to implement political clauses first, irrespective of Russia’s noncompliance on the military side; thus reversing the Minsk sequence and canceling even the pretense of reciprocity. Their policy can be described as “Minsk revisionism.” 

This generates concentric pressures on Ukraine, essentially to legitimize the Donetsk-Luhansk authorities through direct negotiations on political and constitutional issues. " (The Jamestown Foundation: July 20, 2015) (my emphasis)

Did they have the news about this 'dirty nuclear' bomb that Putin's Russian soldiers and his proxies are developing before it became public?

Was it this that has propelled them into putting pressure on Poroshenko to implement the political clauses of Putin's Minsk2 proposals BEFORE his Russian soldiers and their military equipment are removed from eastern Ukraine?

Indeed, was it the news about this 'dirty nuclear bomb' that forced Angela Merkel to give the green light to,

"The German military plans to spend an additional 20 million euros, or $21 million, on its military budget this year in preparation for NATO military exercises in September, the German Defense Ministry announced  Thursday. The NATO exercises are set to take place in Ukraine amid criticism that they are a thinly veiled warning to Russia about its involvement in the violent civil conflict in Ukraine." ? (International Business Times : July 30 2015)

(to be continued)

Putin's economy, and Germany's increasing military expenditure

A little over a month ago (June 18, 2015 ), Mikhail Khodorkovsky stated that,

"The Russia-Ukraine conflict has no short-term solution and is part of a fabricated conflict with the West to distract everyday Russians from corruption and incompetence .... " (RFERL : June 18, 2015) (my emphasis)

And in yesterday's blog entry I mentioned that Delphine d'Amora  (right) succintly pointed out that,

"Three years ago, President Vladimir Putin promised the Russian people a kind of utopia: salaries would grow by up to 50 percent, average life expectancy would rise to 74 and waiting lists at kindergartens would disappear.
.....
Russia's regional governments have fallen deeply into debt under the weight of these pledges. And with a drop in aid from the federal budget, which is increasingly tied up in such expensive projects as military rearmament and the integration of Crimea, relief is nowhere in sight." (Moscow Times : Jul. 15 2015) (my emphasis)

More pertinent, however, Vitaliy Portnikov (below: left) wrote on 5 July, 2015, that,

"As paradoxical as it may sound, despite its 4 percent decline, Ukraine’s GDP is rising. It is rising–despite the war, the populist politicians, the sabotaging officials, the still paternalistic society, the lack of a professional approach to reform." (Euromaidan Press :5 July, 2015) (my emphasis)

At the same time he pointed out that:

(1) Both countries have almost the same decline in GDP: Ukraine – 4 percent as compared with the fourth quarter of last year. In Russia it’s 3.5 percent

(2) And this despite the fact that Ukraine has lost territory, while Russia has acquired territory.

(3) This despite the fact that there is a war in Ukraine, while in Russia there is peace.

(4) This despite the fact that Ukraine has no energy to export, while Russia has both oil and gas.  
      (ibid Vitaly Portnikov) (my emphasis)

More recently (23 Jul 2015), David Lidington and Konrad Pawlik (right) have informed us that,

"Recently a senior figure from the IMF – an organization not usually given to hyperbole – said that the new Ukrainian Government is the ‘most reform-oriented government’ that he had encountered in 20-plus years of dealing with Ukraine." (EurActiv : 23 Jul 2015) (my emphasis)

They also point out that it has taken a peaceful Poland, together with its accession to the EU, and without having to suffer a war with Putin's Russia, 25 years to achieve its current position as an independent and thriving democratic state.

They further point out that,

".....  Ukraine’s democratic transformation will take time. We all know from our own experience, the road to reform is a long one. It will require patience and determination on the part of the Ukrainian people and their elected officials." (ibid Lidington and Pawlik) (my emphasis)

Yet the western press in particular has recently focused its attention on reporting the conflict between Poroshenko and Dmytro Korchynsky, the commander of the right-wing "Saint Mary", a volunteer battalion, even though, as the 2014 election results show,

"Six or seven parties look likely enter the new parliament, with a mixture of nationalists and a pro-Russian bloc scraping past the 5% threshold to fill out the bottom tier. The results are a bitter defeat for both the far right and the far left, and a signal in favour of moderation from voters seeking calm after a long storm." (The Economist : Oct 27th 2014)

How disturbing that the current conflict between the Ukrainian right-winger Dmytro Korchynsky and Poroshenko rather eclipses the significant move to the right of the Hungarian Prime Minister, Victor Orban (right), who recently stated that,

"...black African immigrants come here and rape European women and that the Hungarian Left does not like Hungarians...”. ( Richard Field : The Budapest Beacon: July 26, 2015)

Even more pertinent, as Anton Shekhovtsov informs us,

"As I have argued previously in this blog, the overwhelming majority of Ukrainian far right organizations are criminal gangs that exploit a radical right-wing ideology for mobilization purposes. The incident in Mukacheve seems to be an example of a criminal (far right) group trying to hijack an illegal business operated by another (non-political) criminal gang." (Anton Shekhovtsov's Blog : 13 July,2015) (my emphasis)

No doubt Putin is receiving comfort from this conflict between Poroshenko and  Dmytro Korchynsky, whilst he bankrolls France's Marine Le Pen's right-wing Front Nationale, and invites Sarkozy's members of the French parliament to visit annexed Crimea. (right: Marine Le Pen and Nicolas Sarkozy)

Russia's puppet government in Crimea greets the French MPs.

But whilst all of this is giving Putin some comfort, Jess McHugh informs us that,

 

"The German military plans to spend an additional 20 million euros, or $21 million, on its military budget this year in preparation for NATO military exercises in September, the German Defense Ministry (Ursula von der Leyen : left) announced  Thursday. The NATO exercises are set to take place in Ukraine amid criticism that they are a thinly veiled warning to Russia about its involvement in the violent civil conflict in Ukraine." (International Business Times : July 30 2015)

Putin must, indeed, be spitting nails at this German development, just as Reuters informs us that,

"Ukraine's state security service on Wednesday named a Russian army major who was detained by Ukrainian servicemen at the weekend with a cargo of military equipment in eastern Ukraine and said he had been charged with terrorism." (Reuters : Wed Jul 29, 2015) (my emphasis)

Mo Ahmad, of Press Examiner, also informs us that,

"Vladimir Starkov – an army major who got lost while driving a truck filled with explosives to a guerrilla outpost. But he admitted that he was a chief of an RAO (rocket-artillery weapons unit)." (Press Examiner : July 30, 2015)

Will Putin now also disown this Russian soldier, as he has done so many times to other Russian soldiers captured by the Ukrainian forces?

Putin's lies, not only directed towards the west but, more importantly, towards the Russian people itself, must be beginning to give him sleepless nights.

And, as I have said before, Putin becomes very dangerous when he discovers that he has painted himself into a 'diplomatic' corner.

(to be continued)

Putin and President Obama. The selling out of Ukraine.

Eight hours ago,

"Russia has used its veto at the UN to block a draft resolution to set up an international tribunal into the MH17 air disaster in July 2014.

It was the only nation at the 15-member UN Security Council to oppose the move, triggering widespread condemnation." (BBC News : 30 July,2015) (my emphasis)

Putin himself stated that,

"a tribunal would be "counter productive"". (ibid BBC)

And whilst Putin is exposing to the world his 'fear' of the truth emerging about the downing of MH17 by his proxies in eastern Ukraine who used Russian military equipment,  we learn that US political journalist Brian Whitmore speculates that,

"there have long been suspicions that the United States and Europe might give Ukraine up in exchange for Russia's support in securing a deal to curb Iran's nuclear program.
.....
"Moscow's endgame is to embed Russian territories back into Ukraine as a Trojan horse. And it is desperate to cut a deal to secure this result."  (Ukraine Today : Jul. 29, 2015) (my emphasis)

This endgame of Putin's is, in fact, being imposed upon Poroshenko by BOTH President Obama AND the EU's Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande.

As Vladimir Socor (right) explains,

"Berlin, Paris, Brussels and even Washington lack the means or the will to deal with that situation on the ground. Instead, they have taken to urging Kyiv to implement political clauses first, irrespective of Russia’s noncompliance on the military side; thus reversing the Minsk sequence and canceling even the pretense of reciprocity. Their policy can be described as “Minsk revisionism.” 

This generates concentric pressures on Ukraine, essentially to legitimize the Donetsk-Luhansk authorities through direct negotiations on political and constitutional issues. " (The Jamestown Foundation: July 20, 2015) (my emphasis)

Recall that on my June 24, 2015 blog entry I suggested that,

"The question that now needs to be asked is whether Merkel, Putin, and Hollande, who had a private Skype meeting about Ukraine without Poroshenko,

also discussed over the phone on Monday (Associated Press:22/06/2015) whether Ukraine should be,

"[carrying] out the “last” points of the Minsk agreement and not wait for Russia and the Russian-controlled militants to carry out their portion of the agreement." ( EuroMaidan Press)

It would now seem that this was, indeed, the case.

The Iran negotiations, together with dealing with ISIS and Bashar Al Assad, seems to be the endgame of President Obama. 

The United States presidential election of 2016 is expected to be held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016.

That is 16 months away. 

President Obama has entered the last stretch of his Presidency. From here on in his endgame requires him now to make deals with Putin.   

 President Obama has his legacy firmly in sight, and it does not include ruffling Putin's feathers over Ukraine.

As Vladimir Socor explains,

"The other context of Nuland’s (right) intervention [for Ukraine to implement political clauses first, irrespective of Russia’s noncompliance on the military side] is the diplomatic rapprochement between the United States and Russia over the Middle East. This has spawned the bilateral channel of Nuland and Russian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Grigory Karasin, to deal with the problem of Ukraine.  
...........
While Ukraine is directly represented in the Normandy Quartet, it is unrepresented in the Nuland-Karasin channel." (ibid Vladimir Socor) (my emphasis)

And whilst President Obama now quietly slips into becoming an ex-president NATO, on the other hand, is beefing up its training of Ukrainian soldiers. (BBC News : 26 July 2015)

 

Furthermore, Ukraine is beefing up the protection of its border with Transnistria.

As Christopher Harress reports,

"Ukraine on Friday placed up to 7,000 troops on its southern border with the breakaway Moldovan state of Transnistria fearing pro-Russian hostility in the region ..." (International Business Times : July 24 2015)

 And whilst Ukraine is protecting its borders and is at war with Russia, Lauren Davidson (right) informs us that,

"Shoplifting in Russia surged last year as the economic fallout from crippling sanctions and plunging oil prices increased the number of people living in poverty.

Some 930m rubles (£10.4m) of goods were stolen from Russian stories in 2014, an increase of 44pc on the 648m rubles-worth swiped the previous year." (Daily Telegraph : 23 Jul 2015) (my emphasis)

And as if this were not enough,

"This is what belt-tightening looks like in Russia: Vladimir Putin has fired 110,000 government officials at a stroke.

The Russian president signed a decree last week limiting the number of staff employed by the Interior Ministry to just over one million. That requires massive layoffs that will bring total headcount down by 10%." (Ivana Kottasova : CNN Money : July 24, 2015) (my emphasis)

Added to which,

"Three years ago, President Vladimir Putin promised the Russian people a kind of utopia: salaries would grow by up to 50 percent, average life expectancy would rise to 74 and waiting lists at kindergartens would disappear.
.....
Russia's regional governments have fallen deeply into debt under the weight of these pledges. And with a drop in aid from the federal budget, which is increasingly tied up in such expensive projects as military rearmament and the integration of Crimea, relief is nowhere in sight. 
......
In the first quarter of this year, 26 regions slashed spending on education, 21 cut health care spending and 16 curtailed spending on social security, she said.

"In this situation, it's the people who suffer. Especially vulnerable people, low-income people — for whom a rise in the cost of utilities is very serious — and people who receive social subsidies," [Natalya Zubarevich] said." (Delphine d'Amora : Moscow Times : Jul. 15 2015) (my emphasis)

Is it any wonder that 'shoplifting is now becoming a Russian pastime?
 
Yet, without so much as batting an eyelid, Putin simply,

"....[uses his veto] at the UN to block a draft resolution to set up an international tribunal into the MH17 air disaster in July 2014." (ibid BBC News)

 (to be continued)

Is Putin's 'strategy', and his 'oligarch' klan, beginning to unravel?

Andrey Illarionov (left), former Senior Economic advisor (2000-2005) to Putin, subsequently resigned from this position on 27 December 2005 saying that Russia was no longer politically free, but run by an authoritarian elite. "It is one thing to work in a country that is partly free. It is another thing when the political system has changed, and the country has stopped being free and democratic," he said. (Wikipedia)  (my emphasis)

And today, Paul Goble (right) informs us that recently,

"Speaking in Kremenchug this week (July 13, 2015), Andrey Illarionov said that Ukraine should continue to negotiate in its quest for peace but that it should reject the documents known as Minsk-2 because “the essence of this document is that the Ukrainian authorities are rejecting their sovereignty over the Ukrainian-Russian border.” (The Interpreter : July 13, 2015) (my emphasis)

Illarionov further states that,

"Minsk-2 requires that the Constitution of Ukraine be changed so that “the domestic and foreign policy of Ukraine will become a hostage of the decisions taken by separatists in the DNR and LNR” and by implication of those in Moscow who are supporting them." (ibid Paul Goble) (my emphasis)

In a speech delivered at the Atlantic Council on 7 Apr 2015, Illarionov informs us that possibly as long ago as 2004 Putin was already preparing for this war.

What is significant in the speech of Illarionov, amongst other things, is his proposition that,

"Is this war not only against Ukraine but also against the west? If we listen to Kremlin propaganda they would definately confirm "yes"."

This realization that Putin is ominously building up, and continuously exercising practically the whole Russian army, has led many NATO countries in the EU to similarly begin joint exercises, as in the case of the military exercise dubbed 'Rapid Trident'

"Ukraine's Defense Ministry says some 2,000 troops are involved in the exercises [in western Ukraine], dubbed Rapid Trident 2015, which was launched at the Yavoriv military training field in the Lviv region on July 20.

Almost 800 Ukrainian soldiers, more than 500 U.S. troops, and 700 other servicemen from 16 other countries are taking part in the drills that are expected to last until August 1." (RFERL : 21.07.2015)

Added to which, as Julian E. Barnes in Brussels and Gordon Lubold in Washington inform us,

"The Pentagon is moving toward providing Ukraine with bigger, longer-range radar to help it counter artillery being used by Russia-backed rebels, as U.S. military officials signal a growing willingness to bolster the country’s defenses." (Wall Street Journal: July 22, 2015) (my emphasis)

This comes just as,

"Ukrainian State Border Service troops in Luhansk region on July 22 downed an enemy drone, which was made in Russia, according to the service's media liaison office." (UNIAN : 22.07.2015) (my emphasis)

 
It is therefore no wonder that the 'Rapid Trident' military exercise in western Ukraine, together with Ukraine being provided with longer-range radar has, to say the least, evoked the usual angry response from Putin.

"The Russian envoy to NATO, Aleksandr Grushko (left), said on July 21 that the maneuvers "disrupt" the process of implementing the Minsk agreement signed in February and aimed at putting an end to fighting between government forces and Russian-backed separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine." (ibid RFERL) (my emphasis)

And if this were not enough, Ivan Nechepurenko of the Moscow Times reveals that,

"...prominent Russian Kremlin critic Maria Gaidar's (right) decision to become a deputy to Mikheil Saakashvili, the current head of Ukraine's Odessa region, demonstrates the extent to which the ongoing conflict has divided the two countries ....." (Moscow Times : Jul. 20 2015) (my emphasis)


 "This is not just a local conflict between Russia and Ukraine, it is a conflict of values, a civilizational conflict between freedom, democracy, honesty, normal business and Soviet bureaucratic oligarchical gangsterism," said Gaidar, the daughter of Russia's reformist late prime minister Yegor Gaidar (left), who introduced sweeping market reforms in the country in 1992." (ibid Ivan Nechepurenko) (my emphasis)

 Like any other Mafia gangster group Putin's oligarchs, who have been targeted by the sanctions of the US, the EU, Canada, and Japan, amongst other western nations, are now circumventing the sanctions imposed upon them by simply transferring their wealth to their children

"Russian oligarchs hit by American sanctions have transferred significant assets to their offspring, an investigation by The Times reveals." (Ukrainian News : July 22, 2015) (my emphasis)

 

 I am reminded of the late Boris Nemtsov's exposure, IN 2012, of this relationship between Putin's oligarchs and their children. (add English subtitles by clicking on settings)

Maybe now the research of Karen Dawisha into the corrupt financial aspects of Putin's regime will finally be used as a counter to Putin's weaponising of information, as exposed by  Peter Pomarentsev.

(to be continued)
 

Is Putin's 'maskirovka' diplomatic strategy failing?

On Saturday (18 July, 2015), that dyed-in-the-wool Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov,

".....held separate talks Saturday with his Ukraine, US and German counterparts, the Kremlin announced, as fighting spikes in eastern Ukraine." (Agence France Press AFP : 18 July 2015)

 (image left: Lavrov, Kerry, Klimkin, Steinmeier)


What is significant is that, for some reason, the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius (right), was rather conspicuously left out of these 'separate talks'.

Recall that in my last blog entry (Friday, 17 July 2015) I wrote that,

"Yesterday the Ukrainian Rada (parliament) took the first steps towards giving the rebels in eastern Ukraine temporary self-rule. As Dmitry Zaks informs us,

"Ukraine's parliament took the first step Thursday toward granting temporary self-rule to pro-Russian rebels under a change to the constitution the West hopes can end one of Europe's deadliest wars in recent years." (AFP : 17 July, 2015) (my emphasis)"

I also commented that,

"Are we all to naively assume, as Washington and its allies believe that,

"....partial self-rule could satisfy the insurgents and remove any arguments Russia may have for arming and funding their campaign -- support Moscow firmly denies ever giving."? (ibid Dmitry Zaks) (my emphasis)"

And, true to form, Lavrov,

" ...... called on his Ukrainian counterpart to "resolve the questions concerning the constitutional reform project," aimed at offering more autonomy to the separatist regions, which Russia dismissed last week as just a parody of its obligations under the Minsk truce agreement." (ibid AFP) (my emphasis)

Putin's diplomatic trap is to ensnare Poroshenko into 'talking to his rebel-proxies in eastern Ukraine', thus giving not only his rebel-proxies, but also his 'Novorossiya dreams', diplomatic legitimacy. 

Lavrov underlined in his conversation with US Secretary of State, John Kerry,

" .....  Moscow's annoyance that Kiev did not include rebel representatives in its constitutional reform discussions

 

"They can't just walk away from the framework of the (Minsk) obligations, in particular those concerning the direct dialogue between Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk," he stressed during his conversation with US Secretary of State John Kerry." (ibid AFP) (my emphasis)

Further underlining the 'maskirovka' mentality of Putin and his ilk in the Kremlin, NBC News informs us that,

"Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels accused each other on Saturday of shelling residential areas despite a ceasefire, reporting four civilians and one soldier killed following a week of the deadliest fighting in over a month." (NBC News : 19 July, 2015) (cf also: DW [Deutsche Welle] and BBC News)

 Video of shelling in Donetsk taken 19 July, 2015

Even more ominous, Putin's soldiers and Russian proxies in eastern Ukraine are positioning themselves for a major offensive, according to Kiev-based journalist Thomas Theiner. (cf. Map, left, explained) 

But perhaps what should be morally repugnant to many is the  fact that, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the shooting down of the passenger airline Flight MH17 (right) over eastern Ukraine by Putin's rebel-proxies is still adamently denied by Putin himself.

"While Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to take any responsibility for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, Russian citizens have stepped up in their own way and met the tragedy with an outpouring of love and sorrow in the form of memorial tributes for the MH17 victims and their families." (Inquisitr :  July 22, 2014) (my emphasis)

 

 Russian citizens have been creating memorial tributes in front of Dutch Embassies in honor of the victims of the downed Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17. The Woman’s sign reads “PUTIN TERRORIST.”

Also, as reported by BBC News,

"A roll call of those who died in the MH17 air disaster and a procession to the crash site have marked the first anniversary of the tragedy over eastern Ukraine, in which 298 people died." (BBC News: 17 July 2015)

No matter how much money Putin throws at his "disinformation" and propaganda machines viz. RT, Sputnik, and RT Ruptly, the truth always has a way of bubbling to the surface.

Is it therefore any wonder that, notwithstanding his 'constant denial' about Russian soldiers operating in eastern Ukraine, AFP (Agence France Press) informs us that,

"Dozens of Russian soldiers are facing trial for fleeing their unit, fearing deployment to Ukraine, a news site and a lawyer for five of the men said Saturday.

The popular Gazeta.ru website said several dozen soldiers would be prosecuted after fleeing a training ground in southern Russia where they were under pressure to "volunteer" to fight in Ukraine." (AFP : July 11, 2015) (my emphasis) (cf also: DW [Deutsche Welle])

If Putin has absolute control over the 'weaponizing of information' through his TOTAL control over Russian Media, both locally and internationally, he simply cannot control the impact of international sanctions against Russia.

Thus, as reported by Delphine d'Amora (right) of the Moscow Times, 

"Three years ago, President Vladimir Putin promised the Russian people a kind of utopia: salaries would grow by up to 50 percent, average life expectancy would rise to 74 and waiting lists at kindergartens would disappear.

.... the Kremlin's political ambitions have pushed domestic concerns into the shadows.

Russia's regional governments have fallen deeply into debt under the weight of these pledges. And with a drop in aid from the federal budget, which is increasingly tied up in such expensive projects as military rearmament and the integration of Crimea, relief is nowhere in sight."(Moscow Times : Jul. 15 2015) (my emphasis)

Even the forthcoming hosting of the World Cup in Russia has not been immune from the effects of sanctions. As reported by the Associated Press (AP),

"In a country battered by economic problems and Western sanctions, Russian officials aren't boasting of their World Cup's size and extravagance. With cost-cutting in vogue, they prefer to brag about cheap stadiums." (Moscow Times : Jul. 13 2015) (my emphasis)

Meanwhile,

"US company Frontera to build the gas terminal which will help Ukraine gain energy independence

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has revealed US investors are planning to build a LNG-terminal in Ukraine's southern region as the country aims to gain energy independence within five years." (UT : Jul. 17, 2015) (my emphasis)

 

Is it therefore any wonder that that Soviet dyed-in-the-wool Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has recently yet again tried to come up with all sorts of 'diplomatic and interpretive 'maskirovka' ploys' to try and emasculate the Minsk2 proposals, proposals that can rightly be regarded as Putin's Minsk2 proposals?

As I have stated above,

" ... true to form, Lavrov,

" ...... called on his Ukrainian counterpart to "resolve the questions concerning the constitutional reform project," aimed at offering more autonomy to the separatist regions, which Russia dismissed last week as just a parody of its obligations under the Minsk truce agreement." (ibid AFP) (my emphasis)"

Putin now has to time his budding offensive towards Mariupol with caution, lest his 'Novorossiya house of cards' comes tumbling down. 

Maybe, just maybe, it is finally dawning upon him that his 'weaponization of disinformation' is a very fickle weapon indeed. 

No matter how much money Putin throws at his 'disinformation weapons' of RT, Sputnik, and RT Ruptly in particular, the old adage still holds true that:

You can fool some of the people all of the time

All of the people some of the time

But you cannot fool all of the people ALL of the time

(to be continued)