Russia: Ukraine's NATO ambitions threaten talks
Source: AP-Excite
By NATALIYA VASILYEVA and JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG
MOSCOW (AP) Russia's foreign minister warned Thursday that Ukraine's NATO ambitions are threatening to derail peace talks in eastern Ukraine. Undeterred, Ukraine's president began a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama and other top NATO leaders in Wales.
Russia and Ukraine said Wednesday they are working on a deal to halt months of fighting in eastern Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin spelled out a seven-point plan for ending hostilities and expressed hope for a breakthrough at talks in Minsk, Belarus, on Friday.
But Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in televised remarks Thursday that statements by senior government officials in Kiev that Ukraine will be seeking to join NATO are "a blatant attempt to derail all the efforts" to seek a peaceful solution in Ukraine.
NATO leaders are meeting this week for a summit at a golf resort in southern Wales. Before official proceedings began, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko attended a meeting with Obama and leaders of four major European powers in the alliance: British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi
FULL story at link.
Unmarked military vehicles burn on a country road in the village of Berezove, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014, after a clash between pro-government troops and Russian-backed separatist militia. Separatist rebels have made major strides in their offensive against Ukrainian government forces in recent days, drawing on what Ukraine and NATO says is ample support from the Russian military. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140904/eu-ukraine-361f014f49.html
Billy Budd
(310 posts)Democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovych pledged on Feb. 21 -- in an agreement guaranteed by three European nations -- to surrender much of his power and hold early elections so he could be voted out of office if the people wanted.
However, on Feb. 22, the agreement was brushed aside as neo-Nazi militias stormed presidential buildings and forced Yanukovych and other officials to flee for their lives.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)Billy Budd
(310 posts)NOT
IronGate
(2,186 posts)Billy Budd
(310 posts)IronGate
(2,186 posts)Billy Budd
(310 posts)with reactionaries who snark then explain their snark as not being snark.....
IronGate
(2,186 posts)BuckeyeBrad
(15 posts)Billy Budd
(310 posts)go to this article
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Fascists-Units-and-Regular-by-Michael-Collins-Euromaidan_Fascist_Military-Defeat_Petro-Poroshenko-140904-823.html
Right at the start of the article there is a photograph attributed to image by WikiCommons
in that picture look at the insignia on the second man from right ...I would say read the article however I know I just know you are never going to do something that radical ...
BuckeyeBrad
(15 posts)Actually read an Al-Jazeera U.S. article on the Azov Battalion and their volunteers from neo-Nazi type groups from around the world. Ukraine's military is in worse shape than I thought if they are relying so much on groups that consider the new president the enemy too.
Billy Budd
(310 posts)Because they got their butts handed to them when they went to east Ukraine to kill people on behalf of the President....
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,199 posts)He helicoptered out several hours later.
Bottom line, he had no intention of sticking around, agreement or not.
When he left Kiev, police naturally stopped obeying his orders. That's why the protesters made it up to the Parliament the following day, when they had been denied access before. Yanukovych was long gone at that point.
Billy Budd
(310 posts)Sidestepping Ukraine's "N-Word" for Nazi
Typically, in the U.S. press, Ukraines neo-Nazis are called nationalists, a term with a rather patriotic and positive ring to it. Left out is the fact that these nationalists carry Nazi banners and trace their ideological lineage back to Adolf Hitlers Ukrainian auxiliary, the Galician SS, and to Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, whose paramilitary forces slaughtered thousands upon thousands of Poles and Jews.
Other MSM references to the Nazis are even more obscure. For instance, the neo-Nazi militias are sometimes called volunteer brigades, which makes them sound like the Boy Scouts or the Rotary Club. But usually there is just the simple omission of the Nazi N-word.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,199 posts)It's just the latest Robert Parry screed.
Do you have anything relevant to the circumstances of Yanukovych's departure, or do you want to throw out more non-sequiturs?
Billy Budd
(310 posts)who objected to the correct identification of the Kiev junta as Nazis ....the facts as I put them on there stand ....you made unfounded claim...that the violence going on in Maiden square had othing to do with Yanukovych leaving ...it was just an unfortunate coincidence he left when he did ....nothing to do with the rioting of course
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,199 posts)Have you seen the video tape of Yanukovych packing up his belongings over the time period of February 19th-early morning February 22nd?
If not, I'll gladly show it to you, but I hardly see how what I said is unfounded. Please, go ahead and enlighten me if you so wish.
Also, the presence of the Azov Battalion--a small private militia unaffiliated with the Ukrainian government--hardly qualifies the "Kiev junta" (as you call it) as being "neo-Nazi".
I would suggest removing your head from Robert Parry's posterior.
Billy Budd
(310 posts)just a coincidence he decided to leave .. a video of him leaving ....noi I have not ...have you seen the video of the rioting...have you heard of the mystery snipers....shooting Police and protesters alike ...
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,199 posts)That means, like it or not, he had no interest in sticking around regardless.
And he packed over a 3 day period, carting away literally truckloads of valuable oil paintings and antiques. It was hardly the case of someone running for his own life.
Billy Budd
(310 posts)not the rioting...he was leaving for other reasons than the rioting...that is an unfounded claim
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,199 posts)I'm not saying his hand wasn't forced to some extent by the protests. It was. The protesters wanted him out, and ultimately he left.
But the whole narrative that he was overthrown in a "coup" is completely false.
Billy Budd
(310 posts)...he left normally ...no coup...leaving had nothing to do with violence....Bush was hated by the people...how come he did not leave?
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,199 posts)Webster's definition of "Coup d'état":
: a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics; especially : the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coup%20d'%C3%A9tat
Webster's definition of "revolution":
: the usually violent attempt by many people to end the rule of one government and start a new one
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/revolution
Now, you tell me which one is a better description for what happened in Ukraine:
Billy Budd
(310 posts)When the EU mediated a deal between the opposition and the government, I thought Yanukovich had dodged the bullet. Not quite. In parsing the circumstances of Yanukovichs downfall, it is interesting to look for the machinations of Victoria Nuland, the State Department neo-con (wife of Robert Kagan) who was apparently given a free hand in matters Ukrainian by President Obama
http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2014/02/25/u-s-played-hardball-ukraine/
Ukraines richest man Rinat Akhmetov, the owner of the Shakhtar Donetsk football club, is having a possibly decisive influence on Ukraines standoff between the security forces and protesters. Akhmetov has long been seen as a leading ally of President Viktor Yanukovych. He has bankrolled the ruling Regions Party which he formerly represented in parliament as an MP, and harks from the eastern Donetsk region that is the presidents stronghold. But in a possible turning point in a crisis that has raised fears of a prolonged civil conflict, Akhmetov on Saturday issued a strong statement warning that the use of force against protesters was unacceptable and the only way forward was negotiations.
..................
However his reasons for being so strongly against the use of a state of emergency to forcefully end the protests may not be entirely altruistic. According to the influential news site Ukrainska Pravda, visiting US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland warned Akhmetov at a secret meeting when she visited Kiev in December that he and other wealthy backers of the Regions Party could face EU and US sanctions if the police used force against the protesters. For a businessman with an international reputation and properties outside of Ukraine, including a luxury town house in London, this was clearly an unwelcome prospect.
.....................................
So what happened after the EU brokered a transitional, power-sharing sort of deal with the EU? The truce broke but how did the truce break?Fearing that a call for a truce was a ruse, protesters tossed firebombs and advanced upon police lines Thursday in Ukraines embattled capital. Government snipers shot back and the almost-medieval melee that ensued left at least 70 people dead and hundreds injured, according to a protest doctor.
So, by a less-than-generous view, it might be suspected that the United States encouraged demonstrators to break the truce, with the expectation that violence would occur and Yanukovichs equivocal fat cat backers, such as Akhmetov, would jump ship because the US had already informed them that their assets in the West would be at risk under US and EU sanctions.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,199 posts)The EU deal was the evening of February 21st. Yanukovych started packing February 19th. He left early morning on February 22nd, which by the way was before the Rada vote to remove him on the basis that he had abandoned his duties.
The EU deal meant nothing to Yanukovych. He wouldn't have stuck around regardless.
Billy Budd
(310 posts)they had been packing for many weeks...it had nothing to do with the NVA armored column being nearby....he left to spend time with family not because of the violence and his knowledge that his allies had been warned off supporting him by the US EU ...I now see that .Not
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,199 posts)....and stayed around until the expedited elections took place, everything would have been fine.
Which is great, perhaps, except that the timeline shows he already planned on leaving before the EU deal was brokered. So it totally negates what you said earlier, which was:
Democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovych pledged on Feb. 21 -- in an agreement guaranteed by three European nations -- to surrender much of his power and hold early elections so he could be voted out of office if the people wanted.
However, on Feb. 22, the agreement was brushed aside as neo-Nazi militias stormed presidential buildings and forced Yanukovych and other officials to flee for their lives.
To make this simple for you, an easy timeline:
Feb. 19--Yanukovych begins packing up his mansion, as per video surveillance tape
Feb. 20--Sniper shootings on Maidan
Feb. 21--EU deal brokered that would have kept Yanukovych in power but sped up elections
Feb. 22 (early morning)--Yanukovych's helicopter fleet departs his estate
Feb. 22 (afternoon)--Rada votes to remove Yanukovych for abandoning his duties as president
You get it now?
Billy Budd
(310 posts)and it had nothing to do with the US State Department, Nuland or the violence ....he just packed up and left of his own volition....I don't know how without you [LOL] I would have discovered truth...its Gold Jerry Its Gold....
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,199 posts)Or do you just try to twist the subject and pretend you didn't say what you just said once you've been discredited?
I mean, now you're going onto Valerie Nuland at this point.
Billy Budd
(310 posts)and it had absolutely nothing to do with any violence that might have been by coincidence going on ...what is the argument....
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,199 posts)Whether or not there was violence at the Maidan protests and whether or not the Maidan protesters wanted Yanukovych out is not central to your original point.
He was already packing for nearly three days at the point of time that the EU deal was brokered, and he left just a couple hours after the ink dried. So the EU deal is a red herring here. He wasn't going to abide by it anyways. He had already made up his mind to go.
Billy Budd
(310 posts)on why that might have been...he was aware of things going on that would make that agreement to end the violence fail....like I said...I am sure the US Embassy in Saigon was packing too just in case....your Central point is he was leaving no matter what ...you do not stop to think why he may have been packing....your position is "Pontious Pilate hand washing"....
"The U.S. and NATO, which supported the February putsch, have been gravitating ever closer geographically to the former USSR with evident ill intent since the Soviet implosion over two decades ago. Crimeas decisive 97% vote to join Russia was exploited by Washington and its European Union allies to justify increasingly aggressive sanctions against Moscow, the military strengthening of former members of the Soviet Union now within NATO, and the formation of what the New York Times September 4 referred to as a rapid deployment force intended to respond to future Russian military threats.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,199 posts)So you are saying that Yanukovych knew the agreement would fail but signed it anyways but would have stayed around anyways except that he had already been packing up for three days at that point?
You're all over the place.
Billy Budd
(310 posts)he signed agreement to save himself and administration but subsequent monitoring of feedback by him including key politics/financial allies led him to believe it was not going to work.....he had a plan A and a Plan B anyone would...except you...you would have packed only if bullets were already incoming...
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,199 posts)So what you're saying is that during those few hours between signing the EU deal and him flying out just north of midnight, he only then realized the deal wasn't going to work?
And him packing up his huge oil painting and antique collection meant what? What person in supposed imminent fear for his life would even take such care to pack up seemingly frivolous belongings like that?
Occam's Razor is cutting you up pretty badly at this point.
Billy Budd
(310 posts)BUT I feel uncut...whole...its not me believing the US State department line on the Ukraine...I leave that to you ...after all the US state Department has the sterling record on Truth eh...
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,199 posts)Because Valerie Nuland's coup cookies, right?
Billy Budd
(310 posts)and someone with chocolate chip cookies.....she said "Fk the European Union"
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,199 posts)I wish I could win a free vacation to Hawaii.
And that the Baltimore Orioles would win the World Series this year. And who knows, maybe they will!
Billy Budd
(310 posts)bringing cookies to support dissidents in the USA at the Occupy Wall Street protests or even at Ferguson, Mo......
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,199 posts)You could also bring apples and/or oranges. Or smoked herring.
Billy Budd
(310 posts)Yanukovich has been elected as President of Ukraine in 2010, he then changed the constitution in the same year to get a greatly expanded set of powers. So, no, President Yanukovich as per 2014 definition of President has not been a democratically elected one
Billy Budd
(310 posts)If it was OK to do that ....
samsingh
(17,601 posts)Igel
(35,359 posts)But every "fear" is an excuse to do something aggressive that NATO doesn't much respond to.
It's just that the more nations in NATO, the harder the job of dismantling NATO and the harder the job of expanding the territory under de facto Russian hegemony.
Russia was caught napping with the Baltics and N-Central Europe. It managed to neutralize Moldova, thought Ukraine was safe, has Armenia's support and has neutralized Georgia and Azerbaijan. It's southern periphery was thought secure until
Ukraine objected to being too close to Russia. Being in the EU would have satisfied people; but the response was batty and has just terrified former imperial territories of Russia.
Billy Budd
(310 posts)and afraid of the US too
Gallup poll, 2013:
Question asked: Which country do you think is the greatest threat to peace in the world today?
Replies:
United States 24%
Pakistan 8%
China 6%
Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea, each 5%
India, Iraq, Japan, each 4%
Syria 3%
Russia 2%
Australia, Germany, Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Korea, UK, each 1%
Billy Budd
(310 posts)of Russian Missiles in Cuba ...why would that be ?
Billy Budd
(310 posts)CNN has reported that the regime in Kiev launched several short-range ballistic missiles into eastern Ukraine - each missile containing warheads of up to 1,000 lbs (450 kg). The missiles fired were OTR-21 Tochka also known by their NATO reporting name as SS-21 Scarabs and are considered far from "precision" weapons....bombing their own citizens with ballistic missiles...nice...
elias49
(4,259 posts)Jan Oberg, co-founder of the Sweden-based Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, told RIA Novosti on Friday.
The US, NATO and European Union carry at least 80 percent of the responsibility for Ukraine's crisis due to the foreign-provoked regime change in Kiev and the EU ultimatum to Ukraine about either joining the EU or the eastern Customs Union, Oberg said.