No Russians among Slavyansk self-defense forces - NYT reporters

[Tommy_Carcetti]

55. Nothing that RT has put forward has indicated it is an objective news source.

Its chief editor tweeted out "Ukraine RIP" recently. Its use of "coup imposed interim government" and calling armed militants "protesters" and "activists" pretty much sum up where it stands. The reliance on loose cannon news sources like Phillips is just the beginning of it.

You lost me at the Santa Claus analogy, but all you need to know about Russian involvement in Ukraine is Crimea. Remember Crimea, and the little green armed men that started popping up soon after Yanukoych fled the country? Remember how Putin swore up and down that those weren't Russian military, that they were local self-defense forces? And then remember after all the dust settled in Crimea and that region had been absorbed into Russia, Putin went out and said, yeah, our guys were there?

Putin lied to us before. Now, with the exact same story in Eastern Ukraine, how can we expect him to be telling the truth now?

Regarding the Odessa riots, both Pro-Ukrainian and Pro-Russian individuals died in that horrible incident, and both sides share responsiblity. It was horrific, it was mob violence. But you can't honestly paint it as if the Pro-Ukrainian side just went over to the trade union building unprovoked and burnt it down, all while ignoring the fact that Pro-Russian gunmen were shooting people on the Pro-Ukrainian side from the rooftops in the run up to the fire. If you want objectivity, objectivity begins at home.