Even Russian human rights body finds Crimean referendum falsified

[karynnj]

39. I suspect that the MIRT team has several users identified as suspicious,

but they may need something that crosses the line before they expel them. There are many long time DU people who might quote the same sources, but it is clear where they are coming from -- mainly a distrust for the interventions of the US. With some of the new people, their language does not quite ring true.

One thing that has to be questioned is anyone who thinks that finding something wrong in the actions of the US/EU/Ukraine interim government automatically means that Russia is in the right.

Yesterday, I saw a very good article and even better series of comments (including from the journalist of the article) on Al Jazeera. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/05/ukraine-lies-propaganda-west-age-20145384527678726.html More than anything else I have read, the combination of the article and the comments did show the different perspectives. It is interesting that the article which starts with an "anti western" perspective ends up in the discussion at a far more neutral place.

Most interesting is that the journalist brings up the promise of the Bush 1 administration not to have NATO move eastward - essentially agreeing to forever keeping those countries in Russia's sphere of influence. In the comments, the question is asked of whether that disrespects the preferences of people in those countries.

This discussion explained more clearly to me why -- that these countries should be able to have economic and other ties both ways (which seemed totally reasonable to me) could be seen by Russia as a loss - and one they refuse to accept. It explains why Russia's narrative starts with the ousting of the President -- not the President's rejection of ties with EU in spite of the fact that he actually ran for election calling for them.