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What's REALLY Going On In Odessa, Ukraine
Ukrainian War Crimes Whitewashed by Western Press
After more than 30 people died in a fire in the Ukrainian seaside resort town of Odessa, most of the Western press pretended that no one knows what happened or whose fault it was. For example, see these stories from the Guardian and BBC.
But USA Today reports:
Witnesses and journalists reported that as the building burned with people inside, a crowd shouted, “Glory to Ukraine!” and “Death to enemies!” [These are neo-Nazi slogans.]
***
[T]he Associated Press reported that the Russian sympathizers took refuge in the trade union hall on Kulikovo Field Square after government supporters rousted their encampment outside and then burned their tents. Police said the building was set on fire with Molotov cocktails.
At 5 seconds into this 15-second video, you can see a Molotov cocktail being thrown at the building in which the Russian sympathizers:
Former Associated Press and Newsweek reporter Robert Parry points out how bad New York Times coverage of the Odessa attack has been:
On Saturday, for instance, the dominant story from Ukraine was the killing of more than 30 ethnic Russian protesters by fire and smoke inhalation in Ukraine’s southern port city of Odessa. They had taken refuge in a union building after a clash with a pro-Kiev mob which reportedly included right-wing thugs.
Even the neocon-dominated Washington Post led its Saturday editions with the story of “Dozens killed in Ukraine fighting” and described the fatal incident this way: “Friday evening, a pro-Ukrainian mob attacked a camp where the pro-Russian supporters had pitched tents, forcing them to flee to a nearby government building, a witness said. The mob then threw gasoline bombs into the building. Police said 31 people were killed when they choked on smoke or jumped out of windows.
“Asked who had thrown the Molotov cocktails, pro-Ukrainian activist Diana Berg said, ‘Our people – but now they are helping them [the survivors] escape the building.’” [Here's the Post story.]
By contrast, here is how the New York Times reported the event in its Saturday editions as part of a story by C.J. Chivers and Noah Sneider focused on the successes of the pro-coup armed forces in overrunning some eastern Ukrainian rebel positions.
“Violence also erupted Friday in the previously calmer port city of Odessa, on the Black Sea, where dozens of people died in a fire related to clashes that broke out between protesters holding a march for Ukrainian unity and pro-Russian activists. The fighting itself left four dead and 12 wounded, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said. Ukrainian and Russian news media showed images of buildings and debris burning, fire bombs being thrown and men armed with pistols.”
Note how the Times evades placing any responsibility on the pro-coup mob for trying to burn the “pro-Russian activists” out of a building, an act that resulted in the highest single-day death toll since the actual coup which left more than 80 people dead from Feb. 20-22. From reading the Times, you wouldn’t know who had died in the building and who had set the fire.
Billmon comments:
Not even “atrocities were commited,” just a fire “related” to clashes that “broke out.” Immaculate conception theory of war crimes.
Postscript: While the Western press tries to paint the percentage of neo Nazis within the new Ukrainian government as small, the leader of the “protests” which ousted the previous president of Ukraine is a neo Nazi and follower of WWII Nazi sympathizer Stepan Bandera, and neo Nazis are largely in control of the new government.
Whatever You Think of Putin, You Should Understand How Russia Thinks
Even if you think Putin is a tyrant with ambitions to build an imperial Russia, you can’t understand the war in Ukraine unless you understand how Russians think.
20 million Russians died fighting the Nazis in World War II.
Neo Nazis just killed at least 42 Russians when they firebombed a building in Odessa, Ukraine that the Russians had taken shelter in.
Agence France-Presse reports:
Russian official rhetoric has increasingly compared events in Ukraine to the darkest crimes of Nazi Germany, ahead of next week’s anniversary of Soviet victory in World War II.
***
The fire in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa that claimed at least 42 lives on Friday has been swiftly dubbed a new “reprisal raid” and even the “new Khatyn,” a reference to the Belarussian village where 149 residents were burned alive by the Nazis in 1943.
***
The Khatyn massacre went down in Russian history books as one of the Nazis’ most brutal “reprisal raids,” a term the Kremlin has now adopted to describe the offensive Kiev authorities have launched against pro-Moscow rebels in the flashpoint town of Slavyansk.
***
“What has happened, especially in the Trade Unions House, brings to mind the crimes of the Nazis during World War II,” pro-Kremlin lawmaker Leonid Slutsky told reporters in Moscow, referring to the Odessa fire.
“These are the new Khatyn and Auschwitz.”
A senior official in the pro-Kremlin government of Crimea, Ukraine’s peninsula taken over by Russia in March, chimed in.
“The last time people were burned alive in Ukraine was by the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War,” Rustam Temirgaliyev said on Facebook, referring to the Russian name for World War II.
***
Russia’s losses and sacrifice during World War II remain a hugely sensitive subject in the country ….
To the extent that the U.S. and Nato are backing the right-wing Ukrainians, we are creating conditions that the Russian leadership – rightly or wrongly – considers an existential threat.
»
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Just to chime in..
What I find aggravating is how TPTB/MSM fooled the population into thinking that Communists are on the far left and fascists/Nazis are on the far right. Even the editorial staff at RT (who I heard label the neo-fascists in Ukraine “right wing”) do not all understand that Communism and Fascism are but two flavors of the same socializing ideology.
Like how do you say “National Socialist German Workers Party” in German.. and did they go by another name?
A true far right winger is either a bomb thrower who wants to abolish ALL government or a hermit.
the analogy works fine if you consider that the wingtips meet, forming a circular political spectrum
B/MSM fooled the population into thinking that Communists are on the far left and fascists/Nazis are on the far right. Even the editorial staff at RT (who I heard label the neo-fascists in Ukraine “right wing”) do not all understand that Communism and Fascism are but two flavors of the same socializing ideology.
___________________________
They might not understand it because they live the antagonism.
That nazis are not right wing is another fantasy 'americans' like to take shelter in. At least, right wing 'americans'
In early 2012 Svoboda was criticized in domestic and international media after party member Yuri Sirotyuk said that Ukrainian pop star Gaitana, who is of African descent, was a poor choice to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 because she was "not an organic representative of the Ukrainian culture"
Sirotyuk stated that "It looks like we don't want to show our face, and Ukraine will be associated with a different continent, somewhere in Africa.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-slyJxLDZsk4/T9o4WOJGteI/AAAAAAAAGJY/bkgTkNUM2ac/s1600/Gaitana+Euro+2012+%282%29.jpg
Is there anything wrong with Sirotiuk's statement?
I find it OK.
She was there because the tribe runs the show.
the soft, hedonistic, smallish West, led by US,UK, France, etc. does not have , in 2014, what it would take to survive (on top) an "all-out exchange". better stock up!
You are joking? The west has better equipment, better training, better weapons systems. But the most important thing is that it has less corruption.
If Russia stands for one thing then that thing is CORRUPTION. It is corruption on the level of oligarchs directly raiding the till and funneling state money into private bank accounts.
Corruption in Western politics due to political influence peddling is one thing but RUSSIA takes the cake for full contact State criminality.
Are you out of your mind?? Less corruption - hilarious!! The west is rife with corruption. Our politicians, our presstitute media, corporations, the way we worship money above all else. We are corrupt to the core.
...important thing is that it has less corruption...
Wow...You REALLY showed your colors there...
(Along with all the personal attacks...)
Just hope you get some professional help...
>>... The west has better ... But the most important thing is that it has less corruption
Welcome to ZH. You'll find without searching endless articles detailing financial and political corruption along with military scandles, mostly in the Western world, that's mostly. I suggest you bookmark the site and read a bit, alternatively foxnews, my america could do with your phone in
Novictim is a troll and not a good one. He has only been a member of ZH for 34 weeks. He joined around the time that EU agreement with Ukraine was not signed and went out the window. He is somebody's pet.
and what's his point anyway?
Like, as if a nation of 143 million is somehow not expected to or disallowed from responding to a hostile outsider force instigated revolution on its front doorstep because it is over some line of corruption that novictim has arbitrarily set?
That's right. And more, why should we on ZH buy all the crap that he and the MSM are spewing out? Most of us don't trust either side. We just want to know the truth.
" But the most important thing is that it has less corruption."
Oh yeah, dood, for sure!
Like, all the markets being rigged, the US Supreme Court being the number one enable of regulatory capture, i.e., the complete ownership by Wall Street of the US Congress and politicians, the complete criminalization of Americans, part and parcel of privatization, deregulation, globalization, etc., etc., better known as allow only serfs to exist.
You aren't a regular read at this site, obviously, dood.....
that guy in the picture must be the father of the young man standing in front, otherwise they look identical.
Well George, if this were 1942 and you were a Russian soldier and I were a Ukrainian I would have no problem putting on a black uniform and cutting you down. There is a reason these people lean the way they do. The filthy communists saw to that. I'm not excusing the massacre of people in that building by any means. I'm just saying that the people in that building should have known better based on what their forbearers did to the forebearers of their opponents.
All this blood was earned a long time ago. We should not intervene nor should we condemn.
Soviet soldier would be correct...not "Russian"
"If I were a Ukrainian"
maybe if you know what you talking about would be better start firstly...
You can't define what is "a Ukrainian"
For some reason I can't add an edit.
What I want to add is that I'm just sick and tired of you condemning one group of bad guys while giving the other side a pass. Evil tyrants are evil tryants and all deserve to be exposed, ridiculed and riddled with bullets. These people in Ukraine have been the doormats for tyrants for centuries and you blame them for having extremist attitudes...
You cannot edit because I responded. And I agree that it's not as simple as "Russia GOOD, Ukraine/USA BAD," but I really do not like fascists. There are a lot of different groups on the ground in Ukraine, and a lot of them were simply pissed off about the corruption. I'm fine with them, and I think there was/is a lot of corruption in Ukraine. But a lot of them want to use peaceful means when there are others who don't give a shit and will use violence. Therein lies the problem. Who is going to win that fight? You have to look at the flip side also, and see what the Nazis did to Russia, and figure on how ethnic Russians are going to react when they see Svoboda and Right Sektor running wild. The two groups don't need to have a majority the power to cause an adverse reaction. They just need to be the ones who get away with wielding force without Keiv opposition to cause that reaction. The whole situation is completely fucked, and is likely to get very, very ugly, with a bunch of innocents who just want to live their lives getting caught in between, and the US has had a hand in the events leading up to this.
Ukraine is caught in a tug-o-war between the West and Russia. Russia is going to look out for Russian interests. The West is going to look out for the interests of NATO bases and international carpet baggers.
Khatyn Masscare was in Belarus ( north of Minsk,) orchestrated by the Germans of the day, March 22 1943, and then there's the Katyn Massacre of Poland, September 1939, perptrated by the Russians (Stalin). Two historical perspectives, to better understand all sides of those geographically located in the region.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khatyn_massacre
https://en.wikipediThe Katyn massacre
Two Wikipedia articles quoted yet there are many more references of both incidents if one searchs, for those who doubt ( and understandably so) the validity of Wikilpedia articles.
Be a little careful about what is written about the Germans, as they have no friends
in the publishing business..
Better balance with some "revisionist" history" and learn...cui bono..
some will find Suvorov's "Ice Breaker" and "The Chief Culprit" revealing..
I was personally told about subject of these books in 1980 from older German, former SS Officer.
Vaq, please define what you think it is to be a fascist in the 21st century and tell us how the Russian elites and military/Industrial sector connections DO NOT fit a definition for "FASCIST".
Or do young people who dress Goth and look "scary" equal "Fascist" to you?
And while I'm on it, I don't know or want to know where you live. But have you observed peaceful protests in your home area where a small group of radical leftists (black flag) or Birchers (fascists) show up and start creating provocations that attempt to sully the legitimacy of the march?
Now, do you know that the FBI and Military intelligence in the USA has sent undercover folks into peaceful rallies to disrupt the events? This is well documented.
And did you know that RUSSIAN military intelligence provacateurs (and likely FSB agents) are widely suspected of similar activities in Ukraine?
So, Vaq, when you evaluate the nature of the confict in Ukraine based on the outliers, you do a horrible injustice to the Ukrainian people and their national aspirations.
Go fuck yourself. And I mean what I write.
It's good to know that you aren't always exactly straight forward and truthful.
Now go fuck yourself. I'm done responding to you.
Sins of the father visited upon the son. I have a visceral gut reaction against that kind of thinking.
So does any thinking person.
But consider that the Russian elite, most especially Princess Purin, have a direct pedigree back to the "Good 'ol Days" of shooting people trying to leave Soviet Territory? Of phony legal trials, torture, confiscation, dissapearances, extortion, cold blooded assasinations on the streets of foreign capitals of dissident Russians?
Princess Putin is not the son...he is the Father in this tragedy. And the followers of this evil Father are trying to wreck and invade Ukraine.
Vaq, do you have a visceral reaction to a free people being invaded by a larger, more powerful neighbor?
get lost idiot
After you accused me of being a Russian agent above, I'm going to tell you to go fuck yourself.
That is all.
Heads up, Vaq. I write for the other readers.
You can take my comments to you as rhetorical statements. Except for this: Eat shit and die.
Putin should hesitate for not one more minute.
So let us say that Princess Putin invades Ukraine this instant. What then? Where does he send his tanks and troops? How many? How far West does he go?
A month from the start of this invasion, what then for Czarina Vladima?
After he loses 10K young Russian troops and the Ukrainians loose 100k young Ukrainian resistance fighters, what then?
A year from the start of this invasion, what then for the littlest Princess in the Kremlin?
With images of atrocities and the blood of the Ukrainian people all over his filthy glass slippers and wedding dress, what then for the future of Russia and its largest Slavic neighbor?
What happens when the horror of this criminal move settles on the Russian people and then they realize that all the corruption and embezzlement under Princess Putin is WORSE THAN EVER??
There will not be a lamppost high enough in all of Russia from which to hang the glass skippered Princess to satisfy the anger he will have created.
Novictim, you must be an ass clown shill for a bought off ukrainian politician. "Fight and kill russians or you wont get any IMF money!" lmao. way to take sides, dude. The incredibly corrupt state america is now in - across the spectrum mind you - is far worse than whatever corruption putin has to offer ukraine. The downright evil activity that set this whole mess up should speak volumes to you as far as who the real bad guys are. You are a fool to think the west has any better alternatives. Russia never threatened military action when ukraine, on numerous occasions throughout the years defaulted and stole gas from them. It was always an issue of accounting. Leave it to the scheming u.s. neocons and their israeli ear whisperers to recognize an opportunity to tear another innocent country to shreds, and you've totally bought into the bs. Putin may be corrupt, to a degree, but at least his aim is clear. The other team? Their plotting is evil and insideous, serves a select group of powerful parties who have world domination and a very long time frame in mind, and as an end game will result in abject servidude or the destruction of the country.
Are you scheduled to rim nulands ass all night long again? Does she tell you to lie on your back and open your mouth so she can take a huge crap in it while you nod your head in eager anticipation? Maybe she'll have you help make molotovs with the cia directed nn's to burn alive more unarmed protesting russians. Yeah, FUCK russia, man.
intrica8, corruption is worse than ever in the USA. Yes.
Regarding the IMF, it is logical that before they invest money in Ukraine that they make sure there will be a Ukraine to PAY THEM BACK.
Isn't this Zero Hedge?
Did I miss something that I should be explaining investments to you?
Regarding the corruption in Princess Putin's Novorussia, you need to review the case of Sergei Magnitsky. Then we will be on the same page with regard to corruption and who has it worse. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Magnitsky)
As it now stands, your ignorance in comparing the corruption in Russia to that of the USA is astounding.
ramble on
except for all those 'ukrainians' who spent the better part of their lives considering themselves as part of the USSR who will breathe a sigh of releif at the sight of Russian armed forces - given that 2 decades of western freedom has failed to deliver them any kind of promised utopia.
I wouldnt blame putin if he intervenes- but you are right in asking how far west does he go? - because wherever he stops, you will then have the same problems reoccurring just over whatever the new border is.
The best that he can do is announce to the world - before rolling with the tanks - that he is sending in the troops to oversee referendums, invite th UN to participate, and then actually abide by the decisions of the people and relinquish territory if the ukrainians vote against reintegration with russia
GW wrote: "The design on the girls’ shirt on the right is the same as on the shirt of the Ukrainian neo Nazi with the unusual hairdo"
No it isn't. The girl's shirt has the official Coat of Arms of Ukraine, the Tryzub.
And, btw, there are plenty of uploaded videos on youtube from Odessa showing very peaceful Ukrainians trying to help those trapped in the burning building. If the tables had been turned, the Russians/pro-Russians wouldn't have helped anyone.
LOL! It is a privilege to be down-arrowed by you morons.
However, please notice that the article has been edited and no longer contains the picture of the girls preparing MCs any longer.
This is fucking journalism at its finest. Zerohedge has passed from being a useful site to tabloid garbage.
oh, and BTW, ZH, you are mixing and matching old photos from the Maidan Protests in December. Claiming that these are from Odessa? Shameful, as are your editorial comments telling us NAZI this and Fascist that, that is not journalism. That is Propaganda.
Ukraine! Yes!
Freedom! Yes!
Equal Rights for Minorities! Yes!
Russia? No! Russian nationalists, "GO HOME TO MOTHER RUSSIA!"
Freedom for who? The neo-Nazi's are chasing Jews out of Kiev, spray painting swastika's on Synagogues.
Does Ukraine really want to become Greece, or Detroit?
might notice they aren't chasing oligarchs...
that would end their employment
Jews are chased in Detroit? Greece maybe with the golden dawn thing (and yet)
Fail.
This is a deliberate conflation of various photos to provide a sweeping impression that has been DEBUNKED by observers on the ground.
If there are anti-Jewish or anti-minority forces operating in Odessa and Ukraine it is coming from the Russian Ultra Nationalists and their Kremlin commissars and special forces units.
You want to undermine American support for the Ukrainian people fighting for their country against the agents of the Kremlin and now you are so desperate you resort to blatant lies and phonied up images.
Mr. Ivandjiiski, what is Moscow paying you? Is it worth it?
To the PayMasters for Mr. Ivandjiiski:
Ukraine can never now turn back to Russia. Your actions have seen to that. You blew it and now you are compounding the error.
All you are doing in funding ZH is propagating "bad blood" at the street level. That will cost you in bad Ukraine-Russian relations for DECADES! STUPID!
Yes, Svoboda changed its symbolism a few years back so as not to rile people. That makes them OK, because they means that they gave up their ultra-nationalistic authoritarian fascist views.
/sarc
Fuck all fascists, no matter what flag they drape themselves in.
And no, I don't blame all Ukrainians for the BS that is going on, but it does appear that Svoboda and Right Sektor are the ones most willing to use brutal force in an atrocious manner.
This is a battle between:
the Ukrainian people who love their country and want to be in control of their own destiny for good or worse...
AND
the Russian elite who want to control Ukraine "because they have the right to do so".
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If you had a grasp of history, Vaq, then you would see the bloody hand of the Russian FSB (former KGB/former Checka) and the Russian special forces at work here. But instead, you focus on a radically inflated proportional influence of this "Right Sector" and play down to the point of ignoring the legitimate aspirations of Ukrainians for control over their homeland.
In fact, Vaq, your position and statements seem so loaded and lopsided I suspect you are a Russian Nationalist or paid by some Russian funded PR firm.
Russia gave Ukraine their independence, but like any country on earth, they still have regional interests to ensure their national security. Are you familiar with the term 'national security', or is that a concern the u.s. is only afforded? If the west wants to move in and destabilize the ukraine, and there were major signs of that though that plan is yet unrealized, would you expect Russia to sit idly by and permit them to work their plot freely, without a moments concern? you are obtuse and delusional.
You have a road, just ONE road that runs from your tract of land through a neighboring property that you sold sometime ago. You and your neighbor basically get along and he is almost done paying off the land through direct terms you both worked out, though he is way behind on his milk bill with you. Thats ok, cause you guys have worked out terms. That road is crucial to getting your chickens, eggs and other goods out into the marketplace so you keep things civil. Lo and behold, some shyster from city council got wind of your situation and comes up with an idea. He realizes that if he puts both of you on very bad terms with each other, he can opportunistically step in and extend his own loan at higher terms to help your neighbor pay off his property, huge milk bill, etc. Not only that, this bastards plan is to influence the neighbor into controlling the road to the point where it affects your entire livelihood. His real goal is to have control over the affairs of BOTH properties, even though he doesnt own either of them.
So what does this city council bastard with power and money do? He starts bad mouthing you in the local press. He says how you are racist, a thug farmer who charges way too much for his milk and eggs. He brings his friends in for loud parties late at night so you cant sleep. He hires people to picket against your unfair business practices, dumps rubbish on your land without you knowing and hires punks to verbally antagonize you, hoping you hit one of them in the face so they can sue you for all you're worth.
Why is he doing this? Who knows. Maybe its because you supported his opponent during the election. or because you refused to take out your property loan from a local bank owned by his sister. maybe its simply because your grandfather hated his grandfather because he was a crooked businessman who exploited others around town. In any case, its for power, control and money. I feel sorry for this farmer.
I don't accept as "legitimate" any US military interventions into any soveriegn country unless in WAR. I marched and wrote many letters, for instance, against the support for the Contras.
I do believe that countries can use non-military means, however. Russia has gas. Let them employ that card, not the military and not the provocateurs/saboteurs they are using now.
intrica8, I would hope that decent people would feel the same way.
BTW:
Russia and Ukraine signed a treaty in the 1994 called the Bucharest Memorandum where Ukraine gave up all its Nukes in return for a guarantee that Moscow would respect its territory.
The taking of Crimea was a crime. Russia is now --very busy-- creating a angry and large population of Ukrainians where before there was merely annoyance.
intrica, you should be working hard to get rid of Putin. He has done more damage to Russia in the name of his "Novorussia" than anything the USA or EU could ever have accomplished.
83% of Ukraine's 45million people are now not only facing the fear of Russia but may lose their children in their new fight for independence. FEAR becomes HATE.
Russia will have to deal with the hate of Ukrainians for many many years.
your duality is hopelessly flawed
"the Ukrainian people who love their country and want to be in control of their own destiny for good or worse"
will never get their own destiny delivered to them even if Russia implodes tomorrow, because the bastard imperialists of the US and the IMF have absolutely no intentions for the Ukraine other than for teir own selfish powermad purposes.
Not that the Russians are more moral, but they are less hypocritical. they dont swan around the globe with this enforced image of angelic civilized virtue when the West's realpolitik actions are so unrelentingly despotic. At least the Russians have the good sense to be demure about their realpolitik despotism.
"if Russia implodes tomorrow"...what are you talking about! Does Russia appear to be imploding? Are you saying that if Russia is denied Ukraine as one of their slave-states then it will "Implode"? Nuts.
Ukraine is at this very instant attempting to take control of its own path.
The blather about Imperalism should be directed at Russia, you dingbat. Haven't you bothered educate yourself on the history of Russia and what Putin refers to as "Novorussia"?
The "imperial" talk is straight from PUTIN HIMSELF. Squid, I really can't believe you are that stupid.
After a good period of chaos, your country will break apart along the Donetsk river. You'll lose Odessa too, after that priceless democracy stunt, yesterday.
No amount of American or NATo butt kissing will change that.
Deal with it !