War in Ukraine

http://annaraccoon.com/2014/05/12/the-bitter-legacy-of-the-western-ukraine/

Well worth reading.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/05/12/separatist-organizers-ukraine-self-rule-referendums-claim-overwhelming-victory/?intcmp=latestnews

"The farce, which terrorists call the referendum, will have no legal consequences except the criminal responsibility for its organizers," Ukraine's acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said in a statement Monday.

Sez the unelected president that was put into power after a bloody coup backed by Washington, and whose troops have been gunning down civilians for weeks.

And Obama needn't start, a good few of his votes came from dead people. And who can forget the Hanging Chads farce?

That's a really good piece by Ms. Raccoon as usual.

Have steam coming out of my ears about this side of affairs.      

The situation is grotesque, IMO, Lily. I wouldn't claim for one minute that everything about yesterday's referendum was done 100% strictly by the book, but it is a very fair Vox Pop.

What is Washington going to do? Force the south-east to put up with rule from Kiev at the point of a gun? Because I can't see any other way the south-east is going to stay in the Ukraine.

And I blame Washington ENTIRELY for this. It was the US that stirred the whole mess up, with Nuland and her damned cookies for nazis. If the US hadn't poured petrol on the bonfire, I suspect that the EU and Putin might have managed to keep things merely simmering until full elections were held - riots and bloodshed are very bad for trade, after all.

I shudder to think what is going to happen next, frankly. But I don't know how much Washington is taking its eyes off another ball. Russia and China have some kind of energy deal due to be signed, and I gather from reading round, that once that is finalised, they and the other BRICS nations will be in a position to pull the rug out from under the petrodollar.

It's all very well the US huffing and puffing that it's got a huge economy in comparison to Russia - unfortunately, it's based on debt. Russia, on the other hand, is in the black.

Obama's taking your country to the edge of a precipice, IMO, Lily.

Sometimes I wonder if that is the job he was told to do.......

I have put this here just because. Politics must be the most dishonest business out there.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2626253/White-House-wanted-Treasury-Secretary-Tim-Geithner-LIE-public-social-security.html

I actually don't think ANY other US administration would have made such a mess of things, Lily. They would have known that there was about as much chance of Americans getting their paws on Crimea as there is of the US handing Pearl Harbour over to Tokyo.

Mind you, with Obama, anything's possible.......

George W. would have had the sense to talk things through with Putin, before dispatching a team of liars and cake-distributors to stir up entirely predictable trouble.

Bonny, I've never been so angry about a President, and I have been angry time and again about Bush, as I have this one.

lily wrote:I have put this here just because.   Politics must be the most dishonest business out there.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2626253/White-House-wanted-Treasury-Secretary-Tim-Geithner-LIE-public-social-security.html

Endless lies.

Yes. That's it all the time.

This is fascinating.

http://rt.com/business/158444-russia-ukraine-gas-supplies/

f Kiev does not pay its gas bills by June 2, exports to Ukraine will be halted the next day, Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller said. Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev meanwhile urged demanding advanced payment from Kiev as early as Tuesday.

Miller told Medvedev on Monday that Gazprom will issue a preliminary June bill to Ukraine’s Naftogaz on May 13. According to Miller, Kiev already owes the company more than $3.5 billion, which compares to Gazprom’s annual gas supply to Poland.

“In case Ukraine does not pay for the June supplies, Gazprom will notify the Ukrainian side, before 10am on June 3, and the volume of gas will be supplied to Ukraine in accordance with the advanced payment,” Miller said.

He added that if Kiev pays for zero cubic meters of gas, it will receive none.

Medvedev said that it is “time to stop nursing” Ukraine, urging Miller to switch to advance payment as early as Tuesday. He noted that Kiev has the money needed to pay back its debts.

“They have the opportunity to pay back before the end of May, to pay the needed sum or at least some part of it, in order to start related negotiations with Gazprom to demonstrate their willingness to settle the debts. So far, we have not seen see any willingness from the Ukrainian side, which is regrettable,” Medvedev said, as quoted by Interfax.

Kiev had already received the first part of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan, the Russian prime minister said.

Russian energy minister, Aleksandr Novak, reminded that the su received by Kiev from the IMF amounts to $3.2 billion of the total $17.1 billion agreed.

What’s more, there are “alarming” signals coming from Kiev’s authorities that they won’t guarantee delivery of Russian gas to Europe, the minister said.

“The Ukrainian energy minister, Yury Prodan, conveyed alarming information saying that Ukraine does not guarantee gas injections to underground storages in the summer period… which means they do not guarantee the transit of gas to European countries due to the lack of resources – and the unwillingness to solve the problem in principle,” Novak said.

The EU, which has been supporting the Kiev regime, should convince them to start paying for gas, Medvedev said.

“We have the right to expect that our European partners will send some signals to the Ukrainian authorities about the debts that have to be repaid,” the Russian PM said.

Currently, as much as 50 percent of Russian gas supplied to Europe passes through Ukraine and around 30 percent of Europe’s energy is imported from Russia, with some EU countries subject to complete dependence on Russian gas.........etc.


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So, what happens if Kiev refuses to pay its fuel bill, and tries to swipe the gas transiting Ukraine to the rest of Europe? The current corrupt unelected government having swiped chunks of the loan?

Are we all supposed to suffer because of Washington's megalomania? Are European industries supposed to close down?

Did ANY of the people who sparked this debacle think more than one day ahead? What the HELL were the Kiev rioters thinking, when they decided they wanted to overthrow the corrupt elected President and choose a future of debt, expensive fuel (when there is any) halved pensions and wages coupled with soaring prices.

Or did they think that as Nuland was handing out cookies to rioters, the US would be more than happy to supply them with rainbows and unicorns, because Washington really, really cared about Ukrainians. If so, they're in for a very nasty shock.

Wouldn't think tanks have already worked this out ahead?

IMO, Washington didn't think this through at all, Lily. They cannot surely have planned this shambles? When this all kicked off, all the south-east wanted was to be listened to by Kiev.

Now look where we are - countless dead civilians and the south east rushing into the rather reluctant embrace of Russia. What kind of tactical genuises don't allow for the consequences of p*ssing people off?

Of course Ukraine has to pay its fuel bill like everyone else, like every nation in Europe. It's a no-brainer - or should be.

Bonny, the one side is exactly as you say but sometimes I think that even they cannot be that stupid? Can they?

Sadly, Lily, I think they can be, and are. I can't say I like Merkel or Putin, but both of them have their feet on the ground, and I believe that if it had been left to them to hold the coats of the various warring factions in Ukraine, then most of the violence would have been averted. There would have been a far greater chance of things being thrashed out round a table.

But that was never going to happen from the moment the Obama administration decided it was entitled to meddle in the affairs of a nation that is thousands of miles from Washington.

And not just meddle - overthrow the corrupt elected government and replace it with a corrupt unelected government, giving cookies out to unrepentent nazis along the way.

What could possibly go wrong?   

Considering it is so brilliant? Why nothing.....   

I saw that Obama spokeswoman Psaki earlier - dumb bimbo personified. IMO, of course.  

She was going on about the vote in south east Ukraine, and claimed that 'carousel voting' had been used. A cynical reporter asked her what that meant, and she admitted she didn't know, she would 'find out when she went back to her desk'.

The same cynical reporter (and thank God there are still some) also asked her why she thought Ukraine didn't need to pay its gas bill, and she waffled a load of sh*te about not using energy as a weapon. She was reduced to stuttering stupidity when asked to explain anything she was saying.

She'd very obviously had a script shoved into her hands, and had NO idea about anything. She'd have been better employed as a weathergirl than a White House representative.

Thing is, that's the sort of impression of the Obama administration that's going all around the world, Lily, a dangerous combination of arrogance and incompetence. There's no need for 'propaganda' from Russia when the White House is carrying on like this.

How absolutely embarrassing for the US. We saw similar with Sibelius and the Obamacare fiasco and she stepped down, of course.

Obama told the nation that America was not exceptional. That is something he has done for our nation but at the same time, he seems to want to rule the world.

If that were to be true and he is battling Putin for the title, I know who I would place my money on as much as I don't like him.    

The global future would sure look grim after that.

It's confusing at present, but Kiev seems to have sent more troops into the south-eastern region which voted to break away, and fighting has broken out.

Does Obama seriously think his allies shooting unhappy Ukrainians is helping? Is he prepared to make them stay in Ukraine at gunpoint? He needs to give back that Nobel Peace Prize, as he seems to have given Europe its very own Vietnam.

Oh FFS!

http://www.examiner.com/article/crony-capitalism-joe-biden-s-son-joins-board-of-directors-for-ukrainian-gas-co

Most Americans remember the recent events in the state of Nevada where Bureau of Land Management agents squared off over the grazing rights of Cliven Bundy on federally managed land. As news and information progressed for this event it was discovered that not only was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid intricately involved in a land deal with China that was the root of the stand-off, but that Reid's son was also a lobbyist for ENN Energy Group who was allowed to purchase the land for far below face value.

Yet, this form of crony capitalism is not being limited to just the Senate Majority Leader. On May 13, it was announced that Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, was being elected to the Board of Directors for Ukraine's largest gas company, and once again brings forth questions on whether U.S. involvement in Ukraine is not about standing up for Democracy, but to secure oil and gas rights for U.S. companies.

R. Hunter Biden will be in charge of the Holdings’ legal unit and will provide support for the Company among international organizations. On his new appointment, he commented: “Burisma’s track record of innovations and industry leadership in the field of natural gas means that it can be a strong driver of a strong economy in Ukraine. As a new member of the Board, I believe that my assistance in consulting the Company on matters of transparency, corporate governance and responsibility, international expansion and other priorities will contribute to the economy and benefit the people of Ukraine.”

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Burisma Holdings, Mr. Alan Apter, noted: “The company’s strategy is aimed at the strongest concentration of professional staff and the introduction of best corporate practices, and we’re delighted that Mr. Biden is joining us to help us achieve these goals.”


Corrupt and rotten to the core.     

OMG

Enriching themselves in direct proportion to the misery of others.       

Let them all know the full force of Karma.

So arrogant, they aren't even trying to hide the corruption any more. I haven't the words for the contempt and disgust I feel right this minute.

I haven't the words.   

Bonny, neither do I. This is what it's come to. They give the middle finger to all.      

Anyone with a shred of honesty or decency would recuse themselves from the position, say they couldn't possibly take it, what with their father being the American VP, and America being so deeply involved in sh*t-stirring, sorry, I mean, helping, in Ukraine. Conflict of interests, etc.

Not that lot. They're utterly shameless in their corruption. They remind me of French aristos just before the revolution, or the Batista lot just before they were kicked out of Cuba.

How much can ordinary Americans put up with from these - oligarchs?