Russian and Ukrainian news - 07/11/2015

‘Right Sector on combat alert’: Ukraine Neo-Nazis refuse to lay down arms after shootout

SWAT police and special units of the National Guard, as well as Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) agents have secured the area and blockaded members of Ukraine’s ultra-nationalist Right Sector group on the outskirts of Mukachevo, which lies a stone’s throw away from Hungarian and Slovakian border.

“To prevent possible bloodshed, the Security Service and Interior Ministry demand that the illegal armed group lays down [its] arms and surrenders,” the SBU said in a statement, adding that fighters refuse to surrender unless ordered directly by Right Sector (‘Pravy Sektor’) leader Dmitry Yarosh.

Authorities said they will do everything necessary to disarm and detain the“organized criminal group”, that killed one, and injured four civilians. Six police officers were also injured in the standoff on Saturday afternoon.

As negotiations with the cornered gang failed, security forces on Sunday night began evacuating civilians living in the vicinity of the standoff.

“Taking into account the danger for the villagers in the area where the so-called Right Sector militants barricaded themselves, the evacuation of civilians, especially children, is being carried out,” the SBU statement reads.

Ultra-nationalists claim they will not go without a fight, according to regional prosecutor spokesperson, who said Dmitry Yarosh was engaged in negotiations with the fighters over the phone.

“People in camouflage threaten to continue armed resistance,” said Victoria Popovich, cited by UNIAN news agency. “So far efforts of security forces produced no results.” The spokesperson added that fighters were given a deadline to surrender, Popovich said, however without specifying exact time frame.

‘Entire Right Sector on combat alert’

Late Saturday, Right Sector issued a statement saying that two of their fighters had been killed and four other wounded during the initial standoff in Mukachevo. The statement added that “the entire Right Sector military and political movement has been placed on combat alert.”

Members of Right Sector have already began mobilizing, with ultra-nationalist crowds rallying in Kiev in front of the President Administration, as well as in Lvov and Dnepropetrovsk.

“Our brothers acted within the framework of necessary defence,” Yarosh wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday, adding that the Right Sector “calls to continue protests for indefinite term until those guilty in the tragedy are arrested.”

According to the group, the culprits are local MP Mikhail Lanyo, one of the negotiators on the Donbass issue from Kiev, Viktor Medvedchuk. The Right Sector is also calling for the resignation of the interior minister, Arsen Avakov.

On Saturday afternoon, about two dozen fighters wearing camouflage uniform bearing Right Sector insignia opened fire in a sport cafes. When police arrived, the fighters attacked law enforcement officers using Kalashnikovs, RPG-7 grenade launchers and other weapons.

READ MORE: ‘Act of terror’: Far right fighters clash with police in western Ukraine (VIDEO)

The violence allegedly erupted as a result of on-going “turf war” between Right Sector members and local MP Mikhail Lanyo, who controls many businesses in the area. Meanwhile the gunmen claimed it was Lyano’s initiative to call them in for “negotiations, ” as he was outraged by the Right Sector’s successful raids to “disrupt contraband routes” he controls.

The extremists organization insists that its people did not provoke the violence and it was the fault of police, who are in bed with the corrupt politician controlling the smuggling channels in the mountainous Carpathian region.

“Members of the Right Sector’s first reserve battalion have been blocking smuggling channels for a long time,” Speaker for the Right Sector Andrey Sharaskin told 112.ua.

Meanwhile the blocked fighters released a video claiming that only 12 of them arrived at the meeting and were greeted by “over 100 armed thugs sent my Lanyo.” According to their version of events, the violence began only after a group “unidentified spetsnaz” charged into the scene while the Right Sector brigade was trying to flee.

Mikhail Lanyo meanwhile claimed he had been meeting with the local Right Sector leader, because he had asked for help with arranging accommodation for fighters returning from the “anti-terrorist operation” zone in eastern Ukraine. The MP told Ukrainian channel hromadske.tv that he was not even aware something was wrong, until his aide informed him that the nationalist group waiting outside had “shot a man.”

The Saturday incident which stretched into an uneasy standoff has already been called an “act of terrorism” by Ukrainian authorities. Meanwhile Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry fears the fact that the incident that took place less than 70 km from EU borders may compromise the prospect of visa-free travel between Ukraine and the EU.

“After a real battle by Right Sector virtually on the border with EU,” the Ukrainian authorities are “bearing responsibility for not fulfilling a number of requirements” for the establishment of a visa-free regime with the EU, Ukraine’s Ambassador at Large Dmitry Kuleba wrote on Facebook. “For months we have argued, trying to convince the EU that security risks have been minimized. And we convinced them...”

Meanwhile in Russia, where Right Sector activities are banned and the group is declared extremist, the Russian foreign ministry’s envoy for human rights Konstantin Dolgov said the group has once again “shown its bandit face.”

“Kiev just can’t break up with neo-Nazis, trying to mute them,” Dolgov wrote on Twitter. “Soon it will be too late.”

Important statement by Alexander Zakharchenko

Ambassador Chaly: A dozen European countries arming Ukraine now

Newly appointed Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Valeriy Chaly says that Ukraine is being actively armed by Western partners, including with lethal weapons, according to Zerkalo Nedeli weekly newspaper.

Russian Android Users Lose Ability to Download Largest Social Network's

The application of the most popular Russian social network, "VKontakte", has been deleted from the Google Play due to reported copyright violations.

Negotiations to remove Putin - Evgeny Fedorov

July 12th Weekly World and Ukraine SITREP by Baaz

http://thesaker.is/july-12th-weekly-world-and-ukraine-sitrep-by-baaz/

Russian Media (Ukraine/Russia)

• Китайцы сняли мультфильм о саммитах ШОС и БРИКС в Уфе (Source) (Video Source)
• Командующий ВМС Украины подтвердил превращение Одессы в базу НАТО(Source)
• Американский генерал: Украинцы передают военным инструкторам США опыт борьбы с русскими (Source)
• Украина превратится в большой радиоактивный могильник (Source)
• Украина легализуют рынок торговли человеческими органами (Source)
• Саакашвили играет роль «великого комбинатора (Source)
• Генсек Совета Европы: Особый статус Донбасса нужно закрепить в Конституции Украины (Source)
• США не могут справиться с «трансплантологами» из Косово (Source)
• В ближайшем к Мариуполю украинском городе местный лидер «Блока Порошено» погорел на взятке (Source)
• Паника в США. Коллапс доллара (Source)
• Плоды национального Майдана: на Украине тиражи украиноязычных изданий упали ещё больше (Source)
• История Украины за 2 минуты :: Показывайте по украинским группам, особенно молодежи (Video) (Source)
• Американский журналист Майкл Бом прямо и цинично унизил украинцев! (Video)(Source)
• Источник: группировка войск России на Новой Земле удвоится к 2020 году(Source)
• Украина и Коломойский в одной яме: дефолт ПриватБанка и Ощадбанка неизбежен (Source)
• В 17-й танковой бригаде ВСУ назревает бунт (Video) (Source)
• СМИ: Наливайченко оформил статус участника АТО (Source)

World Weekly SITREP

• Can Missile Defense Counter Russia’s Nuclear Saber Rattling? (Source)
• MP Gavrilyuk: Ukrainian government is being subverted by a gay conspiracy [ENG Subs] (Source)
• БРИКС освобождается от ЛЖЕ доллара Читайте далее (Source)
• Переданные Киеву пленные: «Очень поменялось мнение и взгляды» (Source)
• Appeal of a Ukrainian priest to people of Armenia | Eng Subs (Source)
• The End of the European Dream | Eng Subs (Source)
• US-Saudi War on Yemen: Abdel-Malik al-Houthi’s Message to the Yemeni Resistance (English Subtitles) (Video)
• Julian Assange’s The World Tomorrow: Hassan Nasrallah (E1) (Source)
• Chinese cartoon about the BRICS/SCO summit (Funny) (Source)
• Sensational confession of Ibran Mustafic, Bosnian Muslim war veteran and politician: We were killing our own people in Srebrenica(Source)
• The Srebrenica Precedent (Source)Viewed from a humanitarian standpoint, the US response to the Srebrenica massacre was a lethal fiasco. But despite the ugly facts of the episode, a mythology emerged from Srebrenica that emphasized the supposedly benign character of US intervention. In this telling, US policy was the savior of the Bosnian people and the defender of human rights more generally.

Twenty years later, Srebrenica is still shaping US foreign policy. NATO interventions in the Balkans served to legitimate both the Atlantic Alliance and US hegemony, and the new language of human rights and genocide prevention has helped justify later interventions, including the ongoing strikes against ISIS. A truly pivotal event in the post–Cold War era, Srebrenica helped forge a pro-interventionist alliance of both militarist liberals and conservatives. This alliance remains a potent lobby for war to the present day.

• Why Did Russia Veto British Resolution on Srebrenica? (Source)Most Western media reacted in a propagandistic manner and bashing Russia by implying that it is supporting “the genocidal policies of their traditional allies Serbs”.
  But what were the British motives?
  Genuine concern for human rights and peace and stability in the Balkans?
  Or a cynical chess move in a cunning geopolitical game currently unfolding in the Balkans between the west and Russia?
• Russia Vetoes UN Srebrenica Genocide Resolution (Source)
• How the US military plans to neutralize Russia (Source)The new military strategy of the United States, which now includes Russia in the list of top threats, indicates that Washington is trying to maintain its global influence that was established after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
• Someone Pull The Plug Or This Will End In War (Source)
• Grandmaster Putin’s Golden Trap. Part 3.2 The battle for Eurasia (Source)Has Links to
  Grandmaster Putin’s Golden Trap. Part 1,
  Grandmaster Putin’s Golden Trap. Part 2.1 The dollar and the world economy
  Grandmaster Putin’s Golden Trap. Part 2.2 Why Keynes was wrong about gold
  Grandmaster Putin’s Golden Trap. Part 2.3 The Sino-Russian Golden Alliance
  Grandmaster Putin’s Golden Trap. Part 3.1 Sticks and no carrots
• Confessions of a combatant: Joining the LPR militia, surviving an airstrike, battlefield psychotherapy (Source)
• Russian Army to re-activate the 10th Guards Tank Division close to Ukraine’s border (Source)
• Russian Army forms 9 CBR Regiments (Source)Translated from Russian by J.Hawk
  The Russian MOD Press Service Directorate announced on June 29, 2015, that its Chemical, Biological, Radiological Troops formed nine new regiments.
  “The current development of CBR defense forces is aimed at ensuring they are capable of reacting to all possible threats–radiological, chemical, and biological,” said Major General Igor Klimov, CBR Troops deputy chief.
  In his words, currently the Armed Forces have a well-prepared CBR forces grouping capable of fulfilling missions in pursuit of national interests.
  “One should note that only in 2014 combined arms armies received nine new CBR regiments,” Klimov underscored.
  In addition, the four separate CBR brigades assigned to military districts had their structure optimized.
  All military units and organizations established information security subunits.
  “Between 2016 and 2020, the organization and structure of units and organizations belonging to CBR Troops will be perfected in order to carry out the CBR mission to protect Armed Forces groupings engaged in armed conflicts and local wars, and to counteract emergencies and conduct applied science research (chemistry, biology, biochemistry, genetics, biotechnology),” Klimov noted.
  As CBR Forces receive new types of equipment, its formations will adopt new organizational structures.
  J.Hawk’s Comment: There are lots of stories which go viral that probably shouldn’t. “Sound and fury signifying nothing.” Then there are stories like this one which are of genuine import. Standing up new military formations is not done on a whim or as part of a fad, given the expenditure of resources such initiatives entail. Talk is cheap; military restructuring and expansion is not.The fact that we are seeing more than doubling of Russia’s CBR forces in a very short time indicates that the military and national leadership is anticipating a distinct possibility its armed forces might find themselves, at some point in foreseeable future, operating in a WMD-contaminated environment. That’s the only possible explanation of a move on such a scale. Of course, the big question is whether Russian forces are expected to operate under conditions of radiological contamination caused by their own or NATO tactical nukes, but that’s a question we can’t really answer without finding out what kinds of wargames the Russian General Staff is playing these days.
  This is not the first such report in recent weeks. Earlier ones included the formation of the 1st Guards Tank Army and the establishment of Assault Sapper units, both of which point toward a certain offensive-mindedness of the Russian Ground Forces. As does the above news report.
• The United States Air Force and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) successfully tested the latest version of a nuclear bomb that was originally developed in the early 1960s. (Source)
• Pentagon Concludes America Not Safe Unless It Conquers the World by Paul Craig Roberts (Source)
• US military tests dummy nuclear bomb in Nevada (Video) (Source)
• Who Whom? By Rostislav Ischenko (Source)
• Russia, Ukraine and U.S. Hegemony (Source)A great deal about the nuclear threat is known and is accessible. In his song, ‘Talking World War III Blues’, Bob Dylan attributed to Abraham Lincoln, “You can’t fool all the people all the time.” Simply demonizing Russian leader Vladimir Putin shuts out dire facts about the actions and intentions of the U.S. and its allies.
• The Financial Attack on Greece: Where Do We Go From Here? By Michael Hudson (Source)Once an economy is fiscally crippled by (1) not having a central bank to finance government spending, and (2) by limiting government budget deficits to just 3% of GDP, the economy must shrink. A shrinking economy will mean fewer tax revenues, and hence deeper government budget deficits and rising government debt.

The ultimate killer is for the ECB, IMF and EC to demand that governments pay their debts by privatizing public infrastructure, natural resources, land and other assets in the public domain. To compound this demand, the Troika have blocked Greece from selling to the highest bidder, if that turns out to be Gazprom or another Russian company. Financial politics thus has become militarized as part of NATO’s New Cold War politics. Debtor economies are directed to sell to euro-kleptocrats – on terms financed by banks, so that interest charges on the deal absorb all the profits, leaving governments without much income tax.

• Political Sellout in Athens. Prime Minister Tsipras Surrenders, Ignores the “OXI” Vote (Source)

Popular Greek sentiment on Troika imposed austerity is clear and unequivocal. Last Sunday’s referendum left no doubt. Voters overwhelmingly said “OXI” – “NO.”

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras ignored them – despite pledging no more austerity, calling the referendum, publicly urging Greeks to vote “no,” and by implication indicating he’d support the will of the people. It’s up to millions of long-suffering Greeks to decide what’s next – accept more austerity harshness or refuse by committed, sustained mass activism for new governance serving all citizens equitably and fairly, not just its privileged few.

Tsipras agreed to over $13 billion more in budget cuts harming ordinary Greeks most, especially those least advantaged. His proposal is very close to what Troika officials demand – popularly rejected overwhelmingly last Sunday to no avail.

He agreed to higher VAT taxes on most goods and services hitting ordinary Greeks hardest – including processed foods assessed at 23%. He held out for a lower rate for “the most remote” Greek islands – what Troika officials oppose. Whether they’ll bend remains to be seen.

They demand a uniform rate throughout the country – unjustifiably claiming a separate administrative system anywhere raises expenses.

Pension concessions were made, but not entirely – 2012 legislation  mandating more cuts than already won’t be implemented until October 2015. Creditors want it in force immediately.

Tsipras caved entirely on raising the retirement age to 67 by 2022 as well as phasing out a “solidarity grant” to poor pensioners by December 2019. They’ll be less able to survive on their own than currently.

Greece seeks $59 billion in new bailout funds – the third request since crisis conditions erupted. Tsipras proposed European Stability Mechanism (ESM) loans – the Eurozone’s bailout fund.

Greece’s parliament will vote on the new proposal later on Friday – not yet as this article is written. Passage appears rubber-stamp.

New Democracy party member/former foreign affairs minister Dora Bakoyannis said enough parliamentary support exists to approve any bailout deal – despite Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis telling a Thursday business conference:

“The choices we have are tough…but the worst, the most humiliating and unbearable is an agreement that will surrender, loot and subjugate our people and this country.”

What’s at stake doesn’t get any clearer than that. On Saturday, Eurozone finance ministers will meet to discuss Tsipras’ proposal. An emergency Sunday summit of European leaders will decide up or down on what’s submitted.

So far, Troika officials have been unbending. Tsipras promised immediate implementation of proposed “reforms.” Hardline German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said possible debt relief will be discussed.

At the same time, he sees little room for maneuver – saying they’ll be no outright cut in Greece’s obligations, no matter how odious. On Thursday, Angela Merkel said “a classic haircut is out of the question for me. That hasn’t changed between the day before yesterday and today.”

German ECB member Jens Weidmann expects no further emergency credit extended to Greek banks without an agreed on bailout deal.

The central bank “has no mandate to safeguard the solvency of banks and and governments,” he said. The ECB “is no longer being used to finance capital flight caused by the Greek government.”

Greece wants a new three-year bailout deal – whether forthcoming remains to be seen.

Given Tsipras’ near unconditional surrender, he’ll likely at least get enough to save off immediate economic collapse at a big price: his soul along with unconscionable harm to millions of long-suffering Greeks deserving much better.

• Prime Minister Tsipras’ Bailout Reform Package: An Act of Treason against the Greek People by Prof Michel Chossudovsky (Source)
• Greece – Black Friday – Blackmailed into Capitulation? Tsipras’ Austerity Plan by Peter Koenig (Source)
• Putin: Where was EU when Greek crisis was evolving? (Source)
• The neocon angel of death is winding towards the Balkans (Source) (Source)
• Greece – Black Friday – Blackmailed into Capitulation? Tsipras’ Austerity Plan (Source)

 Dear friends and comrades of the Delphi Initiative, 

 Today’s dawning divulged a horror scenario – The Syriza government practically capitulated on the demands of the troika, of the murderous tyrannical Brussels Parliament, EC and ECB.  Against the will of the people, Mr. Tsipras and his new Finance Minister proposed an austerity Plan that is almost impossible to be rejected by the Brussels self-denominated emperors of Europe. 

• US Fears Euro Crisis Unravelling Anti-Russia Project (Source)

If Greece were to exit the eurozone, there will be recriminations across the EU, from countries such as France, Italy and Spain, which have also been urging Berlin to take a more accommodating line on Athens. Even Britain has been cajoling Berlin to make a deal with Greece, no doubt for the same unspoken ulterior geopolitical reasons as Washington.

The contradiction in Europe over the financial crisis is thus putting Washington on a head-on confrontation with Berlin. Washington needs Berlin to take a severe creditor hit in order to keep the EU coherent for its geopolitical objective of isolating Russia. But Berlin’s subservience to Washington is going to be severely strained if it is eventually forced to take such a hit to its economy. Berlin has talked itself into a political corner with its hardline creditor rhetoric towards Athens. How will Merkel explain a capitulation to her people?

One thing is sure, however. The American NSA phone-tappers at the German Chancellery are working overtime these days.

• List of Things Discussed at the BRICs Summit Is Impressive (Source)

Cooperation with Mongolia looks set to increase. Putin remarked on the great potential of Chinese-Mongolian-Russian cooperation.

Mongolian President has requested that China and Russia rethink the Siberian-2 pipeline, and consider instead running the pipeline through Mongolia, which would be cheaper and faster than build the current plan which would take the pipeline over the mountainous Altai region.

BRICS start a reserve currency fund with $100 billion pool.

India looks set to officially join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

Some manager agreements have been made on the group’s development. This involves nailing out some of the infrastructure and innovation projects planned. These are the projects that fall under the ‘new silk roads’ mostly. More details likely to come.

BRICS are going to be looking at some joint approach to combating terrorism.

Are working on strategies for food provisions for most vulnerable communities.

Bullet-proofing joint economies against severe fluctuations in oil prices.

Agreed to multilateral approach (cooperation) to global challenges (read US hegemony, and NATO).

There’s hints that the BRICS could be welcoming Iran aboard, or at least looking at increasing cooperation with the nation.Turkey, Indonesia, Mexico, Egypt, Argentina, Nigeria, and Greece are also expressed interested in joining BRICS officially. For Greece, this would be impossible while it remains within the EU.

Possibly most important, BRICS set to expand use of national currencies in mutual trade. BRICS nations are involved in 75% of all world trade (either between, or involving a BRICS nation), with a growing percentage of that trade happening between BRICS nations. Trade between Russia and China is set to increase by around $100 billion in 2015. Use of national currencies to settle trade between the two nations has increased by more than 800%.

BRICS nations agree to cooperate on preventing ‘revision’ of history.

BRICS Development bank will start launching projects as early as 2016.

• BRICS Bankers Confirm They will Undergird – Not Undermine – Western Financial Decadence (Source)

A genuine alternative to imperialist finance would be based upon

* the sort of default on unpayable, unjustifiable debt that Argentina managed to accomplish in 2002;

* exchange controls that countries like Malaysia (in 1998) and Venezuela (in 2003) imposed on their elites (as did Greece last week);

* new regional currency arrangements such Ecuador’s proposed sucre; and

*socially- and ecologically-conscious financing strategies tied to compatible trade (like ALBA) such as were once proposed and seed-funded by the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez in the stillborn Bank of the South.

Given NDB and CRA positioning and personnel, it is foolish and perhaps dangerous to invest hope in the BRICS’ fake alternative.

• Putin Leads BRICS Uprising by Mike Whitney (Source)The dollar is toast. The IMF is toast. The US debt market (US Treasuries) is toast.  The institutions that support US power are crumbling before our very eyes. The BRICS have had enough; enough war, enough Wall Street, enough meddling and hypocrisy and austerity and lecturing. This is farewell. Sure, it will take time, but Ufa marks a fundamental change in thinking, a fundamental change in approach, and a fundamental change in strategic orientation.

The BRICS are not coming back,  they’re gone for good, just as Washington’s “pivot to Asia” is gone for good. There’s just too much resistance. Washington has simply overplayed its hand, worn out its welcome. People are sick of us.

Can you blame them?

• Emergence of Great Eurasia Looming Against the Background of Declining West (Source)

The one superpower dominated world is becoming a thing of the past right in front of our eyes. Old international institutions are in decline, take the World Trade Organization (WTO), the European Union (EU) mired in crisis, or the degrading Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). So far, intense discussions of United Nations Organization reform have been nothing but shooting the breeze.

• New Silk Road”: Pros and Cons for Russia (Source)

• The BRICS/SCO Summit(s) in Ufa Marks the Start of a Silk World Order By Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya (Source)

Gone are the days of unchallenged US domination. The architecture of the post-Second World War or post-1945 global order is now in its death bed and finished. With or without Washington, a Silk World is emerging and its coming is being trumpeted from Ufa as the SCO strengthens and the BRICS institutionalizes itself as the cornerstone of a new multi-polar world order.

• China and Russia: the world’s new superpower axis? The Guardian (Source)

• The Iran nuke stalemate in one tweet: Escobar (Source)The by now legendary tweet from Iran’s Foreign Minister Zarif in which he quoted Abraham Lincoln is the Rosebud deciphering the current stalemate between the US and Iran in Vienna.

Zarif tweeted, “Mark my words; you can’t change horses in the middle of a stream.” Well, a privileged Iranian source told Asia Times “changing horses” is exactly what US President Barack Obama abruptly did – in regard to conciliating positions he had agreed upon two days earlier.

This happened this past Wednesday night, Vienna time – at the negotiating table.

• Saudi Arabia puts big money in Russian economy (Source)An interesting feature of the deal is that the Saudi investment vehicle will combine with other Asian sovereign wealth funds, especially the Russia-China investment Fund (which is backed by the China Investment Corporation.)

Meanwhile, the RDIF disclosed that it also signed an agreement with another Saudi Arabian sovereign-wealth fund, the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, to undertake projects in Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries.

The Saudis are notorious for the glacial pace of their decision-making, but in this case, Mohammed bin Salman’s direct interest speeded up things. The deal committing the Saudi sovereign funds to invest such big amounts in Russia has been signed just as the Iran nuclear deal could be sailing into view in a couple of days.

Again, there are indications that Moscow and Riyadh are working on an early visit by King Salman to Russia.

It is tempting to interpret the trends as constituting a strategic defiance of the US by the Saudis. After all, the Saudis are making up to a large extent for the western banking sanctions against Russia. But a more constructive interpretation is warranted: the Saudis probably hope to make the Russians “stakeholders” in a broader “win-win” relationship that also buttresses their core interests in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere in the region.

To be sure, the Saudi-Russian investment deals cannot but be seen as a powerful signal that the Saudi-Russian rapprochement is rapidly acquiring a momentum that has the potential to reset the power dynamic in the Middle East.

One key area to be watched is Syria where Moscow and Riyadh come under pressure to harmonize their respective approaches.

• Another Attempt to Organize «Orange Revolution» in Ecuador (Source)Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa is blowing the whistle. The country may face another coup attempt. There is solid ground to support this allegation. In his March weekly address to the people the President said the protests in Ecuador were staged by enemies of «citizens’ revolution»as the opposition was implementing the strategy of attrition.

According to him, the parties and organizations funded by international structures are subject to the influence of the US Central Intelligence Agency which does its best to create hotbeds of chaos and violence and hinder the creative activities of government. Talking to people, Correa often gives details on the policy of «soft regime change» practiced by Washington in Latin America. According to President, there is a five-phased plan to destabilize Ecuador.

First: public brainwashing (ablandamiento) will be launched by media outlets acting as informal opposition political parties’ mouthpieces. Their mission will be to incite public discontent and then point a finger at the government as the main culprit.

Second: the opposition will try to discredit the government as illegal and acting against the interests of people. To convince people they will launch an intensive propaganda campaign accompanied by thousands of biased publications, dissemination of fake analytical documents and spreading information allegedly received from «reliable» sources. They will also use social networks.

Third: the anti-government forces will heat up street protests by staging manifestations. It does not matter how many protesters will hit the streets. The puppet media outlets will highlight the events as instructed to convince the world that Ecuador is a conflict-torn country.

Fourth: the opposition will use different non-violent methods recommended by Gene Sharp to bring the government down. That is something they are trying to do in Venezuela and Argentina.

Fifth: the opposition will strike at the pillars of power. It will seize government buildings, provoke street unrests, incite discontent among the military etc. The CIA knows how to do it.

It will all be done to make the President go.

• In Ecuador, Fight for Mankind; In Greece, Fight for Greece! By Andre Vltchek (Source)Greece is white, it is European, and therefore eyes of entire Western “progressive” world are now directed towards Athens: will its government dare to default, would Greece leave euro-zone and eventually the European Union? As if the answer to this question could change the world; as if Athens is where the fate of humanity will be decided.

Some 10 thousand kilometers away, Ecuador is predominantly indigenous, and therefore, inhabited by ‘un-people’, to borrow from George Orwell’s colorful terminology. Battered by its own, mainly Euro-centric and pale-skinned ‘elites’ who are enjoying extremely close links with both EU and the United States, Ecuador and its determinedly left-wing government can count very little on international solidarity, especially on the camaraderie from ‘so-called progressive’ movements in the West.

After all, non-white, non-Western people are expected to suffer. Even the left in the West is ‘accustomed to’ their agony.

Frankly, almost nobody in Europe or in the United States wants those left wing governments in Latin America, in Asia or in Africa, to succeed. That is ‘well hidden secret’, or at least ‘an uncomfortable truth’!

China, South Africa, Venezuela, Ecuador and other countries all over the world have been addressed and treated in the most despicable, patronizing, and even racist way by so-called left wing individuals and groups in the West.

The Left got thoroughly defunct in both Europe and in North America. But it continues to be distressingly self-righteous, self-indulged, bossy and arrogant. It does not govern and does not inspire almost anybody, anymore. It became shamefully cowardly and lazy. But it behaves as if it would be holding some God-given right to judge and advice others: those who do fight, those who do inspire and those who do govern! It is evident that it wants non-Western socialist and communist governments and movements, those that are proudly governing all over the world, to go straight to hell!

“If we collapsed, let others collapse as well!” Is unpronounced motto.

It is because even the Left in Europe and US is constructed on Christian and Euro-centric mind frame, with exceptionalism and supremacist sentiments at its core.

Of course such things are never pronounced in Paris, London, Rome, or New York, but there is a perfect consensus there, that only the Western thinkers and leaders are qualified and should be trusted with ‘saving the world’. And only they ought to be allowed to decide, which country qualifies to be called socialist or communist, democratic or tyrannical, progressive or regressive.

Unable to lead, and most likely unwilling to govern, too lethargic and intellectually spent, most of Western ‘progressive’ thinkers are constantly regurgitating lunatic economic and political theories that no one in other parts of the world, especially the poor world, would ever take seriously, let alone want to implement. Those Western ‘progressive leaders’ are also demanding grotesque levels of purity from the Latin American and Asian left-wing leaders. Simultaneously, they demand great sacrifice from non-Western people: “Let us consume and live high-life, as poor us, we cannot help it. But let them care about environment and live in austerity.”

***

And so, while Greece votes on its financial future, Ecuador is facing one of the most vicious subversions in its history. It is facing it alone. It appears that everyone from non-Latin American left who matters is now in Athens. As far as I know, there are no solidarity ‘delegates’ descending on Quito!

Ecuador has now been abandoned, not unlike Venezuela was, for already quite some time.

I was recently invited to speak on an important television channel based in Iran, to talk about Palestine and Greece. I refused. My argument was clear: both Palestine and Greece already received enough solidarity from ‘us’, in Latin America. Now our revolutions are facing great threats. They are being attacked. We are human, too! We also need help; we need solidarity.

To give credit where credit is due, Iranian editor put me on hold, after expressing her concern about the situation in Latin America. Few minutes later she came back to me, via Skype: “I talked to our director and he told me to interview you on Ecuador. He said: they are our brothers. We fall together, or we will survive together!”

Naturally, such statements and gestures are remembered for the rest of the life!

But that’s Teheran, not London or Paris or Chicago!

***

My priority now is Ecuador. My priority is Latin America. This is where I see great battle for the future of humanity taking place. Here and in Asia. Definitely not in Europe!

Latin American governments here are not perfect. Chinese government is not perfect either. But they are doing all they can, after decades and centuries of plunder, after Europe, the United States, in unison with local elites and multinational companies, were pillaging and raping everything “south of the border”.

Corruption could not be eradicated in one year, or in one decade. Imported religious and moral corruptions were shaping entire “Latin America” (which is, thankfully, becoming less and less ‘Latin’ these days) by murderous and greedy Westerners, for generations. Things can improve, greatly, in one decade or even in one year, but horror structures built during long centuries could not be fully reversed. ‘The Process’ has to be in place for many years, uninterrupted.

Yes, we are not perfect, but we are trying to get better as we go. We are moving forward! We are trying to, going and falling, passing through fire, filth, conspiracies and intrigues. We are moving forward, damn it!

***

Ecuadorian elites are protesting and they are sabotaging everything great that was done by Correa and his administration. Many think that the coup is in the air.

Not one word about progress; new highways and airports, modern hospitals and schools, medical posts, countless playgrounds for children, free culture, libraries… Right wing in Ecuador owns most of the media. Not much positive is written about Ecuador by Western ‘progressive’ media outlets, either. We at Counterpunch being a great exception!

Not much good is written about China, Vietnam, Eritrea, South Africa, Zimbabwe or Iran. To Western purists, all these countries are not good enough, not socialist enough, not as they define socialism or communism, not as they define democracy! 6 or 7 thousand years of Chinese culture mean nothing. Everything has to be measured and defined only by Western standards.

Russia is different: it is not socialist at all (although it adopted great internationalist Soviet foreign policy), but it is predominantly white, and so it gets plenty of emotional support, fiery speeches and declarations of love and support.

Many Chinese comrades I spoke to in Beijing fully gave up on the Western left; they see it, mainly, as the most reactionary force (ideologically), when it comes to non-white left wing countries and governments. And I couldn’t agree more!

***

Greece should default. That fortress, fascist European Union, should not bully it.

But Greece should fight for internationalist, global ideals.

While we all know, that what it is fighting for is just its own gain… or for survival of its high standards of living.

When things were going well, when money was flowing in, when Greek farmers began driving latest models of German cars on smooth motorways, Greek people were not protesting. And they were not asking where the money came from. It mainly came from plundering on non-Western world, of ‘non-people’. That was fine, wasn’t it?

I was in Greece, recently. I spoke to many people, including those from their left, mainly from the left. Almost nobody had any clue about what is going on in Latin America. No one cared. Even in Turkey they are monitoring what goes on in Caracas or La Paz.

But not in Athens – in Athens nobody gives a flying f…!

Many were still complaining bitterly about illegal immigration from Africa! Don’t those writers who are now writing flattering essays, glorifying Greek people, know that? Or they pretend not to see and hear?

Greece is fighting for its own goals. Its incomes dropped, from 1.400 to 800 euros a month, per capita, in many cases. Terrible, but in many African nations where money to support Greek farmers often came from (by EU finishing African agriculture), incomes are sitting at around 30 euros per month. I tried to address these issues in Athens, but encountered stone faces and total bewilderment, even hostility. I was told: “But we are used to different standards!”

And therefore I repeat: what is happening in Greece is not some left wing, internationalist revolution.

Greeks are fighting for Greece.

Latin America is fighting for humanity! It never exploited anybody. It sent doctors, teachers, all over the world. It sent oil to the poor, even in the United States. It supplied unfortunate countries like East Timor with trainers. It offered solidarity to Palestine, Iran, so many others!

***

If Ecuador will get under direct fire, I will go back, and I will stand by it, doing all I could to support it. And if the Western Left will do nothing to help, I will break, fully and categorically, all my ties with it!

As many wrote: Greece will survive. “It is, after all, in Europe”. Even when it is down, it is, somehow, up.

We, “down here”, will not have another chance. And if we fall, entire non-Western world will fall with us!

• SS Khaplang and the Naga insurgency in India and Myanmar (Source)
• Japan keen on joining NATO anti-ship missile consortium: sources (Source)
• Don’t go by media briefing, there was positive content in Modi-Xi at Ufa (Source)
• Modi kickstarts dialogue with Iran (Source)
• 10 Very Strange Things That Have Happened In Just The Past Few Weeks (Source)
• Now Even Kudrin Says It – Russia’s Economy Will Resume Growth in Final Quarter (Source)

Emerging consensus of a return to growth in final quarter points to short and shallow recession and an economy that has adjusted well to falling oil prices

• US beating drums of war against Russia to increase European defense spending’ (Source)
• 75% of Russians ready to vote for Putin at presidential elections – poll (Source)
• Mackinder Reincarnates–Now Hungary Joins Silk Road (Source)
• Does the volatility of Chinese stock markets pose a threat to Russia? (Source)China’s stock market collapse in the last couple of weeks affected markets across Asia. RBTH spoke to analysts about the reasons for the free fall and whether this volatility in Chinese financial markets would affect Russia.
• 70 percent of Russians opposed to compromise on sanctions – report (Source)

According to a new Levada Center opinion poll, 70 percent of Russian citizens believe that Russia should not make any sanctions-related concessions, even though a third of the population has admitted that sanctions are a problem. However, despite these difficulties, Russians continue to back President Vladimir Putin, whose popularity rating has never been higher. Experts have several theories for why Putin’s rating remains buoyant in spite of citizens’ growing dissatisfaction.

• Navalny Is a Crook and a Racist – and a Loser Not a Winner (Source)

Navalny’s criminal record and opportunistic racism means he cannot win – something obvious to everyone except the few liberals who continue to support him.

• OSCE Parliamentary Assembly recognizes presence of Russian forces in Ukraine (Source)

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has adopted a resolution recognizing the presence of Russian military forces in eastern Ukraine. The vote on the resolution took place in the absence of the Russian delegation, which opted to boycott the session on July 8. Russian experts say the change in rhetoric was to be expected, but do not anticipate that the resolution will have any serious consequences.

• Between a Self-Questioning Europe, a Self-Assured Russia, and a Hapless Ukraine: How American Armed Forces Became NATO’s Foreign Legion (Source)
• Songs of Victory (Video) ( Source)
• Letter from Norman Finkelstein to the supporters of his Byline Project for Gaza (Source)
• Special Report. Transnistrian Front | Eng Subs (Video) (Source)
• John Batchelor Podcast Ft Stephen F. Cohen (Audio) (Source)

Ukraine Sitrep

• Chechen Islamists Flock to Ukraine to Back Govt Against Rebels (Source)

‘We Always Fight the Russians’

• Here’s How to Save the Minsk II Agreement (Source)

In its current form, Minsk II can’t solve the Ukraine conflict. Here’s how to fix it.

• Ukraine’s Poroshenko discusses Minsk agreements with Merkel, Hollande (Source)
• U.S. ambassador to Russia John Tefft: Donbass killing their own children, Maidan was not a coup (Source)
• Kiev Request For SCO Partner Status Still in Force (Source)
• Is Kiev Trying to Starve Donbass? (Source)
• These two infographs show the devastating effects Western/EU policies have had on Ukraine’s economy (Source)
• The growth of fascism in Ukraine before and after Euromaidan :Report for the International Anti-EU Forum, Athens, 26-28 June 2015 (Source)
• Roger Annis – War in Ukraine & NATO Offensive in Eastern Europe (Video) (Source)
• Ukraine Wants 1,000 Javelin Systems in Exchange for Nuclear Warheads (Source)
• Ukraine Fully equipped to fight fire in Chernobyl radiation exclusion zone. No worries everything’s under control (Video) (Source)
• ​Ukraine – a ’Banana Republic’ without bananas (Source)

During the initial Euromaidan protests and subsequent coup, many Ukrainians changed their social media profile pictures to an English language graphic, titled “Pray for Ukraine.” While things were far from perfect then, the real suffering had yet to start.

The time to “Pray for Ukraine” is now