another_liberal
another_liberal's JournalIt is time to contact our President!
Ukraine has called for a general mobilization of its armed forces to begin at 1:00 AM Eastern, U.S. time. We need to tell President Obama in no uncertain terms to not take us into a military confrontation with Russia over Ukraine. There really is no time to lose. A general mobilization is the last step a country takes before opening hostilities. We must not let this country be draw into such a wholesale disaster.
You can send a message to President Obama at the following web site:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Please do it now, do not wait. Tomorrow may be too late.
The Russians have some rather precipitous hotheads too.
At least that is what this news story seems to suggest:
Senators suggest recalling Russia’s ambassador from US over Obama speech.
Russian senators are going to ask President Vladimir Putin to consider recalling Moscow’s Ambassador to the US following President Barack Obama’s “aggressive” comments on the situation in Ukraine, the speaker of the chamber said.The upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, has ordered the committee on international affairs to apply to Putin and ask him to recall Moscow’s ambassador to the US, council speaker Valentina Matvienko said, “The president will consider the appeal and make a decision,” she said.
The initiative was put forward by the Federation Council’s vice speaker, Yury Vorobiev, who referred to the President Barack Obama’s speech Friday, in which he said that Russia would have to pay for its policies in Ukraine. In Vorobiev’s opinion, Obama “crossed the red line and insulted the Russian people” and his words were a “direct threat.”
Senator Vyacheslav Shtyrov welcomed the idea, saying that Ukrainian events are the result of work which was carried out “with the participation of foreign states” and the US played an important role in it. He noted that some American officials openly admit that they “invested a lot of money to create such a situation.”
So far, no decisions have been made on the matter, said the Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. The proposal made by the senators is their opinion, Peskov pointed out, “Valentina Matvienko made a good point saying that the Federation Council expressed its opinion and made an appeal to the president. But it is up to the head of state to make a decision on the issue,” Peskov said.
Read more at: http://rt.com/news/us-ambassador-russia-obama-374/
Want something to be scared out of your wits about today?
If you want something to be scared out of your wits about today, look no further than this:
Calls in Kiev to regain nuclear status in six months.
Unable to resolve tensions with the largely pro-Russian autonomous region of Crimea, Kiev is bombarding Moscow with accusations and warnings. Some politicians have even threatened to restock Ukraine’s nuclear arsenal.
(snip)
Throughout Friday, Russian diplomats and the military had to refute media speculation and explain that the armed people at the Crimean airports in Simferopol and Sevastopol weren’t Russian troops. “There are no troops whatsoever. No Russian troops, at least… Some civilians claiming to be representing groups of ‘self-defense of Crimea’ arrived at Simferopol airport overnight, but they retreated and nothing happened,” Russian ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, told Euronews.
The Russian Black Sea fleet has been stationed in Sevastopol since the 18th century. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union it remained there, according to an agreement between Russia and Ukraine. Any movements of the Russian military within Crimea are in line with the existing arrangements with Ukraine on the deployment of military assets in the former Soviet republic, Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.
“We have an arrangement with Ukraine about the stationing of the Russian Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol and we are acting within the framework of that agreement,” Churkin told reporters.
The ultra-right “Svoboda” (Liberty) party has remained unconvinced, with one of its representatives in the Ukrainian parliament warning that if Russia doesn’t tread carefully it will be dealing with a nuclear power. "We’ll regain our status as a nuclear power and that’ll change the conversation. Ukraine has all the technological means needed to create a nuclear arsenal – which would take us about three to six months,” Svoboda party MP Mikhail Golovko said.
Fascists (I don't know anyone who disputes the Svoboda party are exactly that) are going to get the atomic bomb? All I can say is: Be sure you enjoy the next six months to the full extent of your abilities.
Read more at: http://rt.com/news/ukraine-nuclear-arsenal-threat-314/
For anyone who was enjoying the Klaus Nomi thread last night . . .
A host of Video and Multimedia locked as "Off Topic," for not being about news and current affairs. I guess one can't argue about that.
I opened a new OP on the "Entertainment" board, under "Classical Music." For anyone who was enjoying the music and discussion last night, here is a link:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1031292
Latest updates on Ukrainian events.
There has been a flurry of diplomatic exchanges and a crisis meeting of the United Nations Security Council:
Ukraine turmoil LIVE UPDATES
21:19 GMT:
The head of the general directorate of Ukraine’s Interior Ministery troops Stanislav Shulyak has been relieved of office by the acting President Aleksandr Turchinov.
The presidential decree published online says to "Release Shulyak Stanislav Nikolayevich from the post of chief of the Main Directorate - Commander of Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine."
Earlier on Friday, the country's Prosecutor General's Office has given the Ministry of Interior 10 days to detain 24 officials for their alleged role in the deaths in Kiev during the riots. Among them was Shulyak.
20:46 GMT:
The United Nations Security Council is holding private consultations on the crisis in Ukraine, after the Ukrainian interim government asked for a session on Friday. On his way into the meeting, Russian UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said he has “no idea” what could come out of the session. Ukrainian envoy Yuriy Sergeyev has told the journalist ahead of the meeting that he is hopeful the SC will “support Ukraine’s sovereignty.”
20:22 GMT:
Simferopol’s airport is closed for unspecified reasons, a senior duty official at the airport told Itar-Tass. The airport is scheduled to reopen at 17:00 GMT Saturday. Another official at the airport told Itar-Tass the airspace over the Crimea was closed for flights until 19:00 GMT Saturday.
"The airport is closed and all the departures have been cancelled," the source told the agency.
20:03 GMT:
Ukraine’s national telecommunications operator "Ukrtelecom" has lost the ability to provide connection between the Crimean peninsula and the rest of Ukraine because of damage to fiber optic cable, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
"As a result of actions of unknown people, the company’s fiber optic cables were damaged. As a consequence, telephone and internet services on the Crimea peninsula have almost completely been suspended,” the company’s statement says.
18:48 GMT:
US lawmakers have said Friday that they were drafting legislation to authorize financial and technical assistance for the country. Senator Chris Murphy, chairman of a senate subcommittee on European Affairs, said the package would be part of “a broader, coordinated program” with the European Union, International Monetary Fund and other international partners, Reuters reports.
To become law, the package needs to pass the Senate and the House of Representatives, before being signed off by the president.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on events in Ukraine and US foreign policy to Kiev on March 6.
18:25 GMT:
Russia’s Consulate General in Simferopol, Crimea, will start issuing Russian passports for officers of Ukraine’s recently disbanded Berkut special security force, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow says.
“The Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Simferopol was instructed to promptly take all necessary measures to start issuing Russian passports to troops of the Berkut unit,” the ministry said in a message on its Facebook page.
Read more at: http://rt.com/news/kiev-clashes-rioters-police-571/
Armed men raid Crimea capital airport in search of Ukrainian troops.
The following is about as scary as it gets, short of an actual war. It's time for us to tone down our rhetoric and try to calm this situation, while that is still possible.
A group of armed men in military uniforms have raided Simferopol international airport in the capital of Crimea, looking for Ukrainian airlifted forces, the airport press service says. According to eyewitnesses in the middle of the night at least three KamAZ trucks without license plates drove to the airport with about 50 armed men. At first the group cordoned off the airport’s domestic flights terminal, but then pushed forward. The head of the security at the airport told EER.ru magazine that the armed group “politely” asked security officers to leave.
(snip)
They armed men reportedly were equipped in a similar way to the group of local ethnic Russian ‘self-defense squads’ that had taken control of and raised Russian flags over the buildings of the Crimean parliament and government in the region’s capital. Moscow MP Vladimir Garnachuk, who is now in Simferopol, elaborated that the aim of the ‘self-defense squads’ was to stop the interim president Aleksandr Turchinov from landing in Crimea. “The active asset of about 2,000 people are developing a plan to block the runway,” Garnachuk told Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper via the phone.
(snip)
Read more at: http://rt.com/news/crimea-airport-terminal-capture-095/
Gogol Bordello – Mussolini vs. Stalin
This song has been on my mind all day. It's about a Russian dictator and a fascist dictator, and it's sung by a Roma Ukrainian. Seems fitting for our time:
Yanukovich says he's still president, asks Russia to ensure his safety.
This guy is clearly not giving up. As RT News reports:
Viktor Yanukovich still considers himself the legitimate leader of Ukraine and warns against an internal military conflict, according to a statement. He also asks Russia to ensure his safety against the actions of “extremists” that took power in Ukraine. “On the streets of many cities of our country, extremism thrives. Threats of bodily harm are thrown at me and my collaborators. I’m forced to ask the Russian authorities to ensure my personal security against the actions of extremists,” Yanukovich said.
Yanukovich’s security will reportedly be ensured on Russian territory “in connection with the fact that President Yanukovich appealed to the Russian authorities to ensure his personal safety,” a source inside the Russian authorities told Interfax. The southeast of the country and the Crimea don’t acknowledge the mayhem in Ukraine under which “leaders are chosen by the crowd,” news agencies quote Yanukovich's statement. Yanukovich also said that he hadn’t ordered the Ukrainian army to interfere in the internal political events, and he doesn’t order it now, the statement reads. “If someone gave such orders to the armed or security forces, these orders would be illegitimate, criminal,” Yanukovich stated.
However, the leader of the Batkivshina (Fatherland) party, Arseny Yatsenyuk, has said that Yanukovich is no longer the country’s president and that he has been put on an international wanted list. Yanukovich’s former Interior Minister, Vitaly Zakharchenko, has also been put on an international wanted list.
(snip)
Read more at: http://rt.com/news/yanukovich-president-ukraine-statement-002/
"'I dare you take my gun!' AK-47-toting Ukraine far-right leader tells officials."
Regional parliament members in a Ukrainian city held a session at gunpoint when one of the radical nationalist opposition leaders came to them, armed to the teeth, as the law of power seems to be prevailing in the tumultuous post-coup country. A Kalashnikov appears to be the best argument in a debate for Aleksandr Muzychko, an activist of the nationalist "Pravy Sektor" (Right Sector) movement and one of the Maidan's most prominent and controversial leaders.
On Tuesday he came to the Rovno regional parliament, where he threatened the regional MPs with a machine-gun and a number of other weapons as he demanded a decision on granting apartments to the families of protesters who were killed during last week’s violent clashes in central Kiev.
“Who wants to take away my machine-gun? Who wants to take away my gun? Who wants to take away my knives? I dare you!” Muzychko said.
(snip)
Read more at:
http://rt.com/news/radical-opposition-intimidating-techniques-882/
Is the NRA going to give this guy some money! On second thought, I may be showing my naivety. They most likely already have given him a load of money.
Stones, bottles thrown as pro-, anti-Russian protesters clash in Crimea.
Source: RT News
Bottles, stones and flags flew in the air as thousands of pro- and anti-Russian demonstrators clashed in front of the parliament building in Simferopol, the capital of Ukraine's autonomous Crimea region. Tension between the rival groups rallying next to one another intensified after hours of demonstrating, with people wielding Russian, Ukrainian, Crimean and Crimean Tatar flags getting involved in clashes. Demonstrators slammed each other with flags and threw stones as leaders on both sides urged their followers to avoid provocations. One person taking part in the demonstrations died of a heart attack, the Crimean Health Ministry reported. Five people also sought medical help due to high blood pressure and two more received light injuries in clashes, according to Itar-Tass.
The head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, Refat Chubarov, eventually called for the participants of the rally to go home peacefully. Crimea shall not be divided by “provocations” and its people will decide the future of the region on their own, Chubarov said in a heated speech. “We have gathered here to ensure that the Supreme Council [of Crimea] is no longer a center of destabilization. We may be different in our approach, but we are one in blood and in our love for Crimea. Our task for today is not to let any clashes happen here on this square. We are trying to find a common approach to building the future of Crimea,” Chubarov said, addressing the demonstrators. He also blamed the Crimean authorities for what is now happening and called for a new session of the local parliament to be held. Chubarov then handed the microphone to the leader of Russian Unity party, Sergey Aksyonov, who also urged the demonstrators to avoid clashes.
(snip)
The rival groups are protesting for and against the new national authorities in Kiev. Part of the residents proclaimed that Crimea are not going to obey Kiev, while the local Muslim community of Crimean Tatars expressed support for the new Ukrainian authorities. Two separate rallies, consisting of several thousands of protesters, faced each other on Wednesday. Russians shouted “Russia-Russia!” and “Berkut!”, the name of the special police task force disbanded yesterday by the new Ukrainian authorities, who blame them for heavy-handed policing of opposition activists in recent months in central Kiev. The Muslim community protesters were shouting “Ukraine-Ukraine!” and “Crimea is not Russia!” Pro-Russian demonstrators were holding Russian flags, while Tatars were holding Ukrainian flags and flags of their own nationalist organizations. Video footage from the scene appeared to show that both sides were preparing for a clash. Police officers attempted to separate the two sides. The police were unarmed except for rubber batons.
(snip)
Read more: http://rt.com/news/crimea-ukraine-protest-clashes-840/
A divided land within a divided land. Here's hoping cooler heads prevail in the Crimea.
There is included some riveting video of the two crowds and their reactions toward each other.
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