Ukraine: Coup regime raids home of Odessa anti-fascist leader

April 1 -- On the morning of April 1, Ukrainian Security Forces (SBU) agents raided the apartment of Odessa, Ukraine, anti-fascist leader Alexei Albu with a warrant authorizing them to search for lists of activists and for weapons.

Albu, an elected member of the Odessa Regional Council and local coordinator of the leftist Union Borotba (Struggle), was called in for questioning by the SBU on March 11 after he presented a proposal for a referendum on regional autonomy at the council.

Another local resistance leader, Anton Davidchenko, was seized by special forces on March 17 and kidnapped to Kiev, Ukraine's capital city.

 « click for more info VK
Alexei Albu, center, at anti-fascist march in Odessa, March 30. (Photo: Borotba)

On the eve of the raid, the local "Euromaidan" movement -- supporters of the pro-Western, fascist-dominated junta in Kiev -- held a rally outside police headquarters demanding the arrest of Albu and other prominent anti-fascists.

Borotba Union: Tribute to the victims of the racist murders (Jan. 2013)

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

New media and the changing narrative on Palestine  by Victoria Brittain

I want to dedicate this paper to the great journalist and writer on the Middle East, Patrick Seale, who died last week - for decades he set an example of writing counter-narrative, and generously gave help and encouragement to others trying to do so.

Lots of substance, needs to be diaried!!

...
○ NY Times Public Editor Slams Jodi Rudoren for Allowing Israeli Security Apparatus to Co-Opt Reporting
○ Shin Bet Gags Reporting on Secret Arrest of Israeli-Palestinian Journalist-Activist

Hasbara is a dead language

House grilled Nuland over US' Cooperation with Neo-Nazis in Ukraine

A two-hour hearing of US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland at the House Foreign Affairs Committee over the Obama administration's and the US' role in the developments in Ukraine nailed down Nuland over the United States overt cooperation with and use of neo-Nazis. Nuland tried to dodge questions, explained US plans for Ukraine and told the Committee outright lies about Kiev having "upheld the obligations of the Geneva agreement". Nuland omitted that Kiev has mobilized Ukraine's military forces and the presence of large contingents of Ukrainian troops near the Russian border.

Hard times covering-up cooperation with neo-Nazis. It becomes increasingly difficult for the Obama administration and the corporate US press to cover-up the fact that the main driving force behind the coup in Ukraine are neo-Nazis and ultra-nationalists, supported by the US.

While the Obama administration is pushing for Ukrainian elections on May 25, it transpires that about half of the 30.000 troops Kiev deployed to southeastern Ukraine are members of the National Guard, created in March, and "special regional military units" created this month, consisting predominantly of members of the neo-Nazi Pravy Sector and UNA-UNSO, militant members of the ultra-nationalist and overtly anti-Semitic Svoboda party and other radicals dressed in uniform to give the impression of "legality".

Nuland was nailed down by the Californian Republican Congressman Dana Rohrbacher who asked Nuland about the legality of the ousted Yanukovich government and the presence of neo-Nazis during the protests in Kiev and the coup. Rohrbacher served his entré, saying to Nuland:

"We did have a legitimate election before, and the legitimate president was removed after we had major street violence. There were pictures of people running around, that we were told were neo-Nazis".

Nuland attempted damage control attempting to position the mobs in Kiev's Maidan square as "peaceful protesters", saying:

"First of all, the vast majority of those who were participating on Maidan were peaceful protesters. There were mothers and grandmothers and veterans...

Rohrbacher, obviously discontent with being served propaganda, reminded Nuland about the nature of his entré, about neo-Nazis, saying:

"I saw those pictures and I also saw a lot of people throwing fire bombs at groups of policemen. There were people shooting into the ranks of police. So, yes, there were mothers with flowers, but there were also very dangerous street fighters engaged in those demonstrations. ...The question is: were there neo-Nazis involved?"

○ RT: Nuland has tough time justifying US involvement in Ukraine

Nuland, continued dodging a very direct questions, saying that "there were many colors of Ukraine involved, including very ugly colors". It has become established fact [CIA participation in Gladio] that the US administration and allies have cooperated with neo-Nazis and ultra-nationalists in Ukraine since the end of WW II, and that the primus motor behind the coup were neo-Nazi organizations centered around Pravy Sektor and the Svoboda party.

Nuland submitted and read out a statement on US policy towards Ukraine to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

CrossTalk: Containment 2.0 with Stephen Cohen and John Mearsheimer

Subcommittee Chairman Dana Rohrbacher questions deteriorating relationship with Russia in last two years:

Kerry bashes RT as "propaganda"

My diary @BooMan - Confrontational: Carter & Mujahideen; Obama & Neo-nazis.

Another excellent reference diary:
○ Exceptional Amnesia: A List of U.S. Actions Since WWII  by BostonJoe on July 10th, 2006

Hasbara is a dead language

Dutch military ordered to refuse ribbon from Russia on V-day

On May 9, Russia commemorates the victory of the Soviet Union over Germany in 1945. This happens in Moscow with a big parade on the Red Square, but also in the Netherlands each year at the Russian cemetery in Leusden where Russian fallen soldiers are commemorated. A symbol used, both in Russia and in the Netherlands, is the St. George Ribbon. This is now also the symbol of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine and symbol of Russian imperialism. See intern email sent by Lt. Commander Geert Lalleman link here.

 « click for info Wikipedia
Military may not accept Russian ribbon of valor(ANP/NOS)

○ Russian Field of Honor in Leusden
○ Georgian uprising on Dutch island Texel - April 1945

Putin's Jewish embrace: Is it love or politics?

(JTA/Haaretz) March 11, 2014 - Few would dispute that Putin has been friendly to Jewish institutional life in Russia -- especially to organizations and leaders that belong to the Chabad Hasidic movement.

Gorin, a Chabad rabbi and chairman of Moscow's $50 million Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, credits Putin personally for providing state funding for the institution, which opened in 2012. Putin also donated a month's wages to the museum.

"Putin has facilitated the opening of synagogues and Jewish community centers across Russia, at the Jewish community's request. This has had a profound effect on Jewish life, especially outside Moscow," Gorin said. "He instituted annual meetings with Jewish community leaders and attends community events. His friendship with the Jewish community has given it much prestige and set the tone for local leaders."

Putin's relationship with the Jewish community is consistent with his larger strategy for governing Russia. His brand of Russian nationalism extends beyond just ethnic Russians to include the country's many minorities. Putin has carefully cultivated relationships with Russia's many subgroups and regions as a means of projecting his government's authority.

Mikhail Chlenov, secretary general of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, says Putin's pro-Jewish tendencies are part of the reason that anti-Semitic incidents are relatively rare in Russia. In 2013, the Russian Jewish Congress documented only 10 anti-Jewish attacks and acts of vandalism, compared to dozens in France.

Rabbi Berel Lazar: Vladimir Putin told me a personal story in the Kremlin

○ Putin Sends Pesach Message to Jewish Community
○ Russian and Ukrainian Jews at Each Other's Throats

De-classified CIA-file on KIBITZ-15 [pdf]

This declassified CIA-file, a report adressed to the Chief of Mission in Frankfurt, describes a meeting between a CIA-agent (Chief, FHB) and head of the German stay-behind network KIBITZ-15 net, Walter Kopp (CIA-Cryptonym: KIBITZ-15), on 16th October 1952 in a safehouse in Heidelberg, run by the KIBITZ network, established and financed by the CIA.

Walter Kopp reports on a stay-behind network established by former Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS personnel under the name of "Soldatenselbsthilfe in Sueddeutschland", also known as South Wurttemberg Officers Group. Kopp names Col. Albert Paul Schnez of Stuttgart as manager and frontman and General of Infantry Rudolf von Bünau as head of the organization.  

From your link...

Statements by Schnez quoted in the documents suggest that the project to build a clandestine army was also supported by Hans Speidel -- who would become the NATO Supreme Commander of the Allied Army in Central Europe in 1957 -- and Adolf Heusinger, the first inspector general of the Bundeswehr.

○ Website Operation Gladio - Meeting with KIBITZ-15 (28 Oct 1952)
○ Kiev coup-d'état, link to Ukrainian National Self-Defence (UNA-UNSO)
○ Ukraine Maidan Revolt: "Blitzkrieg, die nächste Generation"