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Ukraine crisis: Russia preparing 'false-flag' operation | Sky News - 15 Jan. 2022 |
Sky's US correspondent Mark Stone discusses the ongoing Ukraine-Russia situation with US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland.
Victoria Nuland never shook the mantle of ideological meddler | Responsible Statecraft |
Nuland was a combative liberal hawk during her time in government, and she was consistently one of the most aggressive proponents of U.S. backing for Ukraine and NATO expansion. Her career sometimes exemplified the heedless and arrogant foreign policy worldview that she championed.
She was the Principal Deputy National Security Advisor to then-Vice President Dick Cheney during the first two years of the Iraq war, and then served as U.S. NATO ambassador in Brussels during Bush's second term. Nuland was an early cheerleader for Ukrainian membership in the alliance. She reportedly advised the Ukrainian government at the time to launch an information campaign to "dispel the image of NATO as a `four-letter word.'"
As the U.S. representative at NATO at the 2008 Bucharest summit, she pressed allies to grant Membership Action Plans (MAPs) to Ukraine and Georgia. When the German and French governments balked at that idea, she was involved in the blunder in which the alliance promised that Ukraine and Georgia would one day be admitted to NATO.
The promise at Bucharest contributed to the August war later that year between Russia and Georgia, and it laid the foundation for the later tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
ECHR rules Ukraine failed to prevent or investigate violence during Maidan protests | Jurist News - 14 March 2025 |
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has held the Ukrainian authorities accountable for failing to take action to prevent violence and protect lives [during the events in Odessa on May 2, 2014, when extremists set fire to the House of Trade Unions.]
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Thursday that Ukraine violated the European Convention on Human Rights by failing to prevent and investigate violence during the Odesa's pro-European Maidan protests in 2014. [during the events in Odessa on May 2, 2014, when extremists set fire to the House of Trade Unions]
In late April 2014, Ukrainian authorities obtained intelligence showing signs of possible incitement to violence and mass riots at the "For a United Ukraine" rally in Odesa on May 2, 2014. However, on the rally day, limited police forces were deployed to the city center and the stadium. Video footage from the protest showed inaction by the police when pro-Russian activists and Maidan supporters were firing numerous shots, throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at each other. Despite numerous calls to the fire brigade, the fire service was not deployed to the scene until later in the evening when a fire broke out in the Trade Union Building, claiming 42 lives.
Between June 2017 and October 2018, 28 people filed applications to the ECHR, claiming that the state had failed to protect their lives and those of their relatives and that there had been no effective domestic investigation into the matter. As a result, the applicants argued the state violated Article 2 (right to life), Article 3 (prohibition of inhumane or degrading treatment) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the Convention.
A unanimous court held that Ukrainian authorities violated the applicants' right to life when they failed to do everything that could reasonably be expected of them to prevent the violence, to stop the violence after its outbreak, to ensure the timely rescue of people trapped by fire, and to conduct an effective investigation into the events.
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Pro-govt activists burn pro-Russian tents; clashes, efforts to save those in burning building | AP News archive |
Deadly clashes took place in the southern Ukrainian port of Odessa on Friday, triggered by Ukraine's offensive to recapture the eastern city of Slovyansk from pro-Russia forces.
The clashes between pro- and anti-government activists in the previously calm port city led to a fire that police said killed 31 people.
The clashes erupted late on Friday between pro-Russians and government supporters in the key port on the Black Sea coast, located 550 kilometres (330 miles) from the turmoil in the east.
Police said the deadly fire broke out in a trade union building, but did not give details on how it started.
According to Ukrainian news reports, the pro-Kiev demonstrators broke up an encampment of Moscow supporters outside the trade union building.
The latter took refuge in the building, which then caught fire.
Odessa police spokesman Volodymyr Shasbliyenko told AP that the fire apparently was caused by Molotov cocktails. He had no further details or identities of the victims.
Unlike eastern Ukraine, Odessa had remained largely untroubled since the February toppling of President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia.
Covering the events after the ugly Maidan massacre, violence and incidents leading to a brutal civil war ... regime change 2014 JoeBiden© in full support of Dutch PM Mark Rutte.
From my diary @BooMan ...
A Dispatch: Irish Traveler from Lviv via Kiev to Odessa | Posted by Oui - Mar 26, 2014 |
Ukrainian nationalists and pro-Russian activists are facing off for control of the divided city Kharkiv. (Credit DW News)
I had to go to Ukraine to see it for myself. Here is what I saw. Feel free to read and comment
Bryan MacDonald
A few years ago, I was in Odessa, having just arrived from Lviv by train, and a taxi driver was quizzing me endlessly about the Western Ukraine city. "Why don't you just go there?", I asked in all seriousness. He replied: "I couldn't go there, I'm a Russian speaker, they'd kill me.
What happens in Ukraine over the coming years won't answer the question of Europe's supposed diminution but it will certainly seal Lviv's fate, the city is literally crumbling and in dire need of the sort of investment Prague and Krakow received in the 90′s to restore their former glory.
Importance of Black Sea ports and access to minerals and fracking gas deposits
Of course, Russia shouldn't mess with the Russian speaking population in Eastern Ukrainen along its borders. Joe Biden was in Kiev, followed by CIA chief John Brennan and their was immediate response of the Ukrainian Army moving into Mariupol and Slavyansk, guns blazing.
Vyacheslav Ponomarev, the people's mayor of Slavyansk, told Itar-Tass that documents of the Right Sector had been found among personal belonging of the radicals who attacked a block station near Slavyansk. "Personal belongings of a militant killed in the skirmish had a Right Sector badge number 20," he said. "Badge number one is held by [Right Sector leader] Dmitry Yarosh.
Western media didn't cover the 42 deaths in Odessa and the total death toll after the Maidan Revolution has surpassed the sad number of pre-rebellion. In VP's office, did Biden find a moving box with Halliburton energy dossiers belonging to Cheney? [For Kiev watchers, her name is Victoria Nuland, assistant to VP Dick Cheney]
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Is the Ukrainian Security Service a US Intelligence Unit? CIA Director Held `Secret Consultations' in Kiev
Russian news agencies reported that U.S. CIA director John Brennan had a secret meeting with Ukrainian officials in Kiev before they began operations against separatist forces that had taken over buildings in the country's east.
Brennan landed in Ukraine under an assumed name and held a "series of secret meetings" with the country's "power bloc" Interfax reported, citing an unidentified official in the Ukrainian parliament. The unidentified official said that there were "unconfirmed reports" that the U.S. security official was behind the decision to use force in eastern Ukraine after pro-Russian separatist forces took control of the city of Slovyansk.
Ukrainian parliament Communist Party deputy Vladimir Golub told RIA Novosti that lawmakers were talking about the visit openly and opined that the Ukrainian Security Service had become a unit of the CIA.
Ukraine: EU Ashton Who Then Called For "Dialog", Now Calls For "Authority of the State" | MofA - 13 April 2014 |
Flight MH 17, Ukraine and the New Cold War. Prism of Disaster | 2018 |
On the weekend of 13 and 14 April, CIA Director John Brennan was in the Ukrainian capital. He was followed by dozens of CIA advisers and Academi (formerly, Blackwater) mercenaries. The Anti-Terrorist Operation began right after Brennan's visit; Parubiy sent out a Twitter message on 15 April that veterans of the Maidan uprising were poised to join the fight. Since NATO had earlier implored Yanukovych not to use force against (armed) demonstrators, Moscow now asked the alliance to restrain the coup leaders in turn. But according to Foreign Minister Lavrov, the answer they got was that 'NATO would ask them to use force proportionately'.
[...]
The Daily Beast: Here's what the CIA director was really doing in Kyiv | Kyiv Post |
Over the weekend, CIA Director John Brennan met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaliy Yarema to discuss the formation of new, more secure channels for sharing U.S. intelligence with the country now fighting pro-Russian secessionists in its eastern cities, according to U.S. and Western officials briefed on the meeting.
It's a vitally important issue because the Ukrainians are badly outmatched by the Russian forces massed on their border and infiltrating their cities. If Kiev is going to have a hope of withstanding the pressure from Moscow, their intelligence on the Russian military's activities will have to be exquisite.
The Daily Beast reported last week that Gen. Philip Breedlove had pushed to share more satellite imagery and other forms of detailed data about nearby Russian troop, but was rebuffed by the White House.
NATO Commander Philip Breedlove was a major a$$hole, a hard-nosed warmonger fighting the "Communists" as if he was in the. Ritish Army under leadership of Sir Winston Churchill himself ... over many years it was obvious he set the tone inside NATO defense ministers summits, and never hesitated till do political statements rebuffing European leaders. Breedlove as many of his generation of warmongers got their war ... will last the next hundred years.
Old warrior generals of the Cold War taking the lead of civilian leaders to get their way in anti-Russia narrative and prepare for war with an ever stronger group of NATO countries. Over the years I have written about Breedlove and his public voice spreading hate, leaving little room for diplomacy. US Congress followed his lead ... European sovereignty my a$$ ... a vassal state complying with evil, war crimes, torture ... now looking at the consequences of fascism in America ...
The awakening @ProgressPond and a long series of "complaints" 🤢
The fascists are coming for ... YOU!! | BooMan23 |
Exclusive: Key General Splits With Obama Over Ukraine | Daily Beast - 11 April 2014 |
The commander of NATO is insisting that the West do more to protect Ukraine from a possible Russian invasion. But the Obama administration has other plans.
In a statement for The Daily Beast, Breedlove acknowledged that he met with members of both parties in Congress in the last week in March. "I provided my estimation of Russian capabilities and that estimation was well-received by the Members. As these sessions were classified, I can only get into generalities." Breedlove added that he discussed a number of issues including the U.S. consideration of non-lethal aid to Ukraine. "I was clear that our efforts were aimed at reassuring our NATO Allies and European partners of our commitment and resolve," he said.
Members of Congress, Congressional staff and U.S. defense officials say Breedlove has wanted to brief Ukraine's military on the detailed intelligence U.S. spy agencies had gathered on Russia's troop movements and analysis of Russian war plans.
The General also told the members and staff that detailed estimates of Russian troops showed the number of forces preparing to invade Ukraine numbered 80,000. Other U.S. intelligence agencies and the State Department have said the total number of forces numbered around 40,000. On Thursday, Breedlove published a set of commercial satellite photos showing Russian troop positions in Ukraine. On his Twitter feed he wrote, "Russian forces around Ukraine fully equipped/capable to invade. Public denial undermines progress. Images tell story."
One member of Congress who had attended the Breedlove briefing in March told The Daily Beast it was extraordinary for the NATO chief to release the satellite photos." Have you ever heard of a commander doing that? He wants so badly for the Ukrainians to get the information, he released it. He did not do this for CNN and Fox News." This member added, "It was clear Breedlove wanted to be doing more, and he is still not getting the authorization."
Cold War Against Russia--Without Debate | The Nation - 1 May 2014 |
The Obama administration's decision to isolate Russia, in a new version of "containment" [Ivo Daalder and John Kerry making Russia a pariah state] has met with virtually unanimous support from the political and media establishment.
Loss of HRC in 2016 presidential race, was followed by an MI6/CIA subversion of the new President Trump with weaponized propaganda involving the intelligence establishment in the MI6 connected Steele espionage report, PropOrNot and Hamilton
"Igor doesn't deserve any of this," says Fiona Hill one of Danchenko's mentors and a Russia specialist who served on the U.S. National Security Council, and who was a key figure in Trump's first impeachment. "He would have been a really good political-risk analyst."
I understand Dr. Fiona Hill, Chancellor @Durham U, appointed mentor to Labour PM Keir Starmer 🇬🇧 in creating the coalition of the willing in the cause against Russia these days. 🇷🇺
Former MI-6 spy Chris Steele must be a good guy ... working for and against Russian oligarchs in London, even sending reports on Russian involvement in the Ukraine to Victoria Nuland, former assistent to US VP Cheney. Now, those are true credentials ... for American/British neocons. Steele in the same category as CIA, Brennan and Clapper. Why am I not a believer??
Obama appoints CIA goon John Brennan ... and James Clapper as DNI (the worst of choices)
U.S. Intelligence: Lying Liars and Warmongers | 30 June 2018 |
What a bullshit ... the BIG liar during the Obama years.
Role played by James Clapper ... backtracking on "dodgy" dossier: "Only heard of the Steele dossier with allegations in mid-December 2016. We had nothing to do with it, it was not our intelligence." The "dodgy" dossier had already been leaked to the FBI by August 2016, to fellow MI6 spooks and the right-wing Republicans headed by John McCain and his "intelligence" goons. What a bloody farce.
Brennan and Clapper Should Not Escape Prosecution | Nov. 2018 |
By John Kiriakou
Condi Kills 19-Year Annual U.S. Terrorism Report | Posted by Dean Pajevic | Apr 16, 2005 |
A year later, our new Secretary of State (Condoleezza Rice) -- rather than reveal and be forced to explain similarly disturbing statistics -- dumps the 19-year annual report altogether, according to a Knight-Ridder report this morning:
John O. Brennan, a 23-year CIA veteran who oversaw the effort [for the incorrect 2003 report], took "personal responsibility." He blamed antiquated computers and personnel shortages for the errors and dismissed suggestions that the administration purposely fabricated the figures.
"Anyone who might assert the numbers were intentionally skewed is mistaken," said Brennan, director of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC), created by President Bush to produce efficient and comprehensive assessments of domestic and international terrorism.
When the April report was released, Yesterday, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Armitage's words were based on incorrect information.
War on Terror I'd very successful the White House says ...
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Remarks to the Press with Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus | 20 April 2005 |
Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Prezidentura
Vilnius, Lithuania
PRESIDENT ADAMKUS: (in Lithuanian) Distinguished U.S. Secretary of State, it gives me, indeed today, an enormous pleasure to welcome you in Vilnius. And as I said before, it was like a continuation of the (inaudible) of the U.S. President Bush (inaudible) a couple of years ago. And also a visit to Lithuania is also the recognition of all the efforts of the Lithuania and the results that Lithuania has achieved as a new ally of NATO.
QUESTION: (In Lithuanian) Madam Secretary of State, what is your vision of the U.S. and the European Union cooperation in their efforts to expand the boundaries of democracy towards the so-called GUUAM states: Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Uzbekistan? And how would you figure out the role of Lithuania within this process, within expansion of this cooperation? Thank you.
SECRETARY RICE: Well, I'd first said that we've already had -- we and the European Union -- a lot of success in helping people to realize their aspirations for liberty and for freedom. Clearly, the role that our Lithuanian friends displayed in the Ukraine is really quite important. I think it came at a time when the Ukrainian opposition needed the support of international forces in order to feel that they were not alone in their quest to deal with what had been a fraudulent election. And I remember the personal role of President Adamkus in that, which was very much appreciated.
Obviously, Georgia has had a democratic revolution and we continue to work with them. And there are other places where civil society is growing, where opposition forces are speaking out about developments in their society, even in Belarus, which as I said in Russia just a little while ago, is really the last true dictatorship in the center of Europe and it is time for change to come to Belarus.
Now, the good thing about the way that the Transatlantic Alliance is now working is that we have stopped talking about the nature of the Transatlantic Alliance or how is the Transatlantic Alliance today, so to speak, putting it on the couch and analyzing every day whether the Transatlantic Alliances is doing well or badly or so forth and we've begun to really put the Transatlantic Alliance to work on behalf of democratic principles, on behalf of people who have been denied freedom and we're having quite a lot of success. We will have to do some practical things.
We talked about the fact -- and I also talked with my colleague, the Foreign Minister, about the practical work that is ahead so that leadership in places like Ukraine and Georgia can begin to deliver for their people in terms of economic development and prosperity, in terms of education, in terms of health care.
The European Union has some action plans that we are sharing with them and working with them on. So, it is both opening up the possibility of people to take the opportunity to get freedom and it is continuing to work with those newly free states so that they are able to deliver and so that frustration does not develop.
Neocon Years and NATO Expansion of 2008 | April 2023 |
Lithuania and Romania Complicit for Hosting CIA "Black Sites" | ECHR report - 7 June 2018 |
On 31 May 2018, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) confirmed in two simultaneously published judgments, Abu Zubaydah v. Lithuania and Al Nashiri v. Romania, that two Eastern European States, Lithuania and Romania, were involved in the running of secret detention facilities of the CIA, so-called "black sites", on their territories as well as their "complicity" in the execution of CIA's secret extraordinary rendition programme for suspected terrorists.
The ECtHR found that the detention and ill-treatment of both applicants in Lithuania and Romania were entirely at the hands of CIA officials, but that both countries knew "beyond reasonable doubt" of the CIA's illegal activities on their territories.
Latest ruling Al-Hawsawi v Lithuania of January 2024, the ECtHR has added clarity to the grey zone of permissible support at the intersection of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL). Notwithstanding the fact that the ECtHR naturally grounded its rulings on the ECHR, the cases help explain broader principles of international law, and are binding on nearly all NATO members.
Regional Cooperation in the Black Sea Area in the Context of EU-Russia Relations | April 2008 |
The wider Black Sea area is a major trade link for the transportation of rich Caspian oil and natural gas reserves to the West.
While it is the energy-supplying role of the area which is often underlined with regard to the Black Sea region in general, Russia's position as the supplier of more than a quarter of the EU's total energy demand is in particular highlighted here. However, as the author argues EU-Russia relations are much more substantive than cooperation and discord in energy-related matters.
The EU's eastern enlargement of 2004 has brought it closer to its largest neighbour. Relations between the Russian Federation and the Union are now characterized by the EU's efforts to engage with Russia on the one hand and Russia's increasing need to assert itself in its neighbourhood, on the other. As a result, the verdict is still out as to whether EU-Russia relations are at a crossroads or drifting apart.
U.S. and the European Union cooperation in their efforts to expand the boundaries of democracy towards the so-called GUUAM states: Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Moldova.
GUAM: Still Relevant Regional Actor? | EurAsian Research - 27 March 2017 |
Lost Uzbekistan along the way ... or considered Ukraine a "done deal" 😁 from double U to a single U.
