Gorbachev:
Bulldoze EU & US aides from Ukraine and let the people decide
The
EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is visiting Kiev to meet
the new interim leadership. She's there to discuss measures to keep
the country afloat as reports emerge that the Ukrainian treasury is
empty.
The
EU has already pledged to provide Ukraine with 20 billion euro once a
new government is formed. That's after the International Monetary
Fund confirmed its commitment to provide Kiev with financial support.
Mikhail
Gorbachev, the former president of the Soviet Union thinks that the
West should let the people of Ukraine decide their own political
future.
'
Ukraine’s new authorities resort to ‘dictatorial’ methods in regions – Russia
Russia has lashed out at the new regime in Kiev, accusing it of using “dictatorial” and “terrorist” methods to suppress dissent in the country, with backing from the West which is “acting out of geopolitical self-interest.”
RT,
24
February, 2014
“The
position of some of our Western partners doesn’t show genuine
concern, but a desire to act out of geopolitical self-interest,”
said a statement on the Russian foreign ministry’s website.
“There
is no condemnation of criminal actions by extremists, including
manifestations or neo-Nazism and anti-Semitism. In fact, these are
being encouraged.”
The
statement went on to say that “outside sponsors” are advancing a
“regime change” in the country, without a desire to find
“national consensus."
“We
urge those embroiled in the crisis in Ukraine to show responsibility,
and to prevent further deterioration of the situation, to return to
the rule of law, and to stop the extremists in their bid for power.”
An
escalating three-month standoff between the opposition and the
government came to an end at the weekend, when President Viktor
Yanukovich escaped Kiev.
Since
then, a Rada composed of opposition deputies and defectors from
Yanukovich’s Party of Regions has assumed control, stripping him of
his powers, and making its speaker Aleksandr Turchinov the interim
head of state.
The
Russian foreign ministry said “paramilitaries... refuse to leave
the cities, or abandon the administrative buildings they have
occupied, while they continue to carry out acts of violence”. It
also censures them for mocking historical memorials.
The
statement says that the legitimacy of the Rada is “questionable”,
and says that the opinions of the largely pro-Russian regions should
not be ignored.
Moscow
accuses the Ukrainian MPs of using “revolutionary expediency” for
calls to “virtually forbid the use of the Russian language
entirely, encourage a lustration, liquidateparties, shut down certain
media, and remove the limitations on Neo-Nazi propaganda”.
The
Rada revoked a law that allowed Russian and other minority languages
to be recognized as official in multi-cultural regions, and has also
proposed an initiative that would forbid officials from the former
regime from occupying official posts. One nationalist leader has
called for Russian TV stations to be barred from broadcasting in
Ukraine.
The
Russian ministry has also condemned the announced May 25 presidential
election date, saying that according to the February 21 agreement
between the authorities and the opposition, made before Viktor
Yanukovich left Kiev, that any polls could only be staged after a
constitutional reform.
To
ensure the success of the reform, any changes to the Constitution
should be put to a national referendum, Moscow stressed.
Yanukovich wanted over mass killings in Ukraine, whereabouts unknown
The
new Ukrainian authorities have put missing, ousted, President
Yanukovich on the wanted list on suspicion of involvement in mass
killings during the riots in Kiev. He was reportedly last seen at his
residence in Crimea.
The
arrest warrant was issued on Monday, acting Interior Minister Arsen
Avakov announced on his Facebook page.
Good advice, wrong address: Russia responds to Susan Rice ‘no tanks to Ukraine’ warning
RT,
24
February, 2014
Rice
did not elaborate on why she believed Moscow would even consider
using military force to help Yanukovich. During the three months of
confrontation in Ukraine, Western officials flocked to the country in
support of the opposition crowd. Russia, meanwhile, distanced itself
from the situation and only criticized the West for what Moscow
considered blatant meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs.
“The
position of some of our Western partners doesn’t show genuine
concern, but a desire to act out of geopolitical self-interest,”
said a statement on the Russian foreign ministry’s website.
Following
the ouster of President Yanukovich, Moscow has not changed its stance
nor voiced any support for him. It only criticized the opposition for
not keeping its word and breaking a West-sponsored reconciliation
agreement, which it signed with Yanukovich.
Moscow
wants to see somebody in Kiev who would have the authority and power
to implement whatever agreements the countries may negotiate, Russian
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev stressed on Monday.
“Frankly,
the legitimacy of many governmental bodies is in doubt there,” he
said. “Treating masked men armed with Kalashnikov rifles, who are
now circling Kiev, as a government – we would find it difficult
working with such a government.”
Since
the collapse of the Soviet Union and the establishment of new Russia,
it has fought just one war with a foreign power. In 2008, Russian
tanks were sent to Georgia, after the latter tried to use military
force to seize control over its breakaway region of South Ossetia.
Russia justified its actions by the death of Russian peacekeepers who
were stationed in Georgia under a UN mandate with the brief not to
allow military action between Georgians and Ossetians, and who were
killed by the advancing Georgian troops.
Russia
also used its military in its own territory in the Republic of
Chechnya, which went from a nationalist uprising to forming a de
facto independent government to transforming into a hotbed of
banditry and terrorism, spilling violence into neighboring Russian
regions. Moscow eventually took Chechnya back under its control
through alliances with some local militant factions and by offering
generous rebuilding funding in exchange for assurances of security
and loyalty.
U.S.
Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit in Iraq (Reuters /
Bob Strong)U.S. Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit in
Iraq (Reuters / Bob Strong)
In
1991, when the USSR ceased to exist, the US conducted a war against
Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Since then America has fought four major wars
against foreign nations, including the bombing campaign in
Yugoslavia, the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq (for the second
time), and the bombing campaign in Libya. It stopped short of
starting a fifth war against Syria in 2013, a move which was
prevented in large part by the mediation of Russia, which convinced
the Syrian government to relinquish its chemical weapons.
Washington
justifies its interventions on humanitarian reasons and the
obligation to depose repressive governments. Such obligations
however, do not seem to apply to countries which have a poor human
rights record, like Saudi Arabia, but remain American allies.
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