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by Stephen Lendman
Previous articles called it war without mercy. This writer's new book as editor and contributor explains the most significant post-WW II geopolitical crisis.
Escalating it risks global conflict. Obama bears full responsibility. Washington stops at nothing to advance its imperium.
Imagine the unthinkable. John Pilger fears Washington "threaten(s) to take the world to war." "We in the west are backing neo-Nazis in a country where Ukrainian Nazis backed Hitler," he said."(A) silent coup has taken place in Washington and rampant militarism now rules."
Ukraine is "a CIA theme park." Its operatives oversee "savage attacks" against Ukrainians wanting to live free.
"Add the risk of nuclear war," said Pilger. Neocons infesting Washington make the unthinkable possible.
Perhaps Eastern Ukrainian war without mercy is prelude for East/West confrontation. It rages. Civilians are fair game. They're being murdered in cold blood.
Not according to State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki. She called fascist aggression "restraint."
Kiev has "every right to take steps to maintain law and order," she said.
"(W)e commend and continue to commend the Ukrainian government's restraint and efforts to limit damage and injury to the civilian population."
Psaki blamed Kiev's crimes of war and against humanity on Eastern Ukrainian freedom fighting victims.
"We have a fundamental disagreement with the Russians about what the Ukrainian government is doing and the validity of their own right to maintain calm and order in their own country," she added.
On Friday, Putin voiced concern over ongoing military aggression. He wants it stopped. He urged peaceful conflict resolution.
So did Lavrov. He called for "(m)ore effective mediation efforts…to cease violence in Ukraine and immediately start a mutually respectful dialogue…"
Slavyansk is besieged. Shelling continues. Mortars, howitzers and heavy artillery are used. Artema and Semenovka village were targeted.
Gunfire was heard near Kramatorsk airport. A Donetsk healthcare department statement said army units opened fire on Slavyansk residential areas. At least seven children were wounded.
Donetsk People's Republic leaders accused Kiev of using chemical weapons in Mariupol. They issued a statement saying:
"Kiev bears the entire responsibility not only for their state agencies' actions, but also for the actions by citizens who illegally apply means of chemical warfare."
"Armed groups controlled by Kiev used unidentified chemical weapons (earlier) while storming the City Council headquarters."
"The defenders of the City Council have left the contaminated area."
"Many of them had their breathing systems damaged, which is likely to have consequences and probably be a danger to their lives."
The statement urged world leaders to condemn toxic choking gas use. Take comprehensive measures, it added. Isolate Kiev putschists.
They're silent about chemical weapons use. They're waging Eastern Ukrainian dirty war.
With full US support. One fascist regime backs another. Crimes of war and against humanity don't matter.
Hundreds of Slavyansk children were evacuated to Crimea for their safety.
They're aged eight to 16. They're housed at peninsula summer camps. It wasn't easy getting past Ukrainian border guards.
They're safe in Russia. They'll spend at least a month in Crimea. One child told RT International:
His city "comes under mortar shelling. People get hurt as a result."
"A mortar shell splinter the size of a walnut hit my grandpa's leg and pierced the bone."
"If it went a little deeper, it could hit an artery, and that would be it for him."
Another child said:
"It's so unusually calm and quiet here compared to Slavyansk. No explosions going off. It was scary."
"Nobody expected that things like that could start in our city, which was never famous for anything."
A third child said she "was very scared. There were explosions."
"My dad just celebrated his birthday and he was woken by the sound of shelling on that day. I'm very glad I'm here now. It’s calm here."
Hopefully it'll stay that way. On May 30, Itar Tass headlined "Members of Right Sector plotting attacks in Crimea," saying:
Russian Federal Security (FSB) officers "detained members of Ukraine's Right Sector terrorist group in the Republic of Crimea."
"The group plotted terrorist attacks in the cities of Simferopol, Yalta and Sevastopol, and later on they planned to destroy several facilities, railway bridges and electricity lines."
FSB said its "Investigative Department has been working on the criminal case against O. Sentsov, S. Afanasyev, A. Chirniy and A. Kolchenko…"
They're "suspected of setting up a (Crimean) terrorist community." They planned earlier bomb attacks.
Explosive materials, weapons, gas masks and untranationalist literature were found in their residences. They were taken to Moscow. They're at Lefortovo detention center.
Afanasyev, Chirniy and Kolchenko admitted planning to blow up railway bridges, power lines and public monuments. An FSB statement said:
"The suspects have confessed to being part of Pravy Sektor (Right Sector) and to organizing terrorist acts on the territory of Crimea with the aim of destabilizing the social and political situation on the peninsula."
It doesn't surprise. Fascist regimes operate this way. Right Sector thugs are neo-Nazi extremists. They're Obama's new friends.
They're xenophobic, hate-mongering, ultranationalist anti-Semites. They're aligned with like-minded ideologues.
For the first time since WW II, overt fascists have real power. They hold major government posts.
Anointed president-elect Petro Poroshenko serves as nominal leader. He's militantly anti-democratic.
He's polar opposite what Ukrainians deserve. Straightaway he OK'd full-scale war without mercy.
New leadership changed nothing. Fascism won. Democracy lost. War on Eastern Ukrainians wanting to live free rages.
Poroshenko wants it continued until all resistance is crushed. Perhaps he intends bloodbath slaughter achieve it.
On May 30, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:
"Humanitarian aid will be given to (Eastern Ukrainians) for sure, but I can't say anything about military aid. The military should be asked about that."
Itar Tass said:
"On May 28, the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation sent a note to the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine, attracting attention of the Ukrainian authorities to the fact that Russia has been repeatedly receiving requests from citizens and organizations from the conflict zone in Ukraine’s eastern regions where many people are killed and many are wounded in combat operations."
Russia "has been requested to provide urgent humanitarian aid, first and foremost of medication and medical goods."
"Russia is ready to provide the population in those regions with everything needed, and asked Ukraine to take necessary steps for ensuring urgent deliveries of Russian humanitarian aid to conflict-hit regions in the shortest term possible."
On May 29, Itar Tass headlined "Ukraine's Foreign Ministry turns down humanitarian aid to eastern regions from Russia."
It called Moscow's request "another element of propaganda." It wants Eastern Ukrainians denied what's vital to supply.
On May 30, Interfax-Ukraine headlined "Pentagon delegation to hold talks in Kyiv."
US ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt said Washington tripled US military aid in the last three months.
Special emphasis was placed on improving border security forces combat readiness. Pyatt expects assistance will grow, he said.
Modernizing Ukraine's "defense and security" apparatus is planned, he added. Making its killing machine more effective he omitted explaining.
War without mercy continues. Kiev putschists want fascist governance institutionalized.
They want democracy prevented. They want what Ukrainians most deserve denied.
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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity"
http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com
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