by Stephen Lendman

What's ongoing should scare everyone. State-sponsored terror threatens Europe.

Initiated post-Paris killings. On the pretext of fighting nonexistent homegrown terrorism. At the same time, MSM ignore Kiev's ceasefire hoax.

Ongoing dirty war rages in Europe's heartland. Donbas residents attacked. Civilian neighborhoods shelled. Killing defenseless men, women and children in cold blood.

Kiev continues mobilizing for escalated conflict. On January 16, Itar Tass headlined "New spate of drafting to Ukrainian Armed Forces (for) full-scale war in Europe."

Saying increased mobilization "testifies to Kiev’s plans to suppress resistance in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics by force."

According to Academy of Geopolitical Problems president Konstantin Sivkov:

"Yet another drafting to the Armed Forces declared in Ukraine now proves that all the talking about willingness for peace in the southeast of the country on the part of president Petro Poroshenko is little more than a cover-up aimed at getting a pause prior to a major offensive on the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics."

"At present, the Ukrainian Army doesn't have enough manpower or resources to guarantee victory over the self-defense forces but Poroshenko obviously hopes to accumulate enough strength and to destroy the rebellious republics by spring."

Unanimously passed US Ukraine Freedom Support Act (UFSA) of 2014 authorizes lethal and non-lethal aid.

Besides what Washington already supplies. Covertly since conflict began. Including stingers, anti-tank missiles, anti-armor weapons and other heavy weapons.

Britain supplies weapons and munitions. So do other NATO countries. According to Sivkov:

"There’s hardly any doubt as regards Kiev's craving to regain control over Donbas through the use of arms, since the region concentrates the biggest manufacturing potential and natural resources - mostly coal - found in Ukraine."

"…Donbas and Novorossia…make up a buffer zone between Russia and Ukraine, while the American masters of the incumbent Kiev rulers need to eliminate that buffer zone by fair means and foul and to turn it into a springboard for destabilizing Russia."

"These plans of the Kiev government, which is drawing on Washington's support, (involve) full-scale war in the center of Europe."

Russian lower house State Duma Education Committee chairman Vyacheslav Nikonov said Ukraine's "new spate of drafting (into its) army (isn't) conventional…"

Its "mobilization means preparations for war." Poroshenko is "playing out the scenario of a future war in this manner."

He's complicit with "US plans to fan tensions in the region as a method of struggle with Russia."

"Russia won't be able to watch the plight of citizens of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics placidly because the Russians never let their relatives or friends down."

"Once in the past, the US lost the Vietnam war because Russia - then the Soviet Union - gave aid to the brotherly Vietnamese people and that's a lesson not to be forgotten."

Ruthless fascists run Ukraine. Waging war on freedom. Threatening Europe's heartland.

Potentially destabilizing the entire continent. Waging dirty war.

Committing horrendous crimes of war and against humanity.

Spokesperson Lily Rodionov for the Committee for Refugees reported rebel and noncombatant Donbas prisoners held by Ukraine were brutally treated.

Saying "(a)lmost all the people come back with broken ribs, arms, legs, torn teeth…One man received eight bullet wounds. He was even in the hospital beaten, shoved his fingers into the wound."

"Teeth pulled out with pliers. Bute in wound sites. Many people with a fractured skull…(E)lectroshock" used. "Someone thrown into a pit with corpses, crushed excavator bucket, soldering iron thrust into his mouth."

"People were kept in iron containers without air. Sophisticated torture, scary - people maimed."

They don't "have medical care, even diabetics. Our prisoners can be distinguished by the color of the skin. (G)rayish." One Committee member said:

"I know of cases where people sprinkled powder on the genitals, branded with hot iron, shot in front of the other, were sent to the minefield was loaded tractor bucket to the ground, left to spend the night in the pits with corpses. Fed them mostly just water and bread."

Obama's new friends are ruthless criminals. Cold-blooded killers. Washington funds them. Provides political support. Wants dirty war on Donbas continued.

Encourages it. On January 15, Donetsk Prime Minister Alexander Zakharchenko reported finding caches of "American-produced weaponry" at Donetsk's airport. Discovered after Ukrainian forces pulled out.

Illegitimate Ukrainian oligarch president Petro Poroshenk's so-called "silence regime" is one of his many Big Lies.

Fighting never stopped. Kiev bears full responsibility. Supported and encouraged by Washington.

Russia calls Ukrainian ruling authorities a "party of war." Peace is pure fantasy. Talks to end conflict more ruse than real.

On January 16,
Fort Russ reported Ukrainian forces sustaining "stunning" losses. Lugansk People's Republic commander of an LPR unit explained ongoing operations.

Saying "(e)verything's going well…Ukrainian forces are taking stunning losses both in manpower and material."

Itar Tass said "(a)ll Ukrainian troops…withdr(ew) from the territory of the Donetsk international airport." Citing the Donetsk News Agency.

According to DPR's defense ministry, "no Ukrainian servicemen (remain) at the new terminal of the airport."

"They have abandoned their positions and have withdrawn seeing no point in further resistance."

On Friday, DPR Prime Minister Zakharchenko promised to send the Ukrainian flag left behind to Poroshenko.

Saying "(t)hose people who have been killed at the airport because of you have the right to take in the flag and remember that it was you who had send them there to die."

"Let this flag be passed over to the mothers whose sons were killed at the airport" in vain.

Obama bears full responsibility. Arming, funding and conspiring with Kiev fascists' dirty on on their own people.

Targeting democracy. Wanting it crushed. Wanting hardline rule replacing it.

Washington's dirty hands manipulating what's ongoing. Using Ukraine as a pretext. Russia the real target. Regime change the objective.

Dirty war without mercy continues. Fort Russ reported "Ukrainian volunteers" saying they're used as "cannon fodder…"

OUN Battalion's Vladislav Goranin was quoted saying Kiev officials "do not understand the seriousness of what's happening."

"We are cannon fodder, tinned meat." Another volunteer group called Lemko said Ukrainian artillery fired in an unknown direction.

"(A)mmunition supply situation is very poor. It is almost entirely exhausted."

These and similar comments reflect morale among Ukrainian forces perhaps near a breaking point.

At the same time, increased mobilization suggests escalated conflict coming. New "cannon fodder" used to wage it.

Using mostly conscripted forces. Ordinary Ukrainians want no part of war. Especially against their own people.

Forced into combat against their will. Threatened with reprisals for refusing.

On January 16, Fort Russ said "(i)n five days (of fighting), the Ukrainian army lost 25% of its first-line equipment, up to 2,000 wounded."

"Reinforcements are moving up. The fight for Novotoshkovka is continuing. The militia at the 31st checkpoint is taking significant losses."

One LPR freedom fighter described things as follows:

"I'm at the 31st checkpoint. I feel sadness. Overnight there was a pitched battle, we lost many of our brothers."

"But they did not push us out of the checkpoint. The Ukrainian army threw their last reserves but had to withdraw. We have about 15 killed and 50 wounded."

Fort Russ cited intelligence reports indicating Ukraine's front line was reinforced. New equipment arrived.

Kiev forces failed to penetrate an area near Debaltsevo. Heavy fire was reported.

Artillery inflicted most casualties. Freedom fighters continue attacking "the entire Ukrainian front line" in self-defense.

"Ukrainians are sitting in shelters for the second day. Their army tried to take Novotoshkovka, but we held out and are fighting near the village."

"The Ukrainian army is too weak to attack, so they are trying to reach a settlement, but after an almost whole year of war we know they can't be believed. We fire without respite!"

On January 15, DPR parliament speaker Denis Pushilin called ongoing conditions "acute."

Kiev forces "are carrying out provocations…" Donetsk was bombarded.

"We want to end it at the negotiating table even if it means doing things which are unpopular with the population, namely negotiating," said Pushilin.

"We know the cost of human life. We know what one day of war can do, how much damage it causes, and the irreversible consequences, in terms of loss of life and health, so it is very important to us that we find compromises."

At the same time, he stressed no abandonment of Novorossia's freedom struggle. No surrender to Kiev fascist rule. "(S)imply impossible," he said.

"(W) are not fighting against Ukrainians…(O)nly against the government which came to power as a result of an armed coup and which is now committing violations."

"(W)e are not aggressors, occupiers. We're not about to force anyone to become part of us, support us."

"We don't think it's proper to force any group…to join us because then we'd become just like" Kiev fascists.

Kiev launched aggression continues. Escalated conflict looms. Expect lots more death and destruction.

Fascist regimes operate this way. Civilians always suffer most.

MSM scoundrels ignore their suffering. Supporting Kiev's dirty war. Naked aggression. Instead of denouncing it forthrightly.

On January 15, Itar Tass reported DPR Prime Minister Zakharchenko saying Kiev forces used chemical weapons in attacking Donetsk's airport.

After shells burst, "a pungent cloud of gas spread across the old terminal," he said.

"They are firing banned munitions in breach of the Geneva Convention. (It's) impossible to breath" in the line of fire.

Try finding a single MSM report discussing this. Similar earlier incidents.

Kiev's systematic use of banned weapons. Atrocities committed. Prisoners tortured. Most held are noncombatant civilians.

State terror against millions of Donbas residents. Mobilization for escalated conflict.

Hardline rule affecting all Ukrainians. Fascist governance harming everyone.

Destabilizing an entire region. Confronting Russia irresponsibly. Risking the unthinkable.

Possible East/West nuclear war. Vital to prevent at all costs. Otherwise all bets are off.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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