by Stephen Lendman

Ongoing Ukrainian protests bear its earmarks. Whether it succeeds remains to be seen.

Ordinary Ukrainians are being manipulated. Internal street thugs are involved. They're militants. They've been recruited to cause trouble. They're mostly young. They're Western oriented.

Washington's dirty hands are involved. Color revolutions are a US specialty. At issue is eliminating independent sovereign states. It's co-opting former Soviet Republics. It's drawing them into NATO. It's increasing American dominance. It's using EU membership as bait. It's doing so despite no tangible benefits. Promises made to be broken substitute. Weakening Russia is prioritized.

So-called spontaneous uprisings are manufactured. Ukrainians should know better. They've been through this before.

Memories are disturbingly short. Washington manipulated Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution.

Ordinary people ended up losers. Promises made were fake. Exploitation followed. Once deceived should have been enough.

Good sense isn't a man on the street attribute. PT Barnum allegedly said "(t)here's a sucker born every minute." Con men, corporate predators, and ruthless nations take full advantage.

Ukrainians were had once. They're being set up again. They're not mindful enough to understand.

Awakenings usually come too late to matter. Shutting stable doors after horses are stolen won't get them back. What's ahead remains to be seen.

Washington developed manipulating tactics through years of trial and error. They're down to a science now. Often they work.

Rand Corporation strategists were involved. In the 1990s, they developed the concept of "swarming." It relates to communication patterns and movements of bees and other insects.

They're applied to military conflicts and street protests. Key US organizations are involved. More on swarming below.

The usual suspects include the National Endowment of Democracy (NED), the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Freedom House, the Soros Foundation, and other corporate groups.

They serve US imperial and corporate interests. They exploit ordinary people doing so. Various activities are ongoing in different countries.

Different strategies are featured. Sustained mass protests are one step removed from revolutionary violence.

So-called color revolutions mask dark intentions. Ordinary people are easy marks. They're manipulated like pawns.

Ukrainians are protesting against their own self-interest. Succeeding assures harming their welfare. They're too out of touch to know.

Whether Ukrainian officials succeed in calming things remains very much up for grabs. Daily images aren't encouraging.

Opposition elements allied with Western interests. On December 4, Russia Today headlined "Ukraine opposition vows to maintain protests, PM calls to end violence."

Opposition MPs blocked parliament. They demand President Viktor Yanukovych's government resigns.

A Tuesday no confidence vote failed. It fell 40 votes short of a majority. It didn't affect Yanukovych. Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and cabinet ministers were targeted.

Yanukovych tried to quell public anger. So did Azarov, saying:

"We have extended our hand to you." He erred adding "if we encounter a fist, I will be frank. We have enough force." Honey catches more flies than vinegar.

He accused opposition elements of an attempted coup. They have "an illusion" about toppling the government, he said. "They have a plan. It includes taking control of Ukraine's parliament by force."

Deep-seated internal problems persist. Poverty, unemployment and widespread corruption need addressing.

Ukrainians are justifiably angry. Allying with troubled EU economies won't help. Their best interests lie more East than West.

On Tuesday, Yanukovych flew to China. He did so to discuss a bilateral trade deal. He hopes to sign it. He'll head to Russia next.

Moscow offers Ukraine tangible benefits. So do China, Iran and other non-Western states. Washington and EU intentions assure greater trouble than already.

It's hard making ordinary Ukrainians understand. Even Western oriented ones. They have an illusion of EU-aligned future prosperity. Hard lessons often are learned too late.

According to Russia Today, "Ukraine is sending government delegations to both Moscow and Brussels to discuss economic ties."

Kiev want "considerable (EU) aid to compensate for Ukraine's losses." Brussels won't offer "any special treatment or review" alliance terms. Sticks substitute for carrots.

On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin attributed Ukraine protests to attempts to undermine its government.

"As far as the events in Ukraine are concerned," he said, "to me they don't look like a revolution, but rather like 'pogrom.' "

"However strange this might seem, in my view it has little to do with Ukrainian-EU relations."

Putin called protests pre-arranged. He believes opposition elements intended them ahead of February 2015 presidential elections. They jumped the gun, he thinks.

Ukrainian presidents serve for five years. Yanukovych was elected in 2010. He hopes for another term.

Putin called ongoing protests a "false start due to certain circumstances."

Video footage shows "how well organized and trained militant groups operate," he added. People are being manipulated.

"They say that the Ukrainian people are being deprived of their dream. But if you look at the contents of the (EU) deal - then you'll see that the dream" is more illusion than reality.

EU terms are "very harsh," Putin stressed. They involve sticks, not carrots.

"I want to stress," he added, "that regardless of the choice of the Ukrainian people, we will respect it."

Dark US and other Western sources accused him of pressuring Yanukovych to back down.

Russian Federation Council international affairs committee head Mikhail Margelov blames Brussels for Ukraine's refusing an alliance deal.

"Brussels mistook Ukraine for some microstate, for which joining the European Union means making history," he said.

"And it is mostly Brussels rather than some pressure from Russia that is to blame for Kiev's decision not to sign the agreement in Vilnius."

Ukraine is a "coveted prize," he added. Brussels thinks inviting a former Soviet republic is too high an honor to refuse.

No matter that membership minuses way exceed pluses. Ukraine benefits most by turning East. Brussels offers little incentive to do otherwise.

On December 4, a Ukrainian delegation left for Moscow. At issue is restoring trade and economic ties.

A Brussels visit will follow. John Kerry is currently there. He didn't surprise. He lied claiming "very powerful evidence" shows most Ukrainians want an EU alliance.

"We stand with the vast majority of the Ukrainians who want to see this future for their country," he said.

Unacceptable meddling in other nations' affairs is longstanding US policy. Doing so includes spreading malicious misinformation.

Western Ukrainians favor an EU alliance. Why they'll have to explain. Eastern Donbas region and Crimean Peninsula ones are opposed.

Most Ukrainians favor a customs union with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Two-thirds oppose joining NATO. They do so for good reason They're against global militarism.

They don't want Ukraine involved in NATO wars. The Atlantic Alliance serves America's imperial ambitions. Ukrainians oppose compromising good relations with Russia.

Current street tactics resemble 2004. In 1997, RAND Corporation researchers John Arquilla and David Ronfeld developed them. They titled their concept "Swarming & the Future of Conflict."

It involves waging war by other means. It exploits the information revolution. It takes full advantage of "network-based organizations linked via email and mobile phones to enhance the potential of swarming."

In 1993, Arquilla and Ronfeldt prepared an earlier document titled "Cyberwar Is Coming!"

They said "warfare is no longer primarily a function of who puts the most capital, labor and technology on the battlefield, but of who has the best information" and uses it advantageously.

State-of-the art IT techniques use "advanced computerized information and communications technologies and related innovations in organization and management theory," they explained.

Information technologies "communicate, consult, coordinate, and operate together across greater distances."

Cyberwar today is what blitzkrieg was to 20th century warfare. In 1993, Arquilla and Ronfeldt focused on military conflicts.

In 1996, they studied net and cyberwar. They did so by examining "irregular modes of conflict, including terror, crime, and militant social activism.

In 1997, they developed the concept of swarming. They suggested it might "emerge as a definitive doctrine that will encompass and enliven both cyberwar and netwar."

They envisioned "how to prepare for information-age conflict." They called swarming a way to strike from all directions.

Effectiveness depends on various elements able to interconnect using revolutionary communication technology.

What works on battlefields proved effective on city streets. US-instigated color revolutions achieved regime change in Serbia (2000/2001), Georgia (2003), and Ukraine (2004), and Kyrgyzstan (2005).

Other efforts fell short. Color revolutions reflect America's modern day new world order strategy. They followed the Soviet Union's dissolution. Proxy and direct hot wars rage at the same time.

US strategy is multi-faceted. Subversion, mass surveillance, and destabilization play major parts. Successful swarming tactics accomplish coup d'etats by other means.

Anti-Iranian Green Revolution efforts failed. Street protests and clashes followed June 2009 elections.

CIA elements instigated black operations. They did so to destabilize Tehran's government. Regime change plans haven't changed. What happens going forward bears close watching.

Ukraine is currently in the eye of the storm. Protests have been ongoing since November 21. They show no signs of ebbing.

Ukrainian independence is at stake. Key is holding firm against US-led Western interference. It's doing it nonviolently.

It's transforming Ukraine responsibly. It's initiating popular reforms It's turning East more than West. It's acting before it's too late.

-###-

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

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour

http://www.dailycensored.com/orange-revolution-2-0/