by Stephen Lendman

Ukraine is a major global flashpoint. It's the gravest one since WW II. Washington bears full responsibility. Rogue EU partners share it.

Fascist putschist stooges do their bidding. Puppet government was installed. Aggression, repression and cold-blooded murder reflect official policy.

Police states operate this way. Accountability is absent. Coverup and crimes against humanity substitute.

Events so far are the tip of the iceberg. The worst is yet to come. Ukraine's Interior Ministry dispatched additional special forces to Odessa.

In late April, a National Guard Kiev-1 special unit arrived. It's separate from Ukraine's military.

It's part of a planned 60,000-strong armed branch. Its mandate is enforcing police state power.

It's supplemented by neo-Nazi Right Sector thugs. They're authorized to brutalize, terrorize and murder.

Official Kiev policy is anything goes. Rule of law principles don't matter. They're systematically trashed.

Anti-fascist activists are targeted. Odessa's massacre suggests far worse to come. Expect orchestrated events like last Friday to repeat.

Clear video evidence showed what happened. It followed a Chernomorets Odessa/Metalist Kharkov football match.

About 1,500 pro-Kiev supporters, football ultras and Right Sector thugs marched provocatively. They did so for Ukrainian unity. They got local authorization.

They chanted "Glory to Ukraine! Death to enemies! Knife the Moskals (a derogatory Ukrainian term for Russians)!"

Right Sector thugs wore neo-Nazi insignia. They had chains, bats and shields. They planned trouble.

They confronted hundreds of anti-Kiev activists. They did so with police support. Violence followed. Shots were heard.

Dozens of anti-Kiev activists sought shelter inside Odessa's Trade Unions House. They barricaded themselves inside for safety.

It didn't help. Right Sector thugs set the building ablaze. They blocked ways to escape. Police did nothing to stop them. They brutally beat activists able to get out.

Forty-six perished. Most succumbed to fire and/or carbon monoxide poisoning. Others jumped to their death from windows.

Video footage showed dead bodies, thick smoke, and bloodstained floors. Most bodies had St. George ribbons attached to their clothes. They signify anti-Kiev activism. They represent right over wrong.

Friday's massacre reflects fascism's dark side. Obama wholeheartedly endorses it. One fascist regime supports another it installed. Washington orchestrates Kiev policy.

Coverup suppresses hard truths. Facts are twisted to fit policy. Irrefutable evidence is systematically buried.

Right Sector crimes were ignored. Mass slaughter didn't matter.

Victims were charged with "mass disorders" as well as "threats and violence against law enforcers."

Coup-appointed prime minister Arseny Yatsenyuk accused Russia of engineering Friday's violence.

Yatsenyuk was directly involved. He and other putschists directed Right Sector thugs to commit violence. Blaming it on Russia doesn't wash.

He dismissed Moscow claims of his government's involvement. He lied pointing fingers the wrong way.

A Russian White Book contains documented evidence of unconscionable Kiev human rights violations. It covers them from late November through March.

According to Moscow's press service:

It's "based on reports in the Russian and Western media as well as statements by representatives of the current Kiev authorities and their supporters, eyewitness testimon(ies), observations and on-site interviews collected by Russian nongovernmental organizations."

Evidence indicts illegitimate putschists. It includes suppressing press freedom. Kiev fascists banned Russian TV channels.

They shut down independent Ukrainian ones. They want their message alone getting out. They harass, beat, and terrorize independent journalists.

They brutalize anti-fascist activists. They're waging aggression against Eastern Ukrainian freedom fighters.

Clashes continue. Government troops attacked a self-defense forces Slavyansk checkpoint. At least 11 injuries followed.

RT International's Paula Slier twittered:

"#Slavanyansk: Activists report they've damaged armored vehicles from the #Ukrainian forces in one of the #checkpoints protecting the city."

"Am at TV station #Slavyansk -- see two helicopters -- can't get closer as the army is currently held by Kiev troops."

City bells tolled an alert. Residents were warned. Self-defense forces retreated into Slavyansk after clashing with government troops in Andreevka and Semyonoka villages.

Kiev Security Service spokesperson Marina Ostapenko said ongoing operations aim "to establish a security perimeter around the regions engulfed by violence."

At least one civilian death was reported. Hostilities show no signs of ending. It bears repeating. The worst is yet to come.

Republicans plan legislation authorizing $100 million in Ukrainian military aid. They claim it's to resist Russian "aggression."

They want Crimea again part of Ukraine. John McCain (R. AZ) ludicrously told Crimeans: "We will not abandon you."

Crimeans deplore US meddling. So do growing thousands of Ukrainians. America is public enemy number one. Obama represents the worst of its dark side. No pun intended.

Eastern Ukrainian freedom fighters are on the right side of history. They oppose US-installed junta illegitimacy.

They want democratic governance replacing it. They want fundamental human and civil rights respected.

They want fascist putschists held accountable. So does Moscow.

Its Civic Chamber is an advisory body. It analyzes draft legislation. It monitors parliament and other government bodies.

Russian citizens involved in special state services comprise it. They include academics, political scientists, economists, arts and culture figures, journalists, and lawyers, as well as business, religious and medical figures.

On May 5, Itar Tass headlined "Ukraine's authorities to be called to account at European Court for Odessa tragedy," saying:

"The Civic Chamber of Russia's most eminent in public life wants a role alongside experts from European states in an independent commission investigating Ukraine's Odessa fire tragedy, a chamber announcement said on Monday."

An announcement said:

"We will invite leading Russian and foreign lawyers to file a suit at the European Court of Human Rights."

"Those behind the terrible events in Odessa and other cities of the country must be brought to account."

Guilty parties must be punished. They include officials authorizing aggression and other forms of violence.

It's not accidental. It's well planned. It's orchestrated in Washington. Accountability is vital.

"To make our activity more efficient, we are considering establishing a special fund of support for Ukrainian citizens and organizing a broad Eurasian public anti-fascist front," the announcement added.

Russia Federation Civic Chamber members plan petitioning the European Court on Human Rights (ECHR). They want Odessa killers brought to justice.

According to Civic Council member Georgy Fyodorov:

"We are gathering information and preparing to file a suit against Ukraine with the Human Rights Council to the ECHR."

He wants blame laid where it belongs. He wants Kiev's putschists held accountable.

He wants their attempts to blame others exposed. "They need to lay the blame at somebody else's door and tell the Europeans that mythical provocateurs from Russia are guilty of everything," he said.

The petition text reads as follows:

"As of now, the rights of a large proportion of citizens in the State of Ukraine are not upheld by anyone inside that state!"

"People are kidnapped and taken away to an unknown destination without any charges brought against them."

"They are robbed and killed with impunity. Agencies that are responsible for the maintenance of law and order keep inactive."

"The self-styled government is stirring up and contributes to fomenting interethnic hatred and genocide against part of its own people!"

Russia's Civic Chamber plans addressing the UN and Council of Europe. They want Kiev's sham May 25 election delayed.

It mocks legitimacy. Holding it while Eastern Ukrainian conflict and instability continue compounds it.

According to Civic Chamber First Deputy Secretary Vladislav Grib:

"I and my colleagues are convinced that any elections in conditions when the country is embraced by bloody clashes and official state authorities cannot guarantee security to people are destined to falsification and will actually provoke only further escalation of current conflict."

"We will ask for support of our address by all foreign partners, including the member states of the International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions."

"After horrible crimes of this 'Kiev regime,' any tolerance or carefulness in their assessments is hardly suitable."

"Obviously this is a junta carrying out its punitive fascist operations…We will address separately to leading Russian media outlets asking to avoid excessive softness and vague wordings in these issues."

"People in our country as well as in any other country have a right to be aware of the scale of current threats."

Russia's Civic Chamber proposed an initiative. It wants a special open public list of Western politicians supporting aggression and other forms of violence against Eastern Ukrainian civilians.

Waging war on them reflects high crimes too grave to ignore. Accountability is long overdue.

Delay assures continued violence and slaughter. It threatens all Ukrainians. It risks spilling cross-border.

It bears repeating what previous articles stressed. WW III potentially looms.

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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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