Michael Collins

Ukraine may be headed for another round of Maidan Square protests that dwarf those seen in February. Regular army soldiers and special fascist punisher battalions are leaving the battle field with a very bad attitude toward the government of United States puppet, President Petro Poroshenko. (Image)

Things are not going well for the United States backed government in Kiev, Ukraine. Early last week, President Poroshenko spoke confidently of wrapping up the so-called Anti Terrorist Operation (ATO) in the eastern part of the country by August 24, Ukraine's independence day. Instead of a victory parade after pummeling the large eastern cities of Donetsk and Lugansk into the ground, eastern resistance forces upstaged the Kiev celebration. The militia of the Donetsk Peoples Republic marched captured Kiev army troops down the main street of that city in their own independence celebration. Poroshenko's conquest was foiled.

By the end of August, the Ukraine central government could no longer deny significant military losses at the hands of the resistance in the eastern part of the country. Thousands of government troops have been trapped in resistance cauldrons. Army forces face a stark choice: surrender and hand over your weapons and equipment or attempt to fight your way out and die. In the Southern Cauldron, most of the six thousand Ukraine troops were injured, killed, or surrendered. That process has repeated itself over the past few weeks in other battles and cauldrons.

As Kiev's military disaster became more evident, President Poroshenko spoke of a Russian invasion, at least that's what the mainstream media tried to sell us. However, this was an exaggeration based on a translation error or misunderstanding. The Kiev government needs the Russian bogeyman to explain the rapid change from promised military victories to resounding defeats at Krasnyi Luch, Ilovaysk, Lugansk, and Donetsk.

While Poroshenko blames the Russians and the U.S. and EU shamelessly echo the allegations of a Russian invasion before their NATO meeting, the soldiers of the Ukraine have their own strongly held beliefs. This documentary news footage reveals makes clear the depth of the feelings of betrayal. They're angry and they plan to join the protest already underway in Kiev's Maidan Square, the sight of the violent riots that chased the elected President of Ukraine across the border to Russia.

Protests in Maidan Square in early August turned violent. That action was quelled and the square was cleared of protesters, to some extent, by August 9. Quickly, people returned to protest the failed policies of the government.

The threat of real army troops joining the protests may spell the end of the U.S. backed Poroshenko government. It has the potential to turn the capital into a bloodbath far in excess of anything seen in the lead up to the U.S. backed coup of late February.

A commentator pointed out that the original protesters committed acts of violence with fires, rocks, and anything they could get their hands on to literally beat Kiev security forces. This time, the protesters will have guns.

The head of Right Sector, one of the fascist political organizations, announced that today his party would join the Maidan protests demanding accountability from the standing government for shortcomings that contributed to defeats in the east. Just two weeks ago, Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh, had called for protests in Maidan as a result of discrimination against his organization. Yarosh was the protest leader who lead the refusal to honor the deal that would have ended the February Maidan protests peacefully.

Right Sector's Azov Battalion is one of several punitive battalions attacking civilian centers in the eastern Ukraine. Aidar, Dnepr, and Donbass are other punitive battalions. As George Eliason pointed out in his first hand account of events in Novorussia (i.e. eastern Ukraine), the punitive battalions perform a Punisher/Cleansing function "from village to village and city to city after [they are] cleared of militia. Their only purpose has been the mutilation and mass murder of defenseless, unarmed people" (OpEdNews.com Sep 2). These are the very troops leaving the battle front in the east, carrying their weapons with them, to join the new Maidan protests.

How Ugly Can the Maidan Protests Get?

The Euromaidan protests in February were extremely violent. The protesters did not have guns, for the most part. This time, the most extreme nationalist, fascist elements of the Ukraine military, the punishers, are headed to town to blame President Poroshenko and anyone else in power for the failure of the military effort.

Some elements of the regular military are also headed for Kiev. The regular soldiers have their own set of complaints: poor leadership, limited supplies, defective weapons, and an assortment of other complaints.

This sounds like a formula for disaster. If a disaster occurs, several questions arise.

Who will defend the U.S. backed government?

We know who will not stand up for the oligarch president, Right Sector and the other Punisher/Cleansing battalions. They see Poroshenko's attempts to limit their power and curb their transport of field weapons to Kiev as a direct attack.

The rank and file of the regular army is embittered with their own sense of betrayal due to the poor leadership.

That leaves the local police, decimated after siding with ousted former president Yanukovich and the military leadership, not particularly popular with their troops or the fascist factions.

If the government falls, what will replace it?

Right Sector and the other fascist groups represent the worst possible outcome for the people of Ukraine and for the U.S. machinations behind the original protests and coup. A very public spectacle of a violent outcome to this latest foreign adventure and a purely fascist regime would be too much to bear.

A takeover by the regular military represents the only outcome that might not totally humiliate the White House and rabid factions of Congress supporting this effort. It might allow U.S. war party factions to say, Well, at least the place isn’t run by outright Nazis.

The good news is that a violent eruption in Kiev and overthrow of the current government would very likely end the deviant and vicious effort of Ukraine's attack on its own people.

The reversal of military fortunes, poor planning and execution on the battle field, and collapsing Ukraine economy are forming a perfect storm for disaster. The ship of state may collapse into something like today's Libya, a constantly warring and lawless society. Or, Ukraine may become a failed state that is easy to forget while the transatlantic elite write a new chapter in the endless war. A new storyline is required to distract from the failure to plant NATO missiles right on the Ukraine-Russian border.

Absent the eastern section of the country and Crimea, there isn't much left except the broken dreams of Ukrainian national glory and an expansion of the U.S. empire to Russia's doorstep.

Creative Commons 3.0