Not Broadcast from NBC News interview with Snowden the suggestion that United States had the proper intelligence ahead of 9/11 but failed to act

Snowden suggested that United States had the proper intelligence ahead of 9/11 but failed to act.

“You know, and this is a key question that the 9/11 Commission considered. And what they found, in the post-mortem, when they looked at all of the classified intelligence from all of the different intelligence agencies, they found that we had all of the information we needed as an intelligence community, as a classified sector, as the national defense of the United States to detect this plot,” Snowden said. “We actually had records of the phone calls from the United States and out. The CIA knew who these guys were. The problem was not that we weren’t collecting information, it wasn’t that we didn’t have enough dots, it wasn’t that we didn’t have a haystack, it was that we did not understand the haystack that we have.”

“The problem with mass surveillance is that we’re piling more hay on a haystack we already don’t understand, and this is the haystack of the human lives of every American citizen in our country,” Snowden continued. “If these programs aren’t keeping us safe, and they’re making us miss connections — vital connections — on information we already have, if we’re taking resources away from traditional methods of investigation, from law enforcement operations that we know work, if we’re missing things like the Boston Marathon bombings where all of these mass surveillance systems, every domestic dragnet in the world didn’t reveal guys that the Russian intelligence service told us about by name, is that really the best way to protect our country? Or are we — are we trying to throw money at a magic solution that’s actually not just costing us our safety, but our rights and our way of life?

See Also:http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/revealing-911-conspiracy-would-undo.html

Ukraine: Donbass miners went on indefinite strike demanding cessation military operation in the South East and the withdrawal of the Ukrainian security officials in Donetsk region

Donbass miners went on indefinite strike demanding cessation military operation in the South East and the withdrawal of the Ukrainian security officials in Donetsk region.

To join the protest action Skochinskiy mine named, name Abakumov CHelyuskincev behalf and mine "Trudovskaya" and two mines in Makeyevka. This was reported by ITAR-TASS First Deputy Minister of Coal Industry of the People's Republic of Donetsk (DNI) Konstantin Kuzmin. According to him, soon to join the strike and other coal mines.

Earlier, the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksiy Dmitrashkovsky said that the operation in Donetsk will continue until until all the forces destroyed the People's Republic of Donetsk.

Currently, it is reported that fighting resumed in the region Donetsk International Airport, and all entrances and exits from Donetsk Ukrainian security forces blocked. In the evacuation of the city schools. All city departments Housing sent messages about the need to prepare bomb shelters for placement of people in the event of active hostilities and possibly bombing.

 

Source: http://rabkor.ru/news/2014/05/27/miners-strike-donbass

Report from LIVA site in Ukraine :

http://liva.com.ua/miners-war.html

Today I was able to visit the “Oktyabrskiy mine” pit, which is part of the state enterprise “Donetsk coal energy company” (DCEC) and is located near the airport which was recently bombed by helicopters and jets of the Kiev regime.

The information that it was the miners of this enterprise who were the first ones to strike against the “anti-terrorist operation” in Donetsk, was confirmed. Importantly, this strike began by the miners’ own efforts, their own initiative “from below” – and not under pressure of “armed masked men of the Donetsk People’s Republic”, contrary to what Mikhail Volynets, chairman of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine and ex-MP of the ruling “Batkivshchyna” party, claimed from Kiev.

In essence, this strike was against the war which threatens the very existence of the enterprise and poses the danger of unemployment to the miners. Events unfolded as follows. On Monday 26 May, when the Ukrainian army began bombings of the towns, the miners simply did not turn up to work, because the “external factor” of hostilities taking place almost at their doorstep seriously increased the risk of industrial accidents at their enterprise.

For example, had a bomb hit the electrical substation, the miners would have been trapped underground, which to them would inevitably mean death – something that is difficult to grasp for outside observers from Kiev, who have only ever been underground while on the Metro.

By some reports, initially around 150 miners walked out on strike. This was the start of the strike action which spread like a chain reaction onto other pits of the Donetsk region – however, this was ignored by most of the Kiev mass media

INDIA: JOINT PROTEST DHARNA AGAINST THE ARRESTING OF G.N.SAIBABA 31ST MAY 2014

More than a dozen progressive and democratic organizations are organizing a Protest Dharna on 31st May, 2014 (11 AM to 2 PM) at Jantar Mantar, Delhi, against the arbitrary arresting of Prof. G.N. Saibaba by Maharashtra Police.

Through this united programme, we are also protesting state repression, going on different progressive and democratic movements.

We are demanding from the new central govt. to repeal UAPA and other draconian acts, which are being used frequently, against the struggling progressive and democratic forces of India.

We will submit a Memorandum to the Home Minister of India, consisting of all these demands. We, sincerely, appeal to you to join the Protest Dharna and extend your active support in the united struggle against ongoing state repression on people’s movements.

Participating Organizations:

 All India Federation of Trade Unions (New), All India Student’s Association, Bigul Majdur Dasta, Blind Worker’s Union, Inkalabi Majdur Kendra, Majdur Ekata Kendra, Mehnatkash Majdur Morcha, People’s Union for Democratic Rights, People’s Democratic Front of India, Pratidhvani, Sanhati-Delhi, Students For Resistance, Viplav Sanskritic Manch and others -

Fascist Barbarism its rise and fall - a cartoon that resonates today "We can do it"

India: Arundhati Roy "Please don't give me lectures about hating my country"

See Also:

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/arundhati-roy-on-narendra-modi-and.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/india-is-corporate-hindu-state.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/narendra-modi-leader-of-bjp-wins-indian.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/india-arundhati-roy-annas-movement-is.html

Ukraine : The Oligarchs War on the People of Eastern and Southern Ukraine

"Anyone who tells you Ukraine is a battle between Russia and the west is wrong.

It is a lazy narrative told by ignorant people, but is helping create a genuine tragedy that we should all be concerned about".

"Insiders snatched Ukraine's industries, with particularly powerful business clans in the cities of Donetsk and Dnepropetrovsk. They fought for control of the government in Kiev, but all had the same basic interest: to perpetuate chaos.

"The longer Ukraine was a mess, the richer they got.

This was not Russia against the west; everyone piled in.

Every dollar they earned was a dollar less for ordinary Ukrainians"

Oliver Bullough - the Guardian 19th May 2014

We have seen the crowning of a new Oligarch in the Ukraine with election of Petro Poroshenko and man selected by the other Oligarchs to protect their interests.

Oligarch Dmitry Firtash backed  Klitschko's decision to pull out of presidential race in favor of Poroshenko

 

Another Oligarch Igor Kolomoisky the founder of Privat Bank, Kolomoisky has put bounties on heads of what he calls terrorists in Eastern Ukraine and through intercepted telephone calls was revealed to be connected to the Odessa Massacre.

 

 

Then in the Donbass we have Oligarch Rinat Akhmetov intimidating his workers with the sack if they support the Donetsk Peoples Republic he has been called the soft Oligarch of the Kiev Junta has opposed to the hard Oligarch Igor Kolomoisky.

 

It is the Oligarch's verses the People

Has comrade Shapinov of Borotba has said

"This union of oligarchs and Nazis comes as if descended directly from the pages of history books, as does the union of anti-fascist and anti-capitalist slogans by opponents of the Kiev junta.

"Fascism is the open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic, most imperialist elements of finance capital ... Fascism is not a supra-class power and not the power of the petty bourgeoisie and lumpenproletariat over financial capital. Fascism is the power of financial capital.

It is an organization of terrorist reprisals against the working class and the revolutionary section of the peasantry and the intelligentsia. Fascism in foreign policy is chauvinism in its crudest form, cultivating xenophobic hatred against other nations,” 

according to the classic definition of fascism formulated by Georgi Dimitrov. 

And what is happening in Ukraine today fully fits this definition. 

The owner of Privat Kolomoysky is a living symbol of financial capital. The terrorist violence of Kolomoysky’s private armies, hastily hammered together from far-right militants, was seen by all in the media"

 

 

See Also: http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/ukraines-oligarchs.html

 

 

 

 

Carl Bildt lapdog of Imperialism sponsor of Internet Forum in Stockholm :A massive internet forum devoted to the issues of privacy and surveillance has taken place in Stockholm. However all the leading whistleblowers, including Edward Snowden and Glen Greenwald were blacklisted from taking part

Democracy and Class Struggle says Carl Bildt a political low life goes even lower sponsoring an Internet Conference banning Wikileaks and all those involved in exposing US/UK mass survelliance.

Carl Bildt's concept of freedom excludes exposing Mass State survelliance and those that expose it.

Truely democracy for the few and powerful.

Violence Esclates in Ukraine's Eastern Regions - Aleksandr Buzgalin

CPP condemns military rule in Thailand, supports resistance

The CPP condemns widespread violations of human rights under the Thai military rule. The military junta has employed army soldiers to suppress demonstrations, arrest protest leaders and ordinary people and detain government and political leaders.

MEDIA RELEASE
By Communist Party of the Philippines
27 May 2014

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) condemns the 22 May coup d’état in Thailand led by Army chief Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha. The CPP condemns the imposition of military rule, the monopolization of political power and the suspension of civil and political rights. The CPP urges the toiling masses of Thailand to wage revolutionary resistance to overthrow the military junta and build their democratic mass organizations.

The CPP condemns widespread violations of human rights under the Thai military rule. The military junta has employed army soldiers to suppress demonstrations, arrest protest leaders and ordinary people and detain government and political leaders. It has censored or shutdown television and radio broadcast operations and newspapers. It has set its sights against social media users who speak against the military junta.

The coup follows months of intense political crisis in the the ruling system of Thailand. It has seen sustained mass demonstrations since November leading to the abolition of the parliament, failed elections and the dismissal of the prime minister.

Protests were initially sparked by opposition to the attempts of the Yingluck Shinawatra government to push for an amnesty law that would pave the way for the political rehabilitation of his brother Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin Shinawatra is a former Thai prime minister deposed in 2006 after corruption charges for not paying taxes in the sale of his telecommunication company sparked massive demonstrations. He presently resides in Dubai.

Protest demonstrations further snowballed in the following months with demands against corruption and nepotism against the ruling Shinawatra clique. Leaders of the anti-Shinawatra political opposition have taken advantage of the crisis to put forward their demand setup a national council that will give them a bigger role in the Thai government. Counter-demonstrations have been organized by the government. Violent attacks against either side have resulted in scores of demonstrators killed in the succeeding months.

The political crisis in Thailand is a reflection of the intense struggle between the rival factions of the ruling clique amid continuing crisis of the ruling semicolonial and semifeudal system. Although mass demonstrations have been organized by ruling elite parties and dubbed as “Yellow shirts” (led by the anti-Shinawatra Democratic Party) and “Red shirts” (led by the pro-Shinawatra Pheu Thai party), these largely reflect the widespread disenchantment among the broad masses of the people over the political and socio-economic situation in Thailand.

The toiling masses of Thailand have long been protesting against corruption, low wages, suppression of workers rights, rising costs of living, landlessness, rural poverty and so on. The ruling elite parties have bannered one or several issues in order to advance their political agenda, but not necessarily the overall democratic aspirations of the Thai people.

The leaders of the military junta describe its rule as an attempt to resolve the political crisis in Thailand. In truth, the imposition of martial law is only part of the worsening crisis of the ruling political system in the country. In the end, the martial law regime will only succeed in further inciting the people to wage mass struggles to advance their democratic aspirations.

The CPP calls on the Thai people to wage mass struggles in order to advance their democratic, progressive and anti-imperialist aspirations. The toiling masses must develop their own independent political force by building their own revolutionary party and mass organizations.

The Filipino people and their revolutionary forces are in solidarity with the Thai people in their struggle to put an end to the military junta and to advance their democratic aspirations. Like the Thai people, the Filipino people are confronting a corrupt, brutal, puppet and mendacious regime and are waging an all-out struggle to oust the US-Aquino regime.

Voters Reject Traditional Left Parties In EU Parliament Elections by Michael Hudson

Spain : Podemos ( meaning 'We can' in Spanish) a new Spanish Party won a surprise 5 seats in European Parliament

On 25 May 2014 Podemos entered candidates for the 2014 European parliamentary elections, some of which were unemployed.

In a surprise result, it polled 7.97% of the vote and thus was awarded five seats out of 54.

PODEMOS (meaning 'We can' in Spanish) is a Spanish political party created on 11th March 2014 by Spanish leftist activists associated with the 15-M movement that emerged from the 2011–12 Spanish protests.

Its leader is Pablo Iglesias Turrión (Madrid, Spain, 17 October 1978) a writer, professor of Political Science at the Complutense University in Madrid and occasional Spanish television presenter for a regional political discussion program Fort Apache.^[1]

PODEMOS together with some 26 other small emergent parties capitalised on significant discontent with the bipartisanship of the two main political parties PP and PSOE. Using the infrastructure of the so called Indignados and the social media networks PODEMOS generated significant interest throughout Spain.

The party collected 50,000 supporting signatures within their first day, causing their website to crash due to traffic overload once the project was made public.

Pablo Iglesias cites the Greek Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) led by Alexis Tsipras as an inspiration.^[2]

PODEMOS is organized through Circles, which can be groups of both territorial and sectoral work.

India: Sudhir Dhawale, a dalit rights activist accused of having Maoist links, was declared innocent on May 15.

     

The country needs an anti-fascist force, says activist acquitted after 40 months in jail

On May 20, after spending three years and four months in Nagpur Central Jail for crimes he did not commit, dalit rights activist Sudhir Dhawale finally walked out as a free man.

His arrest in January 2011 had outraged social activists in Maharashtra. Dhawale is a well-known poet, political commentator and publisher of Marathi magazine Vidrohi, and had attended a dalit literary gathering in Wardha district just before he was detained by the police. He was charged with sedition and, under the controversial Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, accused of being a member of a terrorist organisation and waging war against the state. Meanwhile in Mumbai, the police barged into his modest home where his young sons were alone, gathered several books as evidence and allegedly coerced his wife to sign the list of seized articles.

Last week, after the prosecution failed to prove even a single case against him, the sessions court finally acquitted Dhawale – and eight other political prisoners – of all charges. His acquittal has come four months after Arun Ferreira, another Mumbai-based social activist who spent five years in jail for being an alleged Maoist, was cleared of all charges against him. Just two weeks before Dhawale’s release, however, GN Saibaba, a Delhi University professor, was arrested by the Maharashtra police for allegedly having links with Maoists.

Despite being forced to spend 40 months in prison without bail, Dhawale is cheerful and completely unresentful. “I have been saying for a long time that the Indian state is fascist, anti-people and has been involved in the atrocities committed against marginalised people,” Dhawale told Scroll.in in Mumbai just before a meeting with members of the organisation that he founded, the Republican Panthers Jatiya Antachi Chalwal (annihilation of caste movement). The group works across Maharashtra to organise marginalised groups and respond to hate crimes, and Dhawale has already plunged back into work.

Unsurprisingly, his biggest concern these days is India’s newly-elected Bharatiya Janata Party-led Democratic Alliance government under Narendra Modi. “As such, the BJP and Congress are two sides of the same coin, with similar ideologies that disregard the poor and the marginalised,” said Dhawale. “But the BJP – which is essentially the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] – is more openly fascist, so we will have to be prepared for more oppression.”

For nearly a year, the BJP has been criticising the former Congress-led government for being too soft on Naxalism, despite the fact that thousands of paramilitary troops are stationed all over central India’s Maoist-affected areas. “Usually, actual military forces are used to protect foreign borders, not fight a country’s internal wars. But who knows, the Modi government could do anything,” said Dhawale.

Most of the development that Modi has been promising, he claimed, will actually benefit multinational companies. “Most of these multinationals have their eyes set on acquiring land in central India, which is rich in natural resources but is also the place where most adivasis live,” said Dhawale.

Throughout his jail term, Dhawale had been occupied with trying to understand the nature of fascism and people’s movements. He wrote five political commentaries in prison, of which two have been published. One is about the Shiv Sena’s deceased founder Bal Thackeray.

The second is on Anna Hazare and his movement against corruption. “Hazare did start a jan andolan, but it was obvious that it was a movement for the middle-classes, attempting to address only the symptoms of a corrupt system and not the system itself,” said Dhawale.

While Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal have become the face of people’s movements, Dhawale believes the focus needs to shift to the many smaller, scattered grassroots movements across the country that are already working for the marginalised.

“With this new government, it is time for all these movements to come together, be vigilant and create a strong anti-fascist force.”

Aarefa Johari, scroll.in, 24 May, 2014

Source Frontlines of Revolutionary Struggle
 

Arundhati Roy on Narendra Modi and Hindu Nationalism

See Also:

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/india-is-corporate-hindu-state.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/narendra-modi-leader-of-bjp-wins-indian.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/india-arundhati-roy-annas-movement-is.html

Zahar Popovitch slanders Andrew Brazhevsky a member of Borotba murdered in Odessa

From Borotba:

We have learned that international swindler Zahar Popovich, who is famous for deception of some international left organizations, is in London slandering our comrade Andrew Brazhevsky who was murdered by the Nazis in Odessa.

Popovich claims that Andrew was a Russian monarchist and nationalist or was in such an organization. This is a blatant lie. Andrew Brazhevsky was a convinced Marxist and communist and could not have any relationship to nationalism.

The Odessa defense brigade which Andrew participated in was not a nationalist organization. It was created after the nationalist ultras came to power in Kiev to protect peaceful protest rallies by the resistance. The Odessa brigade included people of different views. Most were ordinary people from Odessa, and consisted of a lot of leftists, including members of Union Borotba and the Communist Party.

We are struck by the cynicism of the liar Popovich , who is trying to slander a dead comrade. We hope that no one on the left in London or in other cities will be taken in by this imposter

See Also : http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/euromaidan-nightmare-how-odessa.html

European parliamentary elections have drawn to a close bringing major gains for both Euroskeptic and far-right movements

While most of the news from Europe was dominated by the rise of right wing parties in the Euro Elections Greece bucked the rightist trend with an historic day for the left, the anti-austerity Syriza won the ballot by a margin of nearly four points over the conservative New Democracy party led by prime minister Antonis Samaras.

Addressing supporters as the results rolled in, Alexis Tsipras, Syriza's leader, called for general elections to be held immediately, saying the outcome robbed the government of any "political or moral legitimacy" to continue enforcing policies that were overwhelming rejected

In UK Nick Griffin of the British National Party lost his European Parliament seat and was one of the few pleasurable results in the UK.

The Rise of the Front Nationale in France was truly sickening.

For our own analysis of UKIP In Wales read here :

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/wales-yr-aflonyddwch-mawr-says-plaid.html

Wales: Yr Aflonyddwch Mawr says Plaid Cymru retaining a European Member of Parliament may avoid the necessary debate about the future of Wales and European Union

                                Hercules raising Antaeus off the ground to undermine his powers

The rise of a British Nationalist party like UKIP from 87,000 votes in Wales in 2009 to 201,000 in the Euro elections 2014 should cause some serious thinking in Plaid Cymru.

We are not hopeful has retaining a seat in the European Parliament by Plaid Cymru even with a reduced percentage of the vote and lower number of votes in 2009 will probably be enough to silence the critics of membership of the European Union in Plaid Cymru.

Currently the dominant mode of thinking in Plaid Cymru is that Wales being part European Union suits Wales best and helps Welsh Independence and National and Social Liberation.

At the Aflonyddwch Mawr we have fundamentally disagreed with that idea from our inception in 2012 as we saw the European Union has essentially wedded to the Treaty of Rome and free market capitalism.

That free market idea was challenged by the social market idea in the 1970's for a limited period, but was buried by Thatcher with the accession of the Eastern European States who were committed to neo liberalism and NATO and shifted the European Union permanently to the political right.

Welsh National and Social development as we outlined in our 10 point Emergency Plan for Wales requires a Welsh national currency - not the Euro or the pound but a Welsh Banking System with a Welsh Central Bank that serves Welsh Economic development.

Public Enterprise is also another essential element in regeneration of Welsh economic life and we want key sectors like energy brought under public ownership in Wales and Energy policy to be linked to sound ecology for Welsh Land development.

All such Welsh National developments bring conflict with membership of the European Union and would not be facilitated by its membership.

A Welsh Land Act and a Welsh Land Commission remain at the heart of our regeneration not only of economic but also the cultural life of Wales has we believe the Crachach serve only their own personal interests and will not defend Welsh Land and not even ulimately defend the Welsh language, although they may speak Welsh they act English and constitute a traitor class in Wales- they are profit patriots .

Therefore Plaid Cymru just retaining a seat in European Parliament should be a wake up call. Plaid Cymru came within about 7500 votes of losing their seat.

The opposition of Welsh People to the European Union is fundamentally democratic and in the interests of Welsh National development and not opposed to it

- learning from the people is necessary for any poiltical movement if it is to correct its mistakes and grow and we hope Plaid Cymru learns from the people.

Therefore rejecting the Euro and The Pound and membership of the European Union allows for the reconstitution of a new vision for the national and social liberation of Wales that is truely democratic rather than bureaucratic and reminds us that the road we must take must be to build our own democratic institutions like a Welsh Republican Congress or a Senedd Glyndwr.

I know that may sound daunting to some but it is the only guarantee of Welsh National and Social development as the Welsh Assembly, Westminster and European Parliament are institutions created by others and not the Welsh people and will not serve Welsh interests and will absorb much Welsh energy which will ultimately prove unproductive to the national and social liberation of the Welsh people.

The source of power of any political movement is the people and if its political feet are firmly on the ground then it will gain political power - this election has reminded us like the Greek hero Antaeus that Plaid Cymru's feet were not firmly on the ground and the result it's power is being undermined with the very resistable rise of British Nationalism - if Plaid Cymru adopts an anti EEC policy and listens to the people - then British Nationalism will have less of a future in Wales.



See Also:

http://greatunrest2012.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/tir-iaith-gwlad-rhyddid-land-language.html

http://greatunrest2012.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/may-day-message-to-wales-from-gethin-ap.html

DEMOCRATIC FRONT AGAINST OPERATION GREEN HUNT PUNJAB, HELD A WELL-ATTENDED CONVENTION AT BARNALA TO DEMAND RELEASE OF G N SAIBABA

 

1. Unconditional release of Dr. G.N.Saibaba

2.. End to War Against the People on the pretext of Operation Green Hunt

3. Immediate Release of Hemant Sharma, Rarshant Rahi and activists of Kabir Kala Manch

4. Removal of ban on all democratic & revolutionary organisation.

It was addressed by Smt Vasantha (Dr. G.N.Saibaba's wife), Professor Rakesh Ranjan, Prof Ajmer Aulakh, Dr. Parminder Singh, Kamaljeet Khanna & N.K.Jeet.

On its conclusion a demonstration was held in the main bazars of the city.

Elections : Ukraine's Oligarchs and Democracy for the Few : The Source of its problems projected has saviours

 

Petro Poroshenko

 

Democracy and Class Struggle says that Petro Poroshenko is the Oligarch that will be elected President in Ukraine's undemocratic  election has he has gained support from other Oligarchs to run Ukraine, the Ukrainian Elections are the Crowning of an Oligarch - The Democracy of Few so loved by the West.

 

 

Petro Poroshenko

The "Chocolate King" made his $1bn trading cocoa beans, before diversifying into media.  Leading candidate for President of Ukraine in the current elections

Poroshenko started his own business selling cacao beans. In the 1990s, he acquired control over several confectionery enterprises. Subsequently, he united his holdings in that industry into Roshen group, the largest confectionery manufacturer in Ukraine. The fortune he made in the chocolate industry earned him the nickname Chocolate King

 

He is Pro European Union and supported the Maidan Movement..

 

Petro Poroshenko  has won other Oligarchs backing to become new President of Ukraine .

 

Oligarch Dmitry Firtash backs Klitschko's decision to pull out of presidential race in favor of Poroshenko

 

 

Rinat Akhmetov
 

The richest man in Ukraine, with $12.5bn, mostly made from iron and steel and thermoelectricity. Akhmetov has smoothed over an early reputation for mixing with tough street operators.

He is the president of Shakhtar Donetsk FC. When in London, he lives at One Hyde Park.

This former supporter of ousted president Viktor Yanukovych (he once lent him his private plane) and MP for the Party of the Regions now backs the new government, calling for national unity.

His influence in the Russian-speaking East makes his support particularly important. and he has being trying unsuccessfully to mobilise his workers in Eastern Ukraine against the Donetsk People's Republic.

                       

Victor Pinchuk

Ukraine's best-known oligarch, worth $3.2bn. He offered belated support to the protesters after Yanukovych fled, but then turned down the new government's request for assistance. The son-in-law of former president Kuchma treads a fine line between east and west.

This friend of Tony Blair, and one of the world's biggest Damien Hirst collectors, made his money selling steel pipes.

Claims that he has engaged in dumping (selling goods too cheaply for the purpose of undercutting competitors) in the US and Russia, and the collapse of his Russian insurance company, have depleted his fortune, but he remains the second-richest man. Pinchuk funds Blair's Faith Foundation, for his sins.

Dmytro Firtash

                         

Financed Yanukovych until his downfall. His fights with opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko over gas interests are legendary. This bruiser from post-Soviet times fought his way up from the street; he has made billions through RosUkrEnergo, a natural-resources and energy giant. Firtash regards the UK as his second home (he owns a house near Harrods with an underground swimming pool).

Igor Kolomoisky

The founder of Privat Bank, Kolomoisky has answered the call from the new Ukrainian president to run the central Dnipropetrovsk province.

He is qualified by owning the local football team, FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. He is thought to be worth $3bn.

A fierce opponent of the Yanukovych regime, he was once allied with Tymoshenko. He has put bounties on heads of what he calls terrorists in Eastern Ukraine and through intercepted telephone calls was revealed to be connected to the Odessa Massacre.

Sergey Kurchenko

Just 28, but said to have made $2.4bn through gas sales. He used some of it to buy the football team Metalist Kharkiv. This friend of the Yanukovych family is on an EU sanctions list and has fled the country for Belarus. He says he faces no criminal charges and the corruption allegations are motivated by competitors.

 

India is a Corporate Hindu State - Arundhati Roy explains

Has Arundhati Roy says :

 "The BJP does during the day what the Congress does at Night" in the Hindu Corporate State.


See Also : http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/india-is-corporate-hindu-state.html

Junta's persecution of Communist Party of Ukraine: No time for gloating from Sergei Kirichuk of Borotba

The fact that Peter Simonenko until recently refused to withdraw from the presidential elections in Ukraine caused untold confusion among many “grassroots" activists and sympathizers of the Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU). Indeed, from the very first days of the February putsch in Kiev, the KPU became the object of public and brutal persecution by the ultra-right, whose pogroms were openly patronized by the new regime.

Neo-Nazis invaded and occupied the offices of the Communist Party in Kiev -- and the Central Committee building became the headquarters of one of the most notorious Nazi groups in the country, which openly carried out the raid. "Warriors of light and goodness," sneered the journalists over Communist symbols, picturesquely broken asphalt busts of Lenin, burned books and torn red flags captured in the office. Party banners of the KPU were solemnly brought to the streets where militants ripped them up in front of passers-by. Personal data of Communist Party activists captured in the Central Committee building fell into the hands of the Nazis, who posted it on social networks, calling for the massacre of these people -- among whom were pregnant women and mothers of infants.

The same fate befell the party offices of the Communist Party in Rivne, Lutsk and other cities of Western Ukraine, where a few members of the Komsomol were attacked but miraculously managed to stay alive. An attempt to hold a propaganda picket of party supporters on Gogol Street in Kiev resulted in immediate attack on its members, who were beaten by Right Sector militants who came from Maidan. When, under pressure from the European Parliament, the Nazis were gently asked to leave the Communist Party Central Committee offices, they just burned down the building -- as they had previously burnt the country house of a family member of Peter Simonenko.

Deputies of the parliamentary faction of Communists in the Verkhovna Rada were long accustomed to the well-fed, measured and calm, compromising life. On the way to the parliament building they were met by whistling and offensive shouting, accosted with stones and bottles. Something similar happened in the parliament, where KPU deputies on the sidelines and then MPs were attacked by “Svoboda” and "Fatherland" and “European” journalists. They were often deprived of speech and the rightist regime leaders talked openly about the prohibition and elimination of the Communist Party faction – as a question for the near future. And indeed, controlled by "Svoboda," the Attorney General's office and SBU godfather Yarosha soon began to prepare a legislative ban on the Communist Party, openly calling for an arranged trial of the "criminal carriers of communist ideology."

Amazingly, despite this atmosphere of brutal persecution, Peter Simonenko still stubbornly refused to withdraw from the election -- though many party activists, not without reason, demanded to know why their leader was thus helping to legitimize the May 25 "election of blood." And when the rump Parliament pushed deputies of the Communist Party from the session hall, depriving them of the right to participate in the closed session of the Verkhovna Rada, several MPs rebelled, demanding that their colleagues no longer participate in the undemocratic farce that is today cynically called "Ukrainian parliamentarism."

But Simonenko withdrew from the elections only after he was nearly lynched after a live broadcast in Kiev.

With all this, the position of the leaders of the Communist Party has aroused discontent in the South-East of the country -- where the electoral base of the party was traditionally concentrated. They asked why the party was insufficiently active in protests against the regime in Kiev, criticized it for toothless, cowardly opportunism, and never tired of asking why the party leadership was under the parliamentary dome -- and not in the struggle with the people who voted for them two years ago? And criticism from within increased. Many activists were interested to know who should be held responsible for what happened to the party and the country, and why the Communist Party – once the most popular mass party in Ukraine – declined steeply under the present leaders to its present humiliating position. Why do they continue to remain unchallenged at the helm?

To these fair criticisms from ordinary Communist Party activists, you can add more, recalling how the leaders of the party completely abandoned the declared ideology in its name, and completely lost touch with the working class, whose interests they were supposed to express. Honest, ideological activists were asking themselves awkward questions about people acquiring property, capital and government posts. And why the party exchanged the confidence of the masses for this mess of pottage.

However, in the situation in which the country now finds itself, with the rightist regime persecuting the Ukrainian left, it is not the time for petty schadenfreude towards the cornered Communist Party.

The trial of the Communist Party, organized by the Nazis and neoliberals, is guaranteed to be a trial of the entire leftist ideology that they want to ban and finally expel from Ukrainian politics.

Red flags with the hammer and sickle will be ripped and burned, regardless of whether they are displayed as symbols of the Communist Party or other left groups.

Offices of other leftist groups are also subjected to pogroms; we, too, are searched, and our activists are beaten in the streets, along with members of the Communist Party.

Vandalism of monuments of left figures -- the destroyed statues of Lenin and Marx, monuments to the fallen soldiers of the revolution and the fighters against fascism, or defiled burial sites of workers killed in the battles of the “Arsenal” plant -- are not the property of Simonenko, but a common heritage and common pain of the entire left.

It would be short-sighted not to understand that the repression of the Communist Party will echo in turn against all left-wing activists - including those who have consistently criticized Simonenko and the completely non-communist policy of his party.

Destruction of the Communist Party today will drive all leftist movements underground, already on the verge. This will set a precedent for the fierce persecution of all who share anti-fascist and socialist views. And you will not be able to justify yourself to the court and the rioters by saying that you always consistently criticized the policy of the Communist Party.

Obviously, the country has slid into a bloody dictatorship under a regime of rightist politicians who for the first time in a hundred years has unleashed a civil war against its own people. And now we need broad solidarity with those who face the repression of rights -- including honest activists of the Communist Party.

Don’t let 2014 become for all of us the new 1933.

Sergei Kirichuk

Source: http://borotba.org/juntas_persecution_of_communist_party_of_ukraine-_no_time_for_gloating.html

See Also : http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/euromaidan-nightmare-how-odessa.html

India: 23rd - 25th May 1967 - Remembering Naxalbari : Lal Salam ... Lal Salam - with Gaddar Songs

Then..... the March 18 Convention was the signal for the peasant upsurge, which engulfed the entire area for four months. The U.F. government in West Bengal sought to diffuse the movement by announcing token land reforms. The revolutionary peasants replied to the revisionist rulers by setting up peasant committees to take over the land of the jotedars. 

Huge processions and demonstrations were organised by Kisan committee members, many of whom were armed with lathis, spears, bows and arrows. A sea of red flags struck terror into the hearts of the landlords and the countryside reverberated with the slogan "March forward along the path of armed peasant revolution."

The first clash was ignited when a share-cropper, Bigul Kisan, was beaten by armed agents of a local jotedar. This was followed by violent clashes and the forcible seizure of land and confiscation of food grains, by armed units of the Kisan committee. Any resistance by the landlords and their gangs was smashed and a few killed. 

By end May the situation reached the level of an armed peasant uprising. The CPI (M) leaders, who were now in power, first tried to pacify the leaders of the movement......having failed, Jyoti Basu, the then home minister of West Bengal, ordered in the police. On 23rd May the peasantry retaliated killing an inspector at Jharugaon village. 

On May 25, in Naxalbari, the police went berserk killing nine women and children. In June the struggle intensified further, particularly in the areas of Naxalbari, Kharibari and Phansidewa. Firearms and ammunition were snatched from the jotedars by raiding their houses. People’s courts were established and judgments passed. 

The upheaval in the villages continued till July. The tea garden workers struck work a number of times in support of the peasants. Then on July 19, a large number of para-military forces were deployed in the region. In ruthless cordon and search operations, hundreds were beaten and over one thousand arrested.

Some leaders like Jangal Santal were arrested, others like Charu Mazumdar went underground, yet others like Tribheni Kanu, Sobhan, Ali Gorkha Majhi and Tilka Majhi became martyrs. A few weeks later, Charu Mazumdar wrote

 "Hundreds of Naxalbaris are smoldering in India....... Naxalbari has not died and will never die."

Naxalbari gets recognition

The Communist Party of China, then the centre for world revolution, hailed the uprising. On June 28, 1967 Radio Peking broadcast :

 "A phase of peasants’ armed struggle led by the revolutionaries of the Indian Communist Party has been set up in the countryside in Darjeeling district of West Bengal state of India. This is the front paw of the revolutionary armed struggle launched by the Indian people......". Within a week, the July 5th edition of People’s Daily carried an article entitled ‘Spring Thunder over India’ which said : 

"A peal of spring thunder has crashed over the land of India. Revolutionary peasants in Darjeeling area have risen in rebellion. Under the leadership of a revolutionary group of the Indian Communist Party, a red area of rural revolutionary armed struggle has been established in India..... The Chinese people joyfully applaud this revolutionary storm of the Indian peasants in the Darjeeling area as do all the Marxist-Leninists and revolutionary people of the world."

EuroMaidan Nightmare: How the Odessa Massacre Was Engineered in Ukraine

Democracy and Class Struggle says the hand of  Oligarch Igor Kolomoisky was also behind Odessa Massacre the internal contradiction in the Ukraine between Oligarchs and the people is coming to the foreground.

Rinat Akhmetov Oligarch from Donetsk is playing the soft cop for the Kiev Fascist infested Putchists, while Kolomoisky plays the hard cop and killer of the people in Odessa.

The external forces of US/NATO expansionism and Russian Nationalism are exploiting these contradictions but the people have their own agency and their anti Oligarch struggles bring them into class contradiction not only with internal but also external forces.

Declaration on the Establishment of the Committee for the Liberation of Odessa

Today we find ourselves in an environment where public and legal resistance has become impossible. The new authorities and armed groups that emerged after the coup use illegal, repressive actions. Leaders and activists of the popular movement of Kulikova Field are under threat of arrest or abduction by neo-fascist paramilitary detachments.

Due to the de facto ban on opposition political activities in the territories controlled by the Kiev authorities, we, members of the Odessa resistance, are forced to form a center of resistance in exile. At the core of the center are leaders from Kulikova Field who were forced to leave Odessa.

Our goal is to unite all residents of Odessa who are willing to fight against the new authorities. Our struggle is for genuine democracy, where the residents of Odessa and the Odessa area determine for themselves the status of our region, how to organize its inner life, and who will lead the public authorities. Therefore, we must create the conditions for democratic self-determination in the form of a referendum of Odessites on the status of the Odessa region.

After the Odessa region has achieved self-determination, we will continue to fight for the liberation of other regions of Ukraine from the dictatorship of the oligarchs and neo-fascists.

Tasks that we will implement on the way to achieving the objectives of the movement:

1. Support for political prisoners caught in the thrall of the illegal “authorities,” the wounded, injured and families of those killed.

2. Punishment of those responsible for the tragic events of May 2.

3. Coordination of those who had to leave the Odessa region under threat of arrest or violence.

4. With the country plunged into civil war, we should be able to control the situation in Odessa, to protect our city from illegal armed groups and gangs.

The civil conflict has actually escalated into armed confrontation, in which representatives of foreign states are already involved on the side of the Kiev authorities. In these circumstances, we must prepare to defend civilians and take the necessary steps in this direction.

Our center includes people of different political views. We are united by hatred of the Kiev government of oligarchs and neo-fascists, and a clear conviction that the only legitimate source of power is the people. So long as we have not achieved self-determination and the establishment of people's power in the Odessa region, we put aside all political differences and mutual criticism that could stop us from working toward our common goal.

We have a common enemy -- the junta of oligarchs and neo-fascists.

We have a common goal -- liberation of the hero-city of Odessa and Odessa region.

Odessa will be free!

Odessa Regional Council Deputy Alexei Albu 
Odessa City Council Deputy Alexander Vasilyev 
Odessa Regional Council Deputy Vadim Savenko 
Head of “Odessa Yound” Dmitriy

See Also: http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/in-eastern-ukraine-dissatisfied-not.html


List of those names massacred in Odessa - incomplete

Information on 36 identified bodies in the union building (many with gun wounds)
.
1. Biryukov Andrey, 1978 born - shot.
2. Zhulkov Alexander - shot.
3. Yavorsky Nikolay - shot.
4. Petriv Gennadiy, 1985 born - shot.
5. Brazhevskiy Andrew, 1987 born - fall from a height.
6. P.Vadim, 1996 born - fall from a height.
7. Zayats Igor, 1968 born - fall from a height.
8. Kusch Ruslan, 1984 born - fall from a height
9. Varenikina Anna, 1955 born - poisoning.
10. Kalin Anatoliy, 1976 born - poisoning
11. Nikitenko Maksim, 1982 born - fall from a height.
12. Ostorozhnyuk Igor, 1964 born - fall from a height.
13. Bullakh Victor, 1956 born - fall from a height.
14. Ivanov Igor, 1986 born - shot.
15. Markin Vyatcheslav, 1969 born - fall from a height.
16. Negaturov Vadim, 1959 born - asphyxiation.
17. Gnatenko Evgeny, 1952 born - thermal burns
18. Populyakh Alla, 1962 born - asphyxiation.
19. Yakovenko Irina, 1959 born - asphyxiation.
20. Kushnaryov Gennadiy, 1975 born - asphyxiation.
21. Mishin Sergey, 1985 born - asphyxiation.
22. Pikalova Svetlana, 1981 born - asphyxiation.
23. Kovriga Nikolay, 1984 born - asphyxiation.
24. Sadovnichiy Alexander, 1954 born - asphyxiation.
25. Brigar Vladimir, 1984 born - asphyxiation.
26. Nikityuk Dmitriy, 1974 born - asphyxiation.
27. Mythcik Evgeniy, 1983 born - asphyxiation.
28. Stepanov Victor, 1948 born - asphyxiation.
29. Kostyukhin Sergey, 1967 born - asphyxiation.
30. Novitskiy Vladimir, 1944 born - asphyxiation.
31. Polevoy Victor, 1966 born - asphyxiation.
32. Bezhanitskaya Kristina, 1992 born - asphyxiation.
33. Lomakina Nina 1953 born - asphyxiation.
34. Kononov Alexander, 1959 born - asphyxiation.
35. Gnatenko Andrey, 1989 born - asphyxiation.
36. Balaban Alexey, 1982 born - asphyxiation.

All were local people and were anti fascists - although we are aware of some political filth trying to smear these dead people has just Russian separatists or Stalinists and somehow deserving of their fate - to such people all we can say is that these deaths are weightier than Mount Tai but your death political filth will be lighter than a feather.

See Also : http://scgnews.com/the-odessa-massacre-what-really-happened?utm_source=share-tw

Philippines : People strive for Food Sovereignty, National and Social Liberation by Luis G. Jalandoni

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speech delivered at the Famine Walk
Co. Mayo, Ireland
17 May 2014

By LUIS G. JALANDONI
NDFP Chief International Representative

 

Dear Friends, fellow participants in this Famine Walk,

 

In the Philippines there is a fierce struggle for food sovereignty being waged by the working people who produce the food but who are denied their basic right to food, health, and life. Peasants, workers, indigenous people and fisherfolk are among 70% of the population who struggle to survive with only PhP100 or €1.70 per day. This measly amount is insufficient to provide the basic daily need for food. Upon sickness, there is no money for medicines. Much less for housing and schooling.

 

Why is this such, in a country with 9.7 million hectares of fertile agricultural land, marine resources abounding in fish, rich mineral resources with the country no. 3 in the world in gold deposits, no.4 in copper, no. 5 in nickel, and no. 6 in chromite.

 

This situation of hunger, poverty, disease, and death in midst of plenty is, I think, similar to the situation of the Irish people during the famine. As James Connolly pointed out in his book, Labour in Irish History, the Irish people produced enough for the entire population during the famine, in fact, more than double. Enough grains and other food were produced, but these were exported to England. Connolly declared the English administration of Ireland during the famine a colossal crime against the human race.

 

The current struggle for food sovereignty in the Philippines is the fight against landgrabbers who take away the land of the peasants and indigenous peoples. It is a struggle against the Manila government's Public Private Partnership program that gives away the land to foreign corporations, mining companies, and agribusines firms. It is also a struggle against Monsanto, Zeneca, Syngenta, and other such corporations that steal the farmers' seed varieties and render the farmers dependent on genetically modified varieties. The Philippine peasant movement, with two million members, struggles in the legal democratic sphere. It unites with other Asian movements in the Asian Peasant Coalition.

 

Many more millions of peasants and indigenous peoples struggle in the revolutionary resistance movement. This movement carries out a genuine land reform program in substantial parts of 71 provinces. The program includes rent reduction, elimination of usury, and land distribution. This is the biggest movement for food sovereignty and national and social liberation.

 

The struggles in the legal democratic sphere and the revolutionary underground aim to change the current exploitative and oppressive system which favors foreign multinationals and their associates of big landlords and big businessmen.

 

This unjust system started when Spain colonized the Philippines in the 16^th century. The colonialists took over the lands and compelled the peasants to pay tribute and subjected them to forced labor and conscription.

 

The Filipino people waged an armed struggle for independence in 1896. The revolutionary forces won victory and proclaimed the first Philippine Republic. However, the US came and invaded the country.

 

In quelling the people's struggle against US annexation, 1.5 million Filipinos or 20% of the population died. The US then imposed its colonial rule and set up its system of exploitation and oppression. In 1946, it granted nominal independence and ruled the country through bureaucrats it had trained, with the collaboration of big landlords and businessmen.

 

Through policies dictated by the US through the IMF, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization, in collusion with subservient Philippine governments, the peasants are deprived of their lands in favor of multinational firms like Dole, mining corporations like Xstrata and Glencore, and logging companies. These destroy the livelihood of the peasants and indigenous people, and ravage the environment.

 

While these multinationals and their local cohorts reap superprofits, the working people are denied their basic right to food, health, education and life.

 

In the face of the intolerable exploitation and oppression, a movement for national and social liberation has arisen since the late 1960s. The struggle for food sovereignty is within this liberation struggle.

 

Now, may I bring up the Irish connection. I refer to Jack Hynes, a missionary who lived and worked in the Philippines, particularly in the island of Negros. He integrated with the poor people, learning their language.

 

He stood with them in facing the military who threatened them on behalf of the landgrabbers. He joined the fisherfolk in going out to sea. “They live on the edge of death,” he said, “because of the risks they take.”

 

When Marcos imposed martial law in 1972, he and his colleagues brought food and supplies to the freedom fighters in the mountains. The dictator launched a policy of encirclement to isolate the revolutionary forces. Jack and his colleagues broke through that encirclement. They transported freedom fighters across enemy lines. Jack rescued torture victims and brought them to safety for medical care.

 

The revolutionaries most hunted by the dictatorship were retrieved from danger by Jack. He and his colleagues like Pat and Vinny Healey, and Donal MacDonald risked life and limb to help the liberation movement.

 

In the mid-70s, he left the priesthood and married his soulmate, Lulu. Together with their children, they moved back to Ireland. He was a devoted family man.

 

He and Lulu continued helping the Filipino people's liberation movement. Upon the arrest of Fr. Niall O'Brien and eight others, called “The Negros Nine”, Jack and Lulu, with the Filipino Irish Group, launched an effective nationwide campaign for their release.

 

When Redemptorist priest, Fr. Rudy Romano was disappeared in July 1985, he led the FIG in launching a one-year daily picket at the US embassy to protest Fr. Romano's abduction.

When Jack Hynes died in 2006, the Filipino people presented Lulu with a wooden sculpture with the inscription, “Jack Hynes, Hero of the Filipino People.”

 

In his honor, and with the aim of keeping alive his legacy of outstanding solidarity, a group of us Filipinos and Irish people are launching “The Jack Hynes Solidarity Project”, with the assistance of AFRI. Jack was very involved in the Famine Walk; he was present in 1988 at the very first Famine Walk.

 

We sincerely hope that the Jack Hynes Solidarity Project will effectively help in building a strong solidarity between the Irish people and the Filipino people.

 

Ukraine and international law: New York Times double standard is typical of western media

The New York Times never mentioned the words UN Charter or international law in any of its seventy editorials on Iraq, as it assisted the Bush-Blair drive to war.

 

“A dirty dog will not have justice by the court.”

I did not invent these words, although I wish I had. The honor belongs to the British satirist and legal commentator, A.P. Herbert, as spoken by his fictional Judge Mildew.

The idea, in general, is that one shouldn’t accuse another of a crime committed by oneself as a means of exoneration – and get away with it.

Having now read every New York Times editorial on Ukraine from November 1 onward, I wish that Arthur Sulzberger Jr. had hired the good judge – who would have demanded no salary at all – to moderate the sudden enthusiasm for international law among the Times’ editorial writers.

This is because the Times’ editorial page has never made compliance with international law a standard of conduct in its editorials on the serial invasions and interventions of the United States.

Here I’m thinking of the list of American interventions from the frontispiece of The Political Economy of Human Rights, Volume Iby Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman (1978), in addition to William Blum’s “Brief History of US Interventions, 1945 to the Present.” Despite its neglect in applying international law to the United States, the editorial page is now applying it with a vengeance to Russia.
 
I have mentioned previously that from September 2001 to March 2003, a period in which the Bush administration repeatedly threatened to invade Iraq, the New York Times never mentioned the words “UN Charter” or “international law” in any of its seventy editorials on Iraq.

Keep in mind that Iraq is several thousand miles from the United States and had nothing to do with 9/11, that the Bush administration killed and maimed over a million Iraqis while it destroyed Iraq, and that President Obama took almost as long to “withdraw” from Iraq as it took for the US to fight World War II, all at a total cost of least $3 trillion.

This was all greatly assisted by the editorialists, op-ed columnists, foreign-desk editors, and foreign correspondents of the New York Times. (See The Record of the Paper, 1-161.)

Today, the Times’ editorial page is shaking its fist at Russia about the “invasion” of Crimea, during which no civilians in Crimea were killed and nothing destroyed.

Soon afterwards, a large majority in Crimea voted to be incorporated into Russia. These events were triggered by the US-supported overthrow of Ukraine’s elected president, which instantly rendered the government of Ukraine unelected and illegitimate, a fact that the editorial page has ignored.

In my view, the question of the legal status of Russia’s annexation of Crimea should be referred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – the judicial arm of the United Nations with jurisdiction over UN member states – for an authoritative opinion.

The mandate in any such case should include a factual assessment and legal opinion of the interventionist involvement of the United States in the US-supported overthrow of the elected president of Ukraine.

And given its current enthusiasm for international law, one should expect the Times’ editorial page to soon call for a referral to the ICJ concerning the legality of the Obama administration’s extrajudicial killing of individuals overseas with missiles fired remotely by aerial drones.

This expectation comes from the seemingly principled invocation of international law by the editorial page as applied to Russia. For example, in a March 11 editorial called “Penalties for Mr. Putin,” the Times asserted: “The occupation of Crimea is illegal under international law, and it is time for Europe to join the United States in threatening the sort of costly sanctions that will leave Mr. Putin no doubt that they will not tolerate violations of Ukrainian territorial integrity.”

In a March 19 editorial, “Russia and the Group of 8,” the Times’ editorial page asserted: “Let’s hope that the G-8-minus-1 meeting scheduled for next week can do a better job of projecting a unified front against Mr. Putin’s arrogance and contempt for international law.”

On March 27, in an editorial called, “Welcome Help for Ukraine,” the Times’ editors wrote: “[A]s Mr. Obama made clear on Wednesday, the United States and NATO have an obligation to ensure Mr. Putin pays a price for flouting international law.”

On April 7, in “A Familiar Script in Ukraine,” the Times’ editorial page asserted: “The annexation of Crimea was a blatant transgression of international law.”

On April 29, in “Not Getting Through To Mr. Putin,” a Times’ editorial said: “But there will be other costs if Europe and America do not join in a unified response. Among other things, a weak and fragmented response would call into question a longstanding trans-Atlantic commitment to protect international law and democratic values against the kind of aggression Mr. Putin is engaging in.” The special bonus here is that the Times editorial page asserted the “long-standing trans-Atlantic commitment to protect … democratic values” two months after the trans-Atlantic countries led by the United States supported the coup overthrowing the democratically elected president of Ukraine.

On May 3, in “President Obama and the World,” a Times editorial said: “A lot is riding on Mr. Obama’s ability to lead the trans-Atlantic response, which includes strengthening Ukraine politically and economically, reasserting international law, and forcing Russia to reconsider its campaign to turn Ukraine into a failed, partitioned state.”

On March 27, the editorial page published an op-ed piece, “A Weak E.U. Can’t Stop Putin,” by two professors from Cambridge University, who wrote: “Russia must be forced to see that there are consequences for riding roughshod over international law.”

It seems that the Times took its cue to apply international law to Russia from President Obama.

On March 1, a little more than a week after the coup in Kiev, the Times reported in “Ukraine Mobilizes Reserve Troops, Threatening War”: “Mr. Obama accused Russia on Saturday of a ‘breach of international law’ and condemned the country’s military intervention, calling it a ‘clear violation’ of Ukrainian sovereignty.”

Overall the concern here is what it means for the New York Times to accuse Russia of violating international law, given the far more bloody and more numerous US violations of international law over the years and the fact that the Times has yet to apply international law to the United States.

This double-standard – aggressively exhibited by every other mainstream news organization in the United States – serves as the predicate for the repeated calls to “punish Putin.” It is the kind of base hypocrisy that can ignite a major war.

In short, the Times editorial page is reprising its role as war instigator, not by ignoring international law as it did when the Bush administration threatened to invade Iraq, but by hypocritically citing Russia as the world’s transgressor of international law.

Source: Common Dreams