VITALY PORTNIKOV – Ukraine and The Suicide Club á la Russe

portnikov2 By Vitaly Portnikov, Kyiv journalist and political commentator, columnist for Radio Liberty
23.04.2014  radiosvoboda.ua
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine
Source: Radio Svoboda

Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Suicide Club has long since become a classic detective story that illustrates how talented conmen can speculate on people’s instincts to safely ship them off to the next world, and profit along the way. But if the president of the Suicide Club in Stevenson’s novel had only a small group of followers, the Russian government has a whole country at their disposal. Talk about room for action!

Sergey Glazyev, Advisor to the President [of Russia], naturally, won’t have the president’s chair in the Russian “Suicide Club.” Glazyev, being an economic air-monger and a failed politician, will have the same position in the club as he has right now–the president’s assistant. But in an assistant’s role, there is plenty he can accomplish.

We still remember the time when this smug Russian bureaucrat born in Zaporizhzhya, always quick to insult and degrade his opponent, visited Ukraine, attempting to teach us how to live and demanding we immediately refuse European integration and join the “Suicide Club.” Now that it didn’t work out with Ukraine, Glazyev decided to run an experiment with Russia, instead.

Sergey Glazyev, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation

Sergey Glazyev, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation

The President’s assistant got so inspired by Western sanctions that he already decided that Russia must entirely denounce the bourgeois [US] dollar and carry out all of its transactions in rubles. This applies not only to companies in the energy sector, but to private individuals. Russians must believe Glazyev when he says that the ruble is better and has brighter prospects [than the US dollar]. Especially in a time of sanctions. Apparently, they are supposed to take his word for it, too.

Glazyev also suggests to get rid of any securities from NATO countries, to stop cultural property from going abroad, to replace foreign loans with ruble loans, and to make the ruble an international reserve currency. The opinions of Western buyers of Russian gas–who are currently looking into dumping Russian supplies altogether rather than switching to the ruble–have no place in Glazyev’s speeches. It appears that for him, such opinions hold no interest.

Meanwhile, experts in Russia are registering an opposite trend–holders of bank deposits are actively converting their savings into US dollars and euros, moving away from rubles. This is only understandable, because it is the West that is implementing sanctions against Russia, not the other way around. That is something that even Glazyev cannot deny.

He is not denying it. As befits a professional suicide, he is jubilant. For some reason, Glazyev believes that if Russia’s foreign reserves are converted from US dollars and euros [into rubles], the West will perish. The academic stubbornly fails–or refuses?–to understand that in this scenario, Russia will be the one losing its reserves, because such reserves will have no sense unless allocated in hard currencies. This is another trait that sets apart a professional suicide–his wish to observe the agony of his comrades.

But Glazyev is not just an observer–he is also a mocker. His propositions, for all intensive purposes, withdraw Russia from the global civilizational process, because you can’t buy technology and ideas with rubles, and these Russia lacks–it has only raw materials. Even China won’t supply technologies and ideas [to Russia]–because it also purchases them from the West. Glazyev is taking Russia out of the car and off the airplane, sitting her into a horse-drawn wagon, and pushing that wagon towards the abyss. All this looks much more impressive than his attempts to shove Ukraine into that abyss, too.

Posted in Analytics, English, Languages, Opinions, Vitaly Portnikov | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Dmitry Tymchuk’s Military Blog: Summary – April 28, 2014

Dmitry Tymchuk, Information Resistance

04.28.2014
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

10173325_481968728598454_1124228004_nBrothers and sisters,

Here’s the Summary for April 28, 2014 (for the summary from the previous week, please see the Summary for April 25).

The bad news:

1. The Anti-terrorist operation [ATO] has turned into a farce.

However regrettable it is to admit this, we are in the same boat as our enemy–the Russians, during the recent conflicts initiated by Russia in the Caucasus. While senior leadership “double-crosses” everyone they can, mid-level commanders bear the responsibility for confrontation on their shoulders.

There are two differences: Russia waged aggressive wars (in Chechnya and Georgia), and its commanders did not have their hands tied. We wage a holy war–a defensive war. But, despite this, our commanders’ hands are firmly tied. Every move and almost every shot is strictly controlled “from above.” The result is abysmal.

We, the Information Resistance group, have tried to avoid criticism of senior commanders to the end. But we can no longer continue to do so. Our soldiers and officers have become hostages in power games. But this is only one aspect. In essence, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state are the principal hostage in this game.

2. Today brought a lot of blood.

Donetsk. April 28, 2014.

Donetsk. April 28, 2014.

Two people who were injured this morning in Kramatorsk are representatives of the SBU and the Interior Ministry. They were wounded in a gunfight with terrorists, it’s pretty obvious. We can only wish these guys a speedy recovery.

The situation around the death of one, and injury of another, contract soldier of the Armed Forces [of Ukraine] is more complicated. We will not disclose the details (hopefully the MOD will though, because their current explanation can hardly be called intelligible). But the very fact that the security forces keep getting killed in similar circumstances, outside of armed contfrontations, is deeply abnormal.

3. Some insane show is happening in Sloviansk.

Terrorists have instituted “journalist accreditation” there, mostly Russian journalists at that. I find it absolutely incomprehensible how journalists can freely roam around in the area of ​​the ATO (moreover, foreign journalists, and especially–Russian journalists) in the first place, without the accreditation of our law enforcement agencies. How can this be happening by definition?

I cannot imagine that in a civilized country, a journalist could freely enter through the cordon of security forces and approach an aircraft hijacked by terrorists with the following words, “I need to interview their ringleader.” What type of nonsense is that? Especially when we know how the Russian media present the information.

Tsaryov in Sloviansk

Oleh Tsaryov in Sloviansk

The delivery of “humanitarian aid” to Sloviansk, intended for separatists and distributed at checkpoints by Ukrainian Presidential candidate Oleh Tsaryov looks even wilder. What type of savagery is this? How can this scarecrow, God forgive me, this terrorist accomplice, be an official Presidential candidate? It is beyond my comprehension.

Hennediy Kernes

Hennediy Kernes

4. Today, an assassination attempt on the Kharkiv mayor Hennadiy Kernes took place.

I will not remind you about certain pages from this gentleman’s biography, I like them no more than you do. The fact of the matter is, that for whatever reason, he is on our side now.

And this assassination attempt – is an attempt to turn Kharkiv, with its very shaky stability, into another separatist snake nest, with another “people’s mayor” and another “people’s republic” under the Russian flag. There is nothing good in this.

The good news:

1. The EU expanded sanctions against Russia today–it increased the number of Kremlin representatives affected by it. The European Union also said that they are actively researching sanctions not only against individuals, but against entire sectors of the Russian economy.

The bad thing is that the Europeans have been threatening this third stage of sanctions for a month and a half now, and to no avail. In fact, they only continually expand the format of the second stage of sanctions. But then, any support is important and necessary.

2. The SBU detained the deputy to the breakaway mayor of Sloviansk. An Igor Perepechayenko.

Screen Shot 2014-04-28 at 8.48.29 PMThis person was the “snitch” to one of the subversive and reconnaissance groups of the GRU of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces. A local polizei–and a sellout. Traitors like him were hung on the nearest lamppost in front of all honest people during the Great Patriotic War. Now is the time of humanism, no one will deprive this manure of life. All the same–unfortunately.

Overall, the Interior Ministry complains that there are hardly any vacancies left at the Detention facilities–in some regions, they are crammed to their eyeballs with Russian subversives and their local henchmen. The more these gentlemen busy themselves with intellectual games near the prison “bucket,” the less likely will they be to shit on the loose.

3. Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the Ukrainian Prime Minister, has announced that Ukraine and Slovakia signed a memorandum on gas delivery by reversing the direction of gas [from the West] to Ukraine. Simultaneously, Kyiv is preparing a lawsuit against Gazprom in connection with [elevated] gas prices.

I don’t know how the current standoff with Russia will end. But if Kyiv doesn’t have the brains and the will to properly carry out the ATO, at least it tries to show resistance on the “energy front.” If only these initiatives were seen through to the end.

Posted in Analytics, Dmitry Tymchuk, English, English News, Languages, News, News summary, Opinions, Regіons, South&Eastern Ukraine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Der Spiegel über die wertlose Ukraine

fnws's avatarEuromaidan PR

Von Thomas Theiner (deutsch von Euromaidan PR auf Deutsch)

10288739_1486214721592169_3018530568459884881_nDer Spiegel ist ein Lügen verbreitendes, Propaganda spuckendes, ehemals “journalistisches” Produkt, das einstmals noch Ethik, Moral und Professionalität hatte, aber nun so schnell, so tief sinkt, dass man kaum noch anständig den Absturzes des Spiegels in die Kanalisation verfolgen kann.

Ja, ich bin wütend, und es gibt einen Grund dafür: Der Spiegel veröffentlicht heute ein äußerst tendenziös Stück, in dem er die Ukraine mit syrischen Dschihadisten in Verbindung bringt, ein Stück von dem ich dachte, es wäre nur schwer mit noch schädlicherem Inhalt zu toppen … aber der Spiegel hat es geschafft, genau dies zu tun – und in weniger als drei Stunden!

Das neue Teil stammt von Jakob Augstein, der regelmäßig uninformiertes, kaum logisches Geschwafel mit antisemitischen Untertönen veröffentlicht. Dieses Mal hat er über die Ukraine geschrieben … oder, wie er sagt, die “wertlose Ukraine.” Sein Argument lautet, dass…

View original post 545 more words

Posted in Deutsch, Languages, Opinions, Reblogged | 1 Comment

“Der Spiegel” lügt über die Ukraine

fnws's avatarEuromaidan PR

Das deutsche Nachrichtenmagazin “Der Spiegel” war schon immer bekannt für seine voreingenommen Berichte, aber ein aktueller Artikel in der Printausgabe hat neue Höhen der Propaganda und Verleumdung erreicht.

Derzeit folgt “Der Spiegel” der Linie des Kreml und veröffentlicht einen Bericht nach dem anderen, in dem er die Ukraine, das ukrainische Volk und die ukrainische Regierung beschmutzt, während er die Aktionen und Ideologie Putins mit Schönfärberei darstellt. Der kürzliche erschienene Artikel “Halbautomatische Gewehre: Ukraine wickelt Waffengeschäfte über Deutschland ab” http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/ukraine-liefert-waffen-an-deutschland-kommen-gewehre-nach-syrien-a-966351.html ist ein eklatantes Beispiel für den bösartigen Umgang mit der Wahrheit.

Basierend auf fadenscheinigen Informationen berichtet der Artikel, dass das ukrainische Staatsunternehmen Ukroboronprom halbautomatische Gewehre nach Deutschland exportiert hat, aber schon im Eingangsabsatz gibt “Der Spiegel” den Ton an mit der Frage: “Kommen sie im Syrien-Krieg zum Einsatz?” Und fährt dann fort, die Ukraine mit einem deutschen Dschihadisten und seinem Selbstporträt mit einem abgetrennten Kopf in Syrien in Verbindung zu bringen.

View original post 874 more words

Posted in Analytics, Analytik – Deutsch, Deutsch, Languages, Opinions, Reblogged | Leave a comment

“Right hand” of Sloviansk terrorists’ leader has been arrested with Kremlin money at the airport

chornajuravka's avatarEuromaidan PR

Perepechayenko took part in negotiations in Moscow. April 28, 2014

Ponomarev’s Deputy has been arrested by the officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

The Security Service of Ukraine has arrested Igor Perepechayenko, Deputy of Sloviansk self-proclaimed Mayor Ponomarev. The SBU Press Center Spokesman Maryna Ostapenko has reported this at a briefing.

She claimed that Perepechayenko “is implicated organizing separatist activities and large-scale collisions in Donetsk Oblast, accompanied by violence and resistance to the authorities”.

View original post 194 more words

Posted in Reblogged | Leave a comment