Voices of Ukraine

Paul Goble, originally on Window on Eurasia

Staunton, April 28 – Vladimir Putin’s moves against Ukraine are part of his larger plan not only to restore a country with the borders of the USSR but also to re-establish Moscow’s dominance in Eastern Europe and in Asia, according to Vitaly Portnikov in a comment to Gordunua.com.

Putin clearly wants to occupy “all of Ukraine, Kaakhstan, Moldova, Belarus and the other former Soviet republics, Portnikov wrote yesterday, but that is only is “minimum program.”  If he achieves that, he and his supporters plan to seek a return to the post-Yalta arrangements in Eastern Europe and, working with China, to restore Moscow’s influence in Asia as well (gordonua.com/news/politics/Portnikov-Vosstanovlenie-SSSR-programma-minimum-Putina-dalshe-on-dvinetsya-v-centralnuyu-Evropu-20101.html).

The German weekly Der Spiegel has always been notorious for its biased reports, but a recent article in its print edition reaches new heights of propaganda and defamation.

Ukrainians as seen by Der Spiegel

Currently, Der Spiegel is toeing the Kremlin line and publishing one report after another, besmirching Ukraine, the Ukrainian people, and the Ukrainian government, while whitewashing Putin’s actions and ideology. Their recent article, “Halbautomatische Gewehre: Ukraine wickelt Waffengeschäfte über Deutschland ab” (Semi-automatic rifles: Ukraine concludes weapon deals through Germany) is a blatant example of their malicious attitude towards the truth. 

The North Crimean Canal

While Russian media continue to spread hype about the Ukrainian government cutting off Crimea’s water supply, evidence mounts that this is no more than a media provocation aimed to cover the incompetence of officials from the self-proclaimed ‘Republic of Crimea.’

According to a UNN interview with Yuriy Odarchenko, chairman of the Kherson Regional State Administration, water is not reaching Crimea though the North Crimean Canal due to the incompetence of professionals who ‘seized’ the Crimean part of the facilities.