Ukraine Moves Closer To Civil War
By Countercurrents
30 April, 2014
Countercurrents.org
Propagating “threat of a Russian Invasion”, the Ukrainian army has been put on full alert while the acting president in Kiev Aleksandr Turchinov admits that the authority in Kiev cannot control the situation in the east of the country.
At the same time, John Kerry, the US secretary of state has cautioned: Trans-Atlantic global leadership is at stake in Ukraine.
News media reported on Ukraine:
The acting president in Kiev Turchinov told Wednesday a council of heads of Ukrainian regions in Kiev: “I am going back to the real threat that Russia would unleash a continental war against Ukraine. Our armed forces have been put on full alert.”
He called on to speed up the creation of regional militias loyal to Kiev. “We must have the capability to move those units fast to support other regions against such a threat,” he stressed.
Turchinov admitted Kiev cannot get the situation in the rebellious eastern regions under control.
He reiterated his earlier accusations: Some people in law enforcement “are cooperating with terrorist organizations,” the name Kiev authorities use to refer to anti-government protesters who are seizing government buildings in eastern Ukraine.
“Our primary task is to prevent the spread of the terrorist threat to other regions of Ukraine,” he said.
He said “We know from the experience of Maidan, the use of force is inefficient. That’s the situation we faced in the eastern regions.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the acting president said in a televised address that the situation in the east of the country “demonstrated inaction, helplessness and sometimes treason” and pledged to sack many officers in eastern regions of Ukraine.
The new authorities in Kiev are failing to deal with a wave of protests against them centered in the Donetsk Region of eastern Ukraine.
Despite announcing an “anti-terrorist operation” and amassing a large number of troops and heavy weapons in the region, the Kiev authority has failed to prevent the continued seizures of buildings there and some other eastern regions of Ukraine.
There are indications that Kiev does not have enough loyal troops to deliver on its promised protest crackdown. On several occasions the troops sent against activists simply defected, surrendering their weapons and armored vehicles.
Kerry Says Trans-Atlantic global leadership at stake in Ukraine
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, said: NATO must return to its original goal of fending off Russia, seizing the chance presented by the Ukrainian crisis to sever Europe from Moscow and move it closer to America. Or else the bloc’s global leadership may be lost.
Kerry delivered the confrontational call in a speech to the Atlantic Council, a think tank in Washington, DC.
He said the stand-off in Ukraine had resulted from a “uniquely personally-driven set of choices” and is “a wake-up call” for NATO.
The US secretary of state added that now the military bloc must turn the page on two decades of focusing on expeditionary operations and take a stand against “Putin’s Russia.”
“After two decades of focusing primarily on our expeditionary missions, the crisis in Ukraine now call us back to the work that this alliance was originally created to perform,” Kerry told the audience.
NATO’s original purpose was to oppose the Communist Soviet Union, giving the West the military backbone to the ideologically-driven stand-off with the East. Kerry described it as “to defend alliance territory and advance trans-Atlantic security.”
“Today, Putin’s Russia is playing by a different set of rules,” the US secretary stated. “Through its occupation of Crimea and its subsequent destabilization of eastern Ukraine, Russia seeks to change the security landscape of Eastern and Central Europe.”
“Together we have to push back against those who try to change sovereign border by force. Together we have to support those who simply want to live as we do,” he added.
“Our entire model of global leadership is at stake. If we stand together, if we draw strength from the example of the past and refuse to be complacent in the present, then I am confident that NATO, the planet’s strongest alliance, can meet the challenges, can absolutely take advantage of the opportunities that are presented by crisis,” he stressed.
Kerry suggested three points on how trans-Atlantic partners can preserve their leadership and contain Russia.
He said all NATO members must comply with alliance’s benchmark of 2 percent GDP defense spending, which is not observed by many European members of the alliance, including European economic powerhouse Germany.
“Clearly, not all allies are going to meet the NATO benchmark of 2 percent of GDP overnight or even next year,” Kerry said. “But it’s time for allies, who are below that level to make credible commitments to increase their spending on defense over the next five years.”
NATO members must also help Europe reduce its dependence on Russian energy and develop economic ties with America by speeding down the pipeline the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement, Kerry said.
The agreement would certainly give more access to European markets to some US corporations, as it would require freeing up European regulations on things like fracking, GMOs, copyright and finance.
Kerry’s policy remarks are in line with those made recently by some other members of the US political establishment. For example Senator John McCain, one of the most vocal critics of Russia, went on the same lines of presenting Russia’s stance on Ukraine a personal choice by President Vladimir Putin and calling for more defense spending in Europe in his speech at Vilnius University, Lithuania, on Wednesday last week.
“Considering what President Putin is doing right now in Ukraine, it is more important than ever for every NATO ally to spend at least 2 percent of its GDP on defense,” McCain said. “I'm pleased that Lithuania has pledged and is planning to do this, and the sooner you follow through on that commitment the better.”
Neo-Nazis engage in brawl
A massive fight broke out on Kiev’s landmark Independence Square (Maidan) on Tuesday night, with shots and explosives being heard.
More than 100 people, reportedly members of the far-right Social-National Assembly, marched with burning torches towards Maidan.
The neo-Nazi marchers came to commemorate those killed during anti-government protests in December-February.
Maidan self-defense units blocked the rally at the barricades across from the main post office, prompting a massive fight.
The far-right radicals used firecrackers, traumatic guns, and tear gas. Many of them carried bats and sticks. There are reports of injuries.
One of the tents at Maidan caught fire.
The self-defense units allowed the rally to pass through. The march then moved towards Ukrainian Parliament.
On Sunday, hundreds marched in the western city of Lvov to mark the anniversary of the formation of the 'Galician' Ukrainian SS division, which fought for the Nazis against the Soviet Union during World War II.
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