An article in World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) – Distortion and dishonesty: Ukrainian films at the Cottbus Film Festival – critiques some of the Ukrainian films that made it to the screen at this years festival held in Cottbus. This is a city 125 kms southeast of Berlin, close to
Continue readingTag: Maidan
drive-by planet: Kiev’s brutal military campaign in eastern Ukraine creating humanitarian crisis
The Kiev regime’s military campaign in eastern Ukraine has Washington’s backing. US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki voiced support for Kiev’s right to press its assault – an assault that includes the use of air strikes and shelling that have devastated civilians and created growing ranks of refugees, many of
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Fascism has a long history in Ukraine: 2-part historical review
Below left: Hero of Ukrainian hardline nationalists – Stepan Bandera Below right: Bandera in Nazi uniform In order to get some background on the crisis in Ukraine, it’s important to take the historical record into account – both recent and long standing. This is especially important given slanted western media
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Oligarch Pyotr "Chocolate King" Poroshenko wins big in Ukraine’s low turn-out election: change to disbelieve in
The presidential election in Ukraine was held on the same date as elections to the European parliament that resulted in an unprecedented showing by anti-immigration Euro-skeptic parties. The Ukraine election held in the midst of conflict and poll boycotts saw EU-friendly billionaire Pyotr Poroshenko – aka the “Chocolate King” –
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Use of Putin-as-fuhrer meme part of effort to demonize Russia: prince Charles’ Nazi relatives
Bottom right: Charles’ great uncle Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson fawning over Adolf Hitler During a recent 4-day visit to Canada, Prince Charles visited the Canadian Museum of Immigration in Halifax. In the course of speaking with a volunteer named Marienne Ferguson whose family fled Poland in advance of the
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Leaflet targeting Jews in Donetsk ‘a political hoax’: anti-Semitism as a propaganda tool
Below left: Donetsk synagogue / Below right: Chief Rabbi Pinchas Vishedski holding anti-Semitic leaflet Anti-Semitism has a long and ugly history in Ukraine. During the current conflict between the interim Kiev government and regional pro-Russian movements in the east, anti-Semitic incidents have been used as a propaganda tool. An example
Continue readingdrive-by planet: German TV program ‘Monitor’ on Kiev sniper attack: ham radio intercept of sharp shooter chat surfaces
A report that aired on the German public TV program “Monitor” includes audio recordings and interviews that strongly suggest opposition involvement in the Kiev sniper attack of mid-February. The program is available online in German – here. I believe the segment on the Kiev shootings is in the second part
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Comments by communist leader Symonenko spark mayhem and fistfights in Ukrainian parliament: video
A free-for-all push-and-punch fest broke out in the Ukrainian parliament this week when a communist leader, Pyotr Symonenko, blamed the nationalists for dividing the nation and aggravating tensions in the south-east. He said the seizure of buildings in Donetsk, Kharkov and Lugansk follows a precedent set when government buildings were
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Kiev probe into sniper attack short on evidence, credibility
Top from left: Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov, acting Prosecutor General Oleh Makhnitskyi and Head of the Security Service Valentyn Nalyvaichenko Below: Maidan shooters The investigation by Ukrainian security services into the mid-February sniper attack is rather like the cops investigating the cops – not exactly objective. Given the
Continue readingdrive-by planet: New government in Kiev not exactly ‘revolutionary’: demonization of Russia
Top – Kiev government officials / Beneath – billionaire oligarchs Igor Kolomoyski and Sergey Taruta It comes as no surprise that the so-called “democratic revolution” in Ukraine basically boils down to a change of governing elites. The self-appointed government in Kiev does not herald any sweeping change that could credibly
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