South Ossetia Plans Referendum on Joining Russia

Dispatches from
STEPHEN LENDMAN

After Soviet Russia’s 1991 dissolution, Georgia’s South Ossetia province declared independence, calling itself the Republic of South Ossetia. Self-determination is a universal right under international law. Five UN member states alone recognize its sovereignty, including Russia, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

In March 2015, S. Ossetia and Moscow signed an alliance and integration treaty. Provisions include incorporating its military into Russia’s armed forces, along with customs and near full integration. Putin granted Russian citizenship to most S. Ossetians. Many were already Russian nationals.

Mikhail Saakashvili was one of the ambitious thugs that came to power in the aftermath of the USSR dissolution. This crook is now being sponsored by Washington to play a part in Ukrainian politics.

Mikhail Saakashvili was one of the ambitious thugs that came to power in the aftermath of the USSR dissolution. This notorious embezzler is now being sponsored by Washington to play a part in Ukrainian politics.

In December 2015, President Leonid Tibilov proposed renaming the nation, “emphasizing (it) as part of Russia,” hoping a future referendum would advance the prospect. Throughout the 1990s into early new millennium years, intermittent conflict with Georgia erupted – notably in August 2008 when its troops invaded the breakaway republic, ordered by US installed puppet Mikhail Saakashvili, acting in cahoots with Washington.

Invasion was strategically timed. Then President Dmitry Medvedev was on vacation. Then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was in Beijing during its summer olympic games, the event dominating world news. After 1,700 of its nationals were killed, including 12 of its peacekeepers, Russia intervened responsibly, routing invading Georgian forces in five days. Washington and its Western allies wrongfully accused it of aggression.

S. Ossetian President Tibilov announced plans to hold a referendum sometime before August on becoming part of Russia. A constitutional change is needed, he said, under Article 10, “enabl(ing) the president to ask, with (parliament’s) approval (and) top leadership of Russia to consider” incorporating its territory into its Federation. Article 10 authorizes the republic to ally with other states, Tibilov saying:

“We plan to hold a referendum on supplementing that article with paragraphs stating that the Republic of South Ossetia is entitled to hand part of its powers to the Russian Federation.”

“And then what I have already outlined – to give the president the opportunity to ask the Russian leadership to incorporate our republic…as a new constituent member of Russia.” If Moscow lawmakers and Putin agree, S. Ossetia may become Russia’s newest republic – perhaps later this year.

ADDENDUM:
US Installed Ukrainian PM’s Ouster

by Stephen Lendman

US installed putschists running Ukraine govern by mob rule – gangsters guilty of virtually every imaginable high crime. They staged the most brazen European coup d’etat since Mussolini’s 1922 march on Rome – in short order becoming the most reviled Ukrainian regime since Stalinist days and Nazi occupation during WW II.

Until his announced Sunday resignation, an inevitability in the works for weeks, Arseniy Yatsenyuk served as Ukraine’s illegitimate prime minister, one of Obama’s post-coup new friends – welcomed at the White House in March 2014 after Washington installed him. Did he resign or did Obama oust him for failing to serve US interests effectively? The latter most likely. He entered office super-rich, accumulating more wealth by looting public resources, other regime officials profiting the same way.

At the same time, impoverished Ukrainians continue being denied vital social services. The cost of fuel oil nearly doubled on his watch, making it unaffordable for millions. Numerous other hardships were imposed, privileged Ukrainians benefitting at the expense of all others. Ruling fascist thugs wrecked the economy, continue committing appalling human rights abuses – with full support and encouragement from Washington. Yatsenyuk is a former central banker/economy/foreign minister and parliament (Verkhovna Rada) speaker – a Judas, betraying his people, selling out for greater wealth and power.

Throughout his tenure, he was a caricature of a leader, in January 2015 reinventing history by telling German ARD TV viewers “all of us clearly clearly remember the Soviet invasion into Ukraine and Germany.”

“We need to avoid (repeating) it. Nobody has the right to rewrite the results of the Second World War. Russia’s President Putin is trying to do exactly this.” On June 22, 1941, around four million Wehrmacht troops invaded Soviet Russia along multiple fronts, with forces from Finland, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine.

It was the largest invasion in the history of warfare, driven by Hitler’s megalomaniacal obsession to conquer his Soviet adversary, colonize its territory, steal its resources, enslave its people. Moscow responded to Yatsenyuk’s Big Lie at the time, requesting an official position from Berlin. Lower house State Duma International Affairs Committee chairman Aleksey Pushkov said he’s “finally gone off his rocker. (O)ne can’t take (anything he says) seriously.”

In announcing his resignation, he ludicrously called political crisis in the country artificially created – earlier surviving a no confidence vote. He said parliament speaker Vladimir Groysman will replace him, blaming other regime officials for his own deplorable leadership, ignoring his high crimes in office. Another possible choice is US installed finance minister Natalie Jaresko, a Ukrainian American former State Department official/ Horizon Capital CEO, strip-mining Ukraine in office, benefitting her business interests and other Western ones. Yatsenyuk was one of Obama’s fascist Ukrainian friends, thugs resembling their Nazi predecessors.

Paul Craig Roberts called him “Washington’s two-bit punk,” asking “(w)hat new puppet will the Washington criminals stick in office to enable the completion of the looting of Ukraine?

About the author

STEPHEN LENDMAN lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III." ( http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html ) Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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South Ossetia Plans Referendum on Joining Russia

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