JOHN PILGER

“10 to 20 million killed…tops!”

_I watched Dr. Strangelove the other day. I have seen it perhaps a dozen times; it makes sense of senseless news. When Major T.J. ‘King’ Kong goes “toe to toe with the Rooskies” and flies his rogue B52 nuclear bomber to a target in Russia, it’s left to General ‘Buck’ Turgidson to reassure the President. Strike first, says the general, and “you got no more than 10 to 20 million killed, tops.”

President Merkin Muffley: “I will not go down in history as the greatest mass-murderer since Adolf Hitler.”

General Turgidson: “Perhaps it might be better, Mr. President, if you were more concerned with the American people than with your image in the history books.”

The genius of Stanley Kubrick’s film is that it accurately represents the cold war’s lunacy and dangers. Most of the characters are based on real people and real maniacs. There is no equivalent to Strangelove today, because popular culture is directed almost entirely at our interior lives, as if identity is the moral zeitgeist and true satire is redundant; yet the dangers are the same. The nuclear clock has remained at five minutes to midnight; the same false flags are hoisted above the same targets by the same “invisible government”, as Edward Bernays, the inventor of public relations, described modern propaganda.

In 1964, the year Strangelove was made, “the missile gap” was the false flag. In order to build more and bigger nuclear weapons and pursue an undeclared policy of domination, President John Kennedy approved the CIA’s propaganda that the Soviet Union was well ahead of the US in the production of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. This filled front pages as the “Russian threat”. In fact, the Americans were so far ahead in the production of ICBMs, the Russians never approached them. The cold war was based largely on this lie.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US has tightened the ring around Russia with military bases, nuclear warplanes and missiles as part of its “Nato Enlargement Project”. Reneging a US promise to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990 that Nato would not expand “one inch to the East”,  Nato has all but taken over eastern Europe. In the former Soviet Caucuses, Nato’s military build-up is the most extensive since the second world war.

In February, the United States mounted one of its proxy “colour” coups against the elected government of Ukraine; the shock troops were fascists. For the first time since 1945, a pro-Nazi, openly anti-Semitic party controls key areas of state power in a European capital. No Western European leader has condemned this revival of fascism on the border of Russia. Some 30 million Russians died in the invasion of their country by Hitler’s Nazis, who were supported by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the UPA, responsible for numerous Jewish and Polish massacres. The UPA was the military wing, inspiring today’s Svoboda party.

Since Washington’s putsch in Kiev – and Moscow’s inevitable response in Russian Crimea, to protect its Black Sea Fleet – the provocation and isolation of Russia have been inverted in the news to the “Russian threat”. This is fossilised propaganda. The US Air Force general who runs Nato forces in Europe – General Breedlove, no less – claimed more than two weeks ago to have pictures showing 40,000 Russian troops “massing” on the border with Ukraine. So did Colin Powell claim to have pictures of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. What is certain is that Obama’s rapacious, reckless coup in Ukraine has ignited a civil war and Vladimir Putin is being lured into a trap.

Following a 13-year rampage that began in stricken Afghanistan well after Osama bin Laden had fled, then destroyed Iraq beneath a false flag, then invented a “nuclear rogue” in Iran, dispatched Libya to a Hobbesian anarchy and backed jihadists in Syria, the US finally has a new cold war to supplement its worldwide campaign of murder and terror by drone.

A Nato Membership Action Plan or MAP – straight from the war room of Strangelove – is General Breedlove’s gift to the new dictatorship in Ukraine. “Rapid Trident” will put US troops on Ukraine’s Russian border and “Sea Breeze” will put US warships within sight of Russian ports. At the same time, Nato war games throughout eastern Europe are designed to intimidate Russia. Imagine the response if this madness was reversed and happened on America’s borders. Cue General ‘Buck’ Turgidson.

And there is China. On 24 April, President Obama will begin a tour of Asia to promote his “Pivot to China”. The aim is to convince his “allies” in the region, principally Japan, to re-arm and prepare for the eventual possibility of war with China. By 2020, almost two-thirds of all US naval forces in the world will be transferred to the Asia-Pacific area. This is the greatest military concentration in that vast region since the second world war.

In an arc extending from Australia to Japan, China will face US missiles and nuclear-armed bombers. A strategic naval base is being built on the Korean island of Jeju less than 400 miles from the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai and the industrial heartland of the only country whose economic power is likely to surpass that of the US.  Obama’s “pivot” is designed to undermine China’s influence in its region. It is as if world war has begun by other means.

This is not a Strangelove fantasy. Obama’s defence secretary, Charles “Chuck” Hagel, was in Beijing last week to deliver a menacing warning that China, like Russia, could face isolation and war if it did not bow to US demands. He compared the annexation of Crimea with China’s complex territorial dispute with Japan over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. “You cannot go around the world,” said Hagel with a straight face, “and violate the sovereignty of nations by force, coercion or intimidation”. As for America’s massive movement of naval forces and nuclear weapons to Asia, that is “a sign of the humanitarian assistance the US military can provide”.

Obama is currently seeking a greater budget for nuclear weapons than the historical peak during the cold war, the era of Strangelove. The United States is pursuing its longstanding ambition to dominate the Eurasian landmass, stretching from China to Europe: a “manifest destiny” made right by might.

This article first appeared in the Guardian, UK

Follow John Pilger on twitter @johnpilger

By Stephen Lendman

Donetsk separatists are holding firm. Similar actions are occurring in other Eastern Ukraine cities that reject Kiev’s putschist rule.

WaPo ludicrously calls NATO “a mutual defense organization.” It  was established for offense, not defense.  It’s a US-controlled killing machine. It’s expanding from an Atlantic to a global alliance. It aims to become a worldwide police force…”

_Fascist thugs operate this way. Moscow denounced them. Slavyansk Mayor Vladimir Ponomaryov asked Russia to send peacekeepers for protection. More on this below.  A companion article said Kiev putschists pledged no Easter weekend Eastern Ukraine attacks. Straightaway they occurred.  Earlier deployed Right Sector neo-Nazis murdered 4 Slavyansk activists. They did so in cold blood.

Other gunmen attacked central city residents. Two victims were injured. They remain hospitalized. Expect more Right Sector initiated violence ahead.  They bear full responsibility for Maidan killings. Clear evidence proves it. Ousted President Viktor Yanukovych had nothing to do with what happened.  Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet’s leaked conversation with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton confirmed it. He visited Kiev. He commented on what he learned. It’s polar opposite mainstream propaganda. He explained what’s vital to know.

Yanukovych was wrongfully blamed, he said. “(T)here is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers, it was not Yanukovyich, but it was somebody from the new coalition.  The Russian side is enraged by the militant provocation which is an indication of the reluctance of the authorities in Kiev to bridle and disarm nationalists and extremists.”

On March 12, 2014 former Ukrainian Security Service head Aleksandr Yakimenko confirmed Paet’s assessment. He blamed putschist official Andrey Parubiy. He’s a neo-Nazi Svoboda party leader. “Shots came from the Philharmonic Hall,” he said. “Maidan Commandant Parubiy was responsible for this building.  Snipers and people with automatic weapons were ‘working’ from this building on February 20. They supported the assault on the Interior Ministry forces on the ground who were already demoralized and had, in fact, fled,” he added.

“When the first wave of shootings ended, many have witnessed 20 people leaving the building.”  They were carrying military-style bags used for sniper and assault rifles with optical sights. Many witnesses saw them. Foreign elements may have been involved. Perhaps CIA, US special forces, and secret service operatives. What happened was well planned in advance. “These were the forces that carried out everything that they were told by their leadership – the United States,” Yakimenko stressed. Maidan leaders practically lived at Washington’s embassy, he added. As security chief, he was ready to order Ukrainian troops to enter the building and remove the snipers, he said.

He needed approval from Parubiy to do it, he explained. Otherwise, so-called “self-defense” elements would have attacked him, he believes. “Parubiy did not give such consent,” he said. He controlled access to weapons used in Independence Square. Moscow expressed outrage over Slavyansk killings. A Foreign Ministry statement said:

“The Russian side is enraged by the militant provocation which is an indication of the reluctance of the authorities in Kiev to bridle and disarm nationalists and extremists. It is surprising that the tragedy occurred after the signing on April 17 in Geneva of the final statement of the four-sided meeting of representatives of Russia, the USA, EU and Ukraine which calls for refraining from any violent actions, intimidation or provocations.”

“The Russian side insists on the strict fulfillment by the Ukrainian side of its commitments concerning the de-escalation the situation in southeast Ukraine. The Eastern ceasefire was violated in Slavyansk on April 20. As a result of an armed attack by the so-called Right Sector innocent civilians died. Local residents seized the vehicles of the attackers in which they discovered arms, aerial maps of the area and Right Sector paraphernalia.”

Slavyansk Mayor Ponomaryov wants protection. He asked Russia for help. City residents are vulnerable. Right Sector thugs target them. “They kill our people,” said Ponomaryov. “They don’t talk to us but just kill. The town has actually been besieged by the Right Sector.”

Only Russia can help, he said. He asked Putin to send peacekeepers to Eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

Print US media scoundrels largely ignored Slavyansk killings. BBC and US television accounts misreported. Propaganda substituted. Fingers pointed the wrong way.  On April 19, The New York Times headlined “Pro-Russian Forces Work on Consolidating Power,” saying:

They “paused what had been the daily expansion of their territory in eastern Ukraine.” They’re focusing on “consolidating political power over areas already under their control.  They “pressured…dissenters and the media in ways that are commonplace in Russia but had not been in Ukraine until now.”

Fact check

Times editors support Kiev fascist putschists. They have no legitimacy whatever. They usurped power lawlessly. They represent mob rule.  Eastern Ukrainian freedom fighters are the best and bravest. They reject Kiev putschists. They want their inviolable rights respected.  They want local autonomy. They want democratic governance. They want what everyone deserves.  They’re putting their bodies on the line for equity, fairness and justice. They enjoy growing widespread support. Russian democracy mocks America’s sham process. Kiev putschists blocked Russian males aged 16 from 60 from entering Ukraine.

Russian TV channels were shut down. Russian nationals and Jews are targeted. Don’t expect The New York Times to explain. Managed news misinformation garbage substitutes. It claimed threatening Russian hordes massed near Ukraine’s border. It called courageous Eastern Ukrainian freedom fighters “militants.” It did so in the worst sense of the term.  It said “Kiev had expressed some hope that a settlement was still possible.” It stopped short of explaining ruling putschists demand unconditional surrender.  It called “separatists’ political grip” on cities they control “a setback.” The Times supports unchallenged illegitimate fascist rule.

It reported Kiev’s pledge to suspend Eastern Ukrainian attacks over Easter weekend. It ignored cold-blooded murder that followed.  It blamed Eastern Ukrainian activists for struggling for their freedom.

“(I)t was clear all along that for (four-party agreement terms) to have a chance for success, the Kremlin would have to pressure the militants to loosen their grip on areas already seized,” it said.  It’s “clear” that Ukrainian freedom depends on struggling for it. On replacing putschist rule with democracy. On turning East, not West.  On maintaining sovereign independence free from US dominance. Don’t expect Times correspondents, contributors or editors to explain.

Or neocon Washington Post editors. On April 18, WaPo headlined “After Russian moves in Ukraine, Eastern Europe shudders, NATO to increase presence.”  It lied claiming Russia intervened in Ukraine. No evidence whatever suggests it. Eastern European countries aren’t vulnerable.  Washington pressured them to say so. At issue is expanding US-led NATO east. It’s encroaching closer to Russian’s borders. It’s targeting its heartland. It’s threatening its sovereignty.

WaPo ludicrously calls NATO “a mutual defense organization.” It  was established for offense, not defense.  It’s a US-controlled killing machine. It’s expanding from an Atlantic to a global alliance. It aims to become a worldwide police force.

It wants all sovereign independent governments ousted. It wants subservient pro-Western puppet regimes replacing them. Don’t expect WaPo to explain. Propaganda substitutes for truth and full disclosure. Readers are systematically lied to.  Alternative independent sources are the only choices for real news, commentaries and analysis. Growing numbers rely on them. They’re abandoning scoundrel media they don’t trust.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.  His new book is titled “Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.”  

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs. 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour

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THE ROVING EYE / Asia Times
By Pepe Escobar 

_Any (bureaucratic) doubts the New Cold War is on have been dispelled by the Group of Seven issuing a pompous, self-described Hague Declaration. Abandon all hope those who expected The Hague to become the seat of a tribunal judging the war crimes of the Cheney regime. 

The G-7 also cancelled its upcoming summer summit in Sochi as a means of “punishing” Moscow over Crimea. As if this carried any practical value. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded with class; if you don’t want us, we have better things to do. [1] Everyone knows the G-7 is an innocuous, self-important talk shop. It’s in the G-20 – much more representative of the real world – where crucial geopolitical and geoeconomic issues gain traction. 

The Hague Declaration comes complete with the kiss of death, as in, “The International Monetary Fund has a central role leading the international effort to support Ukrainian reform, lessening Ukraine’s economic vulnerabilities, and better integrating the country as a market economy in the multilateral system.” That’s code for “wait till structural adjustment starts biting”. 

And then there will be “measures to enhance trade and strengthen energy security” – code for “we will destroy your industry” but “are not very keen on paying your humongous Gazprom bill”. 

All this in the sidelines of a supposed summit on nuclear security in the Netherlands, where US President Barack Obama, at the Rijksmuseum, in front of Rembrandt’s The Night Watch, extolled Washington’s “support of the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian people”. Rembrandt’s watchers have never seen anything like it in their glorious lifespan. It pays to be a Nazi after all; you just need to be in the right government, against the right enemy, and fully approved by the hyper-power. 

King Willem-Alexander hosted a lavish dinner for the members of the nuclear security summit at the Royal Palace Huis ten Bosch in The Hague – after Obama met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a (failed) bid to “isolate” Russia. The White House would later add that, as long as Russia continues “flagrantly” to violate international law, “there is no need for it to engage with the G7”. Unless, of course, it starts conducting a drone war in Ukrainian badlands – with kill-list attached. 

All about NATO
The US Senate – always enjoying superb popularity ratings – laboriously laid the groundwork for debating a bill backing a US$1 billion loan guarantee for the regime changers in Kiev, plus $150 million in aid also including “neighboring countries”. These figures are enough to pay Ukraine’s bills for maybe two weeks. 

Meanwhile, in the facts on the ground department, Crimea will be booming soon – tourism included – and may even become a “special economic zone”. [2] Subjects of the upcoming IMF/agrobusiness-plundered Khaganate of Nulands will see the results for themselves. 

Hysteria within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that Russia is about to invade everyone and his neighbor literally tomorrow – remember The Russians Are Coming! – persists unabated. Independent observers, The Roving Eye included, always insisted this is all about NATO, and not the European Union. [3] 

Since the go-go days of the Bill Clinton era, NATO has been expanding to the doorstep of Russia. The process graphically represents US hegemony over Europe; NATO “annexed” Eastern Europe even before the EU. And even those certified US Cold Warriors such as Paul Nitze always thought this was a needless, dangerous provocation of Russia. 

Very few remember how “Bubba” Clinton, to make sure terminal alcoholic Boris Yeltsin was re-elected in 1996, postponed NATO’s expansion for a year. Afterwards, the expansion turbocharged into NATO as global Robocop – from the Balkans to the intersection of Central and South Asia, and to Northern Africa. 

NATO’s humanitarian bombing of Yugoslavia – 36,000 combat missions, 23,000 bombs and missiles – whose 15th anniversary is “celebrated” this week, codified the new realities. NATO had nothing to do with defense; it was a multi-lethal (transformer) attack dog. It was the epitome of clean war; aerial blitzkrieg, and no casualties. And it was totally legitimized by “human rights” over national sovereignty; that was humanitarian imperialism in the making, opening the way to “responsibility to protect” and the destruction of Libya. 

Moscow knows very well the lineaments of the neo-barbarian behemoth at its gates, in the form of NATO bases in Ukraine, assuming the regime changers in Kiev remain in power. And their response has absolutely nothing to do with “Putin’s aggression”. Or the so-called “Medvedev Doctrine” of Russia theoretically extending military protection to Russians everywhere. As if Russia was about to “threaten” its business interests in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan or Mongolia. 

What the White House calls “the international community” – roughly the “Hague Declaration” G-7 plus a few European minions – could not possibly admit that. Asia, on the other hand, clearly identifies it. China, Japan and South Korea, for starters, identify Russia with a steady supply of oil and gas and further business deals. Even considering that Japan and South Korea are essentially US protectorates, nothing could be more anachronistic in their calculations than a Western-provoked New Cold War. 

Asia will not “isolate” Russia – and Asians and Russians know it, as much as The White House is in denial. Beijing’s abstention in “condemning” Moscow – talk about the American angry-schoolmaster brand of politics – is classic Deng Xiaoping-style “keep a low profile”, as China is Russia’s strategic partner and both are busy working for the emergence of a multipolar world. Not to mention Beijing’s utmost rejection of US-style color-coded “revolutions” and regime change ops – as well as that “pivoting to Asia” encirclement ops. 

Oh, to have been an EU-regulated fly on the wall in that Hague room where Obama and Xi were talking; cool Xi meets Obama pivoting around himself. 

Notes:
1. Russia not clinging to G8 if West does not want it – Russian FM, Russia Today, March 24, 2014.
2. Crimea to become Russian special economic zone-Medvedev, Russia Today, March 24, 2014.
3. Why the EU won’t annex Ukraine, Russia Today, March 24, 2014.

Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007), Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge (Nimble Books, 2007), and Obama does Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009).

He may be reached at pepeasia@yahoo.com.

Putin: Quo Vadis?

This report by CBS news correspondent Holly Williams (4.17.14) is worth a look. It’s not perfect, but as American media go, it’s tolerable, and the images are self-explanatory.

According to CBS This Morning, “Ukraine’s acting prime minister is offering amnesty to pro-Russian militias if they give up control of government buildings, but opposition forces in eastern Ukraine are not backing down. CBS News foreign correspondent Holly Williams reports.”

The situation in Ukraine remains chaotic and fluid. However, the recent accord between Russia and Washington, with the Kiev putschist regime as one of the equal partners at the table—or what is known about it— is something that has some people on the left duly concerned. Examine video and commentary below.

In a recent exchange, two of our editors filed the following opinions:

P. GREANVILLE (Replying to the post below)

Regarding the Ukraine situation, there’s ample room for bafflement.  This recent Geneva accord is a victory—unwarranted—for the West.  It was Russia that enjoyed the strategic upper hand. The only explanation we can advance is that Putin was forced to offer this deal as a result of his own oligarchs’ pressure or the possibility that the sanctions imposed by the NATO alliance might be causing more pain than anticipated. Let’s not forget that Russia is after all a capitalist state, and plenty corrupt, too. But that trait of being—or seeming—innocent of how Washington thinks and plays is something we also saw under Soviet rule. To this day it’s surprising that Putin has not even kicked out all those NGOs that sow discord in his own home front, as they did and do in Ukraine, Venezuela, etc., (the latter has apparently finally acted energetically on this).  If we read the agreement right, should Putin have to intervene in Eastern Ukraine now, he has made it more difficult for everyone, and betrayed the spontaneous autonomous/pro-Russia separatist movement. That’s difficult to explain.

GAITHER STEWART (posted on FB page)

https://www.greanvillepost.com/videos/ProRussian_protesters_seize_govt_buildings.flv
THIS REPORT BROUGHT TO TGP BY COLLEGIAL EDITOR STEVEN JONAS

_Protesters in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk have seized the regional department building of Ukraine’s Security Service, local media reported, as cited by ITAR-TASS. It’s after pro-Russian rallies happened across Ukraine during the weekend.

“The people’s militia seized Ukraine’s Security Service in 15 minutes, at 3:32 in the morning,” the activists told the website of the Ukrainian Vesti newspaper.

For once we see the people moving with lucid determination in a direction that displeases the global plutocrats and their shills in Washington, and with a fair chance of success…The Russian masses again deserve the admiration and support of peace loving, democratic humanity.—Eds”

Currently, the perimeter of the building is being blocked to ensure protection from security forces.

On Sunday, thousands of people waving Russian flags flooded the streets of eastern Ukraine on Sunday. Demonstrators in the cities of Donetsk, Lugansk, and Kharkov seized state offices, while in Donetsk they also demanded an independence referendum.

Over 2,000 people gathered in Lenin Square in the center of Donetsk to petition for the Berkut officers, who – they believe – are falsely accused of using fire arms against the rioters during the Maidan standoff.

The participants in the event called on the “illegal junta in Kiev” to end political repressions and persecution of dissidents, the Itar-Tass news agency reports.

They demanded their right for self-determination to be respected, pushing for a Crimea-style referendum on independence from Ukraine.

The protesters carried Russian national flags, chanted “Russia! Russia!” and displayed banners urging the new Donetsk Region governor, Sergey Taruta, who was recently appointed by Kiev, “to get out.”

An effigy of a Nazi zealot was also burnt in the square, with the action labeled “an act of annihilation of fascism” by the protesters in view of neo-Nazi radicals playing a key role in the Ukrainian coup this February.

The people then moved out towards the regional administration’s headquarters, carrying a giant Russian flag.

The confrontation with the police broke out on the porch of the government building, with the pro-Russian protesters depriving a dozen officers of their riot shields.

The demonstrators used the confiscated shields to make their way through the main entrance of the building and occupied the balcony. The Ukrainian flag in front of the administration was replaced by a Russian standard.

Eventually, police blocked the demonstrators inside.

The violence in Donetsk might’ve been provoked by a banner saying “Goodbye, Russia,” which was placed on the administration, Life-News reports.

The administration headquarters were empty, with only guards inside, as Government officials don’t work on Sundays.

“The situation is pretty tense. The demonstrators are occupying the city council building and are demanding that an independence referendum be held to determine the future of the region of Donetsk,” activist Aleksandr Borodin told RT.

“The protesters are calling on officials to conduct a special session over the referendum situation. If it doesn’t take place, the demonstrators say they will organize an initiative group to settle the issue. The protesters say they will not acknowledge the Kiev-appointed authorities and are also demanding freedom for the recently elected so-called “public governor.”

Lugansk

The events evolved in a similar way in Lugansk where around a thousand people rallied in front of the local Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) office.

They demanded the release of protest leader, Aleksandr Kharitonov, who has been in detention since mid-march, as well as 15 pro-Russian activists detained on Saturday.

The people carried Russian flags and chanted “Shame on the SBU!” and “Freedom to political prisoners.”

Up to eight people were injured as demonstrators stormed the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) office, Ukraine’s Channel 5 reported. According to the Russian Spring website, a policeman was injured and hospitalized.

The governor of Lugansk region and the local Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) chief went out to talk to the demonstrators, which resulted in six of the detained anti-Maidan activists being released from custody.

For more on building seizure in Lugansk watch Ruptly video

Kharkov

Violence also broke out in the city of Kharkov where pro-Russian protesters clashed with alleged activists from the far-right Right Sector movement.

Fireworks were used as weapons during the scuffle, with several explosions heard. However, there were no reports of injuries as the police managed to quickly separate the sides.

Following the incident, the Maidan activists had to crawl inside the corridor, erected by police for their protection, as the crowd threw foreign objects at them.

Following the rally, around 1,500 pro-Russian activists have made their way to Kharkov’s regional administration headquarters, UNIAN news agency reports.

Despite the administration being guarded by police in riot gear, a group of protesters have managed to penetrate the building.

The storm began after the organizers of the protests urged participants “to support Donetsk and Lugansk where government buildings were seized earlier in the day.”

According to anti-Maidan activists, around 10,000 people participated in the protest in Kharkov on Sunday.

Pro-Russian rallies are taking place almost every weekend in major cities in the Russian-speaking part of Ukraine since the nationalist coup ousted Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovich, in late February.

One of the first laws the new government revoked was the regional status of the Russian language, which sent a clear message to the people in the country’s east.

The Republic of Crimea refused to recognize the change of power in Kiev and declared its independence from Ukraine, following the March-16 referendum, in which 96.77 percent of the voters chose to rejoin Russia.

Derek Monroe from Foreign Policy in Focus described the situation in Ukraine as politically chaotic.

“There are a lot of political plays taking place in Kiev itself, specifically when it comes to positioning certain groups within the government itself,” Monroe said.

He added that the oligarchs that were places as governors in eastern Ukraine are not very popular with the people. “They have little following in popularity among the people, so the issue is simply to maintain some type of degree of nominal control, where in fact there is very limited control whatsoever.”

“The situation is very fluid, so it is very hard to say where the government itself has particular strong control in the region or not. All the evidence looks like they don’t have much control unfortunately.”

Monroe described the Maidan movement as an “absolute disaster.” He argued that it was the provisional government which was selected, not elected, that made the schisms within Ukrainian society very visible.

“This resulted not only in the loss for Ukraine, but loss of credibility among the people of the East,” he stated.