<\/p>\n
Eric Zuesse<\/p>\n
On April 9th, the blazingly brilliant military analyst who blogs anonymously as \u201cBernhard\u201d at his \u201cMoon of Alabama\u201d site and whose headlines customarily understate what he actually\u00a0proves<\/i>, headlined\u00a0\u201cMore Evidence That Ukraine Fired The Missile Which Killed Dozens In Kramatorsk\u201d<\/span><\/a>, and he or she supplied there not only ten screen-shots (plus links to many more of them) of the actual weapon that had been used in that bombing against Kramatorsk\u2019s train station, but also explained how ridiculously unlikely is is that its trajectory, which he proved had come from an area that definitely was controlled by the Ukrainian government (NOT by Russian forces), had originated from Russian forces. However, what is to be provided\u00a0here<\/i>\u00a0will be a\u00a0historian\u2019s<\/i>\u00a0take on this very question, which\u00a0likewise<\/i>\u00a0displays manifestly the ridiculousness of the Ukrainian government\u2019s accounts of this matter (that it had been an attack by Russia,\u00a0not<\/i>\u00a0by Ukraine). When both the physical evidence and the clearly established historical narrative account of a given crime and of its motives fit together so perfectly, I believe that the legal case is proven true \u201cbeyond a reasonable doubt,\u201d which is the ordinary standard of proof that\u2019s required in any criminal matter.<\/p>\n On the morning of April 8th, the U.S.&EU press widely reported such headlines as\u00a0\u201cLive Updates: Russia Strikes Train Station, Ukraine Says, as Thousands Flee From East\u201d<\/span><\/a>, and\u00a0\u201cUkraine News Live: Russian Rocket Attack on Kramatorsk Train Station Kills Dozens\u2014Ukraine\u201d<\/span><\/a>, and\u00a0\u201cDozens killed in train station missile strike in eastern Ukraine as civilians try to flee Russian onslaught\u201d<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u2014 all obviously trying to communicate (like their headlines were doing) that this had been an invasion of Kramatorsk by Russia in order to conquer its residents and take it for Russia, which is the story-line or narrative that the U.S. Government and its allies are presenting about this entire war \u2014 alleging, in other words, that the present war in Ukraine is a war by Russia to conquer all of Ukraine, and not a war by Russia to free from the Ukrainian government\u2019s control\u00a0areas of Ukraine that had voted heavily for<\/span><\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0democratically elected<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and decidedly\u00a0neutralist<\/span><\/a>\u00a0President of Ukraine in 2010, the President (Viktor Yanukovych) who subsequently became overthrown by a\u00a0violent U.S. coup in February 2014<\/span><\/a>, which was\u00a0falsely presented to the public as having instead been a \u2018democratic revolution\u2019 there<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Kramatorsk, in fact, was \u2014 along with nearby Sloviansk \u2014 one of the two Ukrainian cities that the newly installed Ukrainian government (which had been installed by\u00a0Victoria Nuland of Barack Obama\u2019s Administration<\/span><\/a>) invaded the earliest in all of Ukraine in order to conquer them so that they would be ruled by the newly installed (by Nuland) non-neutralist, but instead\u00a0rabidly anti-Russian, regime<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n In order for the public to be able to understand how the residents of that area in eastern Ukraine actually feel about this war that now is engulfing them, and how they view both the (now-invading) Russian forces and (ever since February 2014)\u00a0the U.S.-installed regime there<\/span><\/a>, a knowledge of the relevant recent history of that area is necessary; and, therefore, here are a few indisputable, solidly documented, relevant\u00a0highlights<\/i>\u00a0of that recent relevant history:<\/p>\n 16 April 2014<\/b>,\u00a0\u201cA day of humiliation, as Ukrainian military offensive stalls, six armored vehicles seized\u201d<\/span><\/a>, as described by the pro-overthrow-of-Yanukovych\u00a0Kyiv Post.\u00a0<\/i>Kramatorsk and Sloviansk are specifically mentioned there as having being the first Ukrainian cities that rebelled (on the prior day) against the new regime, and whose residents would therefore henceforth be officially labelled by the newly installed government as being targets of a just-announced \u201cAnti-Terrorist Operation\u201d or \u201cATO\u201d to eliminate them. Anyone who would support the \u201crebels\u201d would now officially be a \u201cterrorist.\u201d<\/p>\n 5 May 2014<\/b>,\u00a0\u201cUkraine crisis: \u2018Those fascists killed this girl and they will be in hell\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Britain\u2019s pro-overthrow-of-Yanukovych\u00a0Telegraph<\/i>\u00a0reports from Kramatorsk \u201cthe people engulfed in a climate of fear\u201d of the then-invading Ukrainian forces:<\/p>\n \u201cFor good or ill, more than 80 per cent of them voted for Viktor Yanukovych, the fallen president, in the last election in 2010. After all, he was born in the region and had previously served as governor of Donetsk. Moreover, a large minority of the people in this area \u2013 almost 40 per cent \u2013 identify themselves as ethnic Russians.<\/i><\/p>\n When Mr Yanukovych was overthrown in the revolution in February, supporters in his home area did not see this as the richly deserved downfall of a corrupt, authoritarian leader. Some had indeed come to loathe him, particularly for the shameless theft that was the most striking feature of his rule, but even they tended to believe that the moment to get rid of him would arrive at the election in 2015.<\/i><\/p>\n So the consensus in Donetsk was that the revolution was a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat. \u2026 Never mind that the revolution was actually a genuine popular movement, supported by huge numbers of ordinary Ukrainians, including some in the east.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n 7 May 2014<\/b>, pro-overthrow\u00a0Kyiv Post:<\/i>\u00a0\u201cUkrainian military forces have gained ground in the flashpoint cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in Donetsk Oblast over the past week, but government authorities in general have largely lost their grip in the tough industrial oblast \u2026\u00a0<\/i>[due to]\u00a0the lawlessness stoked by the Kremlin.<\/i>\u201d Notice there the attribution of blame to Russia and NOT to the United States, which had\u00a0actually installed<\/span><\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0new government<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and dictated\u00a0its racist-fascist anti-Russian character and policies at the top<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n 17 May 2014<\/b>, anti-coup International Observatory of Ukrainian Crisis:\u00a0\u201cReporting that militants of neo-nazi \u201cRight Sector\u201d have murdered a group of soldiers (members of the Ukrainian army) near Kramatorkaya Starovavarke\u00a0(Kramatorsk)\u201d<\/span><\/a>, saying that\u00a0\u201cThe soldiers\u00a0<\/i>[of Ukraine\u2019s invading army in Kramatorsk]\u00a0didn\u2019t want to kill civilians. Then at midnight a squad of neo-nazis have fallen on them and murdered the soldiers. This is how the USA-EU impose democracy in Ukraine!!! Killing their own soldiers! And just because they didn\u2019t want to kill civilians!!!\u201d<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 18 May 2014<\/b>,\u00a0\u201cMortar Shelling of Kramatorsk\u201d<\/span><\/a>\u00a0by Ukraine\u2019s army on 18 May 2014, as it was shown on youtube<\/p>\n 14 June 2014<\/b>,\u00a0International Business Times:<\/i>\u00a0\u201cKiev\u2019s Slovyansk \u2018Anti-Terrorist Operation\u2019 Kills 300 Pro-Russian Separatists\u201d<\/span><\/a>:\u00a0\u201cUkrainian government forces are continuing with an \u2018anti-terrorist operation\u2019 which Kiev claims has eliminated 300 rebels and wounded 500 around the flashpoint city of Slovyansk. The Ukrainian forces used aircraft, helicopters and artillery to switch the balance of power<\/i>\u00a0[in Ukraine\u2019s favor]\u00a0in the strategic city which rebels have controlled since April<\/i>. \u2026\u00a0US President Barack Obama has met with\u00a0<\/i>[America\u2019s stooge-President of Ukraine at that time]\u00a0Poroshenko in Poland, calling him a \u2018wise selection\u2019 to lead the country on its pro-European course. He said the country had the potential to become a thriving democracy<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n 7 July 2014<\/b>, U.S. State Department, Washington, DC:<\/p>\n [no headline nor current record on the Web, but archived by me here<\/span><\/a>]<\/span><\/p>\n Daily Press Briefing Index<\/i><\/p>\n Monday, July 7, 2014<\/i><\/p>\n 1:23 p.m. EDT<\/i><\/p>\n Briefer: Jen Psaki, Spokesperson \u2026<\/i><\/p>\n MS. PSAKI:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Well, a few updates.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>As you noted, over the weekend we all saw reports that the Ukrainian Government was able to expel Russian-supported separatists from the cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>The government immediately moved to begin restoring public services and to providing assistance to residents in need in those areas.<\/i><\/p>\n Fighting does continue in the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, and the option of a ceasefire remains on the table.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>But it takes two to participate in a ceasefire, and President Poroshenko had that ceasefire for 10 days and didn\u2019t see reciprocal participation or engagement from the other side.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>So there are still remaining steps that we have called on the Russian-backed separatists and the Russians to take.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Those remain on the table.<\/i><\/p>\n QUESTION:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>You say that it\u2019s two sides, but it would seem that all your discussion is three sides.<\/i><\/p>\n MS. PSAKI:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Well, I think the Russian-backed separatists and the Russians are on the same side.<\/i><\/p>\n QUESTION:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>So they \u2013 so you equate the separatists with Russia?<\/i><\/p>\n MS. PSAKI:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>I don\u2019t think I\u2019m equating, but in terms of \u2014<\/i><\/p>\n QUESTION:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>For the purposes of \u2013 for the purposes of this, you think that the \u2013 Russia saying yes to a ceasefire is the same thing as the separatists saying yes to a ceasefire?<\/i><\/p>\n MS. PSAKI:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Well, we\u2019ve long felt that they have a strong influence with the actions of the Russian separatists, and there\u2019s more they can do to influence.<\/i><\/p>\n QUESTION:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Right.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Right, but the thing is \u2013 is that they had said yes, had they not?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>I mean, the Russians had supported it; Putin had supported it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>But you don\u2019t think that that message \u2013 or that they did enough to rein in the separatists in fighting the Ukrainian Government, right?<\/i><\/p>\n MS. PSAKI:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Correct.<\/i><\/p>\n QUESTION:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Is that \u2013 so that would mean that it\u2019s three sides to the ceasefire, because you need the separatists to go along with it, and you think that that won\u2019t happen unless Moscow says \u201cdo it,\u201d right?<\/i><\/p>\n MS. PSAKI:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Well, I still \u2013 my view is two sides.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>We can disagree on the shape of the \u2014<\/i><\/p>\n QUESTION:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>I\u2019m just \u2013 whether it\u2019s a triangle or a line, I don\u2019t know.<\/i><\/p>\n MS. PSAKI:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Triangle or a line, yes.<\/i><\/p>\n 17 August 2014<\/b>,\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u201cInterrogation of a [Captured] Ukrainian POW conscript \u2013 ENG SUBS\u201d<\/span><\/a>, youtube (https:\/\/youtu.be\/drrqMcH2xMo?t=350<\/span><\/a>), my excerpt here being from the Donetsk-Lugansk militia\u2019s interview with a Ukrainian-army draftee, the 24-year-old Private Juri Petrowich Smyk, whose Battery of men got caught \u201cin a tight cauldon,\u201d and so were captured by the Donetsk-Lugansk (anti<\/i>-coup) forces.\u00a0\u201cYou mentioned prior to this recording that wounded soldiers were buried alive. Where did this occur? That was near Krasny Terrikon. They hired an old man, a local, who used an excavator to dig a dump. Afterwards, the wounded\u00a0<\/i>[Donetsk-Lugansk militiamen]\u00a0were dropped in there. And they were buried, right? Yes. The dump was filled up, and a tank circled over it afterwards. Maybe to make sure they were buried deep<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n October 2014<\/b>,\u00a0\u201cHow Our People Do Their Extermination-Jobs In Ukraine\u201d<\/span><\/a>, an article by me based upon a then recently captured (22 October 2014) videocam recording which showed corpse-creation-and processing that was very much like what Private Smyk was describing, but of corpses of civilians instead of soldiers:<\/p>\n Below is a video of \u201cour side\u201d in the Ukrainian civil war carrying out part of the Ukrainian Defense Minister, Mikhail Koval\u2019s, extermination plan, which was injudiciously announced and described by him right after a press conference.<\/i><\/p>\n On June 11th, an \u201cAnti-Maidan\u201d or anti-<\/i>ethnic-cleansing<\/i><\/span><\/a>, site, posted to youtube excerpts from previously unpublished press-conference Q&A-session statements by Koval, which had been made perhaps immediately following the Defense Minister\u2019s private meeting on June 4th with top NATO officials, who endorsed his plan, which thus started. This youtube was titled\u00a0<\/i>\u201cSecretary of Defense [Mikhailo Koval] About Concentration Camp for Eastern Ukraine People.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n He was shown there saying:<\/i><\/p>\n \u201cThere will be a thorough filtration of people. There will be special filtration measures put in place. We will filter out people, including women, who are linked to separatism, who were committing crimes on Ukrainian territory, crimes related to terrorist activities. We have a lot of information regarding this, and we have a formidable framework to combat this, and respective power structures will carry out this operation. Besides, this is a serious issue, related to the fact that people will be resettled to other regions.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n The people shown in the video below were not \u201cresettled to other regions.\u201d These were instead among the ones who were slated for immediate processing. They were forced into a ditch at night, and shot. Presumably, dirt was then immediately pushed over them (or over their corpses, for the ones that were dead).<\/i><\/p>\n Here<\/i><\/a><\/span>\u00a0is that video. The interesting background as to how this video came to be uploaded to the Web, instead of merely filed in an accounts-payables office of the Ukrainian military in order to verify that the perpetrators had done their jobs and needed to be paid the contracted amount for the people whom they had disposed of, and for the corpses that they had produced and presumably buried, for the Ukrainian Government, is well explained at the site linked-to below. It\u2019ll be presented here, with full credit to them and to everyone who has enabled this information to become public at liveleak, youtube, and other sites, though those individuals are anonymous, for understandable reasons. Here, then, that is (with its typo uncorrected):<\/i><\/p>\n \u2013-<\/i><\/p>\n \u201cUkrainian fascists execute locals that sympathize with Donetsk People\u2019s Republic \u2014 video\u201d<\/i><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n By Lviv | October 23, 2014<\/i><\/p>\n Car with a mounted video camera belonging to members of Ukrainian punitive nationalist battalion was caputred earlier this week by self-defense forces of Donetsk People\u2019s Republic. Part of the video shows Ukrainian radicals taking several locals to a large hole in the ground in a wooded area, make locals get in the hole and then shot them.<\/i><\/p>\n \u2013-<\/i><\/p>\n And here is that video at\u00a0<\/i>LiveLeak.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0(the\u00a0<\/i>scene shown here being only a frame from it<\/i><\/span><\/a>, which portrays the receiving team, guiding the truck-full of victims, toward the ditch):<\/i><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.liveleak.com\/view?i=3f9_1413978229<\/i><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n That title is entirely correct: this outfit is called the \u201cDonbass Punishers Battalion,\u201d and the victims shown being thrown into the ditch are all dressed in civilian clothes, not dressed as soldiers are.<\/i><\/p>\n Here is the broader context<\/i><\/a><\/span>\u00a0in which this extermination-program can be understood.<\/i><\/p>\n February 2016<\/b>, University of Sussex study:\u00a0\u201cViolence and political outcomes in Ukraine \u2014 Evidence from Sloviansk and Kramatorsk\u201d<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n In this paper, we study the effects of violence on political outcomes using a survey of respondents in Sloviansk and Kramatorsk \u2013 two cities that were affected heavily by the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. We show that experiencing physical damage goes together with lower turnout, a higher probability of considering elections irrelevant and a lower probability of knowing one\u2019s local representatives. We also find that property damage is associated with greater support for pro-Western parties. \u2026 Of the 396 respondents in our final sample who named the party they voted for, 52.5% indicated they voted<\/i>\u00a0[in May 2014, the first \u2018election\u2019 that was held after the coup, and after perhaps around a million voters in Ukraine had either been killed or escaped into Russia, or were residents in Donbass or in Crimea who therefore no longer could vote in Ukrainian elections]\u00a0for a pro-Russia party, while 47.5% voted for a pro-Western oriented party. Others either did not vote, didn\u2019t remember whom they voted for or didn\u2019t want to say whom they voted for.<\/i>\u00a0[Due to the paper\u2019s \u201cpro-Western\u201d slant, the authors didn\u2019t treat the interviewees who \u201cdidn\u2019t want to say whom they voted for\u201d as possibly being afraid of the invading post-coup regime\u2019s forces and being afraid that the interviewers might somehow be agents of this new Ukrainian regime. The interviewers didn\u2019t ask the interviewees whom they had voted for in the 2010 election, because the authors were pro-coup and didn\u2019t want to know that information.]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In this paper, we investigate the effect of personally experiencing the consequences of violence on political participation, views and knowledge, using individual level data from the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. After the Maidan revolution that replaced the then-president, Victor Yanukovich, in February 2014, pro-Russian militants in the East of Ukraine started to take control of government buildings in several cities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions during the first two weeks of April 2014. On15 April 2014, the Ukrainian government launched a counter-offensive\u00a0<\/i>[notice their use of that phrase \u201ccounter-offensive,\u201d denoting that the military forces which had invaded Kramatorsk and Sloviansk from Kiev represented the interviewees instead of represented the interviewees\u2019 enemies]\u00a0deploying government troops in the East of Ukraine. Initially, this counter-offensive had limited success and the Ukrainian army only made major advances after separatist forces pulled out from the city of Sloviansk on 5 July 2014<\/i>. [The authors simply assumed that it had been a \u201crevolution\u201d instead of a \u201ccoup\u201d: the authors were suckers, or else liars, but in either case, to call them social \u201cscientists\u201d is to insult science and all authentic practitioners of science. Their study was instead an example of propaganda, not of\u00a0any<\/i>\u00a0authentic science.]<\/p>\n
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