More now on this topic:Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09
Who would like to defend Face Book as being proRussian and anti Ukrainian maybe it is the Russian investments into FB or the Russian Regulator pressure—who knows but they definitely are not defending the right to free speech yet rake in millions –so exactly again which side is FB on—democracy and free speech or the millions in Russian investments?
They blocked a photo of a grieving Ukrainian young child whose father was killed in the fighting with Russian troops under the guise of “graphic violence”?????
Yesterday they blocked Ukrainian accounts that carried the videos of the captured Russian Spetsnaz---if one looks at the Russian Regulator's comments about extremist materials--they view anything being proUkrainian and or anti Russia ie these two videos as "extremist".
UKRAINE TODAY @uatodaytv
Facebook blocks more Ukrainian users
http://uatoday.tv/politics/facebook-...rs-428335.html …
Russian Watchdog Threatens Google, Facebook Over 'Extremist' Content | News | The Moscow Times http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/a...nt/521832.html …
NOTE: all social media these days is political in nature and to attempt to refute that is simply not smart.
More Russian disinformation ie propaganda---just replace the word Ukrainian with Russian and the "truth" suddenly appears.
Typical Orwellian Russian double speak.
Russia24 channel announces? They tell of concentrating Ukrainian Grads near Volnovakha + "when should we wait new shellings?"via @Helgi__UA
http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.de/...-can-kill.html
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
‘Putin, Kadyrov and Co.’ Now Can Kill Anyone and Hide Their Role, Eidman Says
Paul Goble
Continued........
Staunton, May 20 – The investigation of the murder of Boris Nemtsov shows that the first-ever “killer agency” capable of handling the entire course of a killing, from the selection of a victim to the disposition of the case in such a way that those behind it will not be held responsible, has been organized in Russia, according to Igor Eidman.
And that means, the Moscow commentator says, that “as long as the Putin-Kadyrov killer agency continues to exist” – something that tensions between Moscow and Grozny may ultimately destroy – “new murders of those it finds unsuitable can take place at any time” (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=555B0779C9897).
According to Eidman, “certain senior bureaucrats and leaders of the law enforcement organs in Moscow and in Grozny participate in the work of this agency to one degree or another.” They tend to choose Chechens of low rank and importance as the executors because public opinion can be whipped up against them and those who order the killings protected.
But what makes the Putin-Kadyrov murder agency especially effective is its ability to assign as investigator of any particular murder “its own man” who will make sure that the investigation goes so far and no further and imposes punishment only on low level lackeys who can be sacrificed to protect those above them.
Moreover, this “killer agency” involves “a limited circle of people,” and consequently, “all its murders are similar to one another, suspicions fall on one and the same people, and one and the same ‘law enforcers’ conduct the investigation,” Eidman points out; and for those paying attention, that gives the game away.
Typical respect by Russia of “those small things called international law/agreements” they claim to always observe. Seems Gazprom “forgot” to get EU commission approval as it will cross into EU countries out of Turkey and yet turkey still has not even signed the pipeline agreement after officially backing away from it.
Gazprom starts to build ‘Turkish Stream’ pipeline without getting Turkey’s permission first
http://www.unian.info/economics/1079...ion-first.html … pic.twitter.com/n5TxESgJvd
Russian submarine detected close to Latvian territorial waters, 48th case of RU military activity near border in 2015
http://www.baltictimes.com/russian_s...torial_waters/ …
Have to get mileage out of the mortar attack from yesterday especially in light of the fact that it was Assad forces firing on IS positions that strangely hit the Russian Embassy.
MFA Russia ✔ @mfa_russia
We view a mortar attack at the Russian Embassy in Damascus as a terrorist attack, 19.05. http://www.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/0/1C54DF...257E4B002DBDEC … pic.twitter.com/un3uLyQevd
#Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers terminates Military and Technical Cooperation Agreement of 1993 with #Russia: http://www.hromadske.tv/politics/kab...ivrobitnitstv/ …
In some ways this is actually correct—one has not heard a single word more from Hollande and or Merkel even in the face of the extensive heavy shellings and ground attacks since Sochi.
This might explain why the US stepped in ie Sochi.
On #Ukraine: the Minsk agreement is unfulfillable says @CER_IanBond. The #EU (read: @GermanyDiplo) stumbled into a trap!
The Germans felt that if they could get the shooting to stop then diplomacy would work--how wrong they have been and yet fail to admit it.
More Russian technology being used by Russian mercenaries who were as Putin explained just “miners and truck drivers”.
In the #DNR there was never a lack of technology. #Russia has made this possible. pic.twitter.com/gkX8IkXTrW
Afternoon shellings are slowly kicking in. Will be interesting to see if they are accompanies as yesterday with strong ground attacks.
14:30 #Hirske @GirkinGirkin Rumble
In #Shyrokyno again heard incoming 120-mm mortar rounds. https://twitter.com/amdh2012/status/600976498024144896 …
Seems Russian FM “forgets” they were engaged in military actions, carrying the latest Russian Spetsnaz rifle and admitting they were active duty Russian Spetsnaz and named their Russian Spetsnaz unit and their mission sets—strange word behavior for a Foreign Ministry.
THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
official site
Press release on the arrest of Russian citizens in Ukraine
964-19-05-2015
NOTE: Russia is always quick to point put to others when they are so called in "violation of international law" BUT they themselves fail repeatedly to adhere to even the international agreements they sign ie Budapest Memorandum and Minsk 2.The Ukrainian media reports, quoting the Security Service of Ukraine and the national Defence Ministry, that, on May 17, 2015, Ukrainian forces wounded and captured Russian citizens Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev in the Lugansk Region. Ukrainian authorities claim they are Russian military personnel.
The Russian Defence Ministry has already noted that both men are not active members of the Russian Armed Forces.
The Russian Embassy in Kiev demanded that consular officers be allowed to meet with Russian citizens, now being held in custody, and to provide them with assistance as defined under international law.
http://uatoday.tv/politics/facebook-...rs-428335.html
Facebook blocks more Ukrainian users
Activists accuse the social network of ignoring anti-Ukrainian posts
So this begs a really simple question DOES in fact Zuckerberg work for the Russian FSB and his Russian investors or does he not believe social media has become both political and a weapon of choice in the "weaponization of information"??More than a hundred Ukrainian users of Facebook were blocked on May 18 for 'inappropriate content' or without an explanation. Popular Ukrainian bloggers and activists like Vakhtang Kipiani or Alexander Roytburg were blocked together with MP Borislav Bereza.
Ukrainian media Watcher conducted an experiment, lodging complaints on some Facebook posts containing anti-Ukrainian messages. One of them was an interview with a pro-Russian militiant, in which he says that their forces were coming to kill Ukrainians. Responding to the complaint, the Facebook administration said that the content does not violate their 'Community Standards'.
On the other hand, Ukrainian MP Borislav Bereza was banned for a post in which he called on the EU and UN to pay their attention to the interview of the recently captured Russian soldiers.
Maksim Savanevsky, the managing partner of digital agency PlusOne and co-founder of Ukrainian Crisis Media Centre said:
'The Facebook administration has lagged behind the reality. It looks like neither Mark Zuckerberg, nor his team have heard about hybrid wars. They continue to think in the field of funny pictures and kittens, while thousands of people die in Ukraine.
The Facebook administration refuses to recognize that their complaints system is imperfect and has a lot of bugs, which are used by the Russian secret services to block thousands of Ukrainian users. At least fifty percent of popular Ukrainian activists have been blocked at least once in the last 3 months.
Instead of fixing the system, Zuckerberg tells us that their system works perfectly and Ukrainians have to blame themselves for being blocked.'
A week ago, thousands of Ukrainian users signed a petition to Mark Zuckerberg, asking to open a Ukrainian office of Facebook because of the unfair moderation of Ukrainian posts. During the Q&A session, the Facebook CEO commented that the company had no plans to open a Ukrainian (or Russian) office. He believes the moderation of posts is totally fair and all the posts were deleted justly.
GlobalVoice recently released a open source study on an over 20,000 Russian infowar bot network--and Zuckerberg yet still believes his FB is not "political"--he really does need to read their study.
Otherwise he is rather naïve and that would be a fair understatement.
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 05-20-2015 at 12:54 PM.
.@poroshenko tells @bbc #Ukraine is at war. Just look at the territories captured in Marchhttp://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32805555 … pic.twitter.com/xKEajyCaH8
Two Russian paratroopers, killed near Debaltseve, were buried in Togliatti, Russia. PHO http://24today.net/open/415431 pic.twitter.com/M2QL8qwdCJ
Unusual:
#Horlivka @evroplastid "Suspicious silence for about 24 hours
Previously Russian FM alluded to the fact that during the Nuland visit to Moscow she supported direct dialogue between the Ukraine and the Russian mercenaries—seems to have been a “fake” report by the Russian FM. Russian propaganda has been hard at work the last few days creating an illusion that Putin is this great “managing director” and Russia is being vindicated for it’s position reference the Ukraine.
MOSCOW - The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has denied earlier reports suggesting that Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland spoke in favor of establishing direct dialogue between Kyiv and the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics (DPR and LPR) during her recent visit to Moscow.
Russian naval activity is ramping up.
NBS @Latvijas_armija
Armed Forces on 20 MAY in LV EEZ 10 nmi from territ. waters spotted RU Navy's Kilo-class submarine, and hydrographic survey ship GS-270
Alpinist spy ship "Zhigulevsk" departed Kronshtadt today for at-sea operations
Yantar research ship "Yantar" to conduct tests in Atlantic Ocean in Aug http://ria.ru/interview/20150520/1065490343.html …
Two totally different takes on the eastern front war of the Ukraine:
Russian media write that #Donetsk and Luhansk "people republics" announced #Novorossiya projected to be closed down" http://m.gazeta.ru/politics/2015/05/19_a_6694441.shtml …
US military expert, Phillip Karber: #Russia Is Preparing For A Great Offensive in #Ukraine
http://www.defence24.com/news_russia...R0i1jY.twitter … pic.twitter.com/di7R5GqX9y
And this is not de facto annexation--by extending one's one military legal/command structures over another country????
Russia's Parliament will recognise legal status of DPR 'armed forces' which will make it easier to justify Russian armed forces "assistance"
16 May, DPR militia became 'armed forces' modelled on Russian Fed law. In effect, extension of Russian armed forces. http://rg-dnr.info/page/parlament-dn...orujennyih-sil …
Michael Weiss @michaeldweiss
PT: 2008 NATO Bucharest summit was where Putin first floated hostility toward Georgia and ("not really a state") Ukraine.
Russian forces and proxies attack #Shyrokyne with heavy artillery banned by Minsk agreements
http://euromaidanpress.com/2015/05/2...sk-agreements/ … pic.twitter.com/1rvtyXWst9
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 05-20-2015 at 03:52 PM.
Paula Chertok @PaulaChertok
Ukraine's capture of Russian military spies is BIG news. Facebook blocks account for posting the video?? C'mon guys pic.twitter.com/IDKC5cRYYS
This was found after battle with Spetsnaz: RU АК103 w. GP-34 & special device for 100 series. https://www.facebook.com/andriy.tsap...90?pnref=story … pic.twitter.com/8MzBGXVCI5
SMM confirms presence advanced surface-to-air missile system 9K35 Strela-10 in rebel-controlled territory; spotted by our UAV recently
Really enlightening comment out of a Russian political type…….
Chairman of Russia Foreign Policy Committee:
IF Ukraine wants to keep Donbass, it'll have to do what we want.
pic.twitter.com/TuOBN6rODJ
Now we have a Russian mercenary religious fanatic…..
Russian-Backed Separatist Leader Says His Government Will Only Recognize Four Religions
http://www.interpretermag.com/ukrain...erinovka/#8430 … pic.twitter.com/enp2iSSAIX
Going to be a rather early and long shelling night and then the ground attacks will occur.
19:55 #Donetsk @Serzzze A tank via Kalinovka westwards
20:05 #Shakhtarsk @Helgi__UA 12 Kamaz trucks from #Donetsk eastward
19:50 #Donetsk Tekstilschik @GirkinGirkin There was an explosion at ATB store parking, 'half district jumped'
19:43 #Dzerzhynsk @blessmaster Sporadic distant rumbles
19:15 #Donetsk Tekstilschik @PVB40 Rumble in 19th coalmine area
20:45 #Donetsk Kyivsky @jackson_villi It started over. Volleys rumble
#Donetsk
20:43 @UkraineSuper1 3 heavy outgoing [voilleys] fr/Tochmash
20:44 @HeleneHelene5 Single heavies fr/Balka/Smolyanka
20:40 #Donetsk @nixer79 3rd series during 15min of howitzer/SPG volleys, 3 tubes fr/Shakhtarska,shells fly behind #Yasynuvata
20:54 #Donetsk @ZeppelinMint 4th [volley] and so on, from Vishnevsky hospital area?
20:47 #Donetsk @Irina16135931 Afternoon d-30 arrived to Donetsk, in the evening 20 Ural trucks went for ammo, looks like no calm night today
20:49 #Donetsk @relictDon Atrilley works fr/DurnaBalka
#Donetsk @nixer79 Fr/20:43 frequent single volleys started
#Horlivka @ItechVK I haven't seen armed militants in the city center for ages. I am lucky or they have some order.
#Donetsk @dnavtoparts
20:46 Vetka: rumble
20:46 Azotny:rumble
20:49 Topaz: rumble
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 05-20-2015 at 07:13 PM.
Dudayev Battalion Fighter Reportedly Killed Outside Stanitsa Luganskaya http://bit.ly/1K1MAJg
Defending #Ukraine: Soldiers repel militant attacks near #Donetsk Airport http://uatoday.tv/politics/defending...rt-428444.html … pic.twitter.com/RxY3GASsOZ
Russian Embassy: N response from Kyiv re meeting with captured Russian officers
http://www.unian.info/war/1080237-ru...-officers.html … pic.twitter.com/CO5DiHEMDE
Shellings were prelude to four major ground attacks—not your average mini assaults ongoing
20:51 #Donetsk @jackson_villi Arty volleys tow/#Avdeevka
20:51 @PVB40 4+4+3+2+2 not that heavy loud volleys fr/other cannons
#Dzerzhynsk 9:23PM
Ongoing exchange of courtesies.
LOUD https://twitter.com/hdzerz/status/601090830313488384 …
#Dzerzhynsk 9:34PM
Battle, tracers, flares https://twitter.com/hdzerz/status/601093690057203712 …
#Dzerzhynsk 9:35PM
In general, every five minutes heavy incoming, something extremely powerful. https://twitter.com/blessmaster/stat...93974888226817 …
It seems that the word "ceasefire" it's just missing from the russian dictionary.
20:47 #Donetsk Putilovka @hauzenmynh outgoing mortar
20:50 #Makeevka @Shymanovski single heavies fr/mil base in Schorsa St
20:36 #Donetsk Kirovsky @ropogckou New "infernal volleys/rumble" heard, unclear what it is
20:52 #Donetsk @PVB40 "They started early today, 3-5 volleys fr/diff sides each min like fr/Petrovka to the center"
Battle between #Starohnativka @Staroignatievca and #Kamyanka, flares, machine guns, mortars, heavy explosions. https://twitter.com/Staroignatievca/...85436019224576 …
20:45 #Shakhtarsk @Helgi__UA 5 18-wheelers escorted by cars w/policelights-foghorns eastward
#Mariupol 21:30
The entire city has plunged into darkness! There is neither light nor water. https://twitter.com/DonUkrop/status/601093835368837120 …
They say now there''s power in some parts of the city.
RU source also saying Mariupol, #Horlivka partly w/o electricity
Don't forget, those 2 spetsnaz from 3rd brigade were on an op heading towards a power station.
This is why Lentsov wants DMZ at Shyrokyne so badly: Russian General Staff plan is to swing north of Mariupol, down on Berdyansk
yep, and pushing north of Gorlovka and Lugansk. It's pincer time all over Donbass soon
Of course, we all know what this means: Russia plans to make trouble in the Balkans to distract NATO/EU/US... https://twitter.com/tassagency_en/st...96277770805248 …
A solid analysis of what is currently ongoing-------
http://www.rferl.org/content/lose-th.../27024973.html
The Power Vertical
Lose The Territory, Win The War
-- Brian Whitmore
May 19, 2015
For more than a year, there's been a war in eastern Ukraine that nobody called a war. And for the past three months, there's been a cease-fire there that wasn't a cease-fire.
And now that the agreement reached in Minsk in February that was supposed to end hostilities in the Donbas is all but dead in the water, we seem to be lurching toward some kind of endgame. And it is shaping up to be as strange and counterintuitive as every other aspect of this through-the-looking-glass hybrid conflict.
"Normally, wars are fought over prize territory: winners gain it, losers lose it," Alexander Motyl, a professor at Rutgers University-Newark and expert on post-Soviet affairs wrote recently in Foreign Policy.
But in this conflict, Motyl added, whoever ends up holding the Russian-controlled territories of the Donbas will actually be the loser.
The region, he noted, is an economic basket case. Its industrial base is devastated. Infrastructure damage is estimated to be $227 million. Gas and water shortages are endemic. Only one-third of the population is receiving regular wages.
Of the estimated 3 million people remaining there, 2 million are either children or pensioners who must be supported by 1 million working-age adults.
Responsibility for rebuilding this mess will be a major financial albatross for either Kyiv or Moscow.
And then there are the politics.
Without the rebel-held areas, Ukraine can get on with reforming its economy and integrating with the West. With them, Kyiv will be saddled with a pro-Moscow fifth column in the east that will paralyze it for the foreseeable future.
So who is losing?
"As the man who owns the enclave and is likely to do so for the foreseeable future," Motyl wrote, "Vladimir Putin is thus the loser. And both Russia and Ukraine know it."
And this explains a lot. It explains, for example, why the Kremlin is suddenly so concerned about Ukraine's territorial integrity.
In a radio interview last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow wanted Ukraine to remain united and accused the authorities in Kyiv of trying to partition their own country.
Lavrov made his comments in reaction to a call by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for UN peacekeepers in Donbas
It also explains why separatist leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk last week submitted proposals for those territories' long-term status that keep them inside Ukraine -- albeit one that is decentralized to the point of dysfunction.
"At first glance, the separatist documents seem promising. In a sharp break with previous practice, they make no mention of the unrecognized Donetsk and Lugansk 'people's republics,'" Russian political commentator Leonid Bershidsky wrote recently in Bloomberg.
"Instead, the territory is called 'a separate district with a special status.'"
Bershidsky added that the proposals "have Moscow's fingerprints" and "demonstrate a lawyerly cunning that the rough and ready rebels have never exhibited."
This is the context, subtext, and backstory of the flurry of diplomacy we have seen in recent weeks -- from Angela Merkel's visit to Moscow to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's stopover in Sochi to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland shuttling between the Ukrainian and Russian capitals.
The West is desperately trying to salvage a Minsk cease-fire that is long past its sell-by date.
Russia, meanwhile, is trying to force an interpretation of that cease-fire on everybody that results in a Bosnia-style solution that allows Moscow's proxies in eastern Ukraine to keep the country dysfunctional and out of the Western orbit.
Russia could of course still launch a costly and risky military offensive aimed at Mariupol or Kharkiv.
Or, as Bershidsky suggests "he can freeze the situation and proceed to build ties with the rebel-held areas on the model of other frozen conflict zones: Transdnistria in Moldova, Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia."
But according to Motyl, "time is on Ukraine's side" as "the current stand-off is the best of all possible worlds for Kyiv."
"Winning this 'hybrid' war means losing territory. All Ukraine needs do is keep the separatists boxed in," he wrote.
"Sooner or later, a rational or semi-rational Putin disinclined to start World War III over a piece of crummy real estate will have to accept 'frozen conflict' status or pull another Crimea and annex the territory. Either way, Russia will be stuck with a no-future region that will be a drag on its economy for decades to come."
http://maidantranslations.com/2015/0...freesavchenko/
Dmitry Tymchuk: Military update 5.20
Posted on May 20, 2015 by chervonaruta
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine
Operational data from Information Resistance:
During the past 24 hours, a sharp surge in the activity of Russian-terrorist forces has been recorded in Donbas. The number of fire strikes on the positions of ATO forces has increased; illegal armed groups have also made several unsuccessful attempts to break through the defense of the Ukrainian troops.
Russian troops and the terrorists fired from 152- and 122-mm artillery systems, 82-mm and 120-mm caliber mortars. They also used tanks, armored vehicles, all kinds and types of both light and heavy infantry weapons. In addition to the positions of ATO forces, the terrorists launched aimed fire onto [civilian] settlements.
The situation is heating up in the Artemivsk direction, where new insurgents units were earlier deployed to the flanks. During the past 24 hours, terrorists have fired at Ukrainian positions near Shyroka Balka, Luhanske, Zolote, Katerynivka, and Svitlodarsk.
The situation in the area has been aggravated between the settlements of Popasna and Orikhove. Positions of Ukrainian troops and their strongholds succumbed to massive mortar and artillery bombardment practically along the entire length of this area, including the town of Popasna and the village of Katerynivka. During the long firefight with the ATO forces division defending Katerynivka, terrorists from the “Pryzrak” [Ghost] gang made an unsuccessful attempt to surround the stronghold from the flanks. Ukrainian troops promptly identified and stopped the advancement of the infantry units of this illegal armed group.
Russian-terrorist forces have escalated in the vicinity of Hranitne, Novohryhorivka, and Starohnativka. The positions of Ukrainian troops were repeatedly fired at with 82- and 120-mm mortars and Zu-23-2 anti-aircraft twin-barreled autocannon. Four BMP-2 fired at a stronghold of the ATO forces from standard weapons in the vicinity of Trokhizbenka and Sokilnyky.
Shellings and firefights have also been recorded near Avdiivka, Krasnohorivka, Pisky, and Mariinka. A sharp increase in enemy sniper fire has been observed in several areas at once.
On movements of units and military equipment:
At least two 11-12-vehicle convoys with covered transport have been recorded moving through Luhansk towards Krasnodon and Rovenky. Later, another convoy of 20 vehicles, including three buses with armed personnel, has been observed heading in the same direction.
Transfer of military equipment, weapons and ammunition for the needs of insurgents continues through the railway stations of Krasnodon and Ilovaisk. The arrival of eight tarped platforms with tracked vehicles has been observed in Ilovaisk.
The transfer of four units of TOR-M1 surface-to-air missile systems and radar reconnaissance systems has been recorded in the area between Yenakijeve and Horlivka. The relocation of air defense systems (currently in the service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation) was carried out without any disguise.
The movement of a mixed “mechanized infantry” company of insurgents with 14 ACVs has been observed on a highway between Starobesheve and Telmanove.
A group of Russian-terrorist forces in the vicinity of the Yasynuvata junction has been reinforced with two T-72 tanks, six BMP-2, two MT-LB and a “Strela-10″ SAM within the past 24 hours.
In addition, a significant movement of motor vehicles within Donetsk, mainly in the Kyivskyi and Petrovskyi districts of the city, as well as south of Luhansk between Dokuchajevsk and Olenivka has been observed.
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 05-20-2015 at 07:12 PM.
Ground fighting is now intense in three locations-----
Heavy terrorists attack on #Mayorsk and Shumy 10 min ago, about 10 tanks and apcs.
Via @mihovil78
Even pro #Russia|n sources are reporting about heavy fighting in #Mayorsk and #Dzerzhynsk
Heavy shelling on #Dzerzhynsk tonight
#Donetsk 10:43PM
Shyroke cemetery area - tank firing https://twitter.com/kmet7575/status/601110947307073536 …
Heavy fighting in #Pisky and #Spartak betwen #Ukraine forces and #Russia|ns
Via @mihovil78
"Is the 'World’s Deadliest Tank' Bankrupting #Russia?" by @HoansSolo
http://thediplomat.com/2015/05/is-th...upting-russia/ …
pic.twitter.com/2U5ZvEt9qF
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