Saudi Arabia became the first Middle East nation to
publicly exhibit its nuclear-capable missiles. The long-range, liquid
propellant DF-3 ballistic missile (NATO designated CSS-2), purchased
from China 27 years ago, was displayed for the first time at a Saudi
military parade Tuesday, April 29, in the eastern military town of Hafar
Al-Batin, at the junction of the Saudi-Kuwaiti-Iraqi borders.
The DF-3 has a range of 2,650 km and carries a payload of 2,150 kg.
It is equipped with a single nuclear warhead with a 1-3 MT yield.
Watched by a wide array of Saudi defense and military dignitaries,
headed by Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister Salman bin Abdulaziz,
the parade marked the end of the large-scale “Abdullah’s Sword” military
war game.
Conspicuous on the saluting stand was the Pakistani Chief of Staff
Gen. Raheel Sharif alongside eminent visitors, including King Hamad of
Bahrain and Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi.
debkafile’s
military and intelligence sources report the event was deliberately
loaded with highly-significant messages, the foremost of which was that
the Middle East is in the throes of a nuclear arms race in the wake of
the Iranian program.
1. The oil kingdom was saying loud and clear that it has obtained
nuclear missiles and is ready to use them in the event of an armed
conflict with Iran.
2. The message for Washington was that Riyadh adheres to its adamant
objections to the comprehensive accord for resolving the Iranian
nuclear question which is racing toward its finale with the six world
powers led by the US. The Saudis share Israel’s conviction that this
pact - far from dismantling Iran’s nuclear capacity - will seal the
Islamic Republic's elevation to the status of pre-nuclear power. The
result will be a Middle East war in which the Saudis will take part.
3. The participation of the nuclear DF-3 missiles in the “Abdullah’s
Sword” exercise signified Riyadh’s estimate that the coming conflict
will see the use of nuclear weapons.
4. By showing off their ageing Chinese missiles, the Saudis intimated
that they had acquired the more advanced generation of this weapon,
which they are keeping under wraps. debkafile’s
intelligence sources report that in recent visits to Beijing,
high-ranking Saudi officials negotiated the purchase of Dong-Feng 21
(DF-21), whose range is shorter, 1,700 km, but more precise and
effective in view of its terminal radar guidance system. The West has no
information about when the new Chinese missiles were delivered to Saudi
Arabia.
5. The presence of the top Pakistani soldier at the parade of military
and nuclear hardware was meant as corroboration of Islamabad’s active
role as the source of the Saudi nuclear arsenal.
6. The Saudis no longer rely on the American nuclear umbrella. They
are developing their own nuclear strike force with the help of China and
Pakistan.
Ukraine unrest: Kiev 'helpless' to quell parts of east
BBC News online -- 30 April 2014
Pro-Russian militiamen in Luhansk. The activists occupy scores of government buildings in the east
Ukraine's
acting President Olexander Turchynov has admitted his forces are
"helpless" to quell unrest driven by pro-Russian activists in the
eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Mr Turchynov said the goal was now to prevent the unrest spreading.
Activists have seized scores of government buildings and taken hostages including international monitors.
Mr Turchynov also said Ukraine was on "full combat alert", amid fears Russian troops could invade.
Analysis
David SternBBC News, Kiev
The events in Ukraine are increasingly like watching the
proverbial train wreck in slow motion. Acting President Olexander
Turchynov's admission that the government is "helpless" and has lost
control over large parts of the country's east only solidifies that
sensation. Mr Turchynov said the focus now was to stop the unrest from
spreading to other regions, especially Odessa and Kharkiv. So far these
cities have seen some turbulence, but nothing on the level of what has
happened in Donetsk and Luhansk. The government's hope is to keep a lid on the situation until
the 25 May presidential elections. That date now seems an eternity
away, and one wonders if the government, or the country, will last that
long.
"I would like to say frankly that
at the moment the security structures are unable to swiftly take the
situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions back under control," he
said during a meeting with regional governors.
He admitted security personnel "tasked with the protection of citizens" were "helpless".
"More than that, some of these units either aid or co-operate with terrorist groups," he said.
Mr Turchynov added: "Our task is to stop the spread of the terrorist threat first of all in the Kharkiv and Odessa regions."
The acting president said that the tens of thousands of
Russian troops stationed just over the border meant that "the threat of
Russia starting a war against mainland Ukraine is real".
Russia, which annexed the Crimea region from Ukraine last month, has said it has no plans to invade the east.
President Vladimir Putin has insisted there are "neither Russian instructors, nor special units nor troops" inside Ukraine.
However, Moscow has also warned that its soldiers are ready to act if Russian interests are threatened.
Pro-Russian activists in Donetsk. Kiev says some security forces are acting with the militiamen
Mr Turchynov said Ukraine was on "full combat alert"
Pro-Russia activists check a car near Sloviansk, where international observers are being held
Ukrainian soldiers have tried to carry out some limited operations against the militiamen
Eastern Ukraine, which has a large Russian-speaking population,
was a stronghold for former President Viktor Yanukovych before he was
overthrown by protesters in February.
Pro-Russian activists there continue to detain some 40
people, including seven military observers linked to the Organization
for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) seized last week.
OSCE spokesman Michael Bociurkiw told the BBC that negotiators had visited the detainees and they were in good health.
But he gave no estimate as to how long it might take to broker their release.
Activists continue to storm buildings in the east - on
Wednesday they took the regional police building and town hall in the
city of Horlivka, local officials said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry warns Russia over Ukraine
The US and EU have accused Russia of failing to implement the
terms of a deal agreed in Geneva aimed at defusing the crisis by
disarming illegal militias.
They have both stepped up sanctions against Russia this week,
naming more individuals and companies facing travel bans and asset
freezes.
Moscow blames Kiev for the unrest and has condemned the sanctions.
Separately on Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) said Russia was "experiencing recession now" and that the damage
caused by the Ukraine crisis was weighing heavily on the economy.
It predicts $100bn (£59bn) will leave the country this year.
Russia's central bank said recently that foreign investors had withdrawn
$64bn in the first three months of 2014.
"Although Tsai is not a named beneficiary of the trust, she had complete control over Marston's finances and had the ability to distribute the trust's assets at her discretion." "Based on the fact that Marston is 92 years old, was not in good health and did not drive, there was nothing to indicate that those purchases primarily benefited Marston or were purchased in her best interests." Legal Court affidavit
Christin Angle Real Estate/trulia.com150
Bradley Place, Palm Beach where Nancy Tsai lives. Tsai faces charges
that she took advantage of a 92-year-old woman muddled by Alzheimers,
conning her into spending $2.35 million on a penthouse and a Bentley,
according to arrest records.
Imagine, a glamorous wealthy socialite from Palm Beach arrested by police on suspicion of embezzlement. Clearly a misdirection of police resources. Claiming that someone like Nancy Tsai, well known as a philanthropist and a member in good standing of the Palm Beach leisure celebrity class would stoop so low as to exploit a 92-year-old woman afflicted with Alzheimer's disease; accused of grand theft in looting large sums of money from the woman's trust account.
Who do they think they're dealing with? This is a woman who founded the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, a champion of the arts, a former Torontonian married to a millionaire real estate developer. And on his demise she married a billionaire investor and Wall Street fund manager. She was arrested in her Palm Beach condominium, to appear on the public "Booking Blotter" of the Palm Beach police. Ruinous to her reputation.
Nancy Tsai had known Helga Marston, now 92, for 40 years, and she was well trusted. So much so that she opened a trust account at UBS Financial on her behalf and was granted Power of Attorney, later named trustee to the account. UBS Financial became nonplussed then serious concerned when it understood large amounts to have been drawn from the account administered by Ms. Tsai for the uber-wealthy Ms. Marston.
$2,292,000 for a penthouse apartment; $302,000 to renovate the apartment; $170,000 for a 2013 Bentley Continental GT V8 coup, registered to Ms. Tsai; $101,200 for a 2013 Mercedes S550, an executive-level sedan; and lease payments for a 2013 Mercedes E350S4 luxury wagon. Oh, and other incidental expenses like flight in a private jet from West Palm Beach to Toronto as sole passenger. Restaurant and shopping bills, the whole shtick.
Let's face it, though, those are a lot of costly vehicles for an extremely elderly woman who doesn't drive. But Ms. Tsai wanted everything to be just so for her friend. Ms. Marston signed her agreement for the penthouse to be in Ms. Tsai's name. That occurred after Ms. Marston's doctor, Gabriela Goldstein, informed police her patient had "zero" mental capacity.
Oh, and again just incidentally, Ms. Tsai and her daughter, E. Sarah Paul were named in a March 2013 amended will as beneficiaries of the wealthy Ms. Marston's property. It's just so sad that suspicion falls on trustworthy people just because they want to do the right thing for elderly people who are confused by age and medical-health circumstances.
Most residents of eastern Ukraine where revolutionary fervour appears to have taken hold of a relatively limited segment of the 'pro-Russian', ethnic Russian and Russian-speaking population, viewing violence and threats all about them, have no wish to place themselves in harm's way. They haven't joined either side to protest against or for Kyiv, against or for Russia.
Most likely would support an agreement with Kyiv that would recognize somewhat greater autonomy for the Donbass region, but most definitely not association with Moscow.
Polls have been consistent in their conclusion that roughly 70 percent of residents would prefer to remain with Kyiv, rather than have Moscow responsible for their futures. More emphatic political power within Ukraine, yes; secession in reflection of Russia absorbing Crimea, not at all.
But the pro-Russians are extreme in their violent declarations denouncing Kyiv and celebrating Moscow, and their threats against moderates are well-recognized.
There is always the example of the mayor of Kharkiv, 260 km north of Donetsk, Hennadiy Kernes, who waffled in his support of former President Viktor Yanukovych. Declaring himself kindly disposed to Russia, but unwilling in the final analysis, to see eastern Ukraine hive off toward Russia, he was the victim of an attempted assassination, shot in the back by unknown assailants whose identity most people could clearly guess at.
A Ukrainian soldier was killed, another injured in Donetsk when they inspected a homemade bomb. In Slavyansk, journalists are being 'detained' along with supporters of the Kyiv western-oriented government. But it is the capture of three Ukrainian military security personnel, their humiliation at being deprived of their trousers, their mouths bound with packing tape, heads and bodies bludgeoned that express the savagery of the Russian activists.
That, along with the detention of the now-seven military observers associated with the Organization for Security & Co-operation in Europe, draws a picture of the lawlessness and defiance of authority that the region is falling into. The thugs, dressed in camouflage fatigues and the obligatory, intimidating black masks, arm themselves with baseball bats and metal cudgels in the public arena.
On Monday a large demonstration in Donetsk with several thousand supporters of a unified Ukraine took place in a calm and orderly atmosphere. The people gathered there felt safe enough, removed from the presence of the Russian activists who were gathered two kilometres away in Lenin Square. The unarmed pro-Kyiv demonstrators waved Ukrainian flags and sang the national anthem.
They felt safe because present alongside them were also several busloads of riot police. Suddenly a swaggering mob of pro-Russian militants marching ten abreast raced into the presence of the peaceful protesters, flailing them with their cudgels and bats. The police fired a few rounds of tear gas and several stun grenades at the several hundred pro-Russian men, young and middle-aged, with a scattering of women among them.
The police, there to guard the peaceful demonstrators soon disappeared, however, leaving the pro-Kyiv people to fend for themselves against "the Donetsk People's Republic" who clubbed anyone who hadn't managed to move quickly enough in retreat to save themselves from a brutal drubbing, getting their skulls cracked open by the raving militants.
The inability of the central government in Kyiv to exert control over the Donbass region is alarming to the residents who for the most part want nothing to do with the extremists' chaos-driven mandate delivered by Russia to foment fear and violence, and create the atmosphere, a la Crimea, for a referendum where the force of violent minority threats will succeed in mirroring the events that led to Crimea's annexation.
If the Kyiv government remains incapable of policing and bringing order to its territory, there is every reason to expect that Moscow will be more than willing to step in to fill the gap. Only Moscow's military manoeuvres to save Ukraine from its own ineptitude will not be for the greater benefit of bestowing legitimacy in the region on Kyiv, but for the Kremlin to blandly state it was required to manifest its presence in support of ethnic Russians in the region.
After mercilessly thrashing those peaceful Kyiv-biased protesters who became their victims, the Russian thugs retreated with victorious shouts of "Russ-i-ya!", back to their redoubt in Lenin Square.
A man carries a boy that survived shelling after what activists said
were explosive barrels thrown by forces loyal to Syria's president
Bashar Al-Assad in Al-Shaar neighbourhood of Aleppo April 27, 2014.
(File photo: Reuters)
By Staff writer
| Al Arabiya News
Tuesday, 29 April 2014
An international human rights group called on the United Nations
Security Council to block the flow of weapons to Syrian regime forces,
claiming that it was launching attacks using “barrel bombs,” Agence
France-Presse reported on Tuesday.
The New York-based Human
Rights Watch urged the U.N. to block the flow of arms to any group
committing abuse against civilians in the troubled country, where the
civil war has killed an estimated 150,000 people over the past three
years.
Infographic: Syria’s barrel bombs
(Design by Farwa Rizwan/ Al Arabiya News)
“The Security Council should impose an arms embargo on
Syria’s government, as well as on any groups implicated in widespread or
systematic human rights abuses,” HRW said.
The group said it
documented attacks launched by the regime against opposition strongholds
in northern of Aleppo province since February 22, adding that attacks
which cannot distinguish between fighters and civilians are “unlawful.”
Its
statement comes over two months after a February 22 Security Council
resolution demanded an end to attacks on civilian areas.
Such
attacks “continue despite a United Nations Security Council Resolution
unanimously passed on Feb. 22, 2014, demanding that all parties in Syria
cease the indiscriminate use of barrel bombs and other weapons in
populated areas,” HRW said.
Since that date, HRW said it “has
documented at least 85 strike sites in [opposition-held] neighborhoods
of Aleppo city... including two government barrel bomb attacks on
clearly marked official hospitals.”
According to the group, the strikes involved “unguided, high-explosive barrel bombs,” and “indiscriminately” hit civilians.
Since
last December, Syria’s government launched 15 aerial raids targeting
opposition areas. Hundreds of civilians were killed in the attacks, and
thousands of families fled to the countryside of the province, and
towards neighboring Turkey in the north.
Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad formally registered to stand for re-election next month. The
HRW statement came a day after his announcement.
“President Assad
is talking about elections, but for Aleppo’s residents, the only
campaign they are witnessing is a military one of barrel bombs and
indiscriminate shelling,” HRW deputy Middle East and North Africa
director Nadim Houry said.
On the other hand, the group also
called for an end to systematic abuses committed by armed rebel groups,
who have weapons supplied to them as well.
“At least some of the
improvised weapons used [by rebels fighting an offensive on government
areas in Aleppo] are prone to indiscriminate effects when used to attack
populated residential areas,” it said.
(With AFP)
Last Update: Tuesday, 29 April 2014 KSA 15:03 - GMT 12:03
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' initiation of a
unity pact with the Hamas extremists last week did not come out of the
blue. It was prompted by the direct contacts the Obama administration
has secretly established with the Lebanese Hizballah. Abbas reasoned
that if Washington can start a dialogue with a terrorist organization,
so too can his own PLO and Fatah.
debkafile’s
Washington sources report that the Obama administration appears to have
carried over to Lebanon the doctrine set out by the late Richard
Holbrooke for Afghanistan, whereby dialogue with Taliban should be made
the centerpiece of Washington's strategy for US troop
withdrawal. Holbrooke’s influence on Secretary of State John Kerry dated
back to his run for the presidency in 2004.
In Lebanese terms, Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah has become the
equivalent of Taliban’s Mullah Mohammad. Hizballah has scored high in
the Syrian war. Its military intervention on the side of Bashar Assad in
the last year is credited with turning the Syrian army’s fortunes
around from near defeat in 2013 to partial triumph in key areas of Syria
this year. Nasrallah is able to boast that his movement’s commitment to
the Syrian conflict is its central mission and will remain so until
rebel and al Qaeda forces are finally vanquished.
What the Hizballah leader is trying to put across, in terms of the
Holbrooke doctrine, is that like Mullah Omar in Afghanistan, he,
Nasrallah, holds the key to resolving the Syrian civil war.
The Obama administration bought this premise and decided to apply it
to broadening the rapidly progressing dialogue with Tehran to related
areas. The plan developed in Washington was to seize the momentum of the
nuclear track and ride it to a broad US-Iranian understanding that
embraces a comprehensive nuclear accord with Tehran as well as
understandings for resolving the Syrian and Lebanese questions.
Administration officials figure that Nasrallah heeds no one but the
ayatollahs in Tehran. He may talk big but he knows that his fate is in
the hands of his Iranian masters. If Iran decides it is time for him to
go, it will be curtains for him. His involvement in the Syrian war is
considered to be contingent on the strategic decisions of Iran’s
leaders. (He was a lot less confident in the winter of 2013 when
Hizballah’s home bases were being smashed in lethal suicide bombings.)
Iran also determines which weapons are supplied to the Hizballah units
fighting in Syria, in which sectors they fight and how to respond to his
pleas for reinforcements.
In Washington’s view, Hizballah’s involvement in the Syrian war has
increased its leader’s dependence on Tehran. He accordingly has little
room for maneuver in contacts with US representatives and if he turns
difficult, they are sure they can turn to Tehran to force him in line.
It is also believed in administration circles that the secret Saudi
exchanges with Tehran (first revealed by DEBKA Weekly) will eventually
produce Riyadh’s acceptance of Hizballah as a dominant factor in Syria
and Lebanon.
However, many Middle East experts find the US take on Hizballah to be
naïve and simplistic and strongly doubt that the path it has chosen
will bring Nasrallah – or Tehran - around to serving America's will or
purposes. They draw a parallel with the underlying US assumptions which
ultimately led the Palestinians-Israeli talks off track.
But expectations of the Hizballah track are high and strongly guide
the actions of President Obama, John Kerry, National Security Advisor
Susan Rice and CIA Director John Brennan. And so, in early March, the
first secret rendezvous took place in Cyprus between CIA officers and
Hizballah intelligence and security operatives.
According to a number of Mid East intelligence sources, two such
meetings have since been conducted and initial US-Hizballah
understandings reached relating to the volatile situations in Syria and
Lebanon.
Our intelligence sources add that US Ambassador to Beirut David Hale
has been in charge of preparing these meetings and implementing the
understandings reached.
Armed pro-Russian activists have occupied a number of government buildings in east Ukraine
A
large crowd of pro-Russian separatists has stormed the regional
administration's headquarters in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk.
A few dozen men, some reportedly armed with metal bars, smashed windows and doors to break into the building.
Activists shouting "Referendum Russia" later flew a Russian flag over it.
Earlier, Russia criticised sanctions imposed by the US and EU
on individuals and companies over their alleged actions aimed at
destabilising Ukraine.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the US had
"essentially lowered an 'Iron Curtain'" by targeting Russia's high-tech
sector.
The EU, he added, had proved that it was "under Washington's thumb".
Mr Ryabkov also stressed that Russia had no intention of
invading eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russia activists have seized
government buildings in more than a dozen towns and cities.
Until now, only the local office of the State Security
Service (SBU) in Luhansk, a city of 465,000 people less than 30km (20
miles) from the Russian border, had been targeted.
A small group of men broke windows to gain access to the building in Luhansk, which was not protected
Once inside, they opened the building's main entrance to allow in demonstrators gathered outside
Inside the courtyard, the activists found dozens of security personnel in riot gear
There was a stand-off between the activists and security personnel, but no-one was attacked
But on Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of people gathered outside
the headquarters of the regional government to demand a referendum on
granting greater autonomy to the east.
A group of men armed with sticks and metal bars broke into
the building, whose entrances were not protected by police. They then
pulled down the Ukrainian flag flying from the roof and replaced it with
a Russian one, and opened the main entrance to the crowd.
Inside the building's courtyard, the activists found security
personnel in riot gear massed together in a defensive position. There
was a stand-off, but no violence, according to the Associated Press news
agency.
"The regional leadership does not control its police force,"
Stanislav Rechynsky, an aide to the interior minister in Kiev, told
Reuters news agency. "The local police did nothing."
Mr Rechynsky added that the government had information to
suggest that the separatists would now seize the local television
centre.
Daniel SandfordBBC News, Moscow
Eastern Ukraine, which has a
large Russian-speaking population, was a stronghold for former President
Viktor Yanukovych before he was overthrown by protesters in February.
The interim government has rejected the pro-Russian
activists' demands for greater autonomy, fearing they could lead to the
break-up of the country or more regions being annexed by Russia, as
happened with Crimea last month. Pro-Russian activists continue to detain some 40 people,
including seven military observers linked to the Organisation for
Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) seized last week. The self-styled "mayor" of the town of Sloviansk, where the
observers are being held, has said he will discuss their release only if
the EU drops sanctions against separatist leaders. Vyacheslav Ponomarev
said their imposition "only aggravates the situation". On Tuesday, the EU published a fresh list of 15 individuals facing travel banks and asset freezes.
Sarah Rainsford saw pro-Russians clash with united Ukraine protesters
It included Gen Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian General
Staff, and Lt Gen Igor Sergun, identified as the head of the Russian
military intelligence agency, the GRU.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak and pro-Russian
separatist leaders in Crimea and in the eastern Ukrainian cities of
Luhansk and Donetsk were also named.
On Monday, the US announced sanctions against seven
individuals and 17 companies it said were linked to President Vladimir
Putin's "inner circle". Those targeted include Igor Sechin, head of oil
giant Rosneft, and Sergei Chemezov of the hi-tech firm Rostec.
The US and EU first imposed visa bans and asset freezes on a
number of senior Russian officials and companies after Crimea was
annexed.
Boko Haram has often targeted educational establishments
Some
of the schoolgirls abducted by suspected militant Islamists in northern
Nigeria are believed to have been taken to neighbouring states, a local
leader has told the BBC.
Pogo Bitrus said there had been "sightings" of gunmen crossing with the girls into Cameroon and Chad.
Some of the girls had been forced to marry the militants, he added.
Mr Bitrus said 230 girls were missing since militants attacked the school in Chibok, Borno state, two weeks ago.
The Islamist group Boko Haram has been blamed for the
night-time raid on the school hostel in Chibok town. It has not yet
commented on the allegation.
The girls were seized from their hostel late at night
Mr Bitrus, a Chibok community leader, said 43 of the girls had
"regained their freedom" after escaping, while 230 were still in
captivity. This is a higher number than previous estimates, however he
was adamant it was the correct figure.
The students were about to sit their final year exam and so are mostly aged between 16 and 18.
"Some of them have been taken across Lake Chad and some have
been ferried across the border into parts of Cameroon," he told the BBC.
Mr Bitrus said there were also reports that the insurgents had married some of the girls.
"We learned that one of the 'grooms' brought his 'wife' to a
neighbouring town in Cameroon and kept her there," he told the BBC.
"It's a medieval kind of slavery," he added.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau first threatened to treat captured women and girls as slaves in a video released in May 2013.
It fuelled concern at the time that the group is adhering to
the ancient Islamic belief that women captured during war are slaves
with whom their "masters" can have sex, correspondents say.
Mr Bitrus said everyone in the community felt as though their own daughters had been abducted.
Men were "braving it out", but women were "crying and wailing", he said.
"Whether it is my niece or whoever it doesn't matter. We are all one people," Mr Bitrus told the BBC.
"That's why I'm crying now as community leader to alert the
world to what's happening so that some pressure would be brought to bare
on government to act and ensure the release of these girls."
The government has said the security forces are searching for the girls, but its critics say it is not doing enough.
Boko Haram has staged a wave of attacks in northern Nigeria
in recent years, with an estimated 1,500 killed in the violence and
subsequent security crackdown this year alone.
"The notion that for us to go forward with sectoral sanctions, on our own without the Europeans, would be the most effective deterrent to Mr. Putin, I think, is factually wrong." "We're going to be in a stronger position to deter Mr. Putin when he sees that the world is unified and the U.S. and Europe is unified, rather than this as just a U.S.-Russian conflict." U.S. President Barack Obama
Armed men stand guard in front of a regional
administrative building seized last night by pro-Russian separatists in
the eastern Ukrainian city of Konstantinovka. Photograph: VASILY
MAXIMOV/AFP/Getty Images
New brutish outrages in east Ukraine, new sanctions imposed on Russia. How utterly unfair; for what has Russia to do with the criminal acts taking place in Ukraine? Ah, yes, that connection of ethnicity, of clan, of tribe and the blood that courses in the veins of those faithful to Russia and damning Ukraine; the path now taken to distinguish themselves from those loyal to Ukraine and themselves, primed by Russian intervention through covert actions and urgings and discreet promises.
They are called, politely, pro-Russian, and what could be wrong there? They are, undoubtedly, fond of Russia's influence on their lives, and have taken measures to edge themselves closer, much, much closer to Russia's sphere, to not only orbit the blessed warmth of its rays, but to snuggle within them. And Moscow reciprocates; it too welcomes the love so effusively strewn its way, and will advantage their brethren by coddling and embracing them in a possessive hug.
Those pro-Russian separatists have distinguished themselves in the level of their loathing for Ukraine's ownership of their geography. They have pledged themselves to Russia, so the official Ukrainian government position presents as an impossible irritant. And nor is the presence of observers from the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe appreciated. The cure for their impudence is arrest, recognized as the spies that they are.
And the Ukrainian 'secret agents' too, taken into firm custody. Which is to say, humiliated, and beaten, and made an example of; to all others who may wish to infiltrate the steady resolve of the pro-Russians this will be in store for them as well. Filmed, ignominiously without their trousers, bloodstained, beaten, blindfolded, utterly humbled; fascist Ukrainian trash.
Armed and masked rebels filmed hovering menacingly over the eight men representing the European observers from OSCE, their humble spokesman denied yet again that they were spying for NATO. A German OSCE group member assured that they, unlike the battered Ukrainians held in detention, remain in good health as "OSCE officers with diplomatic status". "I cannot go home of my own free will", the German representative, Axel Schneider stated at the press conference, but an OSCE delegation was busy negotiating their freedom. Which, according to Slavyansk's new, self-styled mayor Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, who has been behaving, along with his crew, suspiciously fascist, said that indeed the men were "hostages of circumstances", who can be released should a prisoner exchange take place. "We will turn the Russian television back on, but we will not turn the Ukrainian ones off", one activist among a crowd of several hundred pro-Russians in the eastern city of Donetsk said, after taking control of a state television centre. Armed with clubs, they defied Ukrainian police.
A pro-Russian activist walks in front of
Ukrainian riot police during a pro-Ukrainian rally in the eastern city
of Donetsk April 28, 2014. Photograph: MARKO DJURICA/REUTERS
And in Ukraine's second largest city, the mayor of Kharkiv, 54-year-old Gennady Kernes, once a supporter of Ukraine's deposed president Viktor Yanukovych and more latterly expressing his support for his city, close to the Russian border to remain Ukrainian, has undergone life-saving surgery after being shot in the back by unidentified gunmen. Pro-Russian 'militants' taking exception to his loyalty to Ukraine.
The savagery of two other Ukrainian politicians a week earlier having been abducted, mutilated and killed more than adequately demonstrates the calibre of brutality that these 'pro-Russians' are capable of in their mission to gift Russia with the industrialized heartland of Ukraine, deeming Russia's criminal takeover of Crimea insufficient punishment for Ukraine wishing to keep its geography intact as a sovereign nation.
The sanctions that both America and Europe have hinted at; sectoral in nature, is set to proceed should Russia undertake a full-scale invasion and annexation of eastern Ukraine, a carbon copy of its Crimean venture. Many within Europe shudder at the prospect of more biting sanctions. "Sectoral" measures would blacklist full sections of Russian industry that would certainly affect their own economies.
Introducing fuller restrictions on Russian banks could damage the financial sectors of EU nations, particularly Britain, given Russian investment in their economies. Europe's heavy dependence on Russian gas imports through which the Kremlin could very well decide to raise the price, as they have done with Ukraine, would have further devastating effects on the European economy, still emerging from its recessionary collapse.
The U.S. Treasury and the European Commission have been sharpening their pencils over the past month closely and carefully analyzing the potential impacts on them in imposing further, biting sanctions on Moscow. So how deep is their resolve to punish Russia for the international outrage it has imposed on Ukraine for snubbing closer ties with its former Soviet master?
Ukrainian military buildup round SlavyanskRussia and Ukraine were heading Sunday, April 27, for their first battle over the rebel-held flashpoint town of Slavyansk, debkafile’s
military and US sources report. The outcome will determine who controls
the Donetsk region and possibly all of East of Ukraine – the
separatists or the provisional government in Kiev.
With a superior, professional and well-trained force armed with a
preponderance of fire power, the Kremlin has several options to choose
from for this engagement:
1. To order the 11,000 troops, based at Rostov on Don 40 kilometers
from the Ukrainian border, to cross over and head for Slavyansk and
Donetsk.
2. To send a tank column against the 15,000 Ukrainian troops
deployed over the weekend around Slavyansk. According to Russian
sources, the force from Kiev is armed with 160 tanks, 230 armored
personnel carriers and 150 pieces of artillery and missiles.
3. To send warplanes and helicopters from the giant Russian airbase of
Tsentralniy - a prospect gaining ground in recent hours. This action
would broaden the engagement into a major war operation between Russia
and Ukraine.
4. Moscow, Kiev and their backers may understand how such a war began,
but once it is under way, no one can tell how it will end.
5. In the event of a major escalation, Moscow ill have to decide whether
to throw into battle the special rapid deployment and paratroop units
stationed at Tsentralniy, which are held ready for intervention in the
Middle East and are now in reserve for action in Ukraine.
6. The Kremlin must decide whether to go for an overall invasion of Ukraine. debkafile’s
military sources report that the force poised on the border is smaller
than the 40,000 estimated by Kiev. It consists of 15,000 armored corps
soldiers with T-72B tanks and one division each of infantry and
paratroops.
A Russian invasion would bring about the partition of Ukraine between
the Russian-controlled East + Crimea and the sector ruled by the
pro-Western administration of Kiev.
Moscow would find it hard to present this as a “peacekeeping” or “humanitarian” operation.
For Kiev, it might be the last straw that undermines its already shaky rule.
The Ukrainian army’s capacity to beat the Russian invaders, or even stop
them in their tracks, is close to nil. Its threat to blockade the more
than a dozen towns where separatists are entrenched in official
buildings is unconvincing.
Indeed, the Kiev government faces five fairly dismal prospects once a militlary collision begins:
a) A full-blown military clash will test the limits of US and
European readiness to come to its aid against Russian forces. The US and
NATO are more likely to pitch in with condemnations and sanctions than
by sending troops to the rescue. The Ukrainian government would find
itself exposed as incapable of defending itself and bereft of effective
international protectors.
b) The Ukraine government has not been able to summon up international financial or economic assistance.
c) The 15,000 troops concentrated at Slavyansk have more or less
scraped the bottom of the barrel of Ukraine's operational military
assets. The 150,000-strong army is sizeable enough but it is not ready
for war, and the loyalty of most units and their officers to the Kiev
regime is questionable.
d) If the Ukrainian government opts nonetheless to enter into a lengthy
battle with an invading Russian force, it will play into the hands of
Moscow, which strongly objects to the May 25 general election. Any delay
would further undermine the stability of the interim regime in Kiev.
e) The Obama administration would find itself in difficult straits.
President Barack Obama has repeatedly warned Moscow of “costs” for
failing to restrain the pro-Russian separatists’ advances in Ukraine or
pull its army back from the border.
He is finding it harder than ever to
follow through on a concerted US-European economic and military
challenge to Russia’s military steps in and around Ukraine.
In a round of phone calls to British, French, German and Italian
leaders Friday, Obama met reluctance on their part to join aggressive
sanctions against Moscow over its threats to Ukraine, when they were
weighed against the heavy costs to the deep and longstanding trade ties
and business partnerships that Europe has developed with Russia.
Obama managed to persuade the G7 to agree on another round of penalties
for Moscow but had to delay the announcement of specifics to Monday,
April 28.
This frustration was registered in Obama’s remarks in Kuala Lumpur
Sunday: The United States will be in a stronger position to deter
Vladimir Putin once he sees the world is unified in sanctioning Russia,
he said. Russia isn't abiding by a deal reached to de-escalate the
conflict. "Russia has not lifted a finger to help" he said and stressed:
“The US and Europe must act collectively.”
But America’s allies have made it clear that a broad international
coalition for a strong stand against Russia will not be forthcoming.
President Obama is left with the option of striking almost alone, or
climbing down from his threats.
Ukraine crisis: Kharkiv mayor Hennadiy Kernes shot
BBC News online -- 28 April 2014
Mr Kernes has been described as a "mini-oligarch"
The mayor of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine has been shot and critically wounded amid continuing unrest in the region.
Hennadiy Kernes was recovering after a two-hour operation to
repair damage to the chest and abdomen, but his life remained in danger,
his office said.
Monday also saw pro-Russian separatists seize a local government building in Kostyantynivka, a town to the south.
The US has meanwhile expanded sanctions to include targets linked to President Vladimir Putin's "inner circle".
The list includes seven new individuals and 17 companies. The European Union is also expected to announce new sanctions.
Western nations accuse Moscow of supporting separatist gunmen
who are occupying official buildings in cities across eastern Ukraine.
The separatists continue to hold seven Western military observers who were seized last week in the region.
Monday saw pro-Russian separatists seize a local government building in Kostyantynivka
Administrative buildings across eastern Ukraine are in the hands of Russian-speaking, pro-Moscow elements
Authorities in Kharkiv said several
people were injured when football fans marching for a united Ukraine
scuffled with pro-Russia supporters in Kharkiv on Sunday
Mr Kernes was reportedly out jogging in Kharkiv on Monday when he was shot in the back by an unknown gunman.
The head of the hospital where Mr Kernes is being treated,
the Surgery Institute in Kharkiv, said he had suffered a "very serious
wound", and that a number of organs had been damaged.
Valeriy Boyko said the threat to the mayor's life had not
been eliminated, but that the bleeding had been stopped, his condition
was stable and that intensive care doctors were treating him for shock.
Mr Kernes used to be a supporter of the former pro-Moscow
President Viktor Yanukovych. He then dropped his support for the ousted
president in favour of a united Ukraine.
He has been described as a "mini-oligarch" - a successful businessman wealthy enough to launch a career in politics.
He has been accused of starting his business career as an
organised crime boss, a claim he denied while acknowledging that he was
once jailed for fraud - a minor offence "partly fabricated" by his
enemies, he insisted.
Kharkiv was also the scene of clashes on Sunday when football
fans marching for a united Ukraine scuffled with pro-Russia supporters.
The authorities in Kharkiv said several people were injured.
On Monday morning, gunmen wearing uniforms with no insignias
moved into the local administrative building in Kostyantynivka and
raised the flag of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk Republic".
They were also reported to be in control of the police
station in Kostyantynivka, which is located between the town of
Sloviansk and the city of Donetsk, both also controlled by separatists.
US President Barack Obama confirmed the stepping up of
sanctions against Russia, which he said was part of a "calibrated
effort" to change Moscow's behaviour in Ukraine, during a visit to the
Philippines.
He said the measures were in response to Moscow's failure to
uphold an international accord aimed at peacefully resolving the Ukraine
crisis.
A White House statement said the new targets were "seven
Russian government officials, including two members of President Putin's
inner circle, who will be subject to an asset freeze and a US visa ban,
and 17 companies linked to Putin's inner circle, which will be subject
to an asset freeze".
President Obama: "The aim is not to go after Mr Putin personally"
Mr Obama said the sanctions were not aimed at Russian President Vladimir Putin personally.
"The goal is to change his calculus with respect to how the
current actions that he's engaging in could have an adverse impact on
the Russian economy over the long haul," he said.
Meanwhile, ambassadors from the 28 EU member states are meeting in Brussels to agree new sanctions against Russia.
"It is time to tear down the masks: this is not separatism,
this is terrorism… Our liberal treatment of the militants and the
attempt to portray their activities as separatism amount to aiding the
biggest evil of the 21st Century." (Ukrainian news website Obozrevatel)
"The EU's intentions are serious. The capture of the OSCE
mission was a direct insult. Sanctions will hit Russia's interests.
Russian decision-makers will have to think twice if they are denied
access to their bank accounts in Europe." (Popular daily tabloid
Segodnya)
"Against the background of the dramatic situation in
Sloviansk and other cities... the patriotism of my regional compatriots
is not that noticeable. But it is the pro-Ukrainian position of the
unarmed majority - despite the weakness or corruption of local security
forces - that inspires optimism: we shall overcome!" (Donetsk-based
Novosti Donbassa website)
The US and EU already have assets
freezes and travel bans in place targeting a number of Russian
individuals and firms accused of playing a part in the annexation of
Crimea last month.
BBC Europe correspondent Chris Morris says it is expected
that the ambassadors will add another 15 people in positions of power to
the list of those to whom sanctions apply.
Our correspondent says the White House wants a show of unity
from the US and Europe, but there is little consensus within the EU at
the moment for implementing broader economic sanctions against Russia.
Eight foreign observers - who were operating under the
auspices of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE) - were led into Sloviansk town hall by masked gunmen and shown to
the media on Sunday.
German monitor Col Axel Schneider, who spoke for the group,
stressed they were not Nato officers - contrary to claims made by the
separatists - nor armed fighters, but diplomats in uniform.
Later, one of the group - a Swede - was freed for medical reasons.
The fate of five Ukrainian military officers accompanying the mission is unknown.
BBC crew witness devastation of air bombardment on Aleppo
A
BBC team has witnessed the devastating effects of air bombardment on
Syrian civilians after gaining rare access to rebel-held areas of
Aleppo.
Emergency rescue teams told the BBC the city was living in "danger and fear".
Thousands of people are reported to have been killed or maimed in a campaign of aerial bombardment in northern Syria this year.
With cameraman Darren Conway, we were the first Western broadcasters in rebel-held Aleppo this year.
Um Yahya wept. With two small
children at her side, the young mother was standing in what until that
morning had been her home. It was now a wreck: a tangle of rubble and
cables and dust, with half the ceiling missing and parts of the building
completely razed.
"My husband was sitting at breakfast. We heard the first
blast: it sounded far away. But I asked him to go and get the kids off
the street. And suddenly it hit us."
Consumed by shock and grief, she described the moment the
barrel bomb landed on her street. "It was as if someone picked me up and
threw me inside".
Her husband, who had gone to find their children, was badly
injured and had been whisked off to hospital. Her parents have fled to
Turkey and she is now alone with her children. "I have nowhere to go,"
she said. "I just want my husband and nothing else."
One monitoring group says nearly 700 civilians have been killed in and around Aleppo in recent weeks
Outside, the emergency rescue team of the Civil Defence Force
(CDF) scoured through the rubble. With little training and limited
equipment from Britain, America and elsewhere, theirs is a task as grim
as it is dangerous.
When there is an attack on residential areas, they race in to search for survivors and - as often as not - to recover bodies.
In the last year, eight crew members have been killed as they brave bombs and bullets to rescue others.
Rescuers brave attack to respond at the sites of bombardments in Aleppo
Khalid Al Heju, the head of the CDF in Aleppo, says it is their responsibility to help those who have no one else to turn to.
"Our humanity urges us to do this job, to save people from under the rubble and take them to hospital," he says.
But he admits to living with fear, like so many others in
this battered city. "Yes, I am scared, I am so scared. The same position
is often hit more than one time.
"This is creating the most danger and fear for us."
Like the people they save, they face attacks from the land and air. 'Indiscriminate, dumb weapons'
The conflict has laid waste to large parts of the city
Since last September Aleppo, Syria's largest city and its
former economic capital, has been at the receiving end of what the
pressure group Human Rights Watch (HRW) calls "an indiscriminate and
unlawful air war against civilians by the Syrian government". Last month
HRW produced a study into the scale of the attacks.
Analysis
Jonathan MarcusBBC diplomatic correspondent
Barrel bombs are just what their name implies - large
cylindrical metal containers filled with explosive and shrapnel that are
typically rolled out of the door of a helicopter. They were initially
dropped from a low altitude, which afforded a reasonable degree of
accuracy, but the possession of portable surface-to-air missiles by the
rebels has forced the helicopters higher and any accuracy has
disappeared. The barrel bombs have become significantly larger over time
and on occasion have had additional tanks welded to them with
suggestions that these might contain inflammable fuel, additional
explosives or even possibly chemicals, such as chlorine. Despite being rudimentary weapons, their destructive power is
considerable - though they are only one part of a Syrian government's
arsenal that has been employed against civilian areas - and their use
could well constitute a war crime.
HRW says the use of barrel bombs has "terrorised" Aleppo in recent months.
The bombs are crude devices, often made from oil drums or
large gas bottles, packed with explosives and bits of metal, that are
literally tossed over the side of helicopters. The devastation they cause and the fear they instil has
forced tens of thousands of people to flee the city this year, according
to charities and NGOs working with displaced families.
"Satellite photos and witness accounts show the brutality
unleashed on parts of Aleppo," according to Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle
East director at Human Rights Watch.
"If these indiscriminate, dumb weapons managed to hit a military target, it would be sheer luck," she says.
In a rare show of unity over Syria, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution
in February that called for an immediate end to "all attacks against
civilians, as well as the indiscriminate employment of weapons in
populated areas, including shelling and aerial bombardment, such as the
use of barrel bombs".
The Violations Documentation Center,
an opposition monitoring group, claims nearly 700 civilians have been
killed across Aleppo province by warplanes and barrel bombs since the UN
resolution was agreed.
The resolution also called for an immediate end to all forms
of violence and called on both sides to cease attacking and besieging
civilians as a tactic of war. That has also not happened.
Even nightfall brings no respite from the war for Aleppo's residents
President Bashar al-Assad insists his military is fighting to
protect civilians, targeting what he calls "terrorists and foreign
extremists". The armed opposition has also been accused of human rights
violations and there have have been many cases where the rebels have
killed civilians through bombardment, but on a very different scale.
World's 'indifference'
We have been coming to Aleppo since the battle began here, nearly two years ago.
Sigrid Kaag, who is overseeing the elimination of
Syria's chemical weapons: "The biggest bulk of the chemical weapons
material is removed but not yet destroyed"
The report of war is the soundtrack for a city that is a shabby imitation of its former self.
Whole neighbourhoods lie empty; the facades of buildings have
been ripped off, piles of rubble lie where homes used to stand, and
roads are blocked by the charred remains of buses that protect
passers-by from the scopes of snipers.
Even in the still of night, in a city consumed by darkness, the war grinds on.
The battle for Aleppo sharply escalated a few weeks ago as
different rebel groups launched a surprise joint attack on government
positions.
Abu Bakri is a leader of the Abu Amara Brigades, one of the
groups on the frontline, and claims the bombing has galvanised the
rebels.
"The regime has been threatening
citizens with barrel bombs and airstrikes. It made all the armed
factions in the city come together and form a joint operations room," he
says.
"We are learning from our mistakes and trying to be more organised with weapons we have and use in better way."
As many as 70% of Aleppo's residents are thought to have
abandoned the city to the two warring groups. "Life here totally sucks,"
says Feras, a young English teacher living in one of the neighbourhoods
that has been attacked. He was afraid to give his family name.
Aleppo facts
Major industrial centre
Population of 2.3 million in 2005
Mainly Sunni Muslim
Largest Christian population in Syria
Aleppo Old City is a Unesco World Heritage site
Became key battleground in July 2012
"It isn't a life: [we are] afraid
of shells falling on our heads day or night. We don't know if we go
this way, if it's safe or not."
There are no signs of an end to this war, despite President Assad's reported prediction it will be over by the end of the year.
A trickle of aid makes its way across the border but Syrians
feel shunned by what they see as the indifference of the outside world.
They are defenceless in the face of incessant attacks, caught between
two sides determined to fight to the bitter end and with little hope of
either respite or relief.
Feras supported the revolution when it began. People used to
talk about freedom and democracy in Syria. Today the talk is only of
bombs and bullets, of deprivation and despair.
"Many armed groups here are stealing houses, not doing good
to people. That's why people here started to hate both sides. We don't
want the regime forces or the FSA; [we] just want to live in peace."
This represents a general opinion site for its author. It also offers a space for the author to record her experiences and perceptions,both personal and public. This is rendered obvious by the content contained in the blog, but the space is here inviting me to write. And so I do.
Ukrainian military buildup round Slavyansk
