BREAKING : Russian-Backed Fighters Restrict Access To Crimean Port

Blowback from Obama's CIA engineered coup expands; Russian flag now flies over regional parliament building as interim president issues threats to Russia

GLOBE AND MAIL
By Mark MaCKINNON
02/27/2014  1550 Western Jakarta Time

Ukraine’s sovereignty over the southern region of Crimea appeared to be under threat Wednesday, as Russian-backed fighters moved dozens of kilometres outside their base in this Black Sea port, establishing a checkpoint on the main road connecting Sevastopol to the regional capital.

 

 

President Vladimir Putin also ordered the Russian military in its central and western commands – more than 150,000 troops with hundreds of tanks and helicopter gunships – to be put on alert for war games in the areas bordering Ukraine. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu characterized the manoeuvre as a snap military drill, similar to others Mr. Putin has ordered in the past in other parts of the country.

But the timing of the military moves raised already sky-high tensions in Ukraine, as well as suspicions that Russia is considering some form of intervention in this former Soviet republic, and prompted warnings from U.S. officials against any intervention.

The Globe and Mail saw at least a dozen men wearing fatigues – supported by an armoured personnel carrier – standing under a Russian flag at a checkpoint erected roughly halfway along the 80-kilometre road from Sevastopol to Simferopol, putting it close to the administrative border that separates the Sevastopol municipality from the rest of Crimea and Ukraine.

 

 

Pro-Russian activists gather to form local public guards to oppose pro-EU groups

 

The men, some wearing balaclavas, used flashlights to look inside each vehicle approaching Sevastopol. They reportedly later told journalists they were local “volunteers.”

Earlier Wednesday, at least two armoured personnel carriers were seen manoeuvring in the centre of this port city, which has historic ties to Russia and hosts Russia’s Black Sea Fleet under an agreement between Moscow and Kiev. Mr. Shoigu said the Kremlin was “carefully watching what is happening in Crimea” and would take “measures to guarantee the safety of facilities, infrastructure and arsenals of the Black Sea fleet.”

 

 

Kerry issues usual irrelevant threats

Mr. Shoigu said the drills will last until March 3. Russia has so far refused to recognize the regime that came to power in Kiev following the violent ouster of Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovych. Meanwhile, the West is rushing to support it, with Washington and Brussels giving vocal support – and promising money – to the protest movement that overthrew an elected government. 

 

Foreign Minister John Baird is also rushing to Kiev this week, aiming to show Canada’s solidarity with interim president Oleksander Turchynov and the prime minister-designate Arseniy Yatseniuk.

 

 

President Barack Obama warned “outside actors in the region … to end provocative rhetoric and actions.” Instead, Moscow should use its “influence in support of unity, peace and an inclusive path forward,” Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman said.

Many here in Crimea, however, say they would welcome Russian intervention. While many of the revolutionaries in Kiev are Ukrainian-speakers who want to see the country take steps towards joining the European Union, many Crimeans see themselves as Russians who were left outside the borders of their motherland when the Soviet Union fell apart.

Thousands of ethnic Russians rallied Wednesday outside the regional parliament building in Simferopol, shouting for deputies to call a referendum about seceding from Ukraine and possibly joining Russia. Deputies had been expected to introduce some kind of resolution on Wednesday regarding Crimea’s future, but they were blocked by thousands of ethnic Tatars who say they want to remain in Ukraine. Minor clashes broke out, and one person died of a heart attack, before parliament agreed to postpone any vote on secession.

 

 

CIA coup now blows back on architect Obama

“We don’t want to be with Ukraine. … Sevastopol, Kerch and Simferopol all want to join Russia,” said Darya Artyomenko, a 23-year-old law student who attended the Simferopol rally. Her voice was barely audible above chants of “Russia!” and “Referendum!” Ms. Artyomenko said she didn’t want to live in a country controlled by “fascists” from western Ukraine whom she believes are intent on eliminating the Russian language and culture.

In Brussels, North Atlantic Treaty Organization defence ministers ignored Russia’s war-games alert and called for co-operation in Ukraine’s unfolding crisis. The Western alliance, which includes Canada, said it supported “Ukrainian sovereignty and independence, territorial integrity, democratic development, and the principle of inviolability of frontiers.” NATO has invited Ukraine to join the military alliance – a move bitterly opposed by Russia.

Russian-speakers in the east and south of the country were angered that one of the first actions taken by the post-revolution parliament in Kiev was to repeal a law, adopted under the toppled Mr. Yanukovych, that allowed regions like Crimea to adopt Russian as an official second language, alongside Ukrainian.

 

 

Russian Spetsnaz troops

 

“Nobody asked south Ukraine if we want this new government,” said Svetalana Khromova, a 36-year-old childcare worker who joined the Simferopol demonstration. “We’ve lived here for 200 years. We’ve always spoken Russian and we’ll keep speaking Russian.”

While many Russian-speakers feel threatened by the idea of living under the new government in Kiev, other ethnic groups say they have no interest in seeing Crimea join Russia.

The pro-Russian demonstration in Simferopol was countered by thousands of Crimean Tatars, who are Muslims and speak a Turkic dialect. They blocked the doors of parliament and kept the regional assembly from meeting. Mixing chants of “Glory to Ukraine!” with “God is great!” the Tatars claimed a victory Wednesday when they forced the parliament to call of its planned session.

Many of Ukraine’s 300,000 Crimean Tatars associate Russian rule with the Soviet period, which saw the entire population was deported en masse by Joseph Stalin in 1944. Many only returned to Crimea after the fall of the Soviet Union and the birth of independent Ukraine in 1991.

“We don’t expect anything good from Russia,” said 52-year-old Ibazir Ilyasov. “Ukrainian nationalists and Crimean nationalists have the same enemy: Russia.”

Ethnic Russians make up about 58 per cent of Crimea’s two million residents. Ukrainians make up 24 per cent, while Crimean Tatars are 12 per cent. In Sevastopol, ethnic Russians make up 70 per cent of the city’s population of 340,000.

 

With a report from Paul Koring in Washington

This news bureau contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.  We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

 

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Third Of California Town's Officers Tied To Scheme

California's emptying prisons now make way for a flood of coward, feral pigs

THE CALIFORNIAN
By Channing Joseph and Martha Mendoza
02/26/2014

KING CITY (AP) — 

 

One-third of a central California town’s police force was taken off duty after several officers were arrested in a scheme to take for themselves the impounded cars of some poor Hispanic residents, authorities said.

 

 

Corrupt California pigs have long been out of control

In the scheme, vehicles were impounded and towed, and when the car owners couldn’t pay the fees, the vehicles were sold or given away for free to some officers, Monterey County District Attorney Dean Flippo said Tuesday.

Four King City officers — including the recently retired police chief and the acting chief — have been arrested in the scheme, and two others were also arrested Tuesday on unrelated charges, Flippo said. The officers have been placed on paid administrative leave, KSBW-TV reported.

“There has been a significant breakdown in the internal leadership of the King City Police Department,” Flippo said. “It also appears to me that some officers have dishonored their badge.”

 

 

 

The six officers account for more than a third of the 17-member force in the agricultural town of 13,000 people about 150 miles southeast of San Francisco.

Early Tuesday morning, teams from the Monterey County sheriff’s office, the FBI, the Salinas Police Department and the district attorney’s bureau of investigation arrested the officers after a months-long investigation. It began as a response to complaints by residents of corruption and criminal acts within the department dating back at least 3 1 / 2years, Flippo said.

 

 

The probe revealed that the scheme focused on poor Hispanic residents — including many who don’t speak English. More than 200 vehicles had been impounded, Flippo said, and 87 percent had been taken in by the same towing company.

In some cases, authorities said, officers simply kept the cars for their own use.

 

The four officers tied to the alleged car theft scheme have each been charged with bribery, accepting a bribe or embezzlement. They are Sgt. Bobby Javier Carrillo, Acting Chief Bruce Edward Miller, former Chief Dominic David Baldiviez and Mario Alonso Mottu Sr.

Brian Albert Miller, the operator of the towing company who is also the brother of the acting chief, has also been arrested in the case.

The other two officers arrested Tuesday are facing charges unrelated to the scheme. Officer Jaime Andrade was accused of possession of an assault weapon and illegal storage of a firearm, and Officer Mark Allen Baker was arrested on suspicion of criminal threats.

 

 

 

Investigators said Carrillo was the car scheme’s ring leader and that for every 10 to 15 vehicles he impounded, he would receive one free vehicle to keep or sell.

Authorities said Carrillo gave one of those vehicles to Bruce Miller, who was then a police captain and has been charged with accepting a bribe, the Salinas Californian reported.

Authorities also say Baldiviez gave Mottu a 2001 Ford Crown Victoria patrol car belonging to King City or the King City Police Explorers, the newspaper said.

 

 

All seven of those arrested were bailed out of jail within hours, KSBW reported.

“I’m completely surprised by the arrest this morning,” Bruce Miller told a KSBW reporter on his way out of jail after posting bail.

 

He said he had known his department was being investigated but had no idea that he was a suspect. He denied that he had accepted any bribes in the scheme.

“My reputation is soiled,” he said. “There’s no coming back from this, even if I’m found innocent. People are always going to look poorly upon me.”

Tuesday evening in King City was typically quiet, with the historic main street’s bakeries, markets, taquerias and restaurants mostly empty.

The windows were steamy at Bailey’s Gym, where a handful of people were working out.

Owner Greg Bailey, who also works as a correctional officer at a nearby prison, said he has known Miller for a long time and is skeptical about the charges.

“When the finger gets pointed at you, you’ve got to dig your feet in and fight your way back,” he said.

Bailey said it’s not uncommon for immigrants to drive without insurance, and if they are caught, their vehicles are impounded. He said his own car was hit by someone driving without insurance.

Bailey said he is concerned about the sudden, sharp reduction in the police force.

“There was a safety issue prior to this happening,” he said, noting gangs are active in the town.

Hector and Laura Vasquez set down a heavy sofa they were carrying in the showroom of their Dor’s Furniture store to chat about the arrests.

Speaking in Spanish, Laura Vasquez said it didn’t seem right that the officers were bailed out so quickly after her husband described what had happened.

“They’re supposed to be keeping us safe, but they’re the ones who are breaking the law,” she said.

Hector Vasquez said there’s frequent talk in the U.S. of how corrupt Mexican law enforcement agents are.

“So that’s a little awkward,” he said.

The front office of the King City police station was closed Tuesday afternoon.

King City Manager Michael Powers told The Associated Press that Monterey County sheriff’s deputies and officers from the nearby cities of Gonzales and Soledad have volunteered to help police the city now that so many of its officers have been taken off duty.

“Obviously, people are in shock, and so is the city staff,” Powers said. “But at the same time, we can’t tolerate corruption in the police department.”

Channing Joseph reported from San Francisco. Associated Press writers Paul Elias and Sudhin Thanawala in San Francisco also contributed to this story.

This news bureau contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.  We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

  

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Ralph Nader : Obama The "Executioner"

Obama's reign of terror has made U.S. world pariah

PRESS TV
By Ralph Nader
02/26/2014

In his new book, Ralph Nader calls for the end of “unconstitutional wars and unchecked militarism” — and lays blame on President Barack Obama for going beyond even George W. Bush. 

 

 

Nader writes in “Unstoppable” that Obama “has extended the Bush doctrine by declaring his unilateral right, as secret prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner, to destroy anybody, anywhere in the world, including American citizens, suspected to be engaged in alleged terrorist activities, all this vaguely and loosely defined as anti-US security.”

He continues, “Inspired by the military actions of the Clinton administration, the Obama and Bush teams made a seamless transition into a militarized foreign policy, extending even further the illegal reach of wars of choice, invasions, incursions, and drone attacks, carried out irrespective of national sovereignties.”

The consumer crusader’s new book also makes the case for a bipartisan effort to “dismantle the corporate state.”

 

 

Nader, best known recently for his unsuccessful presidential runs, writes in “Unstoppable” (out in April), that “positive spirited persons of the Right and of the Left” can, in fact, come together. 

 

 “This book is addressed first to those people who are not knee-jerk rejectionists,” Nader writes. “It’s meant for those who want to explore another beckoning pathway — one that can rescue our country from being driven further into the ground and turn into a nation where many more of its inhabitants can fulfill their potential.”

 

“A major area of potential for building alliances comes from the deep aversion many people have to the wars of empire and corporate control over their lives, particularly the ever-tightening influence of Big Business on the mainstream media, elections, and our local, state, and federal governments.”

Much of the book focuses on Nader’s 25 proposed reforms, including linking the minimum wage with inflation and rethinking the war on drugs.

“The classification and prosecution of drug use as a crime has activated and corrupted law enforcement, encouraged a truly self-defeating form of big government, endangered urban neighborhoods and many thousands of lives, and drained tens of billions of dollars a year from taxpayers.” 

 

 

Nader says that “almost all the politicians are for sale — with few enough successful exceptions to point to as the preferable, contrasting alternative of politicians actually concerned with the good of the people.”

Nader — no regular on the D.C. cocktail circuit — admits that pushing against the corporate state has its downfalls, especially for conservatives.

“Your social life might shut down,” he writes. “Invitations to homes and restaurants for dinner start to decline. You’re not on the guest list anymore. Outings with your customary friends and their families become rarer. Your deviation from the norm is seen as apostasy or blasphemy. A few tough-skinned conservatives may shrug this off. Most are hurt and cannot easily abide ostracism.”

GJH/ISH

This news bureau contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.  We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

 

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Documents Say Navy Knew Fukushima Dangerously Contaminated The USS Reagan

Yet another Obama cover-up in progress in addition to the suppression of Fukushima fallout radiation data in the U.S.

ECOWATCH
By Harvey Waserman
02/26/2014

A stunning new report indicates the U.S. Navy knew that sailors from the nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan took major radiation hits from the Fukushima atomic power plant after its meltdowns and explosions nearly three years ago. 

 

 

If true, the revelations cast new light on the $1 billion lawsuit filed by the sailors against Tokyo Electric Power. Many of the sailors are already suffering devastating health impacts, but are being stonewalled by Tepco and the Navy.

The Reagan had joined several other U.S. ships in Operation Tomodachi (“Friendship”) to aid victims of the March 11, 2011 quake and tsunami. Photographic evidence and first-person testimony confirms that on March 12, 2011 the ship was within two miles of Fukushima Dai’ichi as the reactors there began to melt and explode.

In the midst of a snow storm, deck hands were enveloped in a warm cloud that came with a metallic taste. Sailors testify that the Reagan’s 5,500-member crew was told over the ship’s intercom to avoid drinking or bathing in desalinized water drawn from a radioactive sea. The huge carrier quickly ceased its humanitarian efforts and sailed 100 miles out to sea, where newly published internal Navy communications confirm it was still taking serious doses of radioactive fallout. 

 

 

Scores of sailors from the Reagan and other ships stationed nearby now report a wide range of ailments reminiscent of those documented downwind from atomic bomb tests in the Pacific and Nevada, and at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. 

 

 

 

A similar metallic taste was described by pilots who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and by central Pennsylvanians downwind of Three Mile Island. Some parts of the atolls downwind from the South Pacific bomb tests remain uninhabitable six decades later.

Among the 81 plaintiffs in the federal class action are a sailor who was pregnant during the mission, and her “Baby A.G.,” born that October with multiple genetic mutations.

Officially, Tepco and the Navy say the dose levels were safe. 

 

 

The melted-down Fukushima Number Four reactor

But a stunning new report by an American scholar based in Tokyo confirms that Naval officers communicated about what they knew to be the serious irradiation of the Reagan. 

 

Written by Kyle Cunningham and published in Japan Focus, “Mobilizing Nuclear Bias” describes the interplay between the U.S. and Japanese governments as Fukushima devolved into disaster.

Cunningham writes that transcribed conversations obtained through the Freedom of Information Act feature naval officials who acknowledge that even while 100 miles away from Fukushima, the Reagan’s readings “compared to just normal background [are] about 30 times what you would detect just on a normal air sample out to sea.”

On the nuclear-powered carrier “all of our continuous monitors alarmed at the same level, at this value. And then we took portable air samples on the flight deck and got the same value,” the transcript says.

Serious fallout was also apparently found on helicopters coming back from relief missions. One unnamed U.S. government expert is quoted in the Japan Focus article as saying: 

 

 

"At 100 meters away it (the helicopter) was reading 4 sieverts per hour. That is an astronomical number and it told me, what that number means to me, a trained person, is there is no water on the reactor cores and they are just melting down, there is nothing containing the release of radioactivity. It is an unmitigated, unshielded number. (Confidential communication, Sept. 17, 2012)."

The transcript then contains discussion of health impacts that could come within a matter of “10 hours. It’s a thyroid issue.”

Tepco and the Navy contend the Reagan did not receive a high enough dose to warrant serious concern. But Japan, South Korea and Guam deemed the carrier too radioactive to enter their ports. Stock photographs show sailors working en masse to scrub the ship down.

The $4.3 billion boat is now docked in San Diego. Critics question whether it belongs there at all. Attempts to decontaminate U.S. ships irradiated during the Pacific nuclear bombs tests from 1946-1963 proved fruitless. Hundreds of sailors were exposed to heavy doses of radiation, but some ships had to be sunk anyway.

Leaks at the Fukushima site continue to worsen. Despite its denials, Tepco recently admitted it had underestimated certain radiation releases by a factor of 500 percent. A new report indicates that particles of radioactive Cesium 134 from Fukushima have been detected in the ocean off the west coast of North America.

Global concerns continue to rise about Fukushima’s on-going crises with liquid leaks, the troubled removal of radioactive fuel rods, the search for three missing melted cores, organized crime influence at the site and much more. The flow of information has been seriously darkened by the pro-nuclear Abe Administration’s State Secrets Act, which imposes major penalties on those who might report what happens at Fukushima.

But if this new evidence holds true, it means that the Navy knew the Ronald Reagan was being plastered with serious radioactive fallout and it casts the accident in a light even more sinister than previously believed.

The stricken sailors are barred from suing the Navy, and their case against Tepco will depend on a series of complex international challenges.

But one thing is certain: neither they nor the global community have been getting anything near the full truth about Fukushima.

Visit EcoWatch’s NUCLEAR page for more related news on this topic.

Harvey Wasserman edits www.nukefree.org, where petitions calling for the repeal of Japan’s State Secrets Act and a global takeover at Fukushima are linked. He is author of SOLARTOPIA! Our Green-Powered Earth.

This news bureau contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.  We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

 
 

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Gorbachev, Ukraine, And Slaying Dragons

A panicking Obama now threatens Russia over out of control CIA engineered coup

WORLD NEWS
By Dallas Darling
02/25/2014

"Just like reformers before me, I thought that we had a system that could be improved. Instead, I learned that we had a system that needed to be replaced." -Mikhail Gorbachev
 
Ukrainian ballots have blood on them. Three months of deadly protests and pitched battles have wounded and killed hundreds of citizens. Meanwhile, Ukraine's parliament voted to remove President Viktor Yanukovich. Mikhail Gorbachev, another former leader of a different country and time, recognized this Red Revolution noting that the political crisis in Ukraine stemmed from its government's failure to act democratically. In a muddled world of fiery breathing dragons, even coups can appear democratic.

But representative governments have a way of sometimes behaving badly. Gorbachev was also ousted and arrested after establishing long awaited political and economic reforms in the former Soviet Union. His crime was being a moral reformer, in the sense that, he set out to restructure the Communist Party instead of destroying it. Because of this, members of the State Emergency Committee placed Gorbachev under house arrest in 1991, preventing him from signing a treaty that provided autonomy to the Soviet republics.



Yulia Tymoshenko, Yanukovich's rival, hailed the coup, calling armed protesters "heroes." Her release marks another radical transformation in Ukrainian history, one that will move it closer to Europe. It will also quicken privatization and increase inequality, something that globalization and Tymoshenko's prior reforms have already done. Ukrainians have mixed emotions. Don't be surprised if this new change drives a deeper wedge between eastern and western Ukraine, someday creating two countries.

For his part, Yanukovich, unlike Gorbachev, was no Nobel prize winner. As Yanukovich continues his flight, he leaves behind an abandoned estate which paints a portrait of wealth and splendor. His magnificent house, with its private zoo and replicas of ancient Greek statues and lavish waterways and parks, resembles the follies of past rulers. Inconsequential leaders should always be cautious of Suprema Radas: parliamentary power to remove the president in the event of state treason or another crime.(2)

But just how treasonous and criminal was Yanukovich's behavior? Was it his lifestyle, or merely wanting to remain pro Moscow? Tymoshenko announced assurances that the Ukraine will join the European Union and move closer to the U.S.. However, seldom do fiery speeches slay disillusionment.


Neither do they eliminate high unemployment and health problems, neo-Nazism and pro-Stalinism, political and economic corruption, nor ethnic and religious differences. Armed extremists are still roaming the streets of Kiev.

Gorbachev and Yanukovich were unable to slay all of the dragons that haunted them and their respective nations, especially the dragons that remained entrenched in state, military, and corporate institutions. They could not change the views of some political opponents who remained in power, whom then interpreted and used the same representative laws and constitution against them. Gorbachev was arrested. As for Yanukovich, some are wanting to try him for "mass murder of peaceful citizens."

Mikhail Gorbachev

Deeply embedded in Ukrainian mythology is the dragon slayer Kyrylo Kozhumiaka. He was endowed with tremendous strength and ultimately freed the people of Kiev from the vicious reign of a dragon.(1) In this seemingly modern world, there are still dragons but with differing forms. Along with disillusionment and poverty, illegitimacy and mistrust, armed violence and secession, and national debt and the push and pull factors of international forces, there are the dragons of representative politics and of choice.


Ironically, it was Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and glasnost that helped people in the Ukraine demand more freedoms and ultimate independence. But economic reforms and openness, restructuring and transparency, even a representative democracy that turns misrepresentative, can become dangerous. Like dragons, they seek to devour whoever and whenever.

Dallas Darling (darling@wn.com)

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John's Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.worldnews.com. You can read more of Dallas' writings at www.beverlydarling.com and wn.com//dallasdarling.

(1) Gall, Timothy L. Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life. New York, New York: Gale Publishers, 1998., p. 394.

(2) Maddex, Robert L. Constitutions of the World. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Inc., 2001., p. 366.

This news bureau contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.  We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

 

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Venezuela, Ukraine, And North Korea : Targets Of Flailing American Imperialism

Obama's desperate bid for a war - any war - to save himself from impeachment and his White House criminals from prison

GLOBAL RESEARCH
By Danny Haiphong
02/26/2014

In every part of the globe, the world’s sovereign nations are feeling the wrath of a US imperialist system in decline. US imperialism is losing its grip as the most dominant capitalist economy on the planet. To reconcile its humiliation and maintain its waning economic dominance, US imperialism has resorted to building a vast military empire abroad to submerge independent states under its thumb. From 1945 and through the GW Bush era’s call for a “New American Century”, the overthrow of democratically elected governments and overt acts of war either had to gain popular consensus in the US first or be done covertly by the CIA. Now, with the global capitalist economy in permanent crisis, the US and its allies are sponsoring so called “protest movements” and “opposition” groups to wage wars most Americans no longer support. 

 

 

Nowhere is this clearer than in Venezuela, North Korea, and Ukraine. As in Libya and Syria, Venezuela and Ukraine are struggling to defeat Washington-backed “opposition” groups looking to install US-friendly regimes. Venezuela’s democratically elected government was never forgiven for betraying the wishes of the neo-colonial oligarchy and completely reforming its electoral and economic basis to align with the interests of Venezuela’s poor majority. 

 

 

The Bolivarian government has made important gains in the areas of poverty reduction, healthcare, literacy, and education. But the corporate media and US political leaders are having us believe that “anti-government” protesters funded at 5 million per year by the US government itself somehow represent the interests of the Venezuelan majority. 

 

 

 

 

Undoubtedly, the Venezuelan oligarchy and their sugar-daddys in Washington are bitter that their representatives lost over 70 percent of municipalities in the local elections and failed to become the ruling party in what Jimmy Carter called the most democratic Presidential election process in the world in 2012. 

 

 

In Ukraine, a fascist “protest” movement has been growing with armed support from NATO and the US. These “protesters”, armed with heavy artillery and shwastika banners, are demanding the Ukrainian government open up relations with the EU and allow their economy to become a nest for finance capital.

 

 

The Ukrainian government has defied the wishes of fascists and their Western allies by swearing allegiance to Russia. 

 

The US-NATO-EU alliance sees Ukraine as a possible NATO military base and an economic asset to mend the austerity and crisis ridden European capitalist order. Only a coup at this point can achieve these ends. The replacement of President Yanukovych with a EU friendly government would exacerbate economic woes and set back the hopes of Russia and its allies for a multi-polar economic and military global order. 

 

 

At the level of soft power, a new report emerged from the UN that used interview data from exiles residing in the West and South Korea. The report concluded that the leader of the DPRK, Kim Jong Un, should be referred to the International Criminal Court for “crimes against humanity.” Hypocrisy stains this report from top to bottom. 

 

 

The US never ended its war against Korea, only signing an armistice in 1953 that kept the country divided between socialist DPRK and the neo-Colony South Korea. 

 

 

The US has never been referred to any international body for its war crimes let alone for its horrific bombing campaign that left Korea in ruins and forced thousands into death or homelessness. Nor will the UN report admit that US-imposed sanctions on the DPRK beginning after the fall of the Soviet Union is a blatant act of war. 

 

 

The US, not the DPRK, uses “food as a weapon” on the people of North Korea by blocking its ability to receive needed resources abroad to increase its foodstuffs. 

 

Lastly, The UN remains silent on the crimes of the South Korean government, which presides over masses of impoverished people and imprisons dissidents of its fascist regime. The UN and its ruler, the US, never criticize South Korea’s military operations, which violate of North Korea’s sovereignty. Indeed, the UN report was conducted for the sole purpose of justifying further US intervention against North Korea in pursuit of geopolitical dominance. 

 

 

The reality is that the US imperialist system is in such a terrible economic state that it must rely on waging war in every corner of the globe to maintain its relevancy. 

 

 No longer is US imperialism able to conduct widespread bombing campaigns or overthrow democratically elected governments through the CIA with impunity. In order to bypass Russia and China in the United Nations, US imperialism must resort to mass manipulation through the corporate media and a network of intelligence agencies, private military contractors, and allied nations in imperial organizations like NATO to train and fund so called “protest movements” and “opposition” groups. 

 

Venezuela, Ukraine, and North Korea have fallen victim to media deception and mercenary terrorism sponsored by the Wall Street ruled US-Western alliance. Anti-imperialists in the United States need to defend these countries right to sovereignty and organize resistance to US imperialism at home. Furthermore, anti-imperialists residing in the US must explain to the people the connection between US imperialism abroad and the increased austerity, poverty, racism, and massive prison and police state at home.

Danny Haiphong is an activist and case manager in the Greater Boston area. You can contact Danny at: wakeupriseup1990@gmail.com. 

This news bureau contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.  We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

 

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Homeless Population In U.S. Capital Up 135 Percent From Last Year

As Obama ramps up for WWIII with Russia in a last-ditch, desperate attempt to save his ass from the ongoing, devastating Snowden revelations

WORLD SOCIALIST WEBSITE
By Adam Soroka
02/24/2014

The number of homeless families seeking shelter in the Washington, DC has risen by 135 percent from the same time last year, surging past earlier official expectations of a 10 percent increase, according to various news sources. The growing rate of homeless families seeking shelter is almost unprecedented, bringing the entire family shelter system to maximum capacity by late January. 

Nearly 300 individuals fill DC General, a former hospital-turned-family shelter, with another 125 families filling up the District’s only other family shelter. In fact, the city has had to put an additional 436 families with a combined 849 children in motels in the District and in the neighboring Maryland suburbs. The epidemic has been termed “a crisis” by the District’s director of the Department of Human Services (DHS), David Berns.

At a February 3 public hearing at the former hospital, shelter residents blasted the city government for the abysmal conditions in which they were living. The hearing was attended by Council member Jim Graham, who chairs the Committee on Human Services. One complaint was raised in regard to a pile of dirty diapers that had been allowed to accumulate next to the cafeteria, where residents took their meals. 

Washington, DC is one of the few cities in the US with a “right to shelter” law that goes into effect every winter when the temperatures reach dangerously cold levels. With the recent cold snap in January, homeless families from the District have come to rely on the law to protect them from the threat of deadly hypothermia.

Democratic Mayor Vincent Gray has attributed the rise in homelessness to non-residents flocking to the District with intent to “take advantage” of the law. This is an attempt to deflect attention away from the city’s miserly allocation of resources for dealing with the victims of the social catastrophe wrought by gentrification, budget cuts, and a general decline in the living standards of the city population. 

The current crisis fully exposes the social reality of the Washington Metropolitan region, often cited by pundits and politicians as having a “recession-proof” economy. According to the DC Fiscal Policy Institute (DCFPI), the District has shed over 50 percent of its low-cost rental units and 72 percent of its low-value homes. In addition to that, 40 percent of DC households have not seen their incomes increase since 2000.

As in many other cities throughout the US, official responses to the decline in living standards have been limited to populist calls to raise the minimum wage. In the case of DC, last December saw the DC Council vote unanimously to raise the minimum wage from $8.25 an hour to $11.50 over the next three years. This was after an earlier attempt to raise the minimum wage to $12.50 was vetoed by Gray last summer. 

At $11.50 an hour, a full-time worker would see a yearly income of $22,080 before taxes. 

A report put out by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that a family of four would need a combined income of $88,000 yearly to live decently in the District of Columbia.

 

For the top layers of DC, business has been brisk. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, government spending on local contractors went from $29.3 billion a year in 2000 to $83.5 billion a year in 2010. In 2013 the sale of million-dollar homes went up by 32 percent over 2012. In 2013, Market Watch rated the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area the second richest region in the US, with a median household income of $88,223. The District has a city budget surplus of $1.75 billion. 

Gray, who is running for re-election as mayor, first won office in 2010 by making appeals to the city’s homeless advocates with pledges of support, but it was not long after winning office that he began to hatch proposals to defund essential social services, which he contemptuously refers to as the District’s “handout” culture.

During his tenure, Gray and the DC Council have cut $20 million from a trust fund for affordable housing units and imposed stricter measures on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Act in the name of fiscal responsibility. Last year, on the local level, nonprofits saw their funding for homeless prevention and family counseling cut by as much as 18 percent, in addition to the loss of federal homeless prevention grants as a result of the "sequester."

 

DHS Director David Berns has stated that without additional funding, he may need to close shelters for homeless singles in order to shift resources to caring for families. 

City officials have offered up the “Rapid Rehousing” program as a solution to the crisis. 

Under Rapid Rehousing, sheltered families agree to sign an apartment lease for which the city government will pay the first four months of rent, with an additional two years of possible extensions. 

The program is being presented as a means of clearing families out of overflowing shelters in order to make space for others in need.

Yet, according to the Washington Post, the absence of affordable housing is bottlenecking Rapid Rehousing. Whereas official predictions put the monthly number of families relocated with the program at 60, the actual numbers are 27 to 35. 

This is because many sheltered families are resisting the city’s efforts to put them into the program. According to one sheltered resident interviewed by the Post, Cartrice Haynesworth, “A lot of families that tried Rapid Rehousing are back at DC General, so families are afraid to try it.” Another resident who testified at the February 3 hearing called it “a revolving door of homelessness.”

In pushing for Rapid Rehousing, DC officials seek to claw back even more savings by eliminating more costly programs like permanent subsidy vouchers or rent-controlled public housing units. To highlight this, Gray recently amended a law that would allow officials to kick out sheltered families who have refused at least two Rapid Rehousing offers.

This news bureau contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.  We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

 

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Putin Puts Troops On Alert In West Russia

Obama and his murdering CIA put America on the path to WWIII

PRESS TV
02/26/2014

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered an urgent drill to test the combat readiness of the country’s armed forces across western Russia, including the border area towards Ukraine. 

 

 

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Putin ordered forces of the Western Military District to be put on alert on Wednesday.

"In accordance with an order from the president of the Russian Federation, forces of the Western Military District were put on alert," said Shoigu.

Massive military drills are to be held for four days beginning February 28 and most of the country’s armed units including ships of the Baltic and the Northern Fleets and the Air Force are involved in the drills.

According to the defense ministry, some 150,000 service men are to participate during the military exercises.

 

 

EU, NATO will be first to get a taste of Putin's T-90's

There was no official statement from Moscow that the massive maneuvers are linked to the upheavals in Ukraine, which led to the fall of pro-Putin president Viktor Yanukovych.

On February 23, the Ukrainian parliament ousted president Viktor Yanukovych and named Oleksandr Turchynov, the legislature’s newly-elected speaker, as interim president.

Moscow has questioned the legitimacy of Ukraine’s new government, saying the current authorities have come to power as a result of an "armed mutiny." 

 

 

 

In addition, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has denounced the Western countries' decision to accept the Ukrainian new authorities as a mistake and an “aberration of consciousness.”

Ukraine has been the scene of anti-government protests since November last year, when Yanukovych refrained from signing an Association Agreement with the EU in favor of closer ties with Russia.

CAH/AB/SL

This news bureau contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.  We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

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