http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/10/10/belarus-kgb-detains-about-100-fans-for-singing-putin-khulo-video/

In commemoration of the Baltic Way, a huge fascist human chain which insulted the glory of the Soviet Union 25 years ago, the leader of the Lithuanian junta chooses to display a huge Western Ukraine flag.

Seems the story below was false.

Canada donates 20 CF-18A fighters along with 10 flight instructors to train Ukraine Air Force pilots.

http://intvua.com/news/98399-kanada-podaruye-ukrayin-vinischuvach-foto.html

I’m still blogging (scroll down to see the latest), but I need to take a break from daily updates to work on other projects. I plan to post fewer, but more in-depth / interesting stories, as well as personal news for my friends and family who tune in to this blog.

For your daily Ukraine updates, please check out these twitter feeds:

Roman Skaskiw – https://twitter.com/Roman_Skaskiw
Ukrainian Updates – https://twitter.com/Ukroblogger
Ukraine Reporter – https://twitter.com/StateOfUkraine
EuroMaidan PR – https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPR

Also,

Kyiv Post – http://www.kyivpost.com/
StopFake.org (exposing fake Russian news & propaganda) – http://www.stopfake.org/en/news/
Maidan Translations (good military summaries) – (http://maidantranslations.com/

2003

We had an Army photographer with us on this mission. I had my helmet off b/c I was the guy who spoke with locals. Maybe I kept it off b/c it was so hot. I decided to stand against the wall for cover while the guys finished searching the compound. Everyone was tense b/c we had made our first contact of the deployment several days earlier. Nothing serious, an ineffective hit-and-run ambush from across a canal. But everyone was tense. I forget the what the purpose of this mission was. Maybe we were searching houses near that ambush site, though I’m not certain. I remember that I wasn’t my usual pleasant, enthusiastic self when it came to interacting w/ locals — something I usual enjoyed and was good at.

The lesson for occupied Ukraine is that when occupiers feel scared, when they’re unable to distinguish friend from foe, they become more hostile to the locals and possibly losing sympathy as a consequence.

The decisive terrain in counter-insurgency (or for that matter, insurgency) is not any object or building or the destruction of your enemy, though all these things can help. The decisive terrain is the opinion of the populace.

In Bakhchisaray, during an assembly on Lenin square commemorating the 70th anniversary of Stalin’s deportation of the Crimean Tatars, two military helicopters began to circle the assembled gathering and continued to fly low during the entire somber event, interfering with speeches, reports tyzhden.ua, May 18.

Residents of Bakhchisaray and the Bakhchisaray district, including many children and elderly people who had witnessed the deportation, had gathered to commemorate the anniversary of the deportation. When the helicopters appeared in the sky, those present began to chant “Mustafa!” and also “Millett! Vatan! Kyrym (Nation! Homeland! Crimea!).

Akhtem Chyjhoz, the head of the Bakhchisaray district of the Mejlis (representative body of the Crimean Tatars — Ed.), called on those present not to give in to provocations and to join the assembly of all of Crimea in the Ak-Mechet district of Simferopol. It also was reported that helicopters were circling over Simferopol and the surrounding villages.

As previously reported, on May 18, Crimean Tatars commemorated the victims of Stalin’s deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944. The Crimean Tatars consider this tragedy the genocide of their people. According to historians, more than 40% of the Crimean Tatars died from intolerable conditions, from hunger and disease. Out of 423,000 deported, some 195,000 died during the transport and the first 18 months of life in the special settlements.

Meanwhile, the self-proclaimed prime minister of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov has banned all mass events on the annexed peninsula until June 6.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on the international community to put an end to Russian aggression against Ukraine and to support the Crimean Tatars, who find themselves in a difficult situation in the annexed Crimea.

Aksyonov finally gave permission for the Crimean Tatars to organize a public meeting on May 18 at a Muslim cemetery.

http://euromaidanpr.com/2014/05/18/russian-helicopters-interfere-with-crimean-tatar-commemoration/#more-9390

My photo:

@MaximEristavi

Luhansk today: Govt, AG office, TV-center seized by separatists, ongoing police HQ storming pic via Reuters

@EuromaidanPR 4h

BREAKING: At least 30 ppl with machine guns are trying to seize more govt buildings in #Luhansk |EMPR News #Ukraine #RussianInvasion

Ukrainian Flag Burned:

@EuromaidanPR

#Lugansk city administration was taken by assault by 2K ppl armed w/ bats, hammers, stones. http://ostro.org |EMPR News

@StateOfUkraine
#Luhansk pro-#Kremlin militant: I’m Russian and #Ukraine is part of #Russian Empire. That is what we’re fighting for.

Фініта ля комедія. СБУ відмовилася оприлюднити списки агентів КГБ-ФСБ в вищих органах влади і спецслужб. Бо! Це порушить їхні громадянські права і чомусь (!) загрожує національній безпеці України. Це зрада ключової вимоги Майдану. Така брутальна відмова свідчить, що є чого боятися. Очевидно, громада прозріє, коли дізнається хто веде її до щасливого майбутнього. Тому негайна люстрація принаймні кандидатів у Президенти. Люстрація Законом або по факту…
Finita la Commedia. The SBU has refused to publish the lists of agents of the KGB-FSB of higher authorities and special services. Bo! This would violate their civil rights and for some reason (!) threatens the national security of Ukraine. It is a betrayal of the core requirements of the Maidan. Such rough refusal indicates that there is something to be afraid of. Obviously, the community of prozrìê, when learns who leads her to a happy future. Therefore, immediate lustration at least presidential candidates. Lustration law or in fact. (Translated by Bing)

Let’s remember life’s simple pleasures:

Q: Mr. Putin, I’ve got a car and pay a road tax but there are no roads in our village. Putin: Why do you need a car then? It’s some kind of a provocation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7RY4exvrno

After being off-line for a while, I just reinstalled my BitMessage client. Same address:

BM-2D9vfh7BVhHBUjKAbax7x33aMqLGuinSju

Read about Bitmessage here.

It’s a secret way of communicating using the blockchain technology pioneered by Bitcoin. The biggest drawback right now is that if my client is not running for several days, messages will bounce back to the sender instead of waiting for me.

Thank you for the concern that some of my readers have expressed. I’m concerned too, but only a little bit.

Crimea is far away, as is the east. I think at the very most Putin will try to take those. At the very least, it’ll be the city of Sevastopol.

He needs to show a little muscle, but if he shows too much then he risks losing Belarus, Chechnya, Dagestan, Siberia.

The last place they’ll come in Lviv. :)

http://m.kontrakty.ua/article/74537

This story is wrapped in uncertainty and conspiracy theory.

If the owner of the refinery was a criminal who seized it wrongly, this is maybe understandable but still a disturbing over-reach by Pravi Sektor.

I think it’s mostly likely a re-adjustment of the mafia power structures in Ukraine.

I got 5 hours of sleep last night, and just 3 the night before.

Here’s the traffic on my website since December:

I need to go to bed. Will attend my distant relatives funeral tomorrow. (http://romaninukraine.com/rip-andriy-digdalovych/.)

Ukraine should NOT join either the EU or a Russian trade bloc. It should declare unilater free trade and welcome (and protect) foreign capital from any source. Allow trade settlement in any desired currency. Scrap all business regulation, but protect property rights in honest courts.

(plus gun ownership)