(Thanks for the link, Walt.)
Very typical. They always try to confuse the conversation by accusing the enemy of what they themselves are doing. In fact, this is #9 in my 9 Lessons of Russian Propaganda.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/nine-lessons-of-russian-propaganda
If you have visual identification of the jet, can see it isn’t carrying weapons, and don’t detect any electronic emissions suggesting there was a missile lock on the ship, there’s nothing to be done.
And ultimately, the the rules of engagement put the CO in charge of how to respond.
“You don’t get to kill people just because they’re being annoying,” said Hoffman, who commanded frigate DeWert and cruiser Hue City. Cruisers are the fleet’s foremost air defense platform and are tasked with guarding flattops from incoming threats.
http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/2016/04/13/why-navy-didnt-shoot-down-russian-jets/83000858/
President Petro Poroshenko tapped his long-time protege and ally, former parliament speaker Volodymyr Hroisman to form the government. The result, for the most part, is a cabinet of Poroshenko loyalists; the unpopular businessman-president is consolidating power, much the way his hapless predecessor Viktor Yanukovych once did. Though, at several points in the negotiating process, Hroisman reportedly refused the prime minister’s job unless his conditions were met, these reports should be taken with a grain of salt: Poroshenko wants Hroisman to look independent, not least in the eyes of Washington politicians who have been wary of Poroshenko monopolizing power.
Hroisman was a popular mayor in Vinnytsia, the base city of Poroshenko’s confectionery empire, Roshen. He fixed the roads, persuaded the Zurich city authorities to give Vinnytsia 100 perfectly serviceable streetcars that the Swiss city was replacing, made the bureaucracy friendlier to city residents and got Poroshenko to build a spectacular musical fountain in the middle of the Southern Bug, the river that flows through the city. But the Hroisman family also owns a large mall in Vinnytsia, built while Volodymyr already ran the city, and financed with debt the Hroismans never repaid. The new prime minister is a typical Ukrainian politician, wily and capable but at the same time always mindful of his personal interests.
The new cabinet includes some of his old co-workers from Vinnytsia: One as a deputy prime minister in charge of the secessionist regions of eastern Ukraine, another as social security minister. It also includes plenty of seasoned Ukrainian politicians and bureaucrats who did fine under all the previous regimes, as well as a couple of veterans from the 2014 “Revolution of Dignity” and a few allies of former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk — his reward for allowing Poroshenko to form a beholden cabinet and avoid an early parliamentary election.
Gone, however, are the foreigners and investment bankers brought into Yatsenyuk’s government on the initiative of Poroshenko’s chief of staff Boris Lozhkin, a former publishing magnate (disclosure: I worked for Lozhkin in Kiev in 2011 and 2012, before he went into politics). The chief of staff used headhunters to locate suitable professionals, and Poroshenko granted them Ukrainian citizenship so they could take up top positions.
“It was indeed my idea to infect the government with a different life form,” Lozhkin told me in an interview a year ago. “They have to have a different genetic makeup to change the system.” Gone are Lithuanian-born asset manager Aivaras Abromavicius as economy minister and U.S.-born venture capitalist Natalie Jaresko. The health minister, a Georgian, was also cut from the team.
Ivan Miklos, the former finance minister of Slovakia, might have been the only foreigner in the Hroisman cabinet. Poroshenko’s team negotiated with him and a law was even initiated to allow him to keep his Slovak citizenship. Yet all Miklos agreed to is an advisory role.
Some Ukrainian private sector stars who went into public service after the revolution are also notably missing from Hroisman’s cabinet.
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-04-15/in-ukraine-expats-and-romantics-are-out
(Thanks for the story, Walt.)
The Russians need Nazis. Without Nazis, they have no identity unifying all those disparate people.
Must see ruSSian video of a Polish guy in Moscow ticking off the moscaliha and saying the Poles will exterminate ruSSians if they attack Poland. He is verbally attacked by a whole group of ruSSians.
http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/polish-intellectual-calls-killing-russians-live-tv-video/ri13822
BUT! BUT! BUT! in Poland he runs a pro-moscow site, here is his facebook page for the kremlin propoganda site;
https://www.facebook.com/irfprussiamgimo/?fref=nf
Here is an excerpt from a Polish news source, ( https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&u=http://www.fakt.pl/swiat/polski-dziennikarz-jakub-korejba-wyrzucony-z-rosyjskiej-telewizji,artykuly,623731.html&prev=search )
The indelible mark of communism: dependency, poverty, institutionalization, and insular society.
Only the last one is one, and only sometimes — like now, as a bulwark against ethnic cleansing of the native population.
Our initial analysis suggests, though, that there is no direct evidence of major wrongdoing. The incident will, however, accelerate the public debate in Ukraine about its outdated corporate governance laws, potential conflicts of interests and political accountability among officials in the highest offices.
What happened?
On Sunday, a number of media outlets published analysis of leaked documents referred to as the “Panama Papers” that implicate multiple international leaders in using offshore companies to manage their assets. The president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, is among the names listed. Unlike the president of Russia, who is alleged to be connected to a $2 billion dollar network of assets siphoned off the Russian banks, or the prime minister of Iceland, who is suggested to have concealed a major conflict of interest, the transgressions of the president of Ukraine appear to be more of a technical nature.
The papers show that Ukraine’s president created, in his own name, a BVI company, which through its subsidiaries acquired at least one of his major businesses in Ukraine, his chocolate company Roshen. Previously, the company was owned by a Ukrainian mutual fund that also controls all other assets of the president. Clearly, this is not an issue of illegal enrichment while in office.
Nevertheless, the revelation of the president’s transaction has generated substantive public discontent in Ukraine. Over the past several months, the president has been sharply criticized for a poor record of fighting corruption and slow progress of reforms. A recent New York Times editorial accused the president of accepting continuing corruption in exchange for the room to act in the middle of a political crisis triggered earlier this year by a loud resignation of the minister of the economy. Negotiations over the new government are expected to conclude any moment now. Against this background, the leaked documents put the president in an awkward position.
Good Overview plus specific discussion of Prorshenko from Caspian Report:
World Challenge, Germany .
Ukrainian Oleh Verniaiev won 4 medals:
2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze 🇺🇦✌ pic.twitter.com/EFkZznJvDA— Viktoria (@Ukropo4kA) April 4, 2016
Some 64% of voters said “No” to the agreement, with 36% voting in favour of it, pollster Ipsos says.
However, it is not clear if turnout has reached the 30% threshold of eligible voters needed to be valid.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte said his government may have to reconsider the treaty if the vote is valid.
The Dutch parliament has already ratified the EU agreement and the result of the vote is not binding.
“It is clear that ‘No’ have won by an overwhelming margin, the question is only if turnout is sufficient,” Mr Rutte said in a televised reaction, according to Reuters news agency.
“If the turnout is above 30% with such a large margin of victory for the ‘No’ camp then my sense is that ratification cannot simply go ahead.”
The referendum was triggered by an internet petition begun by Eurosceptic activists that attracted some 450,000 signatures.
Moscow 1998 (http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9803/31/fringe/let.them.eat.lenin/index.html)
These kids ate the cake and grew up to be Putin’s mercenaries and internet trolls.
Ukrainian Americans organize retreat for children of deceased Ukrainian soldiers
:-) It’s true.
#Simferopol yesterday, occupied #Crimea @KrimRt pic.twitter.com/qiCob60ttY https://t.co/dbh9JRYjA6
— English Lugansk (@loogunda) March 6, 2016
The poet and composer Mykola Prysiazhniuk, director of the Donetsk Center of Slavic Culture, was brutally murdered in Donetsk during the night of April 1. He was a native of Ivano-Frankivsk
The tragedy was first reported on Facebook by his friend Olena Reznikova, who, according to media reports, is the deputy editor in chief of the children’s publication Shyshkyn Lis (Shyshkyn Forest).
“Last night Mykola Prysiazhniuk departed for the next world,” she wrote. “He was composer, poet, director of the Center of Slavic Culture. He actively developed this center at the highest level. He was a man who through his creativity harmoniously united the East and West of Ukraine. He loved life and was able to transform it into a permanent celebration even in the smallest details. A huge, handsome man who was interested in everything …At night some vermin broke into his building in search of gain and murdered him. He died a martyr’s death. And the continuing war in Donetsk makes it impossible to say goodbye to him. Rest in peace Mykola Vasylovych!” she wrote.
Information about Prysiazhniuk’s murder was confirmed by the so-called Donetsk police.
“Yes, he and a female resident were discovered with signs of violent death. An investigative team from the Budionivsk district police department of the Donetsk city government arrived immediately at the scene of the crime. Investigative and search activities are being conducted,” a police spokeswoman told the Hromadske Radio by phone.
Violinist Yulian Heroim told Hromadske Radio that he had witnessed the growth of the Center of Slavic culture in Donetsk and that Prysiazhniuk was a good leader.
“He did a lot for the center. He loved his work and he did it well,” Heroim commented.
According to Heroim, the center continued to function even after the beginning of the war:
“I know that concerts were held there. I know that for a fact. By using local talent, naturally, but still they took place. There are very many children’s groups based there. Life went on there. Of course, not on the same scale as before, unfortunately,” he said.
http://euromaidanpress.com/2016/04/03/ukrainian-poet-and-musician-murdered-in-donetsk/
Just discovered this very cool artist. He does concept art with motifs from turn of the century Polish History.
’1863′ – illustration commemorating Polish January Uprising (1863 – 1864), against the Russian Empire
Check him out here: http://jakubsan.tumblr.com
