http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/turkey-arrests-three-russians-after-istanbul-suicide-attack-a6808556.html

http://euromaidanpress.com/2016/01/04/bellingcat-narrows-list-of-those-involved-in-mh17-to-20-russian-servicemen/

The political regime here would not survive 20 years of free communication with Western Europe. Pay no heed to the boasting of Russians; they confuse splendor with elegance, luxury with refinement, policing and fear with the foundations of society. . . . Up to now, as far as civilization is concerned, they have been satisfied with appearances, but if they were ever able to avenge their real inferiority, they would make us pay cruelly for our advantages over them.

. . .

The people and its ruler are in harmony here. The Russians make themselves witnesses, accomplices and victims in these prodigies of willpower and would not repudiate them even to resurrect all the slaves whose lives are forfeited as a result. However, what surprises me is not that one man, nourished on the idolatry of his own person, a man described as all-powerful by sixty million humans (or near-humans) whould undertake such things and carry them through. What does surprise me is that among all the voices testifying to the glory of this single man, not one rises above the chorus to speak for humanity against the miracles of autocracy. You can say of the Russians, both great and small, that they are intoxicated with slavery.

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/16/weekinreview/word-for-word-marquis-de-custine-long-ago-look-russia-so-what-else-new.html?pagewanted=all

Sasha Baravik said it correctly

@6:50 — “I don’t care whose job it is . . . if I see the corruption I will scream about it”

Then Taras Kuzio replies like a typical of Canadian coward who wants other people to enforce good behavior. I don’t understand his fixation on Poroshenko.

Sasha Baravik’s statement actually has a legal history. It was called “universal standing.” Every man is a sheriff. Ukraine needs it.

http://www.hromadske.tv/society/-batya——kapelan-ta-nazvanii-batko-33-ditei/

So DNR commander “Cat” was killed in center of Donetsk by an unknown sniper. I like these unexplained deaths, it wrecks chaos among the separatists. Enjoy the show there is more to come I guess.

At least 9,115 people have been killed in the 21 months since the outbreak of hostilities in eastern Ukraine in April 2014, United Nations monitors in Ukraine reported on Wednesday, an increase of more than a thousand since the United Nations’ last estimate, in September. An estimated 20,797 have been injured.

The casualty estimates are based on new information and do not represent an uptick in fighting, said the monitors, from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/10/world/europe/ukraine-conflict-toll.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-russia-coca-cola-idUSKBN0UK1CB20160106

In accordance with Ukraine’s new de-Communization effort, Dnipropetrovsk’s city council is renaming the city “Dnipropetrovsk.” Lawmakers said in an appeal to the Ukrainian parliament that they want to keep the city’s name, but change the meaning, dedicating it to Saint Peter, rather than the Soviet figure Grigory Petrovsky.

“Formally, there needs to be a renaming process from Dnipropetrovsk to Dnipropetrovsk,” a local political group explained on its website. The approval of Ukraine’s parliament is needed for Dnipropetrovsk’s “renaming” to be considered official.

According to a local newspaper, the city’s acting deputy mayor, Alexander Sanzhara, is disputing the legality of the city hall session that came to the decision on Dnipropetrovsk’s renaming.

https://meduza.io/en/news/2015/12/30/dnipropetrovsk-renames-itself-dnipropetrovsk

Sasha Baravik said it correctly

@6:50 — “I don’t care whose job it is . . . if I see the corruption I will scream about it”

Then Taras Kuzio replies like a typical of Canadian coward who wants other people to enforce good behavior.

Sasha Baravik’s statement actually has a legal history. It was called “universal standing.” Every man is a sheriff. Ukraine needs it.

Radio Svoboda reports that 18-year-old Vlad Kolesnikov has killed himself 6 months after his defiant demonstration of opposition to Russia’s annexation of Crimea lost him his home, his place in technical college and led to a campaign of harassment against him. Vlad took an overdose of medication on December 25.

Vlad became known well beyond Russia in June for daring to wear a T-shirt with the Ukrainian flag and the words “Return Crimea” on it, as well as posting an anti-war banner at his technical institute in Podolsk. Vlad recalled the sheer hatred in the face of a school official after the latter saw his T-shirt, and he was first threatened by another student then attacked by a group of classmates. The police then got involved but were mostly interested in where he’d got the T-shirt.

http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1451142557

http://www.politico.eu/article/star-wars-in-ukraine-poroshenko-vs-kolomoisky/

—-“Primacy of the state” and “communal mass consciousness”—-

However, this mixture of peoples also produced many advantages. According to the liberal writer Boris Akunin: “It would be misleading to consider the ‘Asian’ component an intractable disease or a birth trauma to Russia. From the historical perspective, this, our genetic characteristic, has not only created problems, but also given us bonuses.

”First, without this ‘Asian’ component, Russia would not have the many hues of culture and spirituality that it has. Second, the primacy of the ‘state’ and this ‘communal’ mass consciousness have repeatedly helped Russia survive grave upheavals that purely European states could not, and did not survive.

”And so it was later, when Russia turned out to be stronger than two of the most powerful military empires — first Napoleon’s, and then Hitler’s. That ruggedness, ability to come together during times of tests, those huge reserves of strength, the willingness to sacrifice, the famous readiness to ‘pay the price’ — all of that is Asian, not European.”

(Francis Fukuyama gives Russia a similar treatment)

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/why-isn-t-russia-part-of-europe-op-ed/524933.html