Facebook protests against Mistral deal

Just like it was with the Facebook page of the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, thousands of Facebook users began expressing their opinion about France selling Mistral-class amphibious assault ships to Russia. People expressed mocking gratitude on Facebook posts made by the President of France, François Hollande. They “thanked” France for arming an aggressor and helping it to shed blood.

Interestingly enough, it seems that admins of Hollande’s Facebook page decided that censorship is the best way to deal with legitimate criticism and according to some of the participants of this Facebook-based protests, many of these critical comments were deleted. So much for democracy and freedom of speech.

Facebook page of Francois Hollande was flooded by protests.

Thousands criticize Merkel’s position on her Facebook page

The page of the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, is now one of the most commented politician pages on Facebook. People from all over the world post comments with their opinions about the relationship between the German leader and Vladimir Putin. This appears to have been ispired by the meeting between them in Brasil a couple of days ago, when they seemed to find a common opinion that the situation in Eastern Ukraine is worsening due to the Ukrainian anti-terrorist operation. People on Facebook call Angela Merkel “Frau Ribbentrop”, an allusion to the infamous treaty signed in 1939 by the German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov. The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact drawn the lines of division of Central and Eastern Europe between two totalitarian regimes, Nazi and Soviet. Tens of thousands of comments were left on Merkel’s page.

Thousands protesting comments sparked after Angela Merkel published photo with thanks her followers in Facebook.

The administrators of Merkel’s Facebook page have recently published an announcement where people freely expressing their opinion have been called spammers and admins reminded that they have a “netiquette” and may delete racist, extremist, libelous or similar comments. Apparently, criticism is frowned upon and may not be tolerated there.

Typical comments in Angela Merkel Facebook page.

Poles and Ukrainians protested against bloody French business

UPDATE (23rd of May): Bernard Grua, French activist, is inviting everyone to peaceful protests against Mistral deal on June 1 in front of all French embassies, consulates, clubs and associations. More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/221560101386701/.

On 20th of May a protest was held against the sale of “Mistral” warships to Russia at the French embassy in Warsaw.

Few dozens Ukrainians and Poles, members of Warsaw Euromaidan and “Otwarty Dialog” foundation (“Open Dialog”) participated.

Protesters think that the decision by French government to continue military contract with Russia, concerning the two modern amphibious assault ships “Mistral”, is “shameful and unworthy of a country which declares its allegiance to ideals of democracy”.

“We cannot remain silent, when a state which kills Ukrainians, can freely purchase warships. We wish to be heard” – said Natalya Panchenko.

Protesters showed their resentment by making noise with vuvuzelas and clackers. “Why do you want to kill us?”, “Supporting Russia in killing Ukrainians brings shame for France” said protester’s banners.

People brought a water pool for children filled with red liquid, which symbolized blood. Toy warships were floating inside.

“It symbolizes a sea of blood, where Russian ships sold by France are sailing… It is our blood” – explained Panchenko.

It was announced that for now, France is not going to make decisions regarding selling two modern warships “Mistral” to Russia, as possible sanctions for occupation of Crimea. It appears, that the French don’t even want to think about Russia supporting terrorists in Donbas. Nothing personal, just business…

Photos by “Otwarty Dialog” fond

Fake photo of Slavyansk morgue

Translated from StopFake project dedicated to exposing mass-media distortions and propaganda about the events in Ukraine.

Website politikus.ru and some bloggers in LiveJournal published a photo which is supposed to be the city morgue of Slavyansk (Donetsk Region).

The caption of the photo reads “To mothers and wives of central and eastern Ukraine! Slavyansk city morgue is overfilled with bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, national guard and members of the “Right Sector”. They are being buried. Nobody is identifying names, surnames or patronyms, there is no time and no man power for such things. If your relatives who left to kill peaceful citizens have not contacted you recently please go and claim their bodies”.

However this photo was not taken in Slavyansk morgue.

This photo is 5 years old, it was previously published here with the caption “Bodies that are waiting to be identified in Ciudad Juarez, 02.18.2009. Bodies are from border towns of Mexico – “Dead history” of cartel wars, cruelty of which is rising with each year. (AP Photo/Guillermo Arias)”.

Dmitry Tymchuk: One more update on the situation in Mariupol

Translated by Voices of Ukraine

We deliberately avoided commenting on the situation with [Ukrainian] troops withdrawal from Mariupol yesterday [May 10], since we thought that such explanations should have been provided either by representatives of the highest state leadership or by the special forces command. Yesterday, the National Guard commanders commented on the situation in general. We will try to expand on these statements for [better] understanding.

In the IR memo of May 10 we noted that special forces demonstrated rather significant expertise. But we should also draw your attention to the statement regarding Russian propaganda.

The bottom line is that in Mariupol (unlike in Sloviansk or in Kramatorsk) we saw how local residents, poisoned by propaganda, supported terrorists quite significantly by going into the streets to confront the mythical “Right Sector,” and by perceiving security forces as the enemy—messengers of the “illegitimate Banderite” government.

And, although the majority of these “peaceful protesters” were the local lumpens and marginals (which we saw on the video of events), the large-scale protests against Ukrainian security forces reached a critical level. In fact, the events in Mariupol approximated the format of the civil war that the Russian leadership is so eager to ignite in Ukraine.

In this situation, the security forces had two options. Either to accept the imposed scenario and drown the city in blood. Or retreat.

They chose the second option. Whether it was the right decision or not—decide for yourself.

Source: Dmitry Tymchuk FB
Translation: Maidan Translations

Regarding the possible provocation on May 2nd

Dmitry Tymchuk

To the knowledge of ‘InfoResist’, following the orders of the Russian Headquarter of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), pro-Russian terrorists are preparing to launch a usual provocation with casualties in Slavyansk.

It is going to be carried out in such a way that members of the Right Sector could be blamed.

This move is prepared because of an important visit to Ukraine by Russian official. The official reason for the visit is negotiation to free the OSCE hostages held by terrorists. To our knowledge, this same person was in Ukraine during the tragic Maidan events in January, 2014.

Preparations for the operation began in Moscow today (May the 1st) by publishing a ‘Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement concerning the plans of Kiev to organize a move of forces in Southeastern Ukraine’.

Among other things declared in the statement, it is claimed that Kremlin’is concerned about the media announcements regarding the goal of Kiev’s regime to launch an assault in the Southeast and use squads of the ultra-nationalist Right Sector’.

According to Kremlin media, Simon Ostrovsky from VICE News turned out to be a Right Sector informer

Simon Ostrovsky, reporting from Donetsk

NTV, one of the leading Russian-language TV channels, has posted an article on its website boasting a stunning headline: Dual-citizen journalist turned out to be Right Sector informer (link in Russian).

As many of you know, during past few months Simon Ostrovsky has become one of the most followed Western journalists covering the Ukrainian crisis with his successful video reports. Ostrovsky, who was born in the USSR, currently resides in the USA.

Ostrovsky is held captive by pro-Russian insurgents in the Ukrainian town of Sloviansk since April 22. It appears that Russian media company accurately repeated the explanation provided by Mr Ponomaryov, self-declared people’s mayor of Sloviansk. Ponomaryov stated earlier that Israeli-American filmmaker was visiting Sloviansk with a purpose of providing information to the Right Sector radical movement.

A poorly staged shootout in Sloviansk

Russia is currently spreading the usual paranoid propaganda concerning the events in Sloviansk. The claim is that some gunmen from the Right Sector have attacked the separatist checkpoint and killed three or five people. Yet, there are inconsistencies in this story, and a lesson might be learned how to identify such propaganda.

People were killed, but there are no wounded

Usually, there are about five to ten times more persons wounded than killed in a shootout. This is well-known. If five people were killed in a gunfire, you can expect that there will be 25 to 50 people wounded. Where are they in this case? Well, they don’t exist. A long time has already passed but there is no information on the injured participants. Frankly, it seems, that there will be no such info.

The burned vehicle of the supposed gunmen is standing near the camp fire of separatist. There is a barricade just twenty meters away. Do you believe that the gunmen came and parked in such an orderly manner?

Of course, there are cases, when there are less persons wounded than killed, but these are under exceptional circumstances. For instance, everyone (with a single exception of Tomas Šernas) died during the Medininkai massacre, which was carried out by the members of Riga and Vilnius’ OMON*. That is, one person survived, even when there were additional shots fired to make sure that everyone died there and then. Wounded and unarmed border guards were killed methodically. This is how the usual ratio of wounded-killed was distorted.

In Sloviansk, according to the separatists and Kremlin propaganda, some remained alive and forced the attackers to flee. Therefore, there should be a couple of dozens injured persons. Yet, there are none.

Burned vehicles with undamaged evidence

The burned vehicles of the supposed attackers further prove that all of this story is a falsification. They are standing some ten meters away from the barricades and very close to the separatists’ campfire.

Real raiders would never get so close to the enemy. It is foolish to come so close, park the cars properly, one after the other, and then attempt to shoot. Even total gawks would understand enough to stop the cars in such a way that they would remain undamaged, so that later they could be used to abandon the location. It is also self evident that the raid should be carried out in such a manner, that it would catch the enemy by surprise. When the vehicles are seen coming, the guards at the checkpoint will always have time to react.

In a realistic scenario, the cars would be left a few hundred meters away. But that wouldn’t work for propaganda, would it? The distance between the vehicles and the barricades can be easily determined by the differences between size of persons – it can be said that a wide-angle lens was used, and the photographer was close to the barricades (some 10-15 meters away).

Pay attention to the photo, in which the details can be clearly seen. Two cars are standing next to each other. This means that there was no hasty arrival. These cars were parked by the side of the road in an orderly manner. The door of one of those cars is closed. This means that people got out of the vehicle and then decided to shut it. Either that, or there were no people inside. Moreover, those neatly closed door are facing the direction opposite to the road. That is, they are on the side, which is commonly used by people to get out and which should be used by gunmen if they were to take cover behind the bushes.

After the cars burned down, it should be very difficult to open or close the door – destroyed mechanisms would prevent it and the door would become somewhat twisted.

It is obvious that someone came with those cars, parked them neatly, got out, closed the door and only afterwards the shootout began. Does it remind you of a gunmen raid?

Oh, and of course, later, undamaged evidence (found in burned down vehicles) implicated the Right Sector. The evidence included incombustible business cards of the leader of the Right Sector, Dmitry Yarosh.

Other obvious nonsense

Some more humbug. For instance, why did those supposed raiders from the Right Sectors dropped their weapons? So that they could be collected by the separatists and used as a proof of an attack?

Why did a Russian TV manage to broadcast news (and upload on the internet) even before the incident took place? By the way, right before the collapse of the Yanukovych regime, there was one other such failure. Then, a few media broadcasters provided more or less similar information about the attack of the Right Sector on the Ukrainian Rada. Afterwards, it became clear that that was rubbish.

One of the victims of the incident in Sloviansk is already identified. It’s Pavel Povelko from the Alexandrovka village, which is not far from Sloviansk. He had a wife and two children who are know orphans. His neighbors and relatives claim that the separatists needed victims and, therefore, they had to stage a Right Sector attack. That’s why they took him from the car, shot and burned down the vehicle.

Now, the propaganda stories about the supposedly captured gunman from the Right Sector are spread. He was hitchhiking nearby and told that he and the other raiders went somewhere to shoot someone. Does that even sound realistic? We can only sympathize with an innocent person who is forced do admit these false charges.

By the way, don’t you want to ask a question why journalists are now being kidnapped in Sloviansk? I guess that they began asking the “wrong” questions. Just like I do here.

Such falsifications and intensified propaganda is characteristic of pre-war conditions. Yes, Russia is preparing for a war and is doing everything to convince its own citizens of the justness of such war. They don’t care that their claims are nonsensical – their citizens won’t know it, because the inconsistencies will not be shown.

They kill innocent people with one goal – to portray some imaginary Ukrainian gunmen and get a pretext for war. Innocent people become victims and are later depicted as separatists or members of the Right Sector.

—-
* By the way, the Ukrainian Berkut is also OMON, only renamed.

Source: http://rokiskis.popo.lt/2014/04/21/baltais-siulais-siutas-susisaudymas-slovianske/

Events of April 17th

Brothers and sisters, the overview of the events of April 17th.

The bad:

1. Vladimir Putin has departed to the astral world. It doesn’t seem that he is coming back.

His today’s direct Q&A is a protocol of feverish delusions. The story of East Ukraine as “Newrussia, that has its roots tied to Russia” tells a lot.

And what about his claims that Russian soldiers in the East Ukraine is a “lie”? In the same way, this Kremlin storyteller asserted that there are no Russian soldiers in Crimea. Afterwards, it became clear that there actually are 22 000 of them. Today, even Putin himself admits – yes, Russian soldiers stood behind the “self-defense units” in Crimea.

The question then is the following. Who still believes this constantly lying creature? In the wide world – nobody. Yet, his subjects sit in front of the TVs and dutifully nod – the tsar is telling the truth. It’s hard to tell, should one laugh or cry.

2. In the East, the actions of extremists continue. There is some trouble in Stakhanov (the homeland of one of the coordinators of our “IR” group). Pro-Russian puppies fool around in Donetsk.

There are also worries concerning other regions. Today, the representatives of the local government of Zaporizhia talked about potential extremists actions.

We have our own information on this issue. According to our findings, planes carrying “Putin’s tourists” have landed at the Saki airport in Crimea today. Then the “tourists” were moved to microbuses with vehicle registration plates of Zaporizhia. This doesn’t look good.

The good:

1. During the meeting of Ukraine, the EU, the US and Russia, some agreements have been reached, including ones concerning the freeing of captured Ukrainian buildings and the amnesty for extremists. It sounded like an announcement directed at the “sides” of the conflict.

The question is whether one can trust Russia. After all, it does not accept that all this madness started because of its actions. That is, all of its statements are empty. And even if Moscow admitted its role, there would still be no trust in its goodwill.

Therefore, it is still very much unclear what role these agreements will play. Personally, I regard them skeptically. I think that Moscow is participating in the negotiations because it wants to avoid new sanctions by the West. At the same time, it continues its dirty work. Well, we’ll see. After all, there’s at least some dialogue at the international level.

One more advantage is that under these circumstances we can be sure that there will be no Russian invasion tomorrow. It doesn’t mean that, relatively speaking, there will be none the day after tomorrow.

2. Somehow, the problem of our brother citizens who remained in Crimea has been abandoned. They want to move to the continent but are unable to. Apparently, they were of little concern to the state previously. Now, these people are simply forgotten.

That, of course, is far from positive. The positive thing is that because of the election campaigns, the situation might get better. Today, the candidate for the presidency of Ukraine, N. Korolevska visited Crimea and discussed the problems of such families.

We all know that social issues is her field, and this is what is important today. All the social guarantees are destroyed in Crimea. The link between the Ukrainian state and those citizens is incomprehensible.

Together with the social issues, there is the problem of physical safety of these people. Previously, Russia set out a condition – the residents of Crimea must decide on their citizenship until April 18th. Nobody knows what will happen to those who won’t accept Russian citizenship.

If the official Kiev is silent on this issue, the politicians must raise such questions, even if it is due to the electoral campaign. The most important thing is not to conceal them, because behind every problem there are people – our brothers and sisters.

3. Today, in Donetsk, 3 000 people came to a demonstration for unified Ukraine. In Luhansk, there came 1 000.

I don’t know if it’s many or few. But what I know is that these people are the most active patriots. There are hundreds of times more people that want to live in stable and unified Ukraine.

Scaring the residents of East Ukraine

Journalists of Donetsk have collected various rumours that are spread amid the participants of pro-Russian demonstrations. All of these rumors have been heard from the protesters. Some of them remind of wild delusions but this is no joke – the fear of war and informational vacuum create a perfect environment for even the most unlikely fantasies. The fear is the main factor igniting the separatist activities. And the stupider the reason for fear, the greater the fear becomes (and the shouts asking for Putin’s help get louder).

By the way, some 25 years ago, many similar rumours could be heard in Lithuania. This happened during the years of the struggle for Lithuanian Independence from the Soviet Union. Many of them were spread purposefully by the members of the Communist Party, KGB and Yedinstvo. It was difficult to quash these rumours and those residents who were doubting the need for Independence tended to believe them.

People panic when they listen to various rumors

People panic when they listen to various rumours

Therefore, please, enjoy the creations of political technologists and the common people. They could cause uncontrollable laughter, but in this case, they cause uncontrollable fear, spark very real protests and lead to even more real casualties. Here is the whole list:

Yatsenyuk said that everyone who doesn’t speak Ukrainian will be forced to leave the country.
The Americans are staging a war in Ukraine. Genetically modified soldiers will be used (the story was told to a journalist at a hairdresser’s).
It was neither the border guards nor the army that came to Donbas (Donetsk province). No, it was the dressed units of the Right Sector and Banderists who will begin the massacre of local Russians there. Thus, the Ukrainian army movement must be blocked.
Ukrainian soldiers who came to the Donetsk province beat everyone, who speaks with them in Russian.
In a particular factory (of course, different names are given of the factories were the storytellers themselves are not working), the workers are forced to transfer part of their salary to Maidan and pay for the maintenance of the Right Sector.
Banderists will cancel allowance for raising children.
Banderists have already been seen in the station of Donetsk. They were asking for directions to get to the Lenin square, where the tents of separatists are set up. Those who did not answer in Ukrainian, were violently beaten.
The children will be sold as slaves in Europe.
There is no more insulin in Donetsk province. This means that people with diabetes will die.
In Donbas, the mines will be flooded. Afterwards, nuclear waste from the US and Europe will be kept there.
Poisoned products from the US and Europe will be brought to Ukraine (this may be a modification of rumors concerning GMOs).
Gays, pedophiles and zoophiles will take over the government and will introduce forced marriages according to their worldview.
Public sector workers will be stripped of all the bonuses, thirteenth monthly pays and all premiums. That is, only the simple salary will remain.
In Druzhkivka (Donetsk province), the mayor himself was telling people that in the case of him being removed, there will be no thirteenth monthly pay for public sector workers.
Soon a complete mobilization will begin and people who will be recruited will loose their jobs and salaries.
Banderists are unemploying everybody who speaks Russian.
Drug addicts are joining the army. Also, when people are taken to the army, drugs are put into their tea so that they would sign all the required papers.
The celebrations of the First of May and the Ninth of May will be canceled.

We would like to repeat. This is not a joke. These are the real fears of the residents in Donbas. That is why people are demonstrating and asking for Putin’s help.

Based on the material by the Ukrainian “Informational Shield”.

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