Thursday, March 6, 2014

Mike Whitney — Crimea River

As it turns out, political analyst, F. William Engdahl has done a bit of research on the group and gives a rundown in a recent article titled “The Rape of Ukraine; Phase Two Begins”. Here’s what he says:

“The question unanswered until now is who deployed the snipers? (who shot into the crowd in Maidan Square) According to veteran US intelligence sources, the snipers came from an ultra-right-wing military organization known as Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People’s Self-Defense (UNA-UNSO).Ever since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 the crack-para-military UNA-UNSO members have been behind every revolt against Russian influence. The one connecting thread in their violent campaigns is always anti-Russia. The organization, according to veteran US intelligence sources, is part of a secret NATO “GLADIO” organization, and not a Ukraine nationalist group as portrayed in western media….“These people are the dangerous mercenaries used all over the world to fight NATO’s dirty war, and to frame Russia because this group pretends to be Russian special forces…..If true that UNA-UNSO is not “Ukrainian” opposition, but rather a highly secret NATO force using Ukraine as base, it would suggest that the EU peace compromise with the moderates was likely sabotaged by the one major player excluded from the Kiev 21 February diplomatic talks—Victoria Nuland’s State Department.” (F. William Engdahl, “The Rape of Ukraine; Phase Two Begins”, Information Clearinghouse)
So, were there NATO-backed paramilitaries on the ground stirring up trouble prior to the coup? Did they instigate the coup by firing into the crowd on Maidan Square, killing innocent people and creating the panic that forced Yanukovych to flee the country? Did they execute this plan to avoid new elections which were agreed upon by the opposing parties? Did they execute the plan to take advantage of the fact that Putin was still bogged down at the Olympic games and unable to give the crisis his undivided attention?
Now we know that the answer is yes.

Counterpunch
Crimea River
Mike Whitney

9 comments:

The Rombach Report said...

Crimea River! Hah! Now that's the type of pun I can really go for!

mike norman said...

US intelligence agencies, DOD now completely out of control. Obama has allowed them to run wild. Very, very destabilizing.

I feel for Putin. He is under attack. Very dangerous here as he could lash out.

The Rombach Report said...

"I feel for Putin. He is under attack. Very dangerous here as he could lash out."

That could be the bait put out by militarily industrial complex which is probably not very happy with the new slim fast diet it has been put on.

Peter Pan said...

Talking about evidence is not evidence of anything. The mainstream media is correct not to jump the gun on this one. The cynic in me believes these allegations will turn out to be true.

As for Putin, fuck him. He is the head of a regime guilty of war crimes in Chechnya. He is as guilty of playing dirty as any of his opponents might be.

Ryan Harris said...

Off topic again, but If any of you are interested, they revealed who wrote the original bitcoin code. Interesting stuff.

googleheim said...


USA has them cornered -

Why did the banks take 0% federal reserve money and "carry trade" it to Turkey, South Africa, and Argentina ?

Now Turkish citizens are knee deep in credit card debts according to the news ...

So is the "carry trade" a means to disrupt these countries ?

Especially Turkey since it is on the Black Sea and quasi friends with Iran, Russia, and so forth maybe independent.

Argentina - we know what is up there already.

South Africa - ?

The Rombach Report said...

"So is the "carry trade" a means to disrupt these countries ?"

Look at all the governments in North Africa that have been toppled or destabilized from Fed policy since the launch of QE2 which was a catalyst for Arab Spring uprising starting in January 2011. Was it a conscious policy or just an unintended consequence? Makes little difference because point is that there is a case to make that Federal Reserve monetary intervention since onset of credit crisis in 2008 has caused more harm than good.

Tom Hickey said...

Ed, I think that we have to distinguish conscious and intentional destabilization from unintended consequences, and also realize that the US is fully prepared to exploit destabilization owing to unintended consequences. Destabilization from unintended consequences is a freebie.

Once one understands that neoconservatism and neoliberalism are about empire, then it all falls into place. The goal to create instability and take advantage of random instability to bring the stability of empire.

The goal of empire is stability under it and an empire with global designs regards all that is not under its control as unstable by definition. Hence the need to bring stability to an unstable world — under the masters of the universe who are doing God's work because the rest of us cant' hack it without their "enlightened" leadership.

It's the perverted Platonism of the acquisitors who see themselves as the wise guardians entrusted with the means to guide humanity to progress in the future. In their view, we are beholden to them and should be thanking them instead of reviling them.

It's a mindset.

PresidentThomasJefferson said...

here's eye-opening officiall US National Archives book published by US gov "Nazi War Criminals, US Intelligence, & the Cold War" on US support of neo-Nazis who were against Russia in the Cold War http://www.archives.gov/iwg/reports/hitlers-shadow.pdf linked from http://www.moonofalabama.org/2014/03/the-eu-us-tug-over-ukraine.html#more

"The Svoboda and the RightSector in the Ukraine see themselves in the tradition of Stepan Bandera, a Galician ultranationalist, brutal terrorist, fascist and later asset of many "western" secret services.

An eyeopening book by the U.S. National Archives about Hitler's Shadows - Nazi War Criminals, U.S. Intelligence and the Cold War (pdf) includes a chapter on "Collaborators: Allied Intelligence and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists".

Some excerpts:

British operations through Bandera expanded. An early 1954 MI6 summary noted that, “the operational aspect of this [British] collaboration [with Bandera] was developing satisfactorily. Gradually a more complete control was obtained over infiltration operations and although the intelligence dividend was low it was considered worthwhile to proceed....”
...
Bandera was, according to his handlers, “a professional underground worker with a terrorist background and ruthless notions about the rules of the game.... A bandit type if you like, with a burning patriotism, which provides an ethical background and a justification for his banditry. No better and no worse than others of his kind...
...
In April 1959 Bandera again asked West German intelligence for support and this time Gehlen was interested. The CIA noted that, “It [is] apparent that Bandera [is] seeking support for illegal ops into Ukraine.”

The West Germans agreed to support at least one such mission based on the “fact [that] Bandera and group no longer the cut throats they were” and because Bandera “supplied proof [of] existing contact with inside assets.”

A team trained and funded by the BND crossed from Czechoslovakia in late July, and the BND promised Bandera support for future operations if this one were to be even “moderately successful.”
...
In June 1985 the General Accounting Office mentioned Lebed’s name in a public report on Nazis and collaborators who settled in the United States with help from U.S. intelligence agencies.

The Office of Special Investigations (OSI) in the Department of Justice began investigating Lebed that year.

The CIA worried that public scrutiny of Lebed would compromise QRPLUMB and that failure to protect Lebed would trigger outrage in the Ukrainian émigré community.

It thus shielded Lebed by denying any connection between Lebed and the Nazis and by arguing that he was a Ukrainian freedom fighter.

The truth, of course, was more complicated. As late as 1991 the CIA tried to dissuade OSI from approaching the German, Polish, and Soviet governments for war-related records related to the OUN. OSI eventually gave up the case, unable to procure definitive documents on Lebed. Mykola Lebed, Bandera’s wartime chief in Ukraine, died in 1998.

He is buried in New Jersey, and his papers are located at the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University.

There is little doubt that U.S. secret services and certain neo-con politicians are still pulling the strings of the fascist movements in the Ukraine. "

more at link