Protests in Ukraine

Oof! Well good to know for future reference.

Yeah, I should have read it before but from the context of those who were sharing it, it seemed okay.

Der Spiegal reports that the German intelligence service, BND, reported to Chancellor Merkel and the German government on April 29 that 400 Blackwater (now Academi/Greystoke) were active in easstern Ukraine including Slavyansk. They are involved in the Right Sector Militia, the Ukrainian National Guard and groups of football thugs. It is inconceivable that they are acting alone without the support of the CIA. There is no apparant mention of this at all in the British and American media, including Blackwater's officially stated denial that it is involved.

http://avtonomia.net/2014/05/14/regime-kyiv-junta-east-awu-kyiv-statement-conflict-eastern-regions/ Very good statement.

From the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/16/world/europe/ukraine-workers-take-to-streets-to-calm-Mariupol.html?ref=europe&_r=0

It doesn't hurt to see the pro-Russian nationalists get a little pushback, but this episode unfortunately demonstrates further how class identity continues to be confounded and obfuscated in the midst of a nationalist crisis:

What do people make of this? Is it the nucleus of genuine workers' self-organization, merely dressed up in the self-serving rhetoric of its instigators, or is it no more than the rallying of workers to one side of the nationalist struggle by appeal to economistic concerns?

Ukranian newspaper Korrespondent implies this is a fabrication here and here (poor Google translate). The local authorities and capitalists signed an agreement with separatists to jointly clean up the barricades (as the city is completely under separatist control) and patrol the city. NYT isn't a credible source on much of anything.

Taking into account the broader coverage of the crisis the first sentence here is racist. Like people give a shit what this thief thinks. Fits the press's whole narrative of people there being simpletons who value "factory discipline" (The New Republic site). They "helped bring down the Soviet Union" to be ruled by their natural leader.

Or by helped bring down the Soviet Union is the NYT referring to "System Capital Management"? The neutrality of his employees seems contradicted by reports of his factories being occupied by separatist employees

What the cretins at the NYT don't emphasize is that Akhmetov is openly advocating the position of the Russian government. Federalization so that local elite run their turf and NATO capital can't colonize the country.

FT (paywalled): Billionaire Rinat Akhmetov seeks more power for Ukraine regions

Agree with teh that the current Russian strategy looks to be an attempt to put the separatist genie back in the bottle and cut a deal for a federalist constitution (with federal regions having a veto on things like NATO membership, a primary aim) in return for allowing presidential elections to go ahead. Russia don't want NATO on their SW border, but they don't particularly want a messy civil war there, either.

Of course whether they can actually get the genie back in the bottle, is another question altogether.

"Very good statement" from the AWU says anarchistsolidarity above. It's certainly more careful to avoid explicitly supporting nationalism and imperialism under slogans about the working class but it's essence is still the same. Both sides in the conflict are denounced by the AWU, Kiev for the "incompetence" of its troops (blame the poor, bloody soldiers) and the Russian-supporting fighters of the south-east for their "depravity". Typical imperialist crap - demonise the enemy and it makes it easier to mobilise and fight it.

The AWU makes out that the Kiev "Right Sector" is some sort of ephemeral entity that is "in a state of undercover war against Kiev". There are certainly tensions between different elements of the Ukrainian bourgeoisie, just as there are elsewhere. But it looks to me that the Right Sector is an integral part of the Kiev regime in general and its Interior MInistry in particular. According to Wedenesday's Guardian, the former boss of the Maiden fighting wing, Andrly Parubly, "is now at the heart of Kiev's attempts to counter the rebellion of the east." He is now the boss of Ukraines security forces. The Guardian continues, "Parubly is spearheading atempts to co-opt Maidan activists (into) fighting alongside police, the army and special forces in the east" (including, as we've seen from German intelligence, US forces).. This strategy is risky as the Guaardian suggests: "Some volunteer groups under the official jurisdiction of the Interior Ministry have been accused of leading the deadly violence in Mariupol and Krasnoarmeisk last week that helped to push local people into the arms of the rebels".

An analysis from communisation perspective:

Notes on the “Fascist” state of Ukraine and many more

Michael Hudson: The New Cold War’s Ukraine Gambit

My guess is that, like many others (e.g. John Pilger, Seamus Milne etc..), the 'old left' is exaggerating the US's influence in the Ukraine.

Of course the US would love to be manipulating everything there, but they're are many other very powerful forces in the Ukraine. For more 'balanced' accounts see these articles:

GABRIEL LEVY: http://europe.redpepper.org.uk/why-youre-wrong-about-ukraine/ and:
http://peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2014/05/11/to-citizens-of-ukraine-and-the-world-no-war-in-ukraine/#comments

IMMANUEL WALLERSTEIN: http://www.binghamton.edu/fbc/commentaries/archive-2014/377en.htm

HILLEL TICKTIN: http://www.cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/1010/failed-transition-and-crisis

...says the guy who registered two hours ago.

Loren Goldner:

The Michael Hudson text referred to above is certainly worth a read, and some guesswork aside, does a reasonable job of exposing the US/EU strategy in relation to the ex-Soviet client states but I can't help feeling it ends up politically advancing the cause of the Russian state as the lesser and weaker imperialism. Perhaps worth reading together with the short Hillel Tickten article which seems to make some valid observations without our having to agree with his particular classification of the old Soviet Union or other of his 'neo-trotskyist' ? analysis. Will get round to the Loren Goldner piece later.

The 3rd Way?? Perhaps as another blog-post from the website seems to suggest - NEITHER KIEV NOR MOSCOW but perhaps a trip to this protest might clarify their position:-

SOLIDARITY WITH UKRAINIAN MINERS
FRIDAY 23 MAY, 4:30 pm
EVRAZ PLC,
6 ST. ANDREW STREET
LONDON
EC4A 3AE
(TUBE: CHANCERY LANE)

The miners of Kryviy Rih, members of the Independent Union of Miners of Ukraine, are appealing for solidarity to the workers of Europe. Whilst attention has been focused on the conflict in Ukraine the social-economic crisis is being overlooked.

· Workers real wages have fallen by up to 50% as the cost of living has risen,
· Miners have received only 15% of their actual pay rates,
· A promised pay rise for miners of 20% turned into a £25 hand-out,

The mining company EVRAZ they work for is based in London. It is owned by the Russian Oligarch Abramov, he is worth $7.5 billion. These oligarchs who helped cause the crisis in Ukraine, pay slave wages whilst making vast profits. They pay almost no tax, putting their wealth abroad in the City of London.

The Miners of Kryviy Rih are fighting back and are setting an example to all workers in Ukraine. The miners defence brigades have ensured peace and workers unity in Kryviy Rih and prevented any violence.

The miners are organising strike action to demand their wages are doubled and are calling for help to win their demands. Ukrainian Socialist Solidarity is a campaign set up by socialists and trade unionists in England.

Show your support for the mineworkers of Ukraine. Come to the emergency demo, bring union banners and flags.
Send messages of solidarity to the Kryviy Rih miners at: profikr@i.ua

VIA

http://republicancommunist.org/blog/2014/05/18/miners-of-kryviy-rih-show-the-way-forward-in-ukraine/

On further investigation i note that the Ukrainian Socialist Solidarity is another usual suspect front of the SP/SWP/WL and some of the rest of the Trot left.

Wasn't it the Ukrainian left who ran a scam a few years back pretending to sign up to every 'international' going as the local section?

Devrim

From the worst type of social democrats...

http://observerukraine.net/2014/05/12/appeal-of-the-kryviy-rih-basin-miners-to-the-workers-of-europe/

I don't think that identifying Russia as the weaker imperialism and describing a Ukrainian-based US assault against Russian interests means that one supports Russia at all. Both are facts. I think that earlier in the year a diplomatic and foreign policy initiative (imperialism) by the Russian state precipitated this particular crisis and provoked the western response. The postion of the AWU, for example, is to totally deny the US offensive while denying the specific role of Ukrainian imperialism (as weak as it is) within it.

Things have changed of course since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. But imperialism hasn't - or only in appearances as in the New Great Game. NATO was ending the 1980's with a strategy of "Forward Defence" - its aim was the complete encirclement of Russia, the placement of missiles and the deployment of troops in sensitive areas and the use of fighter jets and bomber sorties right up and occasionally across its borders. Essentially I think a similar strategy from NATO is at work in Ukraine and other local states today.

Anyone can say "Neither Kiev or Moscow"; the AWU, the Ukrainian Socialist Solidarity. The SWP had on its masthead the slogan: "Neither Washington nor Moscow" which, more accurately should have been "Either Washington or Moscow" because they always, sometimes "critically", came down in support one or the imperialist blocs in moments of tension or war.

There was an official on TV last night, I think he was talking on behalf of the EU, saying that 3 questions needed to be answered about the tragedy in Odessa. From memory they were: how did the people get into the building? What were they doing there? Why didn't the police stop them? Notice the missing question? That's the sort of shit news we're getting on mainstream British TV. One day after the snipers shot and killed several people in Kiev, a whole team of British agents were at work on the streets measuring trajectories, determining distances and finding out where the shots were fired from.

New AWU statement- spot on as usual (althoutgh of course I am waiting for intevitable accusations of "supporting ukrainian nationalism" etc.) http://avtonomia.net/2014/05/14/regime-kyiv-junta-east-awu-kyiv-statement-conflict-eastern-regions/

As a parrot of AWU "anarchistsolidarity" should have noticed that he already posted this text here 5 days ago and there has been a reply: http://libcom.org/forums/news/protests-ukraine-02122013?page=7#comment-538280

Followed sub-prole's link and found all sort of confused ideas there. I once mentioned on the thread the German experience of the National Bolsheviks ...i didn't expect to read about the National Communists

http://observerukraine.net/2014/05/19/behind-the-lines-ukrainian-leftists-in-the-donbas/

I also see why some left nationalists in Scotland would be sympathetic to that contradictory rhetoric.

And the naivity in this interview was astounding

And not only that , but one of the actual instigators of the spam was brought to the UK to address a meeting in Parliament.

Zakhar Popovych was one of the key figures of the notorious scandal around the Ukrainian branch of the CWI "Workers Resistance" in 2003.

John McDonnell, the Labour MP who sponsored the Ukraine meeting in the House of Commons, was alerted about this Popovitch character but i'm not sure what happened in the end

Just to clarify one thing: this is a pro-Maidan website and these "national communists" also fully support the nationalist Maidan movement as they openly said themselves in this interview.

Anarchistsolidarity can keep posting the same "spot-on" text from the AWU but it won't get any better. In the link provided by subprole in post 247, we've already shown, contrary to the AWU, that the Right Sector is no ephemeral force, a factor among many. The head of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, Andriy Parubiy (former commander of the Maidan protest fighting wing), was the founder of the neo-fascist Social National Party of Ukraine with the leader of the far-right Svoboda, Oleh Tyahnybok in the early 1990's. This is not an ephemeral individual but the boss of Ukraine's security forces and he could only be such with the approval of the US. It's chaotic and there are all sorts of warlords involved (I believe that the political set up in Kiev is somewhat akin to a second-rate African republic), but Parubiy and his interior ministry is recruitiing and sending fighting forces from Kiev to the east: "Parubiy is spearheading attempts to co-opt Maidan volunteers to ... fight in the east" (Guardian, May 14). In one incident a week ago, a volunteer battalion arrived and opened fire on an unarmed crowd in Krasnoarmeisk killing two civilians (Guardian, May 16). The article further describes a senior military official from Kiev as describing civilians as "pigs" and dismisses their casualties. This sort of language is similar to that used by the AWU with its description of "depravity" in the east.

In the meantime the UN has complained to the Kiev regime about its use of UN marked helicopter gunships in sorties in the east. At least 3 Mi-24 strike helicopters have been used as well as one Mi-8. The Russian journalists who took the pictures and broke the story have been arrested by the Kiev authorities for "aiding terrorist groups". Over a week ago the New York Times was reporting that the Ukrainian army had used heavy machine guns, 120mm mortars and tanks against towns in the east.

.The Guardian above (16th) also reports a senior element in the Kiev state as moaning about the uselessness of regular Ukrainian troops saying that they only joined the army "to get a flat". This sort of criticism, of troops not wanting to fight, is clearly echoed by the AWU in its description of the Ukrainian army as "incompetent" (see above). A "spot-on " observation that shows the AWU support for an efficient Ukrainian military machine.

Press TV - the Iranian BBC - reports today that attacks have intensified on Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, with fighter jets buzzing the towns all night.

By what logic do you deduce that?

If you say something is "incompetent" it means you support the institution, but want it to be better? Because I have previously described the Labour Party as incompetent, so by your logic does that mean I want the Labour Party to be an "efficient machine"?

The context in the text was "Army incompetence on one side and the combatant's depravity on the other add to the losses". The "combatants" of course end up being a majority of civilians, some of who have already been killed, along with some Ukrainian forces, and now many in the south east are living in fear from the "anti-terrorist operation". . I don't think it tenuous to link this idea of the "combatants" to the AWU's somewhat abrupt dismissal of the Odessa murders in which ordinary people were killed.

But that's a minor point I think.

Just a thought or two on the question of the "competence" of the Ukrainian army. It clearly doesn't want to fight for the "cause" in any great way. This factor, without overestimating it, can only be a "good thing" in that this unwillingness to be mobilised in numbers has so far kept the death toll down and the slaughter from spreading. It was evident in the early days of the Crimean annexation that ordinary Ukrainian soldiers did not want to fight.I would think that there was a number of desertions. There's a move in Kiev to bring conscription back but in the meantime the US is backing the Kiev security ministry for its actions in the east.

Terrorists of DPR decide to take away Akhmetov’s factories
_

Google translate of Russian tabloid with statement:

Leftists orgasming in 3... 2... 1...