QFT.

Thank you for the reply. I wasn't aware that pro-Ukrainian/EU citizens of Crimea were being arrested. That's indeed disturbing.

I just saw this news story which I thought I'd share:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/03/04/russia-today-abby-martin-video_n_4894981.html?ncid=webmail1

No, there aren't. They've just surfaced since it became convenient for them to, as it makes it so that the protesters overthrew a dodgily elected President, which sounds better than a democratically elected one.

I'll quote the summary of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe report directly:" The presidential election met most OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections and consolidated progress achieved since 2004. The process was transparent and offered voters a genuine choice between candidates representing diverse political views. However, unsubstantiated allegations of large-scale electoral fraud negatively affected the election atmosphere and voter confidence in the process."

Please note the 'unsubstantiated allegations' part.

[edit] And since I'm about it, here's an interview with the leader of Svoboda where he talks about how the Maidan protests were planned, from pretty much immediately after that election in 2010, not spontaneously.

Let's see.
1. In 2004 the presidential elections were found falsified and this was concluded by Supreme Court. Yanukovich lost in re-vote and began building up support for a comeback.
2. In 2010, even if there were falsifications, they were minimal. 2005-2010 President Yuschenko lost his supporters as he betrayed them all and his promises (lol, promises). Former Prime-Minister Timoshenko was also not very likable option for many, for her minister times. And she was the main opponent to Yanukovich during the election campaign.
3. Protests like these are always planned (unplanned are swiftly silenced or become a bloodbath), it's whether you can control it or not - this is what matters. I think during the first phase - "pro-EU", till December the 1st, this was mostly true. After that began phase 2 - beating of protesters, be they running, laying and simply not opposing is a bad move. So there appeared genuinely worried people. When first victims appeared it all turned to phase 3. All or nothing.

Keep in mind that Svoboda doesn't represent whole nation. They are right-wing radicals that managed to get ~10% of during last election, so they are minority. I believe that most of Ukrainians have much more balanced views.

Nowadays Parties like Svoboda (radical right wingers) can be found in parliaments of many European countries. They gained popularity after financial crisis and they will probably loose popularity if economical situation will improve.

http://www.stopfake.org/en/russian-tv-fake-oleg-tyagnibok-calls-to-ban-russian-language-in-ukraine/

Not sure what that is meant to prove, the interview I linked to was from March 2013- and the language law repeal is a matter of public record that has (belatedly) been mentioned on places like the BBC and AlJ, it's not the product of anyone's propaganda machine or disinformation. And I was careful not to say that Russian had been banned outright. I also made sure that the site I linked to was not obviously biased one way or the other.

As opposed to that StopFake site, which is... ever so slightly biased.

This crisis may be nothing else but a gigantic educational example on how propaganda works... or rather how hard it is to find the actual sources of information that are not tainted by spin.

The leaked telephone call, and the hired pro-russian interview women are both prime examples on how many levels this propaganda war is fought. And how little we can do to see what is the truth or not. It's extremely sad the UN spectators were not let in, because they would have been independent viewpoints... what a chance squandered for the autonomous region to make their side of the story known

The only beneficiaries of this are going to be nationalists and radicals everywhere

Ps: The law was not passed. As such that is completely irrelevant and not even a point to prove anything aside from the fact that the Ukraine Interim gov is NOT anti-russian (yet)

Just saw a few videos of the tense encounter between Russian and Ukrainian troops. Man, that's some tense shit. What particularly sent chills down my spine were the armed guys wearing civilian clothing among the Russians. A classic if you want to get away with war crimes. They could have fired the first shots and capturing that on video would have actually served as proof that it wasn't the Russian soldiers who did it (although curiously Putin denies that even those uniformed guys are his, makes those armed "civilians" kind of an overkill). And at the same time the Russians are testing intercontinental missiles. Scary shit is going on. I'm praying for another meteor, this time a better aimed one that will shatter Putin's head.

Whatever Russia's justification to deploy boots on the ground is still illegal. Another ruse is Russia's deceptive use of soldiers not wearing any insignia which in my book is just plain wrong.

If we start invading other countries with the guise of protecting X-speaking locals, we may as well realign every border right now.

Back when Occupy was most potent (it still is actively relevant btw), there was powerful footage showing that cops staged a false flag Black Bloc attack in order to justify a widespread attack by police. i don't remember the country right now, and the video i had bookmarked is deleted, but i'm sure others will recall.

There were men clad all in black with faces covered and wielding sticks. They were standing off in front of a police line. Behind the Black Bloc were normal protestors, peacefully doing their things. A couple thousand at least. Eventually the Back Bloc attacked the police with their sticks. The police then attacked right through the Black Bloc and continued attacking violently through the surprised protestors. Then the cops went onto attacking innocent people in subways and stores.

Caught on film, were a couple of wounded dudes from the Black Bloc who were being dragged to safety behind police lines. Other protestors were left where they fell. Then a dude still wearing the clothing of Black Bloc gear, and still with face covered, was seen standing casually among the cops behind the protected line. Clearly that dude was a cop, or otherwise allied with them. No handcuffs, no concern seen for having a supposed violent threat, behind police lines with covered face. It was clear evidence of the false flag attack. i saw other footage from New York which suggested that this tactic was used, but this video i talked about was Clear evidence.

i'm still trying to find some footage of the false flag protest attack i spoke of earlier. It was somewhere in Europe i think. So much was happening around the globe then. Does anyone recall any more information on this? Something rememberable about this particular attack, was that the police then when on to attack people waiting for subway cars, and people just out on the street shopping.

Anyway, my point was that agent provocateurs are handy tactic for azzhats to get what they want. It is ancient tactic, in use today. i hope this does not occur in Ukraine. A few provocateurs firing at soldiers from within a crowd, might give justification for an attack. Even if it is a small attack, it will cause fear in people, causing many to stop peacefully standing up for themselves. This tactic could be elevated to justify full scale assault. Any of you who are in the crowds, be mindful of provocateurs. Stop them, interfere, call them out, don't let them do their evil, help keep the peace. Be safe.

EDIT: It was Austerity protests in Barcelona, perhaps during March of 2012. Here is some footage i hadn't seen but which comes from the same event i was talking about. i watched on a live broadcast from a different camera, and saw better footage from others. Still can't find the good one i remember, the one showing the attack from the beginning and showing that the undercover cops were there inciting the violence. But here is one which shows them working with cops: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMzYUZkayRw

No, the law was passed. That's a matter of fact.

It was not signed by the President, so did not become law, but it passed. And yes it does prove that the Ukrainian government is 'anti Russian', so much as that can be proved. If the US Senate/ HoR passed a bill repealing benefits for gays, or removing any support for Spanish then that would most definitively be seen as anti-gay or anti hispanic, whether or not Obama actually signed it into law. And the law would have passed, it just would not have become actual law, but been vetoed.

If you'd like some independent confirmation on the difference between passing a law and it becoming active, here's the wikipedia article confirming it. Well, as much as a wikipedia article can confirm anything.

Referendum for anschluss of Crimea on Russia moved to 16. march. It seems its final there - there will be Russia from now on and not Ukraine anymore.