Paul Craig Roberts: "The extraordinary propaganda being conducted against Russia by the US and UK governments and Ministries of Propaganda, a.k.a., the “Western media,” have the purpose of driving the world to war that no one can win." "In contrast, Russia has emerged from tyranny and from a government based on lies..."

---

War Is Coming — Paul Craig Roberts

---

July 28, 2014 | Original Here                                              Go here to sign up to receive email notice of this news letter

War Is Coming

Paul Craig Roberts

The extraordinary propaganda being conducted against Russia by the US and UK governments and Ministries of Propaganda, a.k.a., the “Western media,” have the purpose of driving the world to war that no one can win. European governments need to rouse themselves from insouciance, because Europe will be the first to be vaporized due to the US missile bases that Europe hosts to guarantee its “security.”

As reported by Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge, the Russian response to the extra-legal ruling of a corrupt court in the Netherlands, which had no jurisdiction over the case on which it ruled, awarding $50 billion dollars from the Russian government to shareholders of Yukos, a corrupt entity that was looting Russia and evading taxes, is telling. Asked what Russia would do about the ruling, an advisor to President Putin replied, “There is a war coming in Europe.” Do you really think this ruling matters?”

The West has ganged up on Russia, because the West is totally corrupt. The wealth of the elites is based not only on looting weaker countries whose leaders can be purchased (read John Perkins’ Confessions of an Economic Hit Man for instruction on how the looting works), but also on looting their own citizens. The American elites excel at looting their fellow citizens and have wiped out most of the US middle class in the new 21st century.

In contrast, Russia has emerged from tyranny and from a government based on lies, while the US and UK submerge into tyranny shielded by lies. Western elites desire to loot Russia, a juicy prize, and there stands Putin in the way. The solution is to get rid of him like they got rid of President Yanukovich in Ukraine.

The looting elites and the neoconservative hegemonists have the same goal: make Russia a vassal state. This goal unites the Western financial imperialists with the political imperialists.

I have recorded for readers the propaganda that is used in order to demonize Putin and Russia. But even I was stunned by the astounding and vicious lies in the UK publication The Economist on July 26. The cover is Putin’s face in a spider web, and, you guessed it, the cover story is “A Web of Lies.” http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21608645-vladimir-putins-epic-deceits-have-grave-consequences-his-people-and-outside-world-web?spc=scode&spv=xm&ah=9d7f7ab945510a56fa6d37c30b6f1709

You need to read this propaganda both in order to see the gutter level of propaganda in the West and the obvious drive to war with Russia. There is no evidence whatsoever in the story to support The Economist’s wild accusations and demand for the end of Western “appeasement” of Russia and the harshest possible action against Putin.

The kind of reckless lies and transparent propaganda that comprises The Economist’s story has no other purpose than to drive the world to war.

The Western elites and governments are not merely totally corrupt, they are insane. As I have previously written, don’t expect to live much longer. In this video one of Putin’s advisors and Russian journalists speak openly of US plans for a first strike on Russia:
http://financearmageddon.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/official-warning-u-s-to-hit-russia-with.html

Blogger's Note: I provide below the video linked to just above. Everyone should play this video!

The Palestinian death toll in Gaza has surpassed 1,000 and many thousands more are injured, while hospitals and schools are being shelled. In the meanwhile, the Israeli govenment tells its citizens that the war is against Hamas, whereas in reality 80% of the killed and wounded have been civilians ...and President Obama has told Israel to keep on killing. I think this is genocide. What do you think?

---

                                                                                       Original Here

Despite Growing International Condemnation, No End to Gaza Violence in Sight As the death toll in Gaza passes 1,000
Lia Tarachansky and Phyllis Bennis respond to a poll which found 86% of Israelis reject a ceasefire, while a growing number of Americans want the Israeli offensive to stop - July 28, 2014

Bio                                                                                            

Lia Tarachansky is an Israeli-Russian journalist with The Real News Network reporting on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Born in the Soviet Union, Tarachansky grew up in a settlement in the occupied West Bank. She is the director of On the Side of the Road, a documentary on Israel's biggest taboo - the events of 1948 when the state was created. Tarachansky previously worked as a Newsroom Producer in The Real News' Washington D.C. and Toronto Headquarters, and her work appeared on BBC, Al Jazeera, USA Today, Canadian Dimension Magazine and others.

Phyllis Bennis is a Fellow and the Director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC. She is the author of Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer, Before and After: US Foreign Policy and the September 11 Crisis , Ending the US War in Afghanistan: A Primer and Understanding the US-Iran Crisis: A Primer.

"Washington now has in motion the wheels of war. Once the wheels of war begin to turn, momentum carries them forward. The foolish, indeed utterly stupid, governments and media in Europe seem unaware of Washington’s orchestration of their future or lack thereof, or they are indifferent to it. They are dooming themselves and all of humanity by their insouciance." "The only possibility of avoiding war is that Putin take his case to the UN. If Washington can send Colin Powell to the UN unarmed with any truth to make Washington’s case for war against Iraq, Putin should be able to take his case to the UN against Washington’s war against Russia." -- Paul Craig Roberts

---

The World Is Doomed By Western Insouciance — Paul Craig Roberts

---

July 26, 2014 | Original Here                                              Go here to sign up to receive email notice of this news letter

The World Is Doomed By Western Insouciance
don’t expect to live much longer

Paul Craig Roberts

European governments and the Western media have put the world at risk by enabling Washington’s propaganda and aggression against Russia.

Washington has succeeded in using transparent lies to demonize Russia as a dangerous aggressive country led by a new Hitler or a new Stalin, just as Washington succeeded in demonizing Saddam Hussein in Iraq, the Taliban in Afghanistan, Qaddafi in Libya, Assad in Syria, Chavez in Venezuela, and, of course, Iran.

The real demons–Clinton, Bush, Obama–are “the exceptional and indispensable people” above the reach of demonization. Their horrific real crimes go unnoticed, while fictitious crimes are attributed to the unexceptional and dispensable people and countries.

The reason that Washington demonizes a leader and a country is to permit the creation of circumstances that Washington can use to act with force against a leader and a country.

Washington’s incessant lies alleging “Russian aggression” have created Russian aggression out of thin air. John Kerry and the State Department’s Marie Harf issue new lies daily, but never any supporting evidence. With the stage set, the US Senate, the NATO commander and the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff are busy at work energizing the wheels of war.

Senate bill 2277 provides for beefing up forces on Russia’s borders and for elevating Ukraine’s status to “ally of the US” so that US troops can assist the war against “terrorists” in Ukraine. http://un.ua/eng/article/522930.html See also: http://www.globalresearch.ca/collapse-of-ukraine-government-prime-minister-yatsenyuk-resigns-amidst-pressures-exerted-by-the-imf/5393168

NATO commander Breedlove is preparing his plans for stockpiling war material on Russia’s borders so that US/NATO troops can more quickly strike Russia. http://rt.com/news/175292-nato-poland-supply-base/

Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, is at work preparing American opinion for the upcoming war.

On July 24 Dempsey told the Aspen Security Forum, a high level group where US opinion is formed, that Putin’s aggression in Ukraine is comparable to Stalin’s invasion of Poland in 1939 and that the Russian threat was not limited to Ukraine or Eastern Europe but was global. http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/07/25/gen-dempsey-were-pulling-out-our-cold-war-military-plans-over-ukraine

The intellects in the Aspen Forum did not break out laughing when Dempsey told them that Russia’s (alleged but unproven) involvement in Ukraine was the first time since 1939 that a country made a conscious decision to use its military force inside another sovereign nation to achieve its objectives. No one asked Dempsey what Washington has been doing during the last three presidential regimes: Clinton in Serbia, Bush and Obama in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Pakistan, and Yemen, Obama in Libya and Syria.

Here are Dempsey’s words: “You’ve got a Russian government that has made a conscious decision to use its military force inside another sovereign nation to achieve its objectives. It’s the first time since 1939 or so that that’s been the case. They clearly are on a path to assert themselves differently not just in Eastern Europe, but Europe in the main, and towards the United States.”

Washington’s view that the world is its oyster is so ingrained that neither Dempsey nor his upper echelon audience at the Aspen Forum noticed the absurdity of his statement. Washington and the brainwashed US population take for granted that the “exceptional, indispensable nation” is not limited in its actions by the sovereignty of other countries.

Washington takes for granted that US law prevails in other countries over the countries’ own laws–just ask France or Switzerland, that Washington can tell foreign financial institutions and corporations with whom they can do business and with whom they cannot–just ask every country and company prevented from doing business with Iran, that Washington can invade any country whose leader Washington can demonize and overthrow–just ask Iraq, Honduras, Libya, Serbia, and so forth, and that Washington can conduct military operations against peoples in foreign countries, such as Pakistan and Yemen, with which Washington is not at war.

All of this is possible, because Washington has claimed the title from Israel of being “God’s Chosen People.” Of course, Israel’s loss of the title has not stopped Israel from acting the same way.

Washington now has in motion the wheels of war. Once the wheels of war begin to turn, momentum carries them forward. The foolish, indeed utterly stupid, governments and media in Europe seem unaware of Washington’s orchestration of their future or lack thereof, or they are indifferent to it. They are dooming themselves and all of humanity by their insouciance. Heaven help if the British PM or French president or German chancellor were not invited to the White House or the Polish nonentity did not get his Washington stipend.

Readers who cannot tolerate problems without solutions always request solutions. OK, here is the solution:

The only possibility of avoiding war is that Putin take his case to the UN. If Washington can send Colin Powell to the UN unarmed with any truth to make Washington’s case for war against Iraq, Putin should be able to take his case to the UN against Washington’s war against Russia.

The case that the emperor has no clothes is an easy one to make.

Unlike Washington, Putin is willing to share the evidence that Russia has about who is doing what in Ukraine. It is a simple matter to establish that Washington organized a coup that overthrew an elected government, supports violence against those who object to the coup, and has turned a deaf ear to Russia’s repeated pleas for Kiev and the separatists to negotiate their differences.

Putin should make it clear to the world that Washington continues with provocative military steps against Russia, with force buildups on Russia’s borders and calls for more buildups, with S.2277 which reads like a US preparation for war, with provocative actions and accusations by top US generals and government officials against Russia, and with efforts to isolate Russia and to inflict economic and political injury on Russia.

Putin should make it clear to the world that there is a limit to the provocations that Russia can accept and that Russia believes that Russia is in danger of preemptive nuclear attack by Washington. Putin can describe Washington’s withdrawal from the ABM treaty, the construction of ABM bases on Russia’s borders, and the announced change in Washington’s war doctrine that elevates US nuclear forces from a retaliatory role to a preemptive first strike role. These actions are clearly directed at Russia (and China–wake up China! You are next!).

Putin must state clearly that the likely consequence of the world continuing to enable Washington’s lies and aggression will be not merely another disastrous war but the termination of life.

The governments of the world, especially Washington’s vassals in Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan, need to be told that it is their responsibility to stop their enabling of Washington’s aggression or to accept their responsibility for World War III.

At least we could all have the enjoyment of watching the arrogant Samantha Powers and the craven British lapdog rise and walk out of the UN proceedings. There is no doubt whatsoever that Washington is unable to answer the charges.

Here again is the Wolfowitz Doctrine that controls US foreign policy and that condemns Planet Earth to death:

“Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that posses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union. This is a dominant consideration underlying the new regional defense strategy and requires that we endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power.”

A hostile power is defined as any country that is not a Washington vassal.

The Wolfowitz Doctrine commits the United States, its peoples, Washington’s gullible EU allies and those peoples to war with Russia and China. Unless Russia and China surrender, the world will be destroyed.

The destruction of the world is what the idiot EU governments and the presstitute Western media are fostering by their enablement of Washington’s lies and aggression.

---

If the U.S. and its vassals truly wanted to know what dastardly deeds Russia is pulling against "innocent" Ukraine, they would either send observers ...or take advantage of unbiased observers such as Human Rights Watch. Here below Human Rights Watch members on the spot have not only found no Russian troops in the Russian-speaking province of Donetsk, or firing across the Russia-Donetsk border at these innocent civilians (as the U.S. alleges), but they have painstakingly determined that rockets that have been destroying buildings and murdering inhabitants of Donetsk have been fired from areas under the control of the neocon/neo-Nazi Ukrainian government (which the U.S. supports). Clearly Russia is innocent of what the U.S. and its vassals allege justifies nuclear war against Russia. Is all human life on earth to be eradicated due to the lies of Washington as promulgated by the despicable "mainstream media" and blindly accepted by the gullible American people?

---

Ukraine: Unguided Rockets Killing Civilians

Stop Use of Grads in Populated Areas

JULY 24, 2014                                                                                                   Original Here

(Donetsk) – Unguided Grad rockets launched apparently by Ukrainian government forces and pro-government militias have killed at least 16 civilians and wounded many more in insurgent-controlled areas of Donetsk and its suburbs in at least four attacks between July 12 and 21, 2014, Human Rights Watch said today.

The use of indiscriminate rockets in populated areas violates international humanitarian law, or the laws of war, and may amount to war crimes.

Grads are unguided rockets that cannot be targeted accurately, and are often fired in salvos from multi-barrel rocket launchers to saturate a wide area. Human Rights Watch called on all parties to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, particularly Ukrainian government forces, to stop using Grad rockets in or near populated areas because of the likelihood of killing and wounding civilians. Insurgent forces should minimize the risk to civilians under their control by avoiding deploying forces and weapons in densely populated areas.

“Grad rockets are notoriously imprecise weapons that shouldn’t be used in populated areas,” said Ole Solvang, senior emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch. “If insurgent and Ukrainian government forces are serious about limiting harm to civilians, they should both immediately stop using these weapons in populated areas.”



Anti-Kiev insurgent forces started asserting control over Donetsk, a city in eastern Ukraine with a population of almost one million, in April. Because of security concerns, Human Rights Watch was unable to determine first-hand the impact of the Grad attacks on insurgent forces and installations.

Both Ukrainian government and insurgent forces have recently used Grad rockets. Although Ukrainian government officials and the press service of the National Guard have denied using Grad rockets in Donetsk, a Human Rights Watch investigation on the ground strongly indicates that Ukrainian government forces were responsible for the attacks that occurred between July 12 and 21.

The four attacks took place close to the front line between insurgent and government forces. Impact craters on the ground and on buildings investigated by Human Rights Watch were characteristic of rocket attacks, not shelling. In all four cases, the angle and shape of the craters, and the fact that they were on the side of buildings facing the front line, strongly suggests that the rockets came from the direction of Ukrainian government forces or pro-Kiev armed groups. The attacks’ proximity to the front line also makes it unlikely, and in some cases impossible, that insurgent forces were responsible for the attacks. In two of the attacks, rockets hit on or near insurgent bases and checkpoints at the same time as they hit residential areas, indicating government forces were responsible.

In the July 21 attack, three civilians died when Grad rockets hit a residential area near the Donetsk train station. Ongoing fighting made it difficult for Human Rights Watch to determine whether there were additional casualties, but what could be identified as Grad rockets by their distinctive sound could be heard throughout the day.

On July 19, at least five rockets struck a residential area in the Kuibyshivskyi district in western Donetsk, injuring at least four civilians.

Human Rights Watch documented multiple rocket impacts on July 12 on a residential area in the Petrovskyi district on the western outskirts of Donetsk that killed at least seven civilians.

Also on July 12, multiple rockets struck a residential area in Maryinka, a village just outside of Donetsk, close to the Petrovskyi district, killing at least six civilians.

Human Rights Watch was able to identify the rockets fired as unguided 122-millimeter surface-to-surface Grad artillery rockets launched from multi-barrel rocket launchers with up to 40 launch tubes. Most Grad rockets have a range of 1.5 to 20 kilometers. The rockets vary in length from 1.9 to 3.3 meters and weigh 45 to 75 kilograms.

Grad rockets use various types of warheads. The most common is a high explosive/fragmentation type, which contains approximately 6.4 kilograms of high explosives and is designed to produce 3,150 fragments, which can kill or injure within a radius of 28 meters. At its maximum range of some 20 kilometers, the most common rocket (9M22U) with the basic high explosive/fragmentation (M-21-OF) warhead is only accurate within a rectangle of 336 meters by 160 meters. In other words, from its aim point, the rocket could land anywhere within a rectangle of approximately 54,000 square meters.

The fighting in eastern Ukraine is governed by the laws of war, which apply to all parties to the conflict. Grad rockets cannot be targeted with sufficient precision to differentiate military targets, which may be attacked, from civilians and civilian structures, such as homes and schools not being used for military purposes, which are immune from attack. As such, their use in populated areas violates the laws-of-war prohibition against indiscriminate attacks. In addition, attacks not directed at valid military targets are also unlawfully indiscriminate.

Human Rights Watch said that insurgent forces have failed to take all feasible precautions to avoid deploying in densely populated areas, thereby endangering civilians in violation of the laws of war. In one case, separatist forces moved their base closer to the center of the town when Grad rockets struck their base and a nearby residential area. Violations of the laws of war by one side to the conflict do not justify violations by the other side.

Individuals who commit serious violations of the laws of war with criminal intent, that is intentionally or recklessly, are responsible for war crimes.

“Ukrainian authorities should order all their forces, including volunteer forces, to immediately stop using Grads in or near populated areas, and insurgent forces should avoid deploying in densely populated areas,” Solvang said. “Commanding officers on all sides should recognize that one day they could face legal consequences for their actions.”

Human Rights Watch called on Ukraine’s international supporters to urge the Ukrainian government to strictly adhere to international humanitarian law, including by ending all use of Grad rockets in populated areas.

For additional details about the attacks, please see below.

Attacks Near the Train Station, July 21
On July 21, Ukrainian government forces stationed on the northwest edge of Donetsk began a military offensive against insurgent forces in the area around and north of the train station. Because of contradictory statements by Ukrainian authorities, it was not immediately clear whether the offensive was conducted by government forces or pro-Kiev volunteer forces operating on their own.

Media reports quoted a spokesman for Ukraine’s military stating that the fighting around the train station was “a planned offensive ... to push rebels away from the airport,” but that “[a]viation and artillery are not aiming at civilian residences. Their only aim is to block the terrorists and fighters.” In a separate media report, Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s National Security Council, denied that government forces were involved in any fighting, but claimed that a small self-organized group of pro-Kiev forces were fighting insurgents.

Information collected by Human Rights Watch indicates that the Grad rockets killed at least three civilians during the attack.

Local residents told Human Rights Watch that several rockets had struck their neighborhood, just south of the train station, at about 10:30 a.m. They said one of the rockets struck the courtyard of an apartment complex, killing one woman and wounding a man. The woman did not live in the apartment complex so the neighbors did not know her name.

A Human Rights Watch visit to the site found an impact crater with blood next to it in the middle of the courtyard. There was also blood on the steps leading up to one of the nearby buildings. Neighbors said shrapnel from the same rocket had injured a man there and that he then tried to drag himself up the steps and into the building.

While the area is generally under insurgent control, as is most of Donetsk, local residents told Human Rights Watch that no insurgent forces or weapons had been in the area at the time of the attack.

Foreign journalists told Human Rights Watch that a second rocket killed two men near a school about 100 meters away from the rocket that killed the woman. A security expert working with the New York Times provided Human Rights Watch with the GPS coordinates of the strike that killed the two men and another strike in the immediate vicinity.

The security expert also provided Human Rights Watch with GPS coordinates for three impact sites, also in a residential area, located to the northeast of the train station. There was no information about casualties from that area.

Human Rights Watch heard what appeared to be salvos of Grad rockets being launched from multi-barrel launchers from the north of the city throughout the day, but ongoing fighting made it difficult to establish whether there were additional civilian casualties.

Attack on Kuibyshivskyi district, July 19
Human Rights Watch documented five impact sites in Pervaya Ploshchad, a residential area of mostly three- to five-story buildings on the western edge of Donetsk, caused by a rocket attack at about 4 p.m. on July 19.

One of the rockets struck a five-story residential building at 6 Tumanyana Street. Valentina Fedorovna, 77, who lives on the ground floor, told Human Rights Watch:

I was just about to turn on the TV when I heard a loud whistling noise and a big bang. Then I don’t remember anything more until somebody shouted “Is there anybody alive in here?” Then a young man came and pulled me out. I was completely in shock.

Another resident, who was injured by a piece of shrapnel that went through her arm and a smaller one lodged in her chest, told Human Rights Watch:

All of a sudden I felt an explosion that pushed back so I hit my head. I didn’t even notice that I was wounded. All the windows shattered. People were screaming.

A Human Rights Watch examination of the site found that the rocket had entered through the second floor of the building, continued through the kitchen and bathroom of Valentina Fedorovna’s apartment on the ground floor, and went farther down to the basement.” If the rocket had hit two meters to the left it would have gone through the living room where I was sitting instead of the kitchen,” Valentina Fedorovna said.

Another rocket, which hit the courtyard about 20 meters from Valentina Federovna’s building, wounded four people, who were taken to the hospital. Neighbors said one woman was seriously injured by a piece of shrapnel that lodged in her chest.

A third rocket struck the playground of School 71; a fourth hit the road outside the local church, shattering most of the windows; and a fifth hit a single-story house that was empty at the time.

Both the flight direction of the rockets and circumstances of the attack indicate that Ukrainian government forces were responsible. The rocket striking 6 Tumanyana Street hit its western façade. The crater in the soft ground in the school playground also showed that the rockets came from a western direction. At the time of the attack, the front line between insurgent and Ukrainian government forces was several kilometers farther west, according to local residents.

Insurgent forces manning a checkpoint about three kilometers west of the Pervaya Ploshchad area told Human Rights Watch that Grad rockets had also hit their checkpoint and the area between the checkpoint and the residential area in the same attack. Human Rights Watch observed craters, marks on the asphalt, and remnants of Grad rockets near the checkpoint and between the checkpoint and the residential area that were consistent with this account.

Attack on Petrovskyi district, July 12
At about 4 p.m. on July 12, multiple Grad rockets hit a residential area in Petrovskyi district in the western part of Donetsk. The area that was hit is several kilometers north of a road that demarcates the front line between insurgent and Ukrainian government forces.

Human Rights Watch examined 19 impact craters in an area about 600 meters wide. Local residents also showed Human Rights Watch remnants from Grad rockets that they said had hit their gardens or houses.

In one case, a rocket struck the house and garage at 2 Chugaeva Street, killing an entire family of two adults and two children.

Liudmila, 62, was at home in Chugaeva Street when the attack happened. She told Human Rights Watch:

I was in my room when I first heard a whistling sound. The walls and windows started to shake and then there were many loud bangs. My son was in the kitchen. He came running when the attack started, probably trying to save me, but a shrapnel hit him in the leg. What’s here that they wanted to attack? There is no factory here, no fighters, just poor houses.

Liudmila’s car was destroyed in the attack and Human Rights Watch observed significant damage to her house. Her son was recovering.

An officer on duty in the local police station showed Human Rights Watch the logbook from July 12 and provided Human Rights Watch with addresses where people had died during the attack. The police had registered seven deaths, including the four people mentioned above.

Craters and marks on buildings showed that the rockets had been launched from a location to the southeast. The likely launch area is located south of the southern-most checkpoint manned by insurgent forces.

Several of the impact craters indicated that the rockets had come from a southern direction. Local residents said that there had been no insurgent forces or weapons in the area before the attack.

Attack on Maryinka, July 12
At about 10 p.m. on July 12, multiple Grad rockets struck an area in the southeastern part of the village of Maryinka, which consists of fields, an industrial zone, and a residential area, clustered around a milk factory.

Maryinka has about 10,000 inhabitants and is just outside the western edge of Donetsk, adjacent to the Petrovskyi district. It consists mainly of three- to five-story buildings. 

A 25-year-old taxi driver told Human Rights Watch:

I was at home when the attack started. I ran to the basement immediately, but the attack was over in about 40 seconds. There was no warning. Nothing had happened here before. I only came out from the basement when the [insurgents] came to evacuate us. Everything was burning and there was debris everywhere. I never thought that something like this could happen here.

The local department for housing and utilities, which documented the effects of the strike, provided Human Rights Watch with the names of six people who died in that attack. All of those killed were between the ages of 45 and 60. Fifteen people were taken to the hospital, a department employee said, most with light injuries such as concussions.

Human Rights Watch documented multiple Grad rocket impacts in the residential area. Several buildings had been hit directly, and most buildings in the area had broken windows. According to the housing and utilities department, at least 12 apartment buildings had direct rocket hits. Human Rights Watch discovered remnants of Grad rockets in multiple locations in the area that was hit, including inside destroyed apartments.

At the time of the attack, insurgent forces manned a checkpoint about 800 meters southwest of the edge of the village, and an unknown number of insurgent forces were deployed on the opposite side of the road, between the checkpoint and the residential area that was hit. The base commander said that both the checkpoint and the base were struck at the same time as the residential area and that 22 rockets landed on the territory of his base. There were additional Grad attacks against the same area in at least the two following days, residents and the commander said, but most civilians evacuated immediately after the initial attack. Following the attacks, the insurgent base relocated closer to the center of Maryinka, the commander said.

Ukrainian government forces appear responsible for the attacks. All the rockets that had struck buildings hit walls facing southwest, indicating that the rockets came from there. Insurgent force personnel told Human Rights Watch that none of their troops were located farther southwest beyond the checkpoint 800 meters from the residential part of Maryinka, which, if true, would not have made it possible for them to have carried out the attack. A journalist who travelled to some of the villages southeast of Maryinka two days after the attack told Human Rights Watch that he saw no insurgent forces in that area at that time.

The journalist told Human Rights Watch that pro-Kiev forces in non-standard uniforms in Novomikhaylivka, a village southwest of Maryinka, had boasted to him the following day that they had a Grad rocket system and that they were firing on insurgent forces. The soldiers told the journalist that their aiming was accurate because they had scouts that helped them direct the fire.

A resident of Maryinka who fled to another village after the attack told Human Rights Watch that he saw Grad rockets being launched twice from a village farther southwest, which was under the control of Ukrainian forces on July 13.

Important preface by Paul Craig Roberts (received yesterday): "Government of Ukraine Collapses" "Today the Ukrainian government resigned. The prime minister Yatsenyuk, or 'Yat' as affectionately called by Victoria Nuland who put Yat into office, resigned along with the entire Cabinet. The parliament refused to vote the harsh conditions demanded by the IMF. I am not sure what this means. Perhaps it is just a tactic to force the parliament to do as the IMF says. Or perhaps Yat, Washington’s stooge, has realized that IMF or no IMF, Ukraine’s economy is imploding and wants to get out of the blame. The point for now is that I checked the BBC, the New York Times, and CNN and there is not one word about the collapse of the government of Ukraine. I did notice that the BBC, now a reliable element of Washington’s Ministry of Propaganda, reported, as if it were true, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf’s claim that the Russian military is shelling Ukrainian forces. When Harf tried this out today on a roomful of journalists, they laughed her out of the room. Evidence, evidence! they demanded. 'Why,' Harf was asked, 'do you think something is made true by your saying it!?' So, as usual, real news is missing from the Western press, but fake news is reported. Professor Michael Chossudovsky has provided an account of the collapse of the Ukrainian government on Global Research." (reproduced below)

---

Collapse of Ukraine Government: Prime Minister Yatsenyuk Resigns amidst Pressures Exerted by the IMF

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky                                                                  Region: Russia and FSU Global Research, July 24, 2014                       Theme: Global Economy, Poverty & Social Inequality

Global  Research, July 24, 2014                                        Original Here

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced his resignation in the Rada (Parliament) and that of the entire Cabinet on Thursday, July 24.  This decision was taken following the withdrawal of two parties from the coalition government and the non-adoption of two important pieces of legislation, which had been demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

“I announce my resignation after the collapse of the coalition and the blocking of government initiatives …
“In connection with the breakup of the parliamentary coalition, as well as non-adoption of a number of important bills, I announce my resignation,”

The resignation of the Prime Minister signifies the collapse of the government and the resignation of the entire cabinet.

“But the cabinet members will continue fulfilling their duties until a new coalition is formed in the Rada.”

On July 24th, the Rada failed to support the government’s bill pertaining to the 2014 budget sequestration, which had been demanded by the IMF on behalf of Kiev’s external creditors. The disbursement by the IMF of the “Second Tranche” of a 17 billion dollar policy based loan was conditional upon the prior adoption of this legislation.

“The parliament must adopt amendments to the state budget needed to finance our army and also documents needed for cooperation with international financial institutions.[e.g. IMF, World Bank, EBRD]” said PM Yatsenyuk. (emphasis added)

The entire country is in an impasse. No money will be forthcoming from the IMF until this legislation is adopted. In the meantime, Ukraine remains on the blacklist of its external creditors.

Moreover, a controversial draft law on reforming the country’s gas transportation system was rejected (Itar-Tass, July 24, 2014).

Both bills were tied into the government’s negotiations with both the EU and the IMF.

What Happens Next?

The national economy is in crisis, the political structures of the country are in total disarray, all of which is occurring in the immediate wake of the Malaysian Airlines MH17 crash in Eastern Ukraine.

The two parties which left the coalition are The Neo-Nazi Svoboda party and the Centre Right Ukraine Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR) Party led by former champion boxer Vitali Klitschko.

President Poroshenko (left) has intimated that the resignation of the cabinet has paved the way for a process of meaningful political restructuring:  “Society wants a full reset of state authorities,” said Mr Poroshenko.

What is implied by Poroshenko’s statement is that the parliamentary process is slated to become defunct inasmuch as Rada is obligated to adopt the legislation demanded by the IMF and the European Union. And if the Rada does not adopt the legislation, the composition of the Parliament will be changed through a process of outright political manipulation.

The 2014 budget project demanded by the IMF includes massive cuts in social spending coupled with increased allocations to the Armed Forces. Its adoption will contribute (virtually overnight) to a further process of the impoverishment of the Ukraine population.

The speaker of the Rada, Mr. Oleksandr Turchynov confirmed that the Ukraine Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR) and Svoboda (Freedom) would be invited to propose a candidate to occupy the post of interim Prime Minister.

So much for democracy: the leader of a Neo-Nazi formation Oleh Tyahnybok (Image right) will play a key role in the appointment of an interim Prime Minister to replace Mr. Yatsenyuk. 

Parliamentary elections will only occur if the Rada fails to forge a new coalition government within the next 30 days:

The breakup of the coalition “was probably agreed on by political parties seeking elections and the president,” Yuriy Yakymenko, the head of political research at Kiev’s Razumkov Center, a non-governmental policy group, said by phone.

“Withdrawals from the coalition should not paralyze the parliament’s work,” Poroshenko said before Yatsenyuk announced his resignation.” (Business Week, July 24, 2014

Yatsenyuk intimated in his resignation speech that the State was bankrupt and that failure to abide by IMF demands would create social chaos:

“The fact is that today you failed to vote for the laws, and I have nothing (with which) to pay wages of policemen, doctors, teachers; nothing to buy a rifle with, nothing to fuel an armored personnel carrier with. Today you failed to take a decision to fill the gas storages to allow us to live through the winter, to at last free ourselves from dependence on Russian gas,” (Rada, July 24, 2014)

The IMF Program and the Interim Government

In the days following the Ukraine coup d’Etat of February 23, which led to the ousting of the duly elected president, Wall Street and the IMF–in liaison with the US Treasury and the European Commission in Brussels– had already set the stage for the imposition of the IMF’s “strong economic medicine”.

Following the installation of the interim coalition government, Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk dismissed the need to even negotiate with the IMF. He called for an  an unconditional acceptance of IMF shock therapy:

“We have no other choice but to accept the IMF offer”.
Yatsenyuk intimated that Ukraine will “accept whatever offer the IMF and the EU made” (voice of russia.com March 21, 2014, emphasis added)

In surrendering to the IMF at the outset of the interim government in March 2014, Yatsenyuk was fully aware that the proposed IMF-World Bank macro-economic reforms would brutally impoverish millions of people, including those who protested in Maidan against the Yanukovitch government.

The adoption of the more ruthless components of the IMF’s economic package requiring supportive legislation had been delayed until after the May 25 elections.

Cracking Down on the Party of Regions and the Communist Party

Meanwhile, the government is cracking down on the Ukraine Communist Party which is now illegal as well as on the Party of Regions, both of which were firmly opposed to the IMF policy reforms.

Ukraine as An Ally without NATO Status

In turn, the Ministry of Defense has raised the issue of direct US military support in the military campaign in Eastern Ukraine, where the Donbass militia have repealed the forces of the Kiev regime.

“The current situation testifies to clear Russian interference in Ukraine and its military support to terrorist groups active in Ukraine’s eastern regions… Right now, Ukraine’s armed forces need international support more than ever before”, said Deputy Defense Ihor Kabanenko to David Baldwin, commander of the California National Guard. (Kiev Post, July 24, 2014)

Commander Baldwin was in Kiev for high level consultations with the Ministry of Defense.  In the course of his meetings with DeputyDefense Minister Ihor Kabanenko, Baldwin announced on behalf of the US government that:

“The United States of America is considering the possibility of granting Ukraine the status of an ally without membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

… Baldwin said that the American side highly appreciates its cooperation with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and that it is ready to provide comprehensive support to them.

He stressed that a draft law on prevention of Russian aggression, adoption of which will allow Ukraine to obtain the status of an ally of the United States without NATO membership, is currently under consideration by the United States government.

… President Petro Poroshenko has asked the United States Congress to declare the self-proclaimed “People’s Republic of Luhansk” and “People’s Republic of Donetsk” as terrorist organizations and declare their members as terrorists.Poroshenko believes that when sanctions are not working, there are grounds for appeal to the United States Congress to grant Ukraine the special status of a major ally outside NATO (like Israel, Australia, and the Philippines) to enable it to solve its security problems. (Ukrainian News, July 24, 2014, emphasis added)

The granting of the “status of ally outside NATO” would set the stage for the possible deployment of US and NATO forces inside Ukraine in the context of joint military operations with the Ukraine Armed Forces and National Guard.

Here is yet another piece of evidence that Malaysia Airlines Fight 17 was brought down by the Ukraine government and not the beleagered Russian speakers of the east and south.

---

Pilots Heard Ukrainian Air Traffic Control Order MH17 to Change Route
Russia accuses Kiev of tampering with ATC recordings 

by Paul Joseph Watson | July 23, 2014

---

Pilots on board an Air India Dreamliner which was flying just 90 seconds behind Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 say they heard Ukrainian air traffic control give the order for the doomed plane to change route minutes before MH17 was shot down by a missile.

According to a report in the Times of India, “Minutes before the crash caused by a missile strike, the AI pilots…. heard the controller give the Malaysian aircraft MH17 what is called “a direct routing”. This permits an aircraft to fly straight, instead of tracking the regular route which is generally a zig-zag track that goes from one ground-based navigation aid or way point to another.”

The AI Dreamliner was less than 25km away from MH17 when it was shot down, a flying distance of just 90 seconds.

Ukraine ATC subsequently asked the Dreamliner pilots to try and make contact with MH17 when it disappeared from radar, but to no avail.

India’s civil aviation industry denied that the Dreamliner was in the region when the incident occurred, although flight tracking data shows it was in the vicinity.

The news arrives as Russia accused Kiev of tampering with air traffic control data in order to sway the outcome of the investigation into what happened to MH17.

“According to reports that emerge, Ukrainian authorities are conducting certain covert activities involving data storage equipment and employees of Ukrainian air traffic control services, both civilian and military, without notifying international organizations,” spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement.

As we reported yesterday, the question of why Ukrainian authorities have refused to release transcripts of air traffic control conversations with pilots of the doomed airliner continues to swirl almost a week after the incident. In comparison, air traffic control transcripts involving Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which went missing in March, were released publicly within 72 hours.

Almost immediately after MH17 was shot down, “Ukraine’s SBU security service…. confiscated recordings of conversations between Ukrainian air traffic control officers and the crew of the doomed airliner,” reported BBC News.

Information obtained from the recordings could determine the veracity of Russia’s claim that MH17 was being closely followed by at least one Ukrainian fighter jet in the minutes before its demise.

Questions have abounded as to why flight MH17 pilots were re-routed to overfly eastern Ukraine when most other major airlines have avoided the airspace for months. Data shows that MH17′s previous ten flight paths before the shoot down avoided eastern Ukraine entirely.

In another development, Kiev claims that two Ukrainian fighter jets were shot down today by missiles fired from Russian territory. In an apparent contradiction to Kiev’s own narrative on MH17, Ukrainian security spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko said that rebels did not have access to missiles that could reach 17,000 feet, despite the fact that MH17 was flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet when it was shot down.

Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71
FOLLOW Paul Joseph Watson @ https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet

*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com.

If you think that Israel is justified to carry out their murderous attacks on hundreds of un-armed men, women, and children, it is certainly due to a bias forced upon an all-to-happy-to-comply "mainstream media" so long as they can keep their despicable jobs. The woman in the picture below believes that anyone with moral principals would seek to stop a genocide before worrying about his/her job. Please watch this inspiring video. However, this is now the third DemocracyNow! interview that I've come across to have been censored by way of blocking the function of the embed code. Accordingly, you will need to watch the original by clicking the link below the picture.

---

WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2014  

MSNBC’s Sole Palestinian Voice Rula Jebreal Takes on Pro-Israeli Gov’t Bias at Network & in US Media

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/7/23/msnbcs_sole_palestinian_voice_rula_jebreal

Topics   Gaza, Media Analysis, Israel & Palestine

Guests  Rula Jebreal, Palestinian author and political analyst who frequently appears on MSNBC. She worked for many years as a broadcast journalist in Italy, where she also covered the Middle East. She is the author of Miral, which was made into a film by Julian Schnabel.

A week after public outrage helped force NBC’s reversal of a decision to pull veteran reporter Ayman Mohyeldin out of Gaza, the sole Palestinian contributor to sister network MSNBC has publicly criticized its coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict. "We are disgustingly biased when it comes to this issue," Rula Jebreal said Monday on MSNBC’s Ronan Farrow Daily, citing a disproportionate amount of Palestinian voices and a preponderance of Israeli government officials and supporters. Jebreal joins us to discuss her decision to speak out against MSNBC and her broader criticism of the corporate media’s Israel-Palestine coverage. An author and political analyst who worked for many years as a broadcast journalist in Italy, Jebreal also shares her personal story as a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship who is married to a Jewish man and has a Jewish sister.

Here two reporters with the same last name have published their columns on the same day. Most of Steve Watson's sources appear to have been individuals who believe -- or deliberately abet -- U.S. propaganda alleging without proof that the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was the work of pro-Russian separatists. However, Steve's video is a must-see: The whereabouts of all aircraft over Ukraine on that fateful day is recited by Lieutenant-General Igor Makushev of Russia’s Air Forces with an English translator (at the 12.30 minute mark he begins to illustrate airport radar views). This open-to-the-press session also claimed that satellite views showed that all Buk anti-aircraft batteries at the moment of the shoot-down were in Ukrainian-held territory. In Steve's last paragraph, he cites Paul Joseph Watson's conversation with a well trusted American reporter who was shown strong evidence that Washington is lying about who is responsible for the downing of MH17. Paul Joseph's column is re-posted here just below Steve's byline.

---

Claim: MH17 Was Being Flanked By Ukrainian Fighter Jets
Russia wants explanation for warplane flying within three miles of downed airliner

Image Credits: ronmacphotos, Flickr

by Steve Watson | Infowars.com | July 21, 2014                                    Original here

Amid the confusion surrounding the downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17 comes a claim from an Iranian defense expert that could explain why the airliner was targeted by pro-Russian separatists.

Many have questioned how operators inside the Buk missile TELAR (transporter erector launcher and radar) could have possibly mistaken MH17′s radar signal as anything other than a civilian plane, given the Boeing 777′s altitude and transponder type.

Thus the notion that the missile operators believed they were firing at a Ukrainian Air Force surveillance plane has been rubbished by commentators.

Babak Taghvaee, described by The Aviationist as “very well informed and an extremely reliable source,” believes, however, that the airliner attracted attention because it was being escorted over eastern Ukraine by two Su-27 Fighter Jets.

“When the Crimea crisis began, the Ukrainian Air Force air command center quickly forward deployed six Su-27s to the Kulbakino AB. Since beginning of the crisis and the Russia intervention, the 831st TAB has the important task to provide air defense as well as security of whole country. Six fully armed Flankers have always been in the sky especially when the other Ukrainian Air Force airplanes such as transporters and attackers like Fulcrums and Rooks were in the East of Ukraine,” explains Taghvaee.

Indeed, in the days immediately preceding the shoot down of MH17, an-26 cargo plane and a Su-25 attack jet were downed by surface to air missiles in the same region.

“But when the Su-25M1 was shot down by the Russia Air Force 6969th AB’s MiG-29 on Jul. 16, the situation and condition became more critical than previous days and more Su-27 sorties were conducted to confront Russian MiG-29s.” Taghvaee adds.

“I believe those two Su-27s were not in sky just for standard practice in that day [Jul. 17], I believe they were involved in HAVCAP (High Asset Value Combat Air Patrol) mission sortie in that day.” the aviation expert continues, suggesting that all military and civilian flights over eastern Ukraine were being escorted by Ukrainian fighter jets.

“During the UEFA 2012 [football championships], the 831st TAB and its Flankers had same role, during those competitions they had duty to escort the airliners in FL330 and other routes in case emergency.” Taghvaee adds.

“They played same role during the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia. They were airborne and they even escorted a hijacked airplane. They were also ready to provide security of all passenger airplanes over Ukraine. They are now following same procedure and they could protect all of the airplanes over Ukraine in-front of Russians since Jul 16.”

As the Aviationist report notes, Taghvaee suggests that the pro-Russian missile operators inside the Buk may have concluded that a plane shadowed by Ukrainian jets was a high-value Ukrainian Air Force plane, and therefore a legitimate target.

In addition, Russia’s Defense Ministry has claimed that a Ukrainian warplane flew within three miles of the Malaysian airliner before it was downed.



Coupled with the facts that the airliner was diverted into a war zone it needn’t have flew over, and also ordered to fly at a lower altitude, this new information very much leaves open the possibility that the US backed Ukrainian military was inviting a Russian attack in order to exploit it for political ends, or even conducting a false flag attack, as some have suggested.

“Russian air space control systems detected a Ukrainian Air Force plane, presumably an SU-25 (fighter jet), scrambling in the direction of the Malaysian Boeing,” Lieutenant-General Igor Makushev of Russia’s Air Forces told a news briefing Monday.

Makushev also invited the US to share satellite images that prove US State Department claims that a Russian sophisticated SA-11 missile system, transferred to pro-Russian militants was used to down the airliner.

Meanwhile, former Associated Press reporter Robert Parry has been told by an intelligence source that the US is in possession of satellite imagery which could prove that Ukrainian troops were actually responsible for the shoot down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17.

—————————————————————-
Steve Watson is a London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor Of Arts Degree in Literature and Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University.

---

Whistleblower: U.S. Satellite Images Show Ukrainian Troops Shooting Down MH17

Source tells award winning reporter Washington lying about responsibility for tragedy

by Paul Joseph Watson | July 21, 2014                                                      Original Here

Award winning former Associated Press reporter Robert Parry has been told by an intelligence source that the United States is in possession of satellite imagery which shows that Ukrainian troops were responsible for the shoot down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17.

In the absence of any proper investigation, media rhetoric over the last few days has firmly pointed the finger of blame for the downing of the aircraft on Russian-backed Ukrainian rebels, but Parry’s source tells a different story.

What I’ve been told by one source, who has provided accurate information on similar matters in the past, is that U.S. intelligence agencies do have detailed satellite images of the likely missile battery that launched the fateful missile, but the battery appears to have been under the control of Ukrainian government troops dressed in what look like Ukrainian uniforms.

The source said CIA analysts were still not ruling out the possibility that the troops were actually eastern Ukrainian rebels in similar uniforms but the initial assessment was that the troops were Ukrainian soldiers. There also was the suggestion that the soldiers involved were undisciplined and possibly drunk, since the imagery showed what looked like beer bottles scattered around the site, the source said.

Although the establishment press has attempted to deride any questioning of the official narrative that Ukrainian rebels were responsible for the incident by invoking the tired “conspiracy theory” pejorative, Parry can hardly be dismissed as a crank given his key role in covering the Iran-Contra scandal for the Associated Press and Newsweek. Indeed, Parry’s investigative work on intelligence matters, for which he was awarded the George Polk Award, suggests that the information provided by his source is worthy of serious attention.

U.S. and Ukrainian authorities continue to insist that Moscow-backed separatists were responsible for the tragedy, asserting that a BUK missile system was used to bring down the airliner. However, this was contradicted by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema, who stated, “The military told the president after the passenger plane had been shot down that the terrorists did not possess our Buk missile systems.”

In a related development, audio experts who conducted a study into the authenticity of a recording released by Ukrainian authorities which implicated Russian-backed rebels as being responsible for the missile attack on MH17 concluded that the tape was fabricated.

“The tape’s second fragment consists of three pieces but was presented as a single audio recording. However, a spectral and time analysis has showed that the dialog was cut into pieces and then assembled. Short pauses in the tape are very indicative: the audio file has preserved time marks which show that the dialog was assembled from various episodes, the expert said,” reports ITAR-TASS.

Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71
FOLLOW Paul Joseph Watson @ https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet

*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com.