There is so much more to what is going on in Ukraine than this Gazprom is owned by the usual gangsters as are all the big previously public owned utilities in Russia and Ukraine. The blonde bitch who is rotting in prison at the moment made billions out of Gazprom. I forget her name but she was in the Ukraine government for a while and stood against the present government...........The CIA and George Soros are involved training activists and putting agent provos on the streets causing riots. The Americans/Zionists want Ukraine in the EU but a substantial number of Ukranians don't want anything to do with the EU and want stronger links with Russia because they were better off when part of the USSR. Scumbags like the American McCaine fly to Ukraine to give support to the rioters.

Denys: You must distinguish between the two Euromaidans. (In) the first one which (took place) on November 21st, middle class people (participated), who mostly wanted the signing of that European Union agreement. However, today (our note – two months later), most of the people who are on the streets are concerned with rather more practical issues, such as police brutality, which was shown on the night of December 1st, and generally they are not happy with the government and the president. So the European integration remains a wider issue, but today it’s kind of the second place.

(As far as) the pro-government protests (are concerned): the people (who participated in them) were taken by the government on busses and (brought) to Kyiv for the weekend. (These) protests were not honest. Many people who work for the government, like teachers, doctors and so on, were told by their bosses that they have to do it. So, it was like mandatory for them. I would not say this (was) a real protest. But (regarding) the people who support the Union with Russia and Belarus and Kazahstan, yes, there is such an opinion and, as a whole, the country is divided more or less 50-50 regarding the integration into the European Union or the Customs Union.

The problem is that the second position is just not very represented in mass media which lean towards the other direction (pro-EU). And generally those people (who support the Customs Union) do not have the habit of protesting. They live in smaller towns and therefore they are not (represented in the media as much as those who live in the capital).

Also (the supporters of the Customs Union) have very stupid political leaders, for instance the main political force, which had organised those protests (in favor of) the Customs Union, (had) as their main point of anti-EU propaganda (the claim) that the European Union will bring about the same-sex marriage, and non traditional things which supposedly would not be welcomed by the Ukraian population. They even invented the term “Euro-sodom,” like (in) Sodom and Gomorrah.

And the other political force which supports the Customs Union is the Communist Party of Ukraine, which for many years has had nothing to do with communism, its political programme and agenda (can be) rather described as conservative, just like a regular social conservative party. If you compared (them) with Marie Le Pen, you would not find much difference between them.”

Asheville Fm radio: Is in their wording and imagery a sort of call back towards the Soviet era and rejoining with other Eastern European countries?

Denys: “Yes, of course they speculate about it, because the bonds between regular people are still very strong. You know many people have relatives (in Russia), (not to mention things) like the common mass-culture. Many people watch the Russian TV channels, so that is much more common in the regular lives of people in central, eastern, and southern regions.

People in the Central and Southern region have many things in common with the Russians, in their lifestyle, and they don’t feel they are the same as the European people.

But at the same time, a large part of the (Ukrainian) population is now currently living abroad, in the European Union, especially in Spain, Italy, Poland and Czech Republic and Portugal. Mostly these are people from Western regions, but not exclusively.

Asheville Fm radio: With the supporters versus the detractors of the EU inclusion, I can see a dividing up according to social norms, as you mentioned, so people who are maybe more social liberal (are) maybe leaning towards the West with its more progressive laws and same sex marriages, and then on the right side you have more conservative, more orthodox leaning – it will be a different orthodox church than the Russian orthodox – I’m sure that, depending on where you are in the country or what industry you’re in, you’re going do more business generally with the East or the West. But would you say that both the positions are basically more towards liberalizing the economy and weakening workers’s rights within Ukraine, or is it sort of a false bind for workers in Ukraine?

Denys: First of all you talked about the prevailing social liberalism among the pro-EU (Ukrainians). I would not really agree with that. There is such an impression because the pro-EU protests are headed by the educated middle class people who do have a (sort) of more social liberal agenda.

But still it’s more like cultural right versus cultural right.

So, for example, regularly, people at the Euromaidan pray publicly like together, all together. Then again, (regarding) the same sex marriages (issue): most people who stand for the EU integration would never accept it.

(Indeed) the social issues regarding the workers’ rights are not on the agenda at all. The working class, as a class, does not take part in these events at all. The workers naturally do take sides, but they are not organized in class-like organisations, in unions, as such they just don’t participate in these events. And they have good reasons for this, because both sides just talk about the cultural, political issues, which don’t have any direct connection to needs of an average worker.

The protesters who support the EU have the utterly false impression about Europe as some paradise where everything is all right, everything is much better than in Ukraine or anywhere else. It’s useless to tell them about the protests within the EU, about the austerity programs. They just don’t listen and they would say, “Ah, so you would better join Russia, wouldn’t you!”

So this false choice is just overwhelming and I think the same could be said about the opposite side. The leftist agenda, the workers’ rights agenda, is just not present at any of these squares (where people protest).

Asheville Fm radio: That must be a rather a frustrating position. All right, I guess, as an anarchist, it might open all sorts of possibilities and questions, (when they say) “Well, you must be pro-Russia if you’re against this”, (could you say) “Well, actually there’s another way.” Do you find that opens up a lot of conversations for you?

Denys: “No. The people are very hyped-up, they are very nervous. Today and maybe all the other days of last weeks, you could be in real physical danger, if you start saying something like this because you’d be immediately considered a provocateur from the ruling party. Actually, there were a couple of such incidents at the Euromaidan, when people from different leftist groups were trying to do exactly what you’re saying, and some of them were beaten quite harshly, others were just pushed out. (This is) because regular people do show some interest sometimes, but the other problem is that the whole situation in the rank and file in the euromaidan, the security and the local managers (organisers of the protests), who do stuff, they are heavily infiltrated by the far right groups that actually have their own things to say to the left. And they have the trust of the normal, the political people, so if some new Nazi whom we know says, “Oh my god, look, these are communists, these are like provocateurs, I think they just support Yanukovych,” nobody would listen to you anymore. You’d be like pushed away.

This is the mass hysteria in which I do not think it is possible to do much agitation, although I think during the next year we’ll have much more possibilities, because given the awful state of Ukraine’s state finances, I think during the next couple of months, the protests could be transformed into something (closer to a) more of a social economical agenda.”

Can you talk a bit more about the Ukrainian political system, and what the spectrum looks like? What kind of parties should our listeners know about to get a basic understanding about the dynamics, and what the stances are on the Ukraine joining the EU or the Custom’s Union?

Denys: “The Ukrainian parliamentary politics basically consists of two large (political) parties – these two parties have pretty identical social, political and economical agendas. They both can be described as centrist-right populists. One party is the Party of Region, which is the ruling party, president Yanukovych is their chief, and the government consists of the Party of Regions’ members. The opposition consists of a bloc of three parliamentary opposition parties, which are basically the same, the only difference is that they speak Ukrainian. (These opposition parties) have their electoral base in the Central and Western Ukraine, while the Party of Regions (people rather) speak Russian, and they speculate on these cultural differences, since their voters live in the South and in the East. These are the parties which gather perhaps 60 percent of all votes. Also there is the “Communist” party of Ukraine, which I already told you about. And one of this so-called National Democratic Opposition is the Svoboda (party), which is translated as “freedom”, but actually is a far-right party, identical to the other far-right populists from the European countries actually. Most of the political parties which I described do support the integration into the European Union, including most of the businessmen who support the Party of Regions (the ruling paty of president Yanukovych).

Actually, during this year, there emerged an opposition, based on pro-Russian conservative grounds, inside the Party of Regions, but it was very severely suppressed. The would-be leader of that opposition, a member of the parliament, was expelled from the Parliament, on grounds that he rigged the elections in his constituency.

Up until the end of November everything said that Ukraine would sign that Association Agreement (with the EU) because everybody is interested in it.

Then things changed rapidly, as far as can be understood, when the president and the prime-minister looked at the figures and they just realized that they can’t do it because the trade was with Russia and because (of the situation of) the State’s finances – we don’t have money and the budget is just empty and we can’t afford the losses which would be brought about by that association Agreement. Obviously nobody read that agreement at all (until at that moment), because (until the moment they backed off), the prime-minister and the president were the main euro-optimists in the country.

Overnight then they became the main euro-skeptics.”

Asheville Fm radio: Was the International Monetary Fund’s restructuring plan a part of getting into the European Union, or was that a separate thing that suddenly came up about the same time for the Yanukovych’s party?

Denys: “These are two separate things, which are united by the fact that the Ukrainian government badly needs money. So they’ve decided to press the European Union in order for them to help Ukraine negotiate for better conditions of (getting) a credit fund from the IMF.

This is because the IMF demands (the same measures) as they usually do for many countries. (They impose) very harsh conditions, such as rising the gas price for the population, and the devaluation of the national currency. And the government refused to do that that over the past years, and it would be certainly political suicide for any politician who would try to do that now, when there is one year left before the presidential elections.”

Asheville Fm radio: From what I understand the IMF demands a 40 percent increase of the price of natural gas in a country that is quite cold, right?

Denys: Yeah.

Asheville Fm radio: That seems like political suicide. I can see that for sure.

Denys: “The main political force in the far right scene in Ukraine today is undeniably the Svoboda party, if I would have to seek some comparison I would compare them to other eastern european far-right parties such as Hungarian Jobbik party (more on Jobbik: documetary, news report, and article) which I think American listeners may be aware of. There was a huge scandal when they got lots of votes a couple of years ago in Hungary. Svoboda (is) pretty much the same thing, it’s a political party which has its own project of a so-called “national constitution” (which would bring about) many awful things, such as the death penalty for the so-called “anti-Ukrainian activities,” without further comment. Basically anything contrary to that parties spirit could be considered “anti-Ukrainian.”

Today in the Euromaidan they are calling for a political strike, but actually what most people just don’t realize is that, in the Svoboda’s project of (a new) Constitution, the political strike is a criminal offense.”

Asheville Fm radio: It’s a state of exception for them, I’m sure.

Denys: “Yeah. The paradox is that they’ve become extremely popular among the educated liberal middle class in urban areas, especially in Kyiv. So today Kyiv votes for Svoboda, as the Western regions of Ukraine do, because they just say, “Well, I don’t know what is their program like. I did not read anything (about it), but they look so harsh, they are such cool guys, and I’m sure that at least they would break the necks of those corrupt people who are now in the party (holding) power.”

This is, of course, very much reminiscent of the historical situations in other countries in 21st century.

I don’t want to sound too much in panic, but there are some similar traits, because regular bourgeois people from the middle class just don’t see anything wrong with it. And, to some extent, they are right, because, if the far-right wins over the country, these people would not feel any major difficulties (in their life). The main difficulties would be directed towards the far left, towards all the left parties and movements, and towards the ethnic minorities and racial minorities.

But normal people would not feel anything for some time (at least), and that’s the problem.

Also another interesting fact about (the Svoboda) party: they (went through) a rebranding, and now (they) call (themselves) “freedom”. This is a generic word for the European right, but up until 2005 or 2004, they called themselves the Socialist Nationalist Party of Ukraine.” (our note: Actually the current Svoboda leader said at one point that every Ukrainian must become a Socialist-Nationalist.)

In an interview taken on March 12, shortly before the opposition started its “Rise Ukraine!” campaign, Oleh Tyahnybok viewed its prospects with reserved optimism, noting that trying to stoke sentiments of discontent in society through the campaign “may or may not result in a revolution”. In any case, the opposition will try to “reach every Ukrainian” during the campaign, he said.

Tyahnybok said the three leaders of opposition factions have agreed on a plan of action, but noted that the stance taken by UDAR’s leader Vitaliy Klitschko was conspicuously passive. Klitschko was missing during the first rally in Vinnytsia. Tyahnybok claims that this is not a big concern, because the parties in the opposition are different, particularly in their ways of working with the electorate, and says that “the three opposition parties should not be required to act completely in sync”. Tyahnybok further claims that the opposition leaders have developed very close and constructive relationships. At the same time, he does not shy away from putting pressure on one opposition partner through the mass media, as he and Yatseniuk have been doing, urging Klitschko to make up his mind about running to be mayor of Kyiv as soon as possible. The leader of Svoboda says that if he were offered to run for the seat, he would “agree without any hesitation”.

SCHEDULING A REVOLUTION?

U.W.: Mr. Tyahnybok, the opposition has “declared a popular uprising”. Don't you think you've made a mistake in the very formulation, because a rising cannot, in principle, be declared or appointed?

Of course, it is unreal to plan a revolution for a particular day. But we must prepare the ground for this kind of revolution and create a revolutionary atmosphere. Of course, we can wait for the nation to rise on its own, driven to the edge of desperation by social pressure and injustice. But it’s better for us as the opposition and especially as the national opposition to facilitate the process, boost revolutionary sentiments.

U.W.: In what way?

We need to go to people and hold marches, rallies and conferences and in this way heat up the situation. We need to explain our actions to people, because unfortunately the mass media do not always convey the motivations of the opposition correctly, for example in the case of blocking parliament. Moreover, mass media outlets are largely controlled by the government.

Of course, with the spread of the Internet it is now easier for us to act, but we believe that face-to-face contact is very effective. You must, as Stepan Bandera once said, “reach every Ukrainian”. We constantly use opportunities to speak to people directly – on any day when we are free of parliamentary work, we need to fan out across the country and make contact with people. Twelve of our MPs are working in districts where they were elected, and the other 25 have been assigned to different Ukrainian oblasts. These meetings are very effective, because they are attended by local activists interested in politics, and then these people spread the information and the attitude they have absorbed throughout their communities. The situation is coming to the peak; tensions are rising, and it may all sooner or later lead to an explosion and a pre-revolutionary situation.

Foreign policy expert Nebojsa Malic told RT that even though Nuland apologized for the reported comments, she did not admit her fault in trying to overthrow the government in Ukraine.

“What she hasn’t apologized for is the plans to midwife a new government in Ukraine. In other words, she is apologizing for cussing up the EU, but she is not apologizing for trying to overthrow the government in Kiev, calling it popular democracy,” Malic said. “I don’t think anybody in the US establishment is sorry for what they are trying to do. I think they are very proud of it and they are going to pursue it.”

The leaked chat fuels earlier allegations that Washington is heavily meddling in the Ukrainian political crisis by manipulating the pro-EU opposition and helping it in its efforts to oust President Viktor Yanukovich.

At least 18 people have been killed in Kiev as the Ukrainian capital plunges back into chaos. Rioters have attacked police, seized buildings, torched vehicles, and burned tires. Seven policemen are among the dead, all of whom died from gunshot wounds.

At least 11 protesters have been killed in the riots, according to local officials. “As of 11 pm local time 221 people have sought medical attention, 114 of them were hospitalized. There were 11 fatalities,” Ukraine’s Health Ministry said in a statement.

Kiev’s hospitals are unable to handle the large amount of injured people coming in from the streets, TSN reported. There is a waiting list for operation rooms. People are being carried in with various types of injuries. There have been reports of two amputations, punched out eyes, and injured extremities.

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry has also reported that 135 law enforcers have been taken to hospitals, and 35 are in critical condition.

Video footage of violence shows rioters pelting an armored personnel carrier with Molotov cocktails, setting it on fire. Reports from the scene say the fire has been extinguished and the vehicle is now operational.

Police are using loudspeakers and urging protesters to leave Independence Square (Maidan). Speakers on stage are calling on the government to allow its “dogs” (police) to leave them alone, and are chanting slogans like “Glory to Ukraine!” and “Death to the enemies!”

Earlier, a group of rioters armed with clubs stormed into the Canadian Embassy in Kiev, according to the interior ministry's press service. The unidentified rioters reportedly broke into the embassy, destroyed some of its property, and attacked staff.

Another group of around 1,000 rioters attempted to storm a district police headquarters building in Kiev, using an explosive device in the process. The rioters seized two trolley buses to block the streets and a truck to ram police cordons. They also smashed an ambulance and broke into several offices in central Kiev.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged the Ukrainian government and opposition to show restraint and resume “sincere dialogue,” RIA Novosti quoted Ban's spokesperson, Martin Nesirky, as saying. "The Secretary-General is extremely concerned about reports received today regarding the resumption of violence and loss of life," he said.

Kiev, February 18, 2014. (AFP Photo / Genya Savilov)

Kiev, February 18, 2014. (AFP Photo / Genya Savilov)

An emergency meeting has been scheduled for 11:00 p.m. local time between President Viktor Yanukovich and the nation's three opposition leaders to find a solution to the escalating violence, according to the Kiev Post.

Meanwhile, presidential adviser Hanna Herman told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that talks between the government and the opposition are only possible when peace is restored. “Negotiations only happen when the force methods of fighting are stopped, when the opposition takes armed people off the streets and when calm is renewed in the country,” Herman said.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich had a telephone conversation with US Vice President Joe Biden, LB.ua cited sources as saying. It is not yet known what was discussed between the two leaders. Earlier, US and EU ambassadors were unable to reach Yanukovich.

Kiev, February 18, 2014. (AFP Photo / Genya Savilov)

Kiev, February 18, 2014. (AFP Photo / Genya Savilov)

As the situation in Kiev intensifies, violence has been spreading to the west of the country. Hundreds of young rioters in the western city of Lvov have seized the regional administration building and are storming the Lvov Central Internal Affairs Directorate, Interfax reported.

Around 300 rioters have also surrounded the local administration building and police department in the western city of Ternopol, Unian reported. Protesters threw bricks at the police department windows and demanded that officers evacuate the building. As policemen began making their way out through the back exit, rioters continued to throw rocks and chased them down the street. There are reports that three smoke bombs and grenades were used.

Kiev, February 18, 2014. (AFP Photo / Genya Savilov)

Kiev, February 18, 2014. (AFP Photo / Genya Savilov)

Meanwhile, the southern Ukrainian Autonomous Republic of Crimea has urged President Viktor Yanukovich to come up with “decisive action and emergency measures” to end riots and restore constitutional order.

“The peaceful Crimea is extremely concerned with the latest surge of violence in central Kiev. The carnage on the capital’s streets proves that the opposition has taken manifold concessions on part of the government for a show of its weakness, and has used the amnesty law as a break before a new attempt of a forceful power grab,” Crimea’s Supreme Council said in a Tuesday statement.

According to the statement, the general mobilization – called by “extremist” groups like the Right Sector and the Svoboda Party – is nothing but the start of a civil war in Ukraine.

www.liveleak.com/view?i=fec_1392732158

To be fair the MSM are covering Ukraine but they're not showing clips anything like as violent as that.