As for "peace and reconciliation from the outset," the very first thing the Maidan terrorists did was to storm the government administration building and to lynch non-political IT staff that were working there.
5. "Mr. Putin says: There is a humanitarian crisis and hundreds of thousands are fleeing Ukraine to Russia and seeking asylum. "US propaganda: "To date, there is absolutely no evidence of a humanitarian crisis."
The facts: I could not find any reference that Putin has said hundreds of thousands are fleeing. On March 1, Russia Today reported, "Up to 143,000 Ukrainians requested asylum in Russia... over the last two weeks of February." Their source was the Russian bureau of citizenship. Of course, Russia is two or three times richer and a lot more stable than the Ukraine. The humanitarian crisis in the Ukraine is just beginning, with the IMF demanding to cut pensions by 50%. The average retiree will be starved from $160 to $80. Meanwhile, billionaire oligarchs are made state governors so they can further enrich themselves, their cronies, and the banksters in the US and UK who rewarded them with these fiefs.
4. "Mr. Putin says: Ukraine's government is illegitimate. Yanukovych is still the legitimate leader of Ukraine."US propaganda line: "On March 4, President Putin himself acknowledged the reality that Yanukovych "has no political future." ... The interim government of Ukraine is a government of the people, which will shepherd [sic] the country toward democratic elections on May 25th."
Facts: The junta is illegitimate because it gained power by a violent overthrow of the government. Parliament was intimidated by force and bribery to change sides. De facto, Yanukovich has no future, but de jure, he is still the elected president, because parliament impeached him under duress, violating the "reconciliation" agreement made the day before.
3. "Mr. Putin says: The opposition failed to implement the February 21 agreement with former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych."Bald-faced lie: "Under the terms of the agreement, Yanukovych was to sign the enacting legislation within 24 hours and bring the crisis to a peaceful conclusion. Yanukovych refused to keep his end of the bargain."
The facts: Yanukovich signed the Feb. 21 agreement, which said: "Within 48 [not 24] hours of the signing of this agreement, a special law will be adopted, signed and promulgated, which will restore the Constitution of 2004 including amendments passed until now. Signatories declare their intention to create a coalition and form a national unity government within 10 days thereafter."
According to the BBC Timeline, on the next day, Feb. 22, while Yanukovich was in eastern Ukraine, extremists seized the government buildings in Kiev, and parliament voted 328-0 to impeach him - so much for a national unity government. Yanukovich fled for his life.
Russia is insisting on the national unity government. With the destruction of Yanukovich's Party of Regions, parliament is composed of a coalition of three opposition parties: Tymoshenko's Fatherland, protester and heavyweight boxer Klitschko's Punch party, and the right-wing extremist party Svoboda/Freedom. Power is shared according to how much each group contributed to the putsch. Thus the neofascists gained 30% of parliament and ministry posts, although they had only 10% of the vote.
The Feb. 21 agreement was blown out of the water by the extremist coup d'état, not by Yanukovich. Not so obvious, yet beyond reasonable doubt if you have an open mind to look into it, is that the coup was financed and fomented by the usual US-NATO-Mafia Color Revolution apparatus.
2. "Mr. Putin says: Russia's actions fall within the scope of the 1997 Friendship Treaty between Ukraine and the Russian Federation."Half-truth: "The 1997 agreement requires Russia to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity. Russia's military actions in Ukraine, which have given them operational control of Crimea, are in clear violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty."Fact: The Kiev junta broke the treaty of friendship first by acting as an enemy, in concert with the NATO threat. Every friendly agreement has two sides to it.
As for Russian rights in Crimea, it has been a part of Russia for a long time. Russia lost thousands of soldiers defending its port of Sevastopol in the Crimean War and in WWII. The province was transferred to Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union, when this had little meaning. Even after the breakup of the Soviet Union, this was not so important because Ukraine and Russia were brotherly states. Western intervention has turned Ukraine into an enemy. At this point, a patient and long-suffering Russia has bent over backwards too far and too long, and is justified in reclaiming its historic, vitally strategic territory.
Nevertheless, Russia is being careful to do this in a legal way. Crimea has a special status of autonomy within Ukraine, which allows it to vote on a referendum for full autonomy, or on return to Russia.
If we compare Russia's action with the American habit of violating the integrity and sovereignty of other nations, there really is no comparison. The US attacks countries at will that are on the other side of the world, and have never had much to do with the US. The difference is night and day. Russia, on the defensive, is doing what's necessary and repairing a historical mistake in the most painless and friendly way possible, without hurting a soul. Expansionist America, world power of aggression and genocide, has gotten 95% of Ukraine with her coup, but she wants it all!
In reality, Russia would have every right to reclaim all of Ukraine. Kiev was the first capital of Russia in the 10th century, until it was destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th. Russia finally got it back in the 17th century (except for the westernmost end that was part of Austro-Hungary, until that empire was destroyed by Woodrow Wilson's own military intervention). Ukrainians themselves admit that Russia and Ukraine are one people.
How does the neocon project to usurp Ukraine compare to the settlement project in Palestine, where the US squanders billions every year to prop up an illegal occupation regime based on the ridiculous, revanchist claim that a tribe with the same religion lived there for some time, 2,000 years ago? In both cases, the US is on the wrong side of humanity.
After Iraq, Libya, and so many other American holocausts, the world at large is astonished by the self-righteous hypocrisy of John Kerry, who can tell Russia with a straight face, "You don't invade a country on phony pretexts."
Russia doesn't. The US does.
1. "Mr. Putin says: Russian forces in Crimea are only acting to protect Russian military assets. It is "citizens' defense groups," not Russian forces, who have seized infrastructure and military facilities in Crimea."Propaganda half-truth: "Strong evidence suggests that members of Russian security services are at the heart of the highly organized anti-Ukraine forces in Crimea."
Fact: CNN reported on March 1, "The pro-Russian leader of Ukraine's Crimea region claimed control of the military and police there Saturday and appealed to Russia's President Vladimir Putin for help in keeping peace."And a Sky news team reported their conversations with Crimean volunteer border guards click here
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