Asahi Shimbun

6th May, 2014

PARIS–With both of their countries cautious about sanctions against Russia, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and French President Francois Hollande agreed to focus on dialogue to settle the dispute in Ukraine.

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3News(AFP)

6th May, 2014

Diplomatic efforts to contain the crisis tearing Ukraine apart have intensified as government forces stepped up an offensive around a town held by pro-Russian rebels, suffering heavy casualties and the loss of a helicopter gunship.

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Swiss Info

5th May, 2014

Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, who currently chairs the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday to discuss the Ukrainian crisis, according to his ministry.

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There has been a marked shift in the Western media over the last day or two beginning with Seumas Milne’s article in the Guardian and followed by an expose of CIA activity by the German paper, Bild and an article in the NYT contradicting the Russian provocateur narrative over East Ukraine. The “anti-terror” offensive from Kiev appears to be going nowhere since the Ukrainian army continues to show reluctance to  confront ordinary Ukrainian citizens. Without a leg to stand Western leaders would do well to re-engage in a conflict which they themselves have provoked and are in every position to resolve.

Voice of Russia

4th May, 2014

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday called for a second international conference to put an end to the crisis in Ukraine. He said he made the proposal in telephone conversations on Sunday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, US Secretary of State John Kerry, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

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Zero Hedge

4th May, 2014

Now that the situation in Ukraine hasofficially been upgraded to “war“, what really happens on the ground will remain largely wrapped by the fog of war on either side, with just one thing assured: a war it may be but more than anything it is a proxy war – one in which both western and Russian interests are manifest in the fighting, and killing, of mostly innocent civilians in Ukraine – a carbon copy replica of what happened last year in Syria.

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Ukraine slides into civil war amid Merkel’s bid to bridge US-Russian differences. Putin resigns responsibility

Debka

3rd May, 2014

German Chancellor Angela Merkel bid during her visit to Washington Friday, April 2, to bridge the differences between Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin over Ukraine was overtaken by events on the ground. That morning, the US-backed interim government in Kiev launched its first serious offensive to retake the eastern Ukrainian cities captured by pro-Russian militias, starting with Slavyansk. In Odessa pro-Kiev gangs started a fire which left more than 40 militiamen dead.

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“As in any fascist coup the army poses a problem: Yanukovitch didn’t deploy them against the Maidan mob fearing, no doubt, a civil war. It doesn’t follow from this that the those now in power in Kiev can safely mobilize them. The army may not be overly impressed by what they have seen so far from those who have presumed to take power, or wish to wait passively while extremist elements try to take control of the army. They may choose instead, at a timely moment, to purge Kiev of extremists and instigate a government of national unity in preparations for eventual elections. By doing so they would be effectively “persuading” the Kiev provisional government to return to the agreement of 21st February and at the same time fulfilling their constitutional obligation to protect the sovereignty and unity of Ukraine a goal shared by the international community including Russia.”

As I pointed out in the immediate aftermath of the 22nd February coup, the reluctance of the military to act on behalf of the illegal government was always likely to be its Achille’s heel. The unity of Ukraine now depends on the removal of the Kiev usurpers or, at least, the disarming of the fascists.

Ukraine’s government has lost control of east, says acting president

Guardian

30th April, 2014

Ukraine‘s acting president has admitted his government has practically lost control of the east of the country, with his security forces “helpless” to stop a rolling takeover by pro-Russia gunmen.

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A rare voice of sanity in the West and particularly significant in that it comes from the normally hung-ho Guardian newspaper

Seumas Milne

Guardian

30th April, 2014

The threat of war in Ukraine is growing. As the unelected government in Kiev declares itself unable to control the rebellion in the country’s east, John Kerry brands Russia a rogue state. The US and the European Union step up sanctions against the Kremlin, accusing it of destabilising Ukraine. The White House is reported to be set on a new cold war policywith the aim of turning Russia into a “pariah state”.

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