Signs of the Times – part 35
Originally posted. Feb. 27, 2014.
Quotes of the times:
Only the world community’s acknowledgement of the neo-nazi nature of the putsch can stop the violence in Ukraine. Natalia Vitrenko, leader of the progressive socialist party of Ukraine, 18th Feb. 2014.
“If there is war in the Ukraine, Vienna is only 438 km away.” Tweet from ‘Russian Markets’ semi-official Russian Government media outlet. (Because Vienna is the headquarters of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) – one of the agencies that the Russians believe is behind the troubles in the Ukraine).
“American sources are spending $20 million a week on financing the opposition and the insurgents, including for weapons. It has been reported that the guerrillas are briefed on the grounds of the U.S. Embassy, and that they are being armed.” Sergey Glasyev, advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Feb. 6, 2012.
“Ukraine has become the hostage of a global geopolitical game. The U.S. A. wants according to its theory of engineered chaos, to create chaos and stress at the Russian border… Still there are Ukrainians who think Maiden (Independence Square) is defending their interests. Naïve Ukrainians!” Oleh Tsaryov, Chairman of the Party of Regions (Ukraine’s ruling party).
“The likely outcome of the audacious strategic threat with which Washington is confronting Russia would be a thermonuclear one.” Paul Craig Roberts, (former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration), Foreign Policy Journal, Feb 15, 2014.
We all know that it is a dangerous thing to back a wild animal into a corner – whereas such an animal would normally avoid confrontation, it now realizes it has to fight. The same principle applies to nations – it is a dangerous thing to back nations into corners, especially those armed with thermonuclear weapons. We have seen such a scenario before. In 1962, Russia (the former Soviet Union), placed nuclear missiles in Cuba. Geographically Cuba is right on America’s front doorstep. Missiles on America’s front doorstep, gave the Soviet Union an immense advantage, in any up and coming nuclear war with America (thus backing America into a corner). America declared that this action by the Soviet Union was tantamount to a declaration of war. [We now know after the passage of time, and the release of official documents, that the world narrowly escaped ‘mutually assured destruction’ (MAD) over the ‘Cuban Crisis’ – it was only resolved when America agreed to withdraw its missiles from Turkey].
The world is faced with a similar crisis, with what is unfolding in the Ukraine. This time the roles are reversed – the Western Alliance (led by America) is backing Russia into a corner and it is guaranteed that Russia will come out fighting. [We only need to go back to 2008 for another historical precedent – do you remember what happened when the Western Alliance tried to detach Georgia from the Russian ‘sphere of influence’ and attach it to itself? How did Russia respond? And who won that round?].
When it comes to the Ukrainian crisis, we in the West have been fed a simplistic explanation of heroic demonstrators battling a tyrannical corrupt government – the ‘good guys’ verses the ‘bad guys.’ However, the reality is far from simplistic and the outcome of the conflict will affect us all – just as the Cuban Missile Crises had a worldwide impact.
The recently unhorsed president of the Ukraine (Viktor Yanukovych), has been constantly saying that what was happing in his country was a neo-nazi coup (similar to what Hitler achieved in Germany). Is there any truth to his accusations or is this just propaganda? In order to answer this question we have to delve into Ukrainian religious and political history (as usual understanding the past is vital to understanding the present).
For those of you who have followed the current situation in the Ukraine, you may have picked up on the fact that the nation is divided into east and west. The east (centred on the city of Kharkiv is pro-Russian and the west (centred on the city of Lviv is pro-US/EU). The west is the stronghold of a particular church unique to the Ukraine. It is called the Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church (UOGCC). [This church has a largely Greek Orthodox appearance and worship style, but it acknowledges the supremacy of the Pope – and is therefore considered part of Roman Catholicism]. We can determine whether the western part of Ukraine (dominated by the UOGCC) is pro-Nazi, by examining a piece of history from WW II.
The bulk of the western part of Ukraine has traditionally been known as Galicia (not to be confused with a region in Spain with the same name). When Hitler needed extra manpower to fight the Russians in the east, he approved the raising of extra divisions from the conquered territories of Europe. Fascists/Nazis from all nations joined the Nazi ‘crusade’ in the east. There was also a Ukrainian division formed. Guess where the vast bulk of the recruits (80,000 strong) came from. That’s correct, you guessed right – they came from Galicia. The newly formed division was called the 14th SS-Volunteer Division “Galician.” [In 1944 the name was changed to: ‘14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Ukrainian)’]. Guess what religion theses soldiers were – yes, they were all Catholics. At the end of the war the Catholic Galician division was languishing in a prisoner of war camp in Italy. At that time the Allied policy regarding POWs was (because of an agreement with Stalin) that all captured soldiers from the eastern bloc countries would be sent back to where they came from (none would be allowed political asylum in the West – and the Allies carried out this policy meticulously – all anti-communists who fought for Hitler were sent home to endure Stalin’s wrath). However, not all suffered Stalin’s ‘warm embrace’ the Galician Division escaped – they escaped because they were Catholic – the pope (Pius XII) intervened on their behalf. It is important to note at this point that the official title of the Galician division is ‘SS’ this means that the Galician division was not part of the regular German army (the Wehrmacht), but part of the dedicated Nazi Party security forces known as the ‘Schutzstaffel’ (SS) – to be a member of the SS one had to be a dedicated Nazi, dedicated to Nazi ideology and Nazi plans and practices a member of the SS had to be ‘a true believer.’ According to Wikipedia: “the SS was the lead branch in carrying out the killing, torture and enslavement of approximately 12 million people. Most victims were Jews or of Polish or other Slavic extraction.” In other words, the men from Galicia/Ukraine were war criminals. After the pope’s intervention all inquiries into war crimes ceased, and the ‘good Catholic war criminals’ were quietly allowed to resettle in England and Canada.
Why is this short foray into Ukrainian wartime history necessary? It is because according to the American diplomat in charge of the current Ukrainian crisis (Victoria Nuland, US under-secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia), the demonstrators/insurgency are being led by three individuals known as the ‘big three.’ For the sake of brevity and relevancy we will only mention one of the big three namely: Oleh Tyahnybok. Mr. Tyahnybok is from the Western Ukraine from the city of Lviv and he is a member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church. He is also the leader of the ‘All-Ukrainian Union “Svoboda” Party’ (Svoboda means ‘freedom’ – originally it was known as the ‘Social-National Party of Ukraine’ – the ‘social national’ part was dropped because it sounded too much like the original Hitlerite Nazi Party). Is the Svoboda Party a Nazi party? Well, they carry around with them pictures of their ‘saint’ Stepan Bandera – and who was Stepan Bandera? – he was the leader of the ‘Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists’ during WWII – he oversaw the foundation of the SS Galician Division that fought so well for Hitler. A large portion of the demonstrators who man the barricades in independence square in Kiev (and elsewhere in the Ukraine), are the direct political/religious descendants of the Nazis who fought for Hitler. Viktor Yanukovych may be a corrupt (and incompetent) President, but when he claimed that the rioting in Kiev was part of an attempted neo-Nazi takeover, he was not embellishing the truth. [It was also a situation of ‘rent a rioter’ – many of the ‘demonstrators’ were receiving a daily allowance for turning up – who was paying them?].
So how does the struggle in the Ukraine affect the rest of the world? The Ukraine has always been a geo-political country because it has always functioned as ‘buffer zone’ between Russia and the rest of Europe (in the Russian language Ukraine means ‘frontier’). Historically, it has always been a part of the Russian ‘sphere of influence.’ However, ever since the Soviet system collapse at the end of the 20th century the Western Alliance has been trying to woo many eastern bloc nations away from the Russian sphere of influence. To this end, the European Union entered into negotiations with the Ukraine, but when the Ukrainians read the fine print the government said: “thanks but no thanks.” [By declining the ‘love’ from the EU everyone understood that the Ukrainian government would now do a deal with Russia]. Therefore, as soon as the EU was spurned all hell broke loose in the streets of Kiev (the capital city of the Ukraine). The purpose of the rioting, the destruction and the loss of life, was to force the government to resign and replace it with a regime that is willing to accept the marriage contract offered by the EU – which seems to have been accomplished, at least the first part, but it was not a resignation it was a rout.
If subsequent events produce an anti-Russian regime in Kiev, then we are to expect serious consequence. Let us pose a question: what would happen if Mexico produced a seriously anti-American regime and looked for assistance from Russia, China and/or Iran? What would America do? What if Russia or China or Iran decided to place missiles in such a country right on America’s border? Would we be surprised if America did something emphatically about it?
Some people are so anti-Russian that they applaud anything that tends to diminish Russian prestige or power in the world. But what such people do not understand is that peace in this world of ours is very much dependent on carefully understood demarcation lines and spheres of influence (or at least it used to be – but ‘the times they are a changing’). It used to be understood that the ‘great powers’ (those with nuclear weapons) would keep out of each other’s back and front yards (that was the understanding after the lessons learned during the Cuban Crisis). But that has now changed. The efforts by the Western Alliance to ring-fence (contain) Russia and China, have ended up with the Western Alliance snuggling right up to the Russian border. If America is tempted to put missiles right on the Russian border, then we will have regressed more than fifty years right back to the Cuban missile crises, with all the anxiety that that produced. We can only hope that America and Russia will eventually do some sort of deal over the Ukraine – Russia is already moving its military forces up to the Ukrainian border – the chess pieces are in motion, on the chessboard. If they do not do a deal… we will not have the same outcome that we had in 1962.
God bless, Bruce Telfer.
Extra evidence: Victoria Nuland, (US under-secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia), tells us how the United States has ‘invested’ $5 billion, since 1991, in the Ukraine, watch the video here: http://www.globalresearch.ca/american-conquest-by-subversion-victoria-nulands-admits-washington-has-spent-5-billion-to-subvert-ukraine/5367782 (about 7.30 minutes into the video).
For evidence that EU/US money is paying for ‘rent a rioter’ see here: http://www.infowars.com/us-and-eu-are-paying-ukrainian-rioters-and-protesters/
