In a world of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act, George Orwell

Indignez-vous ! Stéphane Hessel

“Le courage c’est de chercher la vérité et de la dire ; c’est de ne pas subir la loi du mensonge triomphant qui passe, et de ne pas faire écho, de notre âme, de notre bouche et de nos mains aux applaudissements imbéciles et aux huées fanatiques ”.” – Djordje Kuzmanovic




mardi 15 juillet 2014

BLOG: Demarche against refugees [eng]



A copy of a document purported to be from the then acting defense Minister Mykhailo Koval, has made the rounds of the internet social network.  It is a letter sent a letter on June 20 to the President of Ukraine, Poroshenko, outlining the issue of refugees fleeing from the east of Ukraine.  Essentially, the Kiev Junta (KJ) regime wants to create punitive battalions from refugees from the East for frontline combat duties or active reserve duties.  He outlines 4 categories of refugees, including families, children, men & the elderly.

Category “A”—women and children: to be assigned into the care of educational and training establishments (incl. boarding schools/orphanages.  This it self raises a whole load of questions, as to why there is a need for women to be separated from the rest of the family for example?  What kind of training establishments? Moreover, if we add in comments made by KJ officials with respect to children from the East, we get another aspect that may or may not be noteworthy, as it offers an intriguing assessment of the mindset at work in Kiev.   This seems to be a blunt attempt to forcibly relocate people into new regions, against their will.

A recent statement made by the Ukrainian children’s rights ombudsman, Valeria Lutkovskaya, demanded that the passage of orphans leaving the eastern Ukrainian war zones should be prohibited.   It beggars belief as why she has suddenly taken an interest in some children, orphans, but seemingly blissfully unaware of the ATO military air strikes & shelling of civilian areas, that is often creating new orphans.


Valeria Lutkovskaya‘s comments are almost a repeat from June,  since the ex Ukrainian foreigner minister, Deshchytsia, demanded from the Russian foreign minister, Lavrov that, Russia sends back orphan children taking away areas under bombardments”.


Another cornerstone of this Kiev MOD document, deals with those not wanting to serve in the ATO.  Evaded conscription is subjected to "required filtration activities” according to the Minister.  The document indicates that the Ukrainian Security Service (“SBU”) should be used for” filtering measures”. The specifics of this are not detailed, but we don’t need to dwell on the meaning of this too deeply, since a precedent of sorts has been carried out by the KJ.  There are a number of photos of Kiev forces rounding up men of military age in Slavyansk at the beginning of July.  Their fate is still unknown. A number of rapports circulated on social networks relating to how men between 18-35 years old,  were rounded up in Slavyansk, told to serve in the Ukraine army, threatened with being shot if they didn’t.



The SBU is responsible for the arrest & detention of possibly hundreds of “anti-Maidan” activists, Pro-Donbass individuals. They have known to commit abuses. <a href=http://putnik1.livejournal.com/3261542.html</a>.   Borotba activists have been detained by the SBU, as part of a crackdown on left-wing forces that opposed Maidan.  Then to add into this illegal mix, the activities of Right Sector thugs who are operating in Ukraine, known to have kidnapped journalists, and are working directly for the KJ authorities & sometimes in hand with the SBU.


The Ministers states that these proposals “meet the challenge of [personnel] rotation in the units involved in the ATO”; note how he states that service in ATO can be up to 2 months.  There are a number of video & printed testimonies of soldiers who have been in the ATO since the beginning, basically, with little or no military kit, poor food and poor hygienic conditions.  The Defence Minister sees using internal refugees are a useful tool to alleviate these problems.  Moreover, relatives of the military in Lviv region have recently demanded to an end to mobilization and the return of soldiers.  The KJ logic is to replace the Western Ukrainian soldiers with those from the East.

The concept of “filtration” is not new as it has been used by the KJ previously in June. The now former Defence minister, Koval, earlier publicly announced the use of “filtration camps” for those from Donbass.  The Minister briefed journalists that all adult residents of the rebel regions will be placed in the filtration camps, including women. According to him, they will identify those associated with the separatists and those who committed crimes on the territory of Ukraine. 


Refugee status and social guarantees is only to be provided after demobilization.  This is a morally flawed logic from the Kiev Junta, given the rights of international refugees under international law. However, a lot of this whole issue was amply muddled in the 1990s with the designation of Internally Displaced Person, (IDP).  An IDP does not have the same established enshrined rights as someone who has crossed an international border.  However, that does not mean that they do not have any rights. Legally, IDP’s do not fall under international refugee laws.   

Whole family units are envisaged being be split up, but their “constitutional” rights as Ukrainian citizens, theoretically hinge upon the men folk to be sent to the ATO area.  This is from the government put into power after the mayhem of Maidan, and who are wholeheartedly supported & financed by the US and the EU not less.

The cynicism is laid bare in this statement: "this measure will effectively reduce the inflow of refugees and expenditures on their upkeep ".  Set against a background of 86% unemployment now recorded in Kiev for graduates, a 63% average gas price hike,  it is assumed that the KJ is desperately clutching at straws with the economic fallout of the conflict.  Despite this, the costs of putting women & children into “camps”, the elderly into social institutions are not negligible either. The intention & spirit of this doesn’t make sense.    Apart from maybe, cynically, from the fact that those serving in the ATO will probably not see any wages, as has been the case in recent months.  Entire units have simply returned to Kiev to ask for their pay & conditions.

The KJ makes no secret of their open disgust, at times thinly veiled hatred for the refugees, evidently for their failure to halt the “separatists” & potentially their support for them.  This can be seen in the towns of Slayvansk & also Kramatorsk, where people have been asked to denounce the “pro-separatists”. It is in this environment that the refugees are trapped in, with regards to perceived allegiance.  Apparently, the Kiev authorities have even hunted down people who have donated blood.   The various actions & activities taking place can be considered as the bigger picture, “Filtration measures”.  This precisely what scenario these refugees will be subjected to. One of the very last statements is also noteworthy for potentially all of the “wrong moral reasons” as it clearly identifies the KJ’s attitude towards the people in Donbass.

e) allow us to understand the proportion of pro-Ukrainian population in the East without resorting to sociological studies and surveys.

YOU really could read this IN MANY WAYS.  This clearly delineates the position of the Defence Minister, as it implies that he needs only to have concern for those deemed to be “Pro-Ukrainian”.  He not alone in expressing this sentiment, as very recently, Anton Gerashchenko, advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Arsen Avakov spoke “"The Ministry of Internal Affairs believes that new laws are necessary which would restrict the rights of these citizens to elect and to be elected. Otherwise we won't be able to create a unified country. If a citizen wants to live in Russia - please: suitcase-station-Russia!”.  This is another demonstration of the attitude of Kiev officials: the Donbass population is considered as second-class citizens, (to put it mildly), due to historical & cultural reasons.

Mr Koval did not define the expression, himself in any meaningful way, but given the whole gist of the document, the circumstances & the make-up of the KJ, it is a very loaded term indeed.  It can be inferred that this definition only covers anyone who is pro-Ukrainian, (Western version), will be happy to serve in the KJ forces in the ATO, since anyone else will be subjected to “filtration measures” by state agencies, notably the SBU.   

Given the vicious hate campaign that has taken place since February directed towards the Russian speakers in Ukraine, I have grave reservations on the use of “pro-Ukrainian”, to exclude significant chunks of the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine, who just by chance happen not to sit so comfortably with the ATO taking place in the East.  

Take just one example of the attitude in Kiev. President Poroshenko used the word "inhumans", ("нелюд"), to describe the resistance in Slavyansk during his speech at the beginning of July. 


NATO,  European Values, Freedom & Democracy seem to be sadly shallow buzz words uttered by the high & mighty when it suits them perfectly.  For Ukrainian citizens, who in March saw the Kiev Junta, visibly backed by neo-Nazis, as a serious & real threat.  Their wishes to be able to use, preserve their language, way of life, and values, stood in complete opposition to the new Ukrainian values being promoted in the capital of Kiev. Now for those who have had to flee their homes & livelihoods, now face further problems as outcasts in their own country.

NOTES

  1. Complete translation is provided here:



2. Internally displaced person – someone who has left her or his home in fear of persecution, but has not crossed an international border.

UN - Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.


“They often suffer from violations of their human rights, which initially caused them to flee their homes; they may experience further threats to other rights during the period of displacement; and others during the process of return and re-integration to their home communities”

  1. http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-propaganda-accidentally-exposes-nazi-crimes-in-ukraine/5387766

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