2 May, 2022 19:29

Burned alive: How the 2014 Odessa massacre became a turning point for Ukraine

Clashes between opposing activists turned into mass murder. The perpetrators have never been punished

(I can’t post the full article on this genocide)

Death by fire

…That’s why a sizable number of the protesters who ended up at Kulikovo knew an attack was coming. Someone suggested taking cover in the massive Trade Unions building on the square, and people began to move their belongings from the camp into the building. They set up an improvised first aid station there, brought in supplies and built a small barricade in front of the building. They also had a couple of hunting rifles and a few Molotov cocktails. Davidchenko then left the square. Aleksey Albu, a low-level local politician, stayed in the building. At the time, he was not the kind who would be eager to participate in any fighting. In fact, he had learned about the clashes from the news.

The Trade Unions House had around 300 people inside that evening.

At 7:20 pm, the angry Euromaidan crowd entered the square. They moved through the abandoned camp and started throwing Molotov cocktails at the barricade in front of the Trade Unions building. Those inside responded by lobbing a few Molotov cocktails back at the attackers from the roof. It was then that a reporter who was filming everything said, “Now, they’ll definitely kill them.”

The attackers kept throwing rocks and improvised bombs at the barricade, which mostly consisted of wooden furniture and crates, and finally set it on fire. The protesters behind it retreated into the hall of the building. Later, many reports exaggerated the scope of the resistance put up by those in the Trade Unions building…

The barricade was in flames and the attackers had set fire to the tents on the square. The whole square was full of smoke and flames. The attackers continued to hurl cocktail bombs filled with a home-made napalm mixture consisting of gasoline, acetone, and Styrofoam at the building. The holed-up protesters called the fire brigade, but no one came. The few policemen on the scene did nothing to interfere and just watched as the events unfolded.

The attackers made sure the fire didn’t die out, throwing more and more cocktail bombs into it. They even tossed in a burning car tire, while firing at the windows with anti-riot guns.

Then tragedy struck.

Independent expert Vladislav Balisnsky explained that the fire raging at the building’s entrance ignited the paint and varnish on the hall’s walls and ceiling. The burning entrance door collapsed, and the window panes were broken one by one by gunfire, creating a powerful draft.. The resulting chimney effect turned the central staircase into a huge incinerator, with temperatures at the center rising to 600–700 degrees Celsius. The fire spread nearly instantly and everything that could burn was consumed in the fire. The people in the vicinity were essentially burnt alive…

A total of 48 people died: two Maidan activists and 46 Kulikovo Field Anti-Maidan protesters – two on Grecheskaya Street, and 42 at Kulikovo Field Square. Eight people jumped from the building to their deaths, while others suffocated or died from burns. All were citizens of Ukraine. A total of 247 people requested medical help following the incident, of whom 27 had been wounded by gunfire…

Ashes

In the following years, not a single person responsible for the killings in Odessa was punished in any way. Many of the murderers acted openly, wearing no masks or disguises, and were very straightforward about their intentions….

From the very beginning, the authorities in Odessa seemed to deliberately obstruct the investigation. No attempt was made to preserve the crime scene….UN Special Rapporteur Christof Heyns acknowledged that the bulk of the evidence relating to the May 2 events was destroyed immediately after the crime….

Alexander Topilov, an Odessa musician and Euromaidan supporter, wrote a few days after the tragic events:

“…there were boys born in 1994. There were young girls, university professors, mechanics. I don’t know. Not all were quick enough to jump. Not all survived the landing. It’s not a victory, like hell it is! Don’t cheer us. I saw some exalted comments. Who the fck wants a victory like that? And who can even call it a victory? That’s a fcking fiasco. It’s civil war. Odessa residents at each other’s throats. Who’s the winner here? I don’t need victories like that, the f*ck I do. Some people are like animals and some beasts are humane, that’s what I’m talking about. The line between ‘us’ and ‘them’. I lost mine on May 2. I don’t know where to draw it. I see people. And I see animals. Animals on my side, people against me….

That desperate cry fell on deaf ears…

https://www.rt.com/russia/554860-burned-alive-2014-odessa/

2 May, 2022 18:41

Caitlin Johnstone:Everyone's anti-war until the propaganda starts

Opposing violence means standing up against the most sophisticated information machine that has ever existed

Nobody thinks of themselves as a warmonger, but then the spin machine gets going and before you know it they're spouting the slogans they've been programmed to spout and waving the flags they've been programmed to wave and consenting to whatever the imperial war machine wants in that moment.

Virtually everyone will tell you they love peace and hate war when asked; war is the very worst thing in the world, and no healthy person relishes the thought of it…

This is because the theory of being anti-war is very different from the practice. In theory, people are just opposed to the idea of exploding other people for no good reason. In practice they're always hit with a very intense barrage of media messaging giving them what look like very good reasons why those people need exploding.

Being truly anti-war isn't easy.It's standing up against the most sophisticated propaganda machine that has ever existedwhile being offered every reason not to.

When people think of themselves as "anti-war", they're usually imagining themselves as anti- another Iraq war, or anti- some theoretical Hitler-like president starting a war because he likes killing people…

Because selling the war to the public is a built-in component of all war strategy, the war will always look necessary from the mainstream perspective, and it won't look like those other wars which we now know in retrospect were mistakes. It's always designed to look appealing. There's never not going to be atrocity propaganda….

This is why you'll always see a number of self-described leftists and anti-imperialists cheering for the latest US war project. They are ideologically opposed to the idea of war in theory, but the way it actually shows up in practice is always different from what they pictured.

Our entire civilization is shaped by domestic propaganda, but the only time you ever hear that word in mainstream discourse is when it's used to discuss the comparatively almost nonexistent influence of Russian propaganda on our society….

Propaganda is the single most overlooked and underappreciated aspect of our society. It has far more influence over how the public thinks, acts and votes than any of our official mechanisms for doing so, yet it's barely discussed, the best political ideologies barely touch on it relative to their other areas of focus.

All the fretting about Russian propaganda from establishment narrative managers comes so close to giving away their secret: that they know it's possible to manipulate the way the public thinks, acts and votes using media. They just don't admit that they're the ones who are doing this.

It's actually the weirdest thing in the world that there's something that has been directly affecting our minds our entire lives…It should be at the front and center of our attention.

But of course that's the whole idea. Propaganda only works on those who don't know they're being propagandized. The US-centralized empire's ability to hide its propaganda machine is a foundational element of its brilliance.

Being truly anti-war is necessarily a commitment to finding out not just what's true about all the war narratives currently promulgated by the imperial war machine, but all the narratives you've been fed about the world since you were young. It's a commitment to truth that takes on an almost spiritual quality in the way it informs every aspect of your life when truly espoused.

It's important to research and learn new things about the world, but what's equally important and which doesn't get emphasized nearly enough is the practice of examining the beliefs you already hold about your society, your government, your nation and your world. Inquiring as to whether they're really true, and who might benefit from your believing them.

Don't make the error of assuming you'll be aware and informed enough to spot all the lies right away. You're dealing with the single most advanced and powerful propaganda machine that has ever existed, and you've been marinating in its effects your entire life. It takes some time. Even the most aware among us were indoctrinated into the mainstream worldview to some extent earlier in their lives, and to this day most of the information they get about the world has some of its roots and branches in parts of the propaganda matrix.

It takes work to see things clearly enough to form a really truth-based worldview. But unless you do this it's impossible to be truly anti-war, becauseyou can't skillfully oppose something you don't understand. To fight the imperial war machine is to fight the imperial propaganda machine.

https://www.rt.com/russia/554734-anti-war-until-propaganda-starts/

2 May, 2022 16:44

Taiwan drawing ‘lessons’ from Ukraine conflict

Disputed island is looking to emulate Kiev if it squares off with Beijing, the foreign minister says

(This doesnt sound good, why would Taiwan emulate Kiev?)

Taiwan has observed the conflict in Ukraine and drawn several lessons for its own confrontation with mainland China, the disputed island’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, told CNN in an interview aired on Sunday.

Wu argued that Beijing is hesitant to move on the island due to what he described as Russia’s lack of progress in Ukraine and the international community’s response.

Taiwan is “watching this very carefully,” Wu told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria. “We try to see what we can learn from Ukraine in defending ourselves.”

Wu described Ukraine as being “on the frontline against Russia’s outward expansion,” and accused Russia of using the military “for its historical glory,” in what he said was a parallel to the China-Taiwan situation.

Taiwan’s two big takeaways from the conflict are that Ukraine is using “small personal weapons to go against a large enemy,” and that its male population is highly motivated. “They want to serve in the military. They want to go to the war zones to fight against Russia. That kind of spirit is enviable for the Taiwanese people,” Wu said.

Wu’s emphasis on “asymmetric capability,” such as Javelin and NLAW anti-tank rockets – widely promoted as wonder-weapons in Ukraine – is consistent with President Tsai Ing-wen’s government’s focus on such armaments. Tsai also hopes Washington would come to Taiwan’s aid directly, she told CNN in October.

When there’s a war, we need friends and allies to support Taiwan, as in the case of Ukraine,” Wu told Zakaria, pointing to how the US, EU, and Japan came together to support Kiev.

Though the US has not sent troops to Ukraine, Washington is pouring money and weapons into the country “to fight against Russia,” Wu noted. “I think the Chinese government must be thinking or calculating how the US or other major countries are going to come to Taiwan’s help or whether they’re going to come to Taiwan’s help. If Taiwan does not have any support, I think that’s going to be a green light to aggression.”

UK ForeignSecretary Liz Trusssaid in a speech last week that “a Global NATO” needs to arm Taiwan just as it has armed Ukraine, among other things. The day before CNN aired the interview with Wu, the Financial Times reported that the White House officials in charge of China and the Indo-Pacific have met with British colleagues to explore contingency plans about Taiwan.

Wu also argued that Ukraine’s ability to hold off Russia – which he attributed to “the desire to defend the country and the willingness to use personal weapons” – is giving Beijing reason to worry.

“If they are not able to take Taiwan over quickly, I think they need to pause and think twice before they act,” he said.

Beijing considers Taiwan part of China’s sovereign territory. Since 1949, the island has been ruled by the remnants of the nationalist government, which fled the mainland after defeat in the civil war.

(They are trying to create war with Russia and China.They are fucking nuts)

https://www.rt.com/news/554862-taiwan-ukraine-lessons-china/

>>16197278

I really wonder if POTUS is punishing China, making them realize that their interference of the 2020 election, they brought this on themselves.He was the only sane voice in the room with world leaders?

>>16197123

Lavrov is sensible but that idea is a disaster

>>16197185

Her brain is malnourished and her soul has been eaten by demons