Anti-Semitic Fliers in Eastern Ukraine Denounced

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: CNN

Photo Credit: CNN

U.S. officials Thursday denounced what one called a “grotesque” leaflet ordering Jews in one eastern Ukrainian city to register with a government office, but the Jewish community there dismissed it as a “provocation.”

The fliers were handed out by masked men in front the main synagogue in Donetsk, where pro-Russian protesters have declared a “People’s Republic,” Jewish leaders there said. The document warned the city’s Jews to register and document their property or face deportation, according to a CNN translation of one of the leaflets.

Geoffrey Pyatt, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, told CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” that a respected Jewish leader in Ukraine showed him a photograph of one of the leaflets. He called the document “chilling.”
And in Geneva, where diplomats held emergency talks on the Ukrainian crisis, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the leaflets “grotesque” and “beyond unacceptable.”

But the Jewish community statement said relations between the Jews of Donetsk and their neighbors were amicable, and the self-proclaimed head of the “People’s Republic,” Denis Pushilin, denied any connection to the fliers.

Read more from this story HERE.

Leaflet Tells Jews to ‘Register’ in East Ukraine

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: The Coordination Forum for Countering Antisemitism

Photo Credit: The Coordination Forum for Countering Antisemitism

By Oren Dorell.

World leaders and Jewish groups condemned a leaflet handed out in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk in which Jews were told to “register” with the pro-Russian militants who have taken over a government office in an attempt to make Ukraine part of Russia, according to Ukrainian and Israeli media.

Jews emerging from a synagogue say they were handed leaflets that ordered the city’s Jews to provide a list of property they own and pay a registration fee “or else have their citizenship revoked, face deportation and see their assets confiscated,” reported Ynet News, Israel’s largest news website, and Ukraine’s Donbass news agency.

Secretary of State John Kerry said the language of the leaflets “is beyond unacceptable” and condemned whomever is responsible.

“In the year 2014, after all of the miles traveled and all of the journey of history, this is not just intolerable — it’s grotesque,” he said. “And any of the people who engage in these kinds of activities — from whatever party or whatever ideology or whatever place they crawl out of — there is no place for that.”

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt called the leaflets “the real deal.” But the man whose name appears on the leaflets, Denis Pushilin, identified as chairman of “Donetsk’s temporary government,” said he was not responsible.

Read more from this story HERE.

_________________________________________________________

Anti-Semitic Fliers in Eastern Ukraine Denounced

By Jake Tapper, Nick Paton Walsh and Sherisse Pham.

Photo Credit: CNN

Photo Credit: CNN

U.S. officials Thursday denounced what one called a “grotesque” leaflet ordering Jews in one eastern Ukrainian city to register with a government office, but the Jewish community there dismissed it as a “provocation.”

The fliers were handed out by masked men in front the main synagogue in Donetsk, where pro-Russian protesters have declared a “People’s Republic,” Jewish leaders there said. The document warned the city’s Jews to register and document their property or face deportation, according to a CNN translation of one of the leaflets.

Geoffrey Pyatt, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, told CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” that a respected Jewish leader in Ukraine showed him a photograph of one of the leaflets. He called the document “chilling.”
And in Geneva, where diplomats held emergency talks on the Ukrainian crisis, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the leaflets “grotesque” and “beyond unacceptable.”

But the Jewish community statement said relations between the Jews of Donetsk and their neighbors were amicable, and the self-proclaimed head of the “People’s Republic,” Denis Pushilin, denied any connection to the fliers.

Read more from this story HERE.

_________________________________________________________

Diplomatic deal struck on Ukraine

By Justin Sink.

Secretary of State John Kerry said the framework hashed out by foreign ministers meeting in Geneva would disarm separatist militants in eastern Ukraine and have them vacate the government buildings, streets and squares they have occupied.

In return, the Ukrainian government has offered amnesty to all pro-Russian militants who lay down their arms, with the exception of those who committed capital crimes.

The Ukrainian government has also “committed to going as far as they can to reach out to opponents” as part of a “comprehensive, inclusive process” ahead of next month’s elections.

That will include consideration of constitutional amendments that could give Ukraine’s Eastern regions greater autonomy.

President Obama expressed optimism that the framework was a positive step, but he acknowledged it was unclear whether separatists on the ground would follow through.

Read more from this story HERE.

The Next Rwanda? Power Rips ‘Industrial-Style Slaughter’ in Syria Civil War

/1 Comment/in , /by

Power_080113America’s ambassador to the United Nations raised the specter of genocide in Syria, after officials this week sounded the alarm about spiraling violence in that country’s civil war.

Gruesome photos of purported civil war victims were shown earlier this week to the U.N. Security Council, depicting corpses with bones protruding and eyes gouged out. It was a haunting and grisly reminder that, as Ukraine and other trouble spots grab international attention, Syria is crumbling under the weight of a vicious war.

Speaking at a U.N. Security Council briefing on genocide, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power on Wednesday compared the fighting in Syria to the genocide in Rwanda 20 years ago.

She described the photos of Syrian prisoners as showing “systematic, industrial-style slaughter and forced starvation killings” – photos which, she noted, were from just three of the 50 Syrian-run detention centers.

“And to that we can add the Syrian victims of chemical weapons attacks, the children felled by barrel bombs and those being starved to death in besieged towns and villages, or those executed by terrorist groups,” said Power, who has written extensively on genocide. “Twenty years from now, how will we reflect on this Council’s failure to help those people? How will we explain Council disunity on Syria twenty years after Rwanda?”

Read more from this story HERE.

Putin’s New Kind of War

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: Reuters

Photo Credit: Reuters

In the Western imagination, the words “war” and “invasion” carry clear connotations. From books, movies, and television, we know that such events involve tanks, airplanes, and artillery, as well as soldiers in uniform, advanced weaponry, and sophisticated communications. They look like the invasion of Iraq or, to go back in time, D-Day.

So far, the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine looks nothing like these battles. This war involves not soldiers but local thugs and volunteers, some linked to the ex-president, Viktor Yanukovych, some from criminal gangs, and some who mistakenly think they are fighting for some form of benign local autonomy.

They are being led not by officers in uniform but by men from Russian military intelligence and special operations forces, some wearing camouflage without insignia, some communicating with “activists” by telephone. They are supplied with Russian logistics and a few Russian automatic weapons, but not tanks or planes. There is no “shock and awe” bombing campaign, just systematic, organized attacks on police stations, city councils, airports.

Unlike the planners of D-Day or Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Russians organizing the invasion of Ukraine also have flexible goals. They are prepared to adjust their strategy, depending on how much resistance they encounter. In the long term, Russia clearly hopes to annex eastern and southern Ukraine; maps to that effect have begun to circulate.

But in the meantime, the Kremlin may settle for disrupting Ukraine’s presidential elections, scheduled for May 25, or for destabilizing Ukraine’s shaky provisional government, perhaps forcing an economic crash. The Russians may hope to provoke a civil war, or something that appears to be a civil war, which would then require a Russian “peacekeeping mission.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Warns of “Consequences” for Russian Actions Destabilizing Ukraine

/5 Comments/in , /by

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin talk before the first session of the G20 Summit in Los CabosPresident Obama put Russian President Vladimir Putin on notice Wednesday evening, warning that further actions to destabilize the interim Ukrainian government will result in consequences from both the United States and Europe.

In an interview with CBS News White House Correspondent Major Garrett , Mr. Obama said it was “absolutely clear” that Russia had violated Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by annexing Crimea last month, and they continue to do so by supporting “non-state militias” in southern and eastern Ukraine.

Still, the White House has not abandoned diplomatic solutions. Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Geneva Wednesday evening to prepare for four-party talks with European, Russian and Ukrainian officials. Ukraine is willing to offer amnesty to the armed separatist groups who have carried out violence and seized buildings in the east, if Russia agrees to pullback support for those pro-Russian groups and withdraw the 40,000 troops that it has positioned on Ukraine’s border, CBS News State Department Correspondent Margaret Brennan reports.

Read more from this story HERE.

South Korea Says Hundreds Missing after Ferry Sinks Off Southern Coast

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP/YONHAP

Photo Credit: AP/YONHAP

South Korean officials said Wednesday that nearly 300 people were still missing several hours after a passenger ferry sank off that country’s southern coast, leaving at least two dead and seven injured.

A government official had said earlier Wednesday that around 100 people were unaccounted for, but the number was later revised upward due to a tallying error.

The ferry was carrying 477 people, most of them high school students, and was bound for the island of Jeju when it sent a distress call at around 9 a.m. local time Wednesday as it began leaning to one side, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Security and Public Administration.

The government said about 95 percent of the ship was submerged.

Two coast guard officers told the Associated Press that a 27-year-old woman named Park Ji-yeong and another unidentified person had died. Both spoke on condition of anonymity citing department rules.

Read more from this story HERE.

President Obama, Vladimir Putin Talk Ukraine Unrest

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone Monday but appeared to do little to narrow or obscure the wide gulf between the U.S. and Russian governments over the continuing unrest in Ukraine.

A Russian foreign ministry statement about the leaders’ phone call described a situation in Ukraine starkly different from the picture painted by U.S. officials and Western news outlets.

U.S. officials have accused Russian-backed paramilitaries and militia forces of taking over government buildings in eastern Ukraine, less than two months after Russian troops and well-armed fighters with few visible insignia staged similar takeovers in the Crimea region.

However, the Russian statement referred to “southeastern regions” of Ukraine being “engulfed by mass protests against the policies of the current authorities in Kiev.”

Russia effectively annexed Crimea last month after a referendum there in which voters reportedly backed such a move by overwhelming numbers. The vote was not recognized by most world powers.

Read more from this story HERE.

US Warns Russia of ‘Additional Consequences’ Over Ukraine

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AFP Photo / Alexander Khudoteply

Photo Credit: AFP Photo / Alexander Khudoteply

US Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Ukraine later this month, officials said, as Washington warned Moscow of “additional consequences” if it fails to reduce tensions with Ukraine.

The announcement came just a day after Washington unveiled sanctions against six of Crimea’s breakaway leaders, including the official who signed the deal with Moscow to split the peninsula from Ukraine.

During a telephone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US Secretary of State John Kerry “made clear that if Russia did not take steps to de-escalate in eastern Ukraine and move its troops back from Ukraine’s border, there would be additional consequences,” a senior State Department official said.

Washington has repeatedly urged Moscow to de-escalate tensions and withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine’s eastern border in the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War.

A first wave of US sanctions unveiled in March had blacklisted officials and businesspeople close to Russian President Vladimir Putin to protest Moscow’s takeover of Crimea.

Read more from this story HERE.

US and EU Push Africans Once More On Abortion and Homosexuality

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: LifeSiteNews

Photo Credit: LifeSiteNews

Africans are crying foul after wealthy Western countries ambushed them with a draft resolution that re-opens the troublesome issues of abortion and homosexuality in UN negotiations.

“You have set a precedent here that will not be forgotten,” said a representative from Cameroon at a briefing three weeks ago. Western countries have proposed a resolution for the annual UN Commission on Population and Development that surreptitiously endorses abortion and homosexuality, even though Africans asked to avoid those controversies.

The U.S., European and some Latin countries are increasingly insistent on homosexuality and abortion ahead of negotiations over a new UN development agenda in September, desperate to include homosexuality and abortion in future development efforts.

Africans for their part don’t want to be pressured on these issues, and have repeatedly stated that these are matters best left to countries individually.

When powerful western governments made their intentions for the resolution known, the Africans on the commission were furious.

Read more from this story HERE.

NYT: Russia Withheld Information on Boston Bomber

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Ninian Reid

Photo Credit: Ninian Reid

Russia withheld critical information from the FBI on one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects’ ties to radical Islam two years before the attacks that killed three Americans and injured more than 260 others — and those disclosures most likely would have triggered more investigation by authorities, The New York Times reports.

Russian officials told the FBI in 2011 that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed in a shootout with police after the attacks, “was a follower of radical Islam and a strong believer,” the Times says, citing a new report on how U.S. agencies could have stopped the bombings.

Moscow also told the agency that Tsarnaev “had changed drastically” as he met up with “unspecified underground groups,” during travels to the Dagestan region of Russia, according to the report.

But Moscow refused to provide any further information to the FBI despite the agency making “several” requests for more data, the Times reports.

“They found that the Russians did not provide all the information that they had on him back then, and based on everything that was available, the FBI did all that it could,” a top U.S. official briefed on the report told the Times.

Read more from this story HERE.