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Offline lmunley

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Ukraine escalation
« Reply #15 on: May 09, 2014, 07:27:41 PM »
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  • I think the Ukraine crisis is a sign of the end times. Can anyone spread some light on this crisis?


    Offline RomanCatholic1953

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    Ukraine escalation
    « Reply #16 on: May 09, 2014, 10:16:31 PM »
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  • We have a number of threads on the Ukraine and Russia on this forum.

    Just go to the search box and type in Ukraine, and read them first.

    Especially, read the thread on Fr. Malachi Martin and Russia and
    Kiev  in the Fatima's Third Secret.


     


    Offline poche

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    Ukraine escalation
    « Reply #17 on: May 14, 2014, 03:35:58 AM »
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  • The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church said in an interview with Catholic World Report that “we did not call the people to protest” against the regime of Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian president whose departure in February preceded the Russian invasion of Crimea.

    “Many wondered whether the Ukrainian people were able to peacefully stand together for a European future for their country on the basis of such values as rule of law, rejection of corruption, abhorrence of violence, and intolerance of authoritarian behavior,” said Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk.

    “We did not call the people to protest,” he added. “We were not those who would encourage such a protest. Yet we followed our people, because we recognized that those people were standing at the Maidan for those values, which we were promoting. If people take a stand for human dignity, rule of law, rejection of violence and corruption-- we as a Church have a duty to recognize the moral power of such claims.”

    http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=21385

    Offline procopius

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    Ukraine escalation
    « Reply #18 on: May 15, 2014, 09:59:10 AM »
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  • The western media wants you to believe this.



    Apparently democracy is burning cops alive, but voting is undemocratic.


    Offline MariaCatherine

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    Ukraine escalation
    « Reply #19 on: May 16, 2014, 03:00:52 PM »
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  • Can a region, even two regions, be declared terrorist organizations?

    Quote
    New authorities in post-coup Kiev have listed the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk as terrorist organizations. The two regions proclaimed themselves sovereign states after the controversial May 11 referendums.

    “The two so-called 'people’s republics' in Donetsk and Lugansk regions are terrorist organizations, which have a clear hierarchy, financing, and channels of weapons supplies,” Ukraine’s deputy prosecutor general, Nikolay Golomsha, said.

    The statement confirmed a similar statement made by Ukraine's minister of justice, Pavel Petrenko. The minister said the two “were created for assaulting people, intimidation, sabotage, terrorist attacks, beatings, and murder of our citizens.”

    Criminal cases have been launched to investigate the “formation of the terrorist organizations.”

    On Friday, Golomsha stressed that the General Prosecutor's Office has managed to reveal channels through which weapons are being supplied to Donetsk and Lugansk.

    On May 11, the Ukrainian regions held referendums and voted for self-rule. Kiev and Western countries condemned the ballots, calling them illegal.

    RIA Novosti / Natalia SileverstovaRIA Novosti / Natalia Sileverstova

    Kiev has intensified its military crackdown in the region, deploying tanks, APCs and helicopters. It formed paramilitary forces which are now on the ground in Donetsk and Lugansk regions as part of an “anti-military operation.”

    The self-proclaimed republics are demanding the withdrawal of Kiev fighters which continue to clash with local self-defense units.

    The deadline for an ultimatum issued by the Donetsk People's Republic, which demanded that Kiev pull out its troops, passed on Friday.

    A deputy commander of the pro-autonomy militia of Donbass, Sergey Zdrilyuk, said on May 15 that all Ukrainian armed forces had 24 hours to withdraw their armored vehicles and checkpoints from around “Donetsk, Mariupol, and other cities.”

    He threatened to “destroy and burn down all of this” if the demand was not met. However, Kiev's forces still remain in the region. According to the Donetsk People's Republic, the troops were enlarged following the ultimatum.


    http://rt.com/news/159508-kiev-terrorist-organizations-donetsk/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome
    What return shall I make to the Lord for all the things that He hath given unto me?


    Offline Graham

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    Ukraine escalation
    « Reply #20 on: May 17, 2014, 02:47:03 PM »
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  • Quote from: MariaCatherine
    Can a region, even two regions, be declared terrorist organizations?

    Quote
    New authorities in post-coup Kiev have listed the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk as terrorist organizations. The two regions proclaimed themselves sovereign states after the controversial May 11 referendums.

    “The two so-called 'people’s republics' in Donetsk and Lugansk regions are terrorist organizations, which have a clear hierarchy, financing, and channels of weapons supplies,” Ukraine’s deputy prosecutor general, Nikolay Golomsha, said.

    The statement confirmed a similar statement made by Ukraine's minister of justice, Pavel Petrenko. The minister said the two “were created for assaulting people, intimidation, sabotage, terrorist attacks, beatings, and murder of our citizens.”

    Criminal cases have been launched to investigate the “formation of the terrorist organizations.”

    On Friday, Golomsha stressed that the General Prosecutor's Office has managed to reveal channels through which weapons are being supplied to Donetsk and Lugansk.

    On May 11, the Ukrainian regions held referendums and voted for self-rule. Kiev and Western countries condemned the ballots, calling them illegal.

    RIA Novosti / Natalia SileverstovaRIA Novosti / Natalia Sileverstova

    Kiev has intensified its military crackdown in the region, deploying tanks, APCs and helicopters. It formed paramilitary forces which are now on the ground in Donetsk and Lugansk regions as part of an “anti-military operation.”

    The self-proclaimed republics are demanding the withdrawal of Kiev fighters which continue to clash with local self-defense units.

    The deadline for an ultimatum issued by the Donetsk People's Republic, which demanded that Kiev pull out its troops, passed on Friday.

    A deputy commander of the pro-autonomy militia of Donbass, Sergey Zdrilyuk, said on May 15 that all Ukrainian armed forces had 24 hours to withdraw their armored vehicles and checkpoints from around “Donetsk, Mariupol, and other cities.”

    He threatened to “destroy and burn down all of this” if the demand was not met. However, Kiev's forces still remain in the region. According to the Donetsk People's Republic, the troops were enlarged following the ultimatum.


    http://rt.com/news/159508-kiev-terrorist-organizations-donetsk/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome


    Meanwhile a leaked phone call suggests that the Jєω Kolomoisky, appointed by the NATO-backed Ukrainian coalition government, personally ordered the massacre in Odessa as revenge for the death of a Jєω: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_15/Ukrainian-oligarch-puts-1-million-bounty-on-opponents-head-audio-recording-9493/

    "Kolomoisky: They say that Tsarov is to blame ****. Tomorrow your people will be the cock-shot here. You tell them to get the *****out of here. Because we’re going to hang them right in the square."


    Offline RomanCatholic1953

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    Ukraine escalation
    « Reply #21 on: May 21, 2014, 09:26:55 PM »
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  • Western Media Blackout on the Reality in the Ukraine, Article from
    Blacklistednews.com

    http://www.blacklistednews.com/Western_Media_Blackout_on_the_Reality_in_Ukraine/35385/0/38/38/Y/M.html

    On 2 May 2014, there was a massacre that was initially reported as being of 116 anti-Kiev (or independence) demonstrators at the Trade Unions Building in Odessa. The latest reliable report (from an American, George Eliason, who lives in that area) indicates it to be instead “now counted at 272 people that were tortured, gassed …, bludgeoned, …, etc.,” above and beyond the numbers who had been incinerated there by the firebombing of the building. Western news-media unfortunately seem to be doing all they can to keep the public ignorant of what went on there, and of why.

    For example, despite the many youtube videos that were posted on the night of May 2nd showing the actual massacre, and making clear that this was a massacre of anti-Kiev, pro-independence, demonstrators by pro-Kiev (pro-central-government) thugs, here is what came up on May 20th in a google search at Huffington Post of the two terms “Ukraine” and “Odessa” (all suggesting that Russia’s Vladimir Putin was behind this, not that America’s Barack Obama, who had actually installed the Kiev Government, was):

    Reuters

    “Ukraine: Odessa Unrest Planned And Financed From Abroad”

    “Ukraine Accuses Russia Of Engineering Deadly Clashes”

    Associated Press

    “Ukrainian unrest spreads; dozens dead in Odessa”

    “Ukraine offensive sparks deadly clashes in Odessa”

    And here are some news reports of the reality, reports which were offered to Huffington Post, the Guardian, Salon, and virtually all other major Western news sites, but which were turned down by them all:

    “The Key Man Behind the May 2nd Odessa Ukraine Trade Unions Building Massacre: His Many Connections to the White House”

    “Our People Massacre Civilians in Odessa, and Politico Blames Putin”

    “cινιℓ ωαr Has Begun in Ukraine; U.S. Backs Neo-nαzιs against the Democrats; U.S. Media Suppress that News”

    And here is why this is important:

    As the reformed former CIA operative Ray McGovern docuмented on 15 May 2014, headlining “How NATO Jabs Russia on Ukraine,” a historic end of the Cold War was agreed to at the Malta Summit on 3 December 1989, and finalized in February 1990, between George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev, but was violated by Bill Clinton, and is now being utterly trashed by Barack Obama via his Ukraine gambit.

    Russia doesn’t want to be surrounded by NATO missiles and troops in the adjoining countries of Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and now, especially, Ukraine (the latter being especially important as the pipeline route for transit of Russia’s gas supplies to Europe, as well as the long-established base for Russia’s Black Sea fleet). Here is McGovern’s account of the agreement between G.H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev:

    “According to Jack Matlock, then-U.S. ambassador to the U.S.S.R. who took part in the Malta summit, the most basic agreement involved (1) Gorbachev’s pledge not to use force in Eastern Europe where the Russians had 24 divisions (some 350,000 troops) in East Germany alone, and (2) Bush’s promise not to ‘take advantage’ of a Soviet withdrawal from Eastern Europe.

    In early February 1990, Bush sent Secretary of State James Baker to work out the all-important details directly with Gorbachev and Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze. Ambassador Matlock again was there and took careful notes on the negotiations, which focused on German reunification.

    From memory, Matlock told me that Baker tried to convince Gorbachev that it was in Moscow’s interest to let a united Germany remain in NATO. Matlock recalled that Baker began his argument saying something like, ‘Assuming there is no expansion of NATO jurisdiction to the East, not one inch, what would you prefer, a Germany embedded in NATO, or one that can go independently in any direction it chooses.’ [emphasis added]

    The implication was that Germany might just opt to acquire nuclear weapons, were it not anchored in NATO. Gorbachev answered that he took Baker’s argument seriously, and wasted little time in agreeing to the deal.

    Ambassador Matlock, one of the most widely respected experts on Russia, told me ‘the language used was absolute, and the entire negotiation was in the framework of a general agreement that there would be no use of force by the Soviets and no ‘taking advantage’ by the U.S.”

    He added, ‘I don’t see how anybody could view the subsequent expansion of NATO as anything but ‘taking advantage.’”

    U.S. President Obama is so determined to tie a noose around the neck of Russia, that he has no hesitation about allying himself with supporters of Adolf Hitler in order to achieve it. And, so, this is the result, and it was sparked by this.

    Just imagine that you are a Russian-speaking Ukrainian who had voted for the winner of the last Presidential election in Ukraine (Viktor Yanukovych won overwhelmingly in the eastern half of the country), and that he was ousted in a coup on 22 February 2014, and the Obama-Administration-imposed interim government had perpetrated that massacre in Odessa against supporters (like yourself) of that ousted President, and now of independence from the fascists who (after $5 billion+ of U.S. preparation, plus sending U.S. mercenaries) had ousted him and installed the neo-nαzιs who organized and perpetrated the May 2nd massacre of former supporters of that now-ousted President, and instigated Ukrainian cινιℓ ωαr. Would you feel safe, being ruled by those people? Would you want to be ruled by people who are committed to your destruction?

    But is this what you’ve been hearing from the Western press?

    How is the Western press any more trustworthy now than it was in the lead-up to the 19 March 2003 invasion of Iraq to destroy “Saddam’s WMD”?

    It’s not that the reporters are corrupt. It’s that no major news media will hire them if they’re not. The owners, the controlling families, do not want the public to understand what’s going on; and this is why they’ve bought control of major news media. That, for example, is why such deceptions as this are so common.

    For example, on 28 February 2014, the great investigative journalist Mark Ames bannered “Pierre Omidyar co-funded Ukraine revolution groups with US government, docuмents show,” and he docuмented that the founder of ebay, Omidyar, had hired some of the leading investigative journalists — including Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Jeremy Scahill, and Marcy Wheeler — and was himself heavily invested in the Ukrainian coup that had culminated on February 22nd.

    When are we going to acknowledge that democracy in the U.S., and in at least some other so-called “democratic” countries is a hoax? It’s more like George Orwell’s novel 1984 than like democracy.

    And, under Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, it’s virtually as bad as it was even under George W. Bush.

    Before a problem can be solved, it must first be acknowledged.

    What you have just read is samizdat: banned. We don’t have communism; it’s not the communist version of samizdat. We don’t have democracy, where there is no samizdat. We have fascism, where the samizdat is carried out by the aristocracy, the oligarchs, controlling “democracy” and using and abusing the public, by setting one faction of it (racially, religiously, or ethnically) against another, and everyone against some hyped or even fictitious foreign “threat,” in order to distract from those aristocrats’ own ongoing rape of the public.

    The Axis powers have finally won: their model, fascism, has now taken over in the United States — now, even more than before, the land of inequality.

    Democracy is in desperate straits.

    Offline poche

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    Ukraine escalation
    « Reply #22 on: May 29, 2014, 02:24:17 AM »
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  • Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has accused the Ukrainian Catholic Church of “engaging in direct political activities” and encouraging “Russophobic” attitudes in Ukraine.

    Speaking on May 28 at the Russian foreign ministry, Patriarch Kirill said that leaders of the Byzantine Catholic community in Ukraine have been stirring up resentments against Russia and “making sharp statements against the Russian Orthodox Church.” The conflict, he said, has cast a “very sad shadow” over relations between the Moscow patriarchate and the Holy See.

    The Russian Orthodox Church has frequently complained about the activities of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, charging that the Byzantine Catholics are interfering in the “canonical territory” of the Moscow patriarchate.


    http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=21547

    This could be the prelude to another persecution in the event of a Russian takeover.


    Offline poche

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    Ukraine escalation
    « Reply #23 on: May 29, 2014, 02:31:46 AM »
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  • Members of a pro-Russian separatist militia in eastern Ukraine have abducted a Polish priest, Father Pawel Witek.

    "Our consular services have been working on securing the release of our citizen, we are also in touch with Church officials," said Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland’s minister of foreign affairs, according to an Agence France-Presse report.

    http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=21533

    Offline RomanCatholic1953

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    Ukraine escalation
    « Reply #24 on: May 29, 2014, 07:31:09 PM »
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  • Over a 1,000 Soldiers have been killed so far as Ukraine fighting
    escalates Russian Media reports.

    Link from blacklistednews.com, source: Zero Hedge.

    http://www.blacklistednews.com/Over_A_Thousand_Soldiers_Killed_As_Ukraine_Fighting_Escalates%2C_Russian_Media_Reports/35572/0/0/0/Y/M.html

    Offline poche

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    Ukraine escalation
    « Reply #25 on: June 02, 2014, 02:53:50 AM »
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  • Catholics in eastern Ukraine are “living in conditions of great danger,” a bishop there reports.

    Bishop Marian Buczek, who recently retired as head of the Kharkiv-Zaporizhia diocese, reported that citizens are terrified by the violence perpetrated by pro-Russian groups. The kidnapping of a Catholic priest intensified fears, he said.

    In towns where the violence has been acute, Catholics afraid to go to Mass, the bishop said. However, he remarked that Catholics are not alone in their suffering, and that in some local towns “the Catholic and Orthodox churches have simply stopped functioning” because of the collapse of security.

    http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=21563


    Offline Francisco

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    Ukraine escalation
    « Reply #26 on: June 03, 2014, 09:20:47 AM »
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  • June 3rd:
    181 people killed, 293 injured in Kiev military op in eastern Ukraine

    http://rt.com/news/163308-killed-injured-eastern-ukraine/


    Kiev’s military operation in eastern Ukraine has left 181 people killed, including 59 of ruling regime troops, and 293 injured, according to the country’s Prosecutor General.

    Ongoing operation: 8 die in admin HQ blast as fighter jets deployed to Ukraine’s Lugansk

    Oleg Makhnitsky announced the recent figures at a press conference. However, it was not clear whether the death toll included casualties among self-defense forces.

    The Prosecutor General has also added that over 220 people have been abducted, including 12 foreign citizens, since the uprising started in Lugansk and Donetsk Regions.

    "Six hundred and seventy-five criminal enterprises connected with subversive activities, terrorist acts, and violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine are currently being investigated,” Makhnitsky told the media.

    The spokesman for the anti-terrorist operation, Vladislav Seleznev, put the number of self-defense force personnel killed at 300, according to RIA Novosti.

    Kiev has been conducting its “anti-terrorist operation” in eastern Ukraine since April, following a mass uprising against the coup-appointed government, demanding broader independence from the capital.

    Following the May 11 referendums, in which the Lugansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic voted for the two regions’ independence and proclaimed themselves sovereign states, the military operation by Kiev troops has intensified.

    The day after the presidential elections on May 25, the likely winner, billionaire Petro Poroshenko, announced that the military operation in the southeast of the country would continue, demanding “it must be more effective, and military units must be better equipped."

    This is despite Kiev’s troops already actively using heavy artillery units, mortars, aviation, fighter jets and helicopters, APCs and tanks in their operation in the south-east.

    Just a few hours after the early results of the elections were announced, Ukrainian troops stepped up its military activity and deployed fighter jets and helicopters at Donetsk International Airport in an attempt to win it back from self-defense forces.

    More than 50 civilians and as many self-defense troops were killed in the subsequent clashes, local militia estimated.

    On Wednesday, May 28, Kiev troops targeted civilian quarters of Slavyansk, for the first time shelling one of the city’s schools and a kindergarten.

    All the pupils and teachers were quickly evacuated from the school as the shell hit the roof and exploded right above the hall where children played.

    The shelling also damaged a block of flats and a dormitory in the city’s teachers’ college, shattering glass in the windows of the college.


    Shortly afterwards, the Ukrainian military shelled a children’s hospital, also in Slavyansk.

    This past weekend, over a thousand people rallied in Donetsk demanding that children be protected from Kiev’s assault.

    The Kiev forces quickly blamed the violence on self-defense units, which they refer to as “terrorists.”

    In a recent move, Kiev deployed fighter jets to the city of Lugansk, eastern Ukraine, where eight people died after an explosion in a regional administration building on June 2. Wounded people were trapped inside the administration HQs, which caught on fire. Locals outside the building were urged to flee the area as unexploded shells were found in the park nearby.

    “Ukraine’s Air Force struck Lugansk downtown at 4pm. Military aircraft made a targeted strike, deploying cluster bombs. The administration building is partially destroyed,” the government of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LNR) said.

    While Kiev has denied launching the fatal attack and blamed on the explosion on “terrorists” trying to launch an anti-aircraft missile, the leader of the ruling Party of Regions, Aleksandr Efremov, has called it “unprecedentedly” cruel crime and demanded it be investigated in The Hague court.


    http://rt.com/news/163308-killed-injured-eastern-ukraine/

    Offline poche

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    Ukraine escalation
    « Reply #27 on: June 05, 2014, 02:58:53 AM »
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  • Speaking in Belarus, the chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Department of External Church Relations told the European Orthodox-Catholic Forum that “the Greek Catholics have played a very destructive role” in the current Ukrainian crisis.

    “Unlike the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has been able during these difficult months to unite people of various political persuasions, including those who have found themselves on both sides of the barricades, the Uniates have ostentatiously associated themselves with only one of the belligerent forces,” said Metropolitan Hilarion, referring to members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the largest of the Eastern Catholic churches.

    “The aggressive words of the Uniates, actions directed at undermining the canonical Orthodox Church, active contacts with schismatics and the striving to divide a single multinational Russian Orthodox Church have caused great damage not only to the Ukraine and her citizens, but also to the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue,” he continued. “All of this has put us back a great distance, reminding us of the times when the Orthodox and Catholics viewed each other not as friends but as rivals.”

    Metropolitan Hilarion also denounced the Union of Brest, in which Orthodox bishops around Kiev reconciled with the Holy See:

    Today once again it has been all the more obvious what the Orthodox knew – that the Unia was and, unfortunately, remains a special project of the Catholic Church aimed at undermining canonical Orthodoxy. It was here, in the country of Byelorussia, that the notorious ‘the Union of Brest’ of 1596 was concluded and which brought untold suffering to the Orthodox population of these lands.

    Allow me to use this platform to appeal to all our partners in the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue to do all that is possible to cool down the ‘hotheads’ among the Uniates, to halt the actions of the Greek Catholics in making the crisis in the Ukraine worse.

    Today one part of the Catholic Church is employing all her strength, talents and resources in strengthening Orthodox-Catholic interaction, while another (even though it enjoys autonomous status) is doing everything possible, as in former unfortunate times, to drive the wedge of distrust and enmity between Orthodox and Catholics.

    http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=21596

    This is a prelude to the persecution that is to come to the Catholics of that region.

    Offline poche

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    Ukraine escalation
    « Reply #28 on: June 16, 2014, 04:09:53 AM »
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  • Russia on Monday said it would cut off gas supplies to Ukraine as a payment deadline passed and negotiators failed to reach a deal on gas prices and unpaid bills.

    Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said that since Ukraine had paid nothing for the gas by Monday Moscow has no legal grounds to supply Ukraine any more.

    "Gazprom supplies to Ukraine only the amount that has been paid for, and the amount that has been paid for is zero," Kupriyanov said Monday morning.

    The pipeline to Ukraine also carries gas meant for Europe, but Kupriyanov said that the supply to Europe will continue as planned. Ukraine has the obligation to make sure the gas will reach European customers, he said.

    However, Gazprom has notified the European Commission of "a possible disruption in the gas transit" in case Ukraine decides to siphon off the gas, the company said.

    Analyst Tim Ash at Standard Bank PLC said Russia was likely to cut off only the gas meant for Ukraine, but that the Ukraine could in theory simply take what it wants since the gas is intermingled. That would result in a shortage in pipelines to Europe that could hinder the buildup of stored gas ahead of the winter heating season when demand is higher.

    "So the message is that this is unlikely to bring a short term hit to gas supply in Europe, but it will build up problems for the winter unless a deal is reached quickly," he said in an email.

    Ukraine has been chronically behind on payments for the gas needed to heat homes and fuel its industries. The gas conflict is part of a wider dispute between the two countries over whether Ukraine aligns itself with Russia or with the European Union.

    It comes in the midst of the severe crisis in relations between the two countries that has followed Russia's annexation of Crimea in March. Ukraine says Russia is supporting a separatist insurgency in its eastern regions, something Russia denies.

    On Saturday, pro-Russian separatists shot down a Ukrainian troop transport, killing all 49 people aboard. Ukrainian demonstrators spattered the Russian Embassy in Kiev with paint and eggs and overturned cars. In Moscow, police detained several men who were throwing flares at the Ukrainian Embassy.

    Gazprom offered the previous president, Viktor Yanukovych, a discounted price of $268.50 per thousand cubic meters after he backed out of an economic and political agreement with the EU under pressure from Moscow.

    That price was cancelled April 1 and raised to $485 per thousand cubic meters. Russia has now offered $385, but Ukraine insists on the old discounted price. Gazprom has tolerated the late payments but now says Ukraine owes a total of $4.458 billion for gas from last year and this year.

    Russia wanted a payment of $1.95 billion for past due bills by 9 a.m. Kiev time Monday. As the deadline passed Gazprom issued a statement that it would start demanding payment in advance for gas.

    Gazprom also announced on Monday that it is now suing Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz in an international court for the $4.5 billion debt.

    The European Commission said in a statement that Ukraine was ready to accept a compromise in talks in Kiev of paying $1 billion now and more later, but Russia didn't accept the offer.

    European Union energy official Guenther Oettinger said he was "not pessimistic" that agreement could eventually be reached.

    Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich told Russian news agencies on Monday that the decision on what to do next will be made following a meeting between Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Putin.

    http://news.yahoo.com/russia-cut-gas-supply-ukraine-072718598.html

    Offline poche

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    Ukraine escalation
    « Reply #29 on: June 30, 2014, 03:16:15 AM »
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  • Having seized control of the Crimea, Russian officials have placed new restrictions on churches there, the Forum 18 news service reports.

    Religious communities in Crimea are being ordered to re-register under Russian law. Priests of the Ukrainian Catholic Church who are not natives of Crimea will be allowed to serve in ministry for only three months at a time before leaving for a month and re-applying for admission. Catholics in Sebastopol, who had hoped for the return of their cathedral (which had been confiscated under Soviet rule), now doubt that the building will be returned.

    The new restrictions are not targeted solely against Ukrainian Catholics. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kiev patriarchate, which challenges the dominance of Orthodox body loyal to Moscow, has found that the “rent” for its cathedral in Simferopol, the capital city of Crimea, has been dramatically raised.

    http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=21847