The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI) said on Friday that describing the rebels who drove the Iraqi army from several cities as operatives of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) is incorrect.They decried the designations as an attempt to abort the uprising in the country. In the statement reported by the Jordanian Assabeel newspaper, AMSI said that the ISIS label is a clear distortion which does not change the reality that Iraqi rebels are the main component of this uprising. Meanwhile, the AMSI also denounced the call by an ISIS spokesman for fighters to head towards Karbala and Al-Najaf. They described they call as "irresponsible and objectionable." .....
The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI) said on Friday that describing the rebels who drove the Iraqi army from several cities as operatives of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) is incorrect.They decried the designations as an attempt to abort the uprising in the country. In the statement reported by the Jordanian Assabeel newspaper, AMSI said that the ISIS label is a clear distortion which does not change the reality that Iraqi rebels are the main component of this uprising. Meanwhile, the AMSI also denounced the call by an ISIS spokesman for fighters to head towards Karbala and Al-Najaf. They described they call as "irresponsible and objectionable." .....
The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI) said on Friday that describing the rebels who drove the Iraqi army from several cities as operatives of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) is incorrect.They decried the designations as an attempt to abort the uprising in the country. In the statement reported by the Jordanian Assabeel newspaper, AMSI said that the ISIS label is a clear distortion which does not change the reality that Iraqi rebels are the main component of this uprising. Meanwhile, the AMSI also denounced the call by an ISIS spokesman for fighters to head towards Karbala and Al-Najaf. They described they call as "irresponsible and objectionable." .....
Military Resistance: thomasfbarton@earthlink.net 6.16.14 Print it out: color best. Pass it on.
Military Resistance 12F10
Symmetrical War Whining
AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS
AFGHANISTAN THEATER: US Foreign Fighters Suffered Eight Combat Casualties During The Week Ending June 11 As The Total Rose To 40,588
J une 04, 2014 www.michaelmunk.com [Excerpts]
AFGHANISTAN THEATER: US foreign fighters suffered eight combat casualties during the week ending J une 11 as the total rose to 40,588. The total includes 21,621 dead (one pending) and wounded from what the Pentagon classifies as "hostile" causes and 18,967 dead or medically evacuated (as of Dec.3, 2012, when it stopped making the count public) from what it called "non-hostile" causes.
US media divert attention from the actual cost in American life and limb by reporting regularly only the total killed (6,818: 4,489 in Iraq, 2,329 in Afghanistan) but rarely mentioning those wounded in action (52,034: 32,238 in Iraq; 19,796 in Afghanistan).
They ignore the 59,908 (44,607 in Iraq, 18,463 in AfPak (as of Dec 3, 2012) military casualties injured and ill seriously enough to be medevac'd out of theater, even though the 6,818 total dead include 1,464 (961 in Iraq, 503 in Afghanistan) who died from those same "non hostile" causes of whom almost 25% (332) were suicides (as of J an 9, 2013).
WIAs are usually updated on Wednesday at http://www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf
Soldier From Hillsboro Killed In Afghanistan
Pfc. Matthew H. Walker of Hillsboro died of wounds he suffered when his unit was hit by enemy fire in Afghanistan. Photo courtesy of clarksvillenow.com.
J une 06, 2014 By Tim ONeil, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
HILLSBORO: Army Pfc. Matthew H. Walker, who was fatally wounded in combat in Afghanistan, was a great kid who worked his tail off, his high school football coach said.
Walker, 20, an infantryman in the 101st Airborne Division, died Thursday of wounds he suffered when his unit was hit by enemy fire, according to the Department of Defense. The action took place in Paktika Province, which is in southeast Afghanistan along the border with Pakistan.
Walker lived in the Hillsboro area and graduated in 2012 from Grandview High School, which has about 330 students. As a senior, Walker was a captain on the football team, starting as an offensive lineman and linebacker, said head coach Mike Genge.
Genge said Walker visited the school this spring.
He was proud to be a serviceman, Genge said. He was enjoying it. He was finding success, and it seemed he found his path. He was hoping it would get him to college.
Genge said Walker worked hard on the team. He wasnt one of those fiery guys. He just worked hard and did what we asked him to, he said.
He said the faculty planned to meet Monday to honor a request by Walkers family that a memorial be held on campus.
The 101st Airborne Division is based in Fort Campbell, Ky. Walker was in its 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade combat team.
POLITICIANS REFUSE TO HALT THE BLOODSHED
THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THE WAR
Resistance Action
J un 15 2014 By Ghanizada, Khaama Press
The militants siege in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan ended on Sunday after security forces shot dead the assailant militants.
A group of bombers on Saturday attacked a police check post in 3rd police district of Kandahar city and took positions inside the residential houses.
Provincial security chief, Ge. Rahmatullah Atrafi, confirmed that the clashes on Sunday afternoon all militants were gunned down.
Gen. Atrafi further added that three policemen were also martyred and two others were injured following the clashes.
Another local security official earlier had said that the militants attacked the police check post with hand grenades and took positions inside the houses.
The operation to eliminate the militants was reportedly delayed to prevent disruption of runoff election in Kandahar city
MILITARY NEWS
[Thanks to SSG N (retd) who sent this in. She writes: Vets don't make corporations profitable.]
The Iraqi Army: Poor Leadership, Declining Troop Morale, Broken Equipment And A Sharp Decline In Training Some Of The Iraqi Soldiers Who Guarded The Green Zone In The Capital Had Come To Work Wearing Civilian Clothes Under Their Military Uniform The Troops Were Prepared To Strip To Civilian Attire And Flee If They Came Under Heavy Attack Theyre Losing Confidence In Themselves And In The Governments Ability To Win. And The Government Is Losing Confidence In Them
J UNE 12, 2014 By ERIC SCHMITT and MICHAEL R. GORDONJ UNE, The New York Times Company [Excerpts]
WASHINGTON The stunning collapse of Iraqs army in a string of cities across the north reflects poor leadership, declining troop morale, broken equipment and a sharp decline in training since the last American advisers left the country in 2011, American military and intelligence officials said Thursday.
Four of Iraqs 14 army divisions virtually abandoned their posts, stripped off their uniforms and fled when confronted in cities such as Mosul and Tikrit by militant groups, the officials said.
The divisions that collapsed were said to be made up of Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish troops.
Lieut. Gen. J ohn N. Bednarek, who heads the office of security cooperation at the United States Embassy in Baghdad, told a closed hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee that some of the Iraqi soldiers who guarded the Green Zone in the capital had come to work wearing civilian clothes under their military uniform, according to one senator.
The implication was that the troops were prepared to strip to civilian attire and flee if they came under heavy attack.
Even before the fall of Mosul, the Iraqi forces had had logistical difficulties and been battered in their clash with Islamic extremists.
From January through May, six helicopters were shot down and 60 were damaged in battle, an administration official said.
In the same period, 28 M-1 tanks were damaged and five tanks sustained full armor penetration by antitank guided missiles.
ISIS, the administration official added, appears to have acquired Russian antitank weapons in Syria.
A significant number of M-1 tanks have been hobbled by maintenance issues, the official said.
They are crumbling, said J ames M. Dubik, a retired American lieutenant general who oversaw the training of Iraqi forces during the so-called surge of thousands of United States troops into Iraq in 2007.
There are pockets of proficiency, but in general, they have been made fragile over the past three to four years, mostly because of the government of Iraqs policies, General Dubik said.
Theyre losing confidence in themselves and in the governments ability to win. And the government is losing confidence in them.
The failure of Iraqs army and security services to stand up to the Islamist threat also underscores a politicization of the army leadership under Mr. Maliki that has corroded the Iraqi militarys effectiveness at all levels, American officials said.
In one instance a few years ago, a leading Sunni general in northern Iraq whom American officers lauded for his operational skills was ousted and replaced by a Shiite officer.
And since the last American forces left Iraq, United States officials said the government in Baghdad had failed to finance and maintain the same training missions.
This is not about ISIS strength, but the Iraqi security forces weakness, said a former senior American officer who served in Iraq.
Since the U.S. left in 2011, the training and readiness of the Iraqi security forces has plummeted precipitously.
The retired officer said that the militants fast-moving advance south was more a reflection of the lack of resistance by Iraqi forces than the effectiveness of ISIS and its confederates.
Senators emerging from the two-hour closed briefing with Pentagon officials and intelligence analysts expressed grave doubts that Mr. Maliki and Iraqi commanders could quickly reverse the lightning gains across the north and west that ISIS and its Islamist allies had achieved in the past few days.
Senator Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, singled out the reports of soldiers wearing civilian clothes under their uniforms as a particularly foreboding development.
Thats a bad sign, he said.
Iraqi Sunni Scholars Say Iraqi Rebels, Not ISIS,Defeated The Iraqi Army: The ISIS Label Is A Clear Distortion Which Does Not Change The Reality That Iraqi Rebels Are The Main Component Of This Uprising Several Iraqi Sources Have Pointed Out That Tribal Rebels As Well As Other Iraqi Fighters Constitute The Main Force Currently Fighting The Iraqi Army
J une 14, 2014 By MEM, Information Clearning House
[Translation from the J ordanian web site *Assabeel]
The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI) said on Friday that describing the rebels who drove the Iraqi army from several cities as operatives of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) is incorrect.
They decried the designations as an attempt to abort the uprising in the country.
In the statement reported by the Jordanian Assabeel newspaper, AMSI said that the ISIS label is a clear distortion which does not change the reality that Iraqi rebels are the main component of this uprising.
Meanwhile, the AMSI also denounced the call by an ISIS spokesman for fighters to head towards Karbala and Al-Najaf. They described they call as " irresponsible and objectionable."
About the routing of the Iraqi army, the statement said: "This is an achievement that will infuriate many parties inside and outside Iraq, including those with external agendas that harmed the country for years."
Despite claims that it was the ISIS which took over the cities and towns, several Iraqi sources have pointed out that tribal rebels as well as other Iraqi fighters constitute the main force currently fighting the Iraqi army, in addition to some affiliated to ISIS.
About the routing of the Iraqi army, the statement said: "This is an achievement that will infuriate many parties inside and outside Iraq, including those with external agendas that harmed the country for years."
MORE:
Rebelling Groups Of Former Military Personnel And Tribes Are The Majority
J une 14, 2014 by Abdulrahman al-Rashed, Al Arabiya [Excerpts]. Abdulrahman al- Rashed is the General Manager of Al Arabiya News Channel.
Rebelling groups of former military personnel and tribes are the majority.
The presence of ISIS will not alter the major facts of the struggle in Iraq. One third of the population is being punished by the regime for sectarian and opportunistic political reasons. It's normal that they'd revolt against the regime and they will continue to be against it.
MORE:
Fighting Reaches Tal Afar: Widespread Resentment Toward The Iraqi Government In Baghdad They All Share The Same Hatred For The Ruling Regime
[Thanks to SSG N (retd) who sent this in. She writes: He should have stuck to his feet in the bathtub and stayed out of iraq.]
J une 14 By J oby Warrick, Washington Post & J une 15, 2014 By Ahmed Rasheed and Raheem Salman, Reuters & BBC [Excerpts]
Fighting erupted in the town of Tal Afar 40 miles west of Mosul near the Syrian border, security sources and a local official said.
fighting in Tal Afar, a majority Turkomen town which is home to both Shi'ites and Sunnis, showed how volatile the deepening sectarian divisions have become.
Residents in Sunni districts accused Shi'ite police and army forces of launching mortar fire at their neighbourhoods, prompting ISIL forces stationed outside the town to move in.
Government forces are using helicopter gunships against ISIL on the outskirts of Tal Afar, a member of Maliki's security committee told Reuters.
Government officials, quoted by AP news agency, said the rebels were using rockets captured from troops, and the local garrison had suffered heavy casualties.
A senior Middle Eastern intelligence official who has closely tracked the fast-moving developments in Iraq said ISISs astonishing recent gains were mostly due to skillfully forged alliances with Sunni tribal leaders, with the group exploiting widespread resentment toward the Iraqi government in Baghdad.
They all share the same hatred for the ruling regime, said the official,
Zaydan Aljabri, an Iraqi tribal sheik from Anbar province, said he thinks ISIS has learned from the mistakes of the Zarqawi era and is now truly committed to defending Sunnis against a Baghdad government he sees as corrupt and repressive.
If al-Baghdadi asked for my allegiance, I would give it to him, because what he is doing is what I want, Aljabri said in an interview.
Right now, my priority is liberating the Sunnis, and thats why he has been fighting for these last six months.
MORE:
United States Government Evacuating Some Staff From Baghdad Embassy; Crowds Cheer Insurgents In Mosul
Crowds in Mosul welcome militants parading down a main road in Mosul, Iraq. Days after Iraq's second-largest city fell, some Iraqis are already returning to Mosul, lured back by insurgents offering cheap gas and food, restoring power and water and removing traffic barricades. (Photo: AP via Twitter)
J une 15, 2014 Ammar Al Shamary and J abeen Bhatti, Special for USA TODAY [Excerpts]
BAGHDAD The United States said Sunday it was evacuating some staff from its embassy and beefing up security as deadly explosions rocked the Iraqi capital and advancing militant Islamic insurgents released graphic images appearing to show its fighters massacring captured Iraqi soldiers.
The U.S. State Department said in a statement that an undisclosed number of staffers will be moved to Amman, J ordan, or U.S. consulates elsewhere in Iraq not immediately threatened by the insurgent group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.
It said the embassy would remain fully operational with "some additional U.S. government security personnel.'' The embassy, inside the Green Zone near the Tigris River, employs thousands of people, some local hires and others from the United States.
Meanwhile, a string of explosions in Baghdad killed at least 15 and wounded more than 30 on Sunday.
A car bomb early Sunday killed 10 and wounded 21 in the city center. After nightfall, another explosion went off in the area, killing two and wounding five. A third blast hit near a falafel shop in the Sadr City district, killing three and wounding seven.
MORE:
U.S. Companies Flee Iraqi Bases As Security Crumbles; Individuals Are Being Temporarily Relocated By Their Companies Due To Security Concerns In The Area
J une 12 By Dan Lamothe, Washington Post [Excerpts]
The crisis in Iraq has prompted U.S. contractors with personnel there to evacuate them from areas near Baghdad that are increasingly in the line of fire as insurgent fighters capture more territory with the apparent end goal of seizing the Iraqi capital.
The individuals are being temporarily relocated by their companies due to security concerns in the area, State Department spokeswoman J en Psaki said in a statement Thursday evening. The individuals involved include U.S. citizens who are currently working under contract with Iraqs central government in support of the Pentagons foreign weapons sales program.
Psaki did not mention the number of personnel affected, but it could be hundreds, if not thousands, of people.
Contractor evacuations began Wednesday, if not earlier, said Ginger Cruz, CEO of Mantid International LLC, a consulting firm that works with numerous companies in Iraq.
In one example, health-care provider CHS Middle East initiated evacuations from Balad Air Base, some 40 miles north of Baghdad.
CHS was awarded a multi-year contract in April to provide medical services on the base under the Pentagons foreign military sales program as Iraq prepares for the arrival of its first F-16 fighter jet later this year from the United States, according to a CHS news release published in April.
The company was expected to provide emergency care, dental work, surgery and other medical services to as many as 2,500 personnel living on the base, the news release said.
On Thursday, the electronics giant Siemens was working to get about 50 employees out of Baiji, Cruz said.
It was not clear exactly what their operation there entails, but the company announced in February that it had signed a deal to provide service and maintenance to a large gas power plant there. The oil refinery city is some 130 miles north of Baghdad.
Cruz said that her firm has recommended using teams of U.S. and Kurdish private security firms to evacuate the contractors because the semi-autonomous Kurdish government in Iraqs north had sent its security forces known as pesh merga to take control of the city of Kirkuk after Iraqi security forces abandoned their bases and equipment and fled.
Negotiations were ongoing to secure the safety of foreign personnel in Baiji and to get them out of harms way. U.S. security contractors involved reported that they engaged in gunfire to get through the region, Cruz said.
FORWARD OBSERVATIONS
At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nations ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.
For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder.
We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.
The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose.
Frederick Douglass, 1852
Marxists know that democracy does not abolish class oppression.
It only makes the class struggle more direct, wider, more open and pronounced, and that is what we need.
The fuller the freedom of divorce, the clearer will women see that the source of their domestic slavery is capitalism, not lack of rights.
The more democratic the system of government, the clearer will the workers see that the root evil is capitalism, not lack of rights.
The fuller national equality (and it is not complete without freedom of secession), the clearer will the workers of the oppressed nations see that the cause of their oppression is capitalism, not lack of rights, etc. -- V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, 4th English Edition; Vol. 23
Political Incest--The Unspeakable
Iraq Veteran Domingo Rosas, Winter Soldier Investigation, Silver Spring, Maryland March 13-16, 2008 Photograph by Mike Hastie
From: Mike Hastie To: Military Resistance Newsletter Sent: J une 14, 2014 Subject: Political Incest--The Unspeakable
Political Incest--The Unspeakable
Like all of us, we are now seeing it all fall apart in Iraq, just like it happened in Vietnam in April 1975. I was living in Eugene, Oregon at the time, going to school. Across the street from my apartment, someone had spray painted on the side of a building: " Vietnam Has Won!"
It was a gut wrenching experience to go through, as you came to realize that everything had been a L I E. It would take several more years before the full impact of this truth was released from every cell of my body. Around 1990, I came up with a term that helped me have a much greater understanding of what I had been through.
That term, or phrase, was called: POLITICAL INCEST. In so many ways, I believe it carries the same unimaginable pain that family incest does when it is finally revealed to the entire family. I define Political Incest as the Fatherland using its own people as sacrificial pawns in a time of war for the sole purpose of economic profit, cloaked in the deceitful frenzy of patriotism and moral high ground. It is the ultimate form of betrayal by one's own government for the cause of war profiteering at every level.
This wound is so deep and destructive to the human psyche, that I believe it is the number one cause of suicide among soldiers and veterans in this country. The belief system is dismantled, and the word " Trust" dies. As we all know, more Vietnam veterans have committed suicide than soldiers killed in Vietnam.
There are 58,000 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. And now, we are going to see a lot of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, and active duty military, being forced to deal with the impact of what is going to be revealed over the next couple of months. Lying is the most powerful weapon in war, and that truth is about to explode in the minds of so many people. I hope what I have written, though perhaps brief in its description, will add to some kind of open dialogue.
Mike Hastie Army Medic Vietnam June 14, 2014
Photo and caption from the portfolio of Mike Hastie, US Army Medic, Vietnam 1970-71. (For more of his outstanding work, contact at: (hastiemike@earthlink.net) T)
One day while I was in a bunker in Vietnam, a sniper round went over my head. The person who fired that weapon was not a terrorist, a rebel, an extremist, or a so-called insurgent. The Vietnamese individual who tried to kill me was a citizen of Vietnam, who did not want me in his country. This truth escapes millions.
Mike Hastie U.S. Army Medic Vietnam 1970-71 December 13, 2004
Obama Nation
From: Dennis Serdel To: Military Resistance Newsletter Subject: Obama Nation Date: J un 18, 2013
Written by Dennis Serdel, Vietnam 1967-68 (one tour) Light Infantry, Americal Div. 11th Brigade; United Auto Workers GM Retiree
We are the National Security AObamaNation checking your asshole to see what you have up there It could be a bomb that the FBI put up there then arrested you in Time Square then shouted to the AObama Nation, that we just stopped another terrorist & Yes, you can tell us what a fine job were doing, protecting the Obama Nation from any harm, he could have killed so many people with the fireworks & black powder that the FBI gave him. Then the whole ObamaNation voted on TV that the NSA could secretly download your brains because you have nothing to worry about, because you know nothing, about anything at all. Not even your wifes second baby who was not your own, or how many times you watch with Yahoo internet, pornographic pictures on your computer at work. That sometimes you worry that the government would release this info to your totalitarian boss & he would fire you & driving home through a red light, it was orange you tell the policeman, No, it was red & I see you havent had a ticket since 1984 & what would you do tell your wife whos third child was not yours either. But they would never do this because you watch Fox News or CNN who tells you about this guy who never finished 3rd grade & got a job at the NSA, then as an American traitor he released this information that your government knows you pick your nose & that they know when youre in church that you tightwad up a dollar so it looks like you put more money in the basket. But you & your wife are God fearing American citizens who also cheat on taxes about the money you give to the church when its tax paying time. But you are Not a terrorist because you are an upstanding American citizen protected by the Constitution that in school you flunked on it that they keep changing. All you know about it is what the NRA tells you who to vote for because of the second amendment & how they want to take away your rights or something. In the morning when you wake & have breakfast with your kids who dont look like you, you find out they still have Not caught that Commie bastard who leaked out your credit card information, so the government now knows how much you are in debt. He also leaked out your wifes phone conversations, chatting with other men & leaked out your emails, about having affairs with cheating wives. But then you drive home that night, shaken running through a red light eat dinner with your strange looking children then turn on the TV & they still have Not caught this guy who leaked out all this spying information on American citizens by the National Security AObamaNation.
something by Dennis Serdel for Military Resistance
CLASS WAR REPORTS
The Anti-Maidan Movement In The East Is Taking A Stand Against All Those In Power People Have Lost All Faith In The Authorities, In The Social Order, In All Available Public Institutions Eastern Ukraine Is Becoming An Open Conflict Between The Protesters And The Local Elite The Motives For The Protests In Southeast Ukraine Are Identical To Those Of The Protests In Kyiv (And, To A Large Extent, Of Those In Moscow In 2011-2012)
May 27, 2014 n+1 [Excerpts]
The Russian website OpenLeft.ru has been a source of sober and vital analysis of the Ukrainian crisis from the very start.
Below we present translations from texts that recently appeared on OpenLeft, providing a range of views from the left on the situation in Ukraine: an interview with Ukrainian sociologist and Left Opposition activist Nina Potarskaya, and responses from activists and analysts in Moscow and Kyiv.
Open Left: Could unpopular actions on the part of the government, as they are informed by their obligations to the IMF, help create a unified protest movement?
Left Opposition activist Nina Potarskaya:
Yes, in that sense the government has been helpful. (Prime Minister Arseny) Yatsenyuk says that theyre going to take unpopular measures.
These will, as usual, affect ordinary people and not big business.
Theyre going to raise prices, including utilities, and meanwhile theres a big problem with salariesinflation is rising, but salaries are not.
This meets the main demands of the IMF, but not the demands of those who came to Maidan. So that situation getting worse could serve to unite a new opposition.
Still, theres some hope that inflation and worsening conditions for workers will push the workers of large manufacturing concerns to come out and become an organizational force that can resist the growth of the chauvinistic and xenophobic ones.
The workers of Krivhi Roh, who came out into the streets for the first time in twenty years, and the workers of the Kharkiv Ball-Bearing Plant have moved in this direction these may well be the first canaries of a new wave of protests and general strikes, of the sort that never took place despite the calls for it throughout the winter from the so-called leaders of Maidan.
At this moment, the primary objective of activists from the Russian and Ukrainian left should be to refrain from taking sides in this war.
It seems that the real social upheaval is yet to come to Ukraine, but its tide will be large- scale, because the system that governs the country is in deep crisis.
Eastern Ukraine Is Becoming An Open Conflict Between The Protesters And The Local Elite.
Alexei Sakhnin, journalist, left activist, migr:
Essentially, the motives for the protests in southeast Ukraine are identical to those of the protests in Kyiv (and, to a large extent, of those in Moscow in 2011-2012).
The post-Soviet governmental system is in a state of deep crisis; people have lost all faith in the authorities, in the social order, in all available public institutions.
The social composition of the southeastern uprising also resembles that of Kyiv.
We are witnessing a large movement that includes all social sectors: from marginal social rejects to businessmen, from intellectuals to retirees (although in the East the lower-class element is more prevalent, since the more privileged social groups that congregate in Kyiv are thinner on the ground here).
But the main difference between the participants of Maidan and the southeasterern anti-Maidan lies in the structure and organization of their protests.
Maidan, despite its democratic rhetoric, was much more authoritarian. A coalition of three parties had control over the protests mise-en-scene. All attempts to bring in new banners led to severe reprisals.
The situation in the East is currently much freer and more chaotic, because no one group is in charge.
Its a real collage with all sorts of ideas on one canvas: Russian nationalists stand with the radical left, moderate supporters of federalization with criminal gangs lacking any ideological purpose.
But whereas Maidan received enormous support and help from the press and even parts of the government (i.e. the parliamentary opposition n+1), the anti- Maidan movement in the East is taking a stand against all those in power, globally.
At the pinnacle of Maidan, each citizen of Kyiv received an invitation in the mail, and the TV channels incessantly called for action and mobilization in unison but no information penetrates the vacuum in which Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Odessa currently reside.
And if Kyivs city administration as well as some western governors openly took the side of the protesters at Maidan, eastern Ukraine is becoming an open conflict between the protesters and the local elite.
As for Russian influence, its not as simple as most observers seem to think. In Kharkiv the pro-Russian organizations dont have a unified headquarters. That doesnt seem to indicate intense external influence.
Nor are the miners strikes in Kramatorsk and other cities in Donbass the work of the Russian secret servicestrust me.
Nearly all the proof of the Russian hand promised by the government in Kyiv turned out to be false. Among the hundreds of people arrested, not one has turned out to have a Russian passportnot to mention ID cards from the GRU (the Russian foreign intelligence service. Theyre all locals.
On the other hand, there are quasi-criminal paramilitary groups, various Cossacks, and former Berkut forces operating in Donbass, real battles are being fought, and there are likely emissaries there from Moscow.
Overall, the Muscovites dont seem to be playing a vital role there. It appears the Kremlin planted them there to help it pick a side to play for, while keeping the fighting groups from going too far.
In conclusion, I would suggest that its precisely the less organized, less prepared, and less orchestrated nature of the movement in the Southeast that enables it to be more independent from the establishment.
It is therefore the Southeast that has more liberatory potential, that it is more likely than Maidan to make demands uninfluenced and un-manipulated by the elites (and foreign powers).
At the same time, the logic of national, linguistic, and cultural resistance is pushing the movement in the direction of nationalist-patriotic mobilization.
This is exactly the political formula thats been promoted by the Eastern elites for the past twenty years. The task of the left is to resist this logic at all costs.
There is a certain kind of symmetry and familiarity to what the events of the southeastern protests in Ukraine have so far offered in response to Maidan.
Like Maidan, it is a mass movement oriented toward replacing those in power while strategically occupying governmental buildings. In other words, as with Maidan, the underlying objective of this movement is one of political revolution.
And yet, after weeks and weeks of political crisis featuring elements of civil war, its still unclear which party is, in fact, issuing this symmetrical response.
Mass grass-roots participation was decisive to the movement in Kyiv, even though those events also provided a platform for the converging interests of the oligarchy.
Looking at the movement in the Southeast, it becomes clear that the interests of the people working from below have been subordinated from the start.
Yes, thousands of people demanding a referendum and appealing for federalization have come out on the streets, and continue to do so. And yes, the majority of the population in these regions supports those demands and shares the enthusiasm of the protesters. Whats more, it is precisely this strong support that has led to the failure Kyivs so-called antiterrorist operation.
At the same time, its impossible to overlook the fact that the movements future would be extremely hazy and unstable were it not for specially trained and armed military groups that have demonstrated co-ordination and expertise in capturing and occupying administrative buildings and police departments in a number of cities in the Donetsk region.
The key to this movement is therefore the militarized advance-guard, while the political leadership in Donetsk and the surrounding republics remains undefined, weak, and unstructured, if not simply nonexistent.
The movement lacks a political strategy (as evidenced by the fluctuating nature of its demands first federalization and a referendum, then independence and annexation to the Russian Federation and then back again).
What is has instead is a military strategy. The paramilitaries have remained one step ahead of Kyivs armed forces; they possess good knowledge of the area and carefully follow their commanders orders.
The political weakness of the movement is a direct result of the regions lack of knowledge of the culture of protest. The opposition movement here has little experience in self-organization and lacks strong opposition groups that would know how to act outside the realm of parliamentary politics. (This again distinguishes it from Maidan.)
A glance at the movements eclectic, not to say random, leaders is telling: third-rate provincial political consultants, activists with a background in marginalized and isolated pro-Russian nationalist groups, ex-employees of various con artists, and petty criminals.
Not one journalist or parliamentarian, and, what is more telling still, not a single working class leader.
This is why the current movement is so much more vulnerable and susceptible to manipulation than was Maidan.
You dont need to be a conspiracy theorist to see that someone is behind all this, someone with a strong hand that keeps shaking things up in the Southeast. The movement is aided not only by the armed so-called insurgents, but also by a police force that does nothing to prevent their occupation of government buildings.
The paralysis of the authorities in Donetsk and Lugansk may not signify fear of the uprising, but, instead, a split in the higher sectors of the Ukrainian elite.
Such a split certainly has precedents as far back as the Orange Revolution of 2004, not to mention the mayors in the West of the country who openly took the side of Maidan during the winter.
But whats distinctive here is precisely the fact that in each of these precedents a political subject was visible on whose behalf these elites claimed to speak.
The case of the current situation in southeast Ukraine leaves us clueless about who is giving support as well as orders. The Kremlin, you might say but that is not necessarily obvious, nor, for that matter, true.
The worst-case scenario right now is that the Eastern oligarchs, led by or in collusion with Akhmetov or the Yanukovych family, or both, will succeed in fomenting civil conflict to the point where the Kremlin feels like it must send in troops.
And this is something that the Kremlin clearly does not want to do.
DANGER: CAPITALISTS AT WORK
OCCUPATION PALESTINE
In The Late Hours Of Monday Evening, Israeli Forces Executed 30-Year-Old, Father Of Two, Alaa Mohammed Awadh A Relative Of The Victim Said That Alaa Arrived At The Checkpoint To Collect Material For His Shop Alaa Was Standing Next To The Taxi, Unarmed, When Israeli Soldiers Opened Fire The Israeli Military Prohibited Red Crescent Paramedics From Reaching Alaa
J une 4, 2014 International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team
Huwwara, Occupied Palestine
In the late hours of Monday evening, Israeli forces executed 30-year-old, father of two, Alaa Mohammed Awadh, at Zatara checkpoint, in southern Nablus.
The Israeli army claimed that a Palestinian gunman was shot dead after he injured an Israeli police officer in the leg.
The villagers of Huwwara stated their amazement at the version released by the border police; Alaa was the owner of a phone shop in Huwarra and not politically affiliated.
The taxi driver stated that Alaa was standing next to the taxi, unarmed, when Israeli soldiers opened fire. A relative of the victim said that Alaa arrived at the checkpoint to collect material for his shop.
The funeral march from Nablus to Huwwara (photo by ISM).
According to multiple sources, the Israeli military prohibited Red Crescent paramedics from reaching Alaa.
The Israeli army seized his body for security reasons, loaded him on into a military vehicle for investigation.
Yesterday, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) sent a call for a neutral and impartial investigation into the death of Alaa.
At dawn, Israeli soldiers stormed the village of Huwwara, ransacking the victims home, those of his relatives, and his shop, interrogating his parents, his brother and the taxi driver.
After the arrival of the military, youth of Huwwara village tried to drive out Israeli forces by throwing stones while Israeli soldiers fired their weapons. One youth was arrested, though his identity is currently unknown. The shops around the village have closed their doors in protest.
At approximately 19:30 yesterday evening, the body was finally handed back to the family, after a short time, the Alaas body was transferred to Rafidiah hospital in Nablus.
According to one of the doctors who conducted the autopsy, the majority of Alaas wounds were to his chest, abdomen, and both thighs.
Alaas body held approximately 14 bullet wounds, including a serious wound to the heart and both lungs.
His left arm had multiple fractures and a 107 cm wound in his left leg. Two fingers were missing on his right hand, and two toes missing from his right foot. Therer was also a large wound on the back of his neck.
Villagers Force Zionist Occupation Troops to Get Out Of Palestinian Home
06/07/2014 Submitted by Ali Abunimah, Ali Abunimah's blog via ElectronicIntifada.net
This video shows villagers in Silwad, east of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, expelling a group of Israeli soldiers from a home they occupied.
In the video, a group of community members women and men knock on the door. A distressed woman answers and says the soldiers had come into the house and confiscated the familys telephones and keys.
The villagers then search the house and find the heavily armed occupation soldiers in a bedroom. They confront the soldiers, who try to give orders to the villagers, but instead the villagers order the soldiers out of the house. At one point, when a women pushes a soldier to get him out of the house, the soldier turns around and appears to threaten her with his weapon.
Wattan TV reports that the video was shot by journalist Muath Mishal, who gave this account of the incident: relatives of the elderly couple living in the house had attempted to reach the family by telephone.
When they were unable to do so, they became worried and suspicious that soldiers had entered the house. That is when they went over and liberated the house from Israeli occupation, as the video shows. According to Mishal, the soldiers had entered the house on Thursday night.
The video has been widely circulated on social media and Palestinian websites, including Quds News Network and Donia Alwatan.
To check out what life is like under a murderous military occupation commanded by foreign terrorists, go to: http://www.maannews.net/eng/Default.aspx and http://www.palestinemonitor.org/list.php?id=ej898ra7yff0ukmf16 The occupied nation is Palestine. The foreign terrorists call themselves Israeli.
DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK
Stupid Shitheads At Work: First Grader Suspended And Facing Expulsion After Finding Toy Gun In Backpack And Turning Himself In
J une 6, 2014 By Charlene Sakoda, Odd News
A Pennsylvania 7-year-old was suspended and faces possible expulsion after accidentally bringing a toy gun to school, despite turning himself in.
New Kensington first grader Darin Simak realized on Wednesday that he had something in his backpack that was not allowed at Martin Elementary School. It was a toy gun that was in the outside pocket of the bag.
Darin was unaware of the toy because, as his mom, Jennifer Mathabel, told WTAE Action News 4, she packed her sons bag which was a backup because he left his normal school bag in a friends car the night before, and she missed the toy gun.
Darin said, I just found it.
The child knew the right thing to do, and took the toy to his teacher telling her, Im not supposed to have this.
As reported by the Valley News Dispatch, the teacher followed the schools protocol and notified the principal, who then suspended Darin pending an informal hearing. The hearing has since been scheduled for Friday at 11 a.m. with the superintendent.
Mathabel says the administration had her pick her son up early on Wednesday and told her not to bring him back to school the next day.
However, she disagreed and sent Darin back to Martin Elementary on Thursday. I got a phone call from the principal at about 9 a.m., and she said, Darin is not to be in school, said Mathabel.
I said, Well, I'm sending him to school because he is entitled to be in school and be educated.
That day, the boy was placed in the office and given in-school suspension.
Darins father, Chris Simak, disagrees with the suspension and told the paper, What was he supposed to do?...Just hide it and keep it in his bag so he doesn't get in trouble?
John Pallone, New Kensington-Arnold School District superintendent, would not comment on the incident citing student privacy. [Lying bullshit. Any parent may give consent to waive student privacy anytime, for any reason, and the bureaucrats may not defy that consent. T]
The Valley News Dispatch examined the schools policies and found that students are prohibited from bringing weapons and replicas of weapons onto school property. It states that if a student is found in violation, the school district shall expel for a period of not less than one (1) year any student who violates this weapons policy. Such expulsion shall be given in conformance with formal due process proceedings required by law. The Superintendent may recommend modifications of such expulsion requirement on a case- by-case basis.
The self-reporting aspect, as in Darins case, is something that is not specifically addressed in the schools policies.
Mr. Simak told the Valley News Dispatch that his son was suspended twice before this incident but is not violent. One suspension was for pushing his friend during an argument, and another was for teasing on the school bus.
In this case, the father feels a suspension is the wrong response to a child who was simply telling the truth, saying, He did the right thing, and we're trying to teach him the right wayand now they're teaching him the wrong way.
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New Charter School Lottery System Gives Each Applicant White Pill, Enrolls Whoever Left Standing; Charters Provide Amazing Opportunities For Students Who Dont Enter A Convulsive State, Fall Into A Coma, Stop Breathing, And Cease All Bodily Functions During The Admissions Process
J un 9, 2014 The Onion
NEW YORK Introducing key changes to the lottery system that governs the admissions process, the New York City Charter School Center notified potential students this week that openings will now be filled by randomly distributing white pills to applicants and enrolling those left standing.
In place of the existing electronic lottery system conducted in the spring, education officials explained that applicants would receive identical white pills, among them a small number of innocuous placebos corresponding to the amount of open spots, and then wait approximately 30 minutes to determine the survivors and new charter school enrollees.
With so many deserving students competing for so few spots in the citys network of high-performing, tuition-free charter schools, our new lottery system ensures that each student is provided with an equal opportunity, said Eva Moskowitz, the head of the Success Academy chain of 22 charter schools, while mixing up a tub of 118 sugar pills and 2,376 pentobarbital capsules to be blindly administered in an upcoming lottery.
Between small class sizes, longer school days, individualized instruction, and superior college admission rates, charters provide amazing opportunities for students who dont enter a convulsive state, fall into a coma, stop breathing, and cease all bodily functions during the admissions process.
Of course its heartbreaking for the families of children who arent accepted, Moskowitz continued, But seeing the look on parents faces when their child is still standing in a room littered with rejected applicants is priceless. They know their child is going to get the best possible education.
Administrators told reporters that the new quick and relatively painless lottery system is a welcome alternative to the notoriously long and emotional computerized drawings of past years, where all applicants received a random number and were subjected to waiting for many hours before learning whether they would attend a charter school or return to an inferior public school.
Officials confirmed that the innovative selection process has already proved a success, though not without its minor setbacks, in areas of the country where it has already been implemented.
This year were making the pills a little stronger because not all the candidates were weeded out right away, said Tim Bernard of Thrive Academy in Washington, D.C., a public charter that had 200 elementary school students apply for eight open spots last year.
Some kids would seem fine, wed extend them an official offer of admission, and then a few days later theyd start hallucinating or slurring their speech. Meanwhile parents are scared sick were going to rescind their kids offers because too many applicants survived.
Luckily, we worked out all the kinks for this year, Bernard added. The body removal crews are already assembled outside the auditoriums and ready to go.
Though charter school officials maintained that the new admissions process is designed fairly, critics claimed many affluent parents have already found ways to exploit the system. For example, after a lottery in Los Angeles ended with a high number of living students, officials discovered that parents had been building up their childrens immunity to the pills by giving them small doses of poison each day, or had hired tutors to help them train their bodies to overcome the effects of the pills.
Despite these flaws, many parents said they have no doubts about trying to get their child into a charter.
I went through charter school admissions with my oldest son last year, but after he died I wondered whether it was even worth it to try again with my other kids, Hoboken, NJ mother J ane Schaal told reporters.
But then my younger daughter got into Achievement First and I knew we made the right decision. There was no way she was going to succeed in public school.
Next year well try to get my youngest son into a good elementary school, Schaal added. Hes not in kindergarten yet, but even if hes not accepted to a top-notch charter, its a relief knowing that his future will be set.
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