The Prime Minister of Ukraine has accused Russia of trying to start World War III.
"The world has not yet forgotten world war two, but Russia already wants to start world war three," Yatseniuk told his interim cabinet in remarks broadcast live. "Attempts at military conflict in Ukraine will lead to a military conflict in Europe."
"It is clear that Russia's goal is to wreck the election in Ukraine, remove the pro-western and pro-Ukrainian government and occupy Ukraine politically as well as military," Yatseniuk added.
"Russia's support for terrorists and bandits who torture peaceful citizens is an international crime. It is a crime against humanity," added the prime minister.
It is obvious from these quotes that the Ukrainian government is not interested in making the peace process work. All the preliminary elements of starting a war are present -- delegitimizing and dehumanizing the other side, making unfounded allegations that cannot be proven or disproven, and calling the other people terrorists. That was the same sort of thing that Bush did prior to the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Ukraine can show that they are serious about making the peace process work by toning down the rhetoric.
If Ukraine's president believes in the fairy tale that he can bait Russia into invading because the West will come running to his aid, he has another think coming. Ukraine barely has an army worth speaking of; Obama has consistently stated that where there is no clear US interest involved, the US is not going to shoulder the burden alone. He would be making the same mistake that Georgia made in 2008 and Hungary made in 1956. The US may have expressed moral support this time around, like they did in 2008; however, it does not follow that the US will come running to the aid of Ukraine should they succeed in baiting Russia into invading. Even Bush was not going to bail out Georgia.
The creation of a "volunteer" force of 12,000 soldiers to fight the separatists in the East is a sign of weakness, not of strength.
It will reportedly include not only Yarosh’s “Donbass” squadron, but also a “Dnepr” fighting battalion under the control of business oligarch Igor Kolomoysky.
Ukraine used to have one of the top military forces in the region, one that even Putin was reluctant to go against.
In 2003, Moscow-commanded forces made a lunge for an island in Kerch Strait, which separates Crimea from Russia, but were quickly rebuffed by Ukraine. Mobilization in Crimea was swift, with navy and border guards placed on full alert.
But that is not the case anymore. The one strength that Ukraine has going for them is the fact that their people are a lot more willing to die for their homes and freedom than Russia is in occupying Ukraine should Russia make the catastrophic mistake of taking the bait and invading.
While Dmytro Yarosh may only get 1% of the vote in the upcoming elections, he is exerting a disproportionate amount of influence in the current government.
Yarosh explained that the armed wing of his organization had not been disbanded, but legalized. “Our battalions are part of the new territorial defense. We have close contact with the intelligence services, and the general staff. We actually have good relations with everyone, apart from the police,” he told Spiegel Online.
In the interview, he made clear that Right Sector does not accept the authority of the current government, nor would it accept a future elected government. “Our revolution will only be completed when we have totally renewed the state,” he stated.
Think of Cliven Bundy actually in a position of power to influence world events.
Asked by Spiegel Online about his motives, Yarosh answered, “I am a Ukrainian nationalist. My goal is a strong state.” He described liberalism as “a form of totalitarianism.” On the EU, he criticized its alleged “anti-Christian orientation.”
“We oppose the destruction of the traditional family, and are against same-sex marriage.”
In his militarist work “Nation and Revolution,” Yarosh expressed himself even more explicitly, as Spiegel Online pointed out. In it, he openly opposes parliamentary democracy and advocated an ethnically-based nationalism. He intends to spread “the nationalist ideology throughout the entire territory of our state,” “de-russify” eastern Ukraine, and ensure that the native people have the leading role in the state.
In a clear sign that the events to overthrow the Yanukovych government were planned ahead of time, 80+ Right Sector activists were brought to Poland two months before the Euromaidan protests that would overthrow Yanukovych by the Polish government in what was billed as a "student exchange."
Meanwhile, there are reports indicating that western cooperation with Right Sector goes back some time. According to a report in the Polish weekly Nie (“No”), published by 80-year-old journalist Jerzy Urban, the Polish Foreign Minister Radoslav Sikorski invited 86 members of Right Sector to an intensive, four-week training course at the Police Training Center Legion near Warsaw last September.
The fascists were trained in crowd management, person recognition, combat tactics, command skills, behavior in crisis situations, protection against gases used by police, erecting barricades, and especially shooting, including the handling of sniper rifles. The training was officially described as “student exchange.”
The Polish Foreign Minister is a Neocon, who worked at the American Enterprise Institute.
The Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski has close links to ruling circles of the USA. He is married to the right-wing American author Anne Applebaum and was director of the Atlantic Initiative at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, starting in 2002.
One of Russia's most common charges against Ukraine is that they are controlled by fascists. While that is frequently an epithet, in this case, there is a lot of truth to that. Yarosh's actions fit the
description of fascism perfectly. All three elements are present in his ideology -- veneration of the state, devotion to a strong leader, and militarism. Given Yatseniuk's rhetoric, it is clear that this government is succumbing to the forces of militarism when they don't even have an army to defend themselves worth speaking of. That is a sure recipe for disaster and a failed state even if Russia doesn't invade.
And as Spiegel notes, he is also an anti-Semite.
For years, Yarosh has been fighting for the "De-Russification" of Ukraine and has produced manifestos calling for the "spread of the nationalist ideology across the entire territory of our state." Today, Yarosh denies that antisemitism is part of that ideology. But in a book, he has written: "I wonder how it came to pass that most of the billionaires in Ukraine are Jews?"
He believes that "anti-Christian" powers are afoot in the European Union and that Brussels forces people into lifestyles such as gay marriage. It is, he says, "a variety of totalitarianism." He doesn't see Europe or NATO as a potential partner and believes the US is also part of an "anti-Ukrainian front." Yarosh studied linguistics, and he is almost eloquent as he explains that a Kalashnikov can be a Ukrainian's only reliable ally.
The Right Sector is in favor of legalizing gun ownership in order to develop a "country of free, armed men." That, he adds, "is the only way we can defend ourselves from state capriciousness and against Russia." Yarosh's words are a threat, and not just against Moscow. More than anything, his target is the Kiev establishment. He closes with the statement: "Our revolution is not yet complete."
From this, it is clear what two of Russia's main objectives in Ukraine are -- stop Ukraine from joining NATO and keep Yarosh from ever ascending to a position of power in the country. And given Yarosh's beliefs in "De-Russification," Russia fears that Ukraine's latest actions could result in an ethnic cleansing campaign that would result in a bloodbath.