Crisis Oekra�ne - Rusland #181 Nog geen vrede

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President Obama is still considering arming Ukraine in case the latest ceasefire is breached and the conflict escalates; but political analyst Stephen Lendman told Sputnik in an exclusive interview that the US leader is lying, and that the US has been supplying arms to Kiev from the very start of the military operation.

The ceasefire between Kiev forces and independence supporters of Donetsk and Luhansk is generally holding, shelling in Donbas has stopped as the truce came in force on midnight, a spokesperson at the Kiev special operations headquarters said Sunday.
But a day earlier Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and US President Barack Obama, during a meeting by phone, agreed on the further coordination of efforts in the case that the ceasefire fails and the Ukrainian conflict escalates.
Stephen Lendman, a Research Associate for the Centre for Research on Globalization explained to Sputnik, in an exclusive interview on the recent developments in Ukraine, that Washington has been lying the whole time – it has been supplying weapons to Kiev from the very start of the military operation.
“Washington supplied heavy weapons since the conflict began last April and maybe before it began in preparation for what was planned. I wrote about it several times including in a new article this (Saturday) morning,” he told Sputnik.
“So, key is understanding that Washington armed Kiev the whole time. Obama claiming it's under consideration is one of his many 'Big Lies'," he said.
NATO and Ukrainian aircraft have shipped in arms and munitions on a regular basis. Washington is the main culprit, he added.
'Arms Supplied by US Are for Offense, Not Defense'
Another lie, the analyst says, is about the arms being “defensive."

Heavy weapons are supplied for offense, not defense, of course,” he says. “Fighting continued after the Minsk agreement was concluded. Kiev forces kept shelling civilian areas.”
“US media, of course, blame Russia and rebels. Reports and opinions in our press are scandalous. The most outrageous I recall in my lifetime. Absolutely devoid of truth. Riddled with beginning-to-end Big Lies,” Lendman said.
“I expect a short-term mostly (but not entirely) quieter period beginning Sunday or Monday followed days or weeks later by Kiev initiated escalated conflict — with full US support and encouragement,” he predicts.

“Hardline Kiev elements like the Right Sector's Dmitry Yarosh and likeminded extremists reject Minsk terms. They vow to keep fighting. Expect Russia and rebels to be blamed for their aggression. Expect vicious Putin bashing to continue. It's evident in US weekend reports I've seen so far,” he added.
The political analyst predicts that Washington will continue supplying Kiev with heavy weapons. Hundreds of US combat troops are coming to Ukraine on the pretext of training Ukraine's military, while hundreds of US special forces are already there.
'The Big Question is Whether Obama Will Authorize Direct US Involvement in Ukraine's Conflict'
The big question is whether Obama will authorize direct US involvement in Ukraine's conflict. He's already done it in Iraq with US boots on the ground and more on the way despite vowing months earlier never to do it.
“I believe if rebels keep decisively defeating Kiev forces, which I expect, Obama will deploy US forces to Donbas — getting America directly involved in another war as opposed to the proxy one he's now waging,” said Lendman.

An escalation will bring the war to Russia's borders, and the risk is it may spill over. With US combat forces in Ukraine and Obama determined to crush pro-independence fighters, the danger of East-West confrontation is huge.
'Donbas is Obama's War. He Didn't Launch it to Quit'
“We could find ourselves in WW III whether or not anyone wants it. Global wars begin like what's now ongoing. With neocon lunatics making policy in Washington, anything ahead is possible,” he added.
“I strongly believe chances for a durable, sustainable peace in Donbas are virtually nil despite, Putin's best efforts to resolve things diplomatically.”
President Putin, Sergei Lavrov, and other Russian officials have gone all-out for peace throughout months of conflict.
"Obama wants war, not peace. Donbas is his war. He didn't launch it to quit. CIA, FBI and US special forces infest Kiev. They're involved in planning, implementing and directing the fighting," said the analyst.

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MPs in Kiev hoodwinked a US senator, presenting his office with photos of columns of Russian military hardware allegedly roaming Ukrainian territory. The photos turned out to have been taken during the conflict in South Ossetia back in 2008.

The photos were “presented to the Armed Services Committee from a delegation from Ukraine in December,” told The Washington Free Beacon Senator Jim Inhofe’s communications director Donelle Harder.

The Americans planned to publish the photos with credits to the Ukrainian MPs, and “they were fine with that,” the spokesperson said.

Yet, after thorough checking, images of the Russian convoys turned to be taken years ago, in 2008 during Georgia - South Ossetia war.

We are currently making calls to our sources,” Harder said.

“The Ukrainian parliament members who gave us these photos in print form as if it came directly from a camera really did themselves a disservice,” Senator Inhofe said in a statement.

“I was furious to learn one of the photos provided now appears to be falsified from an AP photo taken in 2008,” the lawmaker wrote.

At the same time the revealed forgery “doesn’t change the fact that there is plenty of evidence Russia has made advances into the country with T-72 tanks and that pro-Russian separatists have been killing Ukrainians in cold blood,” the US senator maintains.

The list of members of the Ukrainian delegation that attempted to fool Senator Jim Inhofe does not include high-ranking Ukrainian officials, with probably the sole exception of the commander of the Donbass volunteer battalion Semyon Semenchenko, who visited Washington demanding arms and training for his servicemen.

The Washington Free Beacon said it “regrets the error,” and claims it has obtained new “exclusive” photos of “Russian military forces have been more involved in the arming and training” of the eastern Ukraine self-defense militia. The new photos, allegedly “taken between August 24 and September 5 in the midst of a Russian-backed incursion into Eastern Ukraine … clearly display Russian troops entering Ukraine with advanced military hardware and weapons.”

Senator Inhofe expressed the hope that the new, particularly graphic images, could “act as a wake-up call to the Obama administration and American people” and push the US Congress to back up Senator Inhofe’s bill to supply the Ukrainians with American lethal aid.

Having compared Russians with Islamic State (also known as ISIS, or ISIL), Senator Inhofe said that Ukrainian troops “don’t have anything to defend themselves against these [Russian] tanks,” and called on Congress to give “them the equipment and the weaponry they need.”

“The Obama admin is so slow to recognize” and identify the problems “taking place around the world,” Inhofe said. “They just don’t want people to believe these things are happening,” he acknowledged, adding: “There’s no better way to do that and draw attention to it than letting people see these pictures.”

Writer and journalist John Wight has told RT that the West has to ramp up the demonization of Russia to influence public opinion.

"There is a policy agenda with regard to Russia, with regard to NATO expansion, with regard to the expansion of the EU, with regard to isolating Russia – and everything is tailored to fit that policy agenda, including the truth. So anything that can be done to enlist support, the key determining factor of course is public opinion both in the UK and the US in particular, which has just had a decade of war. The public is war weary. So they have to ramp up the demonization of Russia. They have to fabricate Russia’s intentions and Russia’s actions in order to enlist that support of public opinion when it comes to possibly intensifying the conflict, which I fear we are in danger of seeing happen."