Military Resistance 12B1
Army “Is Unlikely To Be An Option” For Ukrainian Dictatorship:
“If The Authorities Want To Draw Military Men Into The Political Conflict, I’m Convinced That Soldiers Will Be On The People’s Side”
“The Defense Minister Is Loyal, But The Troops May Not Be”
Protestors Organize Defense Guards “To Defend One Another Against Gangs Of Marauding Thugs”
Antigovernment protesters marched through Kiev on Friday. President Yanukovych seems to be settling into a waiting game with protesters. Reuters
Hundreds of thousands gathered in the historic Independence Square in Kiev. (Photo: Getty/AFP
Comment: T
Ignore the apologists for Russian imperialism who try to portray the uprising in the Ukraine as some sort of U.S.-fascist conspiracy.
Those apologists writing in favor of the Yanukovych dictatorship who haven’t sold themselves outright to the Putin regime don’t have a clue that mass movements against a dictatorship are filled with all kinds of political and civic organizations, right and left, as well as millions of people who are not with any organization, but hate the tyranny, oppression, and exploitation which this Ukrainian government practices.
There are certainly extreme reactionaries protesting the government, but they don’t control a genuinely popular mass uprising against a dictatorship that tried to crush all criticisms of its corruption and ruling class greed by passing a law criminalizing opposition, including revolutionary socialists, anarchists and workers’ unions.
This is a mass movement from below that, hopefully, will destroy the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian capitalists that own and operate that government.
IF so, the question then becomes whose class will organize and take the power after mass revolution brings down a hated regime; the same question that follows every successful revolution from below.
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As their encampments have gained an air of permanence, demonstrators have formed their own parallel security forces to guard territory controlled by them.
On Friday, boxer-turned opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko called on protesters to form citizen patrols in Kiev to defend one another against gangs of marauding thugs, known as titushki, who are allegedly hired by police to attack dissenters.
Jan 31, 2014 by Leon Mangasarian, Kateryna Choursina and Daryna Krasnolutska, Bloomberg L.P. [Excerpts]
As Ukraine looks to solve its escalating crisis, the nation’s military has so far been out of the equation.
Two decades of budget cuts have left the army a shadow of its post-Soviet-breakup self. Even with loyalists across the top of the command structure, the poorly trained and ill-equipped military is unlikely to be an option for President Viktor Yanukovych.
“Morale is low,” Susan Stewart, the deputy head of the Eastern Europe and Eurasia Research Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin, said in an interview.
Current financing is 40 percent of the required, according to Serhiy Kaplin, a lawmaker for ex-boxing world champion Vitali Klitschko’s UDAR party.
“The army can’t participate in the political process,” Kaplin said on UDAR’s website today. “It has to be outside politics. If the authorities want to draw military men into the political conflict, I’m convinced that soldiers will be on the people’s side.”
Throughout the protests, Yanukovych has relied on Interior Ministry forces, police and the troops of the elite unit Berkut, the beneficiaries of budget allocations under the president.
Soldiers earn 2,500 hryvnia ($295) a month and officers get 3,000 hryvnia, Lupakov said.
Personnel in Berkut, or Golden Eagle, earn about 4,300 hryvnia a month, about 50 percent more than regular police.
As the crisis escalated, Yanukovych started working on shoring up army loyalty, pledging to double soldiers’ pay.
Soldiers were ordered to show their allegiance at special gatherings, according to Anatoliy Hrytsenko, defense minister in 2005-2007.
“The defense minister is loyal, but the troops may not be,” Stefan Meister, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin, said in a phone interview.
If deploying soldiers is taboo, Yanukovych’s means are limited as Berkut numbers about 4,000 in the nation of 45 million.
“The opposition’s tactic is to spread the protests nationwide because Yanukovych doesn’t have enough Berkut forces,” Meister said.
With the government unable to count on the army, a possible avenue would be expanding Berkut.
As their encampments have gained an air of permanence, demonstrators have formed their own parallel security forces to guard territory controlled by them.
On Friday, boxer-turned opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko called on protesters to form citizen patrols in Kiev to defend one another against gangs of marauding thugs, known as titushki, who are allegedly hired by police to attack dissenters.
So far there have been several statements from top military command. In particular, Admiral Igor Teniukh called on the Ukrainian military to join the protesters.
MORE:
“Admiral Igor Teniukh Called On The Ukrainian Military To Join The Protesters”
24 Jan 2014 Olesia Oleshko, Al Jazeera
So far there have been several statements from top military command. In particular, So far there have been several statements from top military command. In particular, Admiral Igor Teniukh called on the Ukrainian military to join the protesters.
MORE:
“The Ukrainian Parliament, Passed A Series Of Laws Directed At Limiting Freedom Of Speech And Citizens’ Right To Peaceful Protest”
“One Of The Approved Items Is The Infamous Amendment To The Criminal Code Which Bans So-Called ‘Extremism’”
“In This Amendment ‘Inciting Social Discord’ Is Defined As ‘Extremism’”
“Therefore The Activities Of Left, Trade Union And Social Activists In Ukraine Can Be Criminalized To A Large Extent”
01/18/2014 Autonomous Workers Union – Kyiv, Нігіліст
To the members of GUE/NGL faction in the European Parliament,
Dear comrades:
We, the members of leftist, trade union and human rights organizations in Ukraine, as well as individual activists, would like to draw your attention to the recent events in our country.
On Thursday, 16th of January 2014 without the discussion and contrary to its own regulations and to the Constitution of Ukraine, the Ukrainian parliament, passed a series of laws directed at limiting freedom of speech and citizens’ right to peaceful protest.
One of the approved items is the infamous amendment to the Criminal Code which bans so-called “extremism”.
In this amendment “inciting social discord” is defined as “extremism”.
It is clear that any kind of drawing attention to social problems, to the blatant inequality that exists in Ukrainian society, can be qualified as “inciting social discord”, therefore the activities of left, trade union and social activists in Ukraine can be criminalized to a large extent.
The Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU) plays a particularly shameful part in these events. Not only did the Communist Party’s faction unanimously voted for the repressive bills, but the CPU official website also features materials that condemn the recent protests as being inspired by foreign actors with the aim of destabilizing Ukraine. Spreading such opinion, the CPU in fact fulfills the task of the whitewashing of Yanukovych’s regime.
It is true that open anti-communists do play a significant role on Maidan, but this anti-communism is caused mostly by the arrogant position of the Communist Party itself.
It is not the first time the CPU has tried to de-legitimize civil protests and adopted a conservative position.
In addition to this, in the country that suffered the catastrophic losses caused by hunger and repressions during the Stalinist regime, the CPU refuses to condemn the actions of the USSR’s leaders or at least apologize for them, which makes socialist ideas less popular in Ukrainian society.
Yanukovych’s regime has demonstrated its readiness for repressions. It is evident today that the CPU will use its international connections in order to justify this regime’s actions.
That is why we believe that the left all around the world and especially in the European Union must terminate any relations with the Communist Party of Ukraine and condemn its actions.
We believe that the party that treats popular uprisings with open hatred, the party that speaks out against “inciting social discord”, is not fit to be called communist or leftist and is “communist” in name only.
We ask you to bring this letter to the attention of the leadership of the parties which are members of your Union.
DO YOU HAVE A FRIEND OR RELATIVE IN THE MILITARY?
Forward Military Resistance along, or send us the email address if you wish and we’ll send it regularly with your best wishes. Whether in Afghanistan or at a base in the USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut off from access to encouraging news of growing resistance to injustices, inside the armed services and at home. Send email requests to address up top or write to: Military Resistance, Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657.
AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS
Danish Soldiers Injured In Afghanistan When Bomb In Another Vehicle Explodes
January 30, 2014 By The Associated Press
COPENHAGEN - Three Danish soldiers have been injured in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province when their car was hit by an improvised explosive device placed in another vehicle.
The Danish army says the soldiers were airlifted by a helicopter to a nearby field hospital after Thursday's blast.
The army did not say how seriously the soldiers were injured, but said they had been able to call relatives.
More than 40 Danish soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the Scandinavian country began contributing soldiers to the NATO force.
POLITICIANS REFUSE TO HALT THE BLOODSHED
THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THE WAR
Resistance Action
January 30. 2014 Pakistan Today
Two police officers were killed on Thursday in a car bombing in eastern Afghanistan.
According to provincial spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a car bomber targeted a police and intelligence compound in Nangarhar province’s Pachir Wagam district, killing two policemen and injuring four others in the blast.
Taliban claimed the responsibility for the attack.
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February 01, 2014 Radio Free Europe
Afghan officials say a roadside bomb has hit a police vehicle in southern Kandahar province, killing four police officers.
Parvez Najib, a high-ranking provincial government official, told RFE/RL's Free Afghanistan the blast occurred late on January 31 in the volatile Spin Boldak district, near the border with Pakistan.
He said one policeman was also injured in the attack.
SOMALIA WAR REPORTS
Somalia Hand-Puppet Government Asks Foreign Occupation Troops To Break Up Conference On Somalia Reorganization
Jan 30, 2014 GAROWE ONLINE
BAIDOA, Somalia
Ethiopian-AMISOM forces Thursday halted a convention aimed at forming an autonomous state for six regions in southern Somalia in Bay regional capital of Baidoa, Garowe Online reports.
Local reports say African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM)'s forces closed the hall where the regional conference was underway, pouring hundreds of protesters into the streets in response to the decision.
The angry crowds were chanting anti Mogadishu-based federal government slogans, with participants at the rally setting tyres on fire.
Federal Government of Somalia's reportedly asked Ethiopian-AMISOM forces to prevent the conference organizers who include politicians, traditional elders and federal parliamentarians from entering the conference hall.
On the other hand, a meeting contrary to the halted convention and led by former parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan has faced similar restrictions at Bakiin Hotel in Baidoa, sources said.
Adan seeks to push Bay, Bakool and Lower Shabelle communities into an autonomous federal state that excludes Jubaland regions from the map.
Federal Parliament Speaker Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari voiced support for the decision of forming a federal state consisting of Bay, Bakool, Gedo, Lower Jubba, Middle Jubba and Lower Shabelle regions during his visit to the region in September 2013.
Jubaland and Somalia Federal Government agreed on 23 points that granted substantial autonomy and recognition to Jubaland administration under the auspices of IGAD in Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on 28th of August 2013.
Somalians Rally Against Government And Foreign Occupation Forces Propping It Up;
“Demonstrators Burning The Flags Of Ethiopia, USA, Israel And Other Troops Contributing Countries”
photo:Radilalfurqan
January 31, 2014 Dhanaan Media
Hundreds of people gathered today in Barawe town-the strong hold of Alshabab of what seems to be the biggest anti-Ethiopian troops protest and other African forces in Somalia. The rally took place after the Friday’s prayer.
Demonstrators expressed their opposition to the deployment of Ethiopian troops in Somalia and other African forces by burning the flags of Ethiopia, USA, Israel and other troops contributing countries.
The protestors carried banners bearing anti- Ethiopian slogans.
‘‘We would not allow our country to be divided in to smaller fiefdom,’’ bears one slogan. ‘‘No occupation,’’ bears another one.
Alshabab Lower Shabele governor, Mohamed Abu Abdalla, Sheikh Jama Abdisalam and Hassan Takar addressed the protestors.
Somalia Government Troops Kill Each Other, As Usual
January 29, 2014 by: Mursal; Harar
Mogadishu –
At least eighteen people including two civilians were killed today while dozens of others were injured in tribal infighting between the two clan based militia within the Somali National Army in the town of Wanlaweyn in the Lower Shabelle region.
According to local residents the infighting began early this morning when soldiers belonging the local Shanta Alemod tribe were attacked by Government soldiers belonging to the Abgal tribe. The fighting then spread throughout the entire town with the use of light and heavy weapons by both sides.
The Somali National Army has admitted that infighting in Wanlaweyn occurred and claimed that they are trying their best to mediate with both sides to quell the fighting.
According to sources the reason behind the fighting was due to the Abgal soldiers attempting to disarm local Shanta Alemod forces after a dispute over who’ll manning checkpoints.
“The sounds of gunshots could be heard all over the town and many injured people were lying around, both sides were receiving reinforcements to aid them in their fight” said Mohamed Osman, a local resident.