Sunday, March 16, 2014

Voting has begun in the Crimean referendum

Crimea tries to stand against the coup and the world is looking on with amazement and admiration. Forget the artificial world created and nourished by propaganda and untrue stories. Let’s whisper it, if the truth finds its way through the thick layers of opacity out to the ears of the ordinary people, wherever they are, accumulated anger will blow the hollow bases of the empire to pieces. People in Crimea cannot and will not accept the invasion of the country they have lived in for years. Ukraine does not have any authority of its own and is run by the security agencies from Europe and the US. People in Ukraine have fallen into a very dangerous situation. Their grievances have become an excuse for the empire to step in and swap their government with an undefined group of extremists and/or followers of the empire. We talk about extremists but who are their leaders? Of course they are a collective gathering of “noble” politicians that try very hard to behave civilized but that does not contradict the fact that they commit crimes which make Al-Qaeda’s look very moderate. I’m talking about the western leaders who have been the cause of so many atrocities that their history is nothing but that.
All these leaders are elected again and again while their people are pushed back, marginalized and become the exclusive means of making profit. That is the tragedy which Ukraine cannot get itself out of: following the examples of such leaders or finding a way to true independence and an equal sharing society. It is only Crimea which can solve the bigger issues its own way. They go to the ballot box not to elect a leader like ours but to decide a different way for the future. The road to freedom is long but definitely does not go through the new slavery which the occupied Kiev promises, but rather away from it.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Armed police burst into a hotel in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, on Saturday night on the eve of a referendum aimed at deciding whether the Ukrainian region leaves Ukraine and becomes part of Russia.
Witnesses saw around 30 men in balaclavas carrying automatic weapons inside the Hotel Moscow, a Soviet-era hotel popular with Western reporters covering Sunday’s referendum.
The witnesses said the men burst in brandishing weapons and made their way to the building’s fourth floor.
Crimean Defence Minister Valery Kuznetsov told reporters that police were reacting to an alert which turned out to be false.
“We received a false alarm. We came to check,” he told reporters at the hotel.
“We have checked everything and it turned out to be bogus. There is an information war going on, being waged by Kiev ... So we have to check everything and be ready for any contingency.”
By 9:40 p.m. (1940 GMT) the policemen had started to leave the hotel.
The incident occurred at a time when Russian state media has ratcheted up its anti-Western rhetoric, accusing the West of supporting what it says are fascist elements within Ukraine’s provisional government.
Western reporters working in Crimea have complained of harassment by pro-Russian activists in recent days.
Some witnesses at the hotel said the raid appeared to be designed to intimidate journalists on the eve of the referendum.

Anonymous said...

Armed police burst into a hotel in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, on Saturday night on the eve of a referendum aimed at deciding whether the Ukrainian region leaves Ukraine and becomes part of Russia.
Witnesses saw around 30 men in balaclavas carrying automatic weapons inside the Hotel Moscow, a Soviet-era hotel popular with Western reporters covering Sunday’s referendum.
The witnesses said the men burst in brandishing weapons and made their way to the building’s fourth floor.
Crimean Defence Minister Valery Kuznetsov told reporters that police were reacting to an alert which turned out to be false.
“We received a false alarm. We came to check,” he told reporters at the hotel.
“We have checked everything and it turned out to be bogus. There is an information war going on, being waged by Kiev ... So we have to check everything and be ready for any contingency.”
By 9:40 p.m. (1940 GMT) the policemen had started to leave the hotel.
The incident occurred at a time when Russian state media has ratcheted up its anti-Western rhetoric, accusing the West of supporting what it says are fascist elements within Ukraine’s provisional government.
Western reporters working in Crimea have complained of harassment by pro-Russian activists in recent days.
Some witnesses at the hotel said the raid appeared to be designed to intimidate journalists on the eve of the referendum.

Anonymous said...

Armed police burst into a hotel in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, on Saturday night on the eve of a referendum aimed at deciding whether the Ukrainian region leaves Ukraine and becomes part of Russia.
Witnesses saw around 30 men in balaclavas carrying automatic weapons inside the Hotel Moscow, a Soviet-era hotel popular with Western reporters covering Sunday’s referendum.
The witnesses said the men burst in brandishing weapons and made their way to the building’s fourth floor.
Crimean Defence Minister Valery Kuznetsov told reporters that police were reacting to an alert which turned out to be false.
“We received a false alarm. We came to check,” he told reporters at the hotel.
“We have checked everything and it turned out to be bogus. There is an information war going on, being waged by Kiev ... So we have to check everything and be ready for any contingency.”
By 9:40 p.m. (1940 GMT) the policemen had started to leave the hotel.
The incident occurred at a time when Russian state media has ratcheted up its anti-Western rhetoric, accusing the West of supporting what it says are fascist elements within Ukraine’s provisional government.
Western reporters working in Crimea have complained of harassment by pro-Russian activists in recent days.
Some witnesses at the hotel said the raid appeared to be designed to intimidate journalists on the eve of the referendum.

Anonymous said...

Armed police burst into a hotel in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, on Saturday night on the eve of a referendum aimed at deciding whether the Ukrainian region leaves Ukraine and becomes part of Russia.
Witnesses saw around 30 men in balaclavas carrying automatic weapons inside the Hotel Moscow, a Soviet-era hotel popular with Western reporters covering Sunday’s referendum.
The witnesses said the men burst in brandishing weapons and made their way to the building’s fourth floor.
Crimean Defence Minister Valery Kuznetsov told reporters that police were reacting to an alert which turned out to be false.
“We received a false alarm. We came to check,” he told reporters at the hotel.
“We have checked everything and it turned out to be bogus. There is an information war going on, being waged by Kiev ... So we have to check everything and be ready for any contingency.”
By 9:40 p.m. (1940 GMT) the policemen had started to leave the hotel.
The incident occurred at a time when Russian state media has ratcheted up its anti-Western rhetoric, accusing the West of supporting what it says are fascist elements within Ukraine’s provisional government.
Western reporters working in Crimea have complained of harassment by pro-Russian activists in recent days.
Some witnesses at the hotel said the raid appeared to be designed to intimidate journalists on the eve of the referendum.

Anonymous said...

Armed police burst into a hotel in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, on Saturday night on the eve of a referendum aimed at deciding whether the Ukrainian region leaves Ukraine and becomes part of Russia.
Witnesses saw around 30 men in balaclavas carrying automatic weapons inside the Hotel Moscow, a Soviet-era hotel popular with Western reporters covering Sunday’s referendum.
The witnesses said the men burst in brandishing weapons and made their way to the building’s fourth floor.
Crimean Defence Minister Valery Kuznetsov told reporters that police were reacting to an alert which turned out to be false.
“We received a false alarm. We came to check,” he told reporters at the hotel.
“We have checked everything and it turned out to be bogus. There is an information war going on, being waged by Kiev ... So we have to check everything and be ready for any contingency.”
By 9:40 p.m. (1940 GMT) the policemen had started to leave the hotel.
The incident occurred at a time when Russian state media has ratcheted up its anti-Western rhetoric, accusing the West of supporting what it says are fascist elements within Ukraine’s provisional government.
Western reporters working in Crimea have complained of harassment by pro-Russian activists in recent days.
Some witnesses at the hotel said the raid appeared to be designed to intimidate journalists on the eve of the referendum.

Anonymous said...

Armed police burst into a hotel in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, on Saturday night on the eve of a referendum aimed at deciding whether the Ukrainian region leaves Ukraine and becomes part of Russia.
Witnesses saw around 30 men in balaclavas carrying automatic weapons inside the Hotel Moscow, a Soviet-era hotel popular with Western reporters covering Sunday’s referendum.
The witnesses said the men burst in brandishing weapons and made their way to the building’s fourth floor.
Crimean Defence Minister Valery Kuznetsov told reporters that police were reacting to an alert which turned out to be false.
“We received a false alarm. We came to check,” he told reporters at the hotel.
“We have checked everything and it turned out to be bogus. There is an information war going on, being waged by Kiev ... So we have to check everything and be ready for any contingency.”
By 9:40 p.m. (1940 GMT) the policemen had started to leave the hotel.
The incident occurred at a time when Russian state media has ratcheted up its anti-Western rhetoric, accusing the West of supporting what it says are fascist elements within Ukraine’s provisional government.
Western reporters working in Crimea have complained of harassment by pro-Russian activists in recent days.
Some witnesses at the hotel said the raid appeared to be designed to intimidate journalists on the eve of the referendum.

Anonymous said...

here’s a summary of the main events on the day before the Crimea region holds a referendum on union with Russia.
•Russia vetoed a UN security council motion declaring the Crimea referendum invalid.
•Thirteen nations voted in favour. Significantly China, which often sides with Russia, abstained

•Ukraine said it repelled a detachment of Russian troops in southern Ukraine, north of Crimea.

•Russia’s foreign ministry said it was considering protection requests from Russian-speaking Ukrainians.

•Spurred by the Ukrainian crisis, anti-Putin activists in Moscow staged their largest protest for two years.
•France said next stage of sanctions against Russia will be on military co-operation.

Anonymous said...


Here is a statement from the governor of Kharkiv on the incident which left two dead. Translation by the Interpreter magazine which is also liveblogging events in Ukraine.


The provocation began on Svoboda Square, when a Volksvagen Transporter van with Dnepropetrovsk license plates drove up to a group of pro-Russian demonstrators. Igor Baluta [new governor of Kharkiv Region] noted that this is the same car which police have been searching for since the previous provocation was staged in Kharkiv several days ago.

The passengers in the van deliberately staged a conflict with the pro-Russian activists after which they went to Rymarskaya Street to the office of Prosvita [Ukrainian cultural society] where they parked the vehicle. The pro-Russian activists, which by that time had already managed to call in “assistance” from some young toughs from the group Oplota, headed after them.

A deliberate escalation of the conflict took place on Rymarskaya. Moreoever, this was without the participation of the Prosvita representatives, the Kharkov Regional Administration reports on its official web site.

The group of people with St. George ribbons tried to storm the office at No. 18 Rymarskaya. Meanwhile, gunfire broke out between the two sides of the conflict. As a result 2 men died. Governor Baluta told a correspondent from MediaPort that both died of gunshot wounds. Pellets were found in one. According to the preliminary report, the two who died were on the side of the attackers (i.e. the group with the St. George ribbons), says the governor.

Five people were injured, including one police officer.

Anonymous said...

Voting is under way in Crimea's referendum, which is expected to deliver an overwhelming majority of votes for union with Russia but has been denounced internationally as illegitimate and illegal.

Voters on the peninsula have been given two options to choose from at the referendum, which has been organised in a matter of days. One calls for union with Russia, while the other offers increased autonomy within Ukraine. There is no option to retain the status quo.

Russian state television was reporting a huge turnout for the referendum and claimed there were "no armed men" at the polling stations.

State news agency Interfax quoted the observer Enrique Ravello, a nationalist deputy in Spain's parliament, as saying he had seen an "unprecedented turnout", adding: "There's no coercion, pressure on people. The referendum is being held peacefully, freely and openly."

According to polling by German research group GfK, 70% of Crimeans who want to participate in the referendum plan to vote to join Russia, while only 11% plan to vote to remain part of Ukraine.

Crimean leaders have made no secret of the fact that they expect a landslide victory for joining Russia, and posters across the region call on voters to make the correct choice. Ethnic Russians make up a slight majority in Crimea, which was part of the Russian republic within the Soviet Union until 1954, but minority populations of Tatars and Ukrainians are less enthusiastic about the vote and many Tatars have said they will boycott the poll.