MOSCOW, May 13 (RIA Novosti) – Peace activists in Rome have gathered to demonstrate against the EU’s support of the authorities in Kiev, Italian antiwar activist Marinella Correggia from the No-War Network told RIA Novosti Tuesday.
“We will stage this demonstration in front of European Union’s representation in downtown Rome, protesting against the support that the European Union is giving to the putschist government in Kiev and the fact that they ignore the atrocities which were made by the neo-Nazist groups which are in the government of Kiev,” Correggia said over the phone.
“We are also protesting against the double standards – Kosovo was born after the NATO bombings and that is very much OK for the EU and it is recognized as an independent country. When it is Crimea or Eastern Ukraine with not the war but a referendum, the EU and the US, and of course NATO, they say it is illegal, criminal,” Correggia told RIA Novosti.
The demonstration will unite Italian peace and anti-fascist organizations which, according to Marinella Correggia, have been silent for years. Thus she doesn’t expect many people this time, though the next demonstration scheduled for May 17 could attract thousands of people.
A similar demonstration was held last Friday in Naples.
Valdai Club expert and Director of the Center for Political Information Alexei Mukhin argues that the independence movements in Ukraine’s Donetsk and the Lugansk regions are a bad sign for the authorities in Kiev, underscoring their lack of control over the situation in the country.
"The use of the Ukrainian military to decide domestic political conflicts is evidence that the sociopolitical system in Ukraine is seriously ill,” Mukhin says. “The question is, who will treat this political malady? It is already clear that the May 25 elections will not do any good, as part of the country has seceded and residents of other parts are unlikely to vote.”
Mukhin believes Russia has chosen the best course of action by staying out of the internal affairs of what remains for now a sovereign state, in contrast to the external powers currently seeking to turn Ukraine into a puppet state. The State Department and top US intelligence officials don’t hide their plans for Ukraine, which is losing the contours of a sovereign state. But Mukhin points out that many in the Western world have realized that Ukraine comes with enormous political and economic baggage that European countries would have to bear. This resulted in a split in Western society, with public opinion in the EU and the United States turning against President Barack Obama and his European allies running the operation in Ukraine.
"The independence referendums held by two southeastern regions of Ukraine are acts of self-defense that their people are entitled to take under the Constitution of Ukraine,” Mukhin argues. “Questioning the legitimacy of these referendums calls into question any and all official actions taken in Ukraine, and Kiev knows it. Most importantly, these events should be approached carefully. We should wait for the results and only then develop a mechanism for political decision-making.”
The expert also noted how important it is that political entities now exist in southeastern Ukraine. Kiev won’t be able to ignore their representatives, and there are no longer any grounds for excluding them from the contact group that everyone except the United States is discussing. When the contact group is formed in the near future, the situation in Ukraine will be brought back into a legal framework with the help of the UN Security Council.
Mukhin believes there is some truth in the claim that Ukraine has become personal for Obama – a matter of envy for another world leader. Throughout 2013, the US media was fixated on Obama’s plummeting approval ratings. Meanwhile Putin’s popularity and political influence in the world was on the rise. The US president could not help feeling resentful, but ultimately Obama’s policy in Ukraine is grounded in more pragmatic concerns.
“Obama has only two years before his second term is over, and he wants to leave behind something more meaningful than the pitiful legacy of George W. Bush,” Mukhin says. “Perhaps he wants to make Europe the main market for the US energy exports. There was a lot of talk about that at the outset of the crisis in Ukraine, when the US offered to replace an unreliable Russia as Europe’s main energy supplier.”
Of course, the United States has sought to play down the fact that energy prices will be much higher due to transportation costs and economic risks. Mukhin believes Europe’s growing economic dependence on the United States will be exacerbated by increased EU military commitments, as the US offer implies the deployment of additional military bases and missile defense units in Europe. While such arguments have not garnered much attention in Europe, Mukhin is confident that they are accurately reflect US intentions.
Alexei Mukhin shared these and other thoughts during his talk at the roundtable, The Current Situation in Ukraine: A Bloody Ten Days in May, held at the Rossiya Segodnya press center on May 12.
Valdai Club expert and Director of the Center for Political Information Alexei Mukhin argues that the independence movements in Ukraine’s Donetsk and the Lugansk regions are a bad sign for the authorities in Kiev, underscoring their lack of control over the situation in the country.
"The use of the Ukrainian military to decide domestic political conflicts is evidence that the sociopolitical system in Ukraine is seriously ill,” Mukhin says. “The question is, who will treat this political malady? It is already clear that the May 25 elections will not do any good, as part of the country has seceded and residents of other parts are unlikely to vote.”
Mukhin believes Russia has chosen the best course of action by staying out of the internal affairs of what remains for now a sovereign state, in contrast to the external powers currently seeking to turn Ukraine into a puppet state. The State Department and top US intelligence officials don’t hide their plans for Ukraine, which is losing the contours of a sovereign state. But Mukhin points out that many in the Western world have realized that Ukraine comes with enormous political and economic baggage that European countries would have to bear. This resulted in a split in Western society, with public opinion in the EU and the United States turning against President Barack Obama and his European allies running the operation in Ukraine.
"The independence referendums held by two southeastern regions of Ukraine are acts of self-defense that their people are entitled to take under the Constitution of Ukraine,” Mukhin argues. “Questioning the legitimacy of these referendums calls into question any and all official actions taken in Ukraine, and Kiev knows it. Most importantly, these events should be approached carefully. We should wait for the results and only then develop a mechanism for political decision-making.”
The expert also noted how important it is that political entities now exist in southeastern Ukraine. Kiev won’t be able to ignore their representatives, and there are no longer any grounds for excluding them from the contact group that everyone except the United States is discussing. When the contact group is formed in the near future, the situation in Ukraine will be brought back into a legal framework with the help of the UN Security Council.
Mukhin believes there is some truth in the claim that Ukraine has become personal for Obama – a matter of envy for another world leader. Throughout 2013, the US media was fixated on Obama’s plummeting approval ratings. Meanwhile Putin’s popularity and political influence in the world was on the rise. The US president could not help feeling resentful, but ultimately Obama’s policy in Ukraine is grounded in more pragmatic concerns.
“Obama has only two years before his second term is over, and he wants to leave behind something more meaningful than the pitiful legacy of George W. Bush,” Mukhin says. “Perhaps he wants to make Europe the main market for the US energy exports. There was a lot of talk about that at the outset of the crisis in Ukraine, when the US offered to replace an unreliable Russia as Europe’s main energy supplier.”
Of course, the United States has sought to play down the fact that energy prices will be much higher due to transportation costs and economic risks. Mukhin believes Europe’s growing economic dependence on the United States will be exacerbated by increased EU military commitments, as the US offer implies the deployment of additional military bases and missile defense units in Europe. While such arguments have not garnered much attention in Europe, Mukhin is confident that they are accurately reflect US intentions.
Alexei Mukhin shared these and other thoughts during his talk at the roundtable, The Current Situation in Ukraine: A Bloody Ten Days in May, held at the Rossiya Segodnya press center on May 12.
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