Free Republic

It is one year since the Ukrainian city of Mariupol was largely destroyed by Russian forces and captured. It is now being transformed and presented as a showcase for rule from Moscow - and some Russians are even hoping to buy homes there. Russia claimed to have annexed Mariupol, along with all other occupied areas, following a series of referendums that have been widely condemned as sham exercises. About 90% of the city's buildings were damaged or destroyed by Russian shelling during a gruelling two-month siege. Thousands of civilians were killed and about 350,000 people left, out of the pre-war...

*snip* Assimilation There are other important ways in which Russia is putting its stamp on Mariupol. For example, local residents are under pressure to obtain Russian passports. Ivan, the Mariupol city councillor I spoke to (not his real name), said locals often formed "huge queues" trying to get Russian passports. They were required if you want to find formal employment, especially with government agencies or in the public sector, he explained. Also, they made it possible to travel to Russia without additional stringent checks known as "filtration", he added. "So they have deliberately created a situation where you get problems...

Olga Lopatkina paced around her basement in circles like a trapped animal. For more than a week, the Ukrainian mother had heard nothing from her six adopted children stranded in Mariupol, and she was going out of her mind with worry. (snip) The questions looped endlessly in her head: Should she try to rescue the children herself — and risk being killed, making them orphans yet again? Or should she campaign to get them out from afar — and risk them being killed or falling into the hands of the Russians? She had no idea her dilemma would lead her...

Day 110. Today, we discuss the latest updates from across Ukraine and Europe, look at how much money Russia has made from selling fossil fuels this year and discuss the history behind the policy of Russification in the occupied regions of southern Ukraine.

Every time I bring up the Holocaust, the same thing happens. Some of the people want Hitler's genocide to be the archetype of a people's suffering, denying others their right to bring similar atrocities to light. Some want to deny it (like current Iranian President Ahmadinejad). Some want to straddle the line or apologize: "There would have been no Hitler if not for the reparation payments put upon Germany after World War I." What are we to do, create a chart ranking peoples' suffering: "mine was worse than yours?" These were all horrors. Calling one a genocide while not allowing...