Posted on 04/13/2014 9:46:36 AM PDT by Kaslin
The crisis in Ukraine took a turn for the worse this weekend. Many distinct events are in play. Here are a few top headlines
Armed Men Seize Police Station in Slavyansk
The Wall Street Journal reports Pro-Russia Protests Spread, Police Station Seized.
Pro-Russia protests spread Saturday in eastern Ukraine as armed men, some in unmarked, military-style uniforms, moved to commandeer more government buildings—a dramatic escalation that the Ukrainian government and Washington tied to Moscow.
Ukraine's acting president called an emergency meeting of the country's top security officials in the capital, Kiev, as police clashed with attackers in several spots in the largely Russian-speaking, eastern part of the country.
Some 20 men wearing camouflage, some with military-style equipment and weapons, commandeered a police station and security-service office early Saturday in Slavyansk, a small city that previously hadn't seen the kind of pro-Russian fervor that erupted anew in the area last weekend.
Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said Saturday evening that police were fighting with attackers in the nearby town of Kramatorsk and had repelled a similar attack in a third town, Krasny Liman.
Saturday afternoon, police in Poltava Region said they had stopped several buses carrying what they said were pro-Russian activists carrying gasoline bombs and makeshift weapons. They were headed to Kharkiv, where protests were scheduled. Police detained about 70 of the activists.
Protesters remain barricaded Saturday in the regional government headquarters in Donetsk and the security-service offices in Luhansk, which they had occupied last Sunday. Authorities pushed a group out of a government building in Kharkiv earlier in the week.
Western officials say Moscow has tens of thousands of troops on its side of the border that could invade Ukraine in a matter of hours. Moscow denies that.
Ukraine Prepares Armed Response
Reuters reports Ukraine Prepares Armed Response as City Seized by Pro-Russia Forces.
Armed separatists took virtual control of a city in eastern Ukraine on Saturday and Kiev prepared troops to deal with what it called an "act of aggression by Russia".
Pro-Russian activists carrying automatic weapons seized government buildings in Slaviansk and set up barricades on the outskirts of the city. Official buildings in several neighboring towns were also attacked.
The developments have increased concerns of a possible "gas war" that could disrupt energy supplies across the continent.
Washington backed Kiev's assessment that Moscow was responsible. "Worrisome violence in ... Ukraine today. Russia again seems to be behind it," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Twitter.
ROADBLOCKS AROUND CITY
On a road leading into Slaviansk, other members of the group, armed with automatic rifles, set up a roadblock and checked vehicles entering the city, a Reuters reporter said.
There was no sign of any Ukrainian law enforcement officials in the city.
Ukraine's Western-backed government warned of tough action if the militants did not lay down their weapons, but it was unclear if the local law enforcement agencies were taking orders from Kiev any more after the local police chief quit.
Kostyantyn Pozhydayev came out to speak to pro-Russian protesters at his offices in the regional capital, Donetsk, and told them he was stepping down "in accordance with your demands". Some of his officers left the building.
The occupations are a potential flashpoint because if protesters are killed or hurt by Ukrainian forces, that could prompt the Kremlin to intervene to protect the local Russian-speaking population, a repeat of the scenario in Crimea.
Ukraine's acting foreign minister, Andriy Deshchytsia, said he had spoken by telephone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and demanded Moscow stop what he called "provocative actions" by its agents in eastern Ukraine.
Lavrov, in a statement issued by his ministry, said there were no Russian agents in the region and that it would be "unacceptable" if Ukrainian authorities were to order the storming of the buildings.
Ukraine Suspends Gas Payments to Russia
Reuters reports Ukraine Suspends Gas payments to Russia
Ukraine's state-run energy company Naftogaz has suspended gas payments to Russia until the conclusion of price talks, chief executive Andriy Kobolev was quoted as saying on Saturday.
Russian gas giant Gazprom earlier this month increased gas price for Ukrainian consumers to $485 per 1,000 cubic meters (tcm) from $268 for the first quarter, saying Kiev was no longer eligible for previous discounts.
"The question of repayment of debt is directly linked to the maintenance of gas prices at the level of the first quarter," Kobolev told the Zerkalo Nedely weekly in an interview, referring to the original price of $268 per tcm.
"We see no reason to revise the price. We consider the price at around $500 as non-market, unjustified and unacceptable. Accordingly, we have suspended payments for the period of the price negotiations."
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday that Moscow could cut off gas to Ukraine, potentially threatening European supplies, but later played down the threat.
"I want to say again: We do not intend and do not plan to shut off the gas," he said on Friday.
Gas Wars
Given that Ukraine has suspended payments, I find Putin's statements puzzling. If Putin will not shut off the gas, then Ukraine has no incentive to pay.
Expect Putin to quickly change his mind about shutting the pipeline if Ukraine does indeed refuse to pay. He will have a legitimate reason.
As for market prices, Russia can charge what it wants in my opinion. Countries can either pay or not pay.
This is the consequence of being dependent on a single supplier.
You are 100% correct Jimbo.
Yanukovitch was scheduled to fly to Donenstk that evening to attend a political caucus of the Party of Regions over the weekend. He needed to explain what was happening in Kiev to his constituents in the East.
When the Maidan radicals stormed the Parliament building, MPs had just gathered there to vote on the legislation which Yanukovich was supposed to sign on Monday when he returned.
The armed radicals then forced a vote on Presidential impeachment after beating and threatening several members. Only a miscalculation on the number of votes needed for impeachment prevented the veneer of legitimacy to their illegal actions.
The key element to these events was the withdrawal of security forces from around the government buildings in an effort to comply with the agreement that had just been negotiated with Europe, Russia, and the opposition.
That is not how it works, so that is a false argument.
Your wrong about the definition of subsidy. I asked you to look it up. Apparently you didn't.
Anyway you're losing the point.
Russia and Ukraine agreed to a 30% reduction in the price of gas for 25 years in excahnge for permission to extend Russia's lease of the naval base in Crimea.
Russia has now taken the Ukrainian base and is discarding the deal.
You don't thing that's wrong?
“I agree that I was focused on a single fact. However, if that single fact was a half truth — then if it’s left out, nothing but another half truth is left.”
The full context had beeen discussed earlier, but may or may not have been recognized or understood.
“Okay, that one there is durned funny!!! Guns, jets, and artillery defeat lawyers, every single time.”
Which is why Goering and his buddies were hanged or committed suicide to avoid hanging.
“You have never read Machiavelli, have you?”
Of course I’ve read Machiavelli, but I’ve also read the many responses to Machiavelli, such as the Kellogg-Briand or Paris Pact of 1928 and a number of other subsequent authorities in international law that authorize the “Guns, jets, and artillery” to “defeat” and bring retribution by international law to the practitioners of Machivellan intrigues and hand them over to the lawyers for punishment, if they survive that long.
Nothing, and Ukrainian governments have been stealing gas from the distribution system for decades.
Its one of the reasons Russian gas costs more in Europe and also why there's a huge pipeline project underway to bypass Ukraine.
“Anyone America doesn’t like — we’ll just designate them pirates and brigands.”
This has nothing to do with the U.S. and everything to do with Russia unilaterraly abrogating the Russian Ukrainian Naval Base for Gas treaty. The discounted price for the Ukrainian purchase of Russian natural gas was in exchange for Russia to maintain a naval base in the Crimea for a specified limited time period. Russia’s doubling of the natural gas price for the Ukraine abrogated the treaty and stole the Ukrainian territories in breach of international peace, the budapest memorandum 1994, the Charter of the United Nations, and the Kellogg-Briand Pact. Furthermore, Russia used GRU Spetsnaz troops covertly in military uniforms lacking the distinguishing insignia of a commisioned combatant as required by the laws of war and the Hague Conventions relating to war. These covert Spetsnaz troops are therefore unlawful combatants punishable under the laws of war and the Hague Conventions as spies, saboteurs, brigands, and (yes) even as pirates.
“Then: “Damn the agreements...full speed ahead!””
That is exactly what Putin’s Russian regime did in fact with its blatant abrogation of the Russian Ukrainian Naval Base for Gas treaty and unlawful conquest of the Ukrainian Crimea.
“The only point I was ever trying to make is that the new price Russia is demanding is the market price of gas in Europe, and that simple fact cannot be simply ignored. I completely agree that contracts and international law cannot be ignored. Not having seen those contracts; I wouldn’t presume to argue whether or not they’ve been violated. As I said, those are not simple facts — they are the types of things that make lawyers rich.”
Another fact you have overlooked and drawn the wrong conclusion to incorrectly say, Russia is demanding is the market price of gas in Europe,” is the actual price the Ukraine paid for its Russian natural gas deliveries. A price of $284, IIRC, is being cited as the “low” or “discounted price the Ukraine is paying below what Poland and other European states are paying. Such a price is wrong, because the price omits the other consideration paid by the ukraine to Russia for the natural gas: and that is the Russian Ukrainian Naval Base for Gas treaty. the total price of the Russian natural gas is the $284 per unit plus whatever monetary value the lease of the Crimean naval bases for Russia were worth. This is presumably much more than $284 or perhaps even much more than just $500 per unit and no land lease. So, you can seee how the propaganda about the Ukrainian purchase prices has been misleaading and unfairly prejudicial against the Ukraine.
It also demonstrates why the Ukraine is justified in suspending all further payments for the natural gas to Russia given its hostile conquest of the naval bases leased in the treaty and the current existence of a war of aggression by Russia against the Ukraine.
indeed and to think the idiots in congress are all puting their eggs in the Chinese basket as a main supplier..
Ukraine is offering the equivalent of the old Wimpy hamburger deal: they’re offering to pay for the gas they used yesterday in return for a discount today.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.