This Day. Seizure of Kiev, 1941

Battle for Kiev, a painting in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War – Jan Smith 2011

September 19, 1941 – German Nazi troops seized Kiev, the capital of socialist Ukraine, legendary city of golden domes on the banks of the Dnieper River and a cradle of ancient Russian civilisation. The siege of Kiev is considered the largest encirclement in the history of warfare (by number of troops). The operation ran from 7 August to 26 September 1941 as part of Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union. In Soviet military history, it is referred to as the Kiev Strategic Defensive Operation, with somewhat different dating of 7 July – 26 September 1941.

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Disinformation about invasion of Poland

By HARDIAL BAINS

September 1 marks the anniversary of the invasion of Poland by the Hitlerites in 1939. Instead of condemning the Nazis, reactionary forces such as the Harperites use disinformation to rehabilitate the reputation of Nazi war criminals and to cover up who were the victims of fascism in whose name the peoples of the world declared “Never Again!” At this time of year, they use the anniversary of the German-Soviet non-aggression pact signed on August 23, 1939 to claim that this was an act of appeasement, not a tactical move for the Soviet Union to buy time to arm itself for an inevitable confrontation with the Nazis. The disinformation is also used to suggest that it was the Soviets and not the Nazis who invaded Poland in September 1939 and started the war in Europe. This is to hide the fact that it was the European powers that actively appeased the Nazis and permitted the invasion of Poland, while the Soviets fought to defend that country and its people at every turn. Ultimately, this disinformation about the causes of World War II is to justify and commit similar crimes in the present.

Warsaw Uprising: Polish authorities’ political amnesia

By VALÉRY VRUBLEVSKY

People light flares as they observe a minute of silence to mark the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi German occupiers during World War II on August 1, 2019, in the Polish capital Warsaw | Janek Skarzynski/AFP

Poland is suffering political amnesia. The condition gets acute any time one mentions the mass crimes committed against Polish nationals. There is a plethora of examples to prove the case. The Volyn massacre is the most illustrative one. Ukrainian nationalists brutally tortured and killed dozens of thousands of old men, women and children. For all that, the Polish government supports the successors of Stepan Bandera who have seized power in Ukraine.

There is another example – the pogroms in Wola that took place during the Warsaw uprising (Wola – a district of western Warsaw). German fascists killed around 60,000 Poles in two days (August 5-6, 1944) – the largest single massacre in WWII.

2019 Ukraine presidential election: Results will sharpen internal contradictions

By DOUGAL MACDONALD with an update by TONY SEED

The 2019 Ukrainian presidential election was held on March 31 and April 21 using the two-round system. A surprising total of 39 candidates ran for president on the ballot. Since entry into the campaign costs a non-refundable $90,000, speculation was rampant that some candidates were nothing more than straw men put forward by various factions of the rich simply to drain votes away from their opponents.

Certain US embassies are large military-intelligence centres

American marines in Armenia…

fondsk.ru (October 21) – The embassy of any country in a foreign state works within the powers of defined bi- and multi- lateral interstate agreements, which includes, first of all, the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. In particular, it clearly regulates the number of employees of embassies, especially those who are given diplomatic privileges and immunities. The total number of employees, as a rule, directly depends on the level of relations between states, the scale of the host country, etc. And the areas of ambassadorial premises are usually directly depend on the number of employees.

Former Ukrainian deputy describes how the US ambassador blackmails politicians

The American Embassy influenced the decisions of the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, with the help of information about the bank accounts of key figures of parliament.

This was stated on the air of the TV program “An evening with Vladimir Solovyov” by the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of the previous session, Spiridon Kilinkarov.

“I state with responsibly that in the Verkhovna Rada, when there were some difficult political affairs, the ambassador of the US always appeared on the balcony. He didn’t hit anyone with a stick, he didn’t shout, he just culturally sat down in a chair and observed voting in the parliament. If a vote wasn’t passed, in the evening key figures who make decisions are invited to the American Embassy. He doesn’t shout there either. He says: ‘You know, mister, here you have bank accounts, here, here, and here … I’ve been here since 2006, I remember that there were three or four of such votes…’,” said Kilinkarov.

With a file from Stalkerzone, September 21, 2018

TS note: Over one third of the members of the Rada have dual citizenships.

Living in wacko-land

By PAUL ROBINSON | Irrussianality

(September 25) – A chance encounter with a Twitter post got me following links on the internet today as I filled in time between classes. I know that there’s a lot of truly rotten stuff out there, and every now and again I write some piece denouncing some example or other. But on the whole, I try and stay clear of it. Still, immersing myself in all this was rather interesting, so I thought that I would share the results.

The Tweet which got me started was this one from Toronto-based Ukrainian-Canadian ‘political analyst’ Ariana Gic, who writes occasional columns for outlets like the Atlantic Council. I’m always rather sceptical of ‘independent analysts’ who seem to lack an institutional base, and am frankly amazed  that one can making a living that way, but apparently one can.