Stephen Lendman

Photo: Yatsenyuk ("Yats") has been in Washington before. Here he is with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in 2007. As Ukraine's Foreign Minister at the time, Yatsenyuk assured Rice that his country would adhere to democratic standards in resolving its (then) current political crisis. "We have to stick to democratic values, democratic standards - it's obvious for us," he said. "His Excellency" Arseniy Yatsenyuk must have forgotten all about his professed ideas about democracy because now he'll be in Washington again, this time as an illegitimate prime minister of a country taken over by State Department's putschists, a raggle taggle band of right-wing thugs and Nazis. - So much for his assurances of democracy!

Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland calls him Yats. He's coming to Washington. He'll arrive on Wednesday. He'll meet his new boss. He'll do so at the White House. He'll get marching orders. He'll learn more about Obama's plans for Ukraine. More on his visit below.

He's Ukraine's illegitimate prime minister. He serves its xenophobic, ultranationalist, neo-Nazi, hate-mongering, anti-Semitic, coup d'état regime. A rogue's gallery of societal misfits runs it. He's a natural. He's super-rich. He's a former central banker/economy/foreign minister and parliament (Verkhovna Rada) speaker. He betrayed his people. He sold out for greater wealth and power. He's a Batkivshchya/All-Ukrainian Union (Fatherland) leader.

Billionaire mega-thief Yulia Tymoshenko heads it. She was imprisoned for embezzlement and serious "abuse of public office." Charges included illegally diverting $425 million meant for environmental projects into pension funds. A second case involved stealing around $130 million for personal use. Putschists freed her. They did so lawlessly. She was an illegimate Orange Revolution prime minister. She has presidential aspirations. She may head Ukraine's illegitimate government after sham May elections.

Yatsenyuk's job is serving Western bankers. Paying them comes first. Ukrainians bear the burden. Force-fed austerity is planned. IMF larceny features it. Harder than ever hard times loom. Ukraine heads toward becoming another Greece. One zombie country will replicate another.

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Stephen Lendman

Paul Craig Roberts: Putin Speaks

He gave a wide-ranging interview. It's the first extensive one he's given. He did so forthrightly. He did it responsibly. He covered important ground.

Ukraine is the most serious geopolitical crisis since WW II. Kiev neo-Nazis usurped power. They reckless. They're dangerous. Putin understands well. He knows Washington and EU partners back them. East/West tensions head toward exceeding the worst of Cold War years.

Putin met with media representatives. He suggested a format. "Let's have a conversation, rather than an interview," he said. He spoke forthrightly. He tried addressing as many vital issues as possible. He assessed what's happening in Kiev and Ukraine overall.

There's only "one," major issue, he stressed. What happened "was an anti-constitutional takeover, an armed seizure of power." "Does anyone question this? Nobody does." An unanswered question remains, he added. "(W)hy was this done?"

He knows full well. He posed the question largely rhetorically. He threw it out for open discussion.

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