Mike Head

In what can only be described as a massacre, 38 anti-government activists were killed Friday after fascist-led forces set fire to Odessa’s Trade Unions House, which had been sheltering opponents of the US- and European-backed regime in Ukraine.

According to eye-witnesses, those who jumped from the burning building and survived were surrounded and beaten by thugs from the neo-Nazi Right Sector. Video footage shows bloodied and wounded survivors being attacked.

The atrocity underscores both the brutal character of the right-wing government installed in Kiev by the Western powers and the encouragement by the US and its allies of a bloody crackdown by the regime to suppress popular opposition, centered in the mainly Russian-speaking south and east of Ukraine.

As the Odessa outrage occurred, US President Barack Obama, at a joint White House press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, explicitly endorsed the military offensive being carried out by the unelected Kiev government against protesters occupying official buildings in eastern Ukraine.

More »

Stephen Lendman

A right wing thug from Kiev throws a petroleum bomb at
the trade union building in Odessa, Ukraine, on Friday. At
least 31 people were killed in the blaze. (Stringer/Reuters)

Kiev putschists helicoptered them in. They came with orders to cause mayhem. They attacked federalization supporters. They did so violently. Gunfire was heard. Three deaths were reported. So were over a dozen injuries. The House of Trade Unions was set ablaze. Neo-Nazis did so with anti-Maidan activists inside. Reports said 38 people died. Thirty succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning. Eight perished jumping out of windows. Another 50 needed medical treatment. Ten policemen were affected.

An emergency meeting followed. Mayor Vladimir Nemirovsky said: "We are making all possible intensive measures to restore law and order." Violent perpetrators will be prosecuted, he added.

Reports said about 1,500 Kiev supporters gathered in central Odessa's Sobornaya Square. Radicalized Chernomorets football club supporters joined them. Right Sector insignia were prominently displayed. Thugs came armed with chains, bats, shields and other weapons. They came looking for trouble. They shouted "Glory to Ukraine." "Death to enemies." "Knife the Moskals." It's a derogatory Ukrainian term for Russians. Hundreds of anti-Kiev activists confronted them. Clashes followed. Mayhem explains what happened. Both sides used Molotov cocktails, smoke grenades and rocks.

More »

John W. Whitehead

“[The aim of public education is not] to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence. . . . Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim . . . is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States…” — H. Mencken, April 1924

How do you persuade a nation of relatively freedom-loving individuals to march in lock step with a police state? You start by convincing them that they’re in danger, and only the government can protect them. Keep them keyed up with constant danger alerts, and the occasional terrorist incident, whether real or staged. Distract them with wall-to-wall news coverage about sinking ships, disappearing planes and pseudo-celebrities spouting racist diatribes. Use blockbuster movies, reality shows and violent video games to hype them up on military tactics, and then while they’re distracted and numb to all that is taking place around them, indoctrinate their young people to your way of thinking, relying primarily on the public schools and popular culture.

More »