Ukrainian War Crimes Whitewashed by Western Press. ● After more than 30 people died in a fire in the Ukrainian seaside resort town of Odessa, most of the Western press pretended that no one knows what happened or whose fault it was. For example, see these stories from the Guardian and BBC. But USA Today reports:

Witnesses and journalists reported that as the building burned with people inside, a crowd shouted, “Glory to Ukraine!” and “Death to enemies!” [These are neo-Nazi slogans.] [...] [T]he Associated Press reported that the Russian sympathizers took refuge in the trade union hall on Kulikovo Field Square after government supporters rousted their encampment outside and then burned their tents. Police said the building was set on fire with Molotov cocktails. At 5 seconds into this 15-second video, you can see a Molotov cocktail being thrown at the building in which the Russian sympathizers.

Please find below the translation to the video I have posted before and which I am re-posting here below. A huge THANK YOU to "sparling5" for making this translation in such a short time. If I get a subtitled video I will also post it here. This information is important enough to deserve several re-posts. - The Saker ● There are lots of photos and videos of what was going on in the city on Friday and there are lots of details attracting special attention. Information to consider is quite enough for full investigation. It was taken by Pavel Ptshelkin. ● At the very height of punitive action in the country when tensions in Russian-speaking Odessa reached the top level –there was a football match. “Metallist” from Harkov was playing with “”Chernomorets”, Odessa. Several thousand ultras of both teams came to the city. These fans are nationalists, proponents of Maidan and they get a permission to march along the streets of Odessa in support of united Ukraine. They gathered here, near Sobornaya Square. Meanwhile from Alexandrovsky Avenue towards them there moved a group of well-equipped young men armed with batons and reinforcement. Many of these wear “Georgian bands” but the main distinctive feature – all of them have a mark made of red scotch on the sleeve. The authorities called them pro-Russian militants but it seems somebody needed everybody to believe it. And lots of eyewitnesses made these very conclusions. ● And here is the first strange thing and “mismatch” with junta’s official version. The same red marks were on the sleeves of some policemen. The most interesting thing is it was where these policemen stayed that the “break” of “separatists” to the members of the march happened. ● Here we can see the red marks on the sleeves of the attackers and nearby – the same bands on the sleeves of the policemen in cordon. The number of attackers is much smaller than the members of the march and it’s obvious they are not going to disperse them. They haven’t got enough power. But it is that very place where the break happened and another small group separated. What for? Soon it became quite obvious. They seduced a crowd of fans and succeed. Here the members of the march crying: Fifty people – that’s… that means we can get them from side-lane, there’s few of them…[...] April 2 in Odessa the people were burned alive and those who tried to escape were finished off with sticks. Besides as it appeared later among the dead there were lots of people with gunshot wounds. And moreover the police even didn’t think to interfere. All in all the facts lead to one conclusion. The reason of this tragedy in Odessa is a provocation in order to disperse and arrest the members of a numerous protests on the Kulikovo Pole against acting authorities. The fans were just used for this. On both sides there were skilful instigators. Considering all in all there was hardly anyone to plan the massacre but the crowd excited by the blood and impunity couldn’t stop.

VoR: West turns blind eye to true causes of Odessa tragedy - Russian FM Sergei Lavrov
VoR. Odessa: Kiev sends its Nazi units to 'stop the fighting'

More than 3 million voters may cast their ballots in the May 11 referendum in the Donetsk region, Donetsk People's Republic Central Elections Commission head Roman Lyagin told Interfax. A round-the-clock call center will operate during the Donbas referendum to collect violation reports, the Central Elections Commission head noted. The Donetsk People's Republic council of representatives of territorial communities, political parties and public organizations approved on April 25 the question to be asked in the May 11 referendum. The question is "Do you support the act of state independence of the Donetsk People's Republic?" The voting will take place from 8 a.m. through 10 p.m. on May 11.

The US Treasury Department says a top official is heading to Europe this week to discuss a possible new round of sanctions against Russia. ● Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen will visit Germany, France and Britain to examine more severe sanctions against Russia in talks with European partners, Reuters reported. A Treasury Department official claimed Monday that an estimated $100 billion in investment may exit Russia this year as the US and its European partners try to hurt the Russian economy through sanctions. Cohen said the new sanctions could include freezing assets of companies in energy, mining and finance. [...] Cohen will also visit Israel for “regular consultations on issues of shared interest,” according to Treasury Department’s media advisory.

The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, will seek a genocide trial for Ukraine’s illegitimate rulers in the Hague International War Crimes Tribunal. ● Duma lawmakers have started to collect the necessary documents and will appeal to the Foreign Ministry for support. Earlier, the ministry submitted to President Vladimir Putin its survey of violations of human rights in Ukraine. The so-called “White Book”, which spans a period from November 2013 to the present day, cites appalling cases of ethnic discrimination, justification of Nazism, and other human rights abuses, to say nothing of punitive operations eastern Ukraine and the bloody massacre in Odessa. The ministry’s survey may serve as proof for European judges of the crimes committed by Kiev.

The Saker ■ From the reports coming out of the eastern Ukraine it appears that a real, coordinated, attack has been launched on Slaviansk. The attackers use the following tactic: a group of men in plainclothes (Right Sector? Foreign mercenaries? SBU?) attack a checkpoint pinning down the defenders. The checkpoint is then surrounded on both sides by armored personnel carriers and heavily armed infantry. Mi-24 helicopters approach from the air and a heavy joint attack of all forces is launched. Assault-rifles, 23/30mm guns, unguided/guided rockets, anti-tank weapons, mortars, snipers and grenade-launchers are engaged. At this point the defenders have no other option but to try to withdraw under fire and the checkpoint is taken. This time around the junta means business.

Alex Lantier: Washington, Ukrainian puppet regime prepare new fascist slaughter in Odessa ■ The horrific violence of the Kiev regime’s fascist supporters is an indictment of the installation by the NATO powers of an unelected and unpopular regime in Kiev through a fascist putsch. As the Kiev regime continues its military operations to crush armed pro-Russian protesters in the Donetsk region of southeast Ukraine, it is preparing renewed bloodshed in Odessa, plunging Ukraine ever deeper into civil war and threatening a Russian military intervention against pro-Kiev forces. It has set the world on the edge of a global war. The Kiev regime faces immense pressure from Washington and the European imperialist powers, from the banks and from its own fascist supporters to retain control of Odessa at all costs. “The possible loss of Odessa in the southwest and parts of eastern Ukraine could be catastrophic for the new government, leaving the country landlocked, cut off entirely from the Black Sea,” the Montreal Gazette noted yesterday. The Washington, DC-based International Monetary Fund has threatened to withhold and renegotiate billion-dollar loans to Kiev, which faces bankruptcy, if it loses control of south and east Ukraine.

NSNBC: Civil War in Ukraine Claims More Fatalities as NATO Launched “War Games” in Estonia
Alex Lantier: Civil war spreads in eastern Ukraine amid attacks by Kiev government
Eric Sommers: America’s neo-Nazi govt. in Kiev: Towards a scenario of military escalation?
VoR: Odessa's Jews coming up with emergency evacuation plans
PressTV: NATO launches military drills in Estonia

Carl Herman ■ “We Are No Longer a Nation Ruled By Laws” || Pulitzer prize winning reporter Chris Hedges – along with journalist Naomi Wolf, Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, activist Tangerine Bolen and others – sued the government to join the NDAA’s allowance of the indefinite detention of Americans. The trial judge in the case asked the government attorneys 5 times whether journalists like Hedges could be indefinitely detained simply for interviewing and then writing about bad guys. The government refused to promise that journalists like Hedges won’t be thrown in a dungeon for the rest of their lives without any right to talk to a judge. The trial judge ruled that the indefinite detention bill was unconstitutional, holding: This Court rejects the government’s suggestion that American citizens can be placed in military detention indefinitely, for acts they could not predict might subject them to detention. But the court of appeal overturned that decision.

Chris Hedges: We’re Losing the Last Shreds of Legal Rights to Protect Ourselves from Oligarchy