SBU Intercepts Ashton’s Phonecall; Maidan Sniper Attack

7 Comments

1. 

   Oui on March 5, 2014 at 1:58 pm

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   Ukraine: Ashton Phonecall On Maidan Snipers.

   Someone recorded a phone call between the Estonian foreign minister Paet and the EU high representative Ashton.

   • …
   • the same Olga [Dr. Olga Bogomolets] (from a civil society group) told me that people killed by snipers on both sides, among policemen and people on the street, that they were the same snipers killing people from both sides, she showed me some photos and said she has a medical doctor and that it is the same handwriting and the same t ype of bullets and it is disturbing that the new coalition now don’t want to investigate (8:25)
   • There is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind snipers it was not Yanukovich but it was somebody from the new coalition. (8:55)
   • it discredited itself from the very beginning this new coalition (9:20)

   Note: This call does not prove that the snipers came from the new coalition site. But it is a hint that this must be investigated.

   Using snipers in such fashion is not uncommon. Snipers shooting at both sides in a civil conflict have been documented during the coup attempt against Chavez, the during the red-shirt vs. yellow-shirt conflicts in Thailand and during protests in Syria.

2. 

   Oui on March 5, 2014 at 4:11 pm

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   Ukraine crisis: bugged call reveals conspiracy theory about Kiev snipers

   (The Guardian) – A leaked phone call between the EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and Estonian foreign minister Urmas Paet has revealed that the two discussed a conspiracy theory that blamed the killing of civilian protesters in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, on the opposition rather than the ousted government.

   The 11-minute conversation was posted on YouTube – it is the second time in a month that telephone calls between western diplomats discussing Ukraine have been bugged.

   In the call, Paet said he had been told snipers responsible for killing police and civilians in Kiev last month were protest movement provocateurs rather than supporters of then-president Viktor Yanukovych. Ashton responds: “I didn’t know … Gosh.”

   The leak came a day after the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said the snipers may have been opposition provocateurs. The Kremlin-funded Russia Today first carried the leaked call online.

   The Estonian foreign ministry confirmed the leaked conversation was accurate. It said: “Foreign minister Paet was giving an overview of what he had heard in Kiev and expressed concern over the situation on the ground. We reject the claim that Paet was giving an assessment of the opposition’s involvement in the violence.” Ashton’s office said it did not comment on leaks.

   During the conversation, Paet quoted a woman named Olga – who the Russian media identified her as Olga Bogomolets, a doctor – blaming snipers from the opposition shooting the protesters.

   “What was quite disturbing, this same Olga told that, well, all the evidence shows that people who were killed by snipers from both sides, among policemen and people from the streets, that they were the same snipers killing people from both sides,” Paet said.

   “So she also showed me some photos, she said that as medical doctor, she can say it is the same handwriting, the same type of bullets, and it’s really disturbing that now the new coalition, that they don’t want to investigate what exactly happened.”

   “So there is a stronger and stronger understanding that behind snipers it was not Yanukovych, it was somebody from the new coalition,” Paet says.

   The Independent: Ukraine: Kiev snipers reportedly hired by opposition leaders not Yanukovich according to ‘bugged call’

3. 

   Oui on March 5, 2014 at 4:42 pm

   Channel 4 : British EU chief hears Ukraine shooting claim in bugged call

   In a leaked phone call, believed to be between EU foreign policy chief Cathy Ashton and Estonia’s foreign minister Urmas Paet, it is claimed Ukraine protesters were shot on the orders of their own leaders.

   In the conversation the speakers discuss a suspicion that snipers who shot protesters in Kiev’s Independence Square, at the height of the Maidan protests, had been hired by opposition leaders, not the Ukrainian government of ousted President Yanukovych.

   “There is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers
     it was not Yanukovych, but it was somebody from the new coalition.”
     Urmas Paet

   In the recording, the male voice says he has been told of evidence suggesting that one group was responsible for shooting both riot police and protesters alike, and that there is a “stronger and stronger understanding” that one of the Maidan leaders organised the shootings.

   “And it’s really disturbing that now the new coalition [government], they don’t want to investigate what exactly happened, so that there is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers it was not Yanukovych, but it was somebody from the new coalition.”

   Baroness Ashton apparently responds: “I think they do want to investigate, and I didn’t know… pick that up – gosh.” Mr Paet says the evidence “discredits from the very beginning” Ukraine’s new leadership.

   Estonia Foreign Minister Urmas Paet confirms leaked call is authentic

4. 

   TarheelDem on March 5, 2014 at 6:23 pm

   If these leaked phone calls are forged or staged, they are very good in not going directly to the preferred narrative.

   What was very interesting about the Nuland-Pyatt leaked call was Nuland’s very believeable “Fuck the EU.”

   What is very interesting about this call are the practical details that are recited about what civil society groups should be doing under these circumstances and how Eastern European EU members (Ashton is EU foreign minister) have the depth of political experience that should be used and how it is necessary to move funds into Ukraine from the EU.  Also the idea that the pro-Russian citizens of Ukraine in the south and east becoming politically awake and demanding something other than a corrupt government was not a bad thing.

   The fact that snipers were firing at both sides indicates that they were hired to make martyrs.  That is not consistent with civil society movements.   And it is striking that this same sort of report is what shifted the situation in Syria.   In Libya, it clearly was government sponsored mercenaries who were gunning down protesters with anti-aircraft guns mounted on “technicals”.   These sniper incidents speak of mercenaries to my mind.

   The new government would be wise to investigate.  And look as some former US contractors looking for new work.

5. 

   Arthur Gilroy on March 6, 2014 at 1:17 pm

   

   There is no bottom to it. It is an endless hustle. It has been going on so long that even the hustlers are no longer sure of the truth(s) of the matter(s).

   Opt out.

   You be bettah off.

   Stay home and tale care of your own business.

   What if they threw a hustle and no one came?

   

   Then what?

   AG

6. 

   Oui on March 7, 2014 at 11:00 am

   Ukraine Protests: ‘Sniper’ fires from Ukraine media hotel – BBC News
   20 February 2014 Last updated at 23:42 GMT

   In the bloodiest day of clashes yet, at least 21 anti-government protesters died in Kiev on Thursday. Officials said that one policeman had also died. Snipers were reported to have fired on protesters, and some armed demonstrators were also reported to be firing towards security forces. Video

   Reporting for Newsnight, Gabriel Gatehouse said he saw what looked like a protester shooting out of a window at the BBC’s Kiev base, the Ukraine Hotel [4 Instytutska str, Ukraine, 01001 Kyiv].

   Remarks by Oui: Is this a BBC journalistic report? Look at video, at 1:20 an 8 sec. piece from RFERL/RadioSvoboda.org is inserted in BBC report. This is exactly what The Guardian pulled off in it’s report of sniper fire along Instytutska Street. The BBC report comes from area closer to Maidan Square and looks the protesters in the back as they try to advance. At 2:50 the reporter has crossed the street [International Center of Culture and Arts] and points to the media Ukraine hotel 5th floor where a sniper fired his rifle. From that position, a sniper could fire at the police line near Barkova Street and has a shot at the protesters.

   Interesting to find sniper firing from media hotel Ukraine – location via Google maps – under overpass.

   As I recall, a few protesters who were hit by sniper fire didbn’t fall backwards, but sideways. An indication that could have been from hotel window, the very line of fire. The group of protesters were surprised by the accurate and deadly hits and had no idea where the shots were coming from. See here original video.

7. 

   Salunga on March 7, 2014 at 5:18 pm

      
   Reuters on Svoboda

   Screw these lunatics:

   But Ivan Katchanovski, a political scientist at the University of Ottawa who has studied the far-right in Ukraine, disagreed that Svoboda was so extreme. “Svoboda is currently best described as a radical nationalist party, and not as fascist or neo-Nazi,” he said. “It is now not overtly anti-Semitic.”

   Andrew Srulevitch, director of European Affairs for the Anti-Defamation League, an international group based in the U.S. that monitors anti-Semites and other political extremists, said: “Svoboda has been disciplined in its messaging regarding Jews since the Maidan demonstrations started in November, but they have a history of anti-Semitic statements to overcome, and a clear political program of ethnic nationalism that makes Jews nervous.”

    Oui you have been saying it all week.