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Note by Roger Annis, Jan 29, 2015 Among the many problems for the capitalist governments in Europe that the election in Greece has produced is that it complicates matters greatly for the additional sanctions against Russia that they would like to impose. Sanctions by the EU require unanimous consent of member countries. Ministers of the new Greek government have signaled that such consent is unlikely or downright not going to happen. Let us hope. Already, some EU countries have nixed sanctions proposals, such as the one floated by Britain last summer to cut Russia out of the SWIFT banking payment system. That proposal is being floated again by the largest capitalist governments in Europe and by the U.S. New sanctions are on the agenda as a result of the successful pushback by self defense forces in Donbas against the Kyiv government's rupture two weeks ago of the shaky and highly unsatisfactory ceasefire that Russia pressured Donbas rebels to accept in early September last year. Kyiv never respected the ceasefire for a moment. It used the four months of time it gained to rearm, following its disastrous military setback in late August of last year. When it launched its new military offensive several weeks ago, it did so while draping itself in the flag of 'Je suis Charlie', that is, 'We, too, are victims of terrorism'. That's straight out of a script of an episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The rupture of the ceasefire is, of course, being blamed by imperialist media and governments on self defense forces. That's the same media that does not report on the use of cluster weapons, shelling of towns and cities, bombing of buses, etc by Kyiv's army and its allied fascist militias. I have several articles forthcoming on the propaganda efforts of imperialist media, and you can follow that specific story via the 'Media critique' page of the New Cold War.org website. One of my article will examine how the Toronto Star has been supporting various fundraising campaigns in Toronto of the fascist Right Sector party and the fascist paramilitary battalions that have been integrated into Ukraine's police and military apparatus. MP Peggy Nash shared a platform in Toronto on November 29 with a guest, Right Sector speaker brought over from Ukraine to celebrate one year of the Euromaidan movement. (Reported here: http://newcoldwar.org/letter-toronto-star-presentation-war-ukraine-exceptionally-one-sided-2/) The offensive launched by Kyiv in mid-January, beginning with an effort to take the Donetsk airport, is failing badly. Today's mainstream news reports that self defense forces are very close to sealing a cauldron at the town of Debaltsevo in Donetsk region. Thousands of Ukrainian troops are trapped there. Russia has announced it will extend beyond 90 days the permitted stays of Ukrainian men of military conscription age. Reports of revolt against military conscription across Ukraine are frequent and growing. All this and more can be read and followed on the website 'New Cold War: Ukraine and beyond'. http://newcoldwar.org/ Specific articles on Greece are here: * New Greek government could lead the charge against Russia sanctions, Russia Insider, Jan 28, 2015 http://newcoldwar.org/new-greek-government-lead-charge-russia-sanctions/ * Cutoff of Russia from SWIFT banking system is threatened, The Moscow Times, Jan 29, 2015 http://newcoldwar.org/cutoff-russia-swift-floated-sanctions-threatened/ _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
