Protests in Ukraine escalate

[Natalka]

Poroshenko addresses US Congress Sept. 18



(selections)

There are moments in history when freedom is more than just a political concept. At those moments, freedom becomes the ultimate choice, which defines who you are – as a person and as a nation.

Ukraine has lived this moment over the last 10 months – and became the scene of the most heroic story of the last decade, a synonym for sacrifice, dedication and the unbreakable will to live free. The defenders of freedom were willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of a better future. What is even more amazing, they won. Armed with only sticks and shields, they attacked the special police and chased them away.

Democracies must support each other. They must show solidarity in the face of aggression and adversity. Otherwise, they will be eliminated – one by one. The outcome of today’s war will determine whether we will be forced to accept the reality of a dark, torn, and bitter Europe as part of a new world order.

These Ukrainian army, these young boys (underequipped, and often unappreciated by the world) are the only thing that now stands between the reality of peaceful coexistence and the nightmare of a full relapse into the previous century and a new cold war.

Today, aggression against Ukraine is a threat to global security everywhere. Hybrid proxy wars, terrorism, national radical and extremist movements, the erosion of international agreements, the blurring, and even erasing, of national identities: all of these threats now challenge Europe. If they are not stopped now, they will cross European borders and spread throughout the globe.

Ukraine truly makes a difference. By supporting Ukraine, you support a new future for Europe and the entire free world. By supporting Ukraine, you support a nation that has chosen freedom in the most cynical of times.

In Ukraine, you don’t build a democracy – it already exists. You just defend it! This is what makes Ukraine unique, and its struggle deeply and profoundly different from other conflicts on the world scene. This is what makes Ukraine the ultimate test of adherence to the ideal of freedom!

“Live free or die!” – was one of the mottos of the American Revolutionary War.

“Live free or die!” – was the spirit on the revolutionary Maidan during the dramatic winter months of 2014.

“Live free or die!” are the words of Ukrainian soldiers standing on the line of freedom in this war.

“Live free!” – must be the answer, with which Ukraine comes out of this war.

“Live free!” – must be the message Ukraine and America send to the world, while standing together in this time of enormous challenge.

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45 minutes speaking, 10 standing ovations!

more info and commentary here
http://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/op-e...ss-365141.html

[Natalka]

White House Washington, DC Rally in Support of Ukraine. Photos via Ukrainian Congress Committee of America

[Natalka]

From Stephen Harper's FB page

[gryphon]

Canada stands with its Ukrainian brethren.

And I hope to see the occupation of Crimea ended soon

[Natalka]

Things in Crimea not going well...

Russia amassing armour on #Crimea's border with #Ukraine
Russia continues to mass troops and military hardware on Crimea's administrative border with mainland Ukraine, Andriy Lysenko, the spokesman of the #Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council, told a briefing in Kyiv.
Lysenko said: "According to intelligence reports, the Russian detachments in temporarily occupied Crimea whose deployment in the north of the peninsula we reported yesterday have around 50 tanks, 100 armoured vehicles and multiple-launch rocket vehicles."

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Attacks on Crimean Tatars continue in Crimea


Nadir Bekir (pictured here in 2013) says four masked men pulled him from his car, forced him to the ground, and took his Ukrainian passport and mobile phone.

SIMFEROPOL, Crimea -- A Crimean Tatar scholar says masked assailants dragged him from his car and took his passport in an attack meant to prevent him from attending a UN conference in New York.
The attack on Nadir Bekir late on September 18 came hours after Russian authorities moved to seize the Crimean Tatar assembly, the Mejlis, piling pressure on the Turkic-speaking Muslim minority group that largely opposed Moscow's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine.

On September 19, the main Crimean Tatar library in the regional capital, Simferopol, announced that it is being shut down in accordance with an August government resolution to replace libraries on the peninsula with Russian state entities.

Bekir, an expert on indigenous peoples, told RFE/RL he was attacked on his way from Simferopol to the city of Dzhankoi, where he planned to board a train for Kyiv and then fly to New York.

He said a white minibus abruptly blocked his car on the highway. Four masked men emerged, pulled him from his car, forced him to the ground, and took his Ukrainian passport and mobile phone. He said one of the attackers opened his passport and told the others: "Yes, that 's him!"

Without his passport, Bekir said he cannot leave Crimea. He believes the attack was meant to prevent him from participating in the September 22-23 UN World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, part of the UN General Assembly.


Houses and apartments of leading members of the Crimean Tatar community, as well as the Mejlis offices, were searched by police and unidentified masked, armed men on September 16-17.

In the Mejlis, police confiscated records of the Crimean Tatar self-governing body's sessions as well as religious books, computers, and personal belongings of longtime Crimean Tatar leader and Ukrainian lawmaker Mustafa Dzhemilev.

Dzhemilev is a well-known Soviet-era human rights activist who served six sentences in Soviet prison camps from 1966 to 1986.
Earlier this year, Russian authorities barred Dzhemilev and the chairman of the Mejlis, Refat Chubarov, from entering Crimea, saying their activities "incite interethnic hatred."

http://www.rferl.org/content/crimea-.../26595092.html

[Natalka]

“Worldwide peace march” in support of Ukraine - Haifa, Israel

[gryphon]

Things in Crimea not going well...

Russia amassing armour on #Crimea's border with #Ukraine
Russia continues to mass troops and military hardware on Crimea's administrative border with mainland Ukraine, Andriy Lysenko, the spokesman of the #Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council, told a briefing in Kyiv.
Lysenko said: "According to intelligence reports, the Russian detachments in temporarily occupied Crimea whose deployment in the north of the peninsula we reported yesterday have around 50 tanks, 100 armoured vehicles and multiple-launch rocket vehicles."

---

Attacks on Crimean Tatars continue in Crimea


Nadir Bekir (pictured here in 2013) says four masked men pulled him from his car, forced him to the ground, and took his Ukrainian passport and mobile phone.

SIMFEROPOL, Crimea -- A Crimean Tatar scholar says masked assailants dragged him from his car and took his passport in an attack meant to prevent him from attending a UN conference in New York.
The attack on Nadir Bekir late on September 18 came hours after Russian authorities moved to seize the Crimean Tatar assembly, the Mejlis, piling pressure on the Turkic-speaking Muslim minority group that largely opposed Moscow's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine.

On September 19, the main Crimean Tatar library in the regional capital, Simferopol, announced that it is being shut down in accordance with an August government resolution to replace libraries on the peninsula with Russian state entities.

Bekir, an expert on indigenous peoples, told RFE/RL he was attacked on his way from Simferopol to the city of Dzhankoi, where he planned to board a train for Kyiv and then fly to New York.

He said a white minibus abruptly blocked his car on the highway. Four masked men emerged, pulled him from his car, forced him to the ground, and took his Ukrainian passport and mobile phone. He said one of the attackers opened his passport and told the others: "Yes, that 's him!"

Without his passport, Bekir said he cannot leave Crimea. He believes the attack was meant to prevent him from participating in the September 22-23 UN World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, part of the UN General Assembly.


Houses and apartments of leading members of the Crimean Tatar community, as well as the Mejlis offices, were searched by police and unidentified masked, armed men on September 16-17.

In the Mejlis, police confiscated records of the Crimean Tatar self-governing body's sessions as well as religious books, computers, and personal belongings of longtime Crimean Tatar leader and Ukrainian lawmaker Mustafa Dzhemilev.

Dzhemilev is a well-known Soviet-era human rights activist who served six sentences in Soviet prison camps from 1966 to 1986.
Earlier this year, Russian authorities barred Dzhemilev and the chairman of the Mejlis, Refat Chubarov, from entering Crimea, saying their activities "incite interethnic hatred."

http://www.rferl.org/content/crimea-.../26595092.html

Crimea will be free again!

[Natalka]

gryphon, I believe so, too!

[Natalka]

Mariupol celebrates the day of the city with a rally and vyshyvanka parade, during which the servicemen protecting Mariupol from Russian invaders were awarded

[Natalka]

19 September

the militants made use of GRAD’s full capabilities and shelled Mariupol’s suburbs Talakovka and Sartana, burning down the fields around them

[Natalka]

Group in China supports Ukraine’s army



A “Flag for Ukraine” flash mob was held on Saturday, September 20, in Beijing at the Embassy of Ukraine in China, reports the Ukrinform news agency.
The event was attended by about 300 people from over 10 countries, including many Chinese. Participants, dressed in blue and yellow T-shirts, formed a Ukrainian flag

Sales of 450 T-shirts brought over 60,000 yuan (almost US $10,000), which will go to help wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the ATO zone. It was decided to donate the money to a military hospital in Irpin, Ukraine (Kyiv Oblast) for prosthetics.

Ambassador of Ukraine to China Oleh Domin thanked all participants who came to support Ukraine. “Your presence here today shows that we are together, that Ukraine is not alone at this difficult time,” he said.





http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/09/2...ukraines-army/

[Natalka]

in Kyiv a huge vyshyvanka rally takes place

[Natalka]

(how scary would this be?)

@Alexp anchenko2 Sep 18
An SS-21 "Tochka" ballistic missile (a Russian short-range ballistic missile) fell on this #Snizhne, Ukraine back yard (app. #UXO ). Besides that, “ceasefire holds”

[Natalka]

Today demonstration in Berlin at the Russian Embassy against Russia's aggression in Ukraine

[Natalka]

Sunday, September 21st is the International Day of Peace, and millions of people around the world will participate. Ukrainians in different countries will take part in marches and manifestations for the quick resolution of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, and for withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

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Hoping things go peacefully in Moscow



translation of their poster -

We demand to cease the irresponsible aggressive policy of the Russian government that brought war to Ukraine. In Ukraine, Russian servicemen are being killed and captured, including recruits. This is a direct military intervention, for which there is no excuse.

Russia's politics lead to the rise of fascist tendencies inside our own country, the world isolation of Russia, to heavy economic consequences, the burden of which we all have yet to bear. It is accompanied by the aggravation of political repressions inside Russia and the further limitation of civic rights and freedoms of Russian citizens.

Even if now the insane pressure of the cynical and deceitful government propaganda of war and hate temporarily leaves us as a minority, truth is on our side. But there are many of us even today. And our voice will be loud. We want it to be heard.