What is happening with Russia and Ukraine now?

Sorry, I wasn't referring to you specifically but in general. It was just a way of getting my thoughts across. I understand that not everyone has been following this conflict and they can also come to different conclusions simply due to a lack of info rather than manipulation. As Komo said, feel free to ask if you have any questions - I'm no expert on the topic and I can't say I've been following the events in Ukraine as closely as he has, but I will also try to explain through my point of view when I can.

This is so accurate that it's sad.

 

Okay, thanks

I knew that, that's why I put "JK," meaning Just Kidding, underneath the smiley.

 

About 300k people in Lvov have been cut off from water supply due to debts.

 

One year ago today Right Sector burned dozens of people in the Trade Union house in Odessa.

 

It's been a year since the point of no return. Lets do a quick recap of how it all started. Keep in mind that a lot more events have taken place, but unfortunately Youtube has since removed most if not all related videos:

0. Nazi posers chanting "kill the Russians", 2010, 2011 and 2013:

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]g3M1vw4qHyw[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]lSGqlV65TwI[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]y6jEYWgS0XI[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]yCCH1BTLFro[/YOUTUBE]

1. Svoboda goons assaulting WW2 veterans in Lvov, 2011:

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]1sgT69aEb0w[/YOUTUBE]

2. Dmitro Yarosh, leader of Right sector, giving a speech to his goons about Russia being the enemy of Ukraine, sometime in 2013:

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]nDDC0lDxinY[/YOUTUBE]

3. Nazi posers march with torches, chanting "kill the Russians", trying to burn a hotel, 1st of January, 2014:

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]2QsVVkA4Ywo[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]Ggm6GnqtM-A[/YOUTUBE]

4. Right sector goons beat a police officer and cut his eye out, 18th of February, 2014 (NSFW):

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]-PLMfEDurRI[/YOUTUBE]

5. Right sector goons assaulting and killing Anti-maidan activists on the 20th of February, 2014 (NSFW):

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]pwtiw7MoRVs[/YOUTUBE]

6. Right sector goons chanting "kill the Russians", 24th of February, 2014:

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]3qPthOZ0v-8[/YOUTUBE]

7. The United States ambassador to UN, Samantha Power, says there is no evidence that ethnic Russians or Russian speakers in Ukraine are under threat, 3rd of March, 2014.

8. School in Lvov, Russian names in Ukraine are unacceptable, and children must not use them. They are presented with a list containing "proper" names that they will use from this point onward, 13th of March 2014:

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]__Z96d39Yko[/YOUTUBE]

9. Nazi posers chanting "kill the Russians", 14th of March, 2014:

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]KX_ja9OezuE[/YOUTUBE]

10. School in Lvov, children chanting "kill the Russians", 15th of March, 2014:

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]KrJC6rU9lG0[/YOUTUBE]

11. Ukrainian TV. Donetsk people are second class citizens, they are uneducated idiots, 16th of March, 2014:

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]t6UCPBiU8GY[/YOUTUBE]

12. Autonomous republic of Crimea holds a referendum to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.

13. Nazi posers assaulting civilians that wear Saint's George ribbons, 18th of March, 2014:

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]qVpkyOppTrM[/YOUTUBE]

14. After an overwhelming majority of the population votes in favour, autonomous republic of Crimea officially secedes from Ukraine and joins Russia, 18th of March 2014.

15. Svoboda party goons beating up a TV channel director for broadcasting Putin's speech about Crimea, 19th of March, 2014:

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]pn4WjN_Dpcc[/YOUTUBE]

16. Right sector goons chanting "kill the Russians" in Kiev, 25th of March, 2014:

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]dkzOSoK9CHU[/YOUTUBE]

17. Nazi posers burning dozens of people in a Trade Union house in Odessa, 2nd of May, 2014 (NSFW):

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]IVXm9nnY-AQ[/YOUTUBE]

18. Ukrainian army shooting on civilians in Mariupol, 9th of May, 2014 (NSFW):

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]kno4MEp9sPY[/YOUTUBE]

The rest was covered in this thread in great detail.

 

You're showing a very one-sided image with that last post. Ukrainian-speaking, Tatar and Polish civilians (as well as other groups despised by Russian nationalists) have been persecuted in Eastern Ukraine and many had to flee to avoid repression or in some cases just to survive. However, one thing I can certainly agree with is that Ukrainian oppression of the Russian-speaking minority in the country has been much more widespread and easier to record because it is supported by the Kiev government - plus this whole ATO, which in theory may have some other purpose, but in practice all it has done is alienated the majority of the inhabitants of Eastern Ukraine and classed them as terrorists regardless of their actions, not too mention the countless lives it has taken.

Nevertheless, I still feel that just because one side is clearly the underdog and the other an incredibly incompetent state that harms its people as much as it does its "enemies", we should not be inclined to glorify the separatists or portray them solely as victims (or indeed people associated with their cause in some way). Their government (as the structures that have been formed in the East can certainly be called that) fulfills the role of the oppressor over there and even if the ATO never happened, the Donbas region would still be a pretty shitty place to live with a fairly authoritarian rule that doesn't tolerate very much deviance from the norm at all.

In fact, one such example is the treatment of homosexuals, and the circumstances under which this is happening are disgusting... Even with all the warfare and bloodshed going on, leaders of both DNR and LNR have publicly spoken out against LGBT people and same sex relationships - whether private or not - have been criminalised there (as if they didn't have more pressing matters to attend to, such as the Ukrainian and neo-Nazi attacks against them, but I guess they had to add to the pile and make the place even worse to live for its citizens than it was before). Ukraine has never been a good place for gays/lesbians, but at least it was legal there, so the rebels have actually gone backwards in that aspect and of course attacks against and killings of homosexuals have increased in the region as a result. It's one side of this whole change that no one really talks about.

Anyway, something I did really like about your recap is how it highlights the fact that far-right attacks as well as institutionalised discrimination have been used against Russians/Russian-speakers throughout Ukraine and not just in the East close to the combat zone as many may think.

 

If you could help me make a similar list for the other side, that would be great

 

Sure, I could probably drop you some links to a few relevant articles through PMs, but probably not today as I've got a few things to do and in 2 hours on I'm also going to do a heist with Potarto in GTA Online. Hopefully I will have some time for it tomorrow. Would you like articles or videos relating to the things I've mentioned earlier (repression of homosexuals, Ukrainian-speakers, Tatars, Poles and such) or something more/less specific?

 

Whenever you are ready, just compile them into a single message and send me a PM. Relevant articles are good enough, but if you could find videos to compliment them that's great.

I'll sift through it and post it here in the same manner as the first one.

 

Azov batallion goons shot and killed a police patrol in Kiev (Not the first time it happens).

Said police officers turned out to have been anti-maidan activists, so no punishment is nesessary.

"...I backed over three people with my car. Luckily, they turned out to be drug-dealers."

 

Germans in Berlin calling Ukrainian demonstrators "faschists" and "nazis", looks like Europeans don't want them:

[YOUTUBE]-17NC-HIFdM[/YOUTUBE]

 

CNN: Kerry and Lavrov were in talks in Sochi.

Surprisingly in an interview afterwards Kerry said that Poroshenko should "think twice" before reigniting the conflict (Poroshenko recently made a statement that UA army will take back Donetsk Airport) and stay true to the Minsk ceasefire agreement:

Quote at about 15 second mark:

[YOUTUBE]SMij7BfeD80[/YOUTUBE]

 

I found a Vladimir Putin song. It really has nothing to contribute to the conversation, but I though I should post it anyway -I find it very catchy. It does however mention Ukraine (once), but in no way as detailed as this thread. Anyway, this is of course a parody song and I post it with no means to offend anyone.

[YOUTUBE]UbBaSfgNJnE[/YOUTUBE]

 

I'm okay with that. But you should consider posting it in a separate thread.

Here is one more for good measure, from the "Silent speeches" series:

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]g5O55Ysm5VE[/YOUTUBE]

 

:lol:
Putin is so cool. Hahah. But yeah, I' wasn't too sure where the video should had gone at the moment.

 

Late Nemtsov's report on the Russian invasion of Ukraine was presented recently. Yashin says that they have a "substancial" amount of photographic evidence of Russian vehicles in Ukraine, but they couldn't confirm that any of these photographs were taken in Ukraine.

[YOUTUBE]bhLSBppSmvI[/YOUTUBE]

 

Ukrainian president and Ukrainian bloggers (45 thousand of them to be exact) sent a question to Mark Zuckerberg, a head of Facebook, about pro-Ukrainian posts being deleted (And spammed his wall in the process). They claim they are being deleted by Russians. They also asked to establish a Facebook office in Ukraine.

Mark replies that it was done because of hate speech violating the rules of the website in those posts, not because of any political reason. He also said that Facebook does not have a Russian office to begin with, and the messages are being moderated by the multinational team in Dublin.

Here is the video of the Q&A, the discussion in question happens at around 2:55: [Click me!]

Ukrainians appear to be very upset over it.

 

On an unrelated note - Macedonia is having trouble with a brewing colour revolution. A bunch of buses spontaneously showed up:



With tons of people in matching uniforms, which happened by a crazy coincidence:



And piles of food and water showed up out of nowhere:



This is clearly a people's will and not some sort of planned event, amiright? I mean what are the odds this happens for the past 20 years in countries that are pissing off that one other country?

EDIT: Moldova too:

[YOUTUBE]Z3_p1n5b23s[/YOUTUBE]

Reminds you of anything?

[YOUTUBE]WiRdtcjw208[/YOUTUBE]

 

A selection of western media has been reporting mistreatment of minorities and LGBT community in DPR/LPR and Crimea for the past year.

The Guardian, March, 2015: The vocal Tatar critics of Moscow have been subjected to deportation, threats and kidnappings. But a year after Russia’s official declaration of the annexation, which will be marked with celebrations in Moscow and Simferopol, the Crimean capital, on Wednesday, many Crimean Tatars feel they need to find a way to interact with the new authorities.

It is clear that many Crimean Tatars have decided that, unwilling to leave their homeland, it is better to find a modus vivendi with Russia rather than be in permanent opposition. At a court case last week in Simferopol, of three Ukrainian activists who were sentenced to 40 hours of manual labour for waving the national flag in public, two of the police officers giving testimony against them were Tatars. And Smirnov is not the only Tatar in government.

Centrum Informacji Anarchistycznej: The authorities of the People's Republic of Lugansk introduced penalties for homosexuality that range from 2 to 5 years in prison. Members of the People's Republic of Lugansk argue that in this way protect cultural values ​​and religious residents of its territory. If sentenced for five years, the sentence will be served in prison. If sentenced for two years, the sentence will be served as hard labor. Those convicted of a rape receive the same sentences.

The Independent, May, 2014: Ukrainian Jews have often been persecuted. Before the Second World War, they were the largest minority in this area, making up a little under a third of Ukraine’s urban populations and numbering almost three million. Persecution and emigration over the past century have brought their numbers down to fewer than 70,000 today. On Friday, The Times of Israel reported a significant increase in the number of Ukrainian Jews from Ukraine applying to emigrate to Israel.

The BuzzFeed, May, 2014: Ukraine’s conservative, industrial east has never been an easy place to be LGBT. In Soviet times, it was a crime. Today many there follow the resurgent Russian Orthodox Church, which condemns homosexuality. In the coal mines that drive the region’s failing economy, the worst insults are crude anti-gay slurs. And as eastern cities have slipped out of Kiev’s control and casualties mount, many LGBT people feel increasingly under threat.

 

RE: Macedonia

Pro-government protest gathers tens of thousands of people in Skopje.

Tens of thousands of supporters of Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski have held a rally in the capital, Skopje. It comes one day after a huge antigovernment demonstration called for Gruevski's resignation following the release of recordings that appear to show ministers plotting vote-rigging.

The pro-Gruevski rally in central Skopje appeared comparable in size to the May 17 opposition demonstration, and was being held outside the parliament building, some 2 kilometers away from where hundreds of opposition supporters were camping out in front of government offices.

Zoran Zaev, the leader of the center-lefft Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), on May 17 called on demonstrators to stay outside the government headquarters "until Gruevski goes."

Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]3FCSzLmgoQs[/YOUTUBE]

That Turkish stream deal must have caused all this. Good to know people around the world actually take Ukrainian example into consideration now and seem to understand what happens due to inaction.