Heroes of the Euromaidan Revolution are Leaving Ukraine | VICE | United States

One year ago, Dasha Oratovska and Sasha Zakhovaieva fled from Kyiv's Independence Square as riot police launched an assault on anti-government protesters, firing flares and rubber bullets into the crowd. Sasha lost consciousness and was dragged by a friend to a makeshift hospital in the nearby Trade Unions building. The building soon caught fire, forcing doctors and wounded protesters to evacuate. As the Euromaidan Revolution reached its bloody crescendo, Dasha found Sasha sitting, dazed, on St. Sophia Square, a short distance from Independence Square.

Six months later, Dasha left Ukraine, likely permanently. Sasha remains in Kyiv but has begun formulating contingency plans should the violence in the country's east creep west.

They are not alone. Ukrainians are fleeing the country in record numbers: since February 2014, 600,000 Ukrainians have sought asylum or other forms of legal stay in neighboring countries, and thousands more have moved to the U.S. and the European Union. Others have fled illegally: Poland reported a 100 percent increase in the number of detentions of illegal Ukrainian immigrants last year.

But the emigrants are not only asylum seekers. They are the Western-leaning intelligentsia, the professional classes with relatives abroad, and the students of the Maidan who first organized protests against former President Viktor Yanukovych's kleptocratic and violent government in November 2013.

Since the overthrow of Yanukovych last year, a Russian-backed secessionist movement has claimed the lives of 5,400 people and injured 13,000. The recent ceasefire has done little to quell the violence. Inflation is skyrocketing, hitting 25 percent in December. The hryvnia, Ukraine's national currency, has lost two-thirds of its value against the dollar over the past year. This devaluation has crushed Ukrainians' purchasing power, particularly for western goods, and severely limited their mobility: the average monthly Ukrainian salary was $384 in January 2014. By December 2014, it was down to just $261.

There is little reason to stay; the brain drain from Ukraine is accelerating.

Compassionate, diminutive, and curly-haired, Dasha got her undergraduate degree at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine's most prestigious university. Trained as a social worker, she was an active volunteer while living in Ukraine, working regularly with drug addicts and patients at a psychiatric hospital in Kyiv before leaving for the Netherlands last summer. Dasha says she and other recent émigrés are conflicted about whether or not to return. "Many will not go back," she predicts. Spending months protesting for an unfulfilled vision was taxing: "I can't say that I want to return home soon. As I was standing on the Maidan last winter, I realized how difficult it would be for me to stay in Kyiv."

Complete story at - Heroes of the Euromaidan Revolution are Leaving Ukraine | VICE | United States

Yushchenko: Euromaidan brought national disaster | Ukraina.ru

Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said he did not take part in the Euromaidan due to its demands to release former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko from prison

"I understood very well that there was another project within the circle of political leaders at that time, a political project that ran parallel to what was happening on the square. When the Maidan kept chanting 'Free Yulia!' there was no room for me there," Yushchenko said.

He acknowledged that he went to the Maidan but did not share its ideology.

Regarding Tymoshenko, he said her goal was to destabilize the Ukrainian president, and stressed that the Maidan led Ukraine to a national disaster.

"When I saw short-term change of government considerations take precedence over the perfectly sensible demands of the intelligent young people, I realized that we were faced with national disaster," the former president said.

Complete story at - Yushchenko: Euromaidan brought national disaster | Ukraina.ru

Ukraine - Here's Your "European Future." Enjoy it if you can.

NoBC4U Note: I don't usually post the complete text of long articles, preferring instead that readers go visit these original sites themselves. But I'm making an exception in this case. I started this blog because of the complete blackout of anything remotely resembling the truth regarding EuroMaidan and Ukraine's "European Future." Few wanted to listen to me, preferring instead to keep their head in the propaganda cloud. 

 How could the average Ukrainian have known? Check out my blog. I've been posting ever since March. I knew there was a train wreck approaching long before I first posted, so don't tell me that there was no way to know. I knew. Anybody could have, had they chosen to.  And you're one of those who chose to.  Thanks from NoBC4U.

Well, here's your freaking European future for you, Ukraine. Hope you enjoy it!

Ukrainian government prepares social collapse | Украина.ру

Journalist Olga Shelkova analyzes how the new Cabinet of Ministers’ program to reduce social spending will affect the daily lives of the Ukrainian citizens

Within 10 months of the Maidan protests, the Ukrainian people have experienced a lot of hardships from the civil war to a decline in living standards, the devaluation of hryvnia, wage cuts, rising unemployment, and skyrocketing retail prices and utilities bills. Apparently, this is just the beginning of difficulties and troubles for the Ukrainians because they will now have to live under open control of the Ukrainian government’s policies by the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF mission will work in Kiev from December 9 to December 18. According to IMF Resident Representative in Ukraine Jerome Vacher, the mission "will begin policy discussions with the Ukrainian authorities in the context of the Fund-supported economic reform program."

The Cabinet took time to prepare for this meeting.

Having appointed foreign nationals to its government, Kiev outdid even Georgia and the [post-Soviet] Baltic countries that are known for their status of voluntary Western colonies. Whereas in these countries members of higher public authorities include only representatives of the titular, as they say there, nation, though with foreign citizenship, there’s only one Ukrainian – a widely publicized "successful businesswoman," Natalie Jaresko, the Finance Minister of Ukraine – in the Kiev government formed with foreign nationals. (NoBC4U Note: Possibly mis-translated? There are three foreigners with ministerial positions. Natalie Jaresko is one of those three. The rest are Ukrainians).

The official reason for inviting foreign ministers is the need to combat corruption and conduct reforms which will supposedly bring Ukraine closer to European standards. The nature of these reforms can be clearly seen from proposed budget cuts submitted to the Cabinet by Natalie Jaresko.

Falling exactly in line with the warnings issued by opponents to the Euromaidan, the European integration will be conducted at the expense of regular citizens of Ukraine. First of all, the Ukrainians are in for the abolition of the constitutional provisions on free education and healthcare, as well as the reduction of the period of compulsory school education from 11 to 9 years. The finance minister is citing the European experience, where compulsory education ends when students reach 15-16 years of age. Good thing they haven’t gone the Georgian way, where secondary education ends when children turn 12.

Regulations prohibiting the reduction of the number of medical and educational institutions are being cancelled, as are the provisions for mandatory budget financing of healthcare and education in the amount that is no less than 10 percent of national revenue. Food in hospitals and schools will become a paid service, as well as classes in children's and youth sports schools.

Students of higher educational institutions, just like schoolchildren and teaching staff, will lose their stipends and their entitlement to free use of transport services. To make things worse, teachers’ workload will increase. Stipends will no longer be adjusted for inflation and will from now on be paid only to people with disabilities and students from low-income families. Teachers will lose additional payments for their academic degrees and titles.

The Chernobyl residents are in for many surprises as well. The government plans to cancel the zone of increased radiation monitoring. The people who were affected by the Chernobyl disaster will lose their entitlement to special medical treatment, increased Category 4 stipends, compensations and benefits, monthly allowances to families with children, extra payments for work in contaminated areas and compensations for lost property.Payments to deportees for completing individual housing construction, increasing seniority for pension-payment purposes, entitlements to subsidized medicine supplies and compensations for housing and other property lost to deportation have been canceled. This concerns, primarily, Crimean Tatars, who left Crimea in order to stay in Ukraine. Proper reward for showing patriotism, to be sure.

Public organizations will no longer be supported, and cash rewards to athletes have been halved.

Retired people will be hit hard. The retirement age will be increased by 10 years for women and five years for men. The length of service that makes employees eligible for receiving retirement pensions will increase by seven years. With ongoing decline in output, sliding economy and ensuing rise in unemployment, getting such length of service may be a difficult task. To ensure "social justice," average wages for calculating pensions will be frozen at the 2014 level.

Further allowances to complement retirement pensions will now be determined by the Cabinet of Ministers, and the pensions will not be adjusted until "the economy of Ukraine is stabilized."

There’s more.

From now on, pensions will be recalculated using the percentage of the contributions made to the Pension Fund rather than actual wages, which will significantly reduce the amount of pensions, because due to inflation, there’s a huge difference in pension contributions in the 1990s and the 2010s.

The fact that the existing amounts of pensions will remain unchanged even for those who are already receiving pensions is not warranted.

In its quest for ways to minimize the length of service and reduce the amount of pensions, the Ukrainian government is studying the "advanced" experience of the Baltic states.

A delegation from the Ministry of Social Policy and the Pension Fund visited Lithuania, where the parties discussed the possibility of revising social security pensions to the recipients who receive pensions for their years of work in Lithuania and Ukraine.

The issue is about a new principle of counting the years of work in the Soviet Union, according to which each state should calculate the pension and pay it only for the actual work in that particular country. In Lithuania, when calculating pensions, they first consider the service after 1990, whereas the work during the Soviet period is covered at a much lower rate, because then the people were "working for the occupier country." Given the rhetoric coming from Kiev, a similar approach can be adopted by Kiev as well.The pensioners will lose their entitlements to free use of transportation, reduced utilities bills, reduced prices for solid fuel, gas and telecommunications services. The targeted financial assistance in these cases will be provided only to 6 million low-income pensioners. The state pilot project for controlling prices for the hypertension treatment medicines will be suspended. Of course, this will affect pensioners more than anyone else, depriving them of access to inexpensive essential medicines.

However, being sick and giving birth to children is not a good idea in the new "Europeanized" Ukraine, either. Payouts for sick leaves will be reduced from 60-100 percent of the average wage down to 45-80 percent. As she proceeds to cut payments for temporary disability, the minister with an American passport cites European experience whereby employees in France and Italy receive 50 percent of their respective salaries during the first 20 days of their sick leave, and 70 percent subsequently, whereas Slovakians receive only 25 percent and 55 percent, respectively.

Plans are in place to reduce the insurance fund covering accidents and occupational diseases. From now on, payments to employees with work-related injuries or members of their families will not exceed 100 minimum wages and compensation for moral damage is waived altogether.

IMF requirements deprive the majority of single mothers of their entitlements to child support. Payments for child birth will be provided only under means-tested programs. Parents will have to forget about state funding for children’s summer camps, free children's and youth schools and New Year gifts. Recreational institutions and health resorts will no longer be funded from the budget.

However, there’s even more to it. Every Ukrainian will pay taxes under a new taxation system, the introduction of which is part of the requirements included in the Association Agreement with the EU. Now, the customers will pay 30 percent of the purchase price of expensive goods, if they can’t prove the origin of their income. Under the new law, which takes effect on January 1, 2015, buying goods worth more than 10 minimum wages, i.e., 12,810 hryvnia, (about $800 at the current exchange rate) will be done only by bank transfers with a passport and an identification code. Tax authorities will be entitled to charge the amount of tax of their own accord, and will also have the right to seize the property of physical persons and to use tax police for the paper-based verification of income and spending of the Ukrainians.

Thus, the income tax rate for unconfirmed income will by far exceed the amount of tax paid on confirmed income. Currency transfers by people working abroad and remitting money to their families will be hit hard by the discriminatory tax rate. In addition to opening wide the door to abuse and corruption, the negative effect of such "European" measures will also apply to sales of cars, real estate, household appliances and other expensive items. In turn, it will lead to a fall in business revenue and result in shrinking tax base.The fact that consequences of the coup and signing an Association Agreement with the EU will be exactly like the ones we are seeing now was known long before Mustafa Nayyem called on the Ukrainian people to take to Maidan. However, deceived by sweet-voiced propaganda, the Ukrainians failed to heed the many warnings. The collapse of the economic and social spheres, as well as isolated protest rallies, are there for everyone to see.

So far, these rallies have been of isolated nature.

To cure a disease, one has to understand its causes. This one was caused by thoughtless destruction of the national economy in favor of the provisions of a colonial association agreement, with no prospect of ever joining the EU, as was repeatedly stated by EU representatives.

The future fight by the people whom anti-human reforms performed by foreign henchmen has made destitute, must finally focus not on consequences but causes.

Complete story at - Ukrainian government prepares social collapse | Украина.ру

The Games People Play: One Year After the Rise of the Maidan Movement in Ukraine

It is one year since mass protests erupted in Maidan Square in central Kiev and in other cities in the west of Ukraine. The protest movement was ostensibly aimed against "corruption," (1) but its central demand was to forge economic and political ties with the leading capitalist countries of Europe. The "Euromaidan" movement came to be dominated by right-wing nationalism and led to the overthrow of the elected president of the country in late February 2014. The author of the following article recently joined the editorial team of Ukraine's web journal Liva.com.ua. The website includes a section of articles translated to English.

Congratulations, my dear compatriots! You have an absolute and unquestionable victory - the victory of foolishness, cruelty, hatred and ignorance over common sense.

Could you have expected just a year ago, as people arrived with their coffees at Kiev's central square to join the movement proudly called "Euromaidan," how things would turn out? Could you expect that we would lose Crimea, thousands of our compatriots would die in war and children of Eastern Ukraine would hide in basements (2) instead of starting the school year on September 1, with traditional bunches of flowers in hand? Did you think at that time that you would fear to read the news because of the constant reports of death and destruction? Did you guess that instead of the promised average salary of 1,000 euros for each of you, you would get an unprecedented currency inflation (now at 20 hryvnia per USD) and a Cossack, M. Gavrylyuk, as your future MP? (3)

I know: The intentions of the majority might be sincere and the purest. You wanted to depose the president-oligarch Yanukovych, become a part of the West, overcome corruption and gain new ideals. But did you think that, in reality, you were taking the easy road? The development of society is not a Hollywood blockbuster. Oligarchy and corruption are not monsters from hell that can simply be killed off, and then peace and good order will reign. System changes cannot be achieved by deposing some bad officials and destroying some cities. It is also impossible to impose a new ideology by force or by destroying the monuments of older ideology.

Complete story at - The Games People Play: One Year After the Rise of the Maidan Movement in Ukraine

EuroMaidan - One Year Later. A Trip Down Delusion Lane...

EuroMaidan – one year later.

The one year anniversary of the start of EuroMaidan is upon us, so I thought it would be an interesting exercise to go back and see if some of those who strongly supported it last winter was still standing behind it, or if they have moderated or changed their views to any great extent. Of course by necessity, this will be a rather limited sampling because I don't have insider access or any kind of access to a lot of the so-called movers and shakers behind this event. So here are the methods when analyzing the Euro delusions madness.

My Methodology: - Or just skip ahead to the delusions!

1) I will be analyzing public posts from Facebook. Some of these posts have been made by people who I have "friended." Some are by people I have not “friended.” There are not any "Johnny-come-lately's" in this group. They must have been supporters of EuroMaidan since the very beginning. Indeed, some were very vocal in their support and indeed supported it with money or organizing events or allowing their extensive mailing lists to be used. These posts I show below were all made by individuals; none were made by media or the US Embassy in Kiev. The posters name and image has been blurred out; likewise so has the name and image of commenters, when posted.

2) I limited my selections to Facebook posts made within the last 30 days. I wanted to make sure I didn't go back two or three months for posts that might not necessarily reflect a person’s current views.

3) the posts I will be analyzing all made by the English-speaking ex-pat community, many of whom are in Kiev. In Ukraine, Kiev is the most elite of cities; and the English-speaking ex-pat community are in many ways among the elite of Kiev. Although they by no means fall into the category of oligarchs by the local meaning of the word, I wouldn't be surprised if at least a couple of these posters rank in the most elite 5% of the country.

4) I believe it's quite safe to say that the local ex-pat community considers the wishes of the average Ukrainian just about as much as they consider the wishes of the average slum-dweller in Calcutta. Not to be overly cynical of course, but some probably thought about what was best for their business interests over what was best for Ukraine and its people.

5) the list doesn't necessarily reflect the 12th worst to the worst. Some of the delusions ranked quite equally.

So, let the delusions begin!

The top 12 Euro delusions of the last 30 days.

12. Here's a fun one. Makes it feel like you're back in the seventh grade! Ahhh, the memories…

Notice too how it states authoritatively “Putin’s motorcade after the inauguration 2012.” Maybe that’s true… or maybe not. That’s what’s so great about the internet. You can take any picture and claim it to be just about anything you want it to be.



11. J’Accuse those that support Russia? We will all be judged by history! True, and Russia supporters we will be judged as correct. Makes you want to shake in your boots.



10. Hey, what good is a revolution if you can't make a few bucks off of it. Am I right? State that you stand behind dysfunctional government, corruption, and war crimes! Get your own Ukrainian patriot email address!



9. The next delusion concerns Russia’s objectives. Did you know that their objective is the destruction of the EU? Neither did I. It seems that the EU is doing a super job destroying themselves. They really don't need Russia's help.



8. This delusion is obviously a transference of guilt. Ukraine has a long record of voters receiving bribes in exchange for their vote. I wouldn't be surprised if this graphic originally had a Ukrainian flag on it.



7. Here is a Halloween themed delusion. It seems if Ukraine doesn't treat Russia to more of its land and people, Putin’s army will trick it out of them. Huh? That doesn't even make sense. But then he goes on to quote Dmitri Tymchuk, who has a track record of not making sense. So maybe that does make sense? For more about Dmitri Tymchuk, see this article... How Full of Shit Would You Have To Be, To Be More Full of Shit than Dmitry Tymchuk?

6. Here's a delusion that's totally assed backwards. Everything that they claim to be wrong with Russia is actually what's wrong with the countries of the West. Russian culture enables Vladimir Putin's global aggression? A more realistic headline would be American culture (or lack of it) enables Obama's global aggression.



5. Indeed. We will screw the Russians if and only if he ever get finished screwing ourselves. Slava Ukraina!



4. Oh, it’s a photoshopped picture that puts Medvedev, Putin and Strelkov on trial at Nuremburg. Photoshop, is there nothing you can't do?



3. Oh goody! A commemoration of EuroMaidan on it's one year anniversary! Will there be a parade of Nazis? Don't forget to BYO tires to burn!

And get a load of the description. It seems that EuroMaidan led to "freedom in Ukraine after the horrible and ongoing sacrifices." Anyone who's been paying attention would understand that the horrible and ongoing sacrifices are just beginning. But hey, all you so-called "people with dignity," come out and commemorate this historical event! Although if you really do have dignity you'd be a whole lot wiser to stay home.

Note that this is an event organized by foreigners in Ukraine. There is a larger event going on the evening of November 21st.

UPDATE: The number of listed attendees is up to 279.



2. Supporting Russia is supporting crimes against humanity? Say it ain't so! Well if those pictures are the worst examples they can come up with, I'd have to say Ukraine and its supporters have a much worse record. And I'll say that IS so!

Besides, these photos were not taken in Russia. They were taken in Novorussia. Novorussia, Russia. What's the difference? Both contain the letters r-u-s-s-i-a. So, no difference, by the average Ukrainian thinking...



1. When you write an article like this, you always hope that somebody steps up big with a delusion that stands well above the rest. And thankfully, somebody stepped up and took on that challenge in a big way!

Our number one euro delusion winner is feeling guilty that he cannot be a part of the "ATO." (Anti-Terrorist Operation) To which I have to ask, "why?" If two teenage girls from Austria can figure out how to join ISIS, it would seem to me that someone who has his own mini business empire could figure out how to join the ATO. There are any number of foreigners who have already joined the fight, either on the Ukrainian side or on the Donbass side. So it's not that it can't be done; it's that the author hasn't put much effort to stand behind what he claims to believe in.

But hey, I'm sure that pretending to be all gung-ho about the ATO does not hurt his business interests in Kiev in the least.



Thanks for taking this trip down Delusion Lane. Hopefully you're living somewhere more attached to reality. Until next time!

The crimes of Euromaidan Nazis: The pogrom of Korsun on 20/02/2014

About an event that I had not heard of until now. Might explain a lot about the events in Crimea in early March.

Recent Ukrainian History, the Southeast

This video, entitled Recent Ukrainian History, the Southeast, begins with a quote attributed to Bismark: Even a victorious war is a calamity which has to be prevented by the wisdom of the people. The rest is self-explanatory and, I think, rather powerful.

Poland’s Role in Destabilizing Ukraine: Polish Military Trained Neo-Nazi Militants for EuroMaidan Protests | Global Research

Polish media outlet Nie has published a bombshell account about direct Polish involvement in Ukraine’s destabilization. Its source alleges that the Polish Foreign Ministry had invited Ukrainian militants into the country and trained them outside of Warsaw in September 2013. Considering the destructive actions and fatalities they would later be responsible for during the EuroMaidan riots, such a connection would directly link Warsaw to the pandemonium. It would also implicate Poland in being the “Slavic Turkey” of NATO in Eastern Europe. The impact of Nie’s reporting can also affect domestic Polish politics, as it would prove that the political elite misled members of Parliament, which could later have direct political repercussions for Tusk’s ironically named “Law and Justice Party”. This scandal serves to highlight that Poland is starting to emulate the methods of its invited neo-colonial headmaster, the US, thereby deepening the puppet-master relationship between Warsaw and Washington.

According to the report, 86 Euromaidan militants, some of whom appeared to be over 40 years old, came to Poland under the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The pretext for plausible deniability was that they were in the country to promote cooperation between the Warsaw University of Technology and the National Technical University in Kiev. In reality, however, these individuals were whisked away to Legionowo, a town on the outskirts of Warsaw. There, at the police training center, they spent four weeks engaged in a regiment of destabilization training.


The source goes on to state that pictures of the participants show them clothed in Nazi regalia and tattoos, with their Polish military instructors lacking any outward identification as such. At the facility, militants learned the following techniques: crowd management; target identification; tactics; leadership; behavioural management under stressful conditions; protection against police gasses; building barricades; and importantly, they engaged in shooting classes, which incidentally included sniper rifles. Quite clearly, the “students” who came to Warsaw were there for war, not academic work, and their training there resulted in the christening of Bandera’s spiritual descendants.

Complete story at - Poland’s Role in Destabilizing Ukraine: Polish Military Trained Neo-Nazi Militants for EuroMaidan Protests | Global Research