How Obama Started Ukraine’s War

by Eric Zuesse August 12, 2022

Obama’s start of the war in Ukraine is well evidenced in the following two brief videos:

His actual beginning of that start to the war occurred soon after 8 February 2010, at which time Britain’s Guardian headlined “Yanukovych set to become president as observers say Ukraine election was fair”.

On 2 April 2010, Gallup (the standard U.S. Government contractor to poll Ukrainians) headlined “Ukrainians Likely Support Move Away From NATO: Residents more likely to view NATO as a threat than protection,” and reported that 40% saw NATO as “Threat,” while 17% saw it as “Protection.” Ukrainians definitely viewed America as being a hostile power. They were overwhelmingly pro-Russia.

On 12 April 2010, the democratically elected President Yanukovych met America’s President at the White House, to which Obama had invited him, but Yanukovych refused Obama’s suggestions that Ukraine join America’s alliance against Ukraine’s next-door neighbor Russia. On 2 July 2010, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Yanukovych held a joint press conference in Kiev, where she said  

“We discussed ways that Ukraine and the United States can deepen and expand our strategic partnership, moving forward with the work of the U.S.-Ukraine Strategic Partnership Commission that I co-chair. … And the United States welcomes Ukrainian parliament’s decision to approve foreign military exercises on Ukrainian territory in 2010 and we thank Ukraine and the Ukrainian people for your important contributions to NATO and other international security operations. … And as I said, we are grateful for Ukraine’s contributions to NATO security efforts and other peacekeeping operations around the world. And we look forward to the joint U.S.-Ukraine military exercises. And we also support a relationship with Russia that is in Ukraine’s interest that helps to further what President Obama has called the resetting of relations with Russia.”

But, finally, Yanukovych turned down the U.S.-EU proposed alliance with Ukraine against Russia, the proposal that Ukraine join the EU and abandon its trade with Russia (both of which are essential prerequisites to joining NATO and receiving U.S. missiles to post on Russia’s border). Though the reason for Yanukovych’s having turned it down was stated in U.S.-allied ‘news’-media as being that he was allied with (his next-door-neighbor) Russia against America (just a lie), the actual reason was that America and its EU had set the deal up for Ukraine to bleed $160 billion which it simply didn’t have. The whole deal was no real deal, but only a set-up to stir “Maidan demonstrations” against Yanukovych, which would serve as a cover for a CIA coup that would install a rabidly anti-Russian Government in Ukraine.

The Obama Administration’s planning for the coup to regime-change Ukraine had started in 2011 (barely after Yanukovych had turned down Clinton-Obama’s urgings to join “The West” against Russia). It was planned on the basis that Yanukovych would turn the EU’s offer to Ukraine down. Yanukovych did that on 20 November 2013. The CIA-edited and written Wikipedia claims that the ‘Ukrainian revolution’ (actually coup) started the day after he did that. It was started by the “demonstrations on the Maidan Square” in Kiev, and they “began on the night of 21 November 2013 with public protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kiev.” That started it; the U.S. regime’s plan to take over Ukraine didn’t. According to Wikipedia, and the U.S. Government — deep liars.

On 5 December 2013, a pro-Russian news-site, Voltairenet, headlined “Jihadists in charge of crowd control in Kiev protests”, and it was true — that was part of the U.S. Government’s plan. Then, eight days later, on December 13th, the neoconservative U.S. website The Daily Beast’s reporter on the scene in Kiev, bannered “The Fight for the Maidan: How long can Ukraine’s protesters hold out against Yanukovych’s thugs?” That counterforce from Ukraine’s democratically elected Government was also part of the plan (to make that Government look bad). The “thugs” word was referring there to the police of the democracy, and not to the CIA’s hired goons, both Ukrainian nazis and foreign mercenaries (who weren’t even mentioned by the Daily Beast’s billionaire owner Barry Diller’s hired ‘journalist’). (And the U.S.-hired goons were barbaric, in the extreme, many of them proud to display their nazism, which was focused against ethnic Russians — a large percentage of Ukraine’s population.)

Two parts of Ukraine that had voted especially heavily for Yanukovych, broke away from Ukraine: Crimea, and Donbass. Then, the civil war started: 

16 April 2014“A day of humiliation, as Ukrainian military offensive stalls, six armored vehicles seized”, as described by the pro-overthrow-of-Yanukovych Kyiv Post. The Donbass cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk were rebelling against the Obama-imposed new coup government.

5 May 2014“Ukraine crisis: ‘Those fascists killed this girl and they will be in hell’”,  Britain’s pro-overthrow Telegraph reports from Kramatorsk “the people engulfed in a climate of fear” of the invading Ukrainian forces:

For good or ill, more than 80 per cent of them voted for Viktor Yanukovych, the fallen president, in the last election in 2010. After all, he was born in the region and had previously served as governor of Donetsk. Moreover, a large minority of the people in this area – almost 40 per cent – identify themselves as ethnic Russians.

When Mr Yanukovych was overthrown in the revolution in February, supporters in his home area did not see this as the richly deserved downfall of a corrupt, authoritarian leader. Some had indeed come to loathe him, particularly for the shameless theft that was the most striking feature of his rule, but even they tended to believe that the moment to get rid of him would arrive at the election in 2015.

So the consensus in Donetsk was that the revolution was a coup d’état. … Never mind that the revolution was actually a genuine popular movement, supported by huge numbers of ordinary Ukrainians, including some in the east.

7 May 2014, pro-overthrow Kyiv Post: “Ukrainian military forces have gained ground in the flashpoint cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in Donetsk Oblast over the past week, but government authorities in general have largely lost their grip in the tough industrial oblast … [due to] the lawlessness stoked by the Kremlin.

17 May 2014, anti-coup International Observatory of Ukrainian Crisis: “Reporting that militants of neo-nazi “Right Sector” have murdered a group of soldiers (members of the Ukrainian army) near Kramatorkaya Starovavarke (Kramatorsk)”, saying that “The soldiers [of Ukraine’s invading army in Kramatorsk] didn’t want to kill civilians. Then at midnight a squad of neo-nazis have fallen on them and murdered the soldiers. This is how the USA-EU impose democracy in Ukraine!!! Killing their own soldiers! And just because they didn’t want to kill civilians!!!”  

18 May 2014“Mortar Shelling of Kramatorsk” by Ukraine’s army on 18 May 2014 as shown on youtube

14 June 2014International Business Times: “Kiev’s Slovyansk ‘Anti-Terrorist Operation’ Kills 300 Pro-Russian Separatists”“Ukrainian government forces are continuing with an ‘anti-terrorist operation’ which Kiev claims has eliminated 300 rebels and wounded 500 around the flashpoint city of Slovyansk. The Ukrainian forces used aircraft, helicopters and artillery to switch the balance of power in the strategic city which rebels have controlled since April. … US President Barack Obama has met with Poroshenko in Poland, calling him a ‘wise selection’ to lead the country on its pro-European course. He said the country had the potential to become a thriving democracy.”

7 July 2014, U.S. State Department, Washington, DC:

[no headline nor current record on the Web, but archived by me here]

Daily Press Briefing Index

Monday, July 7, 2014

1:23 p.m. EDT

Briefer: Jen Psaki, Spokesperson …

MS. PSAKI:  Well, a few updates.  As you noted, over the weekend we all saw reports that the Ukrainian Government was able to expel Russian-supported separatists from the cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk.  The government immediately moved to begin restoring public services and to providing assistance to residents in need in those areas.

Fighting does continue in the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, and the option of a ceasefire remains on the table.  But it takes two to participate in a ceasefire, and President Poroshenko had that ceasefire for 10 days and didn’t see reciprocal participation or engagement from the other side.  So there are still remaining steps that we have called on the Russian-backed separatists and the Russians to take.  Those remain on the table.

QUESTION:  You say that it’s two sides, but it would seem that all your discussion is three sides.

MS. PSAKI:  Well, I think the Russian-backed separatists and the Russians are on the same side.

QUESTION:  So they – so you equate the separatists with Russia?

MS. PSAKI:  I don’t think I’m equating, but in terms of —

QUESTION:  For the purposes of – for the purposes of this, you think that the – Russia saying yes to a ceasefire is the same thing as the separatists saying yes to a ceasefire?

MS. PSAKI:  Well, we’ve long felt that they have a strong influence with the actions of the Russian separatists, and there’s more they can do to influence.

QUESTION:  Right.  Right, but the thing is – is that they had said yes, had they not?  I mean, the Russians had supported it; Putin had supported it.  But you don’t think that that message – or that they did enough to rein in the separatists in fighting the Ukrainian Government, right?

MS. PSAKI:  Correct.

QUESTION:  Is that – so that would mean that it’s three sides to the ceasefire, because you need the separatists to go along with it, and you think that that won’t happen unless Moscow says “do it,” right?

MS. PSAKI:  Well, I still – my view is two sides.  We can disagree on the shape of the —

QUESTION:  I’m just – whether it’s a triangle or a line, I don’t know.

MS. PSAKI:  Triangle or a line, yes.

17 August 2014,  “Interrogation of a Ukrainian POW conscript – ENG SUBS”, youtube (https://youtu.be/drrqMcH2xMo?t=350), excerpt from the Donetsk-Lugansk militia’s interview with a Ukrainian-army draftee, the 24-year-old Private Juri Petrowich Smyk, whose Battery of men got caught “in a tight cauldon,” and so were captured by the Donetsk-Lugansk (anti-coup) forces. “You mentioned prior to this recording that wounded soldiers were buried alive. Where did this occur? That was near Krasny Terrikon. They hired an old man, a local, who used an excavator to dig a dump. Afterwards, the wounded [Donetsk-Lugansk militiamen] were dropped in there. And they were buried, right? Yes. The dump was filled up, and a tank circled over it afterwards. Maybe to make sure they were buried deep. The real losses of the 72nd Brigade were never announced. They spoke of about a hundred men, but in reality the whole Brigade was exterminated, besides those who surrendered. So, you do not remember the exact name of the village or settlement or city where this happened? No. I just remember something with ‘Krasny’. Maybe Krasnodon? No, no, no. Or maybe the settlement Krasnoje? No. Neither Krasnodon nor Krasnoje, nor Krasnopartisansk. What happened to your equipment? As far as I know, it was blown up before we retreated. You were not present anymore? Yes, I was. You have parents? I have a dad. I have a dad and a sister. That’s it. You said you have wife and kids. I am divorced. I have a daughter, 1 year 3 months. Were the next-of-kin [in Donetsk and Lugansk] informed about the [militia] casualties? No.”

October 2014“How Our People Do Their Extermination-Jobs In Ukraine”, article by me based upon a recently captured (22 October 2014) video which shows either what Private Smyk was referring to, or else something very much like it:

Below is a video of “our side” in the Ukrainian civil war carrying out part of the Ukrainian Defense Minister, Mikhail Koval’s, extermination plan, which was injudiciously described by him right after a press conference.

On June 11th, an “Anti-Maidan” or anti-ethnic-cleansing, site, posted to youtube excerpts from previously unpublished press-conference Q&A-session statements by Koval, which were made perhaps immediately following the Defense Minister’s private meeting on June 4th with top NATO officials, who endorsed his plan. This youtube was titled “Secretary of Defense [Mikhailo Koval] About Concentration Camp for Eastern Ukraine People.”

He was shown there saying:

“There will be a thorough filtration of people. There will be special filtration measures put in place. We will filter out people, including women, who are linked to separatism, who were committing crimes on Ukrainian territory, crimes related to terrorist activities. We have a lot of information regarding this, and we have a formidable framework to combat this, and respective power structures will carry out this operation. Besides, this is a serious issue, related to the fact that people will be resettled to other regions.”

The people shown in the video below were not “resettled to other regions.” These were instead among the ones who were slated for immediate processing. They were forced into a ditch at night, and shot. Presumably, dirt was then immediately pushed over them (or over their corpses, for the ones that were dead).

Here is that video. The interesting background as to how this video came to be uploaded to the Web, instead of merely filed in an accounts-payables office of the Ukrainian military in order to verify that the perpetrators had done their jobs and needed to be paid the contracted amount for the people whom they had disposed of, and for the corpses that they had produced and presumably buried, for the Ukrainian Government, is well explained at the site linked-to below. It’ll be presented here, with full credit to them and to everyone who has enabled this information to become public at liveleak, youtube, and other sites, though those individuals are anonymous, for understandable reasons. Here, then, that is (with its typo corrected):

–—

“Ukrainian fascists execute locals that sympathize with Donetsk People’s Republic — video”

By Lviv | October 23, 2014

Car with a mounted video camera belonging to members of Ukrainian punitive nationalist battalion was captured earlier this week by self-defense forces of Donetsk People’s Republic. Part of the video shows Ukrainian radicals taking several locals to a large hole in the ground in a wooded area, make locals get in the hole and then shot them.

–—

And here is that video at LiveLeak.com (the scene shown here being only a frame from it, which portrays the receiving team, guiding the truck-full of victims, toward the ditch):

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3f9_1413978229

That title is entirely correct: this outfit is called the “Donbass Punishers Battalion,” and the victims shown being thrown into the ditch are all dressed in civilian clothes, not dressed as soldiers are.

On 22 October 2014, just months after the February 2014 coup, Russia’s Tass reported that a Ukrainian poll of Ukrainians now showed “Ukraine’s NATO membership would get 53.4% of the votes, one third of Ukrainians (33.6%) would oppose it.” So: the coup apparently switched Ukrainians, away from their previously opposing NATO, to supporting it. The coup had been a terrific success for Obama. 

A lot of money had gone into this operation. For example:

In 2013, Gallup ALSO polled Ukraine, and headlined on 14 March 2013, “Before Crisis, Ukrainians More Likely to See NATO as a Threat: West and Central Ukraine warmer toward NATO than East,” and reported that their poll of a thousand Ukrainians, taken during June 27-July 31, 2013 (shortly prior to Yanukovych’s rejecting the EU’s offer), showed that 29% still viewed NATO as a “Threat,” and 17% viewed it as a “Protection,” of Ukrainians. Also: the U.S. Government hired Gallup to poll a thousand Ukrainians during “August 27-September 9, 2013”, and Gallup found that whereas in Gallup’s 2012 polls in Ukraine, slightly more Ukrainians preferred Ukraine to join Russia’s “Customs Union” trade-bloc than to join America’s “European Union” trade-bloc, Ukrainians switched to a slight majority favoring the EU over the CU in 2013 (thereby confirming the success of the Obama Administration’s propaganda-operation). Then, right before the Maidan ‘pro-democracy’ demonstrations (engineered in the Kiev U.S. Embassy), the Wall Street Journal headlined on 12 November 2013, “Poll Finds Ukrainians Favor EU Pact: Support for a Competing Deal with Moscow Collapses”, and reported that, “The poll by GfK Ukraine found that 45% favored the association agreement with the EU, while only 14% said they want to join Belarus and Kazakhstan in a Russian-led economic bloc called the Customs Union.” The set-up to trap Yanukovych went like clockwork. Yanukovych had learned, only at the last moment, that Ukraine would need to raise $160 billion in new debt in order to say yes to the EU, but, by that time, Ukrainians had suddenly turned sharply in favor of joining the EU.

Those are highlights of the Ukrainian war’s background, an operation that started, in the planning stages, almost as soon as Yanukovych became elected back in 2010.

Up to today, after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022 in order to protect itself from, and possibly to reverse, what Obama had done, some independent Western journalists went to Donbass to report what the people there think of what is now happening in and to Donbass, but these journalists are being robbed by their home governments and defamed by those regimes as being ‘propagandists’ for doing so, and are threatened with years of imprisonment if they return to their home-countries.

Here is a superb video interview with one such journalist:

“VIDEO: Germany criminalizes journalist for exposing Ukrainian war crimes”

MAX BLUMENTHAL, 13 JULY 2022

Independent Donetsk-based journalist Alina Lipp of Germany details her prosecution by the German state for violating new speech codes through her reporting in the Donetsk People’s Republic.

As the only German reporter on the ground in Donetsk, Lipp has exposed Ukrainian forces shelling civilians, attacking a maternity ward, mining harbors, and bombing a granary filled with corn for export. She faces three years in prison if she returns to her home country.

At 22:00 in that video is shown the funders of a U.S.-and-allied billionaires’ front organization to deceive the German public, the “Institute for Strategic Dialogue”, and here are its funders — the people who finance this mass-deception of the public:

Source: https://theduran.com/how-obama-started-ukraines-war/