{"id":56183,"date":"2015-04-13T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2015-04-13T11:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=56183"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:25:53","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:25:53","slug":"donbass-struggle-european-shame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/04\/donbass-struggle-european-shame\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine: Donbass Struggle, European Shame"},"content":{"rendered":"

31 Mar 2015 – I am standing on sacred territory in Donbass, which also happened to be sacred territory during the former Soviet Union. On the top of this hill roughly halfway between Donetsk and Lugansk, there used to be an elaborate monument complex celebrating the heroes of World War II who defeated nazi-fascism.<\/em><\/p>\n

Kiev\u2019s self-described \u201canti-terrorist operations\u201d (ATO) \u2013 which continue to\u00a0demonize the whole population of\u00a0Donbass \u2013 have turned this literally upside down. Last year, Kiev\u2019s forces took Saur-mogila, and bombed the whole monument complex. The forces of\u00a0the People\u2019s Republics of\u00a0Donetsk and Lugansk retook it, at\u00a0great cost; and now a red-white-blue resistance flag dominates the landscape, waving in\u00a0the wind.<\/p>\n

\"\u00a9<\/a>

Top of the hill at Saur-mogila. \u00a9 Sputnik\/ Pepe Escobar<\/p><\/div>\n

As I was climbing the hill I stumbled accidentally into\u00a0the definitive, graphic image of\u00a0the current civil war in\u00a0Ukraine, the microcosm\/proxy theatre of\u00a0a do-or-die, Cold War 2.0 geopolitical confrontation between\u00a0the US and Russia.<\/p>\n

One of\u00a0the statues in\u00a0the monument, representing a World War II hero, is in\u00a0fragments, but\u00a0not destroyed; the torn torso is striving to\u00a0rise up\u00a0from the ground. Seventy years after\u00a0the victory against\u00a0nazi-fascism, the statue has almost been blown to\u00a0bits by\u00a0forces in\u00a0Kiev aligned with, and infiltrated by, nazi-fascist elements. And Europe, refusing to\u00a0look at\u00a0what\u2019s really happening in\u00a0its eastern borderlands, is, once again, splendidly oblivious.<\/p>\n

On the top of\u00a0the hill, I could finally get a full geographical perspective of\u00a0the battles of\u00a0last summer. Facing northeast in\u00a0the distance were the forces of\u00a0fascist Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh. Russia is to\u00a0the right.<\/p>\n

The \u201ccauldron\u201d of\u00a0Debaltsevo<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 actually three cauldrons where Kiev\u2019s forces were encircled, squeezed and devastated by\u00a0the resistance is slightly northwest, 40 kilometers away. Donetsk residents say there could have been at\u00a0least 10,000 lethal casualties on\u00a0Kiev\u2019s side during\u00a0the whole siege.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren Holed up\u00a0in Basements\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saur-mogila represents a great military victory for\u00a0Donbass. But what matters most for\u00a0average people is the humanitarian situation, which remains dire. The main trauma doctor at\u00a0Donetsk\u2019s general hospital assured me there has been no Red Cross or \u201cinternational community\u201d help whatsoever reaching the city.<\/p>\n

After all, for\u00a0all those corporate\/manicured faces from\u00a0Washington to\u00a0Brussels, everyone in\u00a0Donbass is a \u201cterra-rist\u201d, according to\u00a0Kiev\u2019s playbook imported straight from\u00a0the neo-con controlled Dubya era.<\/p>\n

The oh so civilized \u201cWest\u201d \u2013 unwilling to\u00a0learn anything from\u00a0history \u2013 would rather listen to\u00a0the spiders-in-a-bottle oligarch dance in\u00a0Kiev, which in\u00a0these Orwellian times sings a travesty of \u201cdemocracy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Well, this is how<\/a> the oligarch theoretically in\u00a0charge (he\u2019s not; the CIA and the State Department are), Petro Poroshenko, wants to\u00a0treat the whole population of\u00a0Donbass; \u201cOur children will go to\u00a0schools and kindergartens, while theirs will be holed up\u00a0in basements!\u201d<\/p>\n

And this from\u00a0the \u201cleader\u201d of\u00a0a (failed) state which aspires to\u00a0become a EU member; the EU, predictably, looks the other way.<\/p>\n

So, also predictably, an overflow of \u201choled up\u00a0in basements\u201d is exactly what I saw in\u00a0Donetsk\u00a0\u2014 from\u00a0veterans\u2019 homes turned into\u00a0refugee centers to\u00a0Soviet-era bomb shelters complete with\u00a0Soviet iconography painted on\u00a0the walls. Whole families, the elderly, people afraid to\u00a0come out\u00a0even by\u00a0daylight, and dozens of\u00a0traumatized babies, children and teenagers.<\/p>\n

\"\u00a9<\/a>

40% of Ukraine Population on Brink of Survival. \u00a9 Sputnik\/ Mikhail Voskresenskiy<\/p><\/div>\n

According to\u00a0Moscow-based Iskander Sultan, a coordinator of\u00a0volunteer union groups, there may have been as\u00a0many as\u00a02 million refugees fleeing from\u00a0Donbass over\u00a0the past\u00a0year; compare it to\u00a0Pakistan in\u00a0the early 2000s, when there were 4 million Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban.<\/p>\n

For those who have chosen to\u00a0stay behind, especially among\u00a0the elderly, at\u00a0least the payment of\u00a0pensions\u00a0\u2014 frozen by\u00a0Kiev\u00a0\u2014 will be reinstated by\u00a0the twin People\u2019s Republics (their Parliament has 60 members, 30 from\u00a0Donetsk and 30 from\u00a0Lugansk, working in\u00a0close cooperation.)<\/p>\n

Seen from\u00a0Donetsk, the plight of\u00a0so many average working class or lower middle class families, which look just like\u00a0your average family in\u00a0Manchester, Lille, Bologna or Valencia, displaced by\u00a0a proxy war which they never wanted, demonized in\u00a0block as \u201cterra-rists\u201d, threatened by\u00a0fascists with deportation<\/a>, and completely ignored by\u00a0the \u201ccivilized\u201d West, is as\u00a0mind-boggling as\u00a0the cosmic arrogance\/ignorance of\u00a0the \u201ccivilized\u201d narrative which sees Ukraine only as\u00a0good guys\/democrats in\u00a0Kiev against\u00a0bad guys\/rebels remote-controlled by\u00a0evil Russia.<\/p>\n

The \u201ccivilized\u201d bunch does not know it, because Western corporate media isn\u2019t allowed to\u00a0inform them. But in\u00a0Donetsk, for\u00a0instance, there is ample debate on\u00a0what would be a possible future for\u00a0Donbass. Some prefer a largely autonomous region within\u00a0Ukraine (but then again, a minute later, they admit that after\u00a0the Odessa massacre last May and this \u201cjunta\u201d in\u00a0Kiev treating them as\u00a0terrorists, that will never happen). Some prefer an independent nation (although admitting the interests of\u00a0the \u201cWest\u201d would never allow it). And some prefer to\u00a0become part of\u00a0Russia (while admitting, a minute later, that would be a burden Moscow would rather not take.)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the fight for\u00a0mere survival is primordial. Primorka (\u201cLand by\u00a0the Sea\u201d), bordering the Sea of\u00a0Azov in\u00a0Rostov Region, is one of\u00a0the refugee camps for\u00a0eastern Ukrainians on\u00a0Russian territory, currently hosting 246 people, including 51 children attending school, and three newborn babies. Most are elderly, mainly from\u00a0Donetsk, unable to\u00a0find work but\u00a0dreaming of\u00a0going back. One of\u00a0the families even managed to\u00a0escape the Debaltsevo cauldron.<\/p>\n

The site used to\u00a0be a children summer camp, closed for\u00a0a few years. It was reopened through\u00a0the initiative of\u00a0a private citizen, Alexander Dobrovolsky, who sold his apartment to\u00a0finance the operation. At the start Primorka was housing over\u00a01,300 refugees. Now it has finally obtained municipal and federal funds as\u00a0well.<\/p>\n

Among the stray dogs roaming the very clean and well-maintained camp, right by\u00a0the sea, one is called Obama. Another one is \u201cYats\u201d. There also used to\u00a0be a dog called Poroshenko. It died two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

____________________________________<\/p>\n

Pepe Escobar, from Brazil, is the roving correspondent for Asia Times\/Hong Kong, an analyst for RT and a frequent contributor to websites and radio shows ranging from the US to East Asia. He is the author of <\/em>Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War<\/a> (Nimble Books, 2007), <\/em>Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge<\/a> (Nimble Books, 2007), and <\/em>Obama does Globalistan<\/a> (Nimble Books, 2009). His new <\/em>book is Empire of Chaos<\/a>.<\/em> He may be reached at pepeasia@yahoo.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

Pepe Escobar traveled to\u00a0Donetsk at\u00a0the invitation of\u00a0German-based media project Europa Objektiv<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 sputiniknews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seen from Donetsk, the plight of so many families, which look just like your average family in Manchester, Lille, Bologna or Valencia, displaced by a proxy war which they never wanted, demonized in block as \u201cterra-rists\u201d, threatened by fascists with deportation, and completely ignored by the \u201ccivilized\u201d West, is as mind-boggling as the cosmic arrogance\/ignorance of the \u201ccivilized\u201d narrative which sees Ukraine only as good guys\/democrats in Kiev against bad guys\/rebels remote-controlled by evil Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[207],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-balkans-eastern-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56183\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}