As if the Internet was not enough...

As of today, April 27th, pro-russian have seized control of a state television headquarters in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk. It was done by four separatists wearing masks, weapons and shields, who were backed up by ten others standing nearby. 15 police officers, who had been called on the scene, chose not to intervene, judging it pointless. The purpose of the 14 separatists was to take the station off the air and broadcast a Kremlin-based station instead. Donetsk is a hotspot for Ukrainians authorities right now, since citizens have proclaimed the existence of the Donetsk People's Republic (obviously pro-Russian), which already controls the governor's office and the city hall. Earlier today, a crowd of about 400 persons was surrounding the building, shouting things like " Referendum!" and "Russia!". With the Russian government now being in power of VK, with control over blogs, this new move from Russian sbires to control television stations shows once again the Russian plan to isolate its population from the outside world and thus render it easier to control.

Source: The Irish Times

Another step towards Internet censorship

As of Tuesday, April 22nd, Russian officials have passed a bill that will render illegal anonymous blogging. In the light of VK now being controlled by the Kremlin inner circle members, this bill constitutes a new step towards Internet censorship in Russia. More precisely, the bill states that Internet websites having more than 3000 daily readers will now have to declare their true identity to the government. By doing this, blog managers would have to abide by the same rules and regulations than newspapers and television networks, but without benefitting from the level of legislative protection that these two forms of media have. Alongside this measure, the bill also states that the managers of those websites would now be held responsible for the veracity of all that their properties contain, including comments made by other users. To many Internet users worldwide, this is a big step towards complete Internet censorship in Russia. However, some hope may be left, since the bill might be declared unconstitutional, a verdict that has yet to be approved.

Source: The Montreal Gazette

Freedom of speech? Not in Russia...

Facebook, for the vast majority of Westerners, has become a big part of the everyday life. With more than a billion users, Mr. Zuckerberg is safe to say mission accomplished. If he were to suddenly give up his CEO title in the company, take his things and fly away far from America, the situation would be quite alarming... As reported on April 23rd, this is exactly what happened to the founder of Russian's  biggest social network. VKontakte, or VK, is one of the runner-ups to Facebook in the social networking business, with the majority of its members being in Russia. Feeling pressures from the Russian authority, Pavel Durov abandoned his post and flew the country. As a final act of defiance, he posted online documents from the secret services urging him to provide personal details to them about VK users. The lost of Durov could be big for VK and the freedom of speech on social medias in Russia, since the next CEO might not have the same motivation to resist to Kremlin that Durov had. This happened just after the Russian government passed a bill requiring all Russian social networking medias to keep all information on their members for at least half a years. When a country starts suppressing liberties from its own citizens, it never announces good things... Let's just hope that Durov's story will have raised eyebrows in the Russian community...

Source: Yahoo! News

World War 3?

     The Ukraine Prime Minister reacts to the words of the Russian Foreign Minister. He accuses Russia wanting to start a World War 3 by occupying Ukraine "militarily and politically" and creating that will spread to the rest of Europe. This is after Russia Foreign Minister warned Kiev that the it will face justice for its bloody and that if you the push the military it will come. The interior minister of Ukraine commented that it had resources to deal with the rebels. He also insisted that Kiev will not use military force on its people. This is to get a rid of the idea to Russia that Pro-Russians will not get shot by the military. It looks for now that the war has not started but that question is when will it happen? 

US troops in Poland

On April 23rd, the first 130 US soldiers arrived in Poland. They represent the first deployment of several hundreds that are going to be deployed all around the eastern borders of Europe. It was classified as being the beginning of a "persistent presence" by US officials. Polish officials consider the move as a proof of their protection against Russia. With the United States being physically present in the conflict, things could get out of hand quickly. However, Russia still has not responded to this move. Only time will tell, so let us be the witnesses.

Sources: Antiwar News
              Kyiv Post (CNN article)

Your move, West.

This week, following the Ukrainian government's statement about trying to take back official (gov't, police) buildings in east Ukraine,  Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov answered with a simple, yet frightening, statement. In his words, Russia would mount a firm response if its citizens or interests come under attack in Ukraine. While not officially stating that Russia is going to proceed with military operations, this conclusion is fairly easily made. Especially knowing that thousands of Russian soldiers are massed along the Russian/Ukrainian border. This statement makes Ukrainian officials believe that Russia is simply setting up a trap for them to fall into, by forcing acts to happen that would give them the "right" to invade.

Source: The Star World

When you know it's useless...

On Thursday, April 24th, during a conference in Tokyo, the U.S. President Barack Obama revealed that a new round of economic sanctions was planned and ready to be inflicted on the Russian economy. This new round of sanctions would target Russia's wealthiest individuals who are, surprise, also part of Putin's inner circles. By throwing harsher penalties at Russia's 1%, as well as the assets that they control (especially the strong energy market), The United States hope that Putin will be leaded towards a peaceful solution concerning Ukraine. However, on the same day, Obama was recorded stating that he knew full well that more sanctions were not going to make Putin change his mind... In his own words: “I understand that additional sanctions may not change Mr. Putin’s calculus”.  When the leader of the most influential country in the world is caught saying he knows that the efforts of the international community are not working, it may be the time to reconsider the approach that is taken in this conflict.

Source: 660 News