Me -the People

The distinctive feature if the giraffe is the long neck the distinctive feature of human beings is the pursuit of happiness.

How hard it is to be happy!

Cutting giraffe's neck, because it too long and doesn't conform to the accepted norm for necks of cattle goes against their nature.

Cutting down people's hope by instilling fear goes against our nature and is likely to provoke powerful resistance which  may and will turn violent if not addressed on time.

In Ukraine it must be evident by now that it is the interests of the people of Ukraine that are to be considered first, perhaps the interests of their immediate neighbors first with the unquestionable priority of or Russia) and I don't mean the corrupt Russian elite but the people of Russia followed by the rest of the world .

Any actions or words directed against the people of Ukraine (and by the people of Ukraine I mean not only those who speak Ukrainian) and their welfare, unity and right to self-determination is an enemy of the people of Ukraine first, the people of Russia, the rest of Europe and the rest of the  world. There is only one united Europe possible - one that includes Russia - without Russia Europe is just Germany and its satellites (except for the UK which has some level of independence fueled by the money of corrupt and criminal Russian oligarchs - not exactly Cyprus, but on its way to become one.

The parliament of Ukraine voting to ban Russian language - is against the people. The US sending military aircraft to the Baltics - against the people because they serve no other purpose than to ignite fear - in the unlikely development if Russia is to invade the Baltic states - they are most likely to flee back to Britain -fighting would be suicidal. The corrupt Russian leadership shouldn't be so eager to accept Crimea's plea for secession - why it is OK for Crimea to secede but not for Chechnya.

On the other hand why it is OK from US-EU perspective for Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia to split but not for Ukraine?

We have had enough of fear mongering - it's time to tell the elites in Kiev, Moscow, Washington and Berlin - we are not buying it! Get it resolved,  stop posturing or get out!

US to Pay Russia for Gas Delivered to Ukraine

At first glance it looks like a win/win/win situation - the US will pay 2 billion USD for gas delivered to Ukraine so the flow to Germany won't stop. Germany gets gas, Putin gets money for being a good boy and the US taxpayer ends up deeper in debt.

But wait there is more - Putin gets to keep the 12 billion he promised Ukraine before the disturbances started, the US taxpayers' 2 billion is in the form of loan guarantee (be realistic Ukraine is not going to pay it back in any foreseeable future) and the actual money will go through the IMF they can impose their fees and sanctions at will.

Winners - the oligarchs and oil barons of Russia, the USA and Ukraine.

Losers - we the people, but mostly the people of Ukraine (who we be deeply enslaved), Russia (whose corrupt leaders will become richer and more arrogant) and last but not least the people of the USA who will end up picking up the tab for all this.

Amazing what a couple of well placed snipers shooting at protesters can achieve.

Let’s Sing the Ukrainian Song Right

Merkel 1, Putin 0, Obama -1.

The current score of the dirty chess game started by Merkel is as above. I’ll explain;

She starts with a half-hearted offer for EU negotiations that is easy to reject. It’s understandable - Ukraine is a big country with big issues and Germany is reluctant to pay for it. In jumps Putin like a knight in shining armour (or more likely - half naked) with bags of resque money to reward his now rejected friend Yanukovych - the brave president of Ukraine elected by the people. But the people it seems don’t want Yanukovych and they don’t want Putin’s money (and they are aware he is half naked) - they would rather prefer the shiny EU with difficult conditions and no money hoping mostly to rush to Germany and make some easy Euros perhaps because any economic development is difficult to imagine in an EU where only Germany is booming and the rest are stagnating (especially the new and poor members). Bam - Yanukovych is gone (even Putin doesn't love him anymore) and the mob establishes a pro EU government by making sure the parliament votes as they prefer. Also they are quick to ignite ethnic tensions by banning the Russian language historically spoken by a big part Ukrainian citizens an act guaranteed to ingnite anger and indignation.

At this moment the score is Merkel: 1 and Putin: - 1. Merica is just zero for now waiting for an opportunity to open, Putin counter attacks ostensibly “to protect” compatriots in Crimea but mostly to get back at Merkel for making him look dumb. But Merkel keeps her cool - instead Obama jumps into the fray to see if he can catch some easy fish in these troubled waters but only exposes his irrelevance. After having wasted any influence and good will he may have had by not attending the Olympics he has no options but to talk pointedly while no one hardly listens. That is a minus 1 and plus 1 for Putin to equal zero.

But where are the interests of the people of Ukraine in this whole game you may ask? Sadly no one seems to care! Even the new rulers in Kiev seem to be more interested in distributing government posts that will enable them to profit at the back of the people of Ukraine, the US taxpayer, the people of Russia and even the EU taxpayers if they are not vigilant.

I know what you are thinking - this is a useless sad story without a happy ending and no inspiring moral. There is moral: we the people have the power to keep the corrupt scheming rulers accountable. The people of Ukraine - Ukrainians, Russians, Tatars, Jews, Moldovans, Gypsies have to unite against the demagogues - not because it is a good thing to do but because the other option is slavery under the boot of Russia, the EU, the IMF too but first and foremost under their own homegrown corrupt oligarchs and politicians.

The price of gas goes up? Guess who will profit!

Epilogue

In a warm August evening in 1978 I was walking along the seaside of the Bulgarian resort of Primorsko with a couple of friends when we met a large group of Russians who invited us to join them. Soon after that we met a similarly large group of Polish holidaymakers and sat all together around a table in the park. The Russians brought a couple of bottles of Stolichnaya vodka and after some rounds offered to sing a Russian song. The moment they started there was trouble: “This is not a Russian song,” the Polish guys objected. “It is a Polish song!” The proceeded to agree the sing the song only if the Russians agree it is in fact a Polish song. Tempers flared  - fueled by the Stolichnaya. The on of the Russians shouted above all: “It’s actually an Ukrainian song! Let’s sing the Ukrainian song!” For reasons incomprehensible to me but apparently obvious to the Russians - the Polish agreed and we all sang together the Ukrainian song. All of us Bulgarians, Russians and Polish - there wasn't a single Ukrainian present.

So it looks like we (as we the people, we the humanity, we the nations) can do it. We an sing the Ukrainian song and sing it good and not out of tune if we want to. If we don’t we will be enslaved and no one can save us.