Ukraine Security Services Break Into Newspaper Office, Shut Down Website

[newthinking]

Source: Huffington Post




The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) broke into the office of a Kiev-based digital newspaper on Thursday, physically trapping reporters and ultimately shutting down the website.

Vesti News's editor-in-chief Igor Guzhva wrote on his Facebook page Thursday that the news outlet had been raided by SBU, according to a translation by Russia Today. The SBU reportedly took all servers, kept staffers in a "hot corridor" and shut down the website completely.

Guzha said that the purpose of the raid was "to block our work."

“Journalists are not being let into their office," Guzhva wrote. "Those who were already inside at the moment of the raid are being kept in the building and are not allowed to use cell phones.”




Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/11/ukraine-news-raid-vesti-kiev-website-media_n_5805642.html

[Billy Budd]

1. this is what Bro...LOL

This is Democracy after the Putsch Bro LOL

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. Press freedom sucked before Yanukovych left as well.

Unfortunately, it appears not to have improved a whole lot yet, but it's pretty much par for the course for that part of the world. It's still several notches above Russia, FWIW.

[newthinking]

4. It is far worse now. It definitely is the administration. Yanukovich was a lot of things but

he tolerated the press skewering him all the time.

The press is under much more severe control and threat now.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

6. Press freedom suffered greatly under Yanukovych.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_the_press_in_Ukraine

In Spring 2010 Ukrainian journalists, the European Federation of Journalists and Reporters Without Borders all complained of censorship by President Yanukovych's administration.[31][32][33] This despite statements by Yanukovych how deeply he values press freedom and that ‘free, independent media that must ensure society’s unimpeded access to information’.[31] Anonymous journalists stated early May 2010 that they were voluntarily tailoring their coverage so as not to offend the Yanukovych administration and the Azarov Government.[34] The Azarov Government denies censoring the media,[35] so did the Presidential Administration[36] and President Yanukovych himself.[37] Presidential Administration Deputy Head Hanna Herman stated on May 13, 2010 that the opposition benefited from discussions about the freedom of the press in Ukraine and also suggested that the recent reaction of foreign journalists organizations had been provoked by the opposition.[36] On May 12, 2010, the parliamentary committee for freedom of speech and information called on the General Prosecutor's Office to immediately investigate complaints by journalists of pressure on journalists and censorship.[38]

A law on strengthening the protection of the ownership of mass media offices, publishing houses, bookshops and distributors, as well as creative unions was passed by the Ukrainian Parliament on May 20, 2010.[39]

Since the February 2010 election of Viktor Yanukovych as President Media watchdogs have stated attacks and pressure on journalists have increased.[18] The International Press Institute addressed an open letter to President Yanukovych on August 10, 2010 urging him to address what the organisation saw as a disturbing deterioration in press freedom over the previous six months in Ukraine.[40] PACE rapporteur Renate Wohlwend noticed on October 6, 2010 that "Some progress had been made in recent years but there had also been some retrograde steps".[41] In January 2011 Freedom House stated it had perceived "negative trends in Ukraine" during 2010; these included: curbs on press freedom, the intimidation of civil society, and greater government influence on the judiciary.[9]

Note, I'm not excusing any restrictions from the current government, but to say that Yanukovych "tolerated the press" is just plain fiction.

[newthinking]

7. It wasn't completely locked up like now.

None of the NGOs are reporting on the current state of the media in Ukraine yet, but I have no doubt that it will show up when the 2014 analysis comes out.

We will have to see then who's take is accurate.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

8. We will see, I guess.

I'm not excusing the current state of affairs or pretending it's in any way ideal. However, from all accounts things were definitely very bad under Yanukovych.

[The Magistrate]

11. Read Through This, Sir

Quite even-handed, and covering the period from late November 2013 to May 2014....

http://www.osce.org/fom/118990?download=true

Honors seem pretty even on harassment and beating of journalists, and closing down or taking over media outlets.

[Billy Budd]

9. Yanukovych did not launch Ballistic Missiles

at Civilians
http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1407/29/cnr.03.html
CNN NEWSROOM

U.S. Officials: Ukraine Military Fired Short Range Ballistic Missiles At Rebels.........

Aired July 29, 2014 - 10:00 ET

These are missiles that go perhaps 50 miles, but have warheads of up to 1000 pounds. We are talking maximum lethality. We are talking about a weapon that can kill dozens of people at a time potentially when it hits. We do not have the exact launch point. We don't have the exact impact point.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

10. Pretty much a non-sequitur since we're talking about press matters....

....although if you care to read your own transcript, there's no talk there about the government targeting civilian areas.

And if you want to talk about what happened in Maidan and the death of civilian protesters there, there's plenty to be discussed.

But again, how this relates to the OP, I'm not sure.

[The Magistrate]

12. That Fella Mostly Emits Randomly Generated Noise, Sir

Usually he confines himself to non sequiters re-telling 'greatest hits' of the Bush administrations, as if this somehow proves the Kremlin account of events is true.

[Billy Budd]

13. So the current Kiev Junta is more respectful of press rights

but is less respectful of the right to life of its own citizens as evidenced by launching Ballistic Missiles at East Ukraine cities...it is not a "non-sequitur"as it is in the category of "denial of rights" and "violation of principles"....

[Man from Pickens]

21. Yes but we weren't backing Yanukovych

Since we are backing the current government of Ukraine, it's a lot more material to us over here in the US.

Certainly it would be good to ask why we would support a government that has this kind of press policy.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

22. I agree that we should be advocating for a free press in Ukraine.

Problem is, once we do that, some tinfoiler will claim we're "pulling the strings" in Ukraine and interfering in their government.

It's a no-win scenario with those people.

[Man from Pickens]

25. We're definitely pulling strings there

Was an article a couple months back about how we had all these CIA and FBI agents advising the new government. That's not tinfoil, that's a major German newspaper which reported that: http://www.businessinsider.com/cia-and-fbi-reportedly-advising-ukraine-2014-5 That's on the heels of a personal visit from our CIA director: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/14/john-brennan-ukraine_n_5147869.html

The billions in loans we have given to prop up the government there, both directly and via the IMF, is not tinfoil either: http://time.com/9970/u-s-1-billion-ukraine-loan-guarantee/ and http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-29/ukraine-gets-1-4-billion-from-imf-as-fighting-intensifies.html

It's not tinfoil that Kerry gets personally involved in the situation on a regular basis, and that other State Dept. officials (most notably Nuland) were intimately involved in the events that led up to the deposition of Yanukovich. (just Google these for sources, too many out there to choose just one)

And Hunter Biden getting a seat on the board of Ukraine's largest gas producer when he had no previous connections to the region is at least noteworthy, if not outright suspicious: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/hunter-biden-ukraine-gas-board-106631.html

I do not think a tinfoil hat is necessary to say that the US is pulling strings in Ukraine. It is not very subtle.

[newthinking]

26. Excellent info. Ukraine at the moment probably has more people publishing (external) propaganda

than any country outside the US (Russia obviously has a decent propaganda budget but it is mostly internal facing and hasn't near the international penetration of either of these countries at the moment)

[Tommy_Carcetti]

31. The US is involved and interested in many countries around the world.

In terms of people to deal with, they have their favorites and not-so-favorites.

That's just the nature of the beast of international relations.

However, what the tinfoil crowd has advocated is that the US actually planned a "coup" in Ukraine. They do so without actually providing any sort of hard evidence that such a coup actually took place.

There's a major difference between saying the US is interested in Ukraine, and the US is actually controlling events on Ukrainian soil beyond the control of actual Ukrainians.

[msongs]

3. if Putin can do in Russia, so can Ukraine :-) nt

[another_liberal]

15. Freedom of the Press can just shove it! War means more!

"All hail Ukraine! All hail the (censoring) heroes!"


(sarcasm, just a bit)

[Demeter]

5. How to Win Friends and Influence People --NOT

[another_liberal]

14. Once they get some power, fascists always silence the free press . . .

Seriously, it's SOP for publicity shy Nazi-admirers and such.

[candelista]

16. Fascists, indeed

Ukrainian ultra-nationalists salute as they march in the center of the western city of Lviv on April 28, 2013 to mark the 70th anniversary of the 14th SS-Volunteer Division "Galician" foundation. The 14th Waffen Grenadier Division was a World War II German military formation initially made up of volunteers from the region of Galicia with a Ukrainian ethnic background, but later also incorporated Slovaks, Czechs and Dutch volunteers and officers. Neo-nazis from Russia and Lithuania also took part in the march. AFP PHOTO/ YURIY DYACHYSHYN

http://www.kyivpost.com/multimedia/photo/ss-volunteer-division-galician-323866.html

[another_liberal]

17. They were preferred as concentration camp guards too.

The SS often recruited them just for such duties.

(sigh)

[The Magistrate]

18. If You Are Going To Play Blood Guilt, Sir, Let Us Look At Russia

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/ukra.html

'The dreadful famine that engulfed Ukraine, the northern Caucasus, and the lower Volga River area in 1932-1933 was the result of Joseph Stalin's policy of forced collectivization. The heaviest losses occurred in Ukraine, which had been the most productive agricultural area of the Soviet Union. Stalin was determined to crush all vestiges of Ukrainian nationalism. Thus, the famine was accompanied by a devastating purge of the Ukrainian intelligentsia and the Ukrainian Communist party itself. The famine broke the peasants' will to resist collectivization and left Ukraine politically, socially, and psychologically traumatized.

The policy of all-out collectivization instituted by Stalin in 1929 to finance industrialization had a disastrous effect on agricultural productivity. Nevertheless, in 1932 Stalin raised Ukraine's grain procurement quotas by forty-four percent. This meant that there would not be enough grain to feed the peasants, since Soviet law required that no grain from a collective farm could be given to the members of the farm until the government's quota was met. Stalin's decision and the methods used to implement it condemned millions of peasants to death by starvation. Party officials, with the aid of regular troops and secret police units, waged a merciless war of attrition against peasants who refused to give up their grain. Even indispensable seed grain was forcibly confiscated from peasant households. Any man, woman, or child caught taking even a handful of grain from a collective farm could be, and often was, executed or deported. Those who did not appear to be starving were often suspected of hoarding grain. Peasants were prevented from leaving their villages by the NKVD and a system of internal passports.

The death toll from the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine has been estimated between six million and seven million. According to a Soviet author, "Before they died, people often lost their senses and ceased to be human beings." Yet one of Stalin's lieutenants in Ukraine stated in 1933 that the famine was a great success. It showed the peasants "who is the master here. It cost millions of lives, but the collective farm system is here to stay.".. '

I guess we just have to regard Russians as deliberate mass murders since clearly a good many of their ancestors were, and a great many are going off to fight bearing symbols of the Communist era and can be heard to declare Stalin was a great leader. Even the chief of Russia, Putin, declares the dissolution of the Soviet Union was a great tragedy, so clearly he partakes of the ancestral blood guilt of mass murder, pining as he does for the state which committed it. It is exactly the same 'logic' you are using in your comments on Ukrainians. So if you have a shred of integrity or honesty, you will have scant choice but to admit it.

[newthinking]

27. Anti-semitism is much lower in Russia than Ukraine.

Something you rarely hear recognized in the press. And the USSR recognized what Stalin did and rejected him back in the 60's, including replacing all statues and other artifacts. As well the USSR no longer exists.

Your attempt at whataboutary fails because despite your claim to the contrary the communist movement still rejects Stalin and in general few people in Russia see him in any way as currently relevant as Western Ukraine does Bandara.

[newthinking]

28. Mag. Here is a link. Antisemitism in Russia is lower than Ukraine and significantly lower than many

east Europe countries.

http://global100.adl.org/#map/eeurope

It is so easy to find this information I am surprised people still make this baseless claim on DU.

[The Magistrate]

29. Mere Wriggling On Your Part, Sir

The actual 'rejection' of Stalin was the 20th Party Congress, in 1956, which certainly caused a bit of sturm und drang among Paty members.

The claim Stalin has been rejected substantially is nonesense, however. His cult has been deliberately cultivated recently by Putin, he is widely admired in Russia even today as a strong leader who was good for the country. Putin himself has declared that the dissolution of the Soviet Union was a great tragedy, which is a statement that speaks for itself in terms of continuity. To claim there is a greater influence in Ukraine from Bandera than there is in Russia from Stalin is a fool's errand, and could only imose on an audience of fools and the ignorant.

But the point was to watch you jump when the 'blood guilt' swill you peddle was reversed. You do not like it, even though presentments of 'blood guilt' on Russia rest on every bit as strong a ground as the swill you peddle. Bandera was a piker compared to Stalin, even to Kruschev or Lenin, if one is going to play at atrocity mongering out of the past.

The fact is that what is going on in Ukraine today has no relation to Bandera, and is not descended from him. Ukrainian nationalism long pre-dates him, and will continue on long after him. What is happening in Ukraine, however, does bear some relation to the whole history of Russia as a land empire, swallowing smaller nations which neighbor it. This is a constant of Russian history, whether under the Czars or under the Communists or now, under Putin and his neo-bolshevik fascism. Russia has no more right to dominate Ukraine politically or economically than the United States has to dominate Mexico or Cuba or Venezuela politically or economically. Every argument used to justify Russia's actions can be turned just as readily to justify any action by the United States in the Caribbean or elsewhere in Latin America. The pretense there is a difference, let alone a superiority, is laughable.

[newthinking]

30. lets see those pics of recent parades and banners hanging over government buildings of Stalin

(and not a pic of a single person with one image on a stick).

And when did Russia's president officially elevate Stalin into a Russian State hero? (Like happened under Yuschenko)

[LarryNM]

19. Unfortunately, This does not fit Western Corporate Media Narrative

So how much will we hear about this suppression of a free press?

[another_liberal]

20. Western media will do what some are doing here . . .

They will blame it on Russia. The press will excuse these Ukrainian actions by recalling suppression of press freedoms in Russia, citing examples as far back as Stalin and Lenin at least.

Remember the one size fits all rule of accountability: "It's Russia's fault."

[pampango]

23. Bad. Too much like Russia and Novorossiya.

Press freedom in Russia - #148 in the world, Ukraine - #127.

"The ongoing crisis in Ukraine has resulted in a major threat to press freedom in recent months. A May report from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) found approximately 300 instances of violent attacks on the media in Ukraine since November."

Here's part of an article on the OSCE report mentioned in the OP's link:

The review from early March to early April at the request of the Ukrainian interim government highlighted cases of murder, assaults, intimidation and enforced disappearances.

"The victims were primarily pro-Maidan activists and journalists, and those in Crimea also included Ukrainian military personnel and members of the Tatar community," it said. Kiev's Maidan, or Independence Square, was where protests against Yanukovich began late last year.

Russia has criticised last week's report as slanted and blamed mercenary support groups and "self-defence" groups for instigating violence, particularly in eastern Ukraine.

The mission said it detected no increase in intolerance or escalating violence against the Russian-speaking population.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/23/us-ukraine-crisis-media-idUSBREA4M0IB20140523

[Tommy_Carcetti]

24. Unfortunately, that part of the world is still fuzzy on the notion of free press.

Most likely the left over thinking from the Soviet days.

We can only hope it will improve as the Soviet dinosaurs die out.