The Rise of a ‘Democratic’ Fascism (John Pilger)

[Maedhros]

71. Thank you for supplying links.

The "$5 Billion to Fund The Rebels" claim certainly appears a bit shaky, though State Department denials are not necessarily to be taken as true.

The situation surrounding the collapse of Yanukovych's government could be described as a "coup" given that his impeachment and exile took place amidst violent demonstrations. A semantic argument over the term "coup" is not productive, though.

The Wikipedia link you provide as evidence against participation in Ukraine's government by neo-nazis is far too limited in scope to serve as proof of what you claim.

Quibbling over WWII casualties is a ridiculous argument and I refuse to participate, so I will skip that.

It appears that the international observers involved in the 2014 referendum included more than just the EODE:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_status_referendum,_2014#International_observers

The Crimean election spokesman Mikhail Malyshev reported that 135 international observers from 23 countries and 1,240 local observers were registered and 623 accredited journalists from 169 international media outlets were invited.[103][108][109][110]

103. http://rt.com/news/crimea-independence-referendum-poll-110/
108. http://news.am/eng/news/199152.html
109. http://en.c-inform.info/mainnews/id/11
110. http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/politics/op-ed-the-crimea-referendum-and-international-observers/article/377812

The OSCE was not present, which is problematic. Russian sources should be taken with a grain of salt as well.

Here is the report of a Western news source regarding the referendum (NOTE: I make no claims regarding the viability of this source):

http://www.globalresearch.ca/what-the-western-media-wont-tell-you-crimean-tatars-and-ukrainians-also-voted-to-join-russia/5373989

The observer mission reports which include members of theEuropean Parliament have been casually ignored by the mainstream Western media:

Mateus Piskorkski, the leader of the European observers’ mission and Polish MP: “Our observers have not registered any violations of voting rules.”

Ewald Stadler, member of the European Parliament, dispelled the “referendum at gunpoint” myth: “I haven’t seen anything even resembling pressure… People themselves want to have their say.”

Pavel Chernev: Bulgarian member of parliament: “Organization and procedures are 100 percent in line with the European standards,” he added.

Johann Gudenus, member of the Vienna Municipal Council: “Our opinion is – if people want to decide their future, they should have the right to do that and the international community should respect that. There is a goal of people in Crimea to vote about their own future. Of course, Kiev is not happy about that, but still they have to accept and to respect the vote of people in Crimea”.

Serbian observer Milenko Baborats “People freely expressed their will in the most democratic way, wherever we were… During the day we didn’t see a single serious violation of legitimacy of the process,”

Srdja Trifkovic, prominent and observer from Serbia: “The presence of troops on the streets is virtually non-existent and the only thing resembling any such thing is the unarmed middle-aged Cossacks who are positioned outside the parliament building in Simferopol. But if you look at the people both at the voting stations and in the streets, like on Yalta’s sea front yesterday afternoon, frankly I think you would feel more tense in south Chicago or in New York’s Harlem than anywhere round here,” he said. (For more details see Crimean ‘Referendum at Gunpoint’ is a Myth – International Observers By Global Research News, March 17, 2014)

Not 100% iron clad, but in the absence of proof of coercion or vote tampering, it serves to suggest that there were indeed independent observers present and the referendum was valid.

As for the "invasion", there certainly was a not-so-covert Russian military operation. Pilger is engaging in a semantic argument.

Pilger is clearly not objective on this issue. As for myself, I see the entire situation as problematic. Events surrounding the regime change in Ukraine are troubling in a number of ways, and U.S/NATO meddling cannot be ruled out. Proof is needed, though, before accusations are leveled. Russia is acting solely from national interest - it cannot afford to lose its Black Sea port. That doesn't excuse their actions, however.

BTW, this is what Russia historically does - its empire fragments, then a charismatic autocrat re-conquers what was lost (and then some). Then it fragments again, and the cycle repeats.