Propaganda Alert!
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
April 22, 2014
President Obama and Vice President Biden have made U.S. support for Ukraine an urgent priority as the Ukrainian government works to establish security and stability, pursue democratic elections and constitutional reform, revive its economy, and ensure government institutions are transparent and accountable to the Ukrainian people. Ukraine embarks on this reform path in the face of severe challenges to its sovereignty and territorial integrity, which we are working to address together with Ukraine and our partners in the international community. The United States is committed to ensuring that Ukrainians alone are able to determine their country’s future without intimidation or coercion from outside forces. To support Ukraine, we are today announcing a new package of assistance totaling $50 million to help Ukraine pursue political and economic reform and strengthen the partnership between the United States and Ukraine.
Elections and Constitutional Reform: Constitutional reform and free and fair elections are keys to Ukraine’s democratic development. Assistance in this area is a down payment on the country’s democratic development. We stand ready to provide further assistance to the new government after elections.
- The United States is contributing support and monitors to the OSCE’s election observation mission and other monitoring groups. U.S. funded programs will provide at least 250 long-term observers and over 1,700 short-term observers.
- We are also sending additional experts to provide advice on issues such as constitutional checks and balances, local governance, public participation, and the establishment of an independent, transparent judicial system.
Economic Assistance: The United States has already signed a $1 billion loan guarantee to help Ukraine meet its financial obligations and protect vulnerable citizens from the impact of economic adjustments. We have also supported Ukraine’s work with the IMF to secure a loan program worth $14-$18 billion. As these U.S., IMF, and European funds begin to flow, we will have technical experts from the U.S. Treasury Department on the ground to help the Ukrainian government allocate them effectively to stabilize the economy and ensure all the regions benefit. Currently, there are three banking advisors in Kyiv and we will be deploying public debt management and macroeconomic advisors in the coming week. We are also committed to providing additional technical assistance in the areas of budget and tax administration.
Energy Security: Over the coming weeks, expert teams from several U.S. government agencies will travel to the region to help Ukraine meet immediate and longer term energy needs.
- Today, a U.S. interagency expert team arrived in Kyiv to help Ukraine secure reverse flows of natural gas from its European neighbors. The team will continue on to Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia in the coming days to work on the details of these arrangements. Reverse flows of natural gas will provide Ukraine with additional immediate sources of energy.
- U.S. technical experts will join with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and others in May to help Ukraine develop a public-private investment initiative to increase conventional gas production from existing fields to boost domestic energy supply. A technical team will also engage the government on measures that will help the Ukrainian government ensure swift and environmentally sustainable implementation of contracts signed in 2013 for shale gas development.
- Department of Energy and USAID specialists will travel to Ukraine next month to provide advice on how to maximize energy efficiency, which could deliver potentially huge cost savings to Ukraine and rationalize energy consumption.
Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption: The United States is committed to helping Ukraine break the cycle of corruption that acts as a tax on business, an impediment to economic growth, and a drain on public trust in government. Technical advisors from the Departments of State and Justice have already been advising the government on anti-corruption measures. Today we are expanding this assistance program with additional commitments.
- The United States will provide advice and assistance to help modernize Ukraine’s government procurement in accordance with international standards, including the creation of a vetted anti-corruption unit. We will offer technical assistance to that vetted unit to help build a sustainable anti-corruption regime within Ukraine, as we have done with substantial results in other parts of the world.
- Specialized teams of prosecutors and investigators will help the Ukrainian government with other forms of technical assistance to put in place the proper legal and regulatory framework to fight corruption. The teams will also serve as a resource to ensure follow-through and effective implementation.
People-to-People Ties: To further strengthen ties between the people of Ukraine and the United States, we are announcing our intent to establish a new bilateral visa regime that will extend the standard validity of visas for businesspeople and tourists from 5 years to 10 years on a negotiated reciprocal basis.
Security Assistance: In addition to the $50 million package, today we are announcing the provision of $8 million of non-lethal military assistance to allow the Ukrainian armed forces and State Border Guard Service to fulfill their core security missions. The additional supplies include:
- Explosive Ordnance Disposal equipment and handheld radios for Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
- Engineering equipment, communications equipment, vehicles, and non-lethal individual tactical gear for Ukraine’s Border Guard Service.
This is in addition to the $3 million of Meals Ready to Eat and nearly $7 million of health and welfare assistance the United States is already providing to Ukraine. The United States will continue to actively review requests for additional support as Ukraine’s government further modernizes its armed forces and deals with evolving threats.
***
‘$50 mn shows Washington not committed to Ukraine and its people’
RT on Apr 22, 2014
Kiev halted the military crackdown on dissent in eastern Ukraine — however the military remains on high alert in the town of Izyum. The location is strategically on the border of Kharkov and Donetsk. For more on the latest developments, we turn live to editor of the British political magazine, Politics First, Marcus Papadopoulos.
see also
US sends 600 troops to Eastern Europe, warship USS Taylor enters Black Sea
see
Rick Rozoff: NATO Includes All Former Fascist Powers in Europe
Rick Rozoff: NATO, Ukraine and U.S. Imperialism–Purpose is to Besiege Russia
The West Marches East, Part 1: The U.S.-NATO Strategy to Isolate Russia by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Putin Stands Out as a Real World Leader by Finian Cunningham + Putin’s Annual Q&A Session
Meanwhile, This is A Major Road in St. Louis, Missouri
Dandelion Salad 
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Obama and media can lie so massively and systematically about the Ukraine, and the media deceit is the worse I’ve seen in a long lifetime, because most Americans don’t pay much attention to Foreign affairs. Most Americans don’t know where Ukraine is, and don’t much care. All most Americans care about is that there isn’t another war. And there isn’t. Yet.
But one false flag Terrorist incident and there could be, even though Obama appears to want a Cold War rather than a hot one. Obama inherited the Ukraine operation from Bush, just as Kennedy inherited the CIA Cuban invasion from IKe. It led to the Cuban missile crisis, where a strong majority of the Defense council called by Kennedy wanted to attack the missiles first, some of them by nuclear weapons. These scenarios spin out of control, just as world war 1 did.
The moral? Don’t get into them.
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Personally, I find it utterly preposterous that the US administration sees fit to direct everyone else’s business affairs and lives, whilst they are clearly incapable of putting their own house in order.
The chain of command is growing increasingly susceptible to the currents of time.
Winged Nike is going to catch up with them ~ probably swifter than they realize.
“Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption…” Is this meant to be a joke??!!
If it wasn’t so serious, it would be laughable.
Do they really think we are that stupid? Of course, many of these White House propaganda statements are never read by the public, which is one of the reasons I post them in full on Dandelion Salad.
In an article published at CommonDreams this morning by Robert Parry, PREPPING FOR A MASSACRE,, he also thinks a bloodbath is threatened in Ukraine. And indicated by the media characterizing the civilian activists as Terrorists. The US is putting paratroopers and other military units and war machines on the Russian border, primarily now as a symbolic gesture. But they can be expanded at will.
Cass Sunstein, a Minister of Information or whatever in the Obama administration, argued that in ‘Conspiracy Theory” groups, the US should embed ‘cognitive infiltrators’ to attack the truthers and truth to stigmatize and neutralize the thread. The trolls have become common and they tend to be easily spotted by most honest truthers.
Thanks, folktruther. Here’s the link to Parry’s article: http://consortiumnews.com/2014/04/22/prepping-for-a-ukrainian-massacre/
Where are these ignorant’s thoughts coming from?
1. Since the annexion of Crimea, there’s not much Russia can do to get closer with Europe.
2. There are no nazis or neo-nazis in Ukraine. Learn history. Get your facts right.
3. There won’t be any civil war in Ukraine. The only thing there can be is Ukraine-Russia.
Please enlighten us further.
The US appears to want a civil war in Ukraine to separate EU, especially Germany, from Russia. The US media, according to Parry, is initiating calling the Russian-speaking activists ‘Terrorists.’ Western Ukraine can do it by having their Nazis, or Nazi-staffed National Guard, create a bloodbath somewhere in Eastern Ukraine, putting pressure on Russia to intervene. This would bolster a Cold War that the US needs to prevent EU and Russia from getting closer, squeezing out American imperialism.
The bloodshed can be initiated while Obama is in east Asia, putting a distance of plausible denial between him and the bloodshed. He’ll be in Asia for 8 days.