True North Humanist Perspective - May 2015

Lia Tarachansky

A Jew reports from Israel

Brilliant writer of critical analyses in prose and poetry

provides a new series about the Israeli-Palestine crisis

Putin proves US funding North Caucasus militants

Seems US secret service kicked Geo. W. Bush's ass

Published time: April 26, 2015 17:55
Edited time: April 26, 2015 19:07

In a new documentary focusing on Vladimir Putin’s 15 years in power, the Russian president says communications intercepted in the early 2000s show direct contacts between North Caucasus separatists and the US secret services.

"At one point our secret services simply detected direct contacts between militants from the North Caucasus and representatives of the United States secret services in Azerbaijan," Putin said in the film, released by Rossiya 1 TV channel on Sunday 26 April.

"And when I spoke about that to the then president of the US, he said... sorry, I will speak plainly, he said, "I'll kick their asses", Putin recounts his conversation with George W. Bush on the issue. A few days later, he says, the heads of Russia's FSB received a letter from their American counterparts, which said they had the right to support opposition forces in Russia.

"Someone over there, especially the West's intelligence services, obviously thought that if they act to destabilize their main geopolitical rival, which, as we now understand, in their eyes has always been Russia, it would be good for them. It turned out, it wasn't," Putin muses, saying he had warned the West about the possible dangers of supporting terrorists. (More)

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Senior Russian rabbi says Jews safer in Russia

Government has supported the renovation of dozens of synagogues

and funded the establishment of a large Jewish museum in Moscow

27 April 2015 MOSCOW (RT) — Russian Jews would be in serious danger if Russian President Vladimir Putin was ever ousted from power, a senior Russian rabbi has stated. He added, the current government guarantees the safety of Jewish people better than many Western powers do.

“The Jews of Russia must realize the dangers inherent in the possible collapse of the Putin government, understand the rules of the game and be aware of the limitations,” the head of Russian Federation of Jewish Communities Aleksandr Boroda said at an annual Jewish learning event, which was organized by Limmud FSU.

The conference, which saw around 1,400 participants attend, opened on Friday 24 April at the state-owned Klyasma resort in the Moscow region. (More)

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Polish general ‘calls back support’

of Ukraine over nationalist glorification

Cites Ukrainian slaughter of 100,000 Poles in 1943-44

Retired General Waldemar Skrzypczak, an influential figure in the Polish military, says he withdraws all words of support for Ukraine due to the country sliding towards nationalism. Earlier he advocated supplying heavy weapons to Kiev.

The angry U-turn in attitudes towards the Ukrainian government was published on Friday 17 April in the Gazeta Prawna newspaper. Skrzypczak said he is outraged with a law that the Ukrainian parliament passed hours after Polish President Bronisław Komorowski spoke before the MPs to express support for Ukraine.

The law gave benefits to all people who fought for Ukraine’s independence throughput history. Those include fighters of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or UPA, which was responsible for mass killings of Polish citizens in 1943-44. The tragic events are known as Volhynian slaughter in Poland.

“I realized that Ukraine has no concern for Polish people. I am talking about what happened in Volhynia, the slaughter of 100,000 Poles by the UPA,” the ex-general said.

“The UPA murdered my uncle. They nailed him with forks to a barn door. For what I know, he was dying maybe for three days. Their savagery was beyond imagination. And Nazi Germany didn’t invent the things the Ukrainians did to us. They hacked people with axes,” he added. (More)

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