Section: US & Canada
Minsk Deal Legitimizes Ugly Facts on the Ground, Critics Say
Western and Russian diplomats are meeting this week to discuss ways to defuse the conflicts in eastern Ukraine, where fighting continues between Russia-backed separatists and government forces despite attempts for a truce. While top U.S. officials are touting the importance of a full implementation of the Minsk agreement, critics say that the...
Why America should worry about hackers taking out a power plant in Ukraine
Around 4 p.m. on Dec. 23, much of western Ukraine’s pastoral Ivano-Frankivsk region, an area about the size of Connecticut, was plunged into darkness The local electric utility in Ivano-Frankivsk acknowledged the blackout in a series of frantic messages posted on its website. Power had been lost across a vast area of the region and the...
Workers Struggle for Their Rights in the Former Soviet Union
Image: Vladimir Lenin. Stock Photo. FreeImages.com/Paal Gladso The Soviet Union was established to create the workers’ paradise that Communist theorists envisioned. The idea was that workers would own the means of production, make the production decisions and share the production rewards. It never worked that way. In practice, the state...
Ukraine’s Injured War Veterans and the Price of Independence
The smell of chlorine fills the air at the Kyiv Burn Center, along with the sound of nurses shuffling through the halls with their little carts of medicine. In the intensive care unit, lined up against the wall like giant aquariums, the glassed-in rooms are occupied by soldiers wounded in the war in east Ukraine, each one on his own slow road to...
Ukraine Offers Ex-President Yanukovych “Sexual Gift” to Return
Ukraine’s chief prosecutor has dismissed claims made by ex-President Viktor Yanukovych that he is in exile against his will—and offered him a “sexual gift” if he chooses to return and cooperate with authorities. Yanukovych has resided in Russia since fleeing Ukraine in the wake of anti-government protests two years ago. An arrest warrant...
Why Southwest Virginia Is Trump Country
“To make America great again, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?” A person from the back of the hall—no doubt a college student—shouts “Biscuits!” That was the kind of irreverent fun I was looking for at a Trump rally, and in fact was the high point of the event, taking place long before the candidate himself appeared on stage. (The...
Kyiv Could Rename ‘Moscow Avenue’ After Nationalist Bandera
Kyiv is considering stripping a major thoroughfare of the name Moskovsky Prospekt, or Moscow Avenue, and renaming it after late Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera — a move that would be certain to anger Russia. …read more Source: Radio Free Europe / Radio...
Detained Ukrainian Pilot’s Lawyer Lobbies Washington for New Sanctions
Nadiya Savchenko’s lawyers want the U.S. to punish Russia for its alleged show trial. But Moscow doesn’t look ready to bend. …read more Source: Foreign...
Lenin Becomes Lennon: Ukraine Renames Street After Late Beatle
A Ukrainian governor has ordered that a street named after Vladimir Lenin should be renamed “John Lennon Street.” Lenin Street in the village of Kalini in Zakarpattia, Ukraine’s westernmost region, will soon no longer bear the name of the Soviet leader and will instead honor the late Beatle. Ukraine is currently undergoing a government-led...
Ukraine: 3 Soldiers Killed in Explosion in the East
Ukrainian authorities say three soldiers have been killed and two wounded in the Donbas region in the country’s east as their car exploded.A spokesman for the Ukrainian government, Colonel Andriy Lysenko, reported the deaths during a Wednesday press briefing in Kiev…. …read more Source:...
