AI demands UN investigation in Israel-Gaza conflict war crimes

LONDON: Amnesty International (AI) has urged the UN to urgently mandate an independent international investigation into Israeli airstrikes on Gaza as well as Palestine’s indiscriminate shelling of Israel, and hold accountable those responsible for war crimes.

The UN questions the legality of Israel’s Gaza offensive, while Netanyahu is dismissive of international pressure.

Despite claims by Israel that its operation “Protective Edge”, launched June 8, targets Hamas militants, most of more than a hundred Palestinians killed in airstrikes on Gaza are civilians, Amnesty says, adding that at least 24 children and 16 women were among the casualties.

Simultaneously, at least 20 people in Israel have been wounded by rocket attacks from Palestinian territories, according to the human rights watchdog, calling on the UN to set up a “fact-finding mission to Gaza and Israel to investigate violations of international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict.”

“Swift UN action is needed as lives hang in the balance,” said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Amnesty International. “The international community must not repeat previous mistakes, standing by and watching the devastating consequences for civilians of both sides.”

Amnesty sees arms embargo on Israel and all Palestinian military groups as a means of preventing the violence escalating further.

“Pending such an embargo, all states must immediately suspend all transfers of military equipment, assistance and munitions to the parties, which have failed to properly investigate violations committed in previous conflicts, or bring those responsible to justice,” Amnesty's official statement reads.

Strikes on homes, performed as part of Israel’s military operation, are a matter of particular concern to human rights groups. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, on Friday questioned the legality of such attacks.

Israel has argued that all targets in the Gaza strip are either military facilities or are homes of Hamas militants.

In case of doubt, buildings ordinarily used for civilian purposes, such as homes, are presumed not to be legitimate military targets,” Libi Vice, spokeswoman for the Israel Defense Forces (IFD) told RT on Thursday.

Human rights watchdogs want proof that 340 housing units, destroyed in Gaza, were actually used for military purposes.

“Unless the Israeli authorities can provide specific information to show how a home is being used to make an effective contribution to military actions, deliberately attacking civilian homes constitutes a war crime and also amounts to collective punishment against the families,” said Amnesty's Luther.

“Firing indiscriminate rockets, which cannot be aimed accurately at military targets, is a war crime, as is deliberately targeting civilians,” he added. “There can be no excuse for either side failing to protect civilians, including journalists, medics and humanitarian workers, or civilian facilities.”

Amnesty International has also called on Israel and Egypt to “ensure that sufficient amounts of medical and humanitarian supplies are allowed into Gaza”. Healthcare services in the region have been on the brink of collapse due to shortages of supplies, the World Health Organization earlier warned.

Friday saw thousands of activists in London and Oslo protesting against Israeli strikes in Gaza. Organizers of the massive rallies said Palestinians are facing “a horrific escalation of racism and violence” at the hands of the IDF.

John Kerry says U.S. war on Iraq was serious mistake

BEIJING: US Secretary of State John Kerry admitted that the Iraq war was a serious mistake for which the sufferings continued even today, Geo News reported on Tuesday.

In an interview to Chinese news agency, US Secretary of State, John Kerry said he had termed this decision of former President George Bush going for war on Iraq a grave mistake.

Even today, the region's many problems are caused by the Iraq war, the U.S. is trying to address, citing example of President Obama’s pulling out the troops from Iraq, he said.

The statement of the US Secretary of State has come at a time when Iraq has already suffered an irreparable loss and the country is bleeding in a civil war.

Qadri tells followers he has returned to fight the war for Pakistan

LAHORE : Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Tahir-ul-Qadri says that even in the face of political highhandedness, he is present among his people.

Addressing his party workers and followers at the Minhaj-ul-Quran International secretariat in Lahore, Qadri paid high accolades to the independent electronic and print media in Pakistan terming them his “revolutionary army” adding that now the world will witness the Pakistani revolution.

The PAT chief added that the Almighty has given him wealth, respect and recognition but he has come to Pakistan for the people of this country whose future has become bleak due to the corrupt system.

He told his followers that soon the government will be toppled and the leaders will be held accountable, taunting that he can be killed but the revolution will not be stopped.

He termed the present leaders thugs and criminals, taunting again that his war is with them and the fight will continue till only a victor is left standing.

Tahir-ul-Qadri promised his followers that he will not let the corrupt leadership flee from the country; he will hold them accountable and send them behind bars.

He announced that after consultations with political forces he will give the final call for the revolution.

PM Sharif should install a War Cabinet

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif needs to put together a War Cabinet. The current cabinet produced two offsprings — talks with the TTP and multibillion rupee infrastructure projects. The attackers of the Jinnah International Airport have killed them both (talks are dead and no private investment is coming to Pakistan).

In 1916, PM Herbert Asquith of the United Kingdom was asked to form a small War Cabinet. He kept on delaying it and was finally forced to resign. PM Lloyd George then took over and formed a small, five-member War Cabinet to fight the war.

In 1939, PM Chamberlain formed a 9-member War Cabinet. PM Churchill had formed a five-member, bi-partisan War Cabinet. Australia fought the war with a seven-member War Cabinet. President Kennedy formed a War Cabinet in response to the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Bush formed a War Cabinet in response to the September 11 attacks.

The current cabinet’s priorities are completely out of sync with reality. Here’s the reality. Fatalities in terrorist violence: 52,409 (till June 8, 2014). Security forces personnel killed: 5,775. Suicide attacks: 396 (killed 6,021; injured 12,558). Bomb blasts: 4,932.

The current cabinet’s priorities are completely out of sync with reality. Here’s the reality. General officers martyred:Lieutenant-General Mushtaq Baig, Major-General Ameer Faisal Alvi and Major-General Sanaullah Niazi. Here’s the reality. Military installations attacked: GHQ Rawalpindi, Minhas Airbase, Mehran Naval Base and Pakistan Ordinance Factory.

The current cabinet’s priorities are completely out of sync with the mainstream. Here’s the reality. Prominent civilians killed: Benazir Bhutto, Salman Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti.

Now, here are 22 words from the budget speech: “959 KM Karachi-Lahore motorway project …. 892 KM Gawadar-Ratodero Motorway …. 200 KM long Gwadar-Turbat-Hoshab Section…. 460 KM Raikot-Havelian-Islamabad Section…the Karakoram Highway.” Let us look reality ‘straight in the eye and deny it’.

What Pakistan needs is a War Cabinet-a cabinet capable of integrating and directing the war effort both in the tribal areas and urban centers; a cabinet with time-bound powers to establish war-time special courts; a cabinet empowered to restrict war-time individual freedoms; a cabinet with powers to regulate the war-time media.

Pakistan cannot win without denying terrorists three things: physical space, ideological space and funding. What Pakistan needs is a War Cabinet — a cabinet comprising the military high command (to take back physical space), an intellectual segment (to deny ideological space) and a financial wizardry component (to deny funding).

According to Shaheen Sehbai, “….the fact is that Pakistan and its critical institutions have collapsed and it is now time for a major, immediate, almost earthshaking, political and administrative renovation effort, to get back control before everything spins out of hand.”

Pakistan’s democracy has to go to war to save the state as well as democracy. The British democracy went to war under PM Churchill’s War Cabinet. The War Cabinet had the following four characteristics: One - politics was subordinated to military considerations. Two — concentrated authority. Three — the raison d’etre was the successful prosecution of the war effort. Four — democratic accountability to the electorate was temporarily suspended.Can we win this war without a War Cabinet? Who said, “The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it?”

Everything should be fair in this terror war

DUBAI: Now that the political government of Nawaz Sharif has come on the same page with the Pakistan Army and a full-fledged military operation has been launched against the terrorists, a full-fledged security and media plan for the rest of the country is immediately needed to face the blowback.

Some of the instant decisions that should be, and obviously will be, part of this whole operation, its planning, strategy and tactics, must include, if not already done:

— Instead of repeated announcements of Red Alerts, all major cities should declare night curfews, at least for three to four weeks, starting at 9 pm to 6 am.

— In sensitive localities, shooting orders be given if anyone violates the curfew and does not stop when checked.

— All businesses in all major cities must shut down at 8 pm so that people can get back to their homes by 9 pm. No exceptions should be allowed except for those with security passes.

— A War Council or War Cabinet must be announced in the Centre and in provinces.

— Other activities of parliament and the cabinet must be put in low gear and diverted to coordinating the war effort for at least three to four weeks. These should include taking care of those hit, affected or displaced by the war.

The army must be deployed at all key installations to protect them from terrorist attacks.

In sensitive cities and super sensitive localities like many areas of Karachi, door-to-door search operations should be carried out when the curfew sets in.

Special summary courts should be set up to try and convict all those who are caught with illegal arms, terrorist equipment like suicide jackets, hand grenades etc and the death penalty should be given to those convicted and sentenced without delay.

Special bulletins should be issued on the Zarb-e-Azb Operation daily or even more frequently and the media should only cover these. Total cooperation of political parties and the media must be ensured.

There can be more such actions taken but if this is a war, it has to be fought like a war. And as now we have decided to fight this war, then lets follow the saying: “Everything is fair in love and war.”We will get to the love portion when we cross the war zones.

Prof. Ibrahim urges Taliban, army to end war

SWAT: Member Taliban negotiating committee, Professor Ibrahim has stated that neither military operation brought peace nor Taliban attacks enforced shariah in the country, Geo News reported.

Talking to media here Sunday, Professor Ibrahim said this war had claimed thousands of lives from both sides, therefore, this should be ended now.

He said efforts were underway to hold meeting between Tahrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and government committees, adding they were making efforts so that time and venue of the meeting could be arranged at the earliest.

Thousands of innocent people are present in the jails and they are not being presented in the courts, he claimed.

Tug of war over stolen lion in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO: A male lion named Rawell is at the center of an ownership dispute in Brazil after the creature was abducted from his sanctuary and surfaced later hundreds of kilometers away.

The 300 kilo (650 pound) feline was knocked unconscious Thursday with a tranquilizer dart and spirited away from the Monte Azul Paulista sanctuary in Sao Paulo state, local media reported.

On Saturday, Folha de Sao Paulo and Globo dailies reported on their websites that Rawell was found in a shelter some 500 kilometers (312 miles) away at Maringa, in neighboring Parana state.

The site belongs to Rawell´s former owner, Ary Marcos Borges da Silva.

Oswaldo Garcia, who has cared for the nine-year-old creature for the past five years at Monte Azul, said the day Rawell went missing he found its cage damaged and the lion gone.

The animal was "like a son to me," Garcia told Globo television.

Da Silva´s lawyer told Folha that his client had tried unsuccessfully to take the animal back some months ago, and had now "tried to resolve the situation in his own way."

Police detained one worker at the site where Rawell was found for initially refusing to allow police access to the site, Globo reported.

Police delegate Leandro Roque said that Garcia and Da Silva were now disputing ownership.

A Sao Paulo police official told Globo that Da Silva ceded ownership of the lion in 2009, and was unaware of any documentation contradicting that. (AFP)

COAS witnesses Saudi military’s war exercise

RIYADH: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif has witnessed Saudi military’s war exercise “Shamsheer of Abdullah”.

The military experts and chiefs of army staff of Gulf States were also present in the concluding ceremony of the exercises.

General Raheel Shairf had left for two-day official visit to Saudi Arabia on the invitation of Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Karachi: Two gang war accused killed in Lyari shootout

KARACHI: Two gang war accused were killed during an exchange of fire between the Rangers and culprits in Lyari on Monday, Geo News reported.

According to sources, a shootout between the accused and Rangers’ personnel took place near the slaughter house in Lyari, as a result of which two gang war criminals were killed.

The deceased accused were identified as Bilal and Sajjad who were wanted in several cases including murder, sources added.

No extension in ceasefire, war to start again: TTP commander

ISLAMABAD: The proscribed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander in Mohmand Agency, Khalid Omar Khorasani Wednesday said the TTP has not announced an extension in the ceasefire and that the war will start again.

In a statement, Khalid Khorasani claimed that the government had breached its promise during the period of ceasefire and held the state, military and political parties responsible for ‘the losses suffered’.

He said all the influential sections of the society are in favor of the persistence of war.

On Pakistan cricket team’s recent defeat against West Indies in World Twenty20, he said ‘Allah has always let this nation cry without a break’

Maxwell released report to expose Nehru’s mistakes that forced war on China

Veteran Australian journalist Neville Maxwell has said he chose to make public the classified 1962 Sino-Indian war report to “rid Indian opinion of the delusion” that the war had been the result of “an unprovoked Chinese aggression” and to expose mistakes made by Jawaharlal Nehru that “forced the war on China.”

In his first comments following his decision to make public last month the still classified Henderson Brooks war report, the release of which was first reported by The Hindu and subsequently triggered wide debate on the legacy of the war, Mr. Maxwell told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post that by doing so he had “deprive[d] the Government of India the excuse they’ve used to keep it secret, the false claim that it was to preserve national security”.

He said: “I hope to achieve what I have been trying to do for nearly 50 years! To rid Indian opinion of the induced delusion that in 1962 India was the victim of an unprovoked surprise Chinese aggression, to make people in India see that the truth was that it was mistakes by the Indian government, specifically Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, that forced the war on China.”

Mr. Maxwell said in the interview he had been trying “for years” to make the report public, including by making it available to several newspapers in India in 2012. The newspapers chose not to publish. His website has, however, been inaccessible in India after The Hindu reported that the war report had been made public. He said the website “collapsed under its own weight” and “not because of government censorship” as some Indian media reports suggested.

Mr. Maxwell repeated his long-held view that “all that talk about China’s ‘unprovoked aggression’ is utterly false, the truth is that India was the aggressor in 1962” — views he expressed in his 1970 book India’s China War.

Mr. Maxwell’s conclusions that China was all the while focussed on peaceful settlement and that India was to blame entirely for the war have, however, been questioned by other scholars, including John W. Garver.

Even in China, many scholars today see many factors, beyond Nehru’s mistaken “forward policy,” at play in China’s decision to launch an attack, from domestic turbulence in the wake of the 1958 Great Leap Forward famine to unrest in Tibet.

Report exposes rights abuse by Sri Lankan forces post war

Military is still waging a campaign of persecution using abduction, arbitrary detention and sexual violence’

A report by rights groups on Friday said there was enough evidence that the Sri Lankan military was still waging a war against Tamils.

The report — published by the UK Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales and the International Truth & Justice Project, Sri Lanka — is one of the first documents to detail alleged rights abuse by the Sri Lankan armed forces in the post-war context.

Five years after the brutal war ended with the defeat of the rebel Tigers, the military was still waging a campaign of persecution, resorting to abduction, arbitrary detention, torture, rape and sexual violence, the report said.

Leading South African human rights lawyer and U.N. adviser Yasmin Sooka compiled the report, based on interviews with 40 Tamils who were reportedly held in custody by Sri Lankan authorities and who later sought refuge in the U.K.

The report, ‘Unfinished War: Torture and Sexual Violence in Sri Lanka, 2009- 2014,’ comes ahead of the U.N. Human Rights Council debate in Geneva on a U.S.-led resolution, calling for an international investigation into alleged war crimes and rights abuse in Sri Lanka.

“Sworn statements, along with medical and psychiatric examinations, have been gathered from dozens of Tamil men and women who sought refuge in the U.K. after being subjected to abuses in Sri Lanka. Almost all incidents they described took place after the war, some of them as recently as February 2014,” the report said.

Their accounts, documented by nine independent lawyers from western and Asian countries, established a case to answer for post-war crimes against humanity involving torture, rape and sexual violence — including anal rape and forced oral sex — by the Sri Lankan military, the report said.

South African rights activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in his foreword, said it “gives the lie to the Sri Lankan government’s propaganda that it is reconciling with its former enemies.”

The Sri Lankan army has been denying allegations of war crimes and rights abuse, maintaining that it was part of an anti-Sri Lanka campaign by some sections of the Tamil diaspora that supported the LTTE.

Gadani Power Park to be completed on war footing: Dar

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq Dar on Sunday directed Economic Affair Division Secretary Nargis Sethi to complete the Gadani Power Park on war footing.

This has been disclosed by Economic Affairs Division (EAD) Secretary Nargis Sethi who is also Chief Executive Officer of the project of paramount importance here in a meeting with Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar about issues pertaining to Gadani Power Park.

Nespak (National Engineering Services of Pakistan) is preparing PC-I for the whole project of 6,600MW Gadani Power Park in Balochistan that will also include construction of jetty and related infrastructure.

Nargis Sethi briefed the finance minister about the broad framework of the project. She informed that the site of the Park was ideal as it converged at the available industrial infrastructure at Hub and very close to Karachi.

She said that the Park would include ten coal-based power projects, ash disposal units, residential area, schools and play areas. She informed the finance minister that Nespak is preparing PC-I for the whole project which would include construction of jetty and related infrastructure.

The finance minister emphasised that as this was the flagship project of the PML-N government therefore it should be placed on fast track.

He said that ultra super technology should be used and detailed study from independent sources should be carried out. He said that the resource envelope was limited and they had to operate within the available resources.

He underlined that domestic private sector resources would be encouraged on BOT basis. He appreciated that this was the least cost energy generation model which would meet the short to medium term energy requirements.

The finance minister also directed the IPDF (infrastructure project development facility) to work in close collaboration with project director at Gadani project.

\He urged for putting on fast track Jamshoro coal fired project for which funding was already available from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Need to win media war

IN the strongest indication yet that the government may have decided that its chosen option of peace talks with the Taliban had run its course, the civil and military leadership met this week to look at operational measures to tackle rampant terrorism.
Of course any expectation of immediate action would be unrealistic as, sources say, first an infrastructure will need to be put in place which allows all terrorism-related intelligence and information of related efforts to be centralised and shared across the provinces.
Whether this takes the nomenclature Nacta (National Counter-Terrorism Authority) or a JIC (Joint Intelligence Committee) or something similar isn’t significant. What is important is the acknowledgement of the need to have a coordinated fight against terror.
At the same time, the capacity building of fighting forces, apart from the military and paramilitary units, will continue across the country and the recent approval by the Sindh chief minister of a huge, urgent spend to beef up the Karachi police’s wherewithal to deal with terrorism is part of the effort.
If all this finally points to an understanding on the part of those at the helm that a compromise with terrorists isn’t possible because agreeing to their demands would mean taking the country back hundreds of years, it is a positive sign to say the least.
All security officials will have busy months ahead and will need to ponder over how to effectively re-establish the state’s writ over parts of the country which are under the militants’ control — but to move ahead in a manner that civilians caught up in the conflict are evacuated and/or protected from any fallout.
At the same time, the intelligence gathering and sharing mechanism will have to be fine-tuned to contain any repercussions — for example, an even more ferocious bombing campaign in the urban centres by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to ease pressure on its sanctuaries.
Another big challenge for those planning and executing the operational plans will be the media. The last full-fledged military operation in Swat as well as South Waziristan Agency was also carried out in the glare of the media but there was by and large a consensus about its need and legitimacy.
All journalists will need to be constantly briefed and specifically the prime time news show ‘anchors’ will need to be mollycoddled as they like, possibly by the military leadership to keep them onside. This is imperative because the blowback from any action could be serious and the whole thing could last months, even a couple of years.
Also, unlike the Swat and South Waziristan operations which followed a broad-based political consensus, in the run-up to the last elections, and the government formation since, a lot of politics has been played around the issue of how to deal with this threat and what is causing it.
When national leaders, even with utmost sincerity, express such diverse opinions on an existential threat to the country, public confusion is not surprising. Once any action starts, all the national leaders will have to be on the same page. Those who fall fighting the forces of darkness will have to be owned by one and all.
The government will also need to factor in the inherent conservatism of some of our media stars. On cannot but recall their performance before and after the Lal Masjid operation. Many of them demanded that the state act to enforce its writ. The operation over, a significant number changed their tune. I recall one ‘star’ with considerable following saying he could smell attar-like scent from the charred corpses of the militants killed in Lal Masjid.
This isn’t to sing the virtues of the operation, which could have been better executed, but just to point out the critical importance of the ‘propaganda’ war. The sort of speculation, wild stories that followed in the media were not only very destructive to the anti-terror effort but could actually have served as an impetus to terrorism.
For example, it took so many years and a judicial commission of inquiry to establish that 92 ‘civilians’ (some, many of them armed?) and 11 armed forces personnel were killed in the operation. And not a single female student died. I recall a chance conversation with a manager, a local Rawalpindi man, working for a media organisation who complained: “Musharraf is very cruel. He has mercilessly killed 1,000 children of the poor including a large number of girls studying there.”
This view, as I realised to my horror on that trip, was widely held and the media did nothing to present all the facts to the public. Whether it was their conservative beliefs which pushed into the background the demands of their profession or simply that they tilted towards the one they perceived as the underdog, the result was the same.
It isn’t apparent if the government and the army are aware and taking care of this element. But, anticipating a crackdown, the TTP appears mindful of it. The recent TTP-owned murders of technical media personnel and threats to the media are aimed at intimidating their way to sympathetic headlines and coverage once the conflict goes full steam.
Recent pronouncements by the militants’ ideological allies/sympathisers expressing opposition to any action demonstrate that there is a coordinated effort on the part of the right to mould favourable public opinion. The challenge for all those opposed to the TTP and its allies’ toxic, hate-filled ideology would be to speak in unison and forget even legitimate grievances against each other for now. It’s going to be a long haul. Everyone hoping for peace and sanity will have to keep their nerve.

legitimate unlike US war in Iraq: Vladimir Putin

  

Zee Media Bureau/Supriya Jha

Kiev: Justifying his action in Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said that it was a "humanitarian mission" for Russia to defend the Russians of Ukraine and for that any use of military force would be legitimate and in accordance with the international law.

Addressing a news conference on Ukraine crisis, Putin said that Russia had no intention to go to war with Ukraine and there was no need so far to use military force and it would be used only as a "last resort".

"Even if I decide to use army forces it will be fully legitimate and be in line with international law", Putin said.

Putin further said that Russia had the right to use all legitimate means to protect residents of eastern Ukraine, however he made clear that Russia didn't need to use military force in Ukraine "äs yet".

Putin's statements come after the world powers have unanimously condemned Russia's military intervention in Ukraine, calling it an act violating Ukraine's sovereignty and international law.

Hours after ordering troops on Ukrainian border to return to their bases, Putin addressed a press conference in Russia to discuss the Ukraine crisis.

Further slamming the Western chorus of illegitimacy, Putin questioned the lawfulness of American military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

Putin reasoned that the Russian act was legitimate as Moscow was acting on the behest of Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych, who had asked for help.

Putin further said that the forces in Crimea were not Russian soldiers but the local “pro-Russian self defence forces”.

"Our actions are often described by the West as not legitimate, but look at US operations in Our actions are legitimate from the point of view of international law, because Ukraine's legitimate president asked us for help," Putin added.

Putin also said that Russia was not considering to invade Crimea and only the people of Crimea had the right to decide their future.

"There will be no war. We are not going to go to war with the Ukrainian people," said Putin.

As Putin spoke, the Russian stock markets that had plunged by about 10 percent due to sanctions rhetoric by the West, showed signs of recovery. The Wall Street Journal reported that Micex Index in Russia gained 5.3% with Putin's strong words on Ukraine.

Putin also sought to rubbish the threat of economic sanctions being brandished widely by the Western leaders, saying, "all threats against Russia are counterproductive and harmful".

On the threat by G7 nations to isolate Russia, Putin said, "Russia was prepared for the G8 Sochi Summit, but the Western leaders "don't need to attend" if they do not wish to.

Putin denied to accept the legitimacy of the present government of Ukraine, which he said had seized power forcefully from Viktor Yanukovych.

Putin said that the events in Kiev that resulted in ouster of Yanukovych constituted an "unconstitutional coup". He further added that Yanukovych was the legitimate President of Ukraine and not the new leaders as they had resorted to a forceful seizure of power.

Talking more about Yanukovych, Putin said that he had no political future in Ukraine and that he would have been killed, had Russia not protected him.

Seeking to justify his action to pro-Euro people of Ukraine, Putin said, "I understand the people on the Maidan..Ukrainian people wanted change, but illegal change cannot be encouraged".

Putin added that many nationalists and anti-Semites were rampant in Kiev and because of them Ukraine is in chaos.

As the world powers continued their efforts to thwart Russian aggression in Ukraine, Putin earlier today ordered Russian troops embarked in military exercise on Ukrainian border to return to their bases.

However, Putin said that the military exercise had nothing to do with the situation in Ukraine and he had now ordered the troops back.

Tens of thousands of soldiers were engaged in military exercise on the Ukrainian border, escalating fears that Russia was planning to invade the pro-Russian parts in eastern Ukraine.

However, it was not clear yet if Putin's call to withdraw troops was a step towards the de-escalation of the crisis, as wanted by the West.

Because, in spite of the order for the troops withdrawal from the border, Russian troops are locked in a stand-off with Ukrainian forces at the Belbek base near Sevastapol in Crimea.

By now, over 16000 Russian troops are stationed in Ukraine's Crimea, Ukraine's interim government said.

Earlier US had said that Russia had gained fully operation control over Crimea, the autonomous Black Sea peninsula inhabited mostly by Russian-speaking people.

The crucial move came after Russia had been facing unanimous opposition by the major world powers like the US, the UK, the European Nation and its G8 partners.

The G8 nations, who addressed the group as G7 (isolating Russia) also suspended the preparatory talks being held ahead of Sochi Summit in June, which might not happen as scheduled, said John Kerry.

Also, the US Defence Department on late Monday declared the suspension of all military engagements with Russian military in wake of Moscow's military overtures in Ukraine.

The US also sought to threaten a host of economic sanctions against Moscow, which reflected clearly in the sharp decline of the Russian currency Rouble yesterday.

The diplomatic push by the world powers came as Russia continued to build-up military strength in Crimea, with Russian troops occupying key bases and naval installations.

Ukraine's acting president Oleksandr Turchynov regretted that Russia's military presence in Crimea was thickening.

Ukraine also accused Russian forces of warning the Ukrainian troops in Crimea to surrender by 03:00 GMT. However, Russia's Black Sea fleet rubbished reports that it had given Ukrainian forces in Crimea an ultimatum to surrender by Tuesday dawn, Interfax news agency said.


On Monday, Russian envoy to UN, Vitaliy Churkin told a UN Security Council meeting that ousted Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych had requested Moscow for military intervention in Ukraine to “restore law and order””.

Churkin also produced a letter signed by Yanukovych to buttress his point.

But the Russian envoy's statement was met with widespread rejection by the Western leaders, who termed Russia's claims as groundless.

US Secretary of State John Kerry meanwhile is on his way to Kiev to show US support to Ukraine against Russian aggression.

News World news Ukraine Russian takeover of Crimea will not descend into war, says Vladimir Putin

Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, says he told the fugitive president Viktor Yanukovych that he has no political future after fleeing Ukraine. Photograph: Sky News

Vladimir Putin is confident Russia's takeover of the Crimean peninsula – where 16,000 pro-Russian troops are in control of the region's security and administrative infrastructure – will not descend into war.
During a live address on Russian television, the president insisted that the armed forces of Russia and Ukraine were "brothers in arms".
"We will not go to war with the Ukrainian people. If we do take military action, it will only be for the protection of the Ukrainian people,"said Putin, adding that there was no scenario in which Russian troops would fire "on women and children".
The Russian president continued: "Ukraine is not only our closest neighbour it is our fraternal neighbour. Our armed forces are brothers in arms, friends. They know each other personally. I'm sure Ukrainian and Russian military will not be on different sides of the barricades but on the same side. Unity is happening now in the Ukraine, where not a single shot has been fired, except in occasional scuffles."
Putin denied that the Russian-speaking soldiers occupying key Crimean military sites were Russian special forces, describing them as pro-Russian local self-defence forces.
"There are many military uniforms. Go into any local shop and you can find one," he said.
Putin was speaking shortly after gunfire rang out at the Belbek airbase in the Crimean peninsula, where a standoff between pro-Russian and Ukrainian soldiers threatened to erupt in clashes.
Warning shots were fired in the air by more than a dozen pro-Russian troops, who had taken over the military site, after about 300 Ukrainian troops marched towards them.
Putin also insisted that ousted Ukrainian leader, Viktor Yanukovych, was the legitimate leader of Ukraine and that the "so-called" acting president had no authority and the new government in Kiev illegal.
Putin gave his address as US secretary of state was due to arrive in Kiev to hold crisis talks with the new Ukrainian government, hours after Washington suspended all military engagements with Russia, including exercises and port visits, in response to Moscow sending troops into Crimea.
Responding to journalists' questions on the US position and Kerry's involvement, Putin said: "The secretary of state is important but he does not determine the policy of the United States. I am hearing many different things."
Barack Obama had warned that the US government would look at economic and diplomatic sanctions that would isolate Moscow over Russia's involvement in the Ukraine crisis. The US also put on hold trade and investment talks with Russia.
Referring to these threats from the White House, and other western leaders to eject Russia from the G8 ahead of looming talks, the president said calmly that he was still preparing for the talks: "If the leaders don't want to come, fair enough."
During his impromptu and occasionally rambling address, Putin said he had advised Yanukovych not to dismiss the feared Ukrainian riot police from Kiev, warning the ousted leader that "chaos, anarchy" would ensue if he did. Putin marked the beginning of the "chaos that reigns today" with Yanukovych's dismissal of these forces.
"Yanukovych has no political future now, I have told him that," Putin said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Kremlin ordered Russian troops carrying out exercises near Ukraine's eastern border to return to their barracks.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine's Crimean region has so far been bloodless despite tense standoffs and threats from both sides. A supposed Russian ultimatum for two Ukrainian warships to surrender passed without action from either side on Tuesday morning.
The warships remained anchored in the Crimean port of Sevastopol early on Tuesday, a day after Ukrainian authorities claimed that Russian forces had issued an ultimatum for the ships to surrender or be seized. Russian defence ministry spokesman Vladimir Anikin said on Monday that no ultimatum had been issued.
Russia's ambassador to the UN claimed on Monday that Yanukovych had requested that Russian soldiers be sent to Crimea "to establish legitimacy, peace, law and order".
Vitaly Churkin told a UN security council meeting that Yanukovych wrote to Vladimir Putin on Saturday.
France's ambassador to the UN, Gérard Araud, said the letter was just a piece of paper handed to Yanukovych that "got his signature". Asked if the letter was phony, Araud replied: "It's not a false letter, it's a false president."
Late on Monday night, a Kremlin-linked analyst and member of Russia's public chamber, who was in Crimea for talks with local officials, said he believed there would be an "escalation of pressure" on Ukrainian forces on Tuesday, but no military action.
Sergei Markov said Ukrainian troops would be reminded that "life will be difficult for them" if they remained loyal to Kiev.
Russian troops, said to be 16,000 strong, tightened their grip on the Crimean peninsula on Monday and control all Crimean border posts, as well as military facilities in the territory and a ferry terminal in the city of Kerch, just 12 miles (20km) across the water from Russia.
On Tuesday morning, Putin told troops massed along the Russian side of the Ukrainian border to return to their permanent bases after calling a snap drill last week to check their battle-readiness.
"The commander-in-chief, President Vladimir Putin, gave the order to the troops and units taking part in military exercises to return to their permanent bases," his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told Russian news agencies.
The drill involved army, navy and air force troops based in the central and western military districts, a vast territory that includes regions bordering Ukraine but also the Arctic.
The drill did not include any regions beyond Russia's borders such as Crimea.
The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, had said the drill would include military exercises "on Russia's borders with other countries, including Ukraine".
The drill, which was scheduled to finish on Monday, came shortly before Russian security forces began operating covertly in Crimea and Putin gained parliamentary approval for military intervention.
Moscow has insisted its military presence in Ukraine is essential for the protection of Russian-speakers in Crimea, threatened by the pro-European revolution in Kiev.
The disclosure of Yanukovych's support for Russian military intervention came amid fears that the Kremlin might carry out further landgrabs in pro-Russian eastern Ukraine.
Russia faced demands from almost all UN security council members to pull its troops out of Crimea and there was no support for military action from its close ally China. Several EU states, including the UK, have said they are considering economic sanctions against Russia.
A Kremlin aide said on Tuesday that if the US were to impose sanctions, Moscow could be forced to drop the dollar as a reserve currency and refuse to pay off any loans to American banks.
Sergei Glazyev, an adviser to the Kremlin – who is often used by the authorities to stake out a hardline stance but does not make policy – added that if Washington froze the accounts of Russian businesses and individuals, Moscow would recommend that all holders of US treasuries sell them.

How It All Began: A Cold War Battle Heats Up

The Ukraine Divide, Explained

Ukraine is being pulled in different directions: one toward Russia, the other toward Western Europe.

KIEV, Ukraine — Three months of civic unrest in Ukraine spiraled out of control last week with dozens of people dead, the center of this elegant city turned into a burning war zone and the eventual flight from the capital Saturday by the president. Puzzled about the conflict and how it got so bad? Here’s a primer.

There are three core factors that led to the chaos:

First is a broken promise between a leader and his citizens: President Viktor F. Yanukovych had long promised to integrate Ukraine with the European Union by signing sweeping political and trade agreements. In November, he refused to sign.

Second is a lingering Cold War-era fight between Russia and the West for influence over countries in Eastern Europe still suffering from political and economic problems rooted in the Soviet era. While Europe and the United States have made a priority of fostering democracy in the former Soviet republics, the Kremlin sees an ulterior motive: the expansion of Western military and economic power. Perceiving a threat to its big military and economic interests in Ukraine, Russia exerted enormous pressure to scuttle the accords with the European Union.

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Demonstrators rode a military vehicle to Independence Square in central Kiev. Protesters claimed control of the city’s security. Credit Louisa Gouliamaki/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Third is searing public outrage over the government’s sometimes brutal response to the street protests that followed the president’s about-face on ties with the European Union. The crackdowns deeply contradicted Ukraine’s post-Soviet national identity as a peaceful, pluralistic society. Even in the 2004 Orange Revolution, in which there were also huge street demonstrations, the authorities did not assault the protesters.

Now, a quick recap of how recent events unfolded.

In 2009, the European Union initiated an Eastern Partnership program to tighten ties with former Soviet republics, including Ukraine. Russia immediately registered alarm. “Some states view this partnership as a partnership against Russia,” said Dmitri A. Medvedev, then the president and now prime minister.

Russia had serious reasons for unease. Its Black Sea naval fleet is based in Ukraine, and crucial pipelines in Ukraine carry Russian natural gas to customers in Europe. European officials repeatedly dismissed Russia’s concerns in what in hindsight they viewed as a serious miscalculation given Russia’s control over Ukraine’s gas supply, and eastern Ukraine’s heavy dependence on Russia for business and trade.

Ukraine has long been caught between Europe and Russia, and Mr. Yanukovych, elected in 2010, had tried to strike a balance even as his own Eastern Ukrainian, Russian-speaking heritage seemed to place him personally closer to Moscow.

By January 2013, he said that he intended to join Russia’s Customs Union with other former Soviet Republics, as well as sign the political and economic agreements with the European Union.

Many Ukrainians, especially in the Western part of the country, saw the accords with Europe as symbolic of a larger push to improve their lives with much-needed reforms especially to the economy and the justice system. In March 2013, Mr. Yanukovych published a decree directing the government to work toward signing the accords.

Street protests erupted in late November, when it became clear that Mr. Yanukovych would not move forward. At several critical junctures, the rallies seemed about to taper off, especially after Russia gave Mr. Yanukovych $15 billion in loans and natural gas discounts, only to then be reignited by government missteps.

These included the beating by the police of young protesters on Nov. 30, which prompted demonstrators to seize public buildings and occupy Independence Square, as well as the ramming through of new laws severely restricting free speech and assembly.

The protests turned deadly as demonstrators, furious over the legislation, threw firebombs at the police and the authorities responded in some cases with gunfire. Mr. Yanukovych tried to stem the violence by firing the government, but calls for his own resignation grew louder anyway.

Tensions simmered until last week when it seemed Parliament might squelch a deal to reverse constitutional changes that had expanded presidential powers earlier in Mr. Yanukovych’s term. Demonstrators marched toward Parliament, setting off what quickly became the most violent clashes yet.