Russian Postmodernism

For students of theories of culture and philosophy, the term of "philosophy of language" will ignite their memories for names such as Ferdinand de Saussure, Roland Barthes and the 'poststructuralist' as Jacques Derrida. By this term they will be reminded of the series of themes: about how arbitrarily the relationship between sign and meaning, about how meanings are prepared by differential relationship between the sign, about how consciousness is structured by signs, and so on. For students of Marxism, the term of "philosophy of language" is also reminded them of another theme, namely about how ideology is not simply a reflection of the economic interests of social classes, but it is shaped and constrained by language as realm of differences between the marks. Since almost the last century, the development of Continental philosophy shows strong influence of meaning's association of "philosophy of language" like this. Among Marxists, this consciousness began since Valentin Voloshinov in 1930 -- who firstly showed that the ideology of "structured like a language" -- until Slavoj Zizek at the beginning of 21st century who showed that our desires were socially structured via mechanism of language.


But in conventional narrative of "philosophy of language" as a consolidation of poststructuralism's history, there is one name that is rarely mentioned : Joseph Stalin. "Philosophy of language" or what is now tends to be equated with the notion of "poststructuralism" is not a short trip from Geneva to Paris (from Saussure to Derrida), but twisting journey from Geneva to Paris via Moscow. In the corner, Stalin is playing a role. I do not claim that without Stalin  then there will be no poststructuralism and postmodernism (which is derived from poststructuralism). What I claim is that without Stalin then our picture of poststructuralism history and postmodernism formulation won't be complete.

Long before joining the Russian Left, Stalin was a poet. His expertise was in lyric poetry: about trees, wind and night. His lyric poems admired by famous Romantic poet from Georgia, Ilia Chavchavadze. Even some of them were published in the most influential literary journals in Russia in pre-Soviet era, Iveria. But his systematic reflections on new language appeared much later, after he joined the Russian Left, after he took power after Lenin's death. Marksizm i voprosy yazykoznaniya ("Marxism and Problems of Linguistics") is a short book about the nature of language, published in 1950. In it, Stalin considered the language's status within framework of Marxian's thought.

He criticized the deterministic view of Soviet linguist, Nicholas Marr. The linguists argued that language was merely superstructural phenomena. It means, the economic reality completely determines the phenomenon of language, changes in economic reality necessitates a change in total reality of language. Therefore, Marr argued that class differences were also reflected in differences in language. The transition from capitalist production's modus to socialist in Russia must be followed by a linguistic revolution, namely the removal of bourgeois Russian language and its transformation into a "proletariat language". Stalin criticized Marr assumptions. Language was not a superstructural effect of economic reality.

In his work, Stalin explained how language was the product of a historical social relations and cross-class patterned. He gave some historical illustrations, among others, about French in the era before and after 1789 Revolution. While the Revolution marked the transition to a capitalist feudal order, France language was still more or less the same. Indeed there's a new vocabulary and new idiomatic phrases after Revolution in 1789, but the French language syntax remains the same. Similarly with Russia language condition before and after October Revolution of 1917. This shows, for Stalin, how changes in class composition does not necessarily result in a change of language. From here Stalin drew the conclusion that the language couldn't be regarded as a superstructural effect of the base. In addition, Stalin also learned how language had emerged since pre-formation of social classes era (communal production mode). This further confirms his conclusion that the language goes beyond logic of class.

If language is not one of superstructure components, then where is the language in Marxian historical materialism's scheme? At the base? Not really. Stalin saw that language similar to the means of production, as well as factory machinery. There is no such thing as "bourgeois machine" or "proletarian machine". There is only a machine that can be used in capitalist or socialist system of labor division. Meanwhile the machine itself, in-itself, is neutral in class. Similarly with language, according to Stalin. Neutrality is possible because the language already existed before class, ie since the primitive communal society. Language is a "social space" where the production and reproduction of community life occur. Therefore, based on the conclusions of Stalin, the language is not part of superstructure and base because language is a forum where both are being realized. Ideology and reproduction mechanism fulfillment are considered, expressed and discussed through the language. Because language is a place where all social relationships occur, then the language underlies all social phenomena, including the base and the superstructure. Language can't be blamed on political economy basis and ideologically. In other words, in  postmodernist phraseology, language has a "relative autonomy" of the base and superstructure.

In addition to affirming the language"autonomy" of economistic reduction, Stalin also showed that the language was involved in structuring the ideology and public awareness. This is because all of the conversations and reflections should be through medium of language. Therefore, the structure of ideology and culture have always been contaminated by language. There is no pure thought without language. Therefore, there is no ideology without language. This outlook anticipates language approach which later popularized by the structuralist and poststructuralist of France.

There are three things donated by Stalin to poststructuralism and postmodernism:

1. Rejection of the reduction of language problem in class problem and political economy in general.
2. Recognition of language as basic vehicle for social interaction surrounding (and hence also beyond) base and superstructure.
3. Recognition of constitutive language characteristic to consciousness, culture and ideology.

Through the three main ideas, Stalin opened the way for the growth of a variety of language approaches  about community that will characterize French intellectual panorama since the 1960s. With that, Stalin contributed to roll what is commonly known as "Linguistic Turn" in contemporary Continental philosophy. Thus, Stalin - 'the Voldemort'of postmodernist - is precisely the one who makes postmodernism possible.

What can be learned from the 'case of Stalin'? The most brilliant, of course, is that the writing of poststructuralism and postmodernism history need to be overhauled and enriched. However, this case also teaches us something important about the relationship between Marxism and 'the outside of Marxism'. It is clearly, that Marxism -- the general theory of society development -- is not a theory of everything. There are many things uncovered by Marxism, such as: the composition of subatomic of baryons, the properties of alkali metal, semantic implications of studies in pragmatics (pronouns which are rooted in the identity of speakers) and many other things.

To study domain outside Marxism, Marxists often take one of these two options: to impose Marxism theory scheme into it (vulgar gesture) or do not care at all its implications for Marxism (agnostic attitude). Both options are equally problematic. The first option will only generate a pseudo-science, while the second option will deprive Marxism of its roots in the totality of reality. In the case of Stalin, the first choice tends to the fore. This can be seen in Stalin's involvement in the Lysenko affair.


In the early 1930s, Stalin was fascinated by the view of Trofim Lysenko, a Soviet biologist who believed that wheat production could be enhanced through the creation of new breeding techniques. Lysenko justified this technique with a myriad of Marxist jargon and vulgarly  imposed the "law of dialectics" to biological sciences.

Stalin gladly sponsored him to do "agricultural revolution" in the whole of Russia. Lysenkoism proved unsuccessful and realized nothing more than a pseudo-science. Therefore, the choice of Stalin's linguistic problems arguably is more satisfying. With his theory of language, Stalin seemed to give the wind for linguistics and guarantee the immunity from party bureaucratic intervention. Stalin's assurance was immediately greeted by various branches of other studies such as mathematics and logic. Experts mathematics and logic could decipher his teachings without necessarily associated with a class analysis and Marxian political economy. It means, acknowledging "the outside Marxism 'is a step forward. For Marxist intellectual tasks is not to impose Marxism in every way, but finding Marxism in all things, finding the components of the knowledge of non-Marxist which -- if they are assembled and projected macro -- will generate and fulfill Marxism. Here we need to draw a critical inspiration from postmodernist of Kremlin.
***


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Marxism, Postmodernism, When There's No More Revolution

"Reshaping life! People who can say that have never understood a thing about life—they have never felt its breath, its heartbeat—however much they have seen or done. They look on it as a lump of raw material that needs to be processed by them, to be ennobled by their touch. But life is never a material, a substance to be molded. If you want to know, life is the principle of self-renewal, it is constantly renewing and remaking and changing and transfiguring itself, it is infinitely beyond your or my obtuse theories about it." ― Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago

At first in 1917, then in 1993. Two major events -- related to the "reshape life" agenda -- have changed the world's surface like two odd seismic waves, because there were destroyed after it, and there was formed.

The first was a revolution in the name of Marxism, which took place as the "ten days that shook the world", as described by John Reid about the October Revolution that began at St. Petersburg, Russia. The second was a change that was also rocking, although almost no burst of rifle: Russia (and to a certain extent was also China) canceling a lot of things on the Marxism agenda, something which actually began in 1989, when the Berlin Wall torn down by the crowd.

Two changes, two major shocks:  Marxism is the hope and important belief for about a century and a half, something so clear, unequivocal, riveting and transmit inspiration. But Marxism in its form which tested in a social transformation turns out quickly fragile. Over the past few years it has been widely discredited, and almost all over the world it's not heard any more about the Marxist plan to "change the world". What remains is "to explain the world", especially in journals and seminars thinking, when the left-wing political declines or change themselves in various directions.

So, what the hell we face and can be done? This question is important. Not my intention to talk about the "end of history" now, but it seems a clear trend, especially near us: after Marxism knocked out and defeated, what replaces (in Russia , Eastern Europe, in China) is a kind of pragmatic attitude, a working that does not prioritize the issue properly or not according to a doctrine or principle, good or not according to the teachings. Its legitimacy criteria is almost entirely associated with the outcome or performativity.

In its various variations, actually what is happening now is a sort of world embourgoisement : a process that reveals the characteristics of modernity which known in the history books when the European bourgeoisie took the role and changed the surface of the earth "in accordance with its image", to borrow the words of the Communist Manifesto. In other words, it becomes more and more involvement of rationality, in the sense of freedom from illusion and superstition, and the widespread desecration of social and natural environment, as well as the rise of the ethos of scientific objectivity.

But of course not everything is alluring, freeing : rationality that arises in the process such as what is mainly referred to by Weber as Zweckrational , "the instrumental action", kind of rationality that applies when we choose the most efficient way towards the appointed destination. Rationality in this sense is found in the economic and administrative efficiency improvements. Rationality can also cover a larger area : the enactment of a coherent and systematic order above the bustle and the manifold of beliefs, motives, circumstances, and experiences. With this rationality, the formal laws enacted, the rules imposed to anyone and at any time is also applied. Thus, modern bureaucracies are born, also the ideas and the ability to control and planning. Also: demolition over individual impulses, over the imagination and symbolic life that sometimes bubbling everywhere like shrubbery.

Pessimism, or skepticism, or defense to the rationalization process is not only belong to Weber, of course. In the West, a number of thinkers and poets repeatedly play the grief and disappointment when -- in the words of Walter Benjamin -- "talk about progress, to the world which is sinking to the rigidity of death".

In a simple, it can be said that "the instrumental action", as formulated by Habermas in the Theory of Communicative Action, associated with the "paradigm of consciousness philosophy", associated with the conception of  "undialogic subjectivity" which is the core in Western thought since Descartes: This world presented to the subject is a path to the desired destination by the subject. Reason, thus, growing in relations framework of means and ends, formed by the subject's urge to master an environment which in essence is beyond himsel/herself. Thought means also cornprendre or begriefen, to catch, to grasp, to master, to "tame".

The indication about it of course not only by Habermas and also not a new thing. In this century we have heard it from Heidegger and then -- since the last few decades -- from the thinkers who were classified into the "poststructuralist", and even from Marxist thinkers, especially from the two leading representatives of the Frankfurt School, Adorno and Horkheimer.

I must add the word "even" because while Marxism is a major criticisms of the current modernity since two centuries ago, it is generally not a sad voice, ala Weber, in observing the ongoing "modernism project" since the Enlightenment. Even although now many voices of Marxists, or " Marxisan "will blast embourgoisement world", Marx himself (when he was talking about in 1853 as a result of colonial rule in India) showed a tendency to see the penetration of capitalism, which was brought by European colonialists in the "Asiatic mode of production" had a progressive role, because changing the mode of production and introduce technology.

Why? In my opinion it will be more clear if we follow the endless contention, until now, among Marxist thinkers and various types of "postmodern thought". In other words, can we now talk about fixing or "reshape life" while still feeling "breath" and "heart" of life, while still realizing that life is "out of reach of my incompeten theory and your incompeten theory" as indicated by Yuri Zhivago in Pasternak's famous novel?


We know what happens to Marxism, a theory that by Zhivago regarded as "incompetent". What happens to Marxism is its failure to address the paradox of modernity as Weber stated, that the "rationalization" or the rise of rationality in life -- which in the Enlightenment seen as "progress" -- at the same time also gives birth to what Marx called the "reification" (Verdinglichung), one case of repressive alienation and alienate the human.

Marxism also is an expression of "the loss of world's charm", and there is an intention of tremendous human emancipation. This understanding has optimism in his head. For Marx, we know, a classless society will be born after the collapse of capitalism and  human freed from state when belonging, relationships and human action turns into belonging, relationships and actions of the things produced by humans who become independent of humans, even organizing human life. In other words, the liberation of reification. This description of reification is then developed by Lukacs in History and Class Consciousness. He considered it as a widespread alienation occured in a capitalist society and developed market economy.

The same thing also expressed by two Marxist thinkers of the Frankfurt School, Adorno and Horkheimer, although in writing Dialectic of Enlightenment Adorno and Horkheimer performed with different conclusions and arguments, fundamentally. They, while revising Marx, seeing that the logic of capitalism modernization was in itself not be heading toward collapse or Verelendung, but (as said by Weber) the emergence of a system of instrumental rationality and closed administrative.

Way out of it, as shown in Adorno's thought -- and in this case he tried to bring Marxist optimism -- is removing the liberating potential of human civilization which has been hidden by changing the society, which for Adorno means to smuggle the instrumental rational under rational aesthetic, and thus to make the aesthetic as a paradigm of the thought process.

The idea of  "true reason" --  which does not constrict human, which is a "confirmation" --  for Adorno is actually not just a fantasy.

But when Marx and Lukacs then see the victory of "instrumental action" as a consequence of various circumstances associated with the stage of history, Adorno and Horkheimer removing the concept of reification of specific historical contexts. Adorno and Horkheimer see the "instrumental action" problem as something that crosses the history. "They," in Habermas word, "plunge the mechanism that leads to the reification of consciousness into the anthropological basis of living things history", ie, to the fact that there is a need or necessity of living things to reproduce themselves through the nature. This grows a tendency which is not related to time and place, the tendency to dominate humans and nature, which finds its culmination when capitalism reaches its advanced stage.

It can be said, that the authors of Dialectic of Enlightenment, especially for Adorno, the way of thinking gives birth to the concept which is the root of a rationalization process that will inevitably end up with a fully rationalized system to power and the end of the autonomous subject.

But how Marxism can liberate humans from that? Adorno and Horkheimer offer a transformation of society, a revolution that gives birth to true reason and assertive in life. I myself do not understand how it will happen. We have heard enough about the failure of old Marxist utopia, and we also worthy to doubt the new Marxist utopia. Adorno and Horkheimer, Marcuse as well, with their Frankfurt School, appeared in the late 1920s, after the disappointment over communist revolution in Germany in the year 1920-21. The revolution failed, although Germany was an industrial society. So they tried to overcome the bottleneck of Marxism. But I remember what was said by Sartre in the Critique of dialectical About Reason, about the bottleneck.

Because Marxism wants to change the world , then there's a rift, separation between theory and practice. Marxism -- a philosophical interpretation of man and history-- inevitably must reflect an unwavering commitment to the plan. The result -- according to Sartre -- is the "idealistic violence over existing facts".

"Many years", Sartre said, "Marxist intellectuals believe that they serve the party by way of distorting the experience, regardless of the details that make awkward, with greatly simplify the data and above all by conceptualizing an event even before studying it."

In other words, Marxism is ultimately an affirmation for instrumental action, and in turn, tends to pour out everything using the mechanism, because in the name of revolution, which is absolute, it is inevitable.  Revolution does require self absolutization, sucks everything under and around it, but that's its weaknesses. As said by Marleau-Ponty about 40 years ago in Adventures of the Dialectic, the soleness on revolution is "Believes that it is absolute, and because of the belief then it becomes unabsolute".

Such inherent contradiction which then causes Marxism gives birth to a kind of reification process when it develops as an ideology and as an essential part of the power system. Vaclac Havel actually described the situation when he said that the mask of ideology "offered to human the illusion of identity and morality, while making them easier to break away from these things."

Especially when seen from the view of those who live in the "Third World". The root of all is ploretariat idealization. It started when Marxism put ploretariat in a universal position. For Marx, the proletariat is as he stated in A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right (1844), "A class that abolishes all class, a society which has a universal character because its sufferings are universal".

But it is not very easy to explore the universality argument over the proletariat. In Marx's later writings, after the German Ideology (written 1845-46) and the Communist Manifesto (1848), Marx's explanation is that proletarian revolution will not be the work of a minority. Because the workers do not have anything "other than the chains which bind them", then when they are in power they will not give birth to the new oppressed class.

But the ultimate and universal position of the proletariat becomes problematic since the end of last century. At the end of the 19th century, German socialist leader Eduard Bernstein no longer see the possibility of the working class to be the class which ended the history. He said, "Farmers do not sink, the middle class is not disappearing, the crisis is not evolving into larger." Bernstein will no longer see the real proletarian revolution. In the second half of the 20th century even Marxist thinkers including Frankfurt School began to put the expectations of social change was no longer by the proletariat, and when the student protest movement in France and Germany occurred in the late 1960s, the position of the universal proletariat was not even mentioned anymore.

In the other camp, Lenin displayed his argument that ultimately it was the transformation of "working class" notion, also when the prospect of "working class revolution" was not readily apparent to the eye. Lenin departed from the will to bring about a revolution in Russia, a society that had not had enough of the proletariat. In Lenin's argument, Russia needed a "two-stage revolution" and the argument was then guiding the principal theory of Communists in the "Third World". According to Lenin, as he put it in Two Tactics of Social Democracy (written in Geneva 1905), in a society such as Russia, what was better borne by the working class was not capitalism, but the "insufficient development of capitalism". Hence in Russia, what should take place first is stage of "Bourgeois Democratic" revolution, and then followed by the stage of   "Socialistic Proletariat" revolution.

In the first phase, what is to be destroyed is "all remnants of the old order that prevents the development of capitalism broad, free and fast". In those days the working class unite with the bourgeois class, but the "proletariat" should not "let the revolution's leadership in the hands of the bourgeoisie". In this case Lenin did not quite explain, how the working class, which was the minority, could assume themselves as entitled to lead the democratic revolution. In my opinion, here begins to appears what's happening with the notion of "the proletariat". It has experienced the "idealization".

Lenin's What Is To Be Done? (1901) have shown that the proletariat experience was eventually replaced by the proletarian class consciousness. The role of theory became central.

"Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement", Lenin said. And as a consequence, the theoreticians, intellectuals became decisive. "There will be no Social-Democratic consciousness among the workers. Awareness should be brought to them from outside", Lenin said, like Kautsky. At the same time, revolution organization "should consist principally and first of all by those who consider their revolutionary activities as a profession". In the end we know, "the proletariat" as a concrete reality has been replaced by a concept.

This "idealization" in turn evolved into "Idolization", or proletariat idolatry, one thing that causes even in Mao Zhedong analysis of Chinese society and the Chinese revolution -- a staple grip for general program of the Communist Party of China -- still calls the necessity of "proletarian leadership" in the second stage of the revolution.

So what was said by Lyotard is understandable, in a debate in London in 1985: " No one has ever seen the proletariat". In Lyotard's argument, the question of the proletariat is a question of knowing whether these words should be understood in terms of the Hegelian dialectic, while hoping to find something in the experience that fits with the concept, or the term "proletariat" is the name of Ideas of Reason, the name of a subject that should be released? "If what is meant by" the proletariat "is the last", Lyotard said, "We must let go of the pretension that we can bring something in the experience that fits the term."

Here it seems we are entering an epistemological problem that will ultimately related to the emancipation agenda, with the desire to "Reshape life", to use the words of Yuri Zhivago. One part of Lyotard's reaction to the latest book Christopher Norris, The Truth about Postmodernism (1993) states that our problems around post-structuralism is because it dismissed the important and relevant description. Post structuralism, in the Norris word, "Trying to block any reference to knowledge and real-world experience", whereas people talking with the notion of "class", for example, because based on "political ethics" and "cognitive", in an attempt to "record the various discriminatory measures."

The question then is, how do we look at and talk about other people. On the one hand, it is not easy for us to free ourselves from rationality which generating the concept, we even need it. On the other hand, we have witnessed an "idealization" of a concept, and as generally idolatry, what happens is alienation. We have witnessed the concept identification over the object which led to "bitter sacrifice over qualitative diversity of experience".
***
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Some romantic quotations I like of Pasternak's book

■ "All customs and traditions, all our way of life, everything to do with home and order, has crumbled into dust in the general upheaval and reorganization of society. The whole human way of life has been destroyed and ruined." — p:421 (Lara)

■ "The war is to blame for everything, for all the misfortunes that followed and that hound our generation to this day." — p:422 (Lara).

■ "It was a clear, frosty autumn night. Thin sheets of ice crumbled under his steps. The sky, shining with stars, threw a pale blue flicker like the flame of burning alcohol over the black earth with its clumps of frozen mud." — p:113.

■ "In the foreshortened view from the bunk it looked as if the train were actually gliding on the water. Only here and there was its smoothness broken by streaks of a metallic blue, but over all the rest of its surface the hot morning sun was chasing glassy patches of light as smooth and oily as melted butter that a cook brushes with a feather on a pie crust." — p:246.

■ "Although victory had not brought the relief and freedom that were expected at the end of the war, nevertheless the portents of freedom filled the air throughout the postwar period, and they alone defined its historical significance." — p:544.

With a gentle strains of this music, I want to tell you, dahling, "In the end, war and revolution always produce suffering, but, nonetheless, both are needed in order to build something better in the future: freedom."

And please, do not kiss me with your erotic style when we're dancing a waltz with this song, because it makes me want to laugh out loud when I see your facial expressions. You do not inherit the Russian masculinity at all, you know? ehheheh ... and I want to step on your feet, ugly! ahahha ...


Always love yah, mwah!

News Headlines (493) 21 April - 22 April 2014

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Premier Congrès européen de la dissidence à Bruxelles le 4 mai 2014. (Entrée : 15 euros.)
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► WALL STREET JOURNAL 20 April 2014 : What Putin Is Costing Russia. Former finance minister Alexi Kudrin projects up to $160 billion in capital will flee this year.

► POLITICO 18 April 2014 : Snowden defends Putin question

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► US NEWS 21 April 2014 : Easter Celebrated at White House, Around the World



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"The way not to lead a monotonous life is to live for others." — Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

VLADIMIR PUTIN

■ NY DAILY NEWS 21 April 2014 : As Putin marches, echoes of the past
■ TIME : Ukraine Separatists Plead for Putin’s Help After Deadly Gunfight
■ REUTERS 21 April 2014 : Putin signs decree to rehabilitate Crimea Tatars 
■ DAILY BEAST 20 April 2014 : Snowden's Camp: Staged Putin Q&A Was a Screw-Up
■ NY TIMES 19 April 2014 : In Cold War Echo, Obama Strategy Writes Off Putin
■ FORBES 21 April 2014 : Would The Real Vladimir Putin Please Step Forward
■ RUSSIA TODAY 21 April 2014 : Stalin victims incl Crimean Tatars rehabilitated by Putin decree
■ WAPO 22 April 2014 : In questioning Russia’s Putin about surveillance, Snowden misses the point  ||  ■ WAPO 21 April 2014 : Russia's 'Mark Zuckerberg' says he's been ousted from his company by Putin-linked oligarches
■ NEW REPUBLIC 21 April 2014 : While We Praise Ukrainian Restraint, Putin Builds His Neo-Soviet Empire
■ MEDIAITE 21 April 2014 : Today in Commemorative Crap: George H.W. Bush Socks and Putin Crimea Coins
■ RAW STORY 20 April 2014 : Franklin Graham: Putin is doing 'what's right for Russia' by cracking down on gays
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■ NEWSMAX 21 April 2014 : Snowden Takes Heat Over His Questioning of Putin
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■ NEW YORKER 21 April 2014 : Comment Podcast: Putin and the Exile

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► AUSTRALIAN 20 April 2014 : Stop the Ukraine rebels, Russia warned, or peace deal in danger



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► OPINION - STORIES I"D LIKE TO SEE  : Sealing deadly court files, and Obama and his Cabinet

► On Easter, Pope calls for end to war, condemns waste exacerbating hunger

Glad to imagine the state funds to buy weapons and military equipment used to buy nutritious food and good for human health, feed the hungry, provide adequate housing, free medical care, free education for the poor and homeless. I can never understand what is thought by the government to prioritize the purchase of sophisticated military equipment, but its people are malnourished due to poverty. "You said you are rich, but why your children are starving? You're stupid, you know? I say you are stupid because if you're smart, you should know that the most basic needs of living things called humans are eating the foods, not eating the bullets, missiles, nuclear, et al. Unfortunately, even though you are stupid but you sit in government and become a leader who always feel smart. Ohhh dahling, ... it seems we need the strong hands to shift people like them."

► GM to battle VW in China with $12 billion investment and new plants

►  U.S. force in Afghanistan may drop to under 10,000 - By  Missy Ryan and Arshad Mohammed
WASHINGTON - The number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan may be cut to well below 10,000 - the minimum demanded by the U.S. military to train Afghan forces - as the longest war in American history winds down.

* Abdullah widens lead in Afghan presidential vote 
* Video: Roadside bomb kills at least 13 in Afghanistan

► Ukraine deal falters as rebels dig in - By Richard Balmforth and Aleksandar Vasovic
KIEV/SLAVIANSK, Ukraine - An international agreement to avert wider conflict in Ukraine was faltering on Monday, with pro-Moscow separatist gunmen showing no sign of surrendering government buildings they have seized.

* Biden offers Ukraine U.S. help on energy, aid

► VIDEO : Music for Donetsk. April 21 - Davide Martello, who became famous for playing his piano at a protest site in Turkey, performs for pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk. Rough Cut (no reporter narration). ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) STORY: The man who became famous for playing his piano at a protest site in Turkey brought his instrument to the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on Monday, where pro-Russian separatists continue to occupy a government building. Davide Martello became known as the Piano Man of Taksim Square when he took up residence with a baby grand piano at the Istanbul square where anti-government protesters and police clashed in 2013. Martello, an Italian pianist who lives in Germany, has taken the electric piano he constructed to cities across the world on his "Stop Killing" tour, and recently traveled to New Orleans. He says his aim is to use music to promote peace. In Donetsk, Martello arrived with his bicycle-drawn piano in the square in front of the local administration building that has been occupied by separatists, provoking arguments among some men gathered there. Pro-Russian separatists mounted a Russian flag on the piano. Martello pulled his piano further away from the occupied building and sat down to play. A group of people, including some men wearing masks, gathered around the piano, listening to the music and applauded as Martello finished his songs. Pro-Russian separatists have declared an independent "People's Republic of Donetsk" in the east's biggest province and have named themselves to official posts in towns and cities, setting up checkpoints and flying Russian flags over government buildings. An agreement between Russia, Ukraine, the European Union and the United States reached last week to avert wider conflict in Ukraine was faltering as the new week began, with pro-Moscow separatist gunmen showing no sign of surrendering government buildings they have seized. The agreement calls for occupied buildings to be vacated under the auspices of envoys from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a security body. All sides are meant to refrain from force. Martello said he hoped his piano could also help bring an to end the conflict by using music to unite people. "To calm the tension. To relax. People relax and think about it. Too much confusion and people have to (be) together," Martello said. A white peace sign is painted on Martello's piano. 

► Pope makes Easter plea for Ukraine peace after gunbattle
► First bodies pulled from submerged Korean ferry
► Deadly shootout in east Ukraine shatters Easter truce
► Hundreds of pro-Russian Ukrainians rally in Lugansk
► Garcia Marquez's dusty home town hopes to reclaim his memory

► Breakfast Foods Are Getting Pricier



► Raw: Sinkhole Swallows Part of Fla. Yard

► NEWS

■ Russia 'Outraged' by Deadly Ukraine Shootout
■ Snowden Didn't Call Out Putin
■ Biden offers Ukraine U.S. help on energy, aid allocation
■ US: Russia has 'days, not weeks' to follow accord
■ Putin lets Russian airlines hire foreign pilots

■ Why are Americans obsessed with missing plane?

► CELEBRITY : Tila Tequila Is Pregnant, Kim Kardashian Wears Pink Jumpsuit: Top Weekend Stories

► HEALTH

■ Child bullying victims still suffering at 50 - study
■ Skin cancer rates 'surge since 1970s'

► Malaysia MH370: No trace yet after two-thirds of sub's scan

► THE PAPERS : Skin cancer figures and new portrait of a smiling Queen feature in papers 

► TRAVEL : Where sea gypsies settle (Surin island)

► South Korea ferry toll passes 100 
The confirmed death toll from the South Korean ferry that capsized last week passes 100, as divers recover more bodies from the sunken hull.

* Robot deployed in search - VIDEO
* President blasts crew - VIDEO
* Press fury over disaster
* Captain in 'safety' film - VIDEO
* Grim focal point of recovery
* Families scuffle with police - VIDEO

► Biden in 'show of support' for Kiev
US Vice-President Joe Biden is due to meet Ukraine's new leaders in Kiev as the situation in the east of the country remains volatile.

* Photos show 'Russia army' in Ukraine
* Lavrov: Kiev lost control' - VIDEO
* At 'checkpoint attack' scene - VIDEO
* Russian media tactics under scrutiny

► FUTURE : How to live forever 

► Today's African Proverb : "The world is permanent but we human beings are not" - A Luo proverb sent by Rage Moi, Mombasa, Kenya

True. Only death is the one certainty in this world. 2 other divine secrets relating to human life are: birth and marriage.

The world is vast. Are we always able to realize all our desires? Why to this day my heart is not moved by the desire to marry him?

I repeat : until the day we die, can we materialize all our desires? Mmm...maybe not. Who cares if we can't realize all our desires? No one, because it's not our desire to make the earth is still spinning. It's not our desire that makes us have to die. And after we die, we can't continue to strive to realize our desire as when we are still alive. Why? Because we are already dead of all things: body and desire. We will blend with the timeless dimension of silence and quietness. No more sorrow, heartache, tears and even happiness. All is not mine. Thank you for completing my life so far with all the elements of life.

The death is awaited by a life that fills the time with our wishes, desires. Our desires have made ​​our lives become valuable to live, and therefor let's fill our lives with lots of good wishes in good ways to realize them in a limited time. Don't ask for the death comes to you, and don't do the things that can cause you to die.
***
[CZ-E2014/iloveyouall]

► OP-ED : Ukraine must solve crisis itself to avoid bloodshed, IMF debt slavery 
► 'Easter truce' broken: Five deaths reported in overnight checkpoint raid in E. Ukraine
► Russia on Eastern Ukraine shooting: Kiev must fulfill Geneva de-escalation pledge
► UK teachers face increasing online abuse from students, parents – report  
► UN envoy slams Israel's 'unacceptable' police handling of 'Holy Fire' ritual in Jerusalem
► Thousands rally for France's Brittany reunion and greater autonomy 
► UN: South Sudan has one month left before worst starvation in recent African history 
► Nearly 20 percent of Chinese farmland contaminated
► OP- ED : 'Kiev desperately pushing for greater conflict with Russia' 
► Pentagon-sponsored study opens door for super lasers, weather control
► US unleashes three days of drone strikes on Yemen, 55 killed 
► Stalin victims incl Crimean Tatars rehabilitated by Putin decree
► Lavrov: US should face responsibility for powers it installed in Kiev
► Russia: 'We'll only return to PACE after sanctions lifted' 
► Fukushima radiation killing our children, govt hides truth - former mayor
► Russia's new international policy puts priority on bilateral relations
► New citizenship shortcut for Russian-speakers of Soviet, Imperial ancestry

► BUSINESS

■ US lawmakers call on sanctions against Gazprom, Russian banks
■ Arctic crude becomes new Russia's oil blend
■ Putin proposes setting up gambling zone in Crimea

► VIDEOS

■ Venture Capital: Ruble's Rumble & Tumble (E37) 
■ Pro-Kiev 'Right Sector' radicals behind deadly gunfight in eastern Ukraine?
■ Not Following Orders: Ukrainian troops doubt using force against own people 
■ Social Watch: Foreign fighters in Syria mostly recruited through web
■ Story of Hanifa, one of many young & promising lost in restless Afghanistan
■ Penny Pinching Prince? Britain's Charles won't share riches with public. Prince Charles is a member of one of the richest monarchies in the world but he faces questions for being penny-pinching. His private income from a swathe of inherited land and laws rakes in a tidy sum. Polly Boiko reports on calls to share the money with the public who pay for it.



■ Children of War: 50%+ Afghan kids starving. Afghanistan's former foreign minister currently leads the race to become the next president. The vote count should be completed by Thursday, but early results show the front-runner is around 6 per cent short of the required 50 per cent to secure victory. That means a run-off is likely - and more political instability. That heralds grim prospects for the country's most vulnerable - children - who are already enduring poverty, poor health and malnutrition. RT's Lucy Kafanov reports.



■ New Silk Road: China, Russia strengthen trade ties amid Western sanctions
■ CrossTalk: Chicken Kiev?
■ Frmr Fukushima Mayor: Radiation killing our children, govt hides truth from us || ■ 'Kids die, govt lie!' Ex-mayor exposes real scale of radiation in Fukushima (FULL INTERVIEW)
■ Young Blood: Teenage Europeans joining jihad in war-torn Syria

■ APC rams through barricade in eastern Ukraine, comes back for more 

► Artscape: Poets of Protest - Al Khadra: Poet of the Desert 
► Inside Story - Is South Sudan on the verge of collapse?
► Witness - The Gaza Tunnels 
► Inside Story - Al Qaeda in Yemen: can it be defeated?

► Why There Is No Lime Industry in America Anymore

■ Mexico lime industry soured by disasters  || ■ Skyrocketing lime prices affect local Mexican restaurants



► Ukraine Separatists Plead for Putin’s Help After Deadly Gunfight

► OPINION

■ Cold War Tit-for-Tat 2.0 - by : Mark Thompson
■ 7 Things the Most Interesting People All Have in Common - by : Eric Barker 
■ Beyond Death: The Science of the Afterlife - by : Lisa Miller
■ It's Time to Ditch the Booth Babes by : Matt vella

► Russia: Ukraine Violating Pact
► South Korean Ferry Investigation Broadens as Death Toll Breaches 100 
► The Big Bang Did NOT Occur 50 Years Ago

► NATION : Drought -- and neighbors -- press Las Vegas to conserve water

► LOCAL

■ Hawaii flight stowaway: Landing gear may have saved him from freezing

■ Jay Z, Mayor Eric Garcetti expected to announce music festival

► OPINION

■ What Putin wants, and how he plans to get it
■ What we don't know about the killing of Anwar Awlaki

► FRAMEWORK
■ Pictures in the News | April 21, 2014



Young men in folk costumes throw water from their buckets on a young woman in Nyiregyhaza, northeast of Budapest, Hungary. According to an old tradition, on Easter Monday in Hungarian villages, young men pour water on young women, who then exchange the water vessels for beautifully colored eggs. PHOTOGRAPH BY: ATTILA BALAZS / MTI

■ Review: Canon PowerShot SX50 HS - Posted By: Robert Lachman on 22 February 2014

News Headlines (491) 19 April 2014

ONLINE TODAY

► Your active lifestyle is making life a lot better for you today -- so make sure that you're pushing yourself to the limit! Your energy levels shouldn't drop off too much as you go along. You're feeling optimistic, eager and anxious to take a chance -- at least one. So now, when the universe taps you on the shoulder, asking that you leap before you look, simply because it feels right, you'll be more than happy to accept the challenges, and you'll be more than confident enough to pull it off. You've paid your dues for some time now. How about letting the warrior side of your personality have some long overdue fun?

► MEDICAL DAILY 16 April 2014 : What Sleep Positions Can Reveal About Relationships: Happy Couples Sleep An Inch Apart || ► LIVESCIENCE 17 April 2014 : What Your Sleeping Style Reveals About Your Relationship ||  ► ABC SCIENCE 17 April 2014 

GOOGLE GLASS

■ MASHABLE 18 Ap ril 2014 : You Can Now Try Google Glass at Home Before You Buy It
■ CNN 16 April 2014 : Google Glass signals a wearables revolution
■ ABC NEWS 16 April 2014 : Google Glass 1-Day ‘Explorer’ Offer a Sell Out
■ NEWS SKY 26 April 2014 : White Google Glasses Sell Out In One-Off Sale
■ CNET 16 April 2014 : Google Glass sells out in one-day sale

CLIMATE CHANGE

■ NEWSCIENTIST 3 April 2014 : World must adapt to unknown climate future, says IPCC
■ LIVE SCIENCE 18 April 2014 : Climate change is getting worse
■ NEWSCIENTIST : Climate change: It's even worse than we thought
■ USA TODAY 12 April 2014 : On climate change, expect the worst: Column 
■ SLATE 31 March 2014 : "There Is No Question That We Live in a World Already Altered by Climate Change." 
■ NY TIMES 31 March 2014 : Panel’s Warning on Climate Risk: Worst Is Yet to Come 
■ WAPO 6 April2014 : The new IPCC report shows that work to limit climate change must begin now 
■ SYDNEY MORNING HERALD 23 March 2014 : New IPCC climate report projects significant threats to Australia 
■ GUARDIAN 2 April 2014 : Climate change making extreme events worse in Australia – report 

YURI DOLGORUKIY

■ RIA NOVOSTI 16 April 2014 : First Borey-Class Strategic Sub Ready for Combat Patrols - Russian Navy 
■ MOSCOW TIMES 17 April 2014 : Russia's First Borei Class Submarine 'Almost Combat-Ready' 
■ NAVAL TODAY 2 January 2013 : Russia: Navy Commissions SSBN Yury Dolgoruky 
■ RUSNAVY 30 December 2012 : Russian Navy Commissions SSBN Yury Dolgoruky
■ GLOBAL SECURITY : Project 935 / Project 955 Borei
■ PHOTOS - RIA NOVOSTI : Russia launches new nuclear submarine

► DISCOVERY NEWS 16 April 2014 : This Supernova Remnant Cranks Up the Hea || ► NASA : Supernova Cleans Up Its Surroundings

► GUARDIAN

■ 11 April 2014 : Vaginas grown in labs successfully implanted into girls with rare disorder ||  ■ NY DAILY NEWS 11 April 2014 : Doctors implant lab-grown vaginas in four teenage girls with rare disorder 
■ 13 April 2014 : Archaeologists' findings may prove Rome a century older than thought
■ 18 April 2014 : Vladimir Putin must be called to account on surveillance just like Obama  || ■  HUFFINGTON POST 18 April 2014 : Edward Snowden: Putin 'Must Be Called To Account On Surveillance Like Obama'

► SCIENCEMAG

■ 2 April 2014: Science Shot: Dinosaur Chase — Or Just a Walk on the Beach?
■ 13 March 2014 : 'Obesity Gene' May Not Be Tied to Body Weight
■ 4 April 2014 : Science Shot: Eat Hard, Lose Weight

► NEWSCIENTIST 14 July 2009 : Hacking body with light could speed jet lag recovery || ► SCIENCEDAILY 10 April 2014 : 'Body hack' app by math researchers shortcuts jet-lag recovery || ► LIVESCIENCE 10 April 2014 : Jet-Lagged? New App May Help

► LIVESCIENCE 16 April 2014 : Brain 'Stones' Found in Man with Celiac Disease

► DAILY BEAST

■ 18 April 2014 : Pentagon Moves to Block Russian Spy Plane in American Skies || ■ WASHINGTON TIMES 17 April 2014 : Flying blind: Russia blocks U.S. from treaty-approved spy flights
■ 17 April 2014 : Is Putin's Next Move to Take Over Odessa?
■ 17 April 2014 : How China Used Drones to Capture a Notorious Burmese Drug Lord
■ 16 April 2014 : Boko Haram's Sick Hatred of Schoolgirls

► WAPO 17 April 2014 : Obama: Russia doesn't want 'any kind of military confrontation with us' || ► BUSINESS INSIDER 17 APril 2014 : OBAMA: Russia Doesn't Want A Military Confrontation With The US

► ABC NEWS 17 April 2014 : NATO Commander Offers Evidence of Russian Troops in Ukraine

► CNN

■ 19 April 2014 : Source: Malaysia Airlines jet soared high briefly, then descended 
■ 18 April 2014 : Boko Haram: A bloody insurgency, a growing challenge 

► CS MONITOR

■ 18 April 2014 : Behind Qatar's bet on the Muslim Brotherhood
■ 17 April 2014 : Ukraine crisis: US boots on the ground in Poland is an option, Hagel says (+video)
■ 18 April 2014 : With violence at new heights, Nigerians weary of military's claims of success

► WIRE 18 April 2014

■ Nobody's Sure How or Why an American Plane Ended Up in Iran
■ House Republicans Might Pass Immigration Bills After All, Just as They Always Planned
■ What the GOP Talks About When It Talks About Obamacare Now
■ Edward Snowden Says He Was Challenging Vladimir Putin, Not Helping Him
■ Congrats to the Heritage Foundation on Making Obamacare Work

► PEOPLE & BLOG : Inside A Billionaire's 205-ft Mega-Yacht. Apogee, Darwin Deason's $70 million-dollar luxury yacht, can be chartered for a mere $400,000 per week.... plus fees. Published on May 7, 2012 by Forbes



► HOW TO & STYLE : Europe's Rich & Famous The Luxurious Life of Marbella Spain- Rich Lifestyle - Piers Morgan. Published on Sep 23, 2013 by TheRichClique

► SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY : Borei Class Submarine. (MOSCOW, February 20 (RIA Novosti) -- Russia's upgraded Project 955A (Borey-A) class nuclear-powered strategic submarines will carry only 16 Bulava ballistic missiles each rather than the 20 missiles previously reported, a senior defense industry source said on Wednesday. "The Project 955A differs significantly from the original Borey (Project 955) but not in the number of missiles carried -- there will still be 16 on board," the source said.) Published on Feb 13, 2013 by MrAlguien cedrfv  || ► SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY : Yury Dolgoruky Submarine - Surfacing from Sea Trial. Yury Dolgoruky Submarine is the new the Russian Nuclear Submarine that carries ballistic missiles. Watch it as it surfaces from the vast ocean. Published on Jan 11, 2013 by Artworks of Scanhead



► PEOPLE & BLOG : Megastructures - Soviet Doomsday Submarine. Published on Sep 23, 2013 by xXxMegastructuresxXx 

► EDUCATION : Aircraft Carriers Modern Warships(full documentary). Published on Sep 16, 2013 by Serious History 

► EDUCATION : World War II:Strange Weapons(full documentary). Published on Sep 8, 2013 by Serious History 

► EDUCATION : Nuclear Submarine Design(full documentary). Published on Sep 8, 2013 by Serious History

► EDUCATION : The Largest Submarine in The U.S. Navy. USS Pennsylvania is a United States Navy Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine which has been in commission since 1989. The Ohio class is a class of nuclear powered submarines used by the United States Navy. The Navy has 18 Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines and guided missile submarines. Published on Sep 28, 2013 by Largest Dams 

► ENTERTAINMENT : The World Of Private Jets. We investigate the exclusive world of private jets and talk to leaders in the industry and the interior designers who create exclusive, made-to-order furnishings and décor. Owning your own jet still remains the ultimate prize and this film reveals how the industry is faring in a challenging world. Published on Nov 26, 2013 by TheLuxuryChannel 

► EDUCATION : Greatest Mysteries of War: The Falklands Islands (1982). Published on Oct 10, 2013 by GREATER HISTORY

► AUTOS &  VEHICLE : Russia unveils HIGH SPEED Anti tank missile 1440 kmh using a BMP 3 to challenge US Army M1 Abrams. Published on Sep 12, 2013 by ArmedForcesUpdate



► New Russian Weapons 2014 - Anti Ship space defence system. Published on Sep 22, 2013 by George Dominik

► THE EXIT ROOM

► Scientists grow viable vaginas from girls' own cells

► New Russia sanctions threats as Ukraine stalemate goes on

► How the U.S. made its problem with Putin worse - By David Rohde and Arshad Mohammed
WASHINGTON AND NEW YORK - Washington's relationship with Vladimir Putin reflects a dynamic that has persisted through 14 years and the current crisis in Ukraine: U.S. actions, some intentional and some not, sparking an overreaction from an aggrieved Putin.

* New Russia sanctions threats as Ukraine stalemate goes on
* Video: Ukraine diplomacy raises hope
* Ukraine agreement built on fragile foundations
* Russia says U.S. treating it like 'guilty schoolboy' over Ukraine
* Video : U.S. considers expanded sanctions against Russia if Moscow fails to abide by Ukraine deal
* Video : Ukraine separatists reject diplomatic deal to disarm

► Current underwater search for Malaysia plane could end within a week

► Anger mounts after bodies found trapped inside sunken South Korean ferry 

► Ukraine claims to have arrested 10 Russian 'spies'

► Jews in east Ukraine worried after anti-Semitic tract&

► Easter means big business for French chocolate makers. French Master Chocolatier Hughes Pouget has created a collection of edible figurines inspired by Jean de La Fontaine's Fables for Easter, as well as the traditional eggs and bunnies, creations which could set you back up to 80 euros. || ► Chocolate. Chocolate is an irresistible Easter gift for family and friends; from chocolate eggs, rabbits and other traditional confectionary. Mankind's appreciation of all things chocolaty is a long-running affair.VIDEOGRAPHIC

► Adam Levine Launches Clothing Line for Women

► NEWS

■ Russian Spy Planes in U.S. Skies
■ Russia says U.S. treating it like 'guilty schoolboy' over Ukraine

Yups, before Russia said it, I have been assuming so in my previous post (23 March - 26 March 2014). Well, there are similarities of thought between Russia and I in me. And if the Russia's personification is Putin, then Putin and I have a little equation: facetious enough in addressing the issue. Hmm ... I was wondering what he was thinking in recent weeks.

■ Putin fields question from U.S. fugitive Snowden 
■ US puts off decision on Keystone XL pipeline 
■ Pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine say 'Nyet' to accord
■ Ukraine crisis: turning points 

■ Putin hopes no need to send troops into Ukraine



■ Russia warns US against further sanctions as Ukraine deal stalls
■ US decries anti-Semitic leaflets in Ukraine
■ Putin says impossible for Europe to stop buying Russian gas
■ Pro-Russian separatist leader says not bound by Geneva deal
■ Putin's choice of words shed light on Ukraine
■ Russia's Putin acknowledges impact from sanctions
■ US calls on Myanmar to stop violence on Muslims

► HEALTH : Doctors implant lab-grown vagina

► 10 things - Rhea birds can be extremely dangerous, plus other factlets. 10 things We Don't Know Last Week 

► Today's African Proverb : "A loose tooth will not rest until it's pulled out" - An Ethiopian proverb sent by Dibora Elias Kemal in Springs, Gauteng, South Africa

Oh yeah? But I can stop having sex without ending with orgasm, and I still feel fine.

► Kiev promises Russian language status choice as military op enters 'inactive phase'
► Pentagon mulls deployment as Poland asks for 10,000 troops 
► Crimean prosecutor music clip hits 3.7 mn views in three days 
► Communist urge total boycott of US goods
► Shell tells Putin gas project not derailed by Ukraine 
► Renewables seen as Ukraine's road to energy independence from Russia 
► EU replies to Putin: Remaining a reliable supplier in Russia's interest 
► Turkey's Erdogan challenges constitutional court that lifted social media ban
► Uproar as LibDem leader Zhirinovsky attacks pregnant reporter 
► Obama administration delays decision on Keystone XL pipeline again
► US drone pilots are 'stressed' and 'demoralized' – official report
► UN base in South Sudan attacked by 'peaceful' mob, dozens dead 
► 'Letter to Jews', which Kerry cited, appears to be fake

► OP-ED

■ 'Ukraine today is new Balkans'
■ 'Question of whether West really wants de-escalation of Ukraine crisis'

► VIDEOS

■ Girls only! Ukraine imposes travel restrictions on Russian men. Russian men aged 16 to 60 entering Ukraine without their families will only be allowed in if they have close relatives or an invitation, according to Ukrainian officials. Previously, all Russians could travel to Ukraine with just their internal IDs.



■ Horror, fury, tears as S. Korean ferry Sewol sinks beneath surface

■ 'Beat Reporting': Female Russian journo 'kicked' over coverage of chaotic base siege in Ukraine



■ 'Schizophrenic US strategy makes them bad peacemakers for Ukraine' 
■ CrossTalk: Indecision & Paralysis in Ukraine

■ EU will get air, not gas, from the US - Frmr Eurogas Chief 

■ Health Takeaways: Junk food is first choice for Brits struggling to make ends meet. Medics in the UK are raising the alarm over issues of growing obesity, with some fearing that being overweight is becoming the norm for many people. But as authorities try to battle the bulge, it seems that having fast food is sometimes more a necessity than a pleasure for some.

 

■ Fake Flyer Fury: 'Letter to Jews' Kerry cited was forged. A letter urging the Jews of Donetsk to get registered, which the US Secretary of State cited in Geneva, is a fake says a man whose signature appears on the communication.

 

► Inside Story - Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A literary giant



► Counting the Cost - Nigeria: A truly strong economy?

► Talk to Al Jazeera - Harith al-Dari: 'Sunnis feel marginalised' 

► Ukraine Deal in Trouble

* Pro-Russia Militants Defy Diplomatic Deal in Ukraine 

► Docs: Clinton Looked Into 'Right-Wing Conspiracy'

► Dads Have More Leisure Time Than Moms on Weekends 

► OPINION : The long reach of Putinismo 

► WORLD : In Syria's capital, residents recall a sectarian tolerance gone by

► LOCAL : L.A. should be more selective with hotel tax breaks, some say

► FRAMEWORK : The Week in Pictures | April 14 – 20, 2014. Posted By: Marc Martin 



An accused thief is in pain after being attacked by a man with a machete and sticks in Bangui, Central African Republic. Foreign journalists intervened and stopped the beating, as the crowd shouted, "He is a thief, he must die." PHOTOGRAPH BY: Jerome Delay / Associated Press

I do not fully understand the meaning of the law and its truth, but I do not like to see this man treated so cruelly, just because he has stolen. I do not know what has been stolen by him, but it seems he does not steal for a pleasure, for example, to accumulate personal wealth. I feel those who have beaten him are those who have done putridity. Look at his body condition. Does he look like a happy man with his life? Maybe during his life he is a man who lives in hunger and poverty. So, he steals just because he's hungry. Why are they beating up the poor man who is starving?

You can answer me with, "Because stealing is unlawful deed." But I tell you, "Your answer does not satisfy my sense of justice, sorry."