Ukraine Arrests Another Journalist as It Girds for Possible Peace

As Ukrainian fighting continues apace as a ceasefire is anticipated this weekend (see P.M. links, and see Ed Krayewski yesterday for why we oughtn't place too much hope in that ceasefire), Ukraine arrests another journalists for reasons we in the U.S. might not find too proper. (I blogged about the earlier case of Ruslan Kotsaba, for advocating draft dodging, earlier this week.)

From the Kyiv Post:

Ukraine's authorities arrested a second Ukrainian journalist on charges of treason today, according to the reporter's employer in St. Petersburg-based, Nevskie Novosti. The local news agency said that Andrey Zakharchuk had been accused of "inaccurately reporting events in Ukraine."

The Kyiv Post made several efforts to contact Ukraine's General Prosecutor's Office, but no officials were available to comment on the case. According to Ukrainian news agency UNN, police also suspect Zakharchuk of spying on Ukraine and stoking unrest in the country, but those charges were not described in the warrant issued against him….

International human rights watchdog Amnesty International considers [the previously arrested for advocating draft avoidance] Kotsaba to be a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful expression of his views. He is the first prisoner of conscience to be declared in Ukraine since the Euromaidan revolution, indeed the first prisoner of conscience to be declared in Ukraine in almost five years….

Both Zakharchuk and Kotsaba now face up to 15 years in jail, the maximum term for treason in Ukraine. Zakharchuk had returned to Ukraine on a regular visit to see his family when he was picked up by police, Nevskie Novosti's chief editor, Vladislav Kraev, told reporters.

Kraev added that Zakharchuk only writes about local news in St. Petersburg and sports, and had not been assigned to anything related to the military and political situation in Ukraine…..

Steve Chapman at Reason on why the U.S. should not arm Ukraine.

Comments

[Irish]

LA Times writer writes headline of the week.

Christian Grey and the Koch brothers share a similar desire for dominance

Hmmm.

Like winsome coeds hungering for a hot hookup, four GOP presidential candidates accepted invitations to the Kochs' annual January retreat for big donors in Rancho Mirage. The willing foursome included Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and the junior senators from Florida, Texas and Kentucky; Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. They ? and the many other president-wannabes in the party ? have a deep desire for the Kochs' approval and a piece of the brothers' engorged campaign fund.

"It's no wonder the candidates show up when the Koch brothers call," David Axelrod, President Obama's former campaign guru, said in comments to the press. "That's exponentially more money than any party organization will spend. In many ways, they have superseded the party."

Interesting. They don't mention any big money Democratic donors and their money quote is from an Obama campaign manager.

Solid argument.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

they have superseded the party."

We can only hope.

[Irish]

In the comments section someone points out that all the top donors are unions and that they swamp the amount of money the Kochs are spending. Some idiot then says 'sure, but how many people are those unions representing? It's not the same thing!'

Two problems, moron:

1. How many shareholders is a corporation representing? If a union spending shit-tons of money is acceptable because of how many people they're representing, then surely the same argument could work for a corporation lobbying in order to increase stock value.

2. The argument isn't about the number of people spending the money, it's about the influence. The left is whining because they claim the Kochs own the Republican party. Well, if the Kochs own the Republican party, then the Unions basically keep the Democratic party chained to the wall in their sex-dungeons.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

If the Kochs own the Republican party I'd imagine that they're checking the box it came in for the warranty. How many of these people understand that the Koch are libertarians and that it's a sad commentary on the state of the Democratic party that they choose to spend their money on the GOP?

[Dances-with-Trolls]

Perhaps that last phrase could have more honestly put as "decide to pay their protection money to the GOP."

[S. Quincy]

a piece of the brothers' engorged campaign fund.

Fraternity gang rape!

[sarcasmic]

Liberty is tyranny! Who will give us permission! Who will issue orders!

[Winston]

Steve Chapman at Reason on why the U.S. should not arm Ukraine.

Shouldn't there be a link?

You Know Who Else arrested journalists for advocating against the draft?

[Brian Doherty]

There should be. And now there is.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Woodrow Wilson?

[np]

From Peace to Pieces in Twenty Seconds

Just imagine a car driving on a normal day in a normal residential area in civilized Europe, kids go to school etc. - just your everyday peaceful scene. And then suddenly a few grad missiles fall from the skies right on the road smashing everything around and your peaceful day is not anymore. Really terrifying. And yes, its Ukraine, Mariupol city, previously much unaffected by the shootings, so it was a really unsuspecting peaceful driver in a peaceful area.

Missile got into an apartment

[np]

Graphic results of shelling and such fighting on the civilian population, all the people in those cars...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ8RiSZBCaM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz4G7r0Q5Sw

[Dances-with-Trolls]

So this sucks, but is there any context? I mean, are there non-journalists being arrested for treason as well, or something that has just happened to these two guys? Civil wars are kind of notorious for treason charges and accusations, as the lines are a lot blurrier than in a typical us vs. them war.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Yoo-hoo!

"Rick Perry's Wrong About Lincoln

"Honest Abe loved the federal government.

"...In footage released by American Bridge, the progressive super PAC that seems always to know in advance when a Republican candidate is about to trip over himself, Perry told the party faithful that "Abraham Lincoln read the Constitution, and he also read the Bill of Rights, and he got down to the Tenth Amendment, and he liked it. That Tenth Amendment that talks about these states, these laboratories of democracy. ? The Tenth Amendment that the federal government is limited, its powers are limited by the Constitution."...

"Before he reluctantly became a Republican, Abraham Lincoln was a lifelong Whig?a party founded in opposition to Andrew Jackson and in support of a strong and active central state....

"...Historians disagree whether the Civil War era catalyzed the emergence of the modern state, but few disagree that Lincoln broadly (if perhaps temporarily) expanded the purview of Washington, D.C."

http://www.politico.com/magazi.....z3RgBEBQBl

[Winston]

He also had journalists arrested for saying bad things about him.

[sarcasmic]

But he freed the slaves! He entered into a war to establish federal dominance over the states and he freed the slaves! It took an act of government to reverse the laws enforce by government to free the slaves! Slavery! Everything else must be ignored because slavery!

Not to say slavery was a good thing, but pointing out that the war was not about slavery, and about preserving the Union, is heresy.

[creech]

Heresy? The facts are what they are: preserving the Union is why the North went to war, not to end slavery. I don't know any reputable students of the Civil War, with Northern sympathies, who argue it wasn't.

[Calidissident]

I don't think any educated person thinks that the North's primary motivation in fighting the Civil War was to end slavery. That said, it takes two to tango. The South seceded to protect slavery, initiated the violence, and fought a long, bloody war protecting that disgusting ideal.

[Sevo]

..."Andrey Zakharchuk had been accused of "inaccurately reporting events in Ukraine.""

This could shut down the entire video and paper news industry in the US! Imagine having an outlet actually headline "Obama Lies!"

[JeanAGalvan]

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[userve32]

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