Ukraine Decides.

In February 2014 Russia hosted the Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. As Russia has been resisting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) for several years now Saudi Arabia was furious that Russia had been granted such a prestigious global event. So in July 2013 Prince Bandar bin Sultan - the then head of Saudi intelligence - made it quite clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin that unless Russia dropped its opposition to ISIL then Saudi Arabia would conduct terror attacks against the Sochi games.

The first of those terror attacks occurred in Volgograd - a main transport hub for Sochi - on December 29th 2013 (29/12/13) when a female Islamist suicide bombing attacked the Volgograd-1 railways station killing 18 people and injuring 44. The second of these terror attacks occurred the following day (30/10/13) when another Islamist suicide bomber attacked a tram/trolley-bus in the Dzerzhinsky district of Volgograd killing 16 people and injuring 41. Further attacks were foiled on January 9th (9/1/14) when four cars packed with explosives were found in the town of Pyatigorsk which is 300km (200 miles) from Sochi. Only one of those car bombs exploded and the 6 men in the other 3 cars were found to have been shot in mysterious circumstances. All of those attacks have since been claimed by Vilayat Dagestan - an Islamist group who are currently fighting alongside ISIL. In fact there have been reports that Omar al-Shishani, Vilayat Dagestan's latest leader was recently killed by Kurdish fighters in the battle for Kobane/Ayn al-Arab.

The USA - Saudi Arabia's key ally - however realised that it would be too obvious and too controversial to simply launch terror attacks against the Sochi Olympics. So instead they devised a plan to more discreetly punish Russia for its opposition to ISIL. This involved backing criminal, neo-Nazi and Nazi groups in Sochi's Black Sea neighbour Ukraine to violently overthrow Ukraine's democratically elected President Viktor Yanukoyvch. That Coup d'etat was completed on February 22nd (22/2/14) just as the Sochi games were reaching their climatic final weekend. However the longer term plan was that the fascist groups such as Right Sector and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UIA) who seized power would immediately start launching racist attacks against Ukraine's ethnically Russian minority. Then when that minority acted to protect themselves the US would be able to blame Russia and start imposing the economic sanctions they couldn't impose against Russia for opposing ISIL.

That is exactly what happened and so far the fighting has claimed more then 5000 lives including the 48 ethnic Russians who were massacred in Odessa and the 298 people who were killed in the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. More then 1 million people - almost exclusively ethnic Russians - have been forced to flee the country.

On Sunday (26/10/14) the Ukrainian people will finally be given a say in all this when the nation's first post-coup Parliamentary election is held.

With there being some 6,670 candidates representing 52 political parties I have simply not had the time to research who I would recommend the Ukrainian people vote for. After all US President Obama's seeming inability to decide whether he is currently at war with ISIL or still desperately in love with them is putting pressure on everybody's time. However it is extremely obvious who Ukrainians should avoid voting for.

The largest of this group is anyone connected to the Nazi and neo-Nazi groups such as Right Sector, the UIA and Svoboda who frequently represent them. As with all fascists these people are defined not by what they stand for and what they want to do but by who they hate and what they want to destroy. The destructive effect that these groups have on Ukrainian and all societies is neatly demonstrated by the Azov battalion who openly fly the Nazi Runes of Svoboda.

Formed in May 2014 of the fascist thugs who should have disbanded under the Geneva agreement the Azov battalion jumped at the chance to kill ethnic minorities and rushed into battle in Donbass. However their enthusiasm was not matched by either their skill or their preparation and the entire battalion was quickly surrounded in Ilovaisk with all but 200 of the 1000 strong battalion being captured or killed. However rather then admit their mistakes and take responsibility for them what remained of the Azov battalion instead tried to blame their failure on Ukraine's elected President Petro Poroshenko and staged further violent demonstrations calling for his overthrow just as he was trying to negotiate a peace deal to end the civil war.

The other group that Ukrainian voters should avoid at all costs is anyone associated Yulia Tymoshenko's Fatherland Party and their current, self-appointed Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in particular. Although I understand that they've recently re-branded themselves as "People's Front" Fatherland's entire ideology is anti-Russia with even their name is meant to counter the Russian concept of "Motherland" by invoking memories of Hitler's "Fatherland." Despite never winning an election Tymoshenko, Yatsenyuk and their cronies have held power in Ukraine on numerous occasions and these occasions have always resulted in political and economic strife for Ukraine. In fact it seems that the only reason that Fatherland joined their more extreme peers in this latest coup was to free Tymoshenko from prison where she was being punished for stealing billions of dollars from the Ukrainian people.

To see the damaging effects of Fatherland's obsessions with embezzlement and anti-Russian rhetoric you only need to look at Yatsenyuk's current spell as Prime Minister. Listening to him speak it is clear that he has no plan to rescue Ukraine's economy which is shrinking at a terrifying 10% a year. It is clear that he has no plan to pay off Ukraine's massive debts and secure a supply of gas for winter. It is also clear that he doesn't have any plan to clean up Ukraine's bureaucracy in order to cut corruption and make Ukraine a European-style nation of laws. Yatsenyuk does though have a plan to blame and fight Russia at every opportunity. In fact in a speech shortly after seizing office to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) of all places Yatsenyuk seemed to declare that if Ukraine hadn't given up its nuclear weapons he would use them to start a nuclear war with Russia. That is a dangerous man to have in charge of any nation.

Hopefully then the people of Ukraine will heed this advice and the advice of others when they vote on Sunday because it is clear that if they want to achieve a better future for themselves and their country they will need to choose leaders who wish to create and build rather then leaders who simply want to steal and fight.

(Originally Posted) 16:10 on 24/10/14 (UK date).

In writing the above I very clearly mis-judged my audience. By completely disregarding the ceasefire of September 5th 2014 (5/9/14) the Kiev junta kept Ukraine in a state of constant war. As happens under these circumstances criticism of leaders is totally suppressed in favour of national pride and hatred of the "enemy."

As a result Yatsenyuk's "People's Front Bloc" did slightly better then expected gaining 22.12% of the votes while Poroshenko's "Petro Poroshenko Bloc" did slightly worse then expected gaining 21.82%. This meant that Poroshenko was forced to keep Yatsenyuk on as Prime Minister and the crisis has continued.

However on top of the more then 1 million ethnic Russians who have been forced to leave the country the continued fighting also excluded voters in the Donbass region from taking part. Added to that all the Ukrainians who had been conscripted into the junta's army to fight the war were also excluded from the vote. These add up to roughly 30% of the electorate.

As a result the biggest winner from the election was the "Excluded From the Process Bloc." Therefore I don't consider the result of the vote to be valid in any way, shape nor form.