Carillet’s update and headlines April 7, 2014
You know the expression, when it rains, it pours? — LaVerne does!
We thought LaVerne’s redness around her shoulder was a reaction to the (latex free!) adhesive used on the first set of bandages after the shoulder repair Friday, but then the redness and raised areas appeared where no bandage had been. And today, the pattern and developing blisters indicate that LaVerne has shingles!
LaVerne has shingles on her shoulder (back and front and side) where she had the repair! It is not a serious case of shingles, since it does not hurt so much as itch. She thought she could not get it because she never had chicken pox, though she went to the house of friends who had it, hoping to catch it and get out of school for a while. Apparently, she must have caught just enough of the virus to be subject to shingles.
I got my shingles vaccine Saturday – though I did not know at the time that LaVerne was developing shingles!
Andrei takes the exam for developmental psychology tomorrow at 3; this will complete his application for Milligan College’s Masters in counseling. Pray for his acceptance into Milligan’s program, and that the finances will be found that would enable him to enroll, which is necessary before he can apply for a student visa.
It is still uncertain when and how I can return to Crimea, but I keep reading what others are finding out:
Well, it’s official folks. In order for me to go home to Crimea, I will have to apply for a Russian Visa. They told R to come back in two months, and by then they should know exactly how we should go about filing all the documents. Unbelievable, frustrating, awful, I could come up with a pretty long list of how grumpy this thing makes me feel! R [as a Ukrainian citizen] can still come and go, he just can’t stay longer than 3 months at a time [out of 6 months]. One thing I know for sure, it’s going to be a long road of filing paperwork!
Here we go again – but will it work this time? Such a small group, but such a weak response by the government….
New York Times: A familiar script in Ukraine
April 8, 2014, 5:29 a.m.
The events taking place in Donetsk and elsewhere in eastern Ukraine are very similar to those that led up to the Russian annexation of Crimea. In fact, the pro-Russian secessionists who seized the local administration building in Donetsk, the center of the industrial Donets Basin, are following the script laid down in Crimea to the letter. They have declared the region’s independence from Ukraine and called for a referendum by May 11 on joining Russia.
Putin’s Attack On East Ukraine Began Today: What This Means For Europe And The US
As I write, mobs, directed by Russian special ops forces, FSB operatives, and local thugs are directing rent-a-crowds in Lugansk, Donetsk, and Kharkiv to storm public buildings, rough-up unarmed security forces, and demand referendums to join Mother Russia. As a slight variation, Donetsk demonstrators demand a “free republic.” The propaganda machine is at work full force. Babushkas are brought before the cameras to plead that all they want is peace and to be together with their brothers and sisters in Russia. They are sincere, but they serve the interests of their masked puppet masters lurking in the background.
Russia’s economic destabilization program began weeks or even months ago. Russian businesses cancelled their contracts with companies in Donetsk and Kharkiv. Desperate employees are going without pay. Russian propaganda is wafting a siren song about the prosperity that awaits them if they join Russia.
Putin’s destabilization campaign will take a week or so to complete.
[Continuing the article, the author describes the successive stages that lead up to taking control of eastern Ukraine. At the end of the article the author lists some of his sources.]
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Armed Pro-Russian protesters set for standoff with police
April 8, 2014, 5:43 a.m.
LUHANSK, Ukraine — In Luhansk, everything is now in place for a potentially bloody standoff between pro-Russian protesters and Ukrainian police that could dramatically escalate tensions in the east of the country
Halya Coynash: Kremlin-orchestrated ‘federalist’ protest and Western inaction
April 7, 2014, 6:13 p.m.
The seizure by pro-Russian separatists of administrative buildings in Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv on Sunday was widely expected. The conflict was predicted not because of the “sharp rise in tension” in Russian-speaking eastern regions reported by western information agencies. This tension is not borne out by the relatively small numbers involved in the disturbances and dramatically at odds with the results of yet another survey just posted. It is, however, fully in line with evidence of Russian interference and plans to repeat the Crimean scenario. Over the last weeks, NATO and western governments have been lavish with stern warnings against attempts by Russia to use its forces on Ukraine’s mainland, and very sparing with sanctions. As of late Monday morning, there is silence about the conflict unfolding in three eastern regions although everybody knows that the disturbances in eastern parts of Ukraine are being deliberately orchestrated to justify the Kremlin’s demands for Ukraine’s “federalization”, a euphemism for Russia exerting major influence over a large area of Ukraine.
Donetsk separatists declare independence, set May 11 as date of referendum
April 7, 2014, 2:43 p.m.
A handful of pro-Russian separatists in the barricaded Donetsk Oblast government administration declared the creation of the Donetsk People’s Republic on April 7, as a few hundred activists continued to rally outside the building, which is surrounded by piles of car tires and wrapped in barbed wire.
Yatsenyuk confident that Ukrainians want united country, will defeat violent pro-Russia separatists
April 7, 2014, 11:39 a.m.
Ukraine’s acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, at the start of an emergency Cabinet of Ministers today, said that authorities have brought control to Kharkiv Oblast, where pro-Russian separatists briefly seized the oblast government headquarters. However, there are conflicting reports, with others say the separatists in Kharkiv still have not been ousted.