The sanctions, which the U.S. and Europe imposed last week, and the renewed pressure on Russia in the wake of the Malasian MH-17 flight tragedy are so far having very little, if any, effect. Ever since “the polite green man” set foot on Crimean soil in early March this year, the first sign of rational rhetorics from Russia came only on July 21, when President Putin said that it was necessary to ensure that a full-scale team of experts under the auspices of ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) could work at the crash site. Hopefully, the Russia-backed fighters, which are operating at the site, will take this as an order. Othewise, it's still “war as usual”. Since the airliner's downing, the city of Luhansk, which lies just 100 km to the east of the crash site, has been a scene of a tragedy of a comparable scale. When the Ukrainian forces renewed their efforts to free Luhansk and surrounding areas, the terrorists started a bloodbath. There are numerous reports in Ukrainian media that separatists fired at crowds in Luhansk with automatic rifles and fired at residential buildings with low caliber mine-throwers that could not have been used by Ukrainian forces which were too far from the scenes at that time. According to the city council, by July 19, civilian casualties in Luhansk have amounted to 60, while up to 300 people have been wounded. The city of Donetsk came under what the Ukrainian authorities describe as a terrorist artillery fire early this week. There is footage available on youtube.com and testimonials on different web-sites about the GRAD multiple missile launcher firing at Donetsk from the satellite city of Makiivka which was at the time under complete control of the terrorists. On Monday, July 21, five civilians were killed in Donetsk. Russian propaganda is continuing to blame Ukraine for the casualties, including the flight MH-17. The upward trail of an anti-aircraft missile pictured near the crash site in the town of Snizhne area (page 9), which is under complete control of the separatists for dozens of miles, should dispel any doubts about the guilty party. If anyone still has any doubts about the moral characteristics of the “rebels”, they simply need to look at the pictures from the crash site (p 9) or find that the “rebels” did not allow the proper handling of the bodies which were left there to decompose for more than a day. It is hard to tell whether tougher sanctions than those imposed by the USA last week would have averted the MH-17 or Luhansk and Donetsk tragedies. Days after, some of the artillery fire against Ukrainian troops is reportedly still coming from Russian territory. In the wake of the MH-17 crash, everyone is expecting broad sanctions on Russia, after a thorough investigation of the incident. But as a recent tweet from a Luhansk resident addressing Western powers said, “while you are thoroughly investigating, Russians will reduce us to ashes.” While previously the main theme of the Western leaders had been about a ceasefire, now almost everyone, from Hillary Clinton to Francois Hollande, is urging Ukraine to restore control over its territory. Ms. Clinton has recently gone as far as to urge military supplies to Ukraine. This was a welcome development, albeit from someone who is not in government, on the background of incomprehension by many in the West about what can be done to help Ukraine, apart from sanctions. The first Western official who publicly raised the issue of military support for Ukraine, in our account, was Hon. C. Alexander, during the PJEF event. This continued the line of Canada's strong stance about the war in Ukraine, after a strong-worded statement from Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird last week and new sanctions against 110 individuals and entities announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper on July 21. This policy sets an example for other Western countries, the EU in particular.
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