KIEV/BERLIN (Own report) - Yesterday, the day after the German Chancellor held deliberations with two leaders of the Ukrainian opposition, protests in Kiev escalated into bloody confrontations. Demonstrators, unconditionally sponsored by Germany and other western countries for months, began, over the past few days, to arm themselves with firearms and ammunition. Two police officers were shot to death during yesterday's uprising. This escalation into a bloody confrontation followed on the heels of government compliance with a fundamental demand of the demonstrators, just as it seemed that a de-escalation was about to begin - to the tactical disadvantage of the "German's man" in Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, who has been calling for the president to resign. Klitschko, who flew to Berlin Monday, to discuss the next steps, threatened an even more bloody escalation and declared, that he does not "rule out the use of force in the evacuation of the Maidan." One of the organizations he is relying on is explicitly named after Nazi collaborators, who had carried out mass-murder of Soviet Jews. Escalation strategies, such as those currently implemented in Kiev, are not alien to German foreign policy.

Firearms and Ammunition

In the course of yesterday's bloody escalation of the protests, several police officers and demonstrators were killed in Kiev. As was confirmed by news reports, there have been clear indications since some time that some of the demonstrators in Kiev had begun arming themselves. It was reported that for days, a group calling itself the "First Hundred Group in Kiev of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists" were publicly asking for "ammunition or money to buy it."[1] Just previously, the Berlin-supported leader of the opposition, Vitali Klitschko, called for forming militias. Yesterday, the fascist-interspersed, violence-prone, "Right Block" called on all opponents of the government in the possession of firearms to come to the Maidan. In their attempt to storm the Ukrainian Parliament, government opponents broke through police barricades and set police cars on fire. Heavy clashes erupted between the armed demonstrators and police. Parliamentarians seeking to flee the building were clubbed in their cars; the office of the governing party was set on fire. Whereas demonstrators claim that ambulances were impeded by the police in action, the wounded apparently were not treated because of the barricades set up by the demonstrators.[2] During the night, the situation escalated further.

Collaborators in Nazi Murder

This escalation into a bloody confrontation occurred the day after opposition leaders Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Vitaly Klitschko had had an audience in Berlin's Chancellery, where they discussed with Angela Merkel the next steps the government opponents should take. The plea by the "First Hundred Group in Kiev of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists" for ammunition could not have not been known to them at the time of their meeting. The plea had not been made clandestinely, but was publicly displayed on a poster. Apparently, neither the Chancellor nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had insisted that further offensive protest demonstrations be held back, to avoid the worst, until the arms buildup of the opposition could be reversed. On the contrary, as usual, the German Foreign Minister criticized "the violence" in Kiev, generally and specifically that emanating from state forces. The fact that the demonstrators, under the leadership Berlin's Klitschko, is largely comprised of fascists, is not even mentioned in the German government declaration. The "First Hundred Group in Kiev of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists," for example, is a historical reference to the "Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists," who, at the side of Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht, helped invade the Soviet Union and, among other crimes, actively participated in Nazi mass murders of Jews. (german-foreign-policy.com reported.[3])

Escalation Strategies

The fact that Berlin comes to the defense of the Ukrainian protest demonstrations, even when violence-prone government opponents attack the government security forces with live ammunition, corresponds to a well-worn German government escalation strategy. In the 1990s, for example, the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) helped in the arms build-up of Kosovo gangs. These weapons ultimately benefited the infamous KLA guerrillas, who then escalated their struggle against Yugoslavian security forces, until finally Germany and NATO attacked. (german-foreign-policy.com reported.[4]) Even earlier, for example in the 1960s, West German politicians, along with extreme right-wing forces from West Germany and Austria, who, by way of access to a militant wing of the Northern Italian (South Tyrol) autonomy movement sponsored and - according to reports - supported violent forces,[5] with the objective of forcing the Italian government to grant wide-ranging political autonomy to South Tyrol. The strategy was a success.

End of a Relaxation of Tensions

The escalation in Kiev came at precisely the point, where the Ukrainian government accepted a central demand of the protestors, declaring an amnesty for the arrested demonstrators. "Signs of a slight relaxation of tensions" were "not to be overlooked," according to reports in the German media,[6] which then indicated that special units of the police were being pulled back and law enforcement officers had begun dismantling barricades and towing away burned out police cars. However, this also removed the means of leverage for all those who, like "the German's man" in Kiev, Klitschko - sought to force President Viktor Yanukovych to resign. Out of the escalation into violent confrontation, the German Foreign Minister now concludes that "Europe's restraint, exercised in its decision to impose personnel sanctions" - on politicians in Kiev - "will certainly now be reconsidered."[7] Washington recently criticized Berlin and the EU for not having put enough pressure on the Ukrainian government.

A Geopolitical Game

The power struggle over the Ukraine, which is causing a growing number of casualties, revolves around "two fundamental questions," as the former Head of the German Defense Ministry's Planning Staff explained already last November: "where are the eastern boundaries of the EU and where the western boundaries of Russia's sphere of influence?" Germany's interference in Kiev's unrest is, therefore, simply "a new and grand geopolitical game." Experts are pointing out that the Ukraine only has so much importance, because Russia would be defenseless without it - a factor, Moscow cannot ignore. Because of the risk of an incontrollable escalation between Germany and Russia, the above-mentioned former Head of the Defense Ministry's Planning Staff, the publicist, Theo Sommer ("Die Zeit"), advises that the power struggle, which for now revolves around the relatively expansive EU Association Agreement, should not be overstretched. "Would a free-trade agreement that does not reek of expansive ambitions, not be better than association?"[8] Berlin has decided otherwise and continues to fuel the upheaval in Kiev with its interference to come out the winner - at all costs.

Other reports and background information on the current German policy toward the Ukraine can be found here: Problems of Eastward Expansion, A Broad-Based Anti-Russian Alliance, Expansive Ambitions, Our Man in Kiev, Integration Rivalry with Moscow and On the Offensive.

[1], [2] Reinhard Lauterbach: Randale und Tote in Kiew. www.jungewelt.de 19.02.2014.

[3] See A Broad-Based Anti-Russian Alliance and Die Expansion europäischer Interessen.

[4] See The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

[5] See Der Zentralstaat als Minusgeschäft and Doppelrezension: Südtirol-Terrorismus.

[6] Amnestie-Gesetz tritt in Kraft. www.tagesschau.de 17.02.2014.

[7] AM Steinmeier zur aktuellen Lage in Kiew. Pressemitteilung des Auswärtigen Amts 18.02.2014.

[8] Theo Sommer: Ein neuer Eiserner Vorhang? www.zeit.de 25.11.2013. See Expansive Ambitions.