Industrial Workers Control Mariupol: Part PR, Part Preparation for Presidential Poll

Yesterday afternoon on its web site the New York Times headlined a story by Andrew Kramer reporting from Mariupol about a stunning turnabout for the pro-federalization forces occupying the eastern Ukrainian port city. Steelworkers and miners working for companies owned by Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov dispersed "pro-Russian militants," removing with heavy equipment barricades set up around town and establishing regular foot patrols. The story ledes the "newspaper of record" this morning.

Here is how Kramer opens "Workers Seize City in Eastern Ukraine From Separatists":

MARIUPOL, Ukraine — Thousands of steelworkers fanned out on Thursday through the city of Mariupol, establishing control over the streets and banishing the pro-Kremlin militants who until recently had seemed to be consolidating their grip on power, dealing a setback to Russia and possibly reversing the momentum in eastern Ukraine.

By late Thursday, miners and steelworkers had deployed in at least five cities, including the regional capital, Donetsk. They had not, however, become the dominant force there that they were in Mariupol, the region’s second-largest city and the site last week of a bloody confrontation between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian militants.

While it was still far too early to say the tide had turned in eastern Ukraine, the day’s events were a blow to separatists who recently seized control here and in a dozen or so other cities and who held a referendum on independence on Sunday. Backed by the Russian propaganda machine and by 40,000 Russian troops just over the border, their grip on power seemed to be tightening every day.

The third paragraph gives Kramer away. He is engaged in tendentious reporting here. If you scan Google News this morning you'll struggle to find one link to the Gray Lady's blue-collar-Mariupol-liberation bombshell. Read to the end of the article and what jumps out is that the meat of the story is built out of quotes delivered up by chief executives of Metinvest, Yuri Ryzhenkov, and Ilyich Steel Works, Yuri Zincheko. Kramer doesn't bother with one quote from a routed pro-federalization occupier.

So you have the boss's point of view blasted far and wide "in all the news that is fit to print." This is pure public relations, inspired no doubt by the success of the People's Republic of Donetsk poll last Sunday. This is the Kiev junta's riposte, a way of saying, "See, we really have the hearts and minds of the people of the east, not the 'terrorists' and their Russian handlers."

One must be mindful here of the history of the Central Intelligence Agency using sectors of the industrialized work force to carry out its agenda. Mossadegh in Iran, Allende in Chile, Chavez in Venezuela -- all were destabilized in part by militant labor actions. There is no reason to believe that what is happening in Mariupol is any different. We know that Brennan is taking a hands-on role in the response to the uprising in Donbass.

It is too early to tell how this will play out. If you read the Kramer story closely you come away with the opinion that the miners and steelworkers employed by Akhmetov are doing what they are told. They are not operating zealously. I think this is a way for Kiev/Washington to stabilize the east prior to the May 25 presidential election. The junta and their backers in the Obama administration want that election to come off without a hitch.