Tornado Alley (PROG)

[arizona1]

This is amazing!

Jews Ordered to Register in Eastern Ukraine: Updated

Here is the lede:

Jews in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk where pro-Russian militants have taken over government buildings were told they have to "register" with the Ukrainians who are trying to make the city become part of Russia, according to Israeli media.

Jews emerging from a synagogue say they were handed leaflets that ordered the city's Jews to provide a list of property they own and pay a registration fee "or else have their citizenship revoked, face deportation and see their assets confiscated," reported Ynet News, Israel's largest news website.

The article goes on to state:

The leaflets bore the name of Denis Pushilin, who identified himself as chairman of "Donetsk's temporary government," and were distributed near the Donetsk synagogue and other areas, according to the report.

Pushilin acknowledged that flyers were distributed under his organization's name in Donetsk, but denied any connection to them, Ynet reported in Hebrew.

Emanuel Shechter, in Israel, told Ynet his friends in Donetsk sent him a copy of the leaflet through social media.

"They told me that masked men were waiting for Jewish people after the Passover eve prayer, handed them the flyer and told them to obey its instructions," he said.

UPDATE: I thought that article had just gone up, and I hadn't seen it last night. But indycam points out that Horace Boothroyd had a diary on this last night:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/16/1292601/-I-found-something-I-literally-hope-will-be-propaganda

Unless there are strong objections, I'd like to leave this up, because it's potentially a rather important story, and my take on it is a little different from Horace's.

What to make of this? It seems to be based on reliable sources.

It's unlikely the right-wing parts of the revolutionary government in Kiev would do something like this. It also seems unlikely that Russian agents or pro-Russian organizations would do this.

So what's up? Some kind of double-reverse disinformation campaign?

Who would benefit?

I just put this out, without any conclusions, as another sign of the deepening chaos in Ukraine.

There is, of course, a long, horrible history of anti-Semitism in Russia and in Ukraine. If I were Jewish and living in Ukraine, I would be very alarmed by this strange development.

Read the whole article. It has some speculation about who might have done this, plus details about the dire threats that accompanied the "order" to register.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/17/1292733/-Jews-Ordered-to-Register-in-Eastern-Ukraine