Lavrov: PERKEMBANGAN IRAQ menunjukkan JUMLAH KEGAGALAN 'PENGAMBARAAN Amerika-BRITISH . . .

Menteri Luar Rusia Sergey Lavrov (Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (AFP Photo/Olga Maltseva)

Srikandi גבורה - Peristiwa-peristiwa di Iraq adalah hasil daripada tindakan yang dilakukan oleh Amerika Syarikat dan United Kingdom, dan keadaan ini tlh melambung di luar kawalan, Menteri Luar Rusia Sergey Lavrov kepada wartawan.

"Ia telah dilaporkan bahawa menteri luar UK mengisytiharkan bahawa peristiwa-peristiwa di Iraq adalah, menurut beliau, ilustrasi bahawa keganasan berleluasa di rantau ini kerana ketiadaan perdamaian di Syria," kata Lavrov.

"Kami telah diketahui bahawa rakan-rakan Inggeris kami mempunyai keupayaan unik untuk ‘twist’ segala-galanya. Tetapi saya tidak menjangka sinis itu, kerana peristiwa-peristiwa yang sedang berlaku di Iraq adalah satu gambaran kegagalan lengkap usaha yang dimulakan oleh Amerika Syarikat dan United Kingdom yang membenarkan ia untuk lingkaran luar kawalan sepenuhnya."

"Kami menyatakan perpaduan kami dengan pihak berkuasa Iraq, rakyat Iraq yang perlu mengembalikan keamanan dan keselamatan di negara mereka, tetapi tindakan rakan-rakan Barat kita menimbulkan banyak soalan," tanda Lavrov.

Lavrov berkata 11 tahun lalu Presiden Amerika Syarikat mengumumkan kemenangan demokrasi di Iraq, dan bahawa "keadaan telah merosot dlm perkembangan geometri."

"Perpaduan Iraq telah dipersoalkan. Keganasan berleluasa sedang berlaku kerana bahawa pasukan pendudukan tidak membayar apa-apa perhatian kepada proses politik dalaman, tidak membantu dialog nasional, dan hanya mengejar kepentingan mereka sendiri, "kata Lavrov.

Pada malam Isnin, pengganas merampas kuasa bandar Mosul yang - pusat pentadbiran wilayah utara Nineveh. Pada hari Rabu, pihak berkuasa dimaklumkan penduduk tentang kejatuhan Tikrit, tempat asal bekas pemimpin Saddam Hussein dan hanya 150 kilometer dari Baghdad.

Lavrov: Iraq developments show total failure 

of American-British 'adventure' . . .

The events in Iraq are a result of the actions carried out by the US and the UK, and the situation has spiraled out of control, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists.

“It has been reported that the UK foreign minister declared that the events in Iraq are, according to him, an illustration that terrorism is rampant in the region due to the absence of reconciliation in Syria,” Lavrov said.

“We’ve known that our English colleagues have a unique ability to twist everything. But I didn’t expect such cynicism, because the events that are taking place in Iraq are an illustration of a complete failure of the venture started by the US and the UK that allowed it to spiral out of control completely.”

“We express our solidarity with the Iraqi authorities, the Iraqi people who should restore peace and security in their country, but the actions of our Western partners raise a lot of questions,” Lavrov marked.

Lavrov noted that 11 years ago the US president announced the victory of democracy in Iraq, and that “the situation has deteriorated in geometrical progression.”

“The unity of Iraq has been called into question. The rampant terrorism is taking place due to the fact that the occupation troops didn’t pay any attention to the interior political processes, didn’t help the national dialogue, and only pursued their own interests,” Lavrov said.

On Monday night, the terrorists seized control of the town Mosul – the administrative center of the northern province of Nineveh. On Wednesday, the authorities informed the population about the fall of Tikrit, the hometown of former leader Saddam Hussein and just 150km from Baghdad.

READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/crtqz7

PEMBERONTAKAN UNIT Pengawal KEBANGSAAN Kiev: 'Kami TELAH DiBUANG Seperti SAMPAH' . . .

Srikandi גבורה - Skandal permukaan dalam salah satu unit Ukraine cuba untuk mem-batalkan pemberontakan di kawasan timur. Beralih daripada menjadi tidak wujud pada buku Kiev, pejuang yang telah dinafikan makanan dan membayar perkhidmatan kini mencari kebenaran di ibu negara.

Kerajaan Ukraine telah menggunakan askar Pengawal Kebangsaan sebagai kuasa serangan utama dalam serangan ke atas kuasa-kuasa anti-Kiev di timur negara ini. Ia kebanyakannya pengawal, ramai daripada mereka adalah ahli-ahli pergerakan ultrana-tionalist Sektor kanan, yang telah menyerang bandar Slavyansk dan kampung-kam-pung di sekitarnya dgn mortar dan howitzer memaksa rantau ini pro-federal Donetsk ke dalam penyerahan.

Sekarang satu unit keseluruhan Pengawal Kebangsaan telah memberontak dan sedang kembali ke Kiev, dgn mendakwa mereka tlh ditinggalkan oleh kerajaan & mening-galkan yang tidak dibayar.

"Menurut kertas rasmi, kami tidak wujud! Kami ilusi. Ia seperti kita tidak digunakan di sini, kami tidak mendapat apa-apa amunisi - apa-apa "mendakwa komander skuadron yang Ke-3 batalion rizab Pertama Pengawal Kebangsaan, Leftenan Taras Zherebetsky.

Kiev’s National GUARD Unit MUTINY ‘We’ve been 

Discarded like TRASH’ . . .

A scandal is surfacing in one of the Ukrainian units attempting to quash revolt in the eastern regions. Turning out to be non-existent on Kiev’s books, the fighters who were denied food and service pay now seek truth in the capital.

The Ukrainian government has been using National Guard conscripts as a major assault force in attacks on anti-Kiev forces in the east of the country. It is mostly the guards, many of whom are members of the ultranationalist Right Sector movement, who have been shelling the city of Slavyansk and the villages around it with mortars and Howitzers to force the pro-federalist region of Donetsk into submission.

Now an entire unit of the National Guard has revolted and is heading back to Kiev, claiming they have been abandoned by the government and left unpaid.

“According to official papers, we don't exist! We're an illusion. It's like we haven't been deployed here, we haven't got any ammunition - nothing!” claimed the commander of the Third squadron of the First reserve battalion of the National Guard, Lieutenant Taras Zherebetsky.

Interview with the National Guard Lieutenant Taras Zherebetsky (in Ukrainian) (Wawancara dengan Pengawal Kebangsaan Leftenan Taras Zherebetsky (di Ukraine)

Beliau berkata semua dokumen detasmen beliau telah hilang seolah-olah ia tidak pernah wujud.

"Kami tidur di atas tanah, kerana kita tidak pun mempunyai khemah! Mereka hanya menghantar kami di sana - dan terlupa tentang kami! Dan sementara semua jeneral dan komander duduk cantik di khemah panas mereka, dijaga oleh APC terbaru, kita telah dihantar untuk berperang seperti makanan meriam, "kata Zherebetsky.

Ahli-ahli lain Pengawal Kebangsaan berkata kadang-kadang mereka terpaksa membeli pakaian seragam mereka sendiri dan perisai badan itu diberikan oleh penaja, bukan kerajaan.

He said that all documents of his detachment have disappeared as if they had never been created.

“We were sleeping on the ground, because we didn't even have tents! They just sent us there - and forgot about us! And while all the generals and commanders were sitting pretty in their warm tents, guarded by the newest APCs, we were sent to fight like cannon fodder,” Zherebetsky said.

Other members of the National Guard said that sometimes they had to buy their uniform themselves and the body armor was given by sponsors, not the government.

Rekrut Pengawal Kebangsaan ukrainian mengambil bahagian dalam latihan tentera di Novy-Petrivtsi pada 8 Mei 2014 (Ukrainian National Guard recruits take part in military drills in Novy-Petrivtsi on May 8, 2014 (AFP Photo/Sergei Supinsky)

Satu lagi terperinci pelik tentang unit reveled oleh pejuang-pejuang, adalah bahawa anggota tentera yang telah dikaitkan dengan unit-unit lain yang sebenarnya tidak pernah wujud. Ini bermakna bahawa dari segi teknikal, mereka benar-benar melihat tindakan, telah membawa senjata & musuh mungkin terbunuh dalam Donetsk Wilayah dengan sendirinya.

Tetapi itu sama ada bukan keseluruhan cerita. Pengawal Kebangsaan mendapati bahawa sementara sebenarnya yang digunakan untuk zon perang berhampiran bandar Slavyansk selama beberapa minggu, menurut dokumen mereka kekal di bandar aman Pavlograd di Dnepropetrovsk Wilayah jiran, jadi mereka mungkin terlupa mengenai membayar pertempuran yang mereka telah dijanjikan .

"Kami tidak dibayar. Kami mendapat sekitar [US] $ 600 semasa ketibaan di sini 2 bulan yang lalu, dan itu sahaja. Kami tidak mempunyai apa-apa makanan. Sebaliknya, mereka telah memberi makan kita dengan janji-janji yang ia akan berlaku esok. Tetapi kita bosan menunggu! "Kata seorang lagi askar Pengawal Kebangsaan, Evgeny Ivanenko.

Beberapa dozen ahli yang tidak bersenjata Pengawal Kebangsaan kini rali di hadapan ibu pejabat kerajaan Ukraine dalam bantahan, menuntut untuk diiktiraf sebagai pejuang. Yang akan memberikan mereka rawatan yang luar biasa dan hak untuk faedah seperti diskaun ke atas perkhidmatan perumahan dan bayaran utiliti, dan penjagaan kesihatan istimewa.

Another peculiar detail about the unit reveled by the fighters, is that its military personnel have been attributed to other units which actually never existed. That means that technically, they actually saw action, were carrying arms and probably killed adversaries in Donetsk Region of their own accord.

But that is not the whole story either. The National Guards found out that while actually being deployed to a war zone near the city of Slavyansk for weeks, according to papers they remained in the peaceful city of Pavlograd in the neighboring Dnepropetrovsk Region, so they may forget about the combat pay they were promised.

“We haven't been paid. We got around [US]$600 on arrival here two months ago, and that's it. We didn't have any food. Instead, they've been feeding us with promises that it's going to happen tomorrow. But we're tired of waiting!” said another National Guard soldier, Evgeny Ivanenko.

Several dozen unarmed members of the National Guard are now rallying in front of Ukrainian government’s headquarters in protest, demanding to be recognized as combatants. That would give them exceptional treatment and rights to benefits such as discounts on housing services and utilities payments, and privileged healthcare.

Tentera Ukraine mendengar penunjuk perasaan anti-kerajaan menghalang Kramatorsk untuk Slavyansk jalan untuk mengelakkan tentera Pengawal Kebangsaan Ukraine dari maju pada 2 Mei 2014 (Ukrainian soldiers listen to anti-government protestors blocking the Kramatorsk to Slavyansk road to prevent the Ukrainian National Guard troops from advancing on May 2, 2014).

Pengepungan bandar Slavyansk di timur Ukraine berterusan, yang masih menjadi tumpuan utama dalam konflik tersebut. Penduduk lalu malam bandar telah bangun untuk melihat langit diterangi bom api  yang digugurkan ke atas bandar mereka.

Penduduk tempatan mengatakan tembakan meriam telah berterusan selama beberapa hari. Sekolah, hospital dan bangunan-bangunan kerajaan telah musnah. Air dan kuasa bekalan boleh dikatakan terhenti.

Kementerian Kesihatan Ukraine berkata 270 orang tlh terbunuh dlm operasi keten-teraan di timur, dan kira-kira 700 cedera, sejak Kiev mula serangan tentera terhadap penunjuk perasaan.

The siege of the city of Slavyansk in east of Ukraine continues, which remains a focal point in the conflict. Last night residents of the city were woken up to see the sky lit by firebombs being dropped on their city.

Locals say artillery fire has been ongoing for days. Schools, hospitals and government buildings have been partially destroyed. Water and power supplies are practically stopped.

Ukraine's Health Ministry says 270 people have been killed in the military operation in the east, and about 700 were injured, since Kiev began its military assault against protesters.

READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/96p8mu

PALESTIN Dapatkan TINDAKAN PBB, Kesatuan EROPAH terhadap ISRAEL Sepanjang TAHANAN . . .

Palestin memegang gambar-gambar tahanan yang ditahan di penjara Israel sejak sebelum 1993 perjanjian damai Oslo kerana mereka membantah penangguhan pembebasan tahanan di luar pintu-pintu penjara Ofer, berhampiran bandar Tebing Barat Betunia (Palestinians hold pictures of detainees being held in Israeli prisons since before the 1993 Oslo peace accords as they protest against the postponement of the release of the prisoners outside the gates of Ofer prison, near the West Bank town of Betunia (AFP Photo/Abbas Momani)

Srikandi גבורה - Seorang ahli politik kanan Palestin telah menghantar surat kepada Kesatuan Eropah dan Majlis Keselamatan PBB menyeru tindakan antarabangsa ter-hadap Israel sepanjang penahanan tanpa caj tahanan Palestin, 130 daripada mereka mengambil bahagian dalam mogok lapar jangka panjang.

Gesaan itu dibuat melalui surat yang dikeluarkan pada hari Selasa, yang telah dihantar kepada semua ahli-ahli Kesatuan Eropah, Brazil, Afrika Selatan, dan India, dan juga kepada semua ahli Majlis Keselamatan PBB kecuali anggota tetap Australia, yang baru-baru berhenti merujuk kepada timur Baitulmaqdis sebagai "diduduki" - satu langkah yang menaikkan kemarahan kepimpinan Palestin.

"Saya menulis bagi pihak Pertubuhan Pembebasan Palestin dan Presiden Mahmud Abbas untuk meminta campur tangan segera anda bagi pihak kira-kira 130 tahanan Palestin dan banduan kini mogok lapar di penjara Israel," Saeb Erakat, ketua Bahagian Rundingan di Palestin Pertubuhan Pembebasan (PLO) dan Ketua Perunding dengan Israel dalam rundingan damai gagal, berkata dalam surat itu, seperti yang dipetik oleh AFP.

"Kami menyeru anda untuk menyeru Israel untuk membatalkan dasar penahanan pentadbiran dan kepada keadaan mendalamkan hubungan 2 hala anda dengan Israel yang belum selesai memenuhi semua obligasinya," katanya lagi.

Israel Perkhidmatan Penjara (IPS) berkata terdapat 250 penghuni enggan makan, 90 daripada mereka telah menolak selama lebih 6 minggu. 75 daripada telah dimasukkan ke hospital. Ini adalah mogok lapar yang pernah massa terpanjang tahanan Palestin yang ditahan oleh Israel, menurut jurucakap IPS Sivan Weizman.

Haaretz melaporkan pada hari Isnin bahawa Kementerian Kesihatan Israel adalah mengambil pendirian terutamanya sukar pada penyerang kelaparan.

Minggu lepas, sekatan ketat diletakkan pada lawatan ke hospital di mana penyerang sedang diadakan. Berpuluh-puluh permintaan untuk lawatan oleh Doktor bagi Hak Asasi Manusia, peguam penyerang', dan juga keluarga mereka telah ditolak.

Sebanyak 5,000 rakyat Palestin yang diadakan di penjara Israel. Hampir 200 daripada mereka adalah dalam apa yang dikenali sebagai penahanan pentadbiran.

Penahanan pentadbiran adalah proses di mana mahkamah tentera boleh menahan orang yang disyaki tanpa didakwa selama sehingga 6 bulan - satu tempoh masa yang boleh diperbaharui selama-lamanya. Prosedur ini - yang mengingatkan kepada cara tahanan yang diadakan di Guantanamo Bay - sejak mandat British pra-1948.

Setiausaha Agung PBB Ban Ki-moon menggesa tahanan ditarik sama ada dikenakan atau dilepaskan dengan segera.

Tetapi di Israel, rang undang-undang bekerja cara melalui badan perundangan bagi membolehkan doktor untuk memaksa-makanan penyerang kelaparan supaya mereka - sama seperti apa yang berlaku di Guantanamo Bay tahun lepas semasa mogok lapar yang berlangsung beberapa bulan.

Parlimen Israel Isnin meluluskan rang undang-undang untuk bacaan pertama, tetapi ia masih perlu melalui satu siri perbahasan di peringkat jawatankuasa dan dua undi sidang pleno lanjut sebelum ia boleh menjadi undang-undang.

Undang-undang draf sudah menendang sehingga banyak pembangkang - bukan sahaja di kalangan Arab, liberal dan berhaluan kiri ahli parlimen, tetapi daripada Israel Persatuan Perubatan (IMA), yang telah menggesa Menteri Keadilan Tzipi Livni untuk menyekat ia.

Persatuan itu memberi amaran dalam sebuah surat kepada beliau bahawa rang undang-undang ini adalah "dalam jumlah bertentangan dengan etika perubatan dite-rima di peringkat antarabangsa," serta kod perubatan Israel.

Ia menambah bahawa "kita tidak boleh menerima undang-undang yang meletakkan doktor dalam pertempuran mereka harus mempunyai tiada bahagian, dalam jumlah berbeza dengan tugas profesional dan etika."

"Undang-undang yang dicadangkan adalah salah dari segi etika dan profesional, ia bukan sahaja akan merosakkan pesakit dan keadaan kesihatan, tetapi juga DUNIA Israel berdiri," kata surat itu.

Dokumen itu telah ditandatangani oleh Doktor Leonid Edelman, ketua IMA, dan Profesor Avionam Reches, persatuan pengerusi biro etika.

PALESTINIANS Seek UN, EU Action Against ISRAEL 

Over DETAINEES. . .

A senior Palestinian politician has sent letters to the EU and UN Security Council calling for international action against Israel over the detention without charge of Palestinian prisoners, 130 of whom are taking part in a long-term hunger strike.

The call was made through a letter issued on Tuesday, which was sent to all members of the European Union, Brazil, South Africa, and India, as well as to all UN Security Council members with the exception of permanent member Australia, which recently stopped referring to east Jerusalem as “occupied” – a move that infuriated Palestinian leadership.

“I am writing on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization and President Mahmud Abbas to request your immediate intervention on behalf of the approximately 130 Palestinian detainees and prisoners currently on hunger strike in Israeli prisons,” Saeb Erakat, head of the Negotiations Division of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and chief negotiator with Israel in the failed peace talks, said in the letter, as quoted by AFP.

“We call on you to call on Israel to annul the policy of administrative detention and to condition deepening your bilateral ties with Israel pending fulfillment of all its obligations,” he continued.

The Israel Prison Service (IPS) said there are 250 inmates refusing food, 90 of whom have refused for over six weeks. Seventy-five of those have been hospitalized. This is the longest ever mass hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, according to IPS spokeswoman Sivan Weizman.

Haaretz reported on Monday that the Israeli Health Ministry is taking a particularly tough stance on the hunger strikers.

Last week, stringent restrictions were placed on visits to the hospitals where strikers are being held. Dozens of requests for visits by Doctors for Human Rights, the strikers’ lawyers, and even their families were rejected.

As many as 5,000 Palestinians are being held in Israeli jails. Nearly 200 of them are in what is known as administrative detention.

Administrative detention is the process where military courts can hold suspects without charge for up to six months – a period which can also be renewed indefinitely. The procedure – which is reminiscent to the way inmates are held at Guantanamo Bay – dates back to the pre-1948 British mandate.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for the striking prisoners to either be charged or released immediately.

But in Israel, a bill is working its way through the legislature to enable doctors to force-feed hunger strikers against their will – just like what happened at Guantanamo Bay last year during a hunger strike which lasted several months.

The Israeli parliament Monday approved the bill for its first reading, but it still has to go through a series of debates at the committee stage and two further plenum votes before it can become law.

The draft law is already kicking up a lot of opposition – not only among Arab, liberal, and left-wing lawmakers, but from the Israel Medical Association (IMA), which has already urged Justice Minister Tzipi Livni to block it.

The association warned in a letter to him that the bill is “in total contradiction to internationally accepted medical ethics,” as well as Israel’s medical code.

It added that “we can’t accept a law that places doctors in a battle they should have no part of, in total contrast to their professional and ethical duties.”

“The proposed law is wrong ethically and professionally, it won’t only damage the patients and their medical condition, but also Israel’s world standing,” said the letter. The document was signed by Doctor Leonid Edelman, head of the IMA, and Professor Avionam Reches, chairman of the association's ethics bureau.

READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/zgp73j

OBAMA memetik program SENJATA Rampasan AUSTRALIA Sebagai Contoh bagi Amerika Syarikat . . .

U.S. President Barack Obama (Reuters/Pascal Rossignol)

Srikandi גבורה - Pentadbiran Obama mungkin mencari contoh di Australia sebagai White House menganggap undang-undang senjata api potensi baru bagi Amerika Syarikat di tengah yang terbaru dalam siri tembakan di sekolah yang dahsyat.

Presiden Amerika Syarikat, Barack Obama dinamakan peraturan senjata di bawah Amerika di bawah sekutu dalam ucapan yang disiarkan di web pada petang Selasa beberapa jam sahaja selepas lelaki bersenjata yang memasuki sekolah yang tinggi berhampiran Portland, Oregon dan melepaskan tembakan, membunuh pelajar.

"Kekecewaan terbesar saya setakat ini adalah hakikat bahawa masyarakat ini belum bersedia untuk mengambil beberapa langkah-langkah asas untuk menjaga senapang daripada tangan orang - orang yang boleh melakukan kerosakan hanya sukar dipercayai.

Kami satu-satunya negara maju di bumi di mana ini berlaku. Dan ia berlaku kini sekali seminggu. Dan ia adalah satu kisah satu hari. Tidak ada tempat lain seperti ini, "kata Presiden.

"Beberapa dekad yang lalu Australia mempunyai menembak massa sama dengan Columbine atau Newtown, dan Australia hanya berkata, 'Nah, itu sahaja. Kami tidak lakukan - kita tidak melihat itu lagi, 'dan pada dasarnya yang dikenakan sangat teruk, undang-undang senjata api sukar, dan sejak mereka tdk mempunyai massa menembak.

Maksud saya, tahap keganasan senjata kami berada di luar carta. Tidak ada maju, negara maju yang lain di bumi yang akan bersabar dengan ini, "tambah Obama.

Presiden itu mungkin merujuk kepada mengamuk 1996 berhampiran penjara koloni Port Arthur di tenggara Tasmania, Australia di mana Martin Bryant, 28, membunuh 35 orang dan mencederakan 23 yang lain dalam satu jam panjang menembak pembeli.

Setelah sokongan yang amat menggalakkan daripada penduduk Australia, 1996 National Perjanjian Senjata Api telah diluluskan tidak lama kemudian, seterusnya meng-haramkan panjang berlaras senapang separa automatik dan mewujudkan tem-poh menunggu 28 hari untuk pembelian senjata api.

Kerajaan juga memulakan program pembelian balik wajib besar-besaran yang dila-porkan telah dipotong 2 bilangan pistol-memiliki isi rumah.

Ke atas 95 % peratus daripada warga Australia ditinjau selepas pembunuhan beramai-ramai Port Arthur berkata mereka menggemari undang-undang senjata api yang lebih ketat seperti ini, dan tembakan massa telah tidak berlaku di benua dalam hampir sejak 2 dekad.

OBAMA Cites Australia’s gun Confiscation program 

As Example for US . . .

The Obama administration may be looking for an example in Australia as the White House considers potential new firearm laws for the United States in the wake of the latest in a series of devastating school shootings.

US President Barack Obama cited gun rules in America’s down under ally during remarks that were broadcast on the web Tuesday afternoon only hours after a gunman entered a high school near Portland, Oregon and opened fire, killing a student.

“My biggest frustration so far is the fact that this society has not been willing to take some basic steps to keep guns out of the hands of people who can do just unbelievable damage. We’re the only developed country on earth where this happens. And it happens now once a week. And it’s a one-day story. There’s no place else like this,” the president said.

“A couple of decades ago Australia had a mass shooting similar to Columbine or Newtown, and Australia just said, ‘Well, that’s it. We’re not doing - we’re not seeing that again,’ and basically imposed very severe, tough gun laws, and they haven’t had a mass shooting since.

I mean, our levels of gun violence are off the charts. There’s no other advanced, developed country on earth that would put up with this,” Obama added.

The president was likely referring to a 1996 rampage near the Port Arthur prison colony in south-eastern Tasmania, Australia in which Martin Bryant, 28, killed 35 people and wounded 23 others during an hours-long shooting spree. Upon the overwhelming support of the Australia population, the 1996 National Firearms Agreement was passed soon after, in turn outlawing long-barreled semi-automatic guns and establishing a 28-day wait period for firearm purchases.

The government also began a massive mandatory buyback program that is reported to have cut in half the number of gun-owning households.

Upwards of 95 percent of Australians polled after the Port Arthur massacre said they favored more stringent gun laws like these, and mass shootings have not occurred in the continent in the nearly two decades since.

Kawan-kawan, keluarga dan juga mengambil berat memegang lilin untuk Emilio Hoffman, mangsa menembak sekolah hari ini dalam satu perhimpunan nyalaan pada 10 Jun 2014 di Troutdale, Oregon (Friends, family and well-wishers hold candles for Emilio Hoffman, the victim of today's school shooting at a vigil on June 10, 2014 in Troutdale, Oregon (Natalie Behring/Getty Images/AFP)

"Secara keseluruhannya, senjata api dan senjata api pembunuhan kadar bunuh diri telah tren semakin ke bawah melalui tahun 1980-an dan awal 1990-an, tetapi kejatuhan dipercepatkan selepas pembelian balik itu.

Menganalisis variasi dalam jumlah senjata bertukar dalam untuk pembelian balik antara negara, kita sekali lagi mendapati keputusan yang sama: di negeri-negeri di mana lebih senjata api telah dibeli semula, terdapat penurunan yang lebih besar dalam kematian senjata api, "Andrew Leigh, jurucakap perbendaharaan Pembantu untuk Buruh Pembangkang di Australia, menulis dalam sebuah ‘op-ed’ untuk majalah Time diterbitkan lebih awal ini bulan lebih awal daripada menembak Selasa di Troutdale, Oregon.

"Pada dekad dan setengah sejak pistol pembelian balik Australia, bilangan senjata api bagi setiap orang telah tinggal tetap, dan kematian senjata kekal bersyukur rendah."

Jika program pembelian balik dan pengenalan undang-undang baru telah dianggap di Amerika Syarikat, yang sama menjejaskan dilihat di Australia bermakna bahawa seramai 40 juta senjata api akan dibawa pergi.

Walau bagaimanapun, sokongan orang ramai di negeri-negeri adalah jauh daripada apa yang jelas dalam jawatan-Port Arthur pembunuhan beramai-ramai Australia.

Selepas 2 dozen orang dibiarkan mati pada akhir 2012 apabila menembak massa berlaku di sebuah sekolah tinggi di Newtown, Connecticut, hanya 52 % peratus dari-pada rakyat Amerika yang dikaji selidik oleh Washington Post dan ABC News berkata mereka menggemari undang-undang senjata api baru yang ketat. Setahun kemudian, mereka mahu reformasi sekali lagi dalam minoriti.

Pada hari Selasa, White House timbalan prinsipal setiausaha akhbar Josh Earnest memberitahu pemberita bahawa "Matlamat Presiden adalah untuk mencari peluang untuk bertindak secara pentadbiran, secara unilateral menggunakan kuasa eksekutif untuk cuba untuk membuat masyarakat kita lebih selamat."

Pentadbiran mengatakan hurtles, bagaimanapun, hasil daripada telah penggubal undang2 yang mahu sedikit untuk apa-apa kaitan dengan usaha White House.

"Kami sentiasa mencari peluang-peluang," tambah Earnest. "Tetapi tidak seorang pun daripada peluang-peluang apabila mereka hadir diri mereka akan menjadi pengganti yang boleh diterima untuk tindakan perundangan yang teguh."

"Jika pendapat awam tidak menuntut perubahan di Kongres, ia tidak akan berubah," Pres. Obama berkata semasa sesi soal jawab pada hari Selasa yang dihoskan oleh laman web Tumblr itu. "Kami tidak mempunyai alat yang cukup sekarang untuk membuat sebesar penyok seperti yang kita perlu."

"Soalan saya rasa benar-benar menghadapi ahli parlimen sekarang adalah apa langkah-langkah akal Demokrat dan Republikan boleh diambil untuk mengurangkan kemungkinan keganasan senjata," tambah Earnest.

"Dan ada yang beberapa, dan mereka malangnya telah ‘bottled up’ sehingga di Kongres dan itu adalah kekecewaan kepada Presiden. Tetapi itu tidak akan menghalang presiden daripada terus menolak untuk langkah-langkah pentadbiran yang boleh kita ambil untuk membantu mengurangkan keganasan senjata."

“Overall, the firearms homicide and firearms suicide rates had been trending steadily downwards through the 1980s and early 1990s, but the fall accelerated after the buyback.

Analyzing variations in the amount of guns turned in for buyback between states, we again found the same result: in states where more firearms were bought back, there was a bigger drop in gun deaths,” Andrew Leigh, the assistant treasury spokesperson for the Labor Opposition in Australia, wrote in an op-ed for Time magazine published earlier this month - ahead of Tuesday’s shooting in Troutdale, Oregon.

“In the decade and a half since the Australian gun buyback, the number of firearms per person has stayed constant, and gun deaths have remained thankfully low.”

If a buyback program and the introduction of new laws were considered in the US, the same affect seen in Australia would mean that as many as 40 million firearms would be taken away.

Nevertheless, public support in the states is far from what was evident in post-Port Arthur massacre Australia. After two-dozen people were left dead in late 2012 when a mass shooting occurred at a high school in Newtown, Connecticut, only 52 percent of Americans surveyed by the Washington Post and ABC News said they favored stringent new gun laws. A year later, those wanting reform were once again in the minority.

On Tuesday, White House principal deputy press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that “The president’s goal is to look for opportunities to act administratively, unilaterally using his executive authority to try to make our communities safer.” The administration says hurtles, however, have been the result of lawmakers who want little to nothing to do with the White House’s efforts.

“We’re always looking for those opportunities,” Earnest added. “But none of those opportunities when they present themselves is going to be an acceptable substitute for robust legislative action.”

“If public opinion does not demand change in Congress, it will not change,” Pres. Obama said during Tuesday’s question-and-answer session hosted by the website Tumblr. “We don’t have enough tools right now to make as big a dent as we need to.”

“The question I think really facing lawmakers right now is what common sense steps can Democrats and Republicans take to reduce the likelihood of gun violence,” added Earnest.

“And there are some, and they have unfortunately been bottled up in Congress and that is a disappointment to the president. But that’s not going to stop the president from continuing to push for administrative steps that we can take to help reduce gun violence.”

READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/z8yhsc

KEMPEN KIEV Berdarah Ukraine TIMUR Terkini LIVE . . .

AFP Photo/Andrey Krasnoschekov

Srikandi גבורה - Presiden Ukraine Petro Poroshenko menggesa pejuang untuk mele-takkan senjata mereka sebagai krisis mendalami, dengan berpuluh-puluh mati, beratus-ratus cedera dan puluhan ribu pelarian. Dalam beberapa hari lepas, 20,000 orang telah melintasi sempadan ke Rusia.

RABU, 11 Jun

17:33 GMT:

Sejak awal bulan April, 270 orang terbunuh dan 713 yang lain telah cedera dalam tindakan keras tentera Kiev di timur Ukraine, menurut pegawai-pegawai kesihatan.

"225 orang telah mati di rantau Donetsk, 576 orang telah mendapatkan rawatan untuk luka-luka di hospital, pada masa ini 150 orang dimasukkan ke hospital. Sejak awal kebuntuan 45 orang telah mati di rantau Lugansk, dalam semua 137 orang yang tercedera, "kata kenyataan itu di Kementerian Ukraine laman web Kesihatan berbunyi.

Angka-angka ini baru telah disemak semula, menurut kementerian itu.

15:39 GMT:

Wartawan Rusia pelaporan bagi Saluran 1 datang di bawah tembakan dari tangki di Kampung Semyonovka berhampiran Slavyansk, timur Ukraine, kata satu kenyataan di laman web channel.

"Hari ini, 1crew Channel kini bekerja di kampung Semyonovka itu datang di bawah api di Wilayah Donetsk. Ini, sebagaimana yang mereka katakan, adalah kelebihan barisan hadapan daripada pertahanan Slavyansk."

Kenyataan itu berbunyi bahawa bangunan di Semyonovka telah dikupas dari kereta perisai. Para wartawan mengambil temu bual dengan tentera mempertahankan diri "dari barisan hadapan" apabila "serangan baru" bermula. Bilangan yang cedera adalah tidak jelas.

10:11 GMT:

Kementerian Kesihatan Awam Ukraine telah mengeluarkan data terkini mengenai mangsa "operasi kaunter-pengganas" di kawasan-kawasan timur negara itu, dilapor-kan RIA Novosti, memetik agensi Ukraine Berita Nasional.

Statistik rasmi mendakwa bahawa 210 orang, antaranya 19 kanak-kanak, meninggal dunia dalam operasi khas oleh kerajaan Ukraine terhadap pemberontak federal dalam Lugansk dan Donetsk Kawasan.

"Lebih 50 orang mati semalam di kedua-dua Donetsk dan Kawasan Lugansk," kata Menteri Kesihatan Oleg Musiy. Menteri itu terutamanya menegaskan bahawa data beliau adalah berdasarkan semata-mata kepada statistik dari hospital dan rumah mayat.

Menteri itu juga tidak menyebut sama ada statistik merangkumi kerugian awam dan tentera.

07:32 GMT:

PaulaSlier_RT@PaulaSlier_RT

# Sumber Ukraine mengatakan lapangan terbang # Lugansk dikawal sepenuhnya oleh tentera Ukraine # dan anti-Kerajaan angkatan berbohong bahawa mereka telah mengambil ianya (#Ukrainian sources say #Lugansk airport is fully controlled by the #Ukrainian army and anti-govt forces are lying that they have taken it)

2:35 PM - 11 Jun 2014

01:45 GMT:

Kawasan Rusia bersempadan Ukraine berjaya mengendalikan aliran pelarian yang datang dari timur Ukraine, wakil rantau Kursk Rusia Valeriy Ryazan memberitahu RIA Novosti. Kebanyakan pelarian dari Lugansk dan Donetsk wilayah sedang dipengaruhi oleh rakan-rakan dan saudara-mara di sisi lain sempadan.

Pelarian ibu Ukraine mencium anaknya di sebuah tadika di bandar selatan Rusia ‘Rostov-on-Don’ pada 4 Jun 2014 (A Ukrainian refugee mother kisses her son in a kindergarten in the Russian southern city Rostov-on-Don on June 4, 2014 (AFP Photo/Andrey Kronberg)

01:05 GMT:

Setiausaha Agung Pertubuhan bagi Keselamatan dan Kerjasama di Eropah (OSCE), Lamberto Zannier, akan pergi ke bandar Rusia Rostov-on-Don pada Rabu, di mana beliau akan melawat pelarian dari timur Ukraine. Zannier tiba di Rusia selepas jem-putan dari menteri luar negara, Sergey Lavrov, dan juga akan melawat pentadbiran kerajaan tempatan.

Selasa 10 jun

17:48 GMT:

Menembak meletus di bandar Donetsk Wilayah Artyomovsk akibat rundingan gagal antara kuasa-kuasa diri dan tentera Ukraine, RIA Novosti melaporkan.

"Dalam Artyomovsk, ahli-ahli tentera Republik Rakyat Donetsk itu cuba mengadakan rundingan dengan komander yang [Ukraine] unit kereta kebal. Semasa rundingan, menembak bermula, menyebabkan kematian dan kecederaan, "menurut satu kenyataan daripada republik mengisytiharkan diri membaca.

16:47 GMT:

Rostov Wilayah Rusia akan menghabiskan 350 juta Rubles (US $ 8.720.000) bagi menampung dan membantu pelarian dari timur Ukraine, RIA Novosti melaporkan. Terdapat peningkatan mendadak dalam bilangan Ukraine mencari perlindungan di Rostov kerana operasi ketenteraan yang dipergiatkan oleh tentera Kiev.

14:38 GMT:

Diplomat atas Jabatan Negara Amerika Syarikat bagi Eropah, Victoria Nuland, telah bertemu dengan Vitaly Klitschko, Datuk Bandar yang baru dipilih Kiev, di ibu negara Ukraine.

Sebuah video yang dikeluarkan oleh pihak UDAR Klitschko menunjukkan Nuland memeluk Klitschko ucapan tahniah dengan perlantikan beliau. Kedua-dua kemudian berjalan di sepanjang jalan pusat Institutskaya, di mana kira-kira 100 orang ditembak mati atau cedera parah oleh penembak tepat yang tidak dikenali pada Februari.

Terdahulu pada bulan Februari, perbualan telefon bocor dari Nuland dan Duta Amerika Syarikat ke Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt mendedahkan bahawa pegawai Jabatan Negara menentang Klitschko memainkan peranan dalam kerajaan Ukraine.

"Saya tidak fikir bahawa Klitschko perlu pergi ke dalam kerajaan. Saya tidak fikir adalah perlu. Saya tidak fikir ia adalah idea yang baik, "didakwa berkata Nuland. Klitschko kemudian berhenti perlumbaan presiden memihak kepada Petro Poroshenko, dan sebaliknya membuat keputusan untuk bertanding dalam pilihan raya mayoral Kiev.

13:32 GMT:

Ukraine yang baru dipilih Presiden Petro Poroshenko telah melantik orang berkuasa Boris Lozhkin, pengasas dan pemegang saham utama kumpulan United Media Holding, sebagai ketua pentadbiran beliau. Poroshenko juga memilih sauh TV dari Channel Ukraine 5, yang dia masih mengawal, sebagai setiausaha akhbarnya.

13:21 GMT:

Tiada penyelesaian politik untuk krisis Ukraine di sisi, tetapi de-balas ‘de-escalation’ adalah mungkin kerana jika langkah-langkah yang diambil oleh pihak, Menteri Luar Jerman Frank-Walter Steinmeier berkata pada mesyuarat 3 hala dengan rakan sejawatannya Rusia dan Jerman di St Petersburg .

"Kami tidak menghadapi penyelesaian politik konflik, tetapi kami kini dalam keadaan, yang membolehkan untuk de-balas ‘de-escalation’, dan kita perlu menggunakan masa yang positif ini sekarang," kata Steinmeier dan menambah bahawa dialog kebangsaan mesti "memastikan "dan" tidak akan terjejas "di Ukraine.

Menteri Luar Rusia Sergei Lavrov (dariTengah), rakan Jermannya Frank-Walter Steinmeier (dariKiri) dan rakan sejawatannya dari Poland Radoslaw Sikorski mereka mengadakan perbincangan di St Petersburg, pada 10 Jun 2014 (Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (C), his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier (L) and their Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski hold talks in St. Petersburg, on June 10, 2014 (AFP Photo/Olga Maltseva)

Kiev's bloody eastern Ukraine campaign LIVE UPDATES

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called on fighters to lay down their arms as the crisis deepens, with dozens dead, hundreds wounded and tens of thousands of refugees. In the last few days, 20,000 people have crossed the border into Russia.

Wednesday, June 11

17:33 GMT:

Since the beginning of April, 270 people have died and 713 others have been injured in Kiev's military crackdown in eastern Ukraine, according to health officials.

“225 people have died in Donetsk region, 576 people have asked for treatment for wounds in hospital, currently 150 people are hospitalized. Since the beginning of the standoff 45 people have died in Lugansk region, in all 137 people were injured,” the statement on Ukraine’s Ministry of Health website reads.

These new figures have been revised, according to the ministry.

15:39 GMT:

Russian journalists reporting for Channel 1 came under fire from tanks in the village of Semyonovka near Slavyansk, eastern Ukraine, said a statement on the channel’s website.

"Today, a Channel 1crew currently working in the village Semyonovka came under fire in the Donetsk Region. This, as they say, is the vanguard edge of Slavyansk defense."

The statement reads that the buildings in Semyonovka were shelled from armored vehicles. The journalists were taking an interview with the self-defense troops “from the front lines” when the “new shelling” began. The number of injured is unclear.

10:11 GMT:

The Public Health Ministry of Ukraine has released the latest data on victims of the “counter-terrorist operation” in eastern regions of the country, reported RIA Novosti, quoting the Ukraine National News agency.

Official statistics claim that 210 people, among them 19 children, died in the special operation by the Ukrainian government against the federalist insurgents in the Lugansk and Donetsk Regions.

“Over 50 people died yesterday in both the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions,” stated Health Minister Oleg Musiy. The minister particularly stressed that his data is based solely on statistics from hospitals and morgues.

The minister also did not mention whether the stats include both civilian and military losses.

07:32 GMT:

PaulaSlier_RT@PaulaSlier_RT

#Ukrainian sources say #Lugansk airport is fully controlled by the #Ukrainian army and anti-govt forces are lying that they have taken it

2:35 PM - 11 Jun 2014

01:45 GMT:

Russian regions bordering Ukraine are successfully handling the flow of refugees coming in from eastern Ukraine, representative of Russia’s Kursk region Valeriy Ryazan told RIA Novosti. Most of the refugees from Lugansk and Donetsk regions are being taken in by friends and relatives on the other side of the border.

01:05 GMT:

The secretary general of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Lamberto Zannier, will travel to the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Wednesday, where he will visit refugees from eastern Ukraine. Zannier is arriving in Russia after an invitation from the country’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, and will also visit the local government administration.

Tuesday, June 10

17:48 GMT:

Shooting broke out in the Donetsk Region city of Artyomovsk as a result of failed talks between the self-defense forces and the Ukrainian troops, RIA Novosti reports.

“In Artyomovsk, armed members of the Donetsk People’s Republic attempted to hold negotiations with a commander of a [Ukrainian] tank unit. During the talks, the shooting started, resulting in fatalities and injuries,” a statement from the self-proclaimed republic reads.

16:47 GMT:

Russia’s Rostov Region will spend some 350 million rubles (US$8.72 million) to accommodate and aid refugees from eastern Ukraine, RIA Novosti reports. There has been a sharp increase in the number of Ukrainians seeking refuge in Rostov due to the intensified military operation by Kiev's military.

14:38 GMT:

The US State Department’s top diplomat for Europe, Victoria Nuland, has met with Vitaly Klitschko, the newly-elected Mayor of Kiev, in the Ukrainian capital.

A video released by Klitschko’s UDAR party shows Nuland hugging Klitschko, congratulating him on his appointment. The two then walk along the central Institutskaya Street, where about 100 people were shot dead or fatally injured by unidentified snipers in February.

Earlier in February, a leaked phone conversation of Nuland and US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt revealed that the State Department official was against Klitschko playing a part in the Ukrainian government.

“I don’t think that Klitschko should go into the government. I don’t think it is necessary. I don’t think it is a good idea,” Nuland allegedly said. Klitschko later quit the presidential race in favor of Petro Poroshenko, and instead decided to run in the Kiev mayoral election.

13:32 GMT:

Ukraine’s freshly-elected President Petro Poroshenko has appointed oligarch Boris Lozhkin, founder and principal shareholder of United Media Holding group, as the head of his administration. Poroshenko also picked a TV anchor from Ukraine’s Channel 5, which he still controls, as his press secretary.

13:21 GMT:

There is no political solution to the Ukrainian crisis in sight, but the de-escalation is possible if due steps are taken by its sides, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at a trilateral meeting with his Russian and German counterparts in St. Petersburg.

“We do not face a political solution of the conflict, but we are now in the situation, which allows for the de-escalation, and we need to use this positive moment now,” Steinmeier said, adding that a national dialogue must be “ensured” and “not be derailed” in Ukraine.

READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/1q9y34