Alright, Tolstoy...to the Interwebs we go...
"Handed leaflets by who? The city police? Fascist militiamen? Santa Claus? Who is passing these leaflets out? The obvious assumption would be "someone from the provisional government", but this is nowhere stated in the article."
http://nypost.com/2014/04/17/jews-in-ukraine-forced-to-register-with-authorities/
"Masked pro-Russian militants have ordered Jews in an eastern Ukraine city to “register” with authorities, a shocking reminder of the darkest days of the World War II Nazi regime."
So masked pro-Russian militants would be the answer there...and the one I've seen on other sites, so I'm going to say that's the answer? I don't think they called a press conference with name tags and neat placards--somehow that doesn't seem to be the masked militant way.
"Fact #2: No one knows who is passing out these leaflets."
I would again note that it's rather hard to identify masked militants.
If you mean "who" in a broader sense, ie, what group of people, the reports are again pro-Russian militants, and I'd note that in a situation like Ukraine where you have a number of different factions in a fast-acting situation, not only is the precise "who" not always initially easy to pin down but, indeed, that "who" can be rather fluid.
"Pro-Russian militants" are doing different things in different parts of that country right now. It's a fluid situation. What's more, even if it was known by the recipients who the militants were working for or on behalf of--and given the fact we've had suspicions Putin has been fanning the flames there, I see no reason why there shouldn't be suspicion that pro-Russian forces in a pro-Russian section of the country might be working for the pro-Russian government with the instructions to do so without officially coming out and saying they're affiliated with them...as generally you don't want your secret thugs to come out and give a press conference that they're working for you--and even if that group DIDN'T say they were going to do this...
We just saw how well Russia itself kept its word about not annexing Crimea.
Who do you trust more--a pro-Russian provisional government that's just been set up in the region under the shakiest and most tumultuous of circumstances, or a top to bottom list of reputable news sites carrying the story? It's a fair point that they could all be wrong. I'm just asking which you'd trust more--a nascent government that's trying to establish itself and would lose massive amounts of credibility if it was tied to the leaflets, or different cross-referencing journalistic sites?
I know asking to choose between a government or a news outlet as the shadier and less trustworthy is a Sophie's Choice indeed...I mean, we have a strong tradition of trusting NEITHER anymore in America. But if you HAD TO CHOOSE...
Are you prepared to choose pro-Russian forces over journalists?
"Now why would someone go through the trouble of writing a letter like this and putting his name on it if he was just going to deny it?"
Perhaps because, as much as our not trusting the government or media is a tradition here, lying to the media as a member of the government when caught in a potentially-compromising lie is an even longer tradition?
Put your name on it, have masked, anonymous thugs distribute it, and then say "Oh, those are just some masked, anonymous thugs, *I* don't have anything to do with it."
That's really out of the realm of possibility for you? That's not even at all remotely possible, that someone would give an order to people that he could then later disassociate himself from and therefore get the terrorizing effect he wanted on the Jewish community while still retaining the ability to distance himself from the event and deny that he was a part of it in the first place?
"You might say that he denied it once the story went global; that could possibly be true. But if there were an actual plan to register all Jews, there would be other evidence: where are the registration forms?"
Perhaps they are to go to a certain place and register there, hence it would be the pro-Russian forces with the registration forms right now, and not the Jews?
"The clerks at the front counter at city hall had to've known about this; if they weren't taking the registrations, they at least had to've been told who was; any reporter worth his salt would've called them to see what they had to say. I'm certain that was done. So where are their statements? There are only two possible responses: "yes, we were prepared to register Jews", or "no, I have no idea what you're talking about"."
OR there's the third answer...one which is given oh-so-many times...
I think you might have heard it before--
"No comment?"
And let's entertain both sides of this--if they WERE willing to register Jews, then, as already stated, do you think they'd likewise be willing to come out and announce that to the media via low-level clerks in interviews when, as you said, that could create a firestorm and damage the credibility of their little attempt at a government? And if they're NOT actually willing to register Jews, but just want them to shit their pants a little and use this letter more as a threat than an actual call to action, then the clerks very well might not know about this after all, since it'd be more of a threat than an actual bureaucratic procedure.
"Ukrainian and Israeli reporters are either incompetent or deliberately failed to include evidence - or its lack - for this alleged registration program."
Why gee, Tolstoy, you're right, that's a fact and not an OPINION at all...
But why shouldn't you represent your own facts as opinions and biases when that's at least in part what you're alleging this story to be based on?
Why, that'd almost be a hypocritical statement, one you might want to distance yourself from lest it damage your credibility...
"We even have doubts within the Jewish community:
"Olga Reznikova, 32, a Jewish resident of Donetsk, told Ynet she never experienced anti-Semitism in the city until she saw this leaflet. 'We don't know if these notifications were distributed by pro-Russian activists or someone else, but it's serious that it exists,'"
and:
"'Who is behind this is an open question,' Rabbi Pinkhas Vishedski said in the statement""
Because as we all know, two people represent the entire Jewish community!
I'd add that the second statement is only a guy saying he doesn't know who's behind this, not that it's fake.
As for the first one, she seemed to say "it's serious that it exists," so that seems to be rather more...well, fear than doubt?
What's more, while I'm happy she hasn't experienced any Antisemitism, again, given the fact the first synagogue in decades was vandalized in March...and that on one end of this spectrum you have pro-Russian forces and the other end you have groups painting swastikas on doors...
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say Antisemitism in Ukraine is about as dead as racism in America is.
And from the original USA Today article--
"But he said the Russian side has used the specter of anti-Semitism in a cynical manner. Russia and its allies in Ukraine have issued multiple stories about the threat posed to Jews by Ukraine's new pro-Western government in Kiev, Salberg said.
"The message is a message to all the people that is we're going to exert our power over you," he said. "Jews are the default scapegoat throughout history for despots to send a message to the general public: Don't step out of line."
So when you say...
"Even the victims in Donetsk are unconvinced the government is behind this."
Were you just ignoring that part?
"So we have a news story about unknown masked people handing out leaflets demanding that Jews register themselves and their property or face punishment. I have no doubts that this actually happened. The obvious assumption - the assumption which probably 80-90% of the people reading this story, and probably 98% of people who just read the headline - is that the new pro-Russian government is behind it, and men with guns will actually take the Jews away if they don't comply. This is an assumption the article avoids correcting, even though it apparently can find no supporting evidence for it."
Except for all that aforementioned rhetoric and the history of governments in that region both being behind and following through on threats.
Supposition we'd make?
Yes.
Unfounded?
I'd argue not.
And I'm willing to be the people actually affected by this--ie, the Ukrainian Jews--would likewise argue it's not an unfounded fear, either.
"So if the government isn't behind this, who is?"
How did we suddenly decide the government isn't behind it?
At best your argument makes it uncertain as to who's behind it, but may I ask why that uncertainty immediately leads to your excluding the government?
"The problem is it's not hard to print up some leaflets, buy some masks, and pass them out at a synagogue."
Which is why the government would never give masked people leaflets, tell them to pass them out at a synagogue, and then be able to retain a degree of plausible deniability in the eyes of the world by not directly affiliating themselves with those men.
If you are a Jew in Ukraine...do you really want to take the chance that this and the worsening conditions there from both sides of this conflict isn't going to culminate in anything? Do you really want to bet that, in Ukraine of all places, nothing bad is going to happen to Jews as a result of action either from Ukraine's new Far-Right or these pro-Russian forces, be they allied with or splintered off from the actual government there? Is the track record really good enough for Jews in this region of the world where you'd read and see and hear reports like that and want to take your chances there rather than, again, leaving this country while the getting's good for America, Canada, Israel, or other countries that would be willing and able to take in Jewish refugees (and in reality probably provide a better standard of living than Ukraine can give, I might add?)
I'm just saying...in UKRAINE of all places...if you're Jewish...
Do you really want to take the chance and bet that this time it ISN'T a legit threat?
"It could be anyone. It could be kids pulling a prank. It could be neo-Nazis (or whatever the Ukrainian equivalent is), trying to intimidate the Jewish community. It could be someone in the Jewish community themselves, trying to scare Jews into supporting a particular faction. It could be mapleleaf."
Oh, well that's not fair, Tolstoy...
We all know mapleleaf's a classy enough guy that he'd email that stuff to the people instead of making them carry around a leaflet like that.
But you're right, it could be kids...kids that somehow are able to order their very own masked militants around.
The fact of the matter is that this being open-ended does NOT mean "it could be anyone," but rather that it could be a few different people/factions...any of which, could again pose a threat to the Jewish people in Ukraine.
"But my money would be on someone trying to make the pro-Russian faction in the East Ukraine look bad, catch the attention of everyone who remembers the Holocaust, and create support from the world's Jewish community for a struggle they may not feel they have a stake in."
1. They don't have to try to make the pro-Russian forces look bad, and
2. So you have no evidence for THAT supposition...but you're OK backing that one rather than the supposition that either the pro-Russia government or a splinter from that government is behind this?