Versions of this story have dominated Western media coverage of the Ukraine crisis for the better part of the past week. Tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of troops, miles long tank convoys, all ready to swoop in on Ukraine whenever the whim seizes the unpredictable megalomaniac Putin.
Jim Maceda has a story at NBC that is a radical departure from the standard coverage of this story. He did something quite rare for a reporter in the Big Media arena; went to have a look for himself instead of regurgitating the standard talking points of dubious provenance. Over four days and a thousand miles of Russia-Ukraine border this past week, he saw no sign of a military build-up.
The usual anti-Putin hysteria, whipped up by the likes of Canada's big-talking lightweight duo of FM Baird and PM Harper, would have us believe that Putin is hell-bent on re-establishing the Soviet empire. This is not a point of view conducive to acknowledging that Russia has legitimate security interests in its own neighbourhood. It's also a perspective that requires near-total amnesia about the carnage that the Nations of Virtue have wrought in nations nowhere near their neighbourhoods over the past twenty years; Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, to name just a few.
It takes a powerful dose of self-deception indeed to imagine that the West holds the moral high ground in this discussion.
Showing posts with label Russia Crimea invasion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russia Crimea invasion. Show all posts
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Why nobody's going to war over Ukraine
Short answer; because everybody's done their due diligence and decided it's simply not worth it.
That didn't stop a parade of neo-cons from making fools of themselves on the American Sunday morning news shows, but contrary to their alarmist exhortations none of them seriously believe that the events of the past few weeks are the first step of Putin's push to rebuild the Soviet empire.
Putin did what was entirely predictable; he has secured a perimeter around some real estate that is strategicallly important to Russia. As the leader of Russia, that was the only responsible course of action open to him.
All the claptrap about "violations of sovereignty" is not to be taken seriously, especially when it comes from US politicians, who historically have shown far less respect for the sovereignty of others than virtually any other nation on earth, a record that goes back well over a hundred years.
If Yanukovich had been something other than an incompetent dolt, he would have taken strong measures when the Nuland-Pyatt recording came to light. When you are the legitimate head of state and foreign diplomats are caught out planning your removal, there can be only one response.
The Americans should have been sent packing immediately. Instead, Yanukovich did nothing, sending the US the message that he was more concerned with preserving his own hide and his ill-got wealth than he was with leading his nation.
Thus emboldened, the string-pullers in Washington continued to ramp up the pressure, goading their "democracy activists" to ever more egregious acts of lawlessness, a process that has ended quite predictably in the current impasse.
Crimea has been returned to its historical status as an outpost of Russia. The rest of Ukraine is an economic basket case that neither the EU or Russia are particularly interested in nursing back to some semblance of health.
Nor is America. Sure, Ukraine is a great piece of the geo-strategic puzzle, and parking a few missle installations around the country would be a great anti-Russian statement.
But Putin has long seen such gestures for what they are; empty sabre-rattling.
So regardless of the blowhard rhetoric of people like Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird and his French counterpart, what's done is done.
No serious person believes there will be a war over Ukraine.
That didn't stop a parade of neo-cons from making fools of themselves on the American Sunday morning news shows, but contrary to their alarmist exhortations none of them seriously believe that the events of the past few weeks are the first step of Putin's push to rebuild the Soviet empire.
Putin did what was entirely predictable; he has secured a perimeter around some real estate that is strategicallly important to Russia. As the leader of Russia, that was the only responsible course of action open to him.
All the claptrap about "violations of sovereignty" is not to be taken seriously, especially when it comes from US politicians, who historically have shown far less respect for the sovereignty of others than virtually any other nation on earth, a record that goes back well over a hundred years.
If Yanukovich had been something other than an incompetent dolt, he would have taken strong measures when the Nuland-Pyatt recording came to light. When you are the legitimate head of state and foreign diplomats are caught out planning your removal, there can be only one response.
The Americans should have been sent packing immediately. Instead, Yanukovich did nothing, sending the US the message that he was more concerned with preserving his own hide and his ill-got wealth than he was with leading his nation.
Thus emboldened, the string-pullers in Washington continued to ramp up the pressure, goading their "democracy activists" to ever more egregious acts of lawlessness, a process that has ended quite predictably in the current impasse.
Crimea has been returned to its historical status as an outpost of Russia. The rest of Ukraine is an economic basket case that neither the EU or Russia are particularly interested in nursing back to some semblance of health.
Nor is America. Sure, Ukraine is a great piece of the geo-strategic puzzle, and parking a few missle installations around the country would be a great anti-Russian statement.
But Putin has long seen such gestures for what they are; empty sabre-rattling.
So regardless of the blowhard rhetoric of people like Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird and his French counterpart, what's done is done.
No serious person believes there will be a war over Ukraine.
Top Putin-haters hyperventilate across Sunday morning talk shows
America's top finger-waggers and table-thumpers were busy wagging and thumping their way across the full CBS/ABC/CNN/FOX spectrum this morning.
Albright, Brzezinski, Kerry, Rubio etc etc .....
The only dissenting voice in the torrent of Russophobia was a brief spot given to Professor Stephen Cohen of Princeton, whom the network bookers must have gotten confused with the more famous Steve Cohen of Connecticut.
The most hilarious quote of the day comes from John Kerry; "Russia is behaving in a 19th century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped up pretexts."
Golly! America hasn't behaved in such a fashion since... since the 21st century!
There is of course only one reason the American Empire crowd hates Putin. After the demise of the USSR it looked like we were on the cusp of a new thousand year Reich that would revolve around the American sun. It was the end of history as we knew it.
More than any other individual, it has been Vladimir Putin who has ruined the party, something the American Plutocracy and their allies can never forgive.
And something the rest of the planet should be grateful for.
Albright, Brzezinski, Kerry, Rubio etc etc .....
The only dissenting voice in the torrent of Russophobia was a brief spot given to Professor Stephen Cohen of Princeton, whom the network bookers must have gotten confused with the more famous Steve Cohen of Connecticut.
The most hilarious quote of the day comes from John Kerry; "Russia is behaving in a 19th century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped up pretexts."
Golly! America hasn't behaved in such a fashion since... since the 21st century!
There is of course only one reason the American Empire crowd hates Putin. After the demise of the USSR it looked like we were on the cusp of a new thousand year Reich that would revolve around the American sun. It was the end of history as we knew it.
More than any other individual, it has been Vladimir Putin who has ruined the party, something the American Plutocracy and their allies can never forgive.
And something the rest of the planet should be grateful for.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Usual American war-mongers having kittens over Ukraine sovereignty and territorial integrity
From Bolton to Krauthammer to McCain the big dogs of American war-mongering are discovering that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of at least one otherwise insignificant Eastern European country are suddenly vital to America's interests in the region.
That would be Ukraine, the country where the National Endowment for Democracy has been busily stirring the pot since independence in 1991.
The astute reader will appreciate that the past twenty years have not been notable for America having the slightest regard for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other nations.
Serbia, Bosnia, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya... American bombs and American bullets wreak havoc wherever the whims of "American interests" may take them, with complete disregard for any notions of sovereignty or territorial integrity.
And to the non-stop cheerleading of Messrs Bolton, Krauthammer, and McCain.
For them this does not of course have anything to do with Ukraine.
This is the get-Putin moment they've been waiting so long for.
The people of Ukraine should think twice before welcoming the support of the war-monger faction in Washington.
Those who have in the past welcomed that support in Bosnia, in Libya, and in Iraq have ended up with a bad case of buyer's remorse.
That would be Ukraine, the country where the National Endowment for Democracy has been busily stirring the pot since independence in 1991.
The astute reader will appreciate that the past twenty years have not been notable for America having the slightest regard for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other nations.
Serbia, Bosnia, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya... American bombs and American bullets wreak havoc wherever the whims of "American interests" may take them, with complete disregard for any notions of sovereignty or territorial integrity.
And to the non-stop cheerleading of Messrs Bolton, Krauthammer, and McCain.
For them this does not of course have anything to do with Ukraine.
This is the get-Putin moment they've been waiting so long for.
The people of Ukraine should think twice before welcoming the support of the war-monger faction in Washington.
Those who have in the past welcomed that support in Bosnia, in Libya, and in Iraq have ended up with a bad case of buyer's remorse.
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