The Ukrainian crisis that I wrote about in early January has
become critical. As I attempt to write
an update to my previous post, events unfold faster than I can research, and
understand, and write.
Here is my first post on the topic: http://dougrobbins.blogspot.com/2014/01/ukraine-nation-on-edge.html
Here is my first post on the topic: http://dougrobbins.blogspot.com/2014/01/ukraine-nation-on-edge.html
Tampering by the United States in Ukrainian politics became
evident in early February in a leaked telephone call between top US diplomats. After increasingly aggressive actions by anti-government
protesters occupying government buildings, the Ukrainian police began to
violently repress the rebellion. About
one hundred Ukrainian civilian protesters died.
In a backlash against the violence, President Yanukovych was deposed by
the Ukrainian parliament, and is wanted on charges of mass murder. He has taken refuge in Russia. The present focus of Russian resistance to
the coup is in Crimea, the idyllic resort peninsula on the Black Sea. Crimea, with historic allegiance to Russia
and a majority Russian population, will soon become a break-away province,
further dividing Ukraine and intensifying the conflict. Vladimir Putin has now requested and received
approval from the Russian Duma for a military intervention in Ukraine.
--
There is an old Russian joke that
features President G.W. Bush, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. (Russians considered President Bush and Secretary Rice intrinsically funny.) Bush calls the Secretary of State, and with
despair in his voice, asks her if there exists any country in the world where
life is peaceful, where things work, where society is good. Secretary Rice responds, “Yes, Mr. President,
I’m sorry, but we’re working on that.”
Indeed, Condoleezza Rice was one of the architects of
neoconservative foreign policy during the Bush era. Neoconservative foreign policy is based on
“assertive” promotion of democracy through military or political intervention
in other countries, American “exceptionalism” (egotism, as political philosophy) and
American nationalism.
Following President Bush, President Obama kept much of the
neo-conservative structure in the U.S. State Department. One of those holdovers from the Bush
Administration is Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European
Affairs, and wife of prominent neoconservative theorist Robert Kagan. A phone call from Nuland to Ukraine
Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt on an unsecured cell phone was intercepted and placed
on YouTube. The call reveals Nuland
expressing preferences about which leaders among the Ukrainian opposition
should take power in a new government, and reveals Nuland’s disdain for the
European Union, for its careful and diplomatic approach to the Ukraine
crisis.
The text of Nuland’s conversation is appalling (see first
link below). Nuland and Pyatt discuss
who should be included and who should be excluded in a new government of
Ukraine, In their conversation, they plan to call leaders of the Ukrainian
opposition to settle the leadership of a new government.
I would like to note that this is not democracy.
The details of US support for the Ukrainian opposition are
unclear, but it appears that there has been significant effort in promoting
this coup. Victoria Nuland was
conspicuous in Kiev during December, handing sandwiches to protestors in Kiev. Russia has claimed that the US has spent $20
million per week in support of Ukrainian opposition. The American Ron Paul Institute says that
Nuland herself claimed spending of $5 billion over two decades for Ukrainian
democratization.
Democracy does not grow out of chaos. America’s neoconservative diplomats have
promoted exactly the opposite of what they claim to espouse. What were they thinking?
In a democratic Ukraine, voters elected president
Yanukovych. If they disapproved of his
decision to revoke the trade agreement with the European Union, they should wait
until the end of his term, and elect a new president. Shutting down the government through massive
protests, occupying government buildings, and a government coup are not the
process of democracy! By inciting
such actions, America and its diplomats carry significant blame for the horror
that follows. To me, America's involvement in this misery is shameful.
At this point, I do not believe that Ukraine can continue as a united country. Crimea, and parts of Eastern Ukraine will most likely be returned to Russia. Civil unrest, civilian deaths, and economic hardship will follow for all parts of Ukraine for a long time to come. Ukraine could have become a bridge between the West and Russia. Instead, it has become a battleground.
In Syria, in Egypt, and now in Ukraine, the neoconservative
vision of foreign policy has led to chaos and destruction that will last for
decades. When will America learn to keep
its place in the world, and allow other countries and cultures to find their
way to democracy through self-determination and peace?
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Text of the conversation between Victoria Nuland and Geoffrey Pyatt can
be found here:
