While being bloodily engaged in other countries’ affairs, the hypocrisy of the United States looms ever larger over Russia’s protection of its own interests, doing away with their own morality twisting, and continuing on with a single-sided war of words against Moscow’s legitimate foreign policy.
Not that its mainstream media is to blame for sensationalizing and sugar-coating what in all practical terms is the overthrow of an elected leader by ultra-violent forces in Ukraine, this double standard is a favorite theme of America: from incompetently-informed field reporters (or propagandists?) hailing their news channel’s merit in a world of ever-divided opinion and activism, to its lunatic politicians struggling for relevance (McCain) and consistency (Obama, Kerry).
Never mind the political stunts of American politicians against their own president in the midst of an international crisis, there is a united front against anything about Russia in Ukraine–they just all come in different sour-tasting flavor.
The relentless bad mouthing has been around since the very beginning of the Ukraine crisis, a political calamity hailed in the Western media as a second ‘Orange Revolution’ but which today more looks like a confused ‘blue-yellow-white-red’ colors of the combined flags of the European Union and the United States.
How the West describes ‘Democracy’ in Ukraine
Since when did you describe a protest that has been known for not just harming its own police (as opposed to the violent and quick crackdown by American police against Occupy Wall Street protesters) but also destroying government property? Seeing the footage of warzone Kiev and then later listening to Kerry’s empty description of it as ‘standing peacefully against tyranny’ sure makes for an uncomfortable bowel movement. Since when did you call Molotov-throwing a form of peaceful protest?
Global vs. Regional ‘Intervention’
Quickly describing the Russian involvement in Ukraine as “a 19th century act in the 21st century”, Kerry seems to have forgotten that the opening acts of this decade was his country’s involvement in two major conflicts (Afghanistan, Iraq) that so far has set new records in unraveling the American empire. In fact, he was among those in Congress who voted for the baseless intervention in Iraq.
And how to do you reconcile the geographical proximity of Ukraine to Russia and the United States’ proximity to ‘all’ countries of the world, in intervention and ‘legitimate interests’ terms–words that are so favored by America? Does it seem America is a little bit all over the place while Russia’s interest is a little bit just around its borders?
International Law: More about That
It is convenient to cite snippets of violations of ‘international law’ thrown by Obama and Kerry against Putin’s intervention in Ukraine. For one, just in case they skipped that page of international law, Russia and Ukraine has standing, legitimate, and mutually-beneficial military agreement.
To begin with, does the United States even recognize the International Criminal Court? It is a fact that the United States has no obligation and does not recognize the ICC, and obviously its mandates and decisions, such as the imposition of war crimes and crimes against humanity verdicts against individuals and/or countries.
So now we have Obama (a former law professor) who throws his self-righteous punches against Putin’s alleged violation of international law? It is not just a forgivable doubles-standard: Russia has a legitimate military agreement with Ukraine. As RT describes it “especially unwelcome is the fact that the so-called ‘invasion force’ has been there for 15 years already.’ It further adds that the military deal between Ukraine in Russia, ‘was extended by another 25 years to 2042 with a five-year extension option in 2010.’
And what about Obama’s continuous violation of the sovereignty of other countries with his drone army with his targeted killings? How do you then question your rival when you yourself don’t even have the decency to hide your own war crimes, instead bragging that I’m ‘really good at killing people’.
Crimea’s Historical Ties with Russia
The same goes for the skipping of facts to fit the mainstream Western media’s narrative of Russia being the aggressor in the Ukraine crisis. For centuries, Crimea and/or the region south of Ukraine has been part of Russia. Crimea was gifted to Ukraine during the Soviet period, and when the USSR ceased in 1991, Crimea was granted autonomy, even culminating in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in 1999.
Fast forward today, the supposed ‘Russian protest tourists’ in Crimea practiced their very own democratic process by voting, by majority, to make Crimea a part of Russia. Instead of reviewing the facts, the West has started its sanctions against Russia and Crimean citizens ranging from visa-free talks to bank assets freezing.
Crimea’s Prime Minister sums up the situation beautifully: “We live here; we can choose our future on our own – since when is it punishable by sanctions…As soon as the Russians for the first time concentrated on defending their interests – and not just Russians, the Ukrainians living here also, everyone got agitated and started talking sanctions. Do we advise America or Germany how to deal with their autonomous regions and tell people what to do?”
EU Reluctance to Follow Washington’s Sanctions
At least the crisis in Ukraine is not confined there: EU officials up to the highest levels are unsure how to cope with the situation, highlighted perhaps by ambassador Nuland’s ‘Fuck the EU’ comment, referring to Brussel’s apparent reluctance to engage Russia through military and economic sanctions.
The EU division over how to react to Russia’s stance over Ukraine stems from the economic impact it will have on the fragile economic recovery in the continent. Even its closest ally, Great Britain is not supporting, “for now, trade sanctions…or close London’s financial center to Russians.”
As the EU’s manufacturing powerhouse, Germany is not sure, at least ‘for now’ also, on how to sanction Russia. Like other members of the EU, Germany obtains about half its natural gas supplies from Russia. Also, Russia is the EU's third biggest trading partner, only behind the United States and China. And the traded goods and services amount to $500 billion in 2012, not to mention major stakes in Russian companies are held my big multinational corporations in the EU. So a trade sanction hurts the EU more than the US.
Regardless of the outcome, there is confidence in Russia’s ability to weather major crises, and this new low in relations with the West will surely be a test not just for Moscow’s patience, but also the persistence of its enemies.
Next Up: Ukraine’s EU Membership: a pretext to NATO Expansion
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