The US loves to support democracy until there is a danger of people voting in the wrong way, so it will condemn any referendum that goes against it policies, foreign policy expert Daniel McAdams told RT.
RT:What are your thoughts on these recent revelations? Why would the government in Kiev involve foreign mercenaries?
Daniel McAdams: Well I think you have a lot of Kiev appointed oligarchs in the east who are very very wealthy and have an interest in trying to quell this unrest. What is interesting about these last two stories we've seen about US involvement is that they both come from major German newspapers. And it makes you wonder whether the Germans are not getting nervous whether the US is pushing this too far.
We saw for example in Bild a story that dozens of CIA officers were involved in helping put down the unrest in the east and now we see this other story in the German paper. So under the surface I think you see a lot of very concerned German people and German businessman from what is happening.
RT:What impact could the presence of these private contractors have on the situation in Ukraine?
DM: Well, I think we've seen a change in the tactics of the...you would not call them military, because every picture that I have seen they look sort of like rag tag militia, very violent...but you see a change in their activities.
They are burning the police stations down. They are shooting… I saw at least three unarmed people shot today, on YouTube. It seems to be that their purpose is to ferment chaos and to destabilize the East. So they are not really about stabilization, but destabilization.
RT:Contractors from Blackwater were accused of atrocities in Iraq. Why would a company with such a track record be invited onto Ukrainian soil?
DM: Well because they are not connected to governments. They don’t feel that they need to abide by international law. They are able to use extreme violence. We all saw what happened in Fallujah. You saw a city decimated by these people. So I think that is when you want to have muscle that is not accountable, that is who you hire.
RT:Let's now talk more about the Western reaction to the developments in Ukraine. We've seen some disturbing images of government troops opening fire at unarmed civilians during the referendum. Are we going to see any condemnation from Western states?
DM: Well as the common practice when the US does not like the vote that is coming up, they already condemned it beforehand.
The State Department issued a press release yesterday saying it condemned this referendum that was being held by “armed separatist groups”. But anyone with internet and a computer can see that the armed organizations are not the people on the streets.
As I have said I have seen at least three people being killed today. These militias were shutting down polling stations and shooting people. I think the US State Department seems to be believing its own propaganda for some reason. It is funny that they did support an armed insurrection in Kiev where there was no election, but you do have a protest in the east, and they are trying to hold an election, and the US condemns it.
The circumstances are not great for the election in the East of course, but they will not get any better for the May 25 presidential race.
RT:The EU and US have said they won't recognize the referendum results. Why does the opinion of all these people not count?
DM: The US loves to support democracy until there is a danger of people voting in the wrong way. Look what we saw in Egypt, not that very long ago. It really is a hypocrisy on the part of the US government. I think it is becoming more and more obvious for the rest of the world. And it is damaging our reputation.
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