With hypocrisy befitting a hyper power, US President Obama expressed “deep concern” over Russia’s decision to send troops into Crimea, calling it a “violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity. . . and breach of international law.”
In a 90-minute conversation described as tense, Obama and
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, exchanged views on the crisis
in Ukraine, where the country’s legitimate leader, Viktor
Yanukovich, was ousted from power by violent street protests.
Obama reportedly warned Putin that Russia’s refusal to order the
Russian soldiers back to their bases would result in the United
States sitting on the sidelines of the upcoming G8 summit in
Sochi, Russia, scheduled for June, as well as “greater
political and economic isolation.”
Putin won parliamentary approval from the Senate over the weekend
to dispatch military forces to the Crimean Peninsula. In
defending his position, Putin drew attention to
“ultra-nationalist elements” working alongside the
opposition, which are being “encouraged by the current
authorities in Kiev.”
The Russian leader emphasized that in the event of further
violence in the eastern regions of Ukraine and Crimea,
"Russia reserves the right to protect its interests and the
Russian-speaking population.”
Although Obama’s talk tough was little more than tossing raw meat
to the hawks in the Republican Party, diseased beyond recognition
by Neo-Con ideology, his comments nevertheless betrayed a
breathless amount of hypocrisy.
After all, Washington wrote the book on violating the territorial
integrity of sovereign states with its 2003 invasion of Iraq,
which was wrongly accused of harboring weapons of mass
destruction. Urgent pleas on the part of UN weapons inspectors,
not to mention worldwide anti-war protests, fell on deaf ears in
Washington as intelligence-challenged leaders dropped smart bombs
on Baghdad.
Blamed on a case of “bad intelligence” – oops! –
hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed over the past
decade, while the country remains a basket case of ongoing
sectarian violence and regular suicide bombings: a phenomenon
completely unknown to Iraqis when the dictator Saddam Hussein was
in charge.
Washington’s war-on-terror train continued chugging along its
iron track, even after the Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama
relieved Bush of his imperial command.
Today, Obama’s “hope and change” campaign promises
notwithstanding, Guantanamo Bay detention facility, which Amnesty
International has dubbed, “the GULAG of our times,”
remains open for business, while Washington’s drone diplomacy
continues to destroy America’s image in faraway places like Yemen
and Pakistan.
But even the US’s closest allies are sick and tired of the
extra-judicial wave of serial killings. Just last month, the
European Parliament voted by a majority of 534 to 49 MEPs to
support a resolution that says “EU member states should
strictly refrain from participating in or facilitating
extrajudicial targeted killings, for instance by sharing relevant
information with countries such as the US."
Finally, during the Libyan civil war of 2011, US-led NATO forces
worked on the side of the rebels, many of whom were known radical
Islamists, to hunt down Muammar Gaddafi. The Libyan leader was
eventually killed at the hands of a lynch mob. So much for
planting the seeds of democracy.
As much as Washington may try to paint Moscow’s actions in Crimea
as some sort of brazen military expedition, Russia’s actions in
Ukraine cannot be placed in the same category as Afghanistan,
Iraq and Libya, for example, where US-led military operations in
those hotspots have led to disastrous outcomes.
Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement that gives Russia’s Black
Sea Fleet basing rights in Crimea until 2042, so to call the
deployment of troops to Ukraine a “Russian invasion” –
as some Western media are branding it - is clearly wide of the
mark. Protecting the lives of Russian citizens at a time when
Kiev is clearly not capable of securing the peace is no invasion.
Russia’s large ethnic community in Crimea has reacted with alarm
to last month’s violent street protests, fueled by a
Western-backed opposition movement made up of an unpredictable
blend of ultra-nationalists and, some believe, even worse.
Uncertainty over the political disposition of the Ukrainian
opposition provoked a warning from Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman, who
last month called on Kiev's Jews to leave the Ukrainian capital
and even the country if possible, Israeli daily Maariv reported.
"I told my congregation to leave the city center or the city
all together and if possible the country too," Rabbi Azman
told Maariv. "I don't want to tempt fate," he added, "but
there are constant warnings concerning intentions to attack
Jewish institutions."
For some readers, all this may sound disturbingly familiar. In
countries where Western governments are working to prop up
opposition movements to advance their geopolitical ambitions –
the spread of NATO forces eastward not least among them – the
world is witnessing the outgrowth of potentially dangerous
political forces.
The heedless rush to play power politics for nothing more than
geopolitical advantage was exemplified by State Department
official Victoria Nuland’s taped conversation with the US
Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, where her colorful choice
of language was not the most shocking thing.
"That would be great I think to help glue this thing and have
the UN glue it and you know, f**k the EU," she said.
"We've got to do something to make it stick together, because
you can be pretty sure that if it does start to gain altitude the
Russians will be working behind the scenes to try to torpedo
it," Pyatt replied.
The most disturbing part of the talk, however, was when Nuland
suggested that Klitschko, the former boxing champ turned leader
of the pro-European ‘Punch’ party, is not destined for a long
political career in Washington’s view.
"I don't think Klitsch should go into the government,"
she reportedly said.
This tendency of Washington playing God in the affairs of
sovereign states, revealed by Nuland's comment, has proven itself
to be a destabilizing factor from Kabul to Kiev.
Robert Bridge is the author of the book, Midnight in the American Empire, which discusses the dangerous consequences of extreme corporate power in the United States. It is available in PDF form here.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.