(Swans - March 24, 2014) He is a tyrant. Hillary Clinton has compared him to Adolph Hitler, no less. Senator "bomb, bomb, bomb" McCain asked for a strong military action, all the while assailing President Obama for his weak response. His puppet, Senator Graham, boarded the bandwagon. Actually, the entire presstitute (a term coined by Gerald Celente) MSM got sanguine. The man was evil. More upsetting were the calls to arm in the Anglosphere -- people talked about a new Cold War; the international community -- read the USA and its European minions -- demonized the Russian leader and depicted him as incoherent, irrational, violent, much too emotional, defiant, etc. There would be a cost to be paid through what else but sanctions.
By now it has become increasingly clear that the Russian intervention was provoked by Western action in the Ukraine. Only fools still believe that a popular revolution took place. It was a coup, organized and supported by the West. The democratically elected president of the country was deposed manu militari, an interim government chosen by the U.S. and then immediately recognized as the legitimate government of the Ukraine. Instead, it's Russia that is portrayed as the aggressor? Ironically, the Russian president noted that [he could not] "recall a single case in history of an intervention without a single shot being fired and with no human casualties." If you believe the Western press and consider Mr. Putin irrational, aggressive, defiant, etc., I highly recommend that you read his speech explaining the action taken by the Russian government (you can read the transcript on The Washington Post Web site.) It's a very coherent speech. Here is an excerpt worthy of your attention:
Like a mirror, the situation in Ukraine reflects what is going on and what has been happening in the world over the past several decades. After the dissolution of bipolarity on the planet, we no longer have stability. Key international institutions are not getting any stronger; on the contrary, in many cases, they are sadly degrading. Our western partners, led by the United States of America, prefer not to be guided by international law in their practical policies, but by the rule of the gun. They have come to believe in their exclusivity and exceptionalism, that they can decide the destinies of the world, that only they can ever be right. They act as they please: here and there, they use force against sovereign states, building coalitions based on the principle "If you are not with us, you are against us." To make this aggression look legitimate, they force the necessary resolutions from international organizations, and if for some reason this does not work, they simply ignore the UN Security Council and the UN overall.
"If you press a spring too hard it will recoil," he also said, which brings me to another worthy recommendation. Read the transcript of his March 4 meeting with Russian media representatives, which the excellent Web site informationclearinghouse.info posted on March 8: "Look, No Teleprompter: Vladimir Putin Talks To Reporters About Ukraine."
Who do you prefer: a coherent, rationale, knowledgeable man, or the Western propaganda narrative? You be the judge.
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union -- thank you Mr. Gorbachev, great accomplishment indeed, sir -- Russia has been humiliated time and again by the West. Yeltsin was overcome by corruption, the new oligarchs, and, one presumes, his naive desire to westernize Russia (another great accomplishment!). For some 25 years the goal of the USA has been to encircle Russia in order to conquer Eurasia, but above all the riches of the great bear (cf. Zbigniew Brzezinski) and to contain the next rival, China.
Recall that Gorbachev agreed to the reunification of East and West Germany on the condition that NATO would not move eastward. The reunification occurred. NATO immediately moved eastward. Contrary to the guarantee made by James Baker to Eduard Shevardnadze in 1990, the U.S. immediately sponsored eleven eastern countries to join NATO, which, it is worth reminding, is an aggressive, anti-Russian military alliance even though the Warsaw pact has long been dissolved. Then NATO (and the U.S., of course) kept moving east, willing to absorb Georgia and the Ukraine into the alliance. However, Vladimir Putin was now in power and Western plans went awry (cf. the 2008 5-day Georgia war -- and now Crimea).
In the 1990s Russia was literally pilfered, bled to death, by Western interests and a few Russian cronies. Putin and his team brought this sleaze to an end in a hurry -- always remaining courteous and diplomatic...but firm and blunt, an attitude that was not particularly appreciated in Washington with its inexperienced presidents (three in a row: Clinton, Bush Jr., and Obama), even though it is believed that might makes right.
The Russians are not idiots. They are fully aware of the overwhelming superiority of the US armed forces, a much bigger GDP, and control of the international financial system. They are playing for time and do everything they can to not be encircled by the most aggressive nation on earth in the last two centuries. They also have been careful and prudent enough not to get involved in Egypt, Iraq, Kosovo, Libya, Pakistan, Serbia, Sudan, Somalia, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Yemen, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, and more. They have tried to play a positive role in Iran, North Korea, and Syria. They do not threaten countries with military interventions or economic sanctions. By the way, were all of these military interventions lawful (according to what international bodies)? Kosovo? Serbia? Afghanistan, Iraq? The assassination of Gaddafi? The drone war in Pakistan, Yemen, Africa? And on, and on, and on...
When is the last time the USA has followed international laws? When is the last time Russia has trumped them?
As the days go by my respect for Mr. Putin only increases further.
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Gilles d'Aymery on Swans -- with bio. He is Swans' publisher and co-editor. (back)