by Jan Baughman
(Swans - March 10, 2014) You have to take pause and ask yourself, "Why?" and "Really?" when the benevolent United States rushes to the defense of a country on the basis of defending democracy, sends its secretary of state to meet with said country's new leaders to offer moral and financial support, and quickly convenes Congress to find some sort of sanctions to impose on the alleged threat to that budding democracy. Of course, all options are always on the table, including the military one. In the meantime, the mainstream media fails to ask "Why?" or "Really?" and actually investigate the US response; instead, it invariably supplies the People with all the propaganda required to demonize those that the government wishes to suppress, overthrow, destabilize, assassinate, move in on...in the real name of whatever self-interest, be it oil or global domination.
Remember the Donald Rumsfeld memo that preceded 9/11 by a decade and which General Wesley Clark recounted, indicating the neocons' goal "to attack and destroy the governments in seven countries in five years -- we're going to start with Iraq, and then we're going to move to Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran."? And that the neocons "wanted us to destabilize the Middle East, turn it upside down, make it under our control."? Or his 1991 conversation with Paul Wolfowitz, "One thing we did learn [from the Gulf War] is that we can use our military in the region, in the Middle East, and the Soviets won't stop us. . . .And we've got about five or 10 years to clean up those old Soviet regimes -- Syria, Iran, Iraq -- before the next great superpower comes on to challenge us."?
So far, we've made pretty good on that list, thanks to neocons and non-neocons alike, and democracy has yet to take hold -- but the destabilization part has gone swimmingly. Meanwhile, according to University of Illinois Professor Francis Boyle,
And it does appear we are seeing a similar pattern of behavior here on Ukraine: to destabilize Ukraine, promote a crack up, some type of civil war or who knows what. And I guess the theory is, well if NATO-EU can get western Ukraine -- fine! -- they can extend the borders of NATO, the EU that far.
So, it is a very dangerous situation, because, as you know, Ukraine is of utmost strategic significance to Russia. And second, Russia believes that Ukraine is the cradle of its civilization.
As President Obama's (neocon) Assistant Secretary of State Victoria "fuck the EU" Nuland stated in a December 13, 2013, talk (sponsored by Chevron) at the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation Conference, "Since Ukraine's independence in 1991, the United States has supported Ukrainians as they build democratic skills and institutions, as they promote civic participation and good governance, all of which are preconditions for Ukraine to achieve its European aspirations. We've invested over $5 billion to assist Ukraine in these and other goals that will ensure a secure and prosperous and democratic Ukraine." By the way, those $5 billion over 22 years pale in comparison to the $10 billion shale gas exploration deal Shell signed with Ukraine in January 2013, and the $10 billion one it signed with Chevron in November of the same year, both with the vision of improving its economy and decreasing its dependence on foreign (i.e., Russian) oil...
It's still not clear what's happening in Ukraine, who is behind the mayhem, and what will be the outcome. It will take a lot of time and research and access to otherwise classified information to get to the truth -- more time than it's taking to escalate to a potentially catastrophic situation. In the meantime, we should not forget that when the US is so quick to respond to a political situation, there is a very good, strategic, self-interested reason. Before swallowing the party line -- no matter which party spews it -- we should take a step back and ask, "Really? Why?" And respond with, "Not so fast."
If you find Jan Baughman's work valuable, please consider helping us
Legalese
Feel free to insert a link to this work on your Web site or to disseminate its URL on your favorite lists, quoting the first paragraph or providing a summary. However, DO NOT steal, scavenge, or repost this work on the Web or any electronic media. Inlining, mirroring, and framing are expressly prohibited. Pulp re-publishing is welcome -- please contact the publisher. This material is copyrighted, © Jan Baughman 2014. All rights reserved.
Have your say
Do you wish to share your opinion? We invite your comments. E-mail the Editor. Please include your full name, address and phone number (the city, state/country where you reside is paramount information). When/if we publish your opinion we will only include your name, city, state, and country.
About the Author
Jan Baughman on Swans -- with bio. She is Swans co-editor. (back)