Secretary of State John Kerry,interviewed on “Face the Nation”, demonstrated his silver-tongued diplomacy by setting Russian President Putin straight on the recent invasion of Ukraine. ”You just don’t in the 21st century behave in 19th-century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped-up pretext.”
Says who? Mr. Putin did just that, an 18th-century invasion, and he isstanding firm despite threats of sanctions, rebukes, and a time out in the corner. Actually Mr. Putin behaved in more of a 13th-century manner, befitting Mr. Kerry’s Vietnam war nemesis Genghis Khan. And much like Genghis Khan, who created the largest land empire in history, it seems Mr. Putin wants to rebuild the old Soviet Union.
Did anyone see this coming? Mitt Romney certainly did. In the 2012 Presidential debates he labeled Russia our, “number one geopolitical foe.” Even Sarah Palin predicted in 2008 the possibility of Russia invading Ukraine. Did the Obama administration foresee this invasion? Apparently not. In 2009, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave her Russian counterpart a “reset button” inscribed with not the Russian word for “reset”, but instead the word for “overloaded.” And how prophetic. As the eyes of the world were focused on the Sochi Olympics and the Oscar Awards, Mr. Putin overloaded the Crimea Peninsula with Russian soldiers.
Why would the Russian President be so brazen? Perhaps an invitation came unintentionally from President Obama and his Syrian “red line” warnings. Or else from comments made during hisapology tour of the world in 2009. Regardless, Mr. Putin smelled weakness in the American waters and the Russian shark decided to strike. And all Mr. Kerry could do in response on "Meet the Press" was to citeall of the acts, charters, and treaties that the Russians violated.
Since when do bullies and aggressors care about niceties and rules? Perhaps in Mr. Kerry’s French speaking social circles, manners and protocols are the sine qua non. Mr. Putin instead is following the Obama Doctrine, “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.” Unfortunately our President meant this in regards to campaigning, not foreign policy in a dangerous world. On the world stage, Mr. Obama’s mantra is more like, “If they bring a crowbar to the fight, we bring a feather duster.”
As past presidents of both parties have learned, America must project strength and power, else our country will become a doormat. Presidents Kennedy and Reagan demonstrated resolve against the Soviets, who eventually backed down. Mr. Obama, on the other hand, apologizes and makes idle veiled threats that are nothing more than empty words. No wonder Mr. Putin feels free to expand his empire.
Russia is known for the game of chess, boasting more than half of the top 20 players in the world. A game of strategy and tactics, it relies on a longer-term goal of noticing an opponent’s weakness, watching for opportunities, lulling the opponent into a false sense of security, and eventually cutting off all means of escape. Mr. Obama’s weakness is his indecisiveness and failure to act. The current opportunity is during the distractions of Obamacare, gay rights, immigration, and other domestic issues consuming the media and political chattering classes. The false sense of security arose from the well-executed winter Olympics and NBC’s fawning coverage of President Putin. Now Mr. Obama has no means of escape. Mr. Putin is unimpressed with Mr. Obama’s speeches. America and her allies are weary of war. Does the average American care about the Ukraine? Over a third of Americans cannot even locate America on a world map. So what now? Checkmate Mr. Obama.
[Is there ANYTHING going on in the world today that Soros is NOT involved in?]
Billionaire George Soros is heavily invested in Ukrainian activism, establishing a center in Kiev that donates large sums of money to the country’s nongovernmental organizations while advocating closer ties to the European Union.
Last week, Soros weighed in on the Ukraine crisis, recommending EU intervention to help save Ukrainian financial markets.
“The EU, along with the International Monetary Fund, is putting together a multi-billion dollar rescue package to save the country from financial collapse,” he wrote in a piece for Project Syndicate.
“But that will not be sufficient to sustain the national unity that Ukraine will need in the coming years. … Ukraine will need outside assistance that only the EU can provide: management expertise and access to markets.”
Soros first involved himself in Ukrainian affairs in 1989, when he established the Ukrainian International Renaissance Foundation, or IRF, two years before Ukraine became an independent nation. Since then, Soros has provided more than $100 million to support Ukrainian groups, mostly through the IRF and the Open Society Institute.
Soros’ IRF, headquartered in Kiev, not only supports numerous non-governmental organizations, it holds regular seminars and training sessions for local groups regarding such topics as “open borders” and the transformation of the region via the European Union.
A key initiative for Soros’s IRF is removing visa barriers between Ukraine and the EU while integrating Ukrainian experts within EU groups.
The IRF is also heavily involved in what it calls human rights campaigns, supporting numerous local groups and launching initiatives such as a “Legal Empowerment for the Poor” program.
The IRF also runs a program to develop what it refers to as “socially responsible journalists” in Ukraine.
Within the purview of its local work, the IRF supported at least one of the main groups now protesting in Ukraine.
The Spilna Sprava activist organization, which has been central in leading some of the protests, took in a $3,000 IRF donation in 2009. Spilna Sprava, or Common Cause, has been in the news repeatedly in recent days for seizing numerous government buildings.
Meanwhile, Soros’ Open Society Institute in 2012 launched a “Grassroots Justice: Ukraine” project to help “ordinary people assert their rights under the law.”
Also tied to Soros is the International Center for Policy Studies, which bills itself as one of Ukraine’s “top independent think-tanks involved in developing and analyzing public policy.”
Since 2003, the group has been part of the Soros-funded Policy Association for an Open Society.
Which leads into the next story:
A new equation in the Ukrainian crisis is a growing concern that ultra-nationalist Ukrainians could attack ethnic Russians.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stated the ultra-nationalist threat is the reason for preparing to move Russian troops into the country.
The ultra-nationalists were instrumental in ousting pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, even though he turned down a European Union partnership agreement. Yanokuvych’s acceptance would have brought about austerity measures that the ultra-nationalists would have opposed.
They have shown an ability to operate among the tens of thousands of demonstrators in Kiev and are trained to confront security forces. They are equipped with helmets, masks, protective gear, weapons and Molotov cocktails.
Analysts say that the ultra-nationalist groups present a threat, since members are prepared and willing to confront security forces.
The most prominent of the ultra-nationalist groups is the Pravy-Sektor, or Right Sector, whose leader now has called on Chechen Islamic militant chief Dokku Umarov to launch attacks in Russia.
Right Sector and other ultra-national groups, such as Euromaidan, Patriot of Ukraine and White Hammer, are comprised mainly of males in their 20s and 30s who wear dark clothing and masks and are very aggressive during demonstrations.
The groups were directly involved in the beginning of demonstrations in January and occupied the Ukrainian presidential building and other government buildings.
One report said demonstrators hoisted Nazi SS and white power symbols on toppled memorials and destroyed a memorial to Ukrainians who died fighting German occupation during World War II.
The report said “sieg heil” salutes and the Nazi Wolfangel symbol was being displayed prominently in demonstrations in Maidan Square in Kiev, and neo-Nazi groups had established “autonomous zones” around the city.
Right Sector in particular is said to have wide support from the people throughout Ukraine.
“Right Sector’s emergence highlights how far-right and extremist groups can increase the impact of protects against autocratic regimes, political repression and austerity measures, sometimes effecting political change,” said a report by the open-intelligence group Stratfor.
Lavrov further asserts that the West has sided with the ultra-nationalist groups, which he calls neo-Nazis, resulting in the violent government takeover.
Lavrov specifically accused U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry of helping to incite the groups, ignoring the excesses of what has been referred to as “militant Russophobic and anti-Semitic forces” inciting demonstrations in Kiev.
“Not bothering to make any effort to understand the complex processes occurring within Ukrainian society or make an objective assessment of the environment which is furthering the degradation following the forceful seizure of power in Kiev by radical extremists, Kerry operates with a Cold War stamp, offering not to punish those who carried out the government overthrow, but the Russian Federation,” a Russian foreign ministry statement said.
The statement said Moscow “further accused European powers of standing idly by while the ‘newly born Kiev regime’ trampled on the EU mediated agreement of February 21, in which Yanukovich reached a deal with the opposition to settle the crisis.”
“The ministry noted the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland had signed off on the document which was thrown out of the window when opposition forces seized power the next day. In the process, the West has effectively allied itself with neo-Nazis who are smashing up Orthodox churches and synagogues while “declaring war on the Russian language.”
A knowledgeable Ukrainian source in Stanford, Calif, told WND the “real power in Kiev and much of Western Ukraine today belongs to several rival neo-Nazi factions whose masked, well-armed adherents are busy looting abandoned properties and shaking down businesses for money to support their ‘revolution.’”
“They have already made territorial demands to each of the countries bordering the Ukraine, including the NATO members Poland, Hungary and Romania, and they have declared their intention to acquire nuclear weapons,” the source said.
Other European neo-Nazi parties, such as Jobbik in Hungary and the Golden Dawn in Greece, are “amateurs compared to Ukraine’s Svoboda and Right Sector,” said the source.
The Ukrainian groups use “the same slogans and the same Nazi symbols they used in 1941-1944, when they butchered 200,000-300,000 Poles and Jews, and in 1945-1954, when they butchered in the most gruesome ways imaginable tens of thousands of peaceful Ukrainian citizens whose only crime was to refuse joining their ranks.”
“Today, much of Ukraine is frozen in horror, fearing that the neo-Nazis might unleash a bloodbath that would overshadow the crimes they committed in 1941-1954,” the source told WND.
He said many of the neo-Nazis’ current leaders collaborated with Chechen terrorists during the Chechens’ terror campaign against Russia in 1990s.
“We have no idea what awaits us next,” the source told WND. “Russia may be able to save the Crimea from the neo-Nazis, but it would probably not have enough muscle to save Ukraine proper.”
Sources say that Right Sector and the other ultra-nationalist groups are linked to a constellation of international neo-fascist groups through the Alliance of European National Movements.
Don't think anything is really going to happen with the Ukraine thing...well economically but not militarily. But who knows...Putin seems to be enjoying rubbing our Embarrassment-n-Chief's nose in it and ego might dictate a response if it goes too far.
ReplyDeleteThe Bible seems so specific for these times...rumors of wars, yes, but a major conflict involving Russia or Iran...no. With such specificity for Isiah 17, the judgments of Ez 25-32, and the invasion of Ez 38-39 there just is no mention of a major conflict with Russia or Iran. Either one would probably pull Israel in.
But...Russia does come at Israel on horses and chariots in Ez 38-39. And the flesh eating foul are eating the horses and human flesh. This can't be allegory, birds can't eat tanks and jeeps, but they can eat flesh and blood soaked leather and wood.
Sure are interesting times we're in.
If China and Russia (newly aligned on this) decide to kill the dollar/petro dollar - they could do it and when the time is right (for them) they could pull that string...
ReplyDelete