by Karl Denninger, Market Ticker:
We have a serious and brooding problem in the United States, and its of our own making as citizens.
In short citizenship in any nation is not a spectator sport. Nor are ethics and, for those who care to ascribe to a higher power, morals.
The Ukraine situation is complex, and most international policy issues wind up there because nations try to shave the corners on their agreements. We’re no different than anyone else. In 1994 we signed the Budapest Memorandum in which we committed to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Russia signed it as well. But that agreement was broken — by Ukraine itself when they threatened to cut off a key Russian 12-month deep-water port, a critical naval asset. We could no more expect Russia to sit for that than we would be expected to sit for San Diego and Newport News being encompassed in a seceding set of States in the US.
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
But let’s cut the crap on any claim that we did not “interfere”; we most-certainly did. Indeed John McCain, a sitting US Senator, traveled to the Ukraine during Maiden Square and he met with the opposition leaders, including appearing on stage during a rally! It didn’t end there; Obama’s administration actively worked with the opposition to agree on successors to the elected Ukraine government, essentially attempting to install a US-chosen government.
Oh, by the way, the name of one of the people to do said leading?
Then Vice-President Biden.
These are just the publicly-admitted facts. But they’re enough, standing alone, aren’t they? We don’t have to get into black-bag stuff to find plenty that Putin would deem unacceptable and perhaps worth going to war over. A United States hand-picked successor government with the process of overthrow cheered on and assisted by sitting United States Senators and other members of the current administration at the time, including the sitting vice-President which then winds up with effective control over Russia’s critical deep-water 12 month naval port.
I presume we’d all have a serious problem — maybe serious enough to threaten or even start a war if Russia egged on the secession of California from the United States, including a Federation Council member coming to the US and taking part in the demonstrations that led to said secession — and Putin’s right hand man was being put up as someone who would effectively run what was formerly California which, of course, also encompasses San Diego and its naval facilities which would no longer be part of the United States.
Oh, what office does Biden hold today?
Uh, yeah, that could be a problem.
Private citizens have every right to express whatever opinion they’d like when it comes to the matters of other sovereign nations. But official government actors taking such positions and active involvement, when it occurs, puts a great big United States flag and formal government approval on said events. They are taken under color of law and authority of the United States Government and are not the opinions and simple speech of private parties which, at least in the US, we have a right to hold and express under our First Amendment.
Tell me again why Putin should not consider Biden a direct adversary or even a warlord when there was a clean attempt by the Obama Administration to effectively put him in charge of Ukraine in a “director” sort of role.
Did we have a reason to get involved over there in the first place? While many say yes, I disagree. There’s a serious disconnect within the people of Ukraine to begin with; a large percentage of them consider themselves Russian and a large percentage consider themselves Ukrainian. Common heritage, yes to a large degree but effectively two people trying to figure out how to make it work in a nation that is one of the poorest in the former Soviet Union block; the entire Ukraine GDP is about $112 billion US a year, or roughly equivalent to that of Cuba yet due to their population difference the average person there is only about a third as well off as an average Cuban, putting them roughly on par with a Palestinian, Honduran or Philippine citizen and not far ahead of India.
Russia, may I remind you, has a per-capital GDP of roughly four times that of the Ukraine but about one-sixth that of the US.
Does Putin have reason to not believe anything that comes out our administration’s mouth, especially that of our present President given his direct actions during Obama’s Presidency, never mind the apparent and well-reported shenanigans of his son?
You bet he does and we, as American citizens, are directly responsible for allowing this clown show to take place and whatever outcome may occur by elevating Biden and his family to the White House after what he was directly involved in during Obama’s Presidency.
