UKRAINE: Why We Have To Win In Ukraine And Putin Has To Lose

In 1956, Soviet tanks rolled into Hungary. In 1968, they crushed the Prague Spring and in the 1980’s, under Soviet pressure, Poland instituted martial law in order to subjugate the Solidarity movement. Yet today, all three countries are thriving democracies and NATO allies who contribute to our prosperity and security. As the crisis in Ukraine continues to fester, we must decide where we stand. Do we want to return to the dark days of the Cold War or do we want to build on the integrated global order that has delivered peace and prosperity? Do we believe that people have the right to pursue their dreams or do we bequeath veto power on authoritarian thugs? … At one point, one of the activists, the popular Ukrainian journalist, Vitali Sych, erupted: “Did anyone ask us whether we wanted to be part of his buffer zone?” … The popular Ukrainian journalist that Friedman refers to is someone I know well. I worked with Vitaly and consider him a close friend. … So I can say that when he posed the question about whether anyone asked Ukrainians if they wanted to be part of Putin’s buffer zone, it was very much in character… First, while Vitaly was always a strong believer in Ukrainian independence, his support for EU integration is something more recent. After the Orange Revolution he, like most Ukrainians, wanted a more Finnish style solution in which Ukraine was neither in the Russian camp nor part of NATO or the EU. Ukrainians just wanted to be left alone

2) Then a top U.S. State Department gets caught (right before the Olympics) about planning a coup d’état since Ukraine did not join the E.U.

There is nothing in the audio about a coup d'etat, nor did a coup occur. The Interim government in Ukraine is the Ukrainian Rada that was democratically elected in October 2012. Yanukovych chose to fled to a foreign enemy to avoid prosecution for his criminal acts. Nor was the United States behind Yanukovych having people kidnapped using the Berkut, or violating the Ukrainian constitution, and eventually shooting civilians. All of this was taken up with the apparent recommendation of the Russian GRU who were crawling all over Ukraine.

3) The media then calls the National Socialist they are supporting “Freedom Fighters”

If you are referring to Right Sector, they have exactly 2,000 members and no members in the Ukrainian Rada. Svoboda, if you want to call them Nazis, poll in the single digits in presidential elections, and are a minority party.

The facts are Ukrainians of all political colors marched in the Maidan, and that includes Ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, Jews, and many other ethnicites.

4) The coup is successful and then the media calls ANYONE OPPOSING the coup “A Terrorist”. Who is terrorizing who?

There are dead Tatars in Crimea, a boy recently had his head smashed in in Crimea also because he spoke Ukrainian to a police officer. There have been patriotic Ukrainians found tortured and dumped in the river, a MP. A BBC reporter had a gun put to her head. Journalists have been kidnapped and beaten. There is a 80,000 Russian strong army on the border. There are Russian GRU controlling rent-a-mobs and long term Russian assets to simulate upheaval, and all of this contrary to the popular will of the people, which poll after poll in the East and South show is that of Ukrainian patriotism, not Russian annexation.

This would be a war about Natural Gas. It has NOTHING to do with freedom. We are broke too and this is not our fight.

This is a conflict within a new cold war, because, in all actuality, we lost the last one when we allowed the Communists in the Kremlin rebrand themselves as capitalists and freedom-lovers, without having the crimes of communism condemned or Russia submit to de-communization.

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