What the people of Ukraine are being put
through is absolutely horrible. They are caught in the middle
of a massive tug of war between the East and the West, and they are
paying a great price for it. Ultimately, Ukraine will end up
either being dominated by Russia (a bad outcome) or by the EU and the
United States (another bad outcome). Most Ukrainians just want
to be free and want to be able to build a better future for
themselves and their families, but it is extremely unlikely that they
will be able to escape the specter of foreign domination.
Meanwhile, the violence in Ukraine is planting the seeds for a
potentially much larger conflict down the road. The days of
“friendly relations” between the United States and Russia are now
gone. Russia is absolutely furious that the U.S. has fueled a
violent revolution on its own border, and it is something that
Russian officials will not forget for a very long time. In
return, U.S. officials are taking an increasingly harsh stance toward
Russia. In the end, the seeds that are being planted right now
could ultimately blossom into a full-blown conflict between the
superpowers in the years to come.
Let
there be no mistake – the United States is heavily involved in what
is going on in Ukraine. Even the
New York Times admits this. And the U.S. Ambassador to
Ukraine and the Assistant Secretary of State have
been caught on tape discussing their next moves in getting a
new government installed in Ukraine.
In
addition, a number of non-governmental organizations inside the
United States have allegedly been assisting and organizing the
revolution in Ukraine for a long time. At least a few of these
organizations have ties to George Soros. This is something that
I discussed in a previous
article.
Some of the “progressive” NGOs that have
been accused of fueling the violent revolution in Ukraine include the
National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House, and the Open Society
Foundations (formerly known as the Open Society Institute).
Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not
taking sides. I am just pointing out that both sides in Ukraine
are controlled. If I was living in Ukraine, I would want both
Russia and the United States to go away and leave Ukraine alone.
Instead,
Ukraine is being used as a battleground to fight a proxy war between
the East and the West. Now that the opposition has gained the
upper hand, it does not appear that Russian officials are in any
mood to
recognize the new “government”…
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Monday
said Russiahad grave doubts about the legitimacy of those in
power in Ukraine following President Viktor Yanukovich’s ouster,
saying their recognition by some states was an “aberration”.
Medvedev also stated that he has “big doubts
about the legitimacy of a whole series of organs of power that are
now functioning there.”
Last
Friday, an agreement was signed by the two sides in Ukraine that was
supposed to bring about a peaceful resolution to all of this.
But the revolutionaries reneged on the deal and toppled the
government instead. Needless to say, Russia was
quite horrified by this…
The Russian Foreign Ministry criticized the
West for turning a blind eye to what Moscow described as the
opposition reneging on its agreement signed Friday to form a unity
government and aiming to “suppress dissent in various regions of
Ukraine with dictatorial and, sometimes, even terrorist methods.”
So what does Russia plan to do?
That is the big question that everyone is
asking.
They
are not doing much of anything just yet. But there have been
rumors that
we could potentially see some economic blowback…
Russia and the Customs Union could temporarily
limit increased-risk food imports from Ukraine, given fears of loose
safety control, said Sergei Dankvert, head of the Russian veterinary
and phytosanitary oversight service Rosselkhoznadzor.
“My Belarusian colleague and I are extremely
concerned about the situation in Ukraine. We do not rule out that
curbs could be introduced on the imports of products of high
veterinary and phytosanitary risks from Ukraine,” Dankvert told
Interfax after talks with his Belarusian counterpart Yury Pivovarchik
in Bryansk, and telephone talks with Ukraine’s Deputy Agrarian
Policy Minister Ivan Bisyuk.
Of course what the U.S. government is most
concerned about is any military action that Russia might take.
National
Security Adviser Susan Rice says that what has happened in Ukraine
reflects “the
will of the Ukrainian people and the interests of the United States
and Europe” and that it would be a “grave
mistake” for Russia to get militarily involved.
But whatever happens over the next few days,
nobody should think that the Russians are simply going to abandon
their interests in Ukraine. Russia has a very important
military base down in the Crimea, and the eastern half of the country
is very pro-Russian.
So
the struggle between East and West in Ukraine is likely to continue
for quite some time to come. The following is an excerpt from a
recent WND article…
The issue with Ukraine is whether it will join
the E.U. or Putin’s Eurasian Union. The country is roughly divided
on this issue between eastern and western Ukraine. The eastern
portion wants to remain with Russia while the western side wants to
move closer with the West.
In southern Ukraine, where the Crimea is
located, Russian influence remains strong.
Because demonstrators who want to see Ukraine
lean westward have become emboldened with their immediate success of
ousting Yanukovich, it could make it more difficult for them to come
to terms with any settlement agreement to reunify the country.
Moscow has a large naval military facility in
Sevastopol in the Crimea and recently received a 25-year lease
extension to 2042, with another five-year renewal option until 2047.
In exchange, Ukraine received a multiyear discounted contract for
much-needed natural gas.
And
the pro-Russian eastern half of the country is actually the stronger
of the two halves economically. So this will likely complicate
matters for the EU and the U.S. as they try to bring Ukraine
into their sphere of influence…
Seven of Ukraine’s 10 largest private
companies by revenue are either headquartered or maintain the
majority of their operations in eastern Ukraine. These firms are
owned by some of Ukraine’s wealthiest and most influential
individuals. Three of these 10 corporations — mining and steel
company Metinvest, energy firm DTEK and its subsidiary Donetskstal —
are based in the eastern industrial city of Donetsk and are owned by
Ukraine’s wealthiest man, Rinat Akhmetov. Interpipe, the company
that controls 10 percent of the world market share of railway wheels
and more than 11 percent of the world market share of manganese
ferroalloys, is based in Dnipropetrovsk and belongs to businessman
and politician Victor Pinchuk.
The country’s most important businessmen are
embedded in the east, where their businesses make disproportionately
high contributions to the Ukrainian economy and national budget.
In
the end, this proxy war between the East and the West has left
Ukraine with a collapsed
economy and on the brink of civil war.
And what has happened in Ukraine has caused
permanent damage in the relationship between the United States and
Russia.
It won’t happen this month or even this year,
but someday the U.S. may end up bitterly regretting antagonizing the
Russian Bear.
At least that is what I think.
So what do you think?
Please feel free to share your thoughts by
posting a comment below…
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