President Obama announced last week that he was imposing yet another round
of sanctions on Russia, this time targeting financial, arms, and energy
sectors. The European Union, as it has done each time, quickly followed suit.
These sanctions will not produce the results Washington demands, but they
will hurt the economies of the US and EU, as well as Russia.
These sanctions are, according to the Obama administration, punishment for
what it claims is Russia's role in the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17,
and for what the president claims is Russia's continued arming of separatists
in eastern Ukraine. Neither of these reasons makes much sense because neither
case has been proven.
The administration began blaming Russia for the downing of the plane just
hours after the crash, before an investigation had even begun. The
administration claimed it had evidence of Russia's involvement but refused to
show it. Later, the Obama administration arranged a briefing by "senior
intelligence officials" who told the media that "we don't know a
name, we don't know a rank and we're not even 100 percent sure of a
nationality," of who brought down the aircraft.
So Obama then claimed Russian culpability because Russia's
"support" for the separatists in east Ukraine "created the
conditions" for the shoot-down of the aircraft. That is a dangerous
measure of culpability considering US support for separatist groups in Syria
and elsewhere.
Similarly, the US government claimed that Russia is providing weapons,
including heavy weapons, to the rebels in Ukraine and shooting across the
border into Ukrainian territory. It may be true, but again the US refuses to
provide any evidence and the Russian government denies the charge. It's like
Iraq's WMDs all over again.
Obama has argued that the Ukrainians should solve this problem themselves
and therefore Russia should butt out.
I agree with the president on this. Outside countries should leave Ukraine
to resolve the conflict itself. However, even as the US demands that the
Russians de-escalate, the United States is busy escalating!
In June, Washington sent a team of military advisors to help Ukraine fight
the separatists in the eastern part of the country. Such teams of
"advisors" often include special forces and are usually a slippery
slope to direct US military involvement.
On Friday, President Obama requested Congressional approval to send US
troops into Ukraine to train and equip its national guard. This even though
in March, the president promised no US boots on the ground in Ukraine. The
deployment will be funded with $19 million from a fund designated to fight
global terrorism, signaling that the US considers the secessionists in
Ukraine to be "terrorists."
Are US drone strikes against these "terrorists" and the
"associated forces" who support them that far off?
The US has already provided the Ukrainian military with $23 million for
defense security, $5 million in body armor, $8 million to help secure
Ukraine's borders, several hundred thousand ready-to-eat meals as well as an
array of communications equipment. Congress is urging the president to send
lethal military aid and the administration is reportedly considering sending
real-time intelligence to help target rebel positions.
But let's not forget that this whole crisis started with the US-sponsored
coup against Ukraine's elected president back in February. The US escalates
while it demands that Russia de-escalate. How about all sides de-escalate?
Even when the goals are clear, sanctions have a lousy track record.
Sanctions are acts of war. These sanctions will most definitely have a
negative effect on the US economy as well as the Russian economy. Why is
"winning" Ukraine so important to Washington? Why are they risking
a major war with Russia to deny people in Ukraine the right to
self-determination? Let's just leave Ukraine alone!
