The
U.S. government is a bastion of reckless behavior, constantly and
continually. The extent of damage inflicted upon the American people by U.S. governments
is huge and incalculable. The latest addition to its record of recklessness
is H.R. 758. This resolution passed the House with 95 percent of the House
voting “yea”. The vote was 411 to 10 with 13 not voting.
The
text of H.R. 758, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 4,
2014, is here.
This resolution is directed against Russia. All quotes below are from H.R.
758.
“H.Res.758
– Strongly condemning the actions of the Russian Federation, under President
Vladimir Putin, which has carried out a policy of aggression against
neighboring countries aimed at political and economic domination.”
H.R.
758 condemns Russia unjustly, unilaterally, without justification, without
evidence, and while ignoring Russia’s actual intentions and actions.
H.R.
758 makes false charges against Russia. False accusations obscure facts and
realities. This can only lead to harmful decisions. Basing national policies
on fictions can only cause problems and hurt Americans.
H.R.
758 gains nothing for Americans by fabricating false charges against
Russia. To the contrary, there is much to be lost by placing America on a
collision course with Russia. There is much to be lost for Americans,
Russians, and other peoples of the world by isolating Russia and starting a
new Cold War.
H.R.
758 makes various calls for action “with the goal of compelling it [Russia]…”
These acts, that include “visa bans, targeted asset freezes, sectoral
sanctions, and other measures on the Russian Federation and its leadership”
are hostile and aggressive.
H.R.
758’s attempt to compel Russia raises the distinct possibility of subsequent
further economic, political and military steps that confront Russia and raise
the likelihood of war, even nuclear war. These prospects are not
counterbalanced by any gains to Americans from compelling Russia.
H.R.
758 demeans Russia. It is scandalously derogatory. It accuses Russia. It
places Russia in a docket made by the U.S. It judges Russia. It makes the
U.S. government the judge and jury of Russia.
H.R.
758 makes demands of Russia. It demands unrealistic capitulation. It places
the U.S. in opposition to Russia when there is nothing to be gained by such
opposition and peace is to be lost.
H.R.
758 calls for military actions. It spurns diplomacy.
H.R.
758 is aggressive in tone and nature, needlessly and without right.
H.R.
758 intrudes the U.S. into areas of the world where the U.S. doesn’t belong
and has no right being. It intrudes the U.S. government into areas where it
has no genuine interest on behalf of the American people.
H.R.
758 is fiction purporting to be fact. As fact, it’s mostly garbage, and
harmful, dangerous garbage at that.
H.R.
758 is an extended exercise in baseless Congressional propaganda that teaches
the American people false beliefs that can only generate hatred, suspicion
and hostility. These strengthen the hand of the American warmongers and war
party and obscure the voices for peace.
Although
the situation in Ukraine and Russia’s role in it are none of Congress’s (or
the House’s) business, measures like H.R. 758 will be used to justify further
actions against Russia. For this reason, it’s useful to point out just a few
of the many fictional narratives in this document.
What
emerges after considering some of these allegations is that H.R. 758 has
assembled a laundry list of charges against Russia in order to create the
illusion of a substantial indictment. This is analogous to how American
prosecutors trump up charges by issuing a stew such as assaulting a police
officer, resisting arrest, trafficking, conspiracy to deliver controlled
substances, conspiracy to resist arrest, unlawful use of a telephone, ad
infinitum. This manner of proceeding is not surprising given the legal
backgrounds of many Congressmen and members of their staffs.
FICTION:
“…the Russian Federation has subjected Ukraine to a campaign of
political, economic, and
military aggression for the purpose of establishing its domination over the
country and progressively erasing its independence.”
FACT:
The Russian Federation did absolutely nothing to initiate Ukraine’s current
set of troubles. It did not create a coup d’etat in Ukraine. To the contrary,
the U.S. encouraged the coup. Russia never attacked Ukraine militarily with
its armed forces. It never made an attempt to take over Ukraine. If it has,
where is the evidence of such an invasion? Russia has never sought to erase
the independence of Ukraine. To the contrary, it has again and again made
efforts to bring peace to that country.
FICTION:
“…Russian Federation’s forcible occupation and illegal annexation of Crimea…”
FACT:
Russia didn’t forcibly occupy Crimea at any time. Russia never invaded
Crimea. Actually, in response to the coup d’etat in Kiev, the Parliament of
Crimea adopted a resolution calling for a referendum to secede from Ukraine
and its illegitimate government. The referendum was put to the people and
passed in a one-sided vote. This resulted in Crimea joining the Russian Federation
as a sovereign state.
FICTION:
“… the Russian Federation has provided military equipment, training, and
other assistance to separatist and paramilitary forces in eastern Ukraine
that has resulted in over 4,000 civilian deaths, hundreds of thousands of
civilian refugees, and widespread destruction…”
FACT:
Whatever assistance was or was not, it did not result in “over 4,000 civilian
deaths, hundreds of thousands of civilian refugees, and widespread
destruction…” as H.R. 758 says. This cannot be laid at the doorstep solely of
either the secessionists or the Russian Federation. It is a consequence of
the de-stabilization of Ukraine’s government that catalyzed secession
movements and resulted in Ukraine’s going to war to maintain its territory.
FACT:
As with Crimea, secessionary forces of eastern Ukraine immediately became
active after the coup d’etat in Kiev on February, 25, 2014. (The Donetsk
Republic organization actually appeared before the year 2007 when Ukraine
banned it.) The coup resulted in activists taking control of municipal
buildings and declaring the Federal State of Novorussiya on April 7, 2014.
One week later, Ukraine’s interim government declared it would confront the
secessionists militarily.
FACT:
On May 16, 2014, Ukraine declared that the entire Donetsk People’s Republic,
a component of the Federal State of Novorussiya, was a terrorist
organization. Consequently, Ukraine sent its military forces against those of
the eastern Ukraine secessionists. We know that to re-take territory, Ukraine
prosecuted the war in Donbass by bombardments of civilian areas.
FACT:
The available evidence on the war in Donbass shows complexity in the forces
fighting on the secessionist side. The participation of Russians did occur.
However, there is no documentation that has yet been provided by the U.S. of
the extent and kinds of assistance by Russians and/or by the Russian
Federation to the secessionist forces of the Federal State of Novorussiya.
FICTION:
“…the terms of the cease-fire specified in the Minsk Protocol that was signed
on September 5, 2014, by representatives of the Government of Ukraine, the
Russian Federation, and the Russian-led separatists in the eastern area of
Ukraine have been repeatedly violated by the Russian Federation and the
separatist forces it supports…”
FACT:
The cease-fire has been repeatedly violated by both the Government of Ukraine and separatists.
They’ve been fighting over the Donetsk airport. Calling the separatists Russian-led is an attempt to make Russia
the author of the secessionist movement, which it is not. Cease-fires often
are respites in longer wars as each side arms and regroups. This cease-fire’s
lapses, which are none of America’s business anyway, can’t be taken
seriously, and certainly not as seriously as H.R. 758 purports to do.
FICTION:
“Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, a civilian airliner, was destroyed by a missile
fired by Russian-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine, resulting in
the loss of 298 innocent lives…”
FACT:
The causes of the destruction of this airliner have not been yet established.
H.R. 758 treats allegations as if they were facts.
FICTION:
“…the Russian Federation has used and is continuing to use coercive economic
measures, including the manipulation of energy prices and supplies, as well
as trade restrictions, to place political and economic pressure on Ukraine…”
FACT:
The energy relations among Russia, Russian companies, Ukraine and oligarchs
of both countries are complex and not easily understood. They are known to be
opaque. There are all sorts of hypotheses about them, but little is actually
known. The allegation made in H.R. 758 is unproven.
FICTION:
“…the Russian Federation invaded the Republic of Georgia in August 2008…”
FACT:
The breakup of the USSR has been followed by some instabilities on Russia’s
periphery, especially where there are large Russian populations that come
into conflict with other nearby peoples. This characterizes Ukraine and
Georgia. In the latter case, Georgia had a breakaway region, South Ossetia.
Georgia shelled this region, and that brought in the Russian military to
protect the integrity of South Ossetia. A European Union report says that
Russia didn’t simply invade Georgia on its own hook. It didn’t initiate an
aggression. The attacks by Ukraine on Donbass are a similar case, except that
Russia has notably not
responded to protect Novorussiya as it did South Ossetia. It has not
introduced a concerted Russian attack.
FICTION:
“…the Russian Federation continues to subject the Republic of Georgia to
political and military intimidation, economic coercion, and other forms of
aggression in an effort to establish its control of the country and to
prevent Georgia from establishing closer relations with the European Union
and the United States…”
FACT: This charge is sour grapes over the fact that Russia doesn’t
want Georgia to join NATO and place missiles and armed forces on its
doorstep. Georgia wants to join NATO, thinking that it affords it some
protection against Russia.
If the Congress regards Russia’s pressures as “forms of aggression”,
what then are its sanctions on Russia? Georgia is no more America’s business
than is Ukraine. For the U.S. to condemn Russia over its actions on its
periphery makes no more sense than for Russia to condemn the U.S. for its
actions in Mexico or the Caribbean. When one major state begins to pressure
another major state for its intrusions on smaller states, neither one can
justify itself; and the result is often war between the two mastodons.
H.R. 758 is confrontational. It’s a jockeying for power at Russia’s
boundaries and elsewhere. The problem with it is that as justification for
confrontation it is so patently trumped up and false; and as part of a policy
of U.S. expansion and influence, it is so foolish, so counter-productive and
so dangerous.
H.R. 758 makes Ukraine into a U.S. ally. It calls for the restoration
of Ukraine’s pre-coup borders. To accomplish this, it calls for the U.S. to
supply arms, services and training to Ukraine: “…calls on the President to provide
the Government of Ukraine with lethal and non-lethal defense articles,
services, and training required to effectively defend its territory and
sovereignty…”
This makes the U.S. a party to Ukraine’s war against Donbass and even
Crimea.
The belief that motivates all of H.R. 758 is that Russia is
expansionist and on the move, seeking to take over countries on its
periphery. Washington sees Putin and Russia as a new Hitler and Germany. This
is the basis of all the trumped up charges and fictions in this document.
Washington is constructing a new Hitler for itself, even though the situation
is totally different and even though the evidence points in very different
directions. To this erroneous belief is added another erroneous idea, which
is the notion that to do nothing is to appease Russia. And finally there is a
third erroneous idea which is that it’s the mission of the U.S. to fight evil
empires all over the world. So, since the U.S. government conceives itself as
committed to fighting evil empires and it has found one in Putin’s Russia, it
wants to join hands with Ukraine and enter the fight. Ukraine is seen as the
new Sudetenland or Czechoslovakia or Austria.
What we have in Washington are people who have been so indoctrinated
in an oversimplified history of the world American-style that they cannot see
anything but those past situations today, when in fact the situations arising
today are considerably different and call for very different responses.
Reality is far, far different than H.R. 758 suggests. Russia is not
an aggressive state. Its moves are defensive. Putin has sought time and again
to protect Russian populations on the periphery of the Russian Federation.
This is merely housekeeping and tidying up after the dissolution of the USSR.
Putin wants respect for Russia and a Russian sphere of influence. He wants
ties with Europe, peaceful ties. Putin has not built Russia into a military
machine of huge proportions. He has not attacked any country in an outright
aggression. There is no evidence, in word or deed, that this is his intent.
NATO is an aggressive force, as shown in Serbia, Afghanistan and
Libya. It is a tool of neo-colonialist European powers. NATO cannot be
trusted. Russia’s defensiveness concerning NATO is entirely justified.
America is an aggressively expansionary force, with vast global
ambitions, as shown by its attacks on Serbia, Afghanistan, Libya, and Iraq,
as shown by its drone wars in other countries like Pakistan and Yemen, as
shown by its forces in Somalia and its other commitments in Africa, and as
shown by its Pacific pivot and evident antagonism toward Russia. Russia’s
defensiveness concerning the U.S. is justified.
H.R. 758 reflects anachronistic thinking, but fighting enemies, real
and imagined, has become an entrenched habit of American governments. Congress
doesn’t want peace. It doesn’t want to exercise diplomacy. It doesn’t want to
recognize a multipolar world and other major powers, not really. Congress
wants a new and large outside enemy. Else, why would it be constructing one
in the form of Putin and the Russian Federation?
