McCain: ‘It’s Tragic’ There’s No U.S. Military Option In Ukraine
He snuck into Syria to highlight the dominance of moderates that the US should support. But the world is now interconnected and soon it was known that McCain’s moderates in Syria were in fact radicals and kidnappers. He snuck into Libya to receive an award from the military the same day Sharia law was approved.
But these are small potatoes. Russia has always been the prize for McCain. His International Republican Institute (IRI), a Cold War relic funded by US taxpayers, routinely funded subversive NGOs in Russia to undermine the political system.
From the early days of the protests in Ukraine, McCain was there, in Maidan square, meeting with and encouraging those whose intent was a violent overthrow of a democratically elected government. The ends justifies the means, and McCain supped with a number of unsavory characters to supercharge his plans.
Now that the US-sponsored regime change is complete in Ukraine, McCain has his biggest thrill: unlike the small and weak other countries that his IRI had picked on, Russia has not rolled over.
A nuclear armed Russia facing off with a nuclear armed US would lead most normal people to search for alternatives to possible total annihilation. Not McCain. He wants a military option.
Asked by MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell about options for a US attack on Russia, McCain said, “I’d love to tell you that there is Andrea, but frankly I do not see it. I wish that there were. … I do not see a military option and it’s tragic.”
These are America’s leaders in perhaps the most dangerous period in a half century. Do you feel safe?
It’s 2008. Who do you want, Obama or McCain?
Ron Paul
US Won’t Recognize Crimea Referendum Results (And 3 Awkward Questions For West’s Liberals)
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/09/2014 13:01 -0400
With a March 16th date set for Crimea’s referendum (to confirm that the region, which has an ethnic Russian majority, is a part of Russia) and a few short days after Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yatsenyuk is due to meet President Obama in the White House, Reuters reports that The United States will not recognize the annexation of Crimea by Russia if residents of the region vote to leave Ukraine. Obama has said a referendum on Crimea would violate international law and the Ukrainian constitution… but this raise 3 awkward (and apparently hypocritical) questions on the right to self-determination.
Reuters reports that the US will not recognize Crimea’s annexation (or implicitly their right to self-determination),
Tony Blinken, U.S. President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program that Russia would come under increased international pressure as a result of the referendum in Crimea.
“First, if there is an annexation of Crimea, a referendum that moves Crimea from Ukraine to Russia, we won’t recognize it, nor will most of the world,” Blinken said.
“Second, the pressure that we’ve already exerted in coordination with our partners and allies will go up. The president made it very clear in announcing our sanctions, as did the Europeans the other day, that this is the first step and we’ve put in place a very flexible and very tough mechanism to increase the pressure, to increase the sanctions.”
Obama has said a referendum on Crimea would violate international law and the Ukrainian constitution.
Which as Yanis Varoufakis writes, raises three awkward questions for Western liberals…
Let us accept (as I do) the principle that national minorities have the right to self-determination within lopsided multi-ethnic states; e.g. Croats and Kosovars seceding from Yugoslavia, Scots from the UK, Georgians from the Soviet Union etc.
Awkward question no. 1: On what principle can we deny, once Croatia, Kosovo, Scotland and Georgia have come into being, the right of Krajina Serbs, of Mitrovica Serbs, of Shetland Islanders and of Abkhazians to carve out, if they so wish, their own nation-states within the newly independent nation-states in the areas where they constitute a clear majority?
Awkward question no. 2: On what principle does a western liberal deny the right of Chechens to independence from Russia, but is prepared to defend to the hilt the Georgians’ or the Ukrainians’ right to self-determination?
Awkward question no. 3: On what principle is it justifiable that the West acquiesced to the raising to the ground of Grozny (Chechnya’s capital), not to mention the tens of thousands of civilian deaths, but responded fiercely, threatened with global sanctions, and raised the spectre of a major Cold War-like confrontation over the (so far) bloodless deployment of undercover Russian troops in Crimea?
The above three questions are being asked not because I want to challenge the notion that Mr Putin is a dangerous despot. I have no doubt that he is. Indeed, I wear as a badge of honour the fact that I was in a minority of one in the Faculty Board meeting of the University of Athens in 2003, where I voted against the award of an honourary doctoral degree to Mr Putin by the University of Athens (denying the University the opportunity to state that the award had been unanimous, and thus incurring the wrath of most colleagues who had been ‘requested’ politely by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs to honour Mr Putin during his visit to Athens).
My three awkward questions have two aims: To remind readers of the West’s unprincipled attitude toward ‘other’ people’s struggles and tragedies. And to explain, in part, why such unprincipled behavior by the proponents of democratic principles ends up denigrating not only these very principles but greatly reinforcing the power and influence of the Putins of this world as well.
Europe and the Ukraine
Ukrainians fought pitched battles against the security forces in Kiev’s main square to protest against the former President Yanukovic’s decision to back out of a deal that would seal the country’s partnership with the European Union. Why? Are they blind to the incongruities of the European Union?
No, they are not. However, Ukrainians are facing a different type of problem compared to those we Europeans do. Whatever bone we have to pick with Brussels, with the ECB etc. (and we have many!), the people of Kiev had other priorities. E.g. how to rid themselves of security forces that felt at liberty to torture and to kill; how to travel freely; how to live in a country where courts were not completely run by the same mafia that run the state apparatus. To them, the fact that democracy is on the wane in the Eurozone and Europe’s principles are becoming increasingly hollow, matters little: The EU, however fast it may be descending into democratic illegitimacy, still looks like Heaven through many Ukrainian eyes.
Having said that, the greatest tragedy for Ukrainians is that their highest hopes are resting on weak shoulders: the European Union’s!
‘Europe’s Foreign Policy’ are three words that only need to be stated to cause hilarity. For there is no such thing, in truth. Even the Franco-German axis has been shuttered by Libya, let alone the ambitious idea of a common foreign policy for a United Europe that can act as a bulwark helpful to the Ukraine.
While Libya was of minimal importance to Europe’s security, even if of crucial importance to the Libyans, Ukraine is crucial and Europe ought to tread very carefully. What worries me the most is that the seriousness of the Ukrainian crisis is in inverse proportion to Europe’s competence in the field of foreign policy. Brussels may be keen to expand its ‘authority’ Eastward but it is treading into dangerous territory, ill equipped to deal with the repercussions.
The United States, the IMF, Germany and the Ukraine
The Ukraine is, and was always going to be, the battleground between Russia’s industrial neo-feudalism, the US State Department’s ambitions, and Germany’s neo-Lebensraum policies. Various ‘Eurasianists’ see the crisis in Kiev as a great opportunity to promote a program of full confrontation with Russia, one that is reminiscent of Z. Brzezinski’s 1970s anti-Soviet strategy. Importantly, they also see the Ukraine as an excellent excuse to torpedo America’s role in normalising relations with Iran and minimising the human cost in Syria. At the same time, the IMF cannot wait to enter Russia’s underbelly with a view to imposing another ‘stabilization-and-structural-adjustment program’ that will bring that whole part of the former Soviet Union under its purview. As for Germany, it has its own agenda which pulls its in two different directions at once: securing as much of the former Soviet Union as part of its neo-Lebensraum strategy of expanding its market/industrial space Eastwards; while, at the same time, preserving its privileged access to gas supplies from Gazprom.
As for the White House itself, there is little doubt that both President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry understand the limits of Western power and the danger that too much of a hawkish reaction to the events in the Ukraine will undermine their efforts vis-à-vis Syria and Iran, at a time when Iraq is being increasingly destabilised.
The bottom line, unfortunately, it would appear therefore that this referendum may well be the tipping point in this crisis. With a second city in Crimea revolting today, it would appear a foregone conclusion that the referendum will come down in favor of annexation which will pit Russia (forced to support its countrymen who it sees as having voted legally for self-determination) against US (cornered by comments on the legitimacy of the referendum and likely promises to Yatsnyuk) – we suspect March 16th will be the risk-off moment.
Since it’s come up, and with the information made freely available on the Internet, there are a couple of points to make. First of all, don’t you know the cold warriors are having viagra hard ons that have lasted more than 8 hours. Secondly, it’s painfully obvious to anyone who’s been paying attention that the US and the EU didn’t like the direction the democratically elected government was taking with respect to Putin government, and pulled out all the stops to reverse direction.
The Russian minority in the Western Ukraine want a government aligned with Russia, the Ukraine majority in eastern Ukraine want a government aligned with the EU, and both Russia and the EU simply want to control the flow of gas through the Ukraine.
If there has ever been a perfect time in history to form a geographical boundary between cultural disparate populations, and allow each the autonomy to control their own political and economic destiny, this is it. Neither the US and EU, nor Russia dare mention dividing the country, since it’s easier to control with one political system. Hence, too, the push for one world government, one which would hand over control of the entire world’s resources to the one worlders as spoil, at least that which isn’t controlled by them already, and it takes an ever burgeoning bureaucracy to manage such things, as witnessed in the EU.
Which makes it all the more critical for the Ukrainians to fight for their independence from Russia and the West. Maybe the banksters will loan them the money to fight against future revenues driven by pipelines passing through their country. Isn’t that how we got here?
The silver lining may be there aren’t any muslim extremists in their country, yet, threatening to blow everything up. If they’re smart, after kicking out the Russians and the West, they’ll keep the rag heads out. If they do that, nobodies going to want to take them on anyway.
We are at a crossroad of human civilization, and this is but one of the many battles that will be played out as freedom faces tyranny. It’s thrilling to be alive and to be a witness to the spectacle of the most powerful entities on the planet exposing their hand, which would not be possible without the freedom of information which the Internet provides. I don’t know the Ukrainian people, but they seem to be as modern as anyone in Russia, and they’ve come a long way since the break up of the Soviet Union.
Maybe someday the same can be said of the West after the collapse of the almighty dollar.
McCain may be the only person I hate more than Obama.
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Insane McCain needs to be removed from office, but so does Obama, Holder, Pelosi, Reid, and Hillary. They aren’t competent to run a government. Obama is calling for more deficit spending even though he’s doubled the national debt. He wants an “end to austerity” even though he’s indebted this nation more than all the other presidents before him combined.
Insane McCain has the lowest approval of all the Senator-slime, that itself has less than a 10% approval rating. The dumbshits in Arizona will probably elect him again. I think the North Vietnamese implanted a stupid chip in his brain when he was a denizen of the Hanoi Hilton. Or worse, they changed out his brain with a crocodile with Alzheimer’s.
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I’ll bet SSS’s Depends that AWD voted for this fucktard….but don’t look now, his lightbulb is on.
Iska Waran , dead on. Democrats deliver .Republicans lie.
North Korea captured McCain. Wish they would have kept him.
Dickhead Cheney made the morning rounds …. basically wants to surround Russia with missiles …. give Ukraine tanks, missiles, munitions, all they want. I wish his fake heart would give out soon.
the one poster I made in ’08 that went viral.
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North Korea captured the Mcshit-stain? Really..never heard that before?
Way back when I commented that i would have been beneficial to us/US if the McCain had been left to rot in North Vietnam SSS had a diaper indecent . I wonder how Super Sleuth will react to the Austrians wish he’d been left in North Korea?
status: hanging in supsense
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John McCain has paid his dues, earned his current position and deserves to be heard, even if his positions and ideas are for shit.
I personally wish his drift wasn’t so far right and war prone, but it doesn’t mean we have to act on them.
Have you ever been a carrier pilot, shot down, spending YEARS in a N. Korean prison camp? I thought not.
It may have made him a super-hawk, but dammititalltohell, he’s earned his right to speak and express his opinion.
If you disagree, that’s just fine — but don’t call him nasty names because he doesn’t deserve it.
MA
John McCain eats shit. He doesn’t deserve an iota of respect. He is captured by the military industrial complex. He voted for TARP. I judge a man by his actions, not his words. He is a neo-con war mongering asshole captured by the Defense industry and Wall Street.
It was North Vietnam, but Stucky shouldn’t let the facts get in his way.
He will, however, have to hand over his bb card, if he ever had one.
McCain wanted a MORE destructive Patriot Act.
McCain has been there voting for every piece of shit legislation that is currently destroying this country.
McCain may have been a POW, maybe even a “hero,” but he has totally turned his back on this country and our Constitution.
I refuse to continue to smile and rain pleasantries down upon evil just because, once upon a time, they did something not evil, or were forced to pay the price for the orders of their superiors.
Warmongers, hypocrites and traitors to our Constitution don’t deserve respect and pleasantries.
Fuck McCain and his pounding the drums of war and tyranny. He is a hypocritical asshole and our country’s future might have gone differently if he never returned home.
I’m ashamed I ever sent that fuck a dime.