On Sunday John Brennan, the CIA Director, paid a secret visit to the Ukraine ( http://rt.com/usa/white-house-confirms-cia-ukraine-448/ ) . Within 48 hours, Ukrainian armed services launched a controlled assault against rebel positions in the Eastern Ukraine. Repeated claims by the Ukrainian regime and its sponsors in Brussels and Washington that this is an anti-terrorist operation are distortions of reality. The rebellion in the East has genuine popular support, but the mainstream media, the USA/EU/NATO axis, and its puppet regime in the Ukraine cannot allow this fact to become widely known and understood because then people might start to ask questions, like:
'Why did the "international community" sponsor and support a violent coup by a nationalist mob against an elected government when it knew all along that half of the population, together with a closely related and powerful neighbour, would NEVER accept the outcome?'
So, rather than face the inconvenient truth - that the Ukrainian coup was a coup launched not just against the Yanukovych government, but also against a large section of the Ukrainian people - rather than allowing people to face this truth - they are feeding them another lie. Supposedly the rebels are 'terrorists', they have no genuine popular support, they are all Russian 'agents' and 'provocateurs', it is not a war against Ukrainians but against fifth-columnists and stooges - and all Putin's fault.
Except that some members of the Ukrainian armed and security forces aren't getting with the program. Soldiers and police are defecting from the regime and throwing in their lot with the rebellion ( http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_UKRAINE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-04-16-05-10-57 ). In fact, there are even reports that Ukrainian citizens - assuming that 'Russian gunmen' are not cleverly disguising themselves as unarmed working-class East Ukrainian men and women ranging in age from 16 to 60 - are confronting the Ukrainian troops. When Ukrainian troops entered Kramatorsk, their tanks were stopped in their tracks by a crowd of angry citizens. Six of the tank crews then appear to have defected and flown the Russian flag. ( http://rt.com/news/ukrainian-tanks-kramatorsk-civilians-840/ )
So let's be very clear about what is happening:
With the full support of the USA and its close allies ( http://rt.com/news/putin-ukraine-military-operation-740/ ), the Ukrainian coup regime is deploying the army against sections of the Eastern Ukrainian people who have never, and never will, support a regime that the USA played a greater role in placing into power than they did. Nor will they support a regime that turned its back on a beneficial Russian offer and sold them down the river to western bankers, that blocks Russian language television channels, downplays the Russian language, hands ministerial portfolios to fascists, and is deeply embedded in a Galician historical ethos that is completely at odds with the Russian speaking, Slavic ethos of most people in the East and South of Ukraine.
USA/EU/NATO axis supported the February 22nd nationalist coup, sacrificing the unity of the Ukraine, for their own geopolitical gain. Once the deed had been done, and the national unity agreement of February 21st crushed under Pravy Sektor boots, there were only two options left for Ukraine - fragmentation or federalism.
By supporting the coup, and abandoning the February 21st agreement, the USA/EU/NATO knew full well they were set on a collision course with Russia. On Tuesday, in a meeting in Luxembourg with EU defence ministers, NATO secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen laid down the need to strengthen co-operation between the trade bloc and the military association ( http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_EUROPE_UKRAINE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT ). According to reports, the two sides agreed that, faced with the 'Russian threat', they must extend and deepen their co-operation, continuing a process that in reality began with the Berlin Plus agreement in 2002, in which NATO essentially made itself available as a military capability for the EU.
According to the AP report:
'Rasmussen told reporters that NATO is planning a three-fold response to Moscow's actions in and around Ukraine: "reinforced defense plans, enhanced exercises and appropriate deployment" to reassure NATO member states near Russia that their allies have their back. Rasmussen declared "Russia's hand" is clearly visible in Ukraine.'
Well, if Russia's 'hand' is in the Ukraine, then at least it has strong economic, cultural and historical reasons for doing so. Quite what business the USA/EU/NATO axis has in putting an arm and a leg in the Ukraine, helping depose an elected regime and directing military assaults against its civilians, is another question entirely.
Yet in the footsteps of Napoleon and Hitler, the new imperial masters continue their eastward march...
Lionel Reynolds is an independent analyst who maintains the Dispatches From the Empire blog - www.dispatchesfromempire.com
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