This Sunday morning I watched Secretary of State John Kerry on Face the Nation. He was condemning Vladimir Putin for invading a sovereign country in violation of the United Nations Charter.
Putin is a criminal in more ways than I can say. The people of the Ukraine have every right to choose their form of government and who leads them.
However, every word Kerry uttered was exactly what the United States did when it invaded Iraq. And Bush did it by lying to the American people about the status of that nation's military capabilities.
Governments of the world must begin to listen to those who elected them. We know that ours has failed us. It's evident by Congress' approval rating, or rather their lack of it. Egypt, the Ukraine, and Turkey have set examples for the rest of the world's people. As I was growing up after WWII, the world was filled with dictators. They were expected to act in a manner that was less than beneficial to the citizens of their countries. However, when a country's leader is an elected official, and chooses to become a despot, it is both the right and an obligation for that nation's people to depose him. The people of these three countries are demonstrating to the world what a democratic form of government is all about.
Our own elected officials need to take note of the actions of people in other parts of the world. With every election we find those we put into office less interested in performing the tasks expected of them, and more interested in their own material advancement.
Although the present administration was not a part of the invasion of Iraq, they also have no right to interfere in the affairs of any sovereign nation. We have hopefully learned from our mistakes.
But, knowing the Imperialistic tendency of the government of the United States, I have little faith that the will do the right thing.
James Turnage
Op-ed
