Last week Congress overwhelmingly passed a bill approving a billion dollars
in aid to Ukraine and more sanctions on Russia. The bill will likely receive
the president's signature within days. If you think this is the last time US
citizens will have their money sent to Ukraine, you should think again. This
is only the beginning.
This $1 billion for Ukraine is a rip-off for the America taxpayer, but it
is also a bad deal for Ukrainians. Not a single needy Ukrainian will see a
penny of this money, as it will be used to bail out international banks who
hold Ukrainian government debt. According to the terms of the International
Monetary Fund (IMF)-designed plan for Ukraine, life is about to get much more
difficult for average Ukrainians. The government will freeze some wage increases,
significantly raise taxes, and increase energy prices by a considerable margin.
But the bankers will get paid and the IMF will get control over the Ukrainian
economy.
The bill also authorizes more US taxpayer money for government-funded "democracy
promotion" NGOs, and more money to broadcast US government propaganda into
Ukraine via Radio Free Europe and Voice of America. It also includes some saber-rattling,
directing the US Secretary of State to "provide enhanced security cooperation
with Central and Eastern European NATO member states."
The US has been "promoting democracy" in Ukraine for more than ten years
now, but it doesn't seem to have done much good. Recently a democratically-elected
government was overthrown by violent protestors. That is the opposite of democracy,
where governments are changed by free and fair elections. What is shocking
is that the US government and its NGOs were on the side of the protestors!
If we really cared about democracy we would not have taken either side, as
it is none of our business.
Washington does not want to talk about its own actions that led to the coup,
instead focusing on attacking the Russian reaction to US-instigated unrest
next door to them. So the new bill passed by Congress will expand sanctions
against Russia for its role in backing a referendum in Crimea, where most of
the population voted to join Russia. The US, which has participated in the
forced change of borders in Serbia and elsewhere, suddenly declares that international
borders cannot be challenged in Ukraine.
Of course, those who disagree with me and others like me who are less than
gung-ho about sanctions, manipulating elections, and sending our troops overseas
are criticized as somehow being unpatriotic. It happened before when so many
of us were opposed to the Iraq war, the US attack on Libya, and elsewhere.
And it is happening again to those of us not eager to get in another cold --
or hot -- war with Russia over a small peninsula that means absolutely nothing
to the US or its security.
I would argue that real patriotism is defending this country and making sure
that our freedoms are not undermined here. Unfortunately, while so many are
focused on freedoms in Crimea and Ukraine, the US Congress is set to pass an
NSA "reform" bill that will force private companies to retain our personal
data and make it even
easier for the NSA to spy on the rest of us. We need to refocus our priorities
toward promoting liberty in the United States!
