Post-9/11 U.S. Conflicts Killed Over 4.5 Million People - how many victims will post-2014/2022 Ukraine add to the count?

by Greg Krasovsky

May 23, 2023

"Post-9/11 U.S. Conflicts Killed Over 4.5 Million People"

Food for thought, especially for
 
1. U.S. and NATO countries' citizens, voters, taxpayers and military personnel,
 
2. Russian and Ukrainian citizens, voters, taxpayers and military personnel,
   
3. Ukrainian government decision makers (albeit with very limited independent authority under U.S. control) who approved

a. the receipt and use of depleted Uranium rounds on Ukrainian soil (ignoring the injuries and damage done by these rounds in Iraq and Serbia)  
 
b. the shelling of Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Station after it was occupied by Russian troops (ignoring the lessons of Chernobyl, Fukushima and Three Mile Island nuclear plants),
 
c. the termination of negotiations with Russia in April of 2022 (leading to needless Ukrainian civilian and military deaths that may have exceeded 100K by now)
 
d. the rejection of Russian proposals (demands) in the fall of 2021 that could have averted the current military conflict and all associated loss of life, health and property, including critical infrastructure
 
FYI, those Russian demands consisted of 

i. No NATO membership for Ukraine,

ii. No NATO troops, weapons or military bases in Ukraine,

iii. No Nuclear, Chemical or Biological weapons and related facilities in Ukraine,

iv. Good-faith fulfillment of the Minsk Agreements (including the Steinmeyer road-map/formula), including

- stopping the shelling of Donetsk/Lugansk People's Republics (D/LNR)

- providing amnesty to D/LNR citizens, government & military officials & supporters,

- Providing decentralization & increased autonomy to D/LNR within Ukraine, including
    -- rights to use Russian language as an official language and
    -- rights to elect & appoint local government officials in all three branches of local government.

 
e. To allow / order the Ukrainian military to turn Ukrainian towns and cities (Mariupol, Bakhmut, Severodonetsk and etc.) into military battlefields knowing that this would not stop the Russian military advance but would destroy these cities and make them look like Dresden or Stalingrad in WWII

3. U.S. decision makers (elected & appointed government officials and, more importantly their private-sector sponsors/benefactors/owners/controllers) who 

a. rejected in Fall of 2021 Russian demands regarding NATO and Ukraine (see above).
 
b. decided that turning Ukraine into a 

  (i) militarized anti-Russian puppet state with
     - virulent Russophobia and associated discriminatory laws,
     - radical Ukrainian nationalist ideology and
     - neo-Nazi paramilitary groups and members/sympathizers in the Ukrainian military, law enforcement and security services,  and
 
   (ii) US/NATO forpost, if not a launching pad, for installing a Pro-US/EU/NATO government in Russia through enacting/facilitating regime change (removal of President Putin from office)  

was the major or only way to pressure/force/convince Russia (by political, economic, military and even cultural means) from being/staying/becoming China's junior ally/partner in a political/economic/military confrontation with the United States (since China with Russia as its junior ally becomes unbeatable/unstoppable).  
 
c. Ordered the Zelensky government to stop peace negotiations with Russia in April of 2022
 
d. Continue to flood Ukraine with weapons for the purposes of

(i) weakening Russia militarily, economically and politically at the expense of Ukraine's soldiers, citizens, economy and infrastructure
 
(ii) making money from arms sales / transfers (the NATO Intelligence & Military Industrial Complex is doing great at the expense of NATO & Ukrainian citizens, voters and taxpayers)

e. Risk the start of WWIII by 

(i) supplying Ukraine with long-range weapons (artillery, missiles, drones and soon aircraft) which are then used by the Ukrainian military to attack military and civilian targets in territory now claimed by both Russia and Ukraine (Crimea, Lugansk, Donetsk),
 
(ii) approving (if not ordering) Ukrainian strikes against military and civilian targets on undisputed Russian soil (e.g. Belgorod and Kursk regions of Russia),
 
(iii) not condemning (if not approving / facilitating / ordering) Ukrainian accomplished and attempted assassinations of Russian citizens and anti-Ukrainian ideologues (Daria Dugina, Vladlen Tatarsky (Maxim Fomin) and Zakhar Prilepin) on Russian soil.
   
(iv) not condemning Ukrainian

- shelling of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Station and attempts to retake it by force, risking a leak of radioactive materials worse than Chernobyl

- Drone attack on Kurskaya Nuclear Power Station (located in Russia) on April 26, 2023 

(v) Conducting dangerous dual-use research (incl. gain of function research) on dangerous (lethal & highly contagious) pathogens (viruses, bacteria and other organisms) in U.S. managed and funded bio-laboratories in Ukraine.  

4. Citizens and key decision makers (in government, business and organized religion) of non-NATO/EU countries who

a. have observed the current proxy / hybrid military conflict (war?),

b. can honestly ascertain and properly analyze its causes, means and goals (for all sides), and
 
c. will make prudent adjustments to their countries' foreign policy to protect their countries' interests, independence and security in today's post-Cold War world.

What do you think? 

How many victims will post-2014/2022 Ukraine add to the count?

And what can we all do to minimize the needless & avoidable loss of life in Ukraine?

***

Post-9/11 U.S. Conflicts Killed Over 4.5 Million People
May 17, 2023

The author of a study on the people killed indirectly by the War on Terror calls on the U.S. to step up reconstruction and assistance efforts in post-9/11 war zones. 

...
The new report from the Costs of War Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs shows “how death outlives war” by examining people killed indirectly by the War on Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.

“In a place like Afghanistan, the pressing question is whether any death can today be considered unrelated to war,” Stephanie Savell, Costs of War co-director and author of the report, said in a statement. 

“Wars often kill far more people indirectly than in direct combat, particularly young children.”

The publication “reviews the latest research to examine the causal pathways that have led to an estimated 3.6-3.7 million indirect deaths in post-9/11 war zones,”

while “the total death toll in these war zones could be at least 4.5-4.6 million and counting, though the precise mortality figure remains unknown.”

As The Washington Post — which first reported on the analysis — details:

    “Since 2010, a team of 50 scholars, legal experts, human rights practitioners, and physicians participating in theCosts of War project have kept their own calculations.

According to their latest assessment, more than 906,000 people, including 387,000 civilians, died directly from post-9/11 wars.

Another 38 million people have been displaced or made refugees.

The U.S. federal government, meanwhile, has spent over $8 trillion on these wars, the research suggests.

    But Savell said the research indicates that exponentially more people, especially children and the most impoverished and marginalized populations, have been killed by the effects of war—

- mounting poverty,
- food insecurity,
- environmental contamination,
- the ongoing trauma of violence, and
- the destruction of health and public infrastructure, along with private property and means of livelihood.”

According to the report, “The large majority of indirect war deaths occur due to

- malnutrition,
- pregnancy and birth-related problems, and
- many illnesses including
   -- infectious diseases and
   -- noncommunicable diseases like cancer.”

One 2012 study found that more than half of the babies born in the Iraqi city of Fallujah between 2007 and 2010 had birth defects.

Among the pregnant woman surveyed in the study, more than 45 percent experienced miscarriages in the two-year period following the 2004 U.S. assaults on Fallujah.

Geiger counter readings of depleted uranium-contaminated sites in densely populated Iraqi urban areas have consistently shown radiation levels that are 1,000 to 1,900 times higher than normal.

The study also found that some deaths “also result from injuries due to war’s destruction of infrastructure such as traffic signals and from reverberating trauma and interpersonal violence.”

Savell said that “warring parties who damage infrastructure with an impact on population health have a moral responsibility to provide quick and effective assistance and repairs.”

“The United States government, while not solely responsible for the damage, has a significant obligation to invest in humanitarian assistance and reconstruction in post-9/11 war zones,” she added.

“The U.S. government could do far more than it currently is to act on this responsibility.”

Please read the entire article at:

https://consortiumnews.com/2023/05/17/post-9-11-us-conflicts-killed-over-4-5-million-people/

***
 

 

War? It's all about taking, keeping & controlling Natural Resources - in/on/under/over land, water and air - and Human Resources, including the Souls of Men.

War? It's all about taking, keeping & controlling Natural Resources - in/on/under/over land, water and air  - and Human Resources, including the Souls of Men.

Greg Krasovsky

December 6, 2022

When I read Chief Crowfoot of Blackfoot Confederacy's quote (see below),

"As a present we will give you anything you can take with you, but we cannot give you the land.”

I couldn't help but think about the real causes of the current military conflict in Ukraine.
 
Why?
 
All wars are about land, water, natural resources, and human resources, including the faiths of men.
 
Russia is the world's biggest country (in terms of land mass), has the highest / biggest amount of valuable natural resources, occupies a strategic position in and between Europe & Asia and a population of only 140 million people.
 
If you don't understand that in today's world Russia is the biggest target for a "hostile takeover" -- under any acceptable pretense -- for its resources, then you don't understand "realpolitik" of modern geopolitics.
 
Moreover, as long as Russia remains an independent junior partner & ally of China, China stays unbeatable and will become the world's biggest and strongest superpower, especially if it's joined by BRICS states and other major countries in the developing world.

Who needs more reasons to risk an attempt to bring Russia under control?
 
So, from an economic, political, and military point of view, who's big & strong enough to attempt a hostile takeover of Russia today?

To be brutally honest, only one group / alliance: U.S.A, EU (NATO), including their allies, UK & its former colonies (Canada, Australia, and tiny New Zealand).
 
Since no one (in their right mind) wants a nuclear war with Russia (since it has arguably the world's biggest nuclear arsenal), that only leaves traditional (conventional) military conflict combined with economic warfare (sanctions), political, cultural, and even religious strategy, tactics and pressure often referred to as hybrid warfare.

But you need a strong reason to start this type of hybrid conflict and sell it to the US/EU/UK/NATO populations, businesses and politicians (you don't need to sell it to their Military-Industrial-Complex) -- especially since this type of conflict, while in its active phase will cause serious, albeit hopefully temporary, economic problems, including recessions (depressions), inflation, shortages of energy carriers (oil, natural gas, electricity) and even food.

When the potential prize (Russia and its wealth) is worth it -- especially for billionaires & their Transnational Financial-Industrial Groups [FIGs that control Western governments, politicians & political parties, industry, including entertainment and News Media (both mainstream and social media now)] -- who cares if the "hostile / hybrid take-over" will cause billions of people to suffer from inflation, unemployment, and shortages (food, energy & other resources).

After all, it's not the very rich, but ordinary people from the middle and working classes who will pay the price -- both economically and with their lives and blood on the battlefields.
 
So, what's an acceptable reason for starting a war to gain control over Russia that's "sell-able" to the Western populations given the above costs?

That's right folks, our UKRAINE!
 
This is why those of us who specialize and/or work in applied geopolitics and understand how these transnational FIGs work their magic on local & global populations knew since 2014 that Ukraine was to be used as a staging ground (launching pad) for the future war with Russia.
 
This is why I, as a Ukrainian, Russian, American, Jewish Nigerian stopped supporting U.S. policy toward Ukraine and Russia after spending two months (May & June 2014) in Lugansk.

I saw firsthand how 

- the Ukrainian Army & paramilitaries committed horrific numerous war-crimes against the local pro-Russian population -- crimes committed with U.S. knowledge and support while the Western supposedly-free (FIG / corporate owned) press stayed silent or lied about who was committing the vast majority of atrocities.
 
- our U.S. government put its money on radical Western Ukrainian Nationalists (who hated Russians and supported former Nazi war criminals & collaborators) to gain control of Ukraine, tear its population, industry, and culture away from Russia and turn it into a Russo-phobic project that would produce local foot soldiers for the future war with Russia and meat-grinder on Ukrainian battlefields.

- the U.S. controlled Ukrainian Presidents & governments since 2014 refused to end the war in Eastern Ukraine, even based on signed Minsk accords & Steinmeier roadmap.

Why refuse to end a seemingly unwinnable civil war in Eastern Ukraine, especially when both sides are receiving foreign military assistance? 

Two simple reasons:

(1) War is very profitable.

You can sell weapons & other services to the military, take bribes, kickbacks, steal money & weapons, re-sell them, and write off a lot of stolen stuff as destroyed in warfare.
 
You can also make a lot of money from and steal even humanitarian aid, including for reconstruction, through corruption and theft.

(2) The U.S. controlled Ukrainian governments did not want an amnestied pro-Russian electorate from the Eastern Ukrainian coal-mining region (Donbass) with new limited autonomy to rejoin Ukrainian politics and potentially vote for a Pro-Russian government or stage another government coup like in 2014, but in favor of Pro-Russian forces.

So from 2014 until today the Ukrainian government, its security forces, military and paramilitaries did the following to Donetsk and Lugansk regions (Donbass) of Eastern Ukraine and pro-Russian populations elsewhere in Ukraine:

1. The Ukrainian Army shelled civilian areas, destroyed civilian infrastructure, and killed innocent civilians -- including the elderly, women and children -- without any fear of retribution or prosecution.

   - Local people were left without electricity, clean running water, heat, affordable food, consumer products and medical care.

2. The elderly were left without Ukrainian government pensions and state-provided free medical care, and many died, including from stress, lack of medical care & medicines, unsanitary living conditions and poor nutrition.

3. Ukraine enacted an economic blockade of Donbass. leading to shortages and destruction of local industry.

4. Laws were enacted against freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion, which restricted any Pro-Russian activities or movements.
 
5. Suspected Pro-Russian activists, sympathizers and alleged separatists were detained, beaten, tortured, imprisoned and/or killed not only by Ukrainian law enforcement, security, and military forces, but also by Radical Ukrainian paramilitary groups, including those with Neo-Nazi ideology.
 
6. Ukrainian Eastern Orthodox churches that reported to the Moscow patriarchate were seized, priests & parishioners beaten, kidnapped and some killed.
 
7. Laws were enacted against the Russian language, including its use in media, business and politics and its instruction in schools. 

- Anyone who publicly defended the Russian language or proposed its status as a second official language of Ukraine was branded a Russian / Kremlin / Putin agent and subject to persecution.

8. Ukrainian assets belonging to Russian corporations, including with partial state ownership, were confiscated.

9. Ukraine was given NATO weapons and military training on Ukrainian soil by NATO instructors
    
10. Perhaps the worst and most dangerous program was the U.S. run & managed biological laboratory program -- allegedly to study local pathogens, but in reality, to perform gain-of-function research on potential biological weapons (or, as some would say, on biological weapons with potential)  

    
In the summer and fall of 2021 I watched with horror as Russia warned Ukraine and its U.S. overlords that the following would lead to Russia taking military action:

- continued shelling of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.
 
- Ukraine joining NATO, allowing NATO bases or NATO troops on its soil.

- Ukraine allowing any NATO missile systems, including dual-purpose anti-ballistic missiles, to be placed on its territory.

In response, the U.S.

 - refused to accept Russia's reasonable demands (regarding keep Ukraine out of NATO and NATO out of Ukraine)

 - continued its biological laboratory program, and

 - allowed Ukraine's president Zelensky to start talking about Ukraine not only joining NATO, but also re-acquiring nuclear weapons.    

   
Since the military conflict started on February 24, 2022, I've watched with sadness 

- loss of human life on both sides

- war crimes and crimes against humanity, including those intentionally ignored or lied about by main-stream media
 
- destruction of civilian infrastructure
 
- intentional turning of residential and industrial areas into battle zones, leading to their destruction and loss of civilian lives
 
- Intentional Ukrainian shelling of Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (biggest in Europe) sever since the Russian military took control of it.

-- This means that the Zelensky Administration and its U.S. overlords are willing to use a nuclear "incident" (i.e., intentional release of radioactive materials by shelling / bombing / drone / missile) to justify additional NATO involvement in Ukraine and/or to prevent further Russian advances into Ukraine.  

- intentional destruction & shelling of chemical facilities by the Ukrainian army, releasing dangerous chemicals into the atmosphere and endangering thousands of civilian lives
   
- intentional targeting of residential areas to punish the local population for their alleged support of Russia and/pr Pro-Russian Ukrainian Separatists

- use of civilians as human shields, including by preventing their evacuation from war zones
 
- expanded use of Nazi symbols, patches, and memorabilia by Ukrainian soldiers

- beating, torture and murder of prisoners of war
 
- Encouragement of Russophobia and radical Ukrainian Nationalism (including supremacist ideology)
 
- Western politicians outright lying about the status and causes of the current military conflict in Ukraine and what's needed to end it (negotiated settlement)

- Western Mainstream media ignoring Ukrainian misconduct, lying about the state of affairs and even spreading outright fake news about Russian actions preceding and during this conflict

- Western social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram) and search engines (Google, Bing) actively censoring & removing content that doesn't agree with current USA/EU/NATO/UA Anti-Russian narrative

 
Why should all of us be alarmed?
 
Because if these insane globalists have it their way -- continued war in Ukraine (that could expand easily to neighboring states) to weaken and eventually assume control over Russia -- then we're likely to face a realistic prospect of World War III.

Remember, WW III doesn't need to start with a nuclear salvo - it can start with NATO states or troops getting deployed, launching attacks and/or fighting on Ukrainian or Russian soil, airspace, or territorial waters.
 
But WW III will likely end with the use of nuclear weapons (including "dirty" bombs or missiles), biological weapons or even chemical weapons.

Let's hope that WW III never starts, but if it does, that the horror from even the limited use of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons will end the conflict before it threatens the existence of the entire human race.
 
***

Pomu
Facebook
December 4, 2022 at 8:17 AM
 
"Crowfoot stood and watched as the white man spread many one dollar bills on the ground.

“This is what the white man trades with; this is his buffalo robe. Just as you trade skins, we trade with these pieces of paper.”

When the white chief had laid all his money on the ground and shown how much he would give if the Indians would sign a treaty, Crowfoot took a handful of clay, made a ball out of it and put it on the fire.

It did not crack.

Then he said to the white man, Now put your money on the fire and see if it will last as long as the clay.

The white man said, No….my money will burn because it is made of paper.

With an amused gleam in his eyes the old chief said, Oh, your money is not as good as our land, is it?

The wind will blow it away; the fire will burn it; water will rot it. But nothing will destroy our land.

You don’t make a very good trade.

Then with a smile, Crowfoot picked up a handful of sand from the river bank, handed it to the white man and said, You count the grains of sand in that while I count the money you give for the land.

The white man said, I would not live long enough to count this, but you can count the money in a few minutes.

Very well, said the wise Crowfoot, our land is more valuable than your money. It will last forever.

It will not perish as long as the sun shines and the water flows, and through all the years it will give life to men and animals, and therefore we cannot sell the land.

It was put there by the Great Spirit and we cannot sell it because it does not really belong to us.

You can count your money and burn it with a nod of a buffalo’s head, but only the Great Spirit can count the grains of sand and the blades of grass on these plains.

As a present we will give you anything you can take with you, but we cannot give you the land.”

Chief Crowfoot : Blackfoot Confederacy

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid029KsvgbGbxXtgDKGbhD2y6x6y7DCVTpNSpTkyFcLG8ZWMxkFq3wjPiopPwyeLAwY5l&id=100081970904593

***

Modern Ukraine: What's just and democratic - a people's right to self-determination in the face of authoritarian dictates or a post-Soviet state's insistence on immutable territorial integrity?

 

Modern Ukraine: What's just and democratic - a people's right to self-determination in the face of authoritarian dictates or a post-Soviet state's insistence on immutable territorial integrity?

Gregory Krasovsky

February 24, 2022

  

I don't often cite or share articles from CounterPunch (see below), but when I do...it's just food for thought.
 
BTW, the American in me has always favored a people's right to self-determination -- which, IMHO should be applied honestly, fairly, without bias and consistently -- over a country's government-protected right to territorial integrity.
 
So does the Ukrainian in me who spent the first four years of his life living in a coal-mining village near the city of Luhansk in the Donetsk Coal Basin (Donbas) of Eastern Ukraine.
   
But throughout history, Monarchs, Emperors, Kings & Queens, Kaisers, Caesars, Tsars, Sultans, Khans, Pharaohs and many a Supreme Leader or just a local Feudal Lord cringed at the concept of a people's right to self-determination and tried to nip in the bud or chop off that pesky thought whenever it started to rear its democracy-oriented head.

What? You people think that you can just hold a people's referendum and leave my/or country, kingdom, empire, republic, or union?
 
Without my/our permission?

How dare you?

Who gave you the right?
 
What makes you people think that you can make this decision locally without getting the approval of the rest of us (who don't live in your land) and our government/sovereign?
 
How ungrateful can you be for all that I/we have done for you?
 
How can you betray my/our rule and state?
 
Would you leave our state and then plot or ally against us with our enemies?

   
Doesn't this sound like some dialogue right out of the Game of Thrones?
 
Forget about Hollywood!
 
Remember when the African slaves rebelled in Haiti against France back around 1802?

And France instituted a naval blockade of Haiti -- with the support of newly founded democratic U.SA., whose Southern states (full of plantations & African Slaves) got a little worried that the Haitian revolt might become contagious?

And then demanded that the Haitian slaves pay France in reparations the market cost for each slave?

And milked Haiti until the 20th century without any U.S. objections even after slavery ended in the U.S. after the Civil War in 1865?
 
What happened to the Haitian slaves' right to freedom and self-determination?
 
The Vietnamese learned that as well when they had to fight against their French colonial masters after WWII.
 
What about Native/Indigenous Americans ("American Indians")?

Would today's America, after the Civil Rights Movement (50+ years have already passed!), BLM, Critical Race Theory (CRT) and WOKE-ism, ever permit a Native American tribe to exercise their right to self-determination, become truly sovereign from the U.S. and live independently of our country?
 
Remember when during President Obama's term in office (Hilary Clinton was the Secretary of State), a Native American tribe from Upstate New York and Canada wanted to travel to England for the World Lacrosse championship (a Native American game, by the way) with their Native American Passports?
 
And even though the British were willing to let them enter the UK with those passports, the post-9/11/01 U.S. would not provide written guarantees that it would permit these Native Americans to re-enter the U.S. (presumably at JFK airport) with these non-U.S. passports ("What if they're Al Qaeda?") in transit to their reservations (tribal lands)?
 
After all, America
 

- supported Taiwan in its independence & refusal to rejoin communist China,
 
- encouraged & facilitated the break-up of the Soviet Union,

- Supported the Tibetan people's struggle for independence from Communist China,
 
- encouraged the break-up of former communist/socialist Serbian-ruled Yugoslavia (into Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and [North] Macedonia) and then helped Kosovo separate from Serbia (Pro-Russian) with a massive bombing campaign & war that killed thousands of civilians,
 
- Encouraged the Chechen war for the Republic of Ichkeria's independence against Russia (even though it was funded and partially fought by Islamists, Wahhabis, and some of those who survived went on later to join Al Qaeda and ISIS)

- Eventually supported East Timur's independence from Indonesia,
 
- helped South Sudan (with oil deposits) separate from the North.

 
But then again, America did NOT help and opposed (either actively or tacitly/surreptitiously)
 

- Southern Nigeria (with recently discovered oil deposits) gain its independence from the predominantly Muslim Northern Nigeria and supported the federal Nigerian government in the brutal Biafran War (over 1 million civilians killed in the South) only 7 years after Nigeria won its independence from the U.K.    
 
- The Palestinians establish their own state next door to Israel,
 
- Abkhazians (Pro-Russian Muslim folks) and Southern Ossetians (Pro-Russian with most of their ethnos living in Russian Ossetia next door) gain their autonomy and independence from Post-Soviet Georgia in the early 1990s.

   
Forget about America, just look at all the recent conflicts about a people's right to self-determination and their own country (or desire to join another country), such as

• Northern Ireland,
• Scottish referendum to leave the U.K.,
• Catalonia in Spain, 
• Basque country in Spain,
• The French Canadian's struggle for autonomy in Quebec, 
• Zapatista movement in Chiapas, Mexico, 
• The Kurds' struggle for statehood/autonomy in Turkey, Syria and Iraq 
• Western Sahara struggle for independence from Morocco,  
• East Timur's recently won independence from Indonesia, 
• The Shiite Houthi struggle for power and autonomy in Yemen against the Saudi Arabia backed  
• The Muslim Rohingya people's struggle for equal rights in Burma/Myanmar, 
• The Sikh people’s desire to create an independent state from India in Punjab called Khalistan, 
• The Tamil Tigers' struggle to create an independent state, Eelam, in Sri Lanka,   

and etc.    

By now, you probably get the picture.

The U.S. and its allies, including many European countries, who publicly profess to be the staunchest defenders of freedom, human rights & democracy world-wide, end up being very selective -- depending on geopolitics and money from natural resources -- when it comes to supporting a people's right to self-determination of statehood.
 
Western Democracies will support independence movements world-wide only when it fits their geopolitical objectives and/or profitable.

Otherwise, Western Democracies, like most other states, will support territorial integrity (i.e. government/state power over people).  
 
Just imagine Texans voting to leave the U.S.!

Even if the residents of Texas voted 99% to leave the Union, you'd see the full power of the U.S. military remind them how the Confederate States were brought back during the American Civil War in 1861-1865, even though modern Texas doesn't have slaves but just more conservative Republicans than most "Northern" States!
 
The recent situations in East and Central Europe since 1991 are not different, including Ukraine since 2014.

As an example of double-standards, I'd bet my bottom dollar that America and its NATO/EU allies would have supported a pro-Western Anti-Russian L’viv or Carpathian People's Republic if in 2014 "Pro-Russian" Ukrainian President Yanukovich managed to hold on to power and Western Ukraine tried to declare "governmental sovereignty" (i.e. autonomy) against the Ukrainian government.

Which is what the Pro-Russian Luhansk & Donetsk People's Republics did in 2014 (citing the illegal overthrow of lawfully & democratically elected President Yanukovich).

So did the Pro-Russian population of Crimea, who wasn't happy with being transferred to Ukraine by Soviet leader Khrushchev in 1954 and did not want to stay in post-Yanukovich Ukraine governed by Pro-American and Anti-Russian Ukrainian Nationalists.

They exercised the people's right to self-determination.  

Should the people of regions that were un-democratically and forcefully incorporated into modern Ukraine by totalitarian Soviet communist / Bolshevik regimes & leaders (like Lenin, Stalin and Khrushchev) be allowed to hold referendums on what country they want their regions to re-join (if not create their own mini-state), like Poland (1939), Slovakia (1945), Hungary (1945), Romania (1945) and/or Russia (1922 and 1954)?
      
So in light of all that, what's the solution?
 
For Ukraine and for any other independence/autonomy/self-governance movement mentioned above?
    
Just as important, how should the United States, its people and allies consistently treat the people's right to self-determination, both at home and abroad, with respect to democratic principles and inalienable human rights?

What do you think?
 
As always, please don't forget to comment and share for thought & discussion!
 
***
 
The Territorial Integrity of States vs. the Self-Determination of Peoples.
by John Whitbeck
CounterPunch
February 24, 2022
 
Two often-cited principles, each with established roots in international law, are frequently in conflict — the territorial integrity of states and the self-determination of peoples.
 
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/24/the-territorial-integrity-of-states-vs-the-self-determination-of-peoples/
 
*** 

The world-wide ramifications of war in Ukraine and what can be done to prevent it.

The world-wide ramifications of war in Ukraine and what can be done to prevent it.

February 20, 2022

   

Greg Krasovsky:

 

After reading some articles this Sunday evening on the current Ukrainian crisis, including on

 

1. Joe Biden’s predictions that Russian will invade Ukraine soon, based on unnamed intelligence sources and data, as well as the alleged numbers of Russian troops involved in military maneuvers/war games near Ukraine’s land and maritime borders with Russia and Belarus.

 

2. American, British, German and other EU-states’ warnings to Russia of certain imposition of the most severe economic sanctions in the event Russian invades Ukraine.

 

3. Donetsk & Luhansk People’s Republics (DNR & LNR, the separatist Pro-Russian regions in Eastern Ukraine who’ve been at war with the Ukrainian government since 2014) and Russian media reports of Ukrainian armed forces pre-offensive build-up

 

4. Recent arrival of up to 9,000 US troops in Eastern Poland near the Ukrainian border.

 

5. Relocation of US embassy and other Pro-US countries from Ukraine’s capital Kyiv (Kiev) to Lviv.

 

6. The Polish government’s recommendation to its citizens in Ukraine to leave regions likely to be occupied by Russia or Pro-Russian Ukrainian forces.

 

7. The DNR/LNR evacuation of all women, children and the elderly to Russia due to increased shelling by Ukrainian forces and likely “invasion” (attempt to retake DNR/LNR by force in the upcoming days/weeks) and the Russian government’s creation of a country-wide relocation program for these Donbas (Donetsk Coal Basin) refugees.

 

I felt that it was important to share my thoughts (without passing any judgment) on what could happen if war starts in Ukraine this month or even year:

 

Regardless of who provokes it (Ukrainians with US/NATO support/orders, or DNR/LNR with Russian support/orders) and the frontlines move west of the current armistice line in Eastern Ukraine's Donbass, then the Western Ukrainian city of L’viv (AKA Lvov, former Polish Lemberg until the Nazi-Soviet partition of Poland in 1939, only 50+ miles away from the current Polish-Ukrainian border), is likely to become the new capital of Pro-American free Ukraine.

 

And L’viv will be protected by Polish and American troops who'll have an immediate mandate to protect the American Embassy that has just been "relocated" (evacuated) to L’viv from Kyiv. 

 

A little later more NATO reinforcements will arrive from nearby countries with very strong anti-Russian sentiments, like Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as well as British and Canadian troops.

 

The Polish government has just advised its citizens to leave specific Ukrainian regions that it believes will be under Russian occupation ("liberation, comrades!"), so looks like the partition of Ukraine is being drawn up as we speak.

 

Here's the kicker:

 

If and when the Russians invade -- or help support a new "neutral" (i.e. pro-Russian) government in Kiev (just like America helped install a Pro-American Ukrainian government back in 2014) -- you're going to have three huge disasters:

 

1. Huge wave of Ukrainian asylum seekers in the EU, US, Canada and UK.

 

I'm talking about millions of Ukrainians who'll flee Ukraine for a better life under the justification of opposing the new Pro-Russian government and threat of persecution as pro-US/NATO/EU Ukrainian patriots.

 

The 2015 Syrian refugee influx will pale in comparison with this 2022 Ukrainian Tsunami which will wreck labor markets and put a strain on the government budgets of accepting states.

 

Local populations -- especially those affected/displaced/laid-off by cheap Ukrainian refugee labor and the chronically unemployed locals who'll be resentful of the generous government benefits that Ukrainian refugees will receive -- will protest both on the streets and in the voting booth.

 

Many will aim their anger at their domestic governments' support of US/NATO/EU policy toward Ukraine that precipitated the current crisis -- including the 2014 US-led regime change operation in Kiev that installed a Pro-American/NATO/EU government and has refused to comply with the Minsk Agreements (Protocol) and the Steinmeier formula for their implementation. 

   

2. A New Ukrainian "Eastern front" & subsequent armistice line between Pro-NATO Western Ukraine and the new Pro-Russian Central, South and Eastern Ukraine.

 

This will make the 2014-2022 Eastern Ukrainian conflict pale in comparison, as it will suck in NATO troops and provide NATO states with reasons for helping the current (2014-2022) Ukrainian government try to regain territories lost in 2022 (aside from DNR / LNR and Crimea lost in 2014).

 

Lots of military spending, buildup and eventual war with Pro-Russian Ukrainian forces and Russian troops supporting them with all ensuing military and geopolitical ramifications (including risk of unleashing tactical nuclear weapons or nuclear disasters/sabotage/terrorism at Ukrainian nuclear power-plants in former Chernobyl).

 

3. A worldwide-economic recession/depression triggered by

- the Ukrainian military conflict,

- geopolitical moves & consequences among the superpowers and their political, economic and military alliances (US/NATO, EU, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Russia & its CIS (former Soviet Republics) allies, BRICS countries, China, North Korea)

- anti-Russian sanctions, and their impact on oil & gas prices as well as major currencies (Russian ruble, US dollar, EURO, GB Pound Sterling and Chinese Yuan/Renminbi),

- impact of the above on financial markets, especially in light of

-- massive government debt incurred during the COVID-19 epidemic by the U.S. and other countries,

-- high oil, gas & electricity prices,

-- inflation, especially in consumer goods, namely food stuffs.

 

This could make the 2008 and 1998 global recessions look like child play during 

(a) the current COVID-19 pandemic (even if waning), including the increasing number of casualties from COVID-19 complications (vaccines and Long COVID), as well as 

(b) the likelihood of new pandemics in the near future (especially when these future pandemics are being “predicted” by very rich & powerful people who just happen to be big advocates of reducing the world’s human population ASAP – one way or the other?).

 

So, what’s the only way to avoid war in Ukraine and the economic & political tsunami that it will unleash world-wide?

 

For some of my answers & thoughts on this, please take a look at this Ukrainian-Russian-American Observer post (the discussion starts with “So what's the solution? My opinion is that Ukraine can only thrive and develop if it”):

 

       https://ura-observer.blogspot.com/2022/02/russias-invasion-of-ukraine.html

 

As always, please let me know your suggestions & comments and don't forget to share for consideration & discussion!

Dethroning Ukraine’s Oligarchs: A How-To Guide...

Greg Krasovsky's comments on Foreign Policy's "Dethroning Ukraine’s Oligarchs: A How-To Guide":

- I agree, It's bad news when an oligarchy controls the government and even the fourth estate (journalists and news media) in a country where opposition groups can be persecuted under the guise of fighting terrorism, separatism and foreign aggression.

- How can you talk about dethroning oligarchs when an oligarch is the president of Ukraine?

- the recent anti-offshore media coverage, including that on the Panama Papers, already has demonstrated the selective nature of Western "deoffshorization" anti-money laundering and anti-corruption efforts,

- For decades, if not centuries, America and its allies have supported friendly oligarchs and dictators throughout the world -- oligarchs who opposed American policy have been vilified and undermined.

If the current anti-corruption/oligarch drive is aimed primarily or exclusively at pro-Russian or anti-US/EU/NATO oligarchs, then the Ukrainian people may end up with a truly untouchable new class of oligarchs who will enjoy Western protection and indulgences.

   

- If the present breed of Ukrainian oligarchs is replaced by transnational financial groups who will benefit from privatization and government contracts (to spend moneys borrowed from foreign creditors like the IMF, World Bank and etc.) while avoiding domestic taxation by using formally legal tax avoidance schemes, then the Ukrainian people -- who at the end will be end up repaying those foreign loans from their taxes and social benefits just like the citizens of Greece -- will have jumped from the frying pan into the fire. 

- As long as Ukrainian oligarchs have a "get out of jail card," refuge and a place to stash their wealth either in the West (US/Europe), North (Russia) or even the rising East, any Ukrainian domestic anti-corruption/tax evasion/money laundering efforts will have very limited effect, especially when foreign money is allowed to seep into Ukraine's political system and buy corrupt politicians and civil servants. 

  

- Given to the reality of today's geopolitics concerning Ukraine, Ukrainian citizens, voters and taxpayers are forced to choose the lesser of two evils: supporting either pro-US/EU/NATO oligarchs and their pocket politicians or the pro-Russian variety. 

  

What is the true lesser evil is not something that Ukrainians should expect to learn from domestic and foreign establishment media or so-called think-tanks -- including Foreign Policy (a self-proclaimed "Trusted Advisor for Global Leaders When the Stakes are Highest") -- sources of information that are controlled by their own transnational oligarchs and financial-industrial groups who have their own agenda and ulterior motives for Ukraine and whatever wealth it still has.

         

Selected Excerpts:

"None of the country’s reforms can succeed while the oligarchs still rule. Here’s how to take them out.

  

Ukraine’s oligarchs are its biggest problem. If there is a single obstacle to establishing a functioning state, a sound economy, and true democratic accountability, it is the tycoons who control the country.

The oligarchs first emerged in the years following Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. They grew rich by gaining privileged access to the gas market, expropriating companies from private owners, trading with state enterprises on advantageous terms, and privatizing those same firms at pennies on the dollar. The crooked dealings that lie at the root of their fortunes give them a vital interest in keeping state officials corruptible, the economy rigged, and the rule of law weak. A world in which regulators abide by the rules, prosecutors and judges behave scrupulously, democratic procedures hold leaders accountable, and market competition works as intended is one in which the oligarchs cannot live and work.

Calls to finally stamp out their influence are growing ever louder and more numerous. But few observers have offered workable plans for doing so. With that in mind, we present a roadmap for how it can be done.

...

Western countries can help. First, they can deny Ukraine’s reprobate political class access to the billions in aid that enable it to stay in power. Far from supporting reforms, Western aid has propped up the country’s rulers and freed them from the need to build a functioning state and market economy. Continued aid will only prolong the elite’s hold on power. Assistance that bypasses the government and supports civil society should continue. And all aid could resume once genuine reformers come to power and install a government free of oligarchs and their hirelings.

Second, the West is home to the world’s two biggest offshore tax and secrecy jurisdictions, the United Kingdom and the United States. These and a slew of other tax havens in Western Europe shelter the fortunes of oligarchs and kleptocrats from Ukraine and elsewhere. If the plea-bargain strategy is to work, Ukrainian prosecutors must gain access to information about the oligarchs’ offshore holdings.Ukrainian prosecutors must gain access to information about the oligarchs’ offshore holdings. Western law enforcement agencies can assist their Ukrainian counterparts in this task.

But the first step is for the people of Ukraine to eject their political masters and replace them with competent outsiders and professional technocrats. Without this, none of the other measures we propose can succeed. It won’t happen this year. But Ukrainians are seeing as never before the necessity of replacing rather than just reshuffling their rulers. With the right leaders, a few good policies, and a little help from the West, Ukraine’s interminable reign of rot may yet come to an end."

  

Please read rest of the article at: 

http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/13/dethroning-ukraines-oligarchs-a-how-to-guide/

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