Campaign Against Russian-Speakers In Ukraine Coordinated With More Sanctions Against Russia
By Prof Francis Boyle
16 April, 2014
Countercurrents.org
"It looks like this is part of an orchestrated campaign with the crackdown by Kiev against the Russian-speakers in eastern and southern Ukraine coordinated with more sanctions against Russia. It could be, if these thuggish authorities in Kiev shed more blood of the Russian-speakers, that the Geneva negotiations would be fruitless, suggested by the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov. So, I certainly hope it doesn’t come to that, but the signs are not very good," Francis Boyle, professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, told The Voice of Russia.
How can you comment on the current relations between Russia and the US? Is it possible that the countries would continue to impose mutual sanctions against each other? What are the possible consequences for both countries in that case?
Francis Boyle: I regret to report that, from my perspective over here, the visit by the CIA Director Brennan to Kiev on a surreptitious basis this weekend pretty much gave the orders for a crackdown we are now seeing by this gang of neo-Nazi thugs in power in Kiev. And Brennan has Obama’s ear, since he had been the White House council during the first Obama term on counterterrorism and intelligence, and things of this nature.
So, that is certainly my interpretation of what is going on now. Now, maybe in this discussion that President Putin had with President Obama, he might have convinced him to order these Nazi thugs to stand down. But right now, I regret to say it, it does not look like that is what is going on. And I'm afraid things will be getting worse form here.
There’s already been a statement that even before the peace negotiations in Geneva on Thursday, the US and the EU are considering imposing even more sanctions against Russia, which, from my perspective, are completely counterproductive to having reasonable good faith negotiations on Thursday. So, I regret to report, things don’t look very good at all from over here.
If we get back to possible sanctions, do you expect them?
Francis Boyle: It looks like they are coming, yes. And it looks like this is part of an orchestrated campaign with the crackdown by Kiev against the Russian-speakers in eastern and southern Ukraine coordinated with more sanctions against Russia. It could be, if these thuggish authorities in Kiev shed more blood of the Russian-speakers, that the Geneva negotiations would be fruitless, suggested by the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov. So, I certainly hope it doesn’t come to that, but the signs are not very good.
If we see these sanctions, do you think it will ultimately end up the same way as the situation actually developed with South Ossetia or you think it is going to unfold into some full-scale crisis between Russia and the Western Europe, and the US?
I think it is far worse than South Ossetia already right now. And we already have a full-scale crisis now between Russia and the West.
I have toured the frontlines at Leningrad where Germany starved a million Russians to death, Moscow and Stalingrad, and I’ve been to the war museum there, in all honesty, I just do not see how Russia could tolerate America’s gang of neo-Nazi thugs consolidating power over all of Ukraine. This would be an existential threat to Russia.
So, I don’t think it looks very good at all unless we can see cooler heads prevail in Washington and Kiev and a diplomatic settlement on Thursday in Geneva, assuming the negotiations are not sabotaged by Kiev before then.
What do you think can actually be done, if anything, to stabilize the situation and come to some agreement?
Francis Boyle: I think, again, if President Obama wants an agreement, he can order these neo-Nazi thugs in Ukraine to stand down and not continue the crackdown in the eastern and southern sections of Ukraine. Second, I think there should be a guarantee in writing that Ukraine will not be joining NATO under any circumstances, whether de fact or de jure, though I would see no harm if Ukraine were to decide to join the EU, which they’ve already decided to join.
I think the proposal for the federalization of Ukraine is very important and I think that is negotiable in the terms of what powers the federated units would have. I take it, Russia would want to see the federated units to have more powers, Kiev would probably want to see them have fewer powers. So, I think that could be negotiated in good faith. And then, third, a guarantee that certainly the Russian would be restored as an official language that could be used in Ukraine.
So, I think the elements for a settlement are there, but it is really up to President Obama, and I regret to report, I think his top advisor on this is Zbigniew Brzezinski, who wants to see a confrontation with Russia at this point, pursuant to his long-standing position in writings. And I went through the same PhD program at Harvard that produced Brzezinski before me. He is an expatriate Pole who hates the Russians with the passion and wants to see the Russian Federation itself broken up into it constituent units.
Comments are moderated