(statue of Bogdan Khmelnitsky in Sophia Square, Kiev)
As we watch the Trump impeachment hearings, we should be struck by something that is incredibly strange.
Regardless of Trump's wrongdoing (and it is pretty clear he is culpable even though there is no direct proof) the primary narrative that the entire proceeding hinges on is a complete fiction. Russia never attacked Ukraine, Russia is not at war with Ukraine, and Russia is not attempting to expand its territory anywhere on the planet. And therefore Ukraine does not need US military aid to somehow defend itself from Russian so-called 'aggression' which in fact has never happened, and is not happening now. (See details and links below.)
Yet, though the Republicans would gain immensely by pulling back the curtain on these facts, and showing that there is no Russian expansion or aggression, none of the Republicans have said even one word to correct that false narrative..
Why?
Is the proceeding (which we all know will fail in the GOP controlled Senate) really about Trump, or is it about something completely different - specifically, to convince nearly every American that Russia is somehow an expanding imperial aggressor, and is somehow our 'enemy' against whom we must 'defend' ourselves by cynically using Ukraine as our weapon?
Let's look at the actual history.
Because of geopolitical competition over oil and natural gas, the US needs to control Ukraine in order to establish US managed pipeline routes, and to advance the US controlled NATO military 'alliance' to surround all of Russia's European borders.
To secure this control of Ukraine, in 2014, the Obama administration and the State Department (which Hillary Clinton had built up from 2009 to 2013) completed a many years long, orchestrated, undemocratic coup in Ukraine which was led by neo-Nazi white supremacists, who violently took over Ukraine, attempted to make it illegal in Ukraine to speak Russian, and who are still a major force in running the Ukraine government. (The bloody fingerprints of Clinton's protégé Victoria Nuland were all over the coup operation.)
In Crimea, where the vast majority of residents are Russian, the Crimeans, fearing the Nazi regime that had just taken over Kiev, quickly voted to rejoin Russia and by agreement with no military action at all, Crimea legally rejoined Russia. There was no supposed ‘invasion’ of Crimea. It did not happen. (Yet both Republicans and Democrats are still claiming that it did.)
In Donbas, where likewise a large number of residents are Russian, a vote was also held - but because a similar annexation of Donbas into Russia would spoil US plans to dominate pipeline routes and control Russia’s border, the fascist government in Kiev immediately moved with its military, to by force squash the vote and stop Donbas from leaving.
This resulted in a 2014-2015 civil war in Donbas, in which Russia lent military support to Donbas (but no formal troops) and the US lent mirroring military support to Kiev. (Russia provided this support both to protect the Russian population in Crimea and Donbas from a threatened genocide, and because Russia’s seaport in Crimea, and border on Donbas, are vital to preventing NATO from easily attacking Russia from Ukraine.)
Over 8,000 people were killed in that civil war, which after 2015 became a smouldering stalemate, in which there is no active war, but there are still some deaths every year. Importantly, these deaths are resulting from civil conflict in Donbas, not from any Russian 'war on' Ukraine. Russia is not engaged in any expansion whatsoever, anywhere on Earth.
Clearly, if the American people watching the impeachment hearings knew these details, and that Ukraine is an undemocratic, fascist, puppet coup regime, being wielded by the US as a weapon in an unprovoked attack to gain control of oil and natural gas assets - and that therefore the US military support of Ukraine has nothing to do with either protecting 'democracy' or protecting US security (other than the US control of fossil fuels) there is no doubt that far fewer Americans would support impeaching Trump for withholding military aid to Ukraine. In fact many, and perhaps even most Americans, would insist on an end to US military aid to Ukraine, just as they have demanded an end to US support of Saudi Arabia's war on Yemen.
And yet, on this crucial point, which would easily end the farce of the impeachment of Trump for 'Ukraine-gate', the Republicans are completely silent..
And the reason of course, is that the corporate fossil fuel and arms manufacturing interests which control both the Democratic and Republican parties do not want them to speak up, and will not fund their campaigns if they break the truth to the American public.
To see many of these details in a 2015 report by internationally respected war correspondent John Pilger, search the word 'Ukraine' at: http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/27/why-the-rise-of-fascism-is-again-the-issue
To see award winning journalist Robert Parry's 2015 report confirming the details showing that there was no 'invasion' of Crimea, go to: http://consortiumnews.com/2015/03/22/crimeans-keep-saying-no-to-ukraine
For some deeper triangulating details on all of this see CIA whistleblower Ray McGovern's report on the Ukraine crisis at: http://consortiumnews.com/2016/03/18/behind-the-crimearussia-reunion
Finally, to see a graph showing that almost all of the deaths of the civil war in Donbas occurred from 2014 to 2015, and that full war has not been active in the region for four years, go to: http://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-conflict-and-terrorism?tab=chart&time=1990..2017&country=UKR
Please share these details with everyone you know who is not aware of them.
Eric Brooks
San Francisco, CA