The World Knows What Russia’s been Doing, and …

In recent weeks, Russia has been subjected to a series of justified condemnations by the international community for invading two regions of Ukraine and turning them into its occupied territories, where danger and death await innocent Ukrainians at every intersection, and generally accepted freedoms and human rights are absent.

It seems as if Ukraine has finally come of age and has been accepted by Euro-Atlantic political structures – with sympathy but in a non-voting capacity.

Comparing global public support for Ukraine before the start of the Russo-Ukraine War of 2014-18 and now, it has noticeably skyrocketed. Not surprisingly, the free world is pushing Ukraine to the front lines while hiding behind its back in hopes that it can stave off a massive invasion by Russia that will sweep across Europe. It is sacrificing Ukraine on the altar of world peace.

However, as with many things regarding Ukraine, the devil is in the execution. Will condemnation remain a linguistic exercise or will the international community create a policy and plan that will force Moscow to change its ways? Will the free world put their money where their mouths are?

Let’s review what happened in recent weeks.

Last month, in Canada, the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations (G7) agreed to join forces to help Ukraine oppose Russian aggression, confirmed Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin. Thanks for this gesture of support but merely opposing Russian aggression is not nearly enough to expel Russia from Ukraine.

“The main result is that they [G7 countries] regard the aggression against Ukraine as the aggression against the entire civilized world. All the participants stated this very clearly. We also agreed to join forces to repel this aggression,” Klimkin was quoted as saying. Yes, Ukraine is the first line of defense.

“We agreed to think about some formats, how to increase the role of G7 in repelling these threats and in further facilitating the reforms. I cannot disclose some ideas as they are under consideration of the (G7) presidency, but I think they will be promoted in a couple of months,” he said.

G7 observers noted that this global group has finally come around to getting off the fence and acknowledging that a war is raging in Europe. A war that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are singlehandedly fighting to protect itself and the world from Moscow’s aggression. United steps to help Ukraine expel Russian invaders from its country are still sometime in the future.

Klimkin observed on his Facebook page: “There was a feeling that Ukraine is a part of this community and the challenges that confront us today are challenges to our common values. We spoke about everything from the occupation of Crimea and Donbas to Ukrainian hostages illegally held in Russia.”

John Sullivan of the US State Department met with Klimkin in Toronto and “reaffirmed the US support for the sovereignty and integrity of Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression,” according to a statement from the US State Department.

Those are strong words that shouldn’t be bandied about pointlessly. They are also surprising coming from an administration whose Chief Executive, President Trump, is not an overt advocate of Ukraine. The rhetorical question is Washington prepared to add substance to those words has since then been answered with America’s delivery of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine. That’s certainly welcome, concrete military aid.

In conversations with his colleagues, Klimkin compared Ukraine to a petri dish for testing Russia’s belligerent policies and military strategies.

“Fundamentally, Ukraine is perceived by many and also by Russia as a sort of test range for testing Russian nonconventional warfare – hybrid war,” Klimkin said.

He called this part of a bigger war “against the democratic transatlantic community.” Supporting Ukraine, he said, should be seen “as a part of a bigger pattern. Fighting along with Ukraine would give an immense asset to the whole democratic community in the sense of understanding Russian efforts to destabilize the western world.”

Indeed, Ukraine, its soldiers and people are defending Europe, the US, Canada and the free world from a global Russian invasion. They’re amassing battlefield experience which could help allies in the future.

In their joint communique, the G7 Foreign Ministers announced they are prepared to step up economic sanctions against Russia if the conflict in eastern Ukraine, escalates. Economic sanctions are imperative in combatting Russian aggression.

“We recall that the duration of Donbas-related economic sanctions is clearly linked to Russia’s complete and irreversible implementation of the Minsk Agreements. These sanctions can be rolled back only if Russia truly fulfills its commitments, but we also stand ready to take further restrictive measures should Russia's actions so require,” the G7 Foreign Ministers said. “We are convinced that the only way a sustainable solution to the conflict can be reached is through the full implementation of the Minsk agreements. Given Russia’s responsibility in the conflict, we urge Russia to stabilize the security situation in the Donbas without delay.”

In Europe, the Strasbourg-based Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) also last month adopted a resolution recognizing that Russia is in fact occupying the territories of eastern Ukraine that are not controlled by the government in Kyiv.

The pan-European lawmakers almost unanimously supported the two amendments in the consideration of the Ukrainian bloc. In particular, the fact that the uncontrolled territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are “temporarily occupied territories controlled by the Russian occupation administration.” Amendments were supported by 98-100 MPs, and 3-4 voted against, among which were the German “Left,” “Alternative for Germany” and the Netherlands Socialist Party. Leftists will never learn.

Additionally, in its resolution, PACE to its credit condemned Russian aggression against Ukraine, stating it committed in violation of international humanitarian law.

“Russia is an occupier,” beamed PACE Vice President Volodymyr Ariev on Facebook. “The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has adopted a decision recognizing certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions occupied by the Russian Federation. This is the victory of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE, which in the long term will increase Russia's responsibility for violating the norms of international law.”

At a NATO meeting in late April in Brussels Russia’s war mongering was also top of mind. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the primary focus of the session was what he called Moscow’s “dangerous behavior.”

“This includes the illegal and illegitimate annexation of Crimea, the destabilization of eastern Ukraine, meddling in democratic processes, cyberattacks and disinformation,” Stoltenberg listed.

In Washington, which has more pro-Ukrainian officials than pro-Russian ones, the State Department last month labeled Russia and China threats to global stability, saying that their poor human rights records put the countries, the United States’ principle strategic rivals, in the same ranks as Iran and North Korea.

“The Russian government continues to quash dissent and civil society even while it invades its neighbors and undermines the sovereignty of Western nations,” John Sullivan said in remarks as the State Department released its annual report on global human rights in 2017.

For the record, on top of these latest expressions of condemnation against Russia, the United Nations also had officially denounced Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, as an “occupier” of foreign lands just like Nazi Germany and other tyrannical empires were – my clarification.

The 71st General Assembly adopted on Monday, December 19, 2016, a resolution on human rights in Crimea, titled “Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine),” which was initiated by Ukraine and supported by the UNGA Third Committee. Seventy-three UN member-states, including Ukraine, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and others backed the document, 76 abstained, and Russia plus 22 others voted against it.

The resolution cited four times the word “occupier” in relation to Russia’s enslavement of Crimea.

Most importantly, the resolution condemned “the temporary occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine —the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (hereinafter “Crimea”) — by the Russian Federation.” It also notably reaffirmed its “non-recognition” of Russia’s unlawful annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea after a fabricated and rigged referendum.

With so much public recognition of Russia’s crimes against Ukraine and disruption of the world order, why do so many self-respecting national leaders and statesmen continue to extend their hands to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev and others from their junta?

The world acknowledges what Russia has been doing, which is a first step, but is it prepared to address seriously this criminal state? Condemning Russia hardly affects the Kremlin’s activities but it does confirm support for the just cause of Ukraine and the other x-captive nations. The UN resolutions, Minsk Accords and UN Peacekeepers are laughable suggestions that will not bring peace, stability and security to Ukraine. For that to occur, Russia must be subdued and expelled from Ukraine. Stricter sanctions and banning Russia from global events may help.

Ultimately, Nazi Germany changed its ways and became a democratic country only after Nazi Germany was destroyed.

Support Holodomor Resolution S.Res. 435

Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Dick Durbin (D-IL), co-chairs of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, known for their staunch support for Ukraine, introduced on March 14 a resolution on marking the 85th anniversary of the Russian mass murder by famine of 7-10 million Ukrainians.

When adopted, the resolution would commemorate the anniversary of the Holodomor and recognize the Moscow’s role in perpetrating this genocide.

According to the Ukrainian National Information Service in Washington, DC, the resolution builds on a number of congressional actions to condemn the Holodomor and honor its victims, including the 2015 dedication of the Holodomor Memorial in Washington, D.C. Portman and Durbin were joined in introducing this resolution by a bipartisan group of Senators including Senators Inhofe (R-OK), Casey (D-PA), Rubio (R-FL), Gardner (R-CO), Blumenthal (D-CT), Wicker (R-MS), Brown (D-OH), Johnson (R-WI), Murphy (D-CT), Klobuchar (D-MN), and Shaheen (D-NH).  

“This important resolution honors the memory of the millions of Ukrainians who suffered under the Soviets’ policy of using starvation as a weapon to try to break the independence and identity of the Ukrainian nation,” Portman said. “As Ukraine continues to fight today to defend its independence and sovereignty in the face of Russia aggression, this resolution serves as an even more important reminder of the horrible atrocities inflicted upon Ukraine and the perseverance of a people whose spirit cannot be broken.”

“Ukraine’s famine is an ugly chapter in world history, in which millions of civilians died at the hands of the Soviet Union’s cruel policies,” Durbin said. “As a co-chair of the Senate’s Ukraine Caucus, I am proud to introduce this resolution to raise awareness in our country of this mass tragedy. We remember the victims of the famine who were killed and support the efforts of the Ukrainian people to bring global awareness to it, particularly as the world confronts Russian aggression today. We extend our deepest sympathies to the victims, survivors, and families of this tragedy.”

Senator Bob Menendez (R-NJ), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, added this observation about the Holodomor commemoration:

 “I am proud to be a cosponsor of the Holodomor resolution, which reminds the world of the famine experienced by the Ukrainian people at the hand of repressive Soviet policies. I will continue to stand with the Ukrainian community, including the large and thriving diaspora in New Jersey, in ensuring we never forget this senseless tragedy that took the lives of millions.  As we look back, we must also focus on the present day tragedy unfolding in Donbas and the illegal Russian occupation of Crimea. The international community must redouble its efforts to support the people of Ukraine today in the face of ongoing military aggression from Moscow.” 

History has recorded numerous Russian crimes against the Ukrainian nation as well as other freedom-loving peoples around the world. However, the 1932-33 Russian murder by starvation of millions of Ukrainian men, women and children was a key element of the Moscow’s age-old bloody strategy to break Ukraine as a nation, defeat its push for independence, and fully subordinate it to Moscow’s rule or simply wipe it off the face of the earth.

The resolution would commemorate the anniversary of the Holodomor and recognize the Kremlin’s premeditated role in perpetrating it, building off of the recent dedication of the Holodomor monument in Washington, DC.

The Ukrainian National Information Service urges the Ukrainian American community to contact your senators and urge them to co-sponsor S.Res. 435.

‘If only We had Listened’

Humanity’s most unfortunate and pathetic expression of frustration can be summed up in phrase “If only we had listened.”

Those words imply, at least, that the information was readily available but overlooked or rejected.

The latest manifestation of this lament came from Max Boot, a columnist for The Washington Post.

“Russia has been waging war on the West for at least 10 years, and the West hasn’t bothered to notice,” Boot wrote in his March 15 column.

The newspaper’s headline for his commentary screamed a similar admission: “Russia has been waging war on the West for years. We just haven’t noticed.”

Why did the West, otherwise known as the free world, the fraternity of non-Soviet, non-communist decent countries, turn a deaf ear and blind eye to Russian aggression?

Citing a laundry list of the Kremlin’s crimes, Boot pointed out that Russia’s war didn’t directly target American, Canadian or British cities with bombs, soldiers and tanks.

“Moscow’s kind of war is more subtle and yet all the more effective — precisely because it does not compel an overwhelming response. The war arguably began in 2008 when Russia invaded Georgia, a pro-Western country that sent troops to Iraq and Afghanistan and was anxious to join NATO. Rather than punishing Vladimir Putin for his aggression, the Obama administration later responded with a ‘reset’ of relations. Putin was emboldened to aggress again: In 2014, his ‘little green men’ — uniformed Russian soldiers with their insignia removed — invaded Ukraine. He annexed Crimea and turned eastern Ukraine into a Russian proxy state. This time the United States and Europe did respond with sanctions — but not strongly enough to dissuade him,” he wrote.

Is it too late to deter Putin from escalating his war against Ukraine and the West? Normal avenues such as pleas, summits, negotiations, ceasefires, threats and probably sanctions have run their course. Russian armies and their mercenary terrorists have not retreated from Ukraine to Russia. Putin and the Kremlin regime – the official portion as well as the oligarchic unofficial one – haven’t yet felt enough pain to submit to Western demands. On the contrary, Russia has escalated its worldwide aggression by killing innocent men, women and children in Syria. But is the West noticing?

The free world’s primary failing in dealing with Russia is not acknowledging or comprehending the perpetuation of global belligerence, violence and death that stretches from one Russian regime to the next. Realistically, there is no difference among tsarist, soviet-communist and today’s federal varieties of Russian leaderships. Each Russian era’s leader eagerly adopted the mission of expanding or restoring the so-called “glory of holy mother Russia” by way of global aggression, subversion and domination. To be sure, the Kremlin’s cyber invasion of the United States is part of that plan.

Consequently, since policies do not change from one Russian leader to the next and from one Russian regime to the next, the Russian national mindset has taken for granted that global domination, world belligerence and violence will rebuild its righteous empire. Furthermore, since the Russian people do not oppose these policies, they have also bought into their leaders’ vision.

At the end of World War Two, when Russia seized significant portions of Europe as its spoils of war, liberation leaders of the captive nations warned the free world that Russia will not be satisfied with its conquests by default and will spread its tentacles around the world. They also said the captive nations would continue to fight Russian imperialism – as they did with uprisings in East Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Czecho-Slovakia – until Moscow is vanquished. The West didn’t notice.

The peaceful human rights movement in Ukraine and elsewhere wasn’t only meant to promote free speech. It was a national liberation war against Russian imperialism conducted by non-military means. Again the West didn’t notice.

Stepan Bandera, leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists who was assassinated by a Moscow agent using a poison gas pistol in 1959, was among the captive nations’ liberation leaders who continued the war of independence against Russian imperialism. The Central Intelligence Agency declassified on January 17, 2017, some 930,000 documents from the CIA Records Search Tool (CREST), which includes an interview with Bandera by a Cologne German radio station in 1954. In it Bandera succinctly described what Russian imperialism is about.

“The ultimate end of the Bolshevik policy is to destroy the peculiar substance of the Ukrainian people in every respect, and to drown the Ukrainian people in the sea of the so-called Soviet people or, rather, in the modern form of the Russian imperialism devouring other people. In this way, Ukraine would allegedly turn into one of the Russian provinces. However, the Bolsheviks dare not speak openly of that end and pursue it in a straight way. On the contrary, they are compelled to apply very complicated means, and even to retreat in some fields. Russia is compelled to do so, on the one hand, by the firm attitude of the whole Ukrainian people in its fight against the Russian imperialism and communism and the revolutionary fight of the Ukrainian nationalistic liberation movement, and on the other hand, by the numerical strength of the Ukrainian people and the universal potential of Ukraine. The striving for independence of the Ukrainian people has not been broken by Russia either by means of mass liquidation of the national cadres or by the unheard-of terrorizing of the whole Ukrainian people, which were carried on by the Soviets from the year 1930 to World War II by means of an artificial famine, mass deportations and executions. Besides terrorizing all opponents of Bolshevism, Russia is trying to apply new tactics: to change the striving for independence of the Ukrainian people into Soviet patriotism. Those tactics manifest themselves especially in today’s Soviet propaganda which recently began to emphasize the role of Ukraine as the second in size Soviet republic, to emphasize the grandeur of the Ukrainian people, the weight of the Ukrainian culture and Ukraine and its people in general.”

Bandera also said at the time:

“The Ukrainian liberation fight is a component of the general liberation fight of all peoples enslaved by Russian imperialism. In our opinion, Bolshevism is only one of the forms of the traditional Russian imperialism. In our fight against the Russian-Bolshevik imperialism, we consider ourselves an ally of all the freedom-loving nations. We offered resistance to the Russian-Bolshevik imperialism in the past, we are opposing it now and we shall oppose it in the future.”

The West didn’t notice. Were the warnings uncomfortable or incredulous to free world leaders? Why didn’t free world leaders subscribe to Ronald Reagan’s characterization of Russia being the evil empire?

Contemporary warnings about Russian hostility have also been overlooked, leaving quizzical expressions on victims, officials and perpetrators.

Maksym Savanevsky, managing partner of PlusOne, founder of Watcher.com.ua and co-founder of Ukrainian Crisis Media Center, in an article posted on his website in May 2015 warned Facebook that it was being hacked by Russian trolls.

He wrote that due to Russian subversion, Facebook in Ukraine has eliminated pro-Ukraine account holders, information and photographs. “Facebook has lost its well-deserved status of a place of freedom for Ukrainians…We believe this is exactly the tactics used by the infamous Russia’s troll factories against Ukrainian civil society to silence its voice…This catastrophic and unprecedented amount shows that Ukraine needs your special attention and assistance in establishing a rapid response to counteract this Russia’s special force brigade(s) on Facebook,” Savanevsky wrote.

The West, Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg didn’t notice.

Fulfilling its “mein kampf,” Russia invaded Ukraine in the winter of 2014 and is still waging a brutal war to subjugate the nation. Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, General Stepan Poltorak and others have urgently raised the storm warning flags to signal a global Russian blitzkrieg. Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaitė and Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius have joined this chorus of concerned x-captive nations. The West is finally beginning to notice and hopefully will throw its weight in defense of Ukraine and the x-captive nations while shielding itself from harm’s way.

As it strives to develop a practical policy of dealing with Russia and save itself from Moscow’s ruthlessness, the free world would be prudent to admit its past and present lapses in judgment about Moscow’s danger, and accept Russia for the criminal state that it is. Then, short of launching a missile attack against it, the free world should also intensify sanctions against Russian government and business leaders until the pain is felt by every citizen.

Four Years after Enslaving Crimea, Russia Still Flouts Free World

Unexpectedly and hours after Winter Olympic flame was snuffed in Sochi, Russia, Russian soldiers landed on the Ukrainian Crimea peninsula, seized the entire territory, and annexed it after a fabricated referendum thus turning it into an enslaved land.

The invasion and occupation immediately violated numerous international covenants and the UN Charter. Russia’s belligerence has been condemned by the United States, Canada, Great Britain and other free world countries. Sanctions have been enacted and renewed against Russian leaders and oligarchs. The latest round, including travel restrictions and asset freezes against 150 people and 38 companies, would be extended until September 15, the European Council said.

Has Putin been swayed to change his ways? In reply to such a question, the Russian fuhrer basically said “hell, no.”

Putin declared in a two-hour documentary “Putin” aired on March 18 that under no circumstances would he give Crimea back to Ukraine.

“What, have you gone mad?” he told a journalist who asked him if there were any circumstances under which the Russian leader would be ready to give up Crimea.

“There are no such circumstances and never will be,” he declared obnoxiously.

As for liberal-minded Russians, unsuccessful presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak, who wanted to campaign during last weekend’s presidential campaign in occupied Crimea, said the Ukrainian peninsula remains a difficult problem for Russia and will have to be dealt with by the upcoming generation of Russians. However, since Russian youth favor Putin and his despotism, it would be folly to depend on that demographic for any resolution.

So much for liberal-minded Russians.

Despite President Trump’s tepid support for Ukraine, his cabinet remains committed to Ukraine and has asserted that sanctions will remain as long as Russian soldiers occupy the peninsula.

US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch said Washington will not recognize the Russian presidential elections in annexed Crimea.

“I think [it will be the same] as with all the elections in the Crimea…the way we treated these elections in the past is that we did not recognize them,” Yovanovitch said.

The State Department reaffirmed last week that the US continues to consider the Crimean peninsula as a part of Ukraine, not Russia.

Acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs and spokesperson Heather Nauert condemned a political rally Russian President Vladimir Putin held in Crimea where he claimed Crimea to be a part of Russia. Nauert blasted the 2014 referendum in Crimea as to whether the region should join Russia. The “staged referendum,” as Nauert called it, remains controversial as Russian troops were occupying the peninsula at the time and few international observers were present.

“In light of Putin’s remarks, it is important to call attention to the illegitimacy of the staged ‘referendum,’ but also to the tremendous human costs the Russian government has imposed on the people of Crimea,” Nauert said in a statement.

The Department official said during the past four years, Russia has engaged in a campaign of coercion and violence, targeting anyone opposed to its attempted annexation. She said Russian occupation authorities have subjected Crimean Tatars, ethnic Ukrainians, pro-Ukrainian activists, civil society members, and independent journalists to politically motivated prosecution and ongoing repression, while methodically suppressing nongovernmental organizations and independent media outlets.

The global wave of condemnation against Russia continues to grow. The EUObserver published a column titled “Four years on – but we will not forget illegally-occupied Crimea” written by eight foreign ministers, namely Anders Samuelsen of Denmark, Sven Mikser of Estonia, Edgars Rinkevics of Latvia, Linas Linkevicius of Lithuania, Jacek Czaputowicz of Poland, Teodor-Viorel Melescanu of Romania, Margot Wallstroem of Sweden, and Pavlo Klimkin of Ukraine.

“Four years ago, on March 18, 2014, Russia took the final step to illegally occupy Crimea, a part of Ukraine’s sovereign territory that Russia had recognized as such in several international treaties. The Russian takeover comprised a series of equally illegal actions: from using disguised Russian elite troops to the hasty organization – in breach of Ukrainian and international law – of an illegitimate ‘referendum,” they wrote.

On March 1, the Ukrainian parliament called on the UN Security Council and the General Assembly, as well as the OSCE, the European Union, NATO, international organizations, and foreign parliaments and governments, not to recognize the legitimacy of the Russian elections in the Crimea.

As for Putin’s so-called reelection, the United States and European countries have not yet congratulated the victor.

Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations Volodymyr Yelchenko in a letter to the UN Secretary-General, President of the Security Council and UN membership pointed out that Russian presidential elections in the occupied Crimea violate the UN Charter. The outcome of such illegal elections will be null and void, he said.

The issue of Russian aggression against Ukraine, be it in the Crimean peninsula or the eastern oblasts, remains to be addressed fully by the free world. Will it be content with ineffective but welcome condemnations and sanctions? Hopefully not. Procrastination will only give Russia time and opportunities to increase its military capabilities to expand its aggression against other regions.

The free world must also seriously take into consideration Moscow’s efforts to deploy nuclear weapons in Crimea. Deputy Head of Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Olena Zerkal has said Russia continues to upgrade military infrastructure in occupied Crimea to deploy nuclear weapons on the peninsula.

“We are seeing an accelerated pace of modernization in Crimea, which has already changed the balance of security in the region,” she said at a special meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in Crimea on March 15. “Russia has more than doubled its armed forces on the peninsula and is taking further steps to upgrade Crimean-based military infrastructure to deploy nuclear weapons.”

The free world, led by the United States, Canada, Great Britain and other likeminded countries, must increase efforts to isolate Russia for its unabashed aggression.

Two years ago The United Nations officially condemned Russia, a member of the UN Security Council, as an “occupier” of foreign lands just like Nazi Germany and other tyrannical empires were.

What is significant about this resolution is that while Ukraine, the United States and a few other countries favorably inclined toward Ukraine have condemned Russia for its illegal annexation of Crimea, the UN resolution casts a different light on this crime. Just like the albatross in “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” Russia, the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin have been publically stigmatized as global lawbreakers for current and future generations to see.

The international community must also appreciate that an occupier is a state that has crossed international frontiers without consideration of laws, invaded a foreign land, and willfully seized land that didn’t belong to it.

This resolution sends a clear message to Russia and Putin that as “occupying authorities” they are responsible for the persecutions and violations of the human rights of the residents of Crimea and will be brought to justice.

The free world is honor bound to take action to fix the situation. This resolution also gives it the basis upon which to further isolate Russia and ban it from global events until it changes it belligerence behavior.

Ukraine has appealed to the European Union to recognize the Russian Federation an aggressor state, strengthen Russia sanctions, and take up a key role in deploying a UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas, according to a draft by the Ukrainian side ahead of the EU Foreign Affairs Council scheduled for March 19 where the Ukraine issue will be on the agenda.

In the draft, which was presented to UNIAN and circulated in Brussels ahead of the EU foreign ministers’ meeting, Kyiv has proposed a number of proposals for the bloc in case Brussels is committed to strengthening its support for Ukraine to counter Russian aggression. After four years of Russian aggression against Ukraine, Kyiv expects that the EU “will recognize Russia as an aggressor country and an occupation power. The EU will significantly strengthen the restrictive measures of individual and economic nature against Russia, including preventing EU companies from cooperating with Russia in the military sphere. The EU sanctions should be leveled up to the US sanctions to form the integral transatlantic sanctions regime. They must be kept until sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine is fully restored, including Crimea.”

The only way, short of a joint military campaign, to force Russia into withdrawing from Crimea and Donbas and abandoning its campaign for global domination is for the free world unite behind Kyiv’s efforts to suspend commerce with it, expel all of its diplomats and businessmen and declare Moscow a pariah, outcast, and criminal country.

Otherwise, be prepared to encounter Russian troops on your doorsteps.

Russia Creates another Ecological Catastrophe in Ukraine

War – hybrid or not – wreaks havoc on the lives of people. Sometimes it seems the dead have escaped the worse. Not only are soldiers killed and maimed, but civilians also bear brunt of invader’s killing machine. Cities, villages and country sides are covered with dead bodies, and buildings, schools and homes are destroyed or converted into useless testimonies of enemy aggression.

And then there is the ecological destruction of war. The Russo-Ukraine War of 2014-18 has been raging in eastern Ukraine for more than four years and its toll on the environment is becoming devastatingly apparent.

Ukrainian network Hromadske TV has prepared a documentary about this subject, in which it shows sinkholes in Donetsk and nearby towns, rivers laced with nitrogen and heavy metals, contaminated drinking water, and risk of disease. The TV news station says all of this may happen in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region in the next five to 15 years.
“Donbas is the world’s most industrialized region and currently a warzone. Wide swaths of the region, formerly a center of mining and industry, are now occupied by Russia-led separatists. Over a million people have already been displaced by the war in Ukraine. If this ecological catastrophe comes to pass, at least 2.5 million more could be forced to flee both Ukrainian government-controlled and separatist-held territories,” Hromadske reported.

Russia has not decreased the intensity of its never-ending war against Ukraine. Quite the opposite, it has expanded it in order to bring the nation to its knees and subjugate it once again. Aggression, invasion, occupation, subjugation, repression, persecution, imprisonment, Russification and Chornobyl have been the hallmarks of its centuries-long campaign against Ukraine. And now – ecological contamination.
Russia has facetiously signed a host of international agreements, including the UN Charter, which it mocks by violating its principles. Now add to that trough of broken agreements the UN Sustainable Development Goals that are intended to improve life on this planet.

UN member-states agreed to abide by the tenets of the goals while Russia has premeditatedly chosen to violate them and endanger the lives of Ukrainians as well as the natural environment in eastern Ukraine.
“And the ecological crisis bearing down on eastern Ukraine could have significant implications for Russia and the broader Azov and Black Sea region,” Hromadske TV said.
This special documentary by Hromadske presents scientists’ scenarios of how ecological disaster could unfold in the Donbas. It also articulates ways this catastrophe can be prevented. The television network pointed out that its goal is not to scare, but to warn the public about the potential consequences if the world does not act now.

It’s not only about Ukraine and Donbas. As the recently found 131-year-old message in a bottle testified, we are all connected across miles and generations.

Protests this Russian crime against humanity must be addressed to the appropriate United Nations and European Union offices.

You can view the documentary here: https://en.hromadske.ua/special/exclusion_zone_donbass

Don’t Help a Bloody Dictator Stay in Power

For all intents and purposes, the United States has finally publically admitted that Russia willfully invaded Ukraine and is waging a bloody war against it.

Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, among other high-level US officials, emphatically declared as much when he said the United States will never accept trading one region of Ukraine for another in its policy towards “Ukraine’s conflict with Russia.” Putting aside his reference to conflict rather than war, Sullivan confirms that Ukrainian territory was illegally seized and occupied by Russia. That’s a violation of international law and the UN Charter.

“Given the high stakes, it’s important to be clear about US policy towards the conflict: Crimea is Ukraine. The Donbas is Ukraine. We will never accept trading one region of Ukraine for another. We will never make a deal about Ukraine without Ukraine,” Sullivan said.

His demonstrated Washington’s strong commitment to Ukraine and cast a dark shadow on Russia’s claims that it isn’t involved in the war in Ukraine. The welcome declaration is also a warning to Moscow that its subjugation of Ukrainian territory will not be forever.

Sullivan assured that the US would continue to stand with Ukraine until there is an end to Russian aggression. That is the goal that the world must pursue. Russian aggression must be ended not by a freezing of frontlines or assets but by Russia’s withdrawal, expulsion or retreat from Ukraine.

“We will continue to draw on the range of measures we have at our disposal, including diplomacy, sanctions, and security assistance," he said.

In Sullivan’s hopeful words, a stable democratic, prosperous and free Ukraine will be less vulnerable to external threats and serve as a beacon to other nations facing Russian aggression. “A free and economically successful Ukraine is one of the Kremlin’s biggest fears – and it is the Ukrainian people’s greatest hope,” he added.

An economically successful Ukraine will have more allies and trading partners standing by it. However, as for keeping Russia from invading Ukraine, that threat will always exist due to the Kremlin’s belligerent nature.

Sullivan’s comments were echoed by State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, who accused Russia of stoking the “conflict” in Ukraine by disregarding its commitments under the hapless peace accords.

Nauert said in a statement on February 13 that Russia continues to deny in the face of insoluble evidence to the contrary its direct involvement in the war that erupted after the 2014 Winter Olympics and has seen more than 10,300 people killed.

“Sadly, Russia continues to disregard its commitments under the Minsk agreements, stoking a hot conflict in Ukraine,” the statement said.

“The United States takes this opportunity to reiterate that our sanctions will remain in place until Russia fully implements its commitments under the Minsk agreements. Our separate Crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns the peninsula to Ukraine,” she added.

Ceasefire deals announced as part of the Minsk accords in September 2014 and February 2015 aimed to resolve the conflict but have drastically failed due to Russia’s continued violations. Ukrainian soldiers are being wounded or killed in action daily bringing the total up to nearly 4,000. It’s a waste of time and effort to go on meeting and hoping for a truce.

Fortunately, National Security and Defense Council’s Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov has left the door open to other options. “We are not saying that today we can liberate the occupied territory solely through the use of force. But this law does not rule such a path out and creates conditions for it,” Turchynov said in an interview with the television station Hromadske.

Sanctions are practical means of forcing Russia to cease its invasion of Ukraine but, strangely, its rulers and oligarchs keep getting richer and shed violence and death in Syria.

The tragic upshot is that the Russo-Ukraine War of 2014-18 has entered its fifth year and the free world is not any closer to helping Ukraine expel Russian invaders from its land. But it must do so to keep the war from expanding into new Europe and then old Europe.

At least the international community is not in denial about Russia’s role in the invasion and war. The United Nations and a recent law adopted by the parliament of Ukraine have termed Russia an aggressor state in Ukraine.

Paraphrasing the late President Ronald Reagan’s historic epithet about Russia being the evil empire, President Petro Poroshenko recently expanded the notion by saying “evil resides in the Kremlin.”

“Let us acknowledge that we failed to take it seriously, when in 2007 in Munich the Russian president declared his war on the civilized world. The Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014 has become the most serious and cynical assault against democratic values and the international rules-based order. It had been plotted well in advance. And when the plot was activated, it involved many agents,” he said.

“But even worse is the fact that these activities are accompanied by massive militarization of the Russian regime and its proven readiness to use any military tools available, including nuclear weapons,” he added.

The free world must heed this warning about Russia’s militarization. Currently, Ukraine is the only country on earth that has combat experience fighting Russian invaders. The x-captive nations of the Baltic regions have also been warning about Russia’s interminable aggression and desire to rebuild and expand its empire. Be mindful of this as well.

The groundswell of opinions about stronger actions in support of Ukraine is increasing. In a letter to the editor of The Washington Times, retired Marine Corp Lt. Col. Dominik George Nargele observed: “Ukraine stopped the Russian invasion of Europe in Crimea and Donbas without any significant help from western countries, and it is dealing with its 1.6 million refugees by itself. The best way forward for western allies is to liberate occupied Ukraine from the foreign Russian invaders and provide massive Marshall Plan aid to Ukraine to help the internally displaced return to their homes. Europeans who are not helping Ukraine are helping Putin stay in power.”

The free world should remember that with every day that the war lingers and another Ukrainian soldier is killed defending his or her country it is helping the Kremlin’s bloody dictator of the evil Russian empire stay in power.

Yearend Observations about the Torn Curtain

Despite Ukrainians’ valiant efforts, the curtain is still torn and Russia continues to wreak havoc and death across the country and region.

The Russo-Ukraine War of 2014-17 rages without any settlement in sight. Russia is sending troops into Ukraine, supports its murderous mercenary-terrorists, kills Ukrainian civilians and soldiers, destroys towns, pollutes the ecology, and violates the imperfect Minsk ceasefire agreement.

Beyond economic sanctions, which at least send a signal of tepid free world unity to Moscow, the United States and other free world leaders are at a loss as to what should be done to force Russia to lay down its arms, unconditionally withdraw from Ukraine and pay war reparations.

Russian attacks against Ukrainian military positions have intensified in recent weeks. For example, UNIAN reported lately, “Over the past day, four Ukrainian military servicemen were killed and another one wounded amid 28 shellings by Russian hybrid forces on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”

At the same time, Ukraine’s gallant soldiers and guardsmen have retaken several strategic towns from Russian forces, showing their military skill and prowess.

Crimean Tatars in occupied Crimea still suffer under Russian subjugation. Their indigenous culture, language and religion have been banned by the occupying regime and any mention of an earlier allegiance to Ukraine is severely punished.

In Ukraine, the release of the movie “Cyborg” that chronicles Ukrainian soldiers’ heroic defense of the Donetsk airport at all costs against Russian invaders has mobilized the nation. As some pundits have observed, Vladimir Putin’s belligerence and hatred of Ukraine has done more to consolidate the Ukrainian nation than anyone else.

Faced with limited and lackluster global support, Ukraine has only one alternative as they sang in “Carmen Jones:” “Until you hear dat bell, Dat final bell, Stan’ up an’ fight like hell!”

Here are a few yearend observations.

Lethal Weapons

The Canadian government has taken a step in the right direction by adding Ukraine to its Automatic Firearms Country Control List (AFCCL), a special register of countries to which Canada can export weapons.

As a result, Canadian arms exporters are allowed to seek permits to sell Ukraine certain weapons, devices and other military equipment. Examples of these items include fully automatic firearms, electric stun guns, and large-capacity magazines.

The decision revokes a de-facto Canadian arms embargo on Ukraine, which has been in force for the 26 years since the country became independent in 1991.

Meanwhile, the US merely says it does not rule out the possibility of providing lethal defensive weaponry to Ukraine to help the country tackle Russian aggression. “You ask about the issue of providing lethal assistance to Ukraine. We have not provided defensive weapons, but yet we have not ruled that out either. We just don’t have a lot more to say on that,” said spokesperson for the U.S. Department Heather Nauert.

The United States and the free world must realize that supporting Ukraine politically in its war against Russia is not merely about Ukraine; supporting Ukraine militarily in its war against Russia is also not merely about Ukraine.

Ukraine is the only country now that has real-time military experience is fighting a war against the Russian army. No other country on earth shares this valuable experience. To be sure, free world armies have computer simulations and other digital gadgets to anticipate what Russian soldiers would do in combat situations. However, none of them ever took a hill, drew a line in the sand or shed a drop of blood in battle with Russians. Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in action, wounded in action and captured in action.

Furthermore, Ukrainians today are not only fighting, defending and dying for their country but they are also safeguarding the sovereignty and security of the x-captive nations, Europe, Canada and the United States.

Consequently, a contemporary lend-lease supply of military hardware for Ukraine would also benefit the free world.

US Defense Bill

President Donald Trump grudgingly signed into law a $700 billion defense-policy bill that calls for $4.8 billion in spending for US military efforts in Europe, more funding for Ukraine, and for a new ground-launched cruise missile.

The defense bill allocates about $350 million in security assistance to Ukraine, including authorization for lethal defensive weaponry, something Kyiv has been seeking for years, in its fight against Russia in eastern Ukraine.

The measure also provides for the treatment of wounded Ukrainian soldiers in US military medical facilities.

Because of Trump’s support for Russia and opposition to Ukraine, this is a major step by the White House on behalf of Ukraine.

Nuclear Disarmament

Nuclear disarmament has been a global hot-button issue for decades. The major nuclear powers as well as disarmament non-governmental organizations have been pondering how to reduce the nuclear arsenals around the world.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee earlier in December picked the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) for its work on addressing the gap in international law regarding the restriction of nuclear weapons.

In her acceptance speech, Beatrice Fihn, executive director of ICAN, warned that mankind’s total destruction at the hands of nuclear weapons was just one “impulsive tantrum away.”

“Will it be the end of nuclear weapons, or will it be the end of us?” Fihn rhetorically asked, referring to the ongoing exchange of threats between President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. “The only rational course of action is to cease living under the conditions where our mutual destruction is only one impulsive tantrum away.”

On a local level, Jonathan Granoff, president of the Global Security Institute, a frequent speaker at the United Nations, urged Rotary Club members in Englewood, NJ, to insist that their elected officials support nuclear disarmament. He said the detonation of just one 800-kiloton nuclear warhead above midtown Manhattan would ignite fires over 100 square miles and all life within seven miles of New York City would be extinguished.

“I am doing everything I can in my life to stop this madness, to stop these weapons from being used,” Granoff said. “Every citizen in Bergen County should be demanding that we help get rid of nuclear weapons and support our legal duty under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to negotiate for elimination.”

Indeed, nuclear disarmament is essential to civilization’s future. Segments of America have been advocating it since the first detonations over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Most of those US citizens have been critical of Washington for dragging its feet on this issue while praising Russia siding with them on disarmament.

However, now Russia has shown its true colors by stating it doesn’t support nuclear disarmament. The source of this information isn’t a capitalist, Western news source, but rather a Russian one.

According to the Russian news agency TASS, Russia does not support the initiatives aimed at total nuclear disarmament without regard to security interests, Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said earlier this month.

“In various corners of the international community, attempts are being made to develop a new agreement that completely bans nuclear weapons and to compel nuclear powers to sign it, or even to create such a treaty without nuclear powers,” he said in a speech at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. "This is impossible. This is useless. We will never support such an idea.”

Consequently, while Russia invades Ukraine, increases military operations in Syria, and earmarks additional funds to rebuilding and modernizing is conventional armed forces, it also admits that it will not abandon nuclear weapons. Civilization is an “impulsive tantrum away” from being annihilated by Russia.

That should be a heartening revelation for those who support a favorable “reset” with Moscow.

US Concerned by Escalation of Attacks

Heather Nauert, State Department spokesperson, at a press briefing on December 13, reiterated Washington’s concern regarding Russia’s escalation of attacks against Ukraine. 

“There are continued attacks against civilian infrastructure projects in Donetsk. It’s sad that we have to address this once again. The situation in Ukraine, unfortunately, is not getting any better and so we’re talking about it once again.

“The United States continues to be deeply concerned by the escalating violence and the worsening humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine.”

When it comes to the war in Ukraine and Russia’s belligerence, talking about it is not enough.

“The humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine is one of the – is the worst it has been now in three years and it is deteriorating. More than 1 million people in the Donbas region are food insecure, civilian casualties are up significantly over last year,” she said.

The Russian war in Ukraine cannot be limited to Washington press conferences or parlor conversations. Free world leaders must adopt strong, painful steps to expel Russian regular troops and mercenary terrorists from Ukraine. It must ban Russia from the global table until it reforms.

Russia Controls 100% of What's Happening in Donbas

US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker admitted that Russia controls 100% of what is happening in Donbas, according to his special briefing published on the website of the US State Department.

Volker discounted that the war is “an internal strife.”

“It’s not an ethnic conflict; it’s not an indigenous conflict. It is one where on the eastern side you have 100% Russian command and control of what’s happening there,” Volker told a briefing in Washington.

Russia remains the feared 600-lb gorilla in the Oval Office, about which everyone would rather whisper politely than subdue.

More on Russia’s Active Role in the War

In its Report on Preliminary Examination Activities 2017 dated December 4, 2017, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) presented additional information that also points to direct military engagement between Russian armed forces, not its surrogates, and Ukraine.

It’s Russia, stupid.

The ICC indicated that the international armed conflict in eastern Ukraine began July 14, 2014, five months after Russia invaded Ukrainian Crimea.

In November 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia was formally withdrawing its signature from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, just a day after the ICC Prosecutor published a report recognizing the annexation of Crimea as a military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and classifying it as an occupation. The UN also designated the so-called Russian annexation of Crimea as an occupation.

The Kremlin’s withdrawal from the ICC will not prevent international war crimes from being recorded and prosecuted by The Hague.

The court’s decision is significant for two reasons: It states that Russia is the aggressor against Ukraine and Russia can be held responsible for international war crimes.

Ukraine is Crucial to US-Russian Relations

Washington’s inclusion of Ukraine into the US-Russia relations formula does not benefit Ukraine. This foolhardy triptych only benefits Russia because all considerations get vetted via the question of how will it benefit Washington’s relations with Moscow rather than how will it benefit Ukraine and the global community.

US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman, among others, believes that improvement of Russian-American relations is possible in case of a settlement of the “situation” in Ukraine. Many global leaders hide the Russo-Ukraine War of 2014-17 behind references to a “situation” in Ukraine as if it were some sort of obscene pornographic image, unsuitable for society’s eyes and ears.

“The situation in Ukraine presents certain difficulties, especially because we do not see any noticeable progress here. However, Ukraine is, perhaps, the only crucial topic that could breathe new life into the bilateral relations between Moscow and Washington. The United States believes so at least,” Huntsman said. “Ukraine is crucial for restoration of our relations with Moscow.”

His boss, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, made the same observations: “We’ve made this clear to Russia from the very beginning, that we must address Ukraine. It stands as the single most difficult obstacle to us renormalizing the relationship with Russia, which we badly would like to do.”

It is clear that above all other political and diplomatic considerations, Washington wants to restore friendly relationships with Russia. It is irrelevant that the end of the war in Ukraine will benefit Ukrainians. What’s more important to Washington is that it will help restore a solid relationship with Russia. Apparently, as far as Washington is concerned, it would be better if Ukraine would quietly disappear. How offensive is that to Ukraine.

Tillerson at Atlantic Council

Secretary of State Tillerson elaborated on this unfortunate premise in his speech at the 2017 Atlantic Council-Korea Foundation Forum on December 12.

Pro-Ukraine advocates around the world cheered when he declared: “But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is something that we cannot accept.”

Tillerson said when one country, Russia, invades another country, Ukraine, and takes its territory, “We cannot – that cannot be left to stand.”

He explained that Russia’s aggression is the basis for the “very stringent sanctions regime” that the US and Europe imposed on Russia as a result of that invasion, and “that regime will not change until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is resolved and Ukraine’s territorial integrity is returned.”

It would have been better if Tillerson had stopped at that point. But he didn’t.

Tillerson places a great deal of hope on the ineffective Minsk accords, which Russia flagrantly violates every day. He admits that US officials discuss Russia’s invasion and occupation of Ukrainian Crimea and Donbas, which is akin to bragging about being paid for something you’re supposed to do. Those diplomatic discussions have not had any positive benefits for Ukraine. Russian soldiers and arms persist in flooding into Ukraine.

If there won’t be any painful penalties against Russia, it will continue doing so until it reaches the Polish border.

As for belittling US-Ukraine relations for the benefit of US-Russia relations, Tillerson went on to say “In other areas with Russia, we are looking for possible cooperations where we have joint counterterrorism interest.” You can’t please two masters – helping Ukraine and its sworn enemy, Russia.

Despite Russia’s military and cyber invasions of Ukraine, the United States and other countries, Tillerson was not ready to condemn Russia and sever relations with it. He naively asked: “It is something I do not understand about why Russia thinks it’s in its interest to disrupt the free and fair elections of other countries. What do you hope to achieve?”

Sadly, Washington has become fertile grounds for the latest crop of morons.

Corruption in Ukraine

On the one hand, the Ukrainian nation and some free world governments support Ukraine in its war with Russia, but on the other hand they justifiably cannot tolerate rampant corruption in Ukraine. It’s a love-hate relationship. The Ukrainian nation has lost its patience with President Poroshenko’s inability or unwillingness to stamp out corruption and graft and arrest some if not all of the criminals.

Poroshenko’s war effort can and must be supported and his national-awareness campaigns are beyond reproach. But his battle against corruption has been a stark failure that has given rise to the likes of Mikheil Saakashvili, who agitates the crowds in his favor and against Poroshenko. Despite his beneficial past record, Saakashvili doesn’t deserve to lead the latest Maidan revolution and the Ukrainian nation cannot withstand the internal devastation of another revolution at the time of war.

Poroshenko must realize that he is a man of destiny. He may well lead the Ukrainian nation to victory against Russian invaders and be inscribed in gold letters as a hero in Ukrainian history books. But if he doesn’t simultaneously squash homegrown perpetrators of corruption in Ukraine, he will suffer the indignation of being characterized as a goat by future generations.