OpEds—The Ukraine: Replace a pro-Russian gang of corrupt oligarchs with a pro-Western group of the same

Raimondo notes how western journalists could not contain their glee and began posting photos of the opulent presidential palace. Among the photos was that of a golden toilet supposedly in the palace. However, it is not there. Raimondo remarks that the US has long sponsored color revolutions in states of the former Soviet Union including the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine and the Rose Revolution in Georgia. As Victoria Nuland, State Department Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, remarks in the appended video, the US has invested more than $5 billion in the Ukraine to advance democracy, of course. However, as a later talk between Nuland and the US ambassador to the Ukraine shows, the US is behind the scenes discussing who should be the next leader of the Ukraine. Raimondo admits that the Ukrainian people have suffered under the rule of Yanukovich and his government. However, the situation in the Ukraine since independence has been one of competing gangs of oligarchs who looted public enterprises during the period of privatization. Yulia Tymoshenko just released from jail and who then hailed the victory of the glorious “revolution,” Raimondo takes as a perfect example of these gangsters. Raimondo writes: “Formerly known as the ‘Gas Princess,’ the canny Tymoshenko was an unindicted co-conspirator in a corruption trial held here in the US, where the feds locked up Pavel Lazarenko, former Ukrainian prime minister, for embezzling $200,000,000 – that’s two hundred million dollars! – from the Ukrainian government. His tenure was marked by a very close political and business relationship with Ms. Tymoshenko, who ran United Energy Systems of Ukraine, a state monopoly.” Lazarenko wanted to crush his rivals and enemies, the oligarchs centered in Yanukovich’s hometown Donetsk. Two businessmen were murdered in 1996 and Ukrainian prosecutors built a case against Lazerenko and Tymoshenko. Tymoshenko ended up being jailed for corruption. While the case was no doubt politically motivated Tymoshenko was probably guilty. According to Raimondo, the State Department wants Arsenly Yatsenky, head of Tymoshenko’s Fatherland Party, to be head of the opposition. He is head of the National Bank and no doubt suitable for negotiating a bailout from the west, the IMF and the World Bank. Raimondo argues that the Ukraine is simply a pawn in a geopolitical game that involves extending US and European influence to the very borders of Russia while warning it not to intervene or cause the breakup of the Ukraine. Reuters reports: “The United States and European allies warned Russia not to send forces into Ukraine on Sunday as rival neighbors east and west of the former Soviet republic said a power vacuum in Kiev must not let the country break apart. Scuffles in Russian-speaking Crimea and some eastern cities between supporters of the new, pro-EU order in Kiev and those anxious to stay close to Moscow revived fears of separatism…” Yet the moves of support from the west have already created a situation that could explode. The Crimea is home to the Russian fleet in Sevastopol and is the heart of the Cossack Russian-speaking population. While protesters triumphed in Kiev, those in the Crimea rallied in tens of thousands to declare unity with Russia. Raimondo finds it ironic that the West is claiming as sacrosanct borders established by Lenin to ensure that Russian-speakers would be in the majority and quash any nationalist sentiments: “The boundaries of the “Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic” were established by Lenin and Stalin, and included a preponderance of Russian-speakers in order to quash any remnants of nationalist sentiment. The great irony here is that Washington and the Ukrainian protest leaders are holding up this arrangement as somehow sacrosanct.” Raimondo points out that the US favors countries splitting when it sees this as in its own interest but when it is not, it opposes splitting. Kosovo is a good example of the former situation. When Putin suggests there be a referendum on Abkhazia separating from Georgia this is “Russian aggression.” Raimondo suggests that Putin could outwit the western regime-changers by holding a plebiscite in areas such as the Crimea and other predominantly Russian-speaking areas to see if they want a separate state. If Putin loses the Ukraine, Raimondo suggests that he could be overthrown by Russian ultranationalists right-wing parties in Russia. Raimondo warns that the present situation is also a danger for the west. Raimondo claims that some of the “heroes” of this uprising are actually militant neo-Nazis: “There is Svoboda, formerly known as the “Social National” party, which idolizes World War II Nazi-collaborator Stepan Bandera, who fought on the side of Hitler’s SS against the Red Army. The leader of Svoboda was once expelled from Parliament for calling pro-Russian leaders agents of “Moscow’s Jewish Mafia.” Then there is the “Right Sector,” a gang of football hooligans which is openly fascist and has been used as the “muscle” of the movement as the insurrectionists took over public buildings and fought the police in the streets.” The chief rabbi of the Ukraine has declared the Ukraine unsafe for Jews and urges them to emigrate. I append a video showing a massive celebration of Bandera in a Kiev torchlight march. Raimondo admits that there are also many people in the protests and opposition who are just sick and tired of being the victims of a corrupt, repressive, political regime. These people are the biggest losers since they are now again subject to a different gang of corrupt politicians that now includes right-wing nationalists who will help the government put down any opposition, according to Raimondo.