Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Ukraine last week and assured Kyiv the U.S. supports its sovereignty. He also said it is incumbent on the country to take steps to weed out corruption.
The Washington Post described Blinken as delivering a “sweet and sour” message to the country. He said Ukraine is not only threatened by Moscow’s aggression but also dirty dealings in Kyiv.
“Ukraine faces twin challenges,” Blinken said, according to The Post. He said there is aggression “outside coming from Russia, and in effect, aggression from within coming from corruption, oligarchs, and others who are putting their interests ahead of those of the Ukrainian people.”
Blinken said despite Russia’s decision to withdraw many of the troops it deployed along the border in recent weeks, there are still “significant forces” in the area, and the current troop level allows Russia to take swift action. Blinken said the U.S. is monitoring the situation “very, very carefully,” according to The New York Times. The report pointed out that Washington provides Kyiv $400 million of U.S. taxpayer money in annual military aid. (See our related articles, “PUTIN PUTS PRESSURE ON UKRAINE,” and “BIDEN PLEDGES ‘UNWAVERING SUPPORT’ FOR UKRAINE.”)
The military buildup was seen as the largest since 2014. Officials at the Kremlin said these forces have been put in place to respond to any Kyiv attacks on Russian separatists in the region. Ukraine accused Russia of providing weaponry and troops to these rebels in Donbas, yet Russia denied the charge.
On Friday, the Ukraine military said two more soldiers were killed in these clashes, raising the total number this year to 36. The conflict has been ongoing since 2014. The Associated Press reported that more than 14,000 have died.
The Times reported that Blinken was joined by Victoria Nuland, the newly confirmed undersecretary for political affairs for the State Department, who was the top negotiator under President Obama with Russian President Putin’s top advisor. (See our 26 January article, “BIDEN PRESIDENCY = OBAMA 2021.”)
The paper reported that Nuland is loathed in Russia after she passed out food to protesters before the overthrow of the country’s president, Viktor F. Yanukovych. He had been backed by Russia.
Nuland is considered to be the No. 3 State Department official, The Times reported.
The Times also reported that Dmytro Kubela, the Ukrainian foreign minister, seemed to appreciate Nuland’s appearance and joked with her about the protest back in 2013. He said he missed her “cookies.” She corrected him and said she was handing out “sandwiches.”
TRENDPOST: Completely absent in the American media reports of the current U.S. stand with Ukraine is the role Washington and Victoria Nuland played in the overthrow of its government in 2014.
A report from 2014 in the Trends Journal laid out the political maneuvers at the time in Ukraine: “Washington’s coup in Ukraine brought not only a threat to the Russian population in Ukraine but also a direct strategic threat to Russia itself.”
Nuland, who speaks Russian and French, boasted that Washington had invested $5 billion in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Ukraine.
Allegedly, the purpose of NGOs is to “teach democracy.” Ukraine, however, already had a democracy. In reality, the NGO organizations are U.S. fifth columns that can be used to organize protests and to provide support for Washington’s candidates for the Ukraine government.
Indeed, in early February 2014, a recording was leaked of Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, Victoria Nuland, telling Geoffrey Pyatt, the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, that the U.N. was on board to “help glue” the plan to replace Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych with Arxeniy Yatsenyuk. “Yats is the guy,” Nuland informed Pyatt, urging her to move quickly because “the Russians will be working behind the scenes to torpedo” the deal.
“F#&* the EU!” Nuland told Pyatt. “Exactly,” he responded.
Shortly thereafter, Yanukovych was overthrown and “Yats” became president.
TREND FORECAST: The U.S. will not go to war with Russia over Ukraine. The military in Ukraine is no match against the Russians, and its only hope for security in the future is to become a member of NATO, which Blinken did not indicate is any closer today than it was before Russians amassed at the border.
