Thanks Henrik @ Red Ice CreationsAdding this interesting but superficial op-ed- Ukraine's Festering Division
-Eastern Ukraine has become a breeding ground for an armed insurgency. And if a comprehensive political settlement isn’t reached soon, Ukraine could descend into outright civil conflict.-The West has prioritized holding a free and fair presidential election and is now celebrating a mission accomplished. As a senior American official put it, “It was a spectacular day for the people of Ukraine who went out in force to choose a new president and to say to their government and to the world that they want a future that is unified, that is democratic, that is prosperous and that is rooted in Europe.”
The election- won by a corrupt warlord/Oligarch- free and fair? Doubtful, but we'll let that pass for now...
- Any government has the right to assert its writ on its own sovereign territory. But this “anti-terrorist operation” is being conducted in regions where the population was already overwhelmingly opposed to the government in Kiev. A mid-April poll found that over 70 percent of the population in both Donetsk and Lugansk consider that government “illegal.” A separate survey indicated that 80 percent believe it does not represent all of Ukraine.
Any government has the right to assert its writ on its own sovereign territory. This has been the stance all along with the US/NATO gang of thugs regarding the Ukraine. Yet, in Syria..... the democratically elected government has no right to assert its writ on the sovereign territory of that nation? As it is being attacked by a motley crew of NATO backed terrorists. Coming in via Israel, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia. It's the UN of mercenaries killing Syrians and the Assad government has no right to assert it's writ on the nations territory! Those old double standards, always rearing their ugly head!Was it ever a case in Syria that 70 to 80 percent of an entire area was so opposed to the Assad government? No it was not.
-The government’s assault on these regions has almost certainly hardened these views. As the Russian government’s first war in Chechnya or the Turkish government’s campaign against Kurdish separatists demonstrate, counterterrorism missions can be deeply counterproductive when the civilian population has as much or more sympathy for the alleged terrorists than it does for the military doing battle with them.
Again, not the case we have witnessed in Syria... The civilian population very definitely does not have sympathy or support for the NATO backed thugs. Which is why Assad's government is still in and on the verge of a major electoral win.Every agenda has its own marketing pitch.
-Ukraine’s presidential election was a positive step. But it has not come close to resolving the country’s multifaceted crisis or bridging its deep regional divides. It would be a strategic error for Western policy makers to soft-pedal the other, far more important steps needed to unify Ukraine, or to drive an agenda that pulls it further apart.
And so the opinion piece ends- promoting the election as a 'positive' Which is highly debatable, obviously.One could actually suggest that the election was a negative step, displaying total contempt for the people in the east. If there was going to be any real attempt to unify Ukraine, this most recent "snap election" would not have taken place. Nor would have the western backed coup Update begins here- The author of the superficial oped, I included yesterday is Samuel Charap.His bio smells of elite manipulator... The Wurlitzer plays on
Samuel Charap is the Senior Fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, based in the IISS–US in Washington, DC.Prior to joining the Institute, Dr. Charap was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow at the US Department of State, serving as Senior Advisor to the Acting Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security and on the Secretary’s Policy Planning Staff. From 2009–2011, he was Director for Russia and Eurasia at the Center for American Progress (CAP), a Washington DC-based think tank. Before joining CAP, he was a visiting fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and also consulted on political risks in Russia and Eurasia for Medley Global Advisors, the Eurasia Group, and Oxford Analytica, and served in the NATO Liaison Office in Kiev, Ukraine.