[OccupyCU] Ukraine: Down with the Imperialist-Backed Fascist/Nationalist Coup!

[C. G. Estabrook]

As the Nuland phone call makes clear, the US was moiling about in the Ukraine and promoting opposition - up to and including murder (see the Estonian president's phone conversation) - against the Yanukovich government. The Obama administration was promoting some pretty unsavory folks - hardly surprising, given their record. 

Rusia's detachment of Crimea from Ukraine is far more justifiable than, say, the US detachment of Kosovo from Serbia by another Democratic president, fifteen years ago this week. 

Obama is quite in accord with the continuous US neoliberal policy in Europe. We should work to prevent him from killing more people in pursuit of the goals of the 1% - as we did with some success in regard to Syria. Those who think of themselves as socialists should be working to reverse Obama's military and economic policies. 

--CGE

On Mar 25, 2014, at 12:36 PM, Ricky Baldwin <rbaldwin at seiu73.org> wrote:

> Trouble is, there is no international socialist revolution going on in Ukraine, and the pro-Putin crowd (like Putin's regime) are just as rightwing as the pro-EU crowd if not moreso.  There is (or was) a Socialist Party in Ukraine, started by former Soviets and later merging with 'Cossack Glory' and other marginal groups, but it is extremely doubtful how much "revolution" can be attributed to them or even how 'left' they really are.  
> 
> It is true that there were nationalists and fascists involved in the Ukrainian coup and that there was some very serious violence, mainly against police as far as I can tell.  It is also true that the US Government knows all about elections under military occupation, as in Crimea, from the US Marines' experience in Haiti, and that the US chooses hypocritically which 'breakaway' initiatives to support (Kosovo but not Crimea, etc.).  
> 
> None of this means the left should support Putin.  We in the US should oppose (further) US intervention in Ukraine, as we should any attempt to extend US influence.  But Russian influence in the area is not by extension necessarily a good thing.
> 
> Ricky 
> 
> 
> ________________________________________
> From: OccupyCU [occupycu-bounces at lists.chambana.net] on behalf of a_indabronx [a_indabronx at fastmail.fm]
> Sent: Monday, March 17, 2014 2:37 AM
> To: Occupy CU Discussion
> Subject: [OccupyCU] Ukraine: Down with the Imperialist-Backed   Fascist/Nationalist Coup!
> 
> U.S./European Union Anti-Russia Drive Backfires
> Self-Determination for Crimea -- Oppose Sanctions!
> 
> Down with the Imperialist-Backed Fascist/Nationalist Coup in Ukraine!
> 
> Against Russian and Ukrainian Nationalism and Anti-Semitism -- For Workers
> Revolution!
> 
> http://www.internationalist.org/ukrainefascistcoup1403.html
> 
> Since late November, Ukraine has been convulsed by a right-wing nationalist
> and pro-imperialist mobilization culminating in a coup d'état that drove out
> the widely despised president Viktor Yanukovich and has split the country in
> two. Within hours of seizing power, the usurpers decreed that Russian would no
> longer be accepted as an official language, enraging the Russian-speaking east
> and south of the country. The mobilization, falsely portrayed in the Western
> media as nothing but "peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators," from early on was
> led by ethnic nationalists, fascists and outright Nazis. The U.S. and European
> Union were up to their necks in financing and backing these sinister
> putschists. Russian president Vladimir Putin correctly saw the coup as a blow
> aimed at Moscow by the Western imperialists, and struck back swiftly, taking
> over the Crimean peninsula, home of the Russian Black Sea fleet, to the
> applause of the majority Russian local population. Now Washington and the E.U.
> are sputtering, with the U.S. threatening economic sanctions and worse. The
> League for the Fourth International calls for self-determination for Crimea
> and would oppose any attempt to prevent or undermine that, whether imperialist
> sanctions, military threats or cutting off vital supplies. We demand that the
> U.S./EU/NATO imperialists get out of Ukraine and call for close collaboration
> by Ukrainian and Russian workers fighting for international socialist
> revolution.