Ron Paul on Ukraine: ‘Why Are We Are Making Things Worse?’

[tod evans]

Ron Paul on Ukraine: ‘Why Are We Are Making Things Worse?’


http://www.infowars.com/ron-paul-on-ukraine-why-are-we-are-making-things-worse/

It looks like the civil war in Ukraine is getting much worse. Western Ukraine right now is being urged on by its Western supporters, meaning its NATO supporters, the European Union, the United States, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Western Ukraine has moved to take back control of the cities in Eastern Ukraine that have been taken over by supporters of Russia.

Of course, it’s said in the major media that Russia has started all of this trouble, and so all this has to be done. The truth is, the coup of several weeks ago to overthrow the elected leader Viktor Yanokovych was stirred up by the same group: NATO, the European Union, the US, and the IMF.
Since this whole mess was started, we’ve been very much involved, spending more than $5 billion to control Ukraine. And this intervention continues. But the current fighting looks like a serious escalation that may get out of control, even though it’s in the interest on both sides, the West as well as Russia, not to escalate. There have been a lot of threats and intimidation on sanctions and economic penalties, which very well could get out of control.
Added recently has been a promise from the IMF of $17 billion to Ukraine under a specific condition: get rid of the control of these Eastern cities by Russian supporters. This is a condition that has been placed on them, so it’s not a surprise that seemingly all of a sudden we are seeing more aggressive activity by the Western Ukrainians to try to conquer these cities.
Ironically, the IMF doesn’t seem to have much common sense in trying to help the Ukrainian people, because in order to get this $17 billion not only must they fight and control the East, they also have to raise taxes and increase oil prices — which will not help the people. This is generally the case when there are sanctions placed on a country, or when war breaks out: the people suffer and the special interests seem to thrive.
Also, I think this is certainly a shift from pretending that the Western Ukrainians are on the defensive because they’ve now instituted a military draft. In all seriousness, if a country is defending itself, then the people rally and you don’t have to use conscription to get fighters.
I maintain that it’s a mess over there, and it’s getting worse. We’re contributing to the problems. It would be much better for the Ukrainians, for the Europeans, for the Russians, and for the Americans, for us to just stay out and follow the principles of a non-interventionist foreign policy. Don’t send the money and don’t send them weapons. Don’t get involved and don’t pick sides. Then I think the Ukrainian people might be able to settle this on their own, and a lot better than when there’s outside interference.

[donnay]

The voice of reason has spoken. Thank God for Dr. Paul's common sense.

[Brian4Liberty]

The voice of reason has spoken. Thank God for Dr. Paul's common sense.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of ignorant people get their information from five minutes of neoconservative propaganda on TV, so all they do is parrot the talking heads. "Putin is taking over the world! Evil Russian aggression!"

[donnay]

Unfortunately, the vast majority of ignorant people get their information from five minutes of neoconservative propaganda on TV, so all they do is parrot the talking heads. "Putin is taking over the world! Evil Russian aggression!"

Indeed. I think this is going to kick-start WWIII. I hope I am wrong.

[tod evans]

Indeed. I think this is going to kick-start WWIII. I hope I am wrong.

I don't see ol' Vlad putting up with too much shit from the idiots in DC....

[Peace Piper]

A lot worse. Of course much is public but they don't have to worry about too many people actually reading what they have planned. The O-Man could tell his dumb supporters to run head first into a brick wall and lots of them would ask how fast.


White House FACT SHEET: U.S. Crisis Support Package for Ukraine

President Obama and Vice President Biden have made U.S. support for Ukraine an urgent priority as the Ukrainian government works to establish security and stability, pursue democratic elections and constitutional reform, revive its economy, and ensure government institutions are transparent and accountable to the Ukrainian people. Ukraine embarks on this reform path in the face of severe challenges to its sovereignty and territorial integrity, which we are working to address together with Ukraine and our partners in the international community. The United States is committed to ensuring that Ukrainians alone are able to determine their country’s future without intimidation or coercion from outside forces. To support Ukraine, we are today announcing a new package of assistance totaling $50 million to help Ukraine pursue political and economic reform and strengthen the partnership between the United States and Ukraine.

Elections and Constitutional Reform: Constitutional reform and free and fair elections are keys to Ukraine’s democratic development. Assistance in this area is a down payment on the country’s democratic development. We stand ready to provide further assistance to the new government after elections.

The United States is contributing an $11.4 million package to support the integrity of the May 25 elections. These funds are being used to advance democratic processes – not to support a particular candidate or electoral outcome. These efforts include voter education programs, transparent election administration, effective oversight of the election process, election security and a redress of infractions, and a diverse, balanced and policy-focused media environment.
The United States is contributing support and monitors to the OSCE’s election observation mission and other monitoring groups. U.S. funded programs will provide at least 250 long-term observers and over 1,700 short-term observers.
We are also sending additional experts to provide advice on issues such as constitutional checks and balances, local governance, public participation, and the establishment of an independent, transparent judicial system.

Economic Assistance: The United States has already signed a $1 billion loan guarantee to help Ukraine meet its financial obligations and protect vulnerable citizens from the impact of economic adjustments. We have also supported Ukraine’s work with the IMF to secure a loan program worth $14-$18 billion. As these U.S., IMF, and European funds begin to flow, we will have technical experts from the U.S. Treasury Department on the ground to help the Ukrainian government allocate them effectively to stabilize the economy and ensure all the regions benefit. Currently, there are three banking advisors in Kyiv and we will be deploying public debt management and macroeconomic advisors in the coming week. We are also committed to providing additional technical assistance in the areas of budget and tax administration.

Energy Security: Over the coming weeks, expert teams from several U.S. government agencies will travel to the region to help Ukraine meet immediate and longer term energy needs.

Today, a U.S. interagency expert team arrived in Kyiv to help Ukraine secure reverse flows of natural gas from its European neighbors. The team will continue on to Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia in the coming days to work on the details of these arrangements. Reverse flows of natural gas will provide Ukraine with additional immediate sources of energy.
U.S. technical experts will join with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and others in May to help Ukraine develop a public-private investment initiative to increase conventional gas production from existing fields to boost domestic energy supply. A technical team will also engage the government on measures that will help the Ukrainian government ensure swift and environmentally sustainable implementation of contracts signed in 2013 for shale gas development.
Department of Energy and USAID specialists will travel to Ukraine next month to provide advice on how to maximize energy efficiency, which could deliver potentially huge cost savings to Ukraine and rationalize energy consumption.

Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption: The United States is committed to helping Ukraine break the cycle of corruption that acts as a tax on business, an impediment to economic growth, and a drain on public trust in government. Technical advisors from the Departments of State and Justice have already been advising the government on anti-corruption measures. Today we are expanding this assistance program with additional commitments.

Attorney General Holder will co-host an international conference in London April 29-30 to help identify, trace, and recover proceeds of corruption stolen by the former regime. This is part of an ongoing effort, including work by an FBI investigative team on the ground in Kyiv to help the government of Ukraine recover assets stolen from the Ukrainian people.
The United States will provide advice and assistance to help modernize Ukraine’s government procurement in accordance with international standards, including the creation of a vetted anti-corruption unit. We will offer technical assistance to that vetted unit to help build a sustainable anti-corruption regime within Ukraine, as we have done with substantial results in other parts of the world.
Specialized teams of prosecutors and investigators will help the Ukrainian government with other forms of technical assistance to put in place the proper legal and regulatory framework to fight corruption. The teams will also serve as a resource to ensure follow-through and effective implementation.

People-to-People Ties: To further strengthen ties between the people of Ukraine and the United States, we are announcing our intent to establish a new bilateral visa regime that will extend the standard validity of visas for businesspeople and tourists from 5 years to 10 years on a negotiated reciprocal basis.

Security Assistance: In addition to the $50 million package, today we are announcing the provision of $8 million of non-lethal military assistance to allow the Ukrainian armed forces and State Border Guard Service to fulfill their core security missions. The additional supplies include:

Explosive Ordnance Disposal equipment and handheld radios for Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
Engineering equipment, communications equipment, vehicles, and non-lethal individual tactical gear for Ukraine’s Border Guard Service.

This is in addition to the $3 million of Meals Ready to Eat and nearly $7 million of health and welfare assistance the United States is already providing to Ukraine. The United States will continue to actively review requests for additional support as Ukraine’s government further modernizes its armed forces and deals with evolving threats.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/04/21/fact-sheet-us-crisis-support-package-ukraine

Joe Biden Promotes U.S. as Fracking Missionary Force
by STEVE HORN

During his two-day visit this week to Kiev, Ukraine, Vice President Joe Biden unfurled President Barack Obama’s “U.S. Crisis Support Package for Ukraine.”

A key part of the package involves promoting the deployment of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in Ukraine. Dean Neu, professor of accounting at York University in Toronto, describes this phenomenon in his book “Doing Missionary Work.” And in this case, it involves the U.S. acting as a modern-day missionary to spread the gospel of fracking to further its own interests.

With the ongoing Russian occupation of Crimea serving as the backdrop for the trip, Biden made Vladimir Putin’s Russia and its dominance of the global gas market one of the centerpieces of a key speech he gave while in Kiev.

“And as you attempt to pursue energy security, there’s no reason why you cannot be energy secure. I mean there isn’t. It will take time. It takes some difficult decisions, but it’s collectively within your power and the power of Europe and the United States,” Biden said.

“And we stand ready to assist you in reaching that. Imagine where you’d be today if you were able to tell Russia: Keep your gas. It would be a very different world you’d be facing today.”

more
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/04/24/joe-biden-promotes-u-s-as-fracking-missionary-force/print

[Natural Citizen]

Shale gas and politics: Are Western energy giants’ interests behind Ukraine violence?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-sAk6Ui78c




Economic interests, such as untapped shale gas resources, already sliced and diced by Western energy giants, are behind the Kiev government’s ‘anti-terrorist’ operation against the pro-federalist regions, foreign policy expert Nebojsa Malic tells RT.

The eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions cut ties with Kiev and declared independence from Kiev after a popular vote last Sunday. Yet federalist activists have no doubt that a new wave of government crackdown is on its way.

And they do have every reason to think so, because, as RT’s Gayane Chichakyan reports, reinstating control over the restive regions isn't the only agenda driving Kiev's ongoing offensive, as the core of the conflict is probably only business as usual.

Eastern Ukraine is not only of people who don’t want to be under the Kiev coup-installed government’s control, but there are also natural energy resources in the region, such as coal and more specifically, shale natural gas, untapped deposits of which lie underground in the Dnieper-Donets basin.
The cities Kiev is now striving to force into submission by making them war zones are situated in the area of shale gas deposits.

Tensions are highest in the city of Slavyansk in the Donetsk region: it has been besieged by Kiev’s troops and armed militants of the Right Sector neo-Nazi union for weeks. The self defense forces in eastern Ukraine's newly-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic are on high alert.

It’s in the Donetsk Region that Shell signed, in January 2013, a 50-year profit sharing deal with the government of Ukraine to explore and drill for natural gas in shale rock formations.

These are future profits that Kiev doesn’t want to lose.

“I would say that the economic interest in this case is what’s driving the coup regime in Kiev to launch military actions against its own citizens, because they stand to make a profit from these contracts signed by the previous government,”foreign affairs expert Nebojsa Malic commented to RT.

US energy giant Chevron signed (http://rt.com/business/ukraine-chevron-shale-gas-284/) a similar deal for $10 billion last year, but it is focusing on developing shale gas reserves in the West of Ukraine.
Yet it’s not just energy giants that have a stake in Ukraine’s reserves.

The recent appointment (http://rt.com/news/158800-us-biden-ukraine-gas/) of the US Vice President’s son, Hunter Biden, to the board of directors of Ukraine’s largest private gas producer, Burisma Holdings, has put the Ukrainian shale gas development deal into a new perspective.

Burisma holds licenses covering the Dnieper-Donets basin in the eastern Ukraine and Biden jr. is not the only American with political ties to have recently joined the company's board.

Devon Archer, a former senior advisor to current Secretary of State John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign and a college roommate of Kerry's stepson, signed up with Burisma in April.

“There is certainly no better demonstration of altruism and humanitarianism in a free market than criticizing a country for corruption, sponsoring a coup to overthrow the allegedly corrupt government - and then appointing sons and friends of American officials to be on boards of companies having interests in that country,” Nebojsa Malic said. “Surely, that is perfectly legal and above board,” he added.

Washington now props up the coup-imposed government in Kiev in any way it can, justifying its crackdown on the pro-federalist protesters under the pretext of maintaining the nation’s territorial integrity.

The interim government does not hesitate to use the army against the protesters in the East, including unarmed civilians, dubbing them ‘terrorists’ and ‘pro-Russian activists,’ which makes people in the eastern Ukraine strongly believe that it is not their interests that Kiev and its Western backers have at heart.



Continued - http://rt.com/news/159588-east-ukraine-shale-deposits/