If I read one more time that President Obama thinks Russia’s support for a referendum on the status of Crimea “violates international law,” I’ll scream. This will mean nothing, because I live in a swamp and only my friend Swamp Rabbit and a few birds will hear me. But still, where is the mainstream media on this?
How can any self-respecting reporter quote Barack Obama’s contention in Paragraph 2 without stating in Paragraph 3 that our country has, on dozens of occasions since World War II, taken military action against sovereign states that posed no threat to the US of A? How can she or he not mention that, in the opinion of many, the invasion of Iraq — the most egregious 21st century example of U.S. imperial aggression — more or less disqualified U.S. politicians from invoking international law?
I’m not defending Vladimir Putin’s style of governance — I’ll take Pussy Riot over Putin any day. The point is that the United States can threaten or cajole Russia on the Ukraine controversy, but it can’t pretend to stand on principle. The appropriate response when we hear Obama or that dolt John Kerry complain that it is morally wrong of Russia to reclaim Crimea is, “Shut the f**k up, you ponderous, self-serving hypocrite.”
When the Obama administration attempts to bring Dick Cheney and his mascot/mouthpiece George W. Bush to justice for war crimes — that’s when the world might begin to take seriously America’s moral outrage over Russia’s pressure on Ukraine.
As Swamp Rabbit said, quoting Buddy Holly quoting John Wayne in The Searchers, “That’ll be the day.”
Frankly, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with pointing out that Putin’s actions in the Crimea violate the Budapest Memorandum. Of course, the U.S. is a far from perfect messenger about international norms, but we generally abide by the written agreements we sign (provided Congress doesn’t refuse to ratify them).
Russia entered into an agreement with the U.S. and other countries in which it agreed to respect the then-current borders of Ukraine. That was in return for Ukraine giving up the nukes it inherited from the USSR. Russia is pretty clearly disrespecting those borders now and as a signatory to the Budapest Memorandum, it is quite appropriate for the U.S. to speak up about it.