Ukraine – US and Russia Out the Third Party and End the Conflict
The US and Russia should go after the 3rd party, out them and bring peace and stability back. This morning I watched a very informative interview with Stephen Cohen on Democracy Now! Watch a clip of it here.
Cohen is a professor emeritus of Russian studies and politics at New York University and Princeton University. He brought up an interesting point about President Barack Obama’s weekend statement regarding the situation in Ukraine.
“Mr. Putin made this decision around Crimea and Ukraine, not because of some grand strategy, but essentially because he was caught off balance by the protests in the Maidan and Yanukovych then fleeing after we had brokered a deal to transition power in Ukraine,” said Obama.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov then responded, “I have two comments which are important. There has been confirmation that the United States was directly involved, from the very beginning, in this anti-government coup d’état. And President Obama literally called it ‘the transition of power.’ Secondly, I would like to note that Obama’s rhetoric shows Washington’s intention to continue doing everything possible to unconditionally support Ukraine’s authorities, who have apparently taken a course toward a military solution to the conflict.”
What is most interesting is that Cohen went onto explain that what President Obama was referring to was the brokered deal for Yanukovych to form a coalition government and to hold elections in December. This is where the 3rd party potentially interfered, created chaos in the streets the next day and the coup.
“Here’s what happened,” said Cohen. “And he’s right about Crimea. He just let the cat out of the bag here. An agreement was brokered in February. Everybody think back. It’s only one year ago. Foreign ministers of Europe, as violence raged in the streets of Kiev, rushed to Kiev and brokered a deal between the sitting president and the opposition leaders—Yanukovych—that he would form a coalition government and call new elections in December. And everybody thought, ‘Wow, violence averted. We’re back on a democratic track.’ And what happened? The next day, mobs took to the streets, stormed the presidential palace; Yanukovych, the president, fled to Russia.
“But we now know that when that deal was struck by the European ministers, Putin and Obama spoke on the phone, and Putin said to Obama, ‘Are you behind this?’ And Obama says, ‘I am. Let’s get back on peaceful track.’ And then he asks Putin, ‘Are you behind it?’ And Putin said, ‘A hundred percent.’ And the next day, this happened. So, something happened overnight. Obama lost control of the situation. He didn’t know what was going on. But when he says that they negotiated a peaceful transition to power, he’s not referring to the overthrow of Yanukovych; he’s referring to the deal he signed onto to keep the Ukrainian president in office for another eight or nine months until national elections.
“So, he has now confirmed the Russia dark suspicions that the CIA or somebody carried out a coup.”
If Obama and Lavrov could speak on the phone today and acknowledge the third party influence on the situation, one that has been stoking the conflict, they could stop playing their roles in this “theater” and focus collaboratively to out the third party once and for all. This will restore peace and progress. Why are the US and Russia continuing to be played by the third party? It is time both work together to expose this group that has been attacking peace on all fronts and fomenting conflict for personal gain and against the interests of millions of people.
Here is a full link to the Democracy Now interview:
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/2/3/is_ukraine_a_proxy_western_russia