...I never thought I'd see the day when US Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (click here) and I saw so much in the same vision of the USA. I can honestly say I am proud of his thoughtful consideration of the foreign policy issues we face today and he is closer to President Obama's strategy than I ever realized a conservative could be.US Rep. Rohrabacher was on C-Span 3 today. It is amazing he has grasped the heart of the issues in our foreign policy set down by President Obama and articulated it so well. I appreciate it.
I would like to address some of his words. No negativity intended, but, simply the way I see the world. (In my words, not his.)
President Assad is not the enemy and Syria is no threat to the USA. I could not agree more. What has resulted in Syria is the rise of a radical faction into a power dimension and it is the enemy of all of us. I was more than relieved to hear the words of that while Syria's governance is not pleasing it is no threat to the USA and to that end we have no grievance, except, as with any other country that is primarily a dictatorship and guilty of human rights abuses. China, by the way, falls into the category of human rights abuses and we continue to be it's largest customer.
One other dimension to the rise of IS/IS/L is the fact it has occurred in a civil war now three years on. BUT, the distribution of weapons into Syria headed by Senator John McCain is only one year ago. If any circumstances point in the direction of IS/IS/L and it's rise to power it is the distribution of weapons to so called Syrian rebels. I think the USA needs to take a great deal of caution in distributing weapons to any rebel forces.
Once upon a time, it was the scandalous methodology of the USA CIA to cause such instability in nations we did not see as friends, but, mostly enemies. That methodology of arming rebels has to stop. It is too wide spread globally and creates deaths and not necessarily a governance the USA would appreciate. I also don't like the idea that once a country is unstable the USA then sends in our troops to attempt nation building. It is out of the question anymore. The world's population is growing, hence it's resources growing ever smaller, the land masses more challenged to provide for citizens and we cannot introduce instability on to lands that are dearly needed to solve the problems of people.
US Rep. Rohrabacher also addressed the Ukraine. I would like to bring forward some events that he may not have considered before.
18 September 2014
In an address to a joint session of Congress, (click here) he said ill-equipped young Ukrainian servicemen were fighting a "war for the free world" against Russian aggression.
US President Barack Obama has condemned Russia's actions in Ukraine.
But he has said that military support will only include non-lethal equipment.
Mr Poroshenko told the joint session of Congress in Washington that Ukrainian government forces needed more equipment - both lethal and non-lethal.
"Blankets, night-vision goggles are important, but one cannot win the war with blankets."
His impassioned plea for US support brought applause and several standing ovations....
Rep. Rohrabacher stated President Poroshenko was elected after Viktor Yanukovych was removed from power after a ligitimate election. He stated he thinks the USA got caught up in Europe's design engineering of the present circumstances. (Again my words not his.) He believed the people of Ukraine should be respected and governed best at the local level allowing east and west to find their choices.
I would like to remind US Rep. Rohrabacher of a few facts.
The Ukraine people took great pains in writing a constitution that reflected the wishes of the people in it's majority as it existed 2004 which included Crimea. That constitution was trashed by the administration of Viktor Yanukovych and was replaced with one that would ultimately deny any relationship with Europe by Ukraine. The new constitution under Yanukovych also took away many, many rights from the 2004 constitution.
Then there were the problems in the Maidan. I don't want to hear how the people primarily responsible for the disturbance were NeoNazis. They were Ukrainians and had been demonstrating peacefully up to the point where rifles were turned on the crowd. I REMIND, Viktor Yanykovych was still in power. The peaceful gathering was more than one day old. The people involved in that gathering had been complaining about the removal of the 2004 Constitution while their once Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko sat in a Russia prison on completely false charges. Not only that but Former Prime Minister Tymoshenko was falling into ill health while in that prison. If it weren't for her family being vigilant she may even have been dead by now.
What followed was a travesty to any major agreement between the NATO nations and Russia. A complete travesty.
Viktor Yanukovych ABANDONED his Prime Ministership and ran off to Russia. He not only abandoned Ukraine because he was scared of being arrested for murders that he may have supervised or given permission or one of his personal militias carried out, but, he alerted his militias THROUGHOUT Ukraine and the first of them took the airport as a staging area in the Crimea.
Viktor Yanukovych had completely removed the power of the national military and replaced it with his personal militias staged throughout the country in order to carry out violence against the citizens of Ukraine at his whim. If it weren't for the determination of Ukrainians to have their democracy back and intact the rest of the world would never know the terror these people lived with.
It isn't as though the government replacing Yanukovych was a dictatorship. There were elections set for May 2014 and were observed by UN observers. Crimea's elections previous to those of Ukraine were not legitimate according to UN observers. Besides that, the memoradum guaranteed Ukraine to keep it's borders intact with Crimea and as soon as Yanukovych abandoned the country Russia did a complete 180 and through it's Duma annexed Crimea. Even today Russia is claiming eastern Ukraine is lined with Russian speaking people that belong to Russia. Russia completely abandoned the Memorandum and any treated noted within that legal document.
What put the frosting on the cake was the fact Yanukovych was accepting huge sums of money from Russia for his personal comfort. When Yanukovych abandoned Ukraine they got their first look at the opulence of their Presidential grounds. It was a real eye opener. With Yanukovych receiving such riches from Russia it was obvious where his loyalties lie and Ukraine would be trapped and without recourse to pursue their longing to be conducting economic interests with Europe. They wanted little else except their freedom as they longed for it under the 2004 constitution, the return of a Former Prime Minister to her homeland and family and the right to conduct economic venture with Europe. The people's demands were completely benign of any aggression and I might add, completely innocent of hatred of Russia.
President Poroshenko came to the USA seeking help with his country. He has come to the USA to secure this people away from a tyranny which has haunted them for generations. They want to have their own country and be able to protect it's borders and carry out economics with any country that is interested in them and practice freedom as they wrote it in 2004. That is NOT unreasonable.
What followed was a travesty to any major agreement between the NATO nations and Russia. A complete travesty.
Viktor Yanukovych ABANDONED his Prime Ministership and ran off to Russia. He not only abandoned Ukraine because he was scared of being arrested for murders that he may have supervised or given permission or one of his personal militias carried out, but, he alerted his militias THROUGHOUT Ukraine and the first of them took the airport as a staging area in the Crimea.
Viktor Yanukovych had completely removed the power of the national military and replaced it with his personal militias staged throughout the country in order to carry out violence against the citizens of Ukraine at his whim. If it weren't for the determination of Ukrainians to have their democracy back and intact the rest of the world would never know the terror these people lived with.
It isn't as though the government replacing Yanukovych was a dictatorship. There were elections set for May 2014 and were observed by UN observers. Crimea's elections previous to those of Ukraine were not legitimate according to UN observers. Besides that, the memoradum guaranteed Ukraine to keep it's borders intact with Crimea and as soon as Yanukovych abandoned the country Russia did a complete 180 and through it's Duma annexed Crimea. Even today Russia is claiming eastern Ukraine is lined with Russian speaking people that belong to Russia. Russia completely abandoned the Memorandum and any treated noted within that legal document.
What put the frosting on the cake was the fact Yanukovych was accepting huge sums of money from Russia for his personal comfort. When Yanukovych abandoned Ukraine they got their first look at the opulence of their Presidential grounds. It was a real eye opener. With Yanukovych receiving such riches from Russia it was obvious where his loyalties lie and Ukraine would be trapped and without recourse to pursue their longing to be conducting economic interests with Europe. They wanted little else except their freedom as they longed for it under the 2004 constitution, the return of a Former Prime Minister to her homeland and family and the right to conduct economic venture with Europe. The people's demands were completely benign of any aggression and I might add, completely innocent of hatred of Russia.
President Poroshenko came to the USA seeking help with his country. He has come to the USA to secure this people away from a tyranny which has haunted them for generations. They want to have their own country and be able to protect it's borders and carry out economics with any country that is interested in them and practice freedom as they wrote it in 2004. That is NOT unreasonable.
