Victoria Nuland Threatens Russia

by Stephen Lendman

She's one of many neocon lunatics infesting Washington. She was Hillary Clinton's hand-picked choice for Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.

She wrecked Ukraine. Maybe she has starting WW III in mind. In an interview on Ukrainian TV, she said if war on its territory escalates, "the costs will go up" for Russia - economically and militarily.

"As you know, the sanctions that the international community has put in place - that the US and the EU have in place - are there to change the policy of Russia, to encourage it to fulfill its obligations."

"We’ve made clear that they will stay in place until Minsk is fully implemented, including an end to the violence, including a return of hostages, a return of the border."

"But we’ve also made clear that if the violence increases, we’re prepared to put more pressure on Russia."

Fact: Washington,Canada, go-along European nations and Kiev irresponsibly bash Russia.

Fact: Washington bears full responsibility for installing fascist Ukrainian governance waging US proxy war on its own Donbass citizens wanting democratic rights everyone deserves.

Fact: Imposed US and EU sanctions have no legitimacy whatever. Security Council members alone may impose them.

Fact: What's ongoing in Ukraine is the pretext for irresponsible Russia bashing. Washington's aim is regime change.

Tactics include attempts to marginalize, contain, isolate, destabilize and weaken Moscow. They accomplished the opposite -  creating stronger Sino/Russian ties than ever, a powerful political, economic and military alliance against Western imperialism.

Fact: Russia is the continent's leading peacemaker. Putin, Sergey Lavrov and other officials continue going all-out all-out to end Ukraine's aggression on Donbass diplomatically.

Fact: Russia fully complies with Minsk ceasefire terms. Kiev breached them straightaway - continuing its dirty war on Donbass with full US support and encouragement, aided by Washington covertly supplying its military with heavy weapons and training its forces for battle.

Separately, Nuland praised recently approved Ukrainian constitutional amendments - supposedly granting Donbass special status as Minsk stipulates.

Not exactly. Donbass remains economically blockaded. Junta aggression continues. Its definition of special status is only what Kiev permits.

On Thursday, Poroshenko said "(t)here is no (of) federalization. Ukraine was, is and will be a unitary state. The project envisages no changes and can’t allow any special status for Donbass. There is just no place for it."

"(T)he project only concedes the possibility of specific local administration in selected territorial entities of Lugansk and Donetsk regions, which is determined by another law" - denying Donbass democratic rights.

Donetsk and Lugansk officials reject Kiev's constitutional changes denying them fundamental rights mandated by Minsk ceasefire terms.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said "Kiev authorities are talking a lot about the reforms, but they are absolutely ignoring the suggestions concerning all the questions of political reforms that are introduced by representatives of Donetsk and Lugansk. That is the most crucial drawback of what they are doing."

Not according to Nuland. She praised parliamentary anti-democratic Donbass amendments "on yet another historic day."

"It was very exciting to stand in the parliament and see vibrant democracy in action," she blustered - "real debates and not fake discussions of old. Ukraine is doing its job" - solidifying fascist rule at the expense of democratic rights.

Alleged Kiev constitutional reforms reflect virtually none at all. Minsk mandated federalization is ignored, giving Donbass self-governing status. Unacceptable fascist control remains unchanged.

A Final Comment

Russian human rights groups led by the Russian Public Chamber (RPC) are filing about 17,000 lawsuits on behalf of Donbass and other Ukrainian citizens in the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Hundreds of cases were accepted. Others are expected to follow. RPC co-chairman Georgy Fyodorov said large numbers  filed forced the ECHR to take them seriously.

At the same time, it'll be months before hearings begin and much longer for resolution one way or the other. Things can drag on for years.

Plaintiffs are seeking over $5.5 billion in total - $335,000 for each case. Chances for any compensation from a rogue state near bankruptcy are slim at best.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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