Global Research

Political Background 

The House Impeachment Inquiry Hearing has dominated the news in the U.S. for the past few weeks as if the whole world is on the edge of its seat following this saga. However, these TV shows are nothing more than an insignificant and unmanageable family feud among the 1% in the U.S. which is reaching its climax in public.

We should bear in mind that while the hearings were airing, working people around the world including American people (Auto Workers and Teachers) were and still are on the street day in and day out, resisting neoliberal economic austerity measures and demanding for their democratic rights!

Both the Republican and Democratic parties and their witnesses for the impeachment inquiry are in agreement that the role of the U.S. government in Ukraine was and is to advance “democracy” and moreover to clean up the “corruption” in that country! This is a repulsive display of hypocrisy.

The House Intelligence Committee and their witnesses mislead the American people about Ukraine by concealing the actual role of the U.S. government in the 2014 coup in that country which brought the most corrupt and reactionary elements to the power. Furthermore, at the same day, even the same hours that the “corruption” in Ukraine through the impeachment inquiry hearings was publicly argued, in secret the U.S. State Department and CIA in coordination with their operatives in Bolivia were directing the most corrupt elements in Bolivia to conduct a coup against the democratically elected President of that country.

Indeed, these days, the halls of the US Congress are filled with the smell of deception and dishonesty.

True peace activists and democratic minded people would seek the truth about Ukraine and Bolivia based on historical facts and would listen to the people of these countries and their demands.

Those who find themselves – one way or another – caught up either in the camp of pretentious Democrats or shameless Republicans are helping only the 1% elite and their deceitful politicians.

The fact is that neither Joe Biden nor Trump’s agents in Ukraine (including the president’s legal counsel Giuliani), could not under any circumstances operate without corrupt (US sponsored) Ukrainian elements in that country. The same is true in relation to recent developments in Bolivia.

The U.S. government, regardless of the White House occupant, is always been in the business of buying corrupt politicians in vulnerable countries (with payoffs financed by US tax revenues). The ultimate objective is to install puppet regimes which will support the interests of US corporations.

Ukraine and Bolivia are only two cases in the long list countries which in recent history have been the object of  a US sponsored “regime change”.

The intervention of U.S. special forces, diplomats or intelligence ops in foreign countries is not intended to promote or safeguard “Democracy”. Quite the opposite: Their tasks are to destabilize independent governments and undermine social movements which are struggling to protect the country’s national sovereignty.

The U.S. government simply by imposing economic sanctions, political pressures or military intervention dictates its imperial rules. The central core of U.S. foreign policy is “regime change”- that is replacing sovereign governments with  obedient and corrupt regimes which enable U.S. corporations to plunder the rich resources of these countries with  impunity.

U.S. foreign policy as the world has clearly witnessed in Iraq (under GWB a Republican) or Libya (under Obama a Democrat) was never meant to promote “democracy”. True democracy is based on the will of the majority who produce wealth, not those who plunder and accumulate wealth.

In capitalist countries, those who manage and appropriate the wealth are in a constant contradiction with those who create wealth; therefore, logically the task of building a democratic society will be solely the task of those who produce the wealth – that is the working people.

What we have heard from U.S. diplomats repeatedly about Ukrainian “corruption” during the impeachment inquiry hearings actually are the stories of the corrupt corporations and individuals who are “creations” of the U.S. / E.U.

The “corrupt company” which paid $50,000 monthly salary to the son of (former) Vice President Biden or the “corrupt businesses” that were beneficial to the unusual and secretive mission by Mr. Giuliani in Ukraine did not exist prior to the U.S. sponsored 2014 coup.

The Ukrainian working people had no place either in Mr. Giuliani’s or Mr. Biden’s business deals. The Ukrainian workers and producers have never been considered as part of any equation by U.S. diplomats.

Dealing with the most corrupt elements and entities in a foreign country is in the interest of U.S. imperialism. it is justified by Washington under the label “For the sake of National Security”. To understand corruption in Ukraine, one must follow the footsteps of US foreign policy, i.e. the vital role played by former Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the late Senator John McCain. 

A quick study of the events in Ukraine clearly shows that these two U.S. “representatives” were instrumental in reviving the Ukrainian fascists’ residue and installing them in high governmental positions.

The long history of the struggle of the working people in Ukraine and Bolivia is key to understand these two countries. One must patiently unravel the century-old layers of the imperialists’ agonizing domination and follow the role of the U.S. imperialism after World War II.

The theatrical tragedy which has been displayed by Mr. Schiff and Mr. Nunes has failed to amaze American working families. Both Democrats and Republicans’ narratives about Ukraine are misleading. These gentlemen who have been humiliating each other for days are only competing to show who could serve the interests of the American elite better.

If any politician is really interested in fighting corruption should shed light on the Detention Centers here in the United States. Nothing can be more rotten and corrupt than a fascistic and sick policy of an administration that separates children from their parents and locks them up in the facilities in which the terrified children are systematically and deliberately abused. Democrats could have easily impeached President Trump and convict him over his immigration policy and the dreadful conditions that his administration has created for more than 10,000 children in the U.S. detention centers. Of course, Democrats are well aware that any inquiry in this regard also opens the files of Mr. Obama’s mistreatments of the migrant children who were kept in cages during his presidency.

So for now, let’s briefly INVESTIGATE the factual history of Ukraine and Bolivia against the distorted narratives.

Ukraine

For centuries, Ukraine with its rich land, natural resources and its unique geographical location (as the gate of Europe) has been battered by the most powerful armies and also victimized by authoritarian leaders such as Stalin and Hitler. The history of Ukraine is a catastrophic and painful history of mankind. In 1941, the German army machine-gunned about 34,000 Jews (the Babi Yar massacre) and another 50,000 Jews were slaughtered in Odessa.

The Ukrainian fascists (as the most vicious terrorists’ organization in that country who were savagely killing Jews, communists and terrorizing other minorities in Ukraine during the German occupation) never died out after WWII.

As a matter of fact, the notorious Ukrainian fascist leader Stepan Bandera (image below) was resuscitated as a hero by the U.S. Puppet President Yushchenko after the coup. So considering this catastrophic history, the U.S. as the voice of “democracy” should have been against all fascists and rightwing parties who boldly and demonstratively were proud of their fascistic heritage in Ukraine. But U.S. main goal after the collapse of the Soviet Union was to create a new regime in Ukraine to bring the NATO forces closer to the border of Russia.

About this policy, Professor Michel Chossudovsky in his article “Three Years Ago: The U.S. has Installed a Neo-Nazi Government in Ukraine” points out that

“Washington has chosen to spearhead Neo-Nazis into positions of authority. Under a ‘regime of indirect rule’, however, they take their orders on crucial military and foreign policy issues –including the deployment of troops directed against the Russian federation– from the US State Department, the Pentagon and NATO.”

Also in the same article, he raises a valid question:

“The Neo-Nazi party also controls the judicial process with the appointment of Oleh Makhnitsky of the Svoboda party [a far-right Nationalist Party] to the position of prosecutor-general of Ukraine. What kind of justice will prevail with a renowned Neo-Nazi in charge of the Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine?”(1) (emphasis added)

However, the facts of the Odessa massacre in 2014, and the role of the trained fascist operators with the support of the U.S. government expose the fictitious debate over the “corruption investigation” in Ukraine. In this regard, on May 3rd, 2014; Mike Head on WSWS.org writes:

“In what can only be described as a massacre, 38 anti-government activists were killed Friday after fascist-led forces set fire to Odessa’s Trade Unions House, which had been sheltering opponents of the US- and European-backed regime in Ukraine. According to eye-witnesses, those who jumped from the burning building and survived were surrounded and beaten by thugs from the neo-Nazi Right Sector. Video footage shows bloodied and wounded survivors being attacked (2).

The atrocity underscores both the brutal character of the right-wing government installed in Kiev by the Western powers and the encouragement by the US and its allies of a bloody crackdown by the regime to suppress popular opposition, centred in the mainly Russian-speaking south and east of Ukraine. As the Odessa outrage occurred, US President Barack Obama, at a joint White House press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, explicitly endorsed the military offensive being carried out by the unelected Kiev government against protesters occupying official buildings in eastern Ukraine.” …

“In part, the US operation seems directed at preventing an autonomy referendum planned by anti-Kiev opponents on May 11. In addition, a Ukrainian presidential election, scheduled for May 25, is seen by the Western powers as a means of lending legitimacy to the coup government in Kiev. The most widely-promoted presidential candidate, billionaire oligarch Petro Poroshenko, advocates NATO membership for Ukraine and the subordination of the country to the dictates of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.” …

Also Oliver Stone in his a powerful film “Ukraine on Fire” exposes the role of the U.S. in destabilizing that region. This carefully researched documentary unravels the complex issues about Ukraine in simple terms. (3)

Here’s the trailer of Ukraine on Fire:

Bolivia

The case of Bolivia in regard to its natural resources is very similar to Ukraine.

According to estimates, a large share of the world’s lithium reserves are in Bolivia. However, for decades in Latin America, the question of liberation from Colonialism and U.S. domination has been played out in different forms.

The leadership in Venezuela today or in Bolivia before the “resignation” of Evo Morales have presented a form of “Socialism” that in reality is entangled by the visible and invisible capitalist economic cords.

Although Evo Morales as a popular leader succeeded in rejecting the IMF and (direct) U.S. political interference in Bolivia, he and his MAS Party- the Movement toward Socialism, were vulnerable to the (US supported) rightwing and corrupt forces in Bolivia which were ready to strike at any moment.

This fact came to the fore right after the recent presidential election in Bolivia.

On October 20, the election result was clearly in favor of Evo Morales against his closest challenger, Carlos Mesa. Furthermore, President Morales won 47.1 percent of the vote against Mr. Mesa’s who secure only 36.5 percent.

This fact according to the Bolivian election laws did not acquire a runoff since the total vote was over 40 percent.

However, long before the election, the CIA and rightwing fascist and racist elements were preparing for a Coup d’état against the democratically elected President.

The anti-government demonstrations were organized around the demand that President Morales should step down. The coup plan was in full swing. Just like the 2014 coup in Ukraine, fascist elements with the support of the U.S. attempted to destabilize the country violently. They burned the offices of the electoral authorities and attacked the demonstrations of the indigenous people who were out on the street in defense of President Morales. Tanya Wadhwa of PeoplesDispatch.org reports that:

“In the Vinto municipality, one of the most disturbing attacks took place. An opposition mob, armed with sticks and stones and explosives, attacked the mayor’s office in Vinto in the Cochabamba department. The attackers set fire to the city hall and Assaulted mayor Patricia Arce, of the MAS party.”; “Arce was dragged down the street and forced to walk barefoot several kilometers. The attackers cut her hair and sprayed red paint on her body. They also abused and insulted her and forced her to say that she would leave office.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. controlled Organization of American States (OAS) without any explanation questioned the legitimacy of the election and promised to “issue a report with recommendations ahead of a second round” election!

That was the “legal cover” for the ongoing coup which resulted in the forced “resignation” of President Morales and ultimately his asylum in Mexico. Finally, the anti-indigenous rightwing Senator Jeanine Áñez played the comical part of the coup by proclaiming herself as the President of the Senate (!) and then was unconstitutionally installed as the “interim president”!

On November 11, 2019, President Trump issued a statement regarding the resignation of President Evo Morales and stated:

“… These events send a strong signal to the illegitimate regimes in Venezuela and Nicaragua that democracy and the will of the people will always prevail. We are now one step closer to a completely democratic, prosperous, and free Western Hemisphere.” But the U.S. is not “one step closer” to its complete dominance which it once enjoyed in Latin America in the ’50s. On the contrary, these days, the strength, determination and resistance of the workers and farmers in Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti and even Bolivia after the U.S. coup seems is gaining momentum in confronting the repressive capitalist states. These continuous uprisings under a conscious leadership that has no illusion in a system that puts profit over people will be victorious on an international platform.

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Massoud Nayeri is a graphic designer and independent peace activist based in the United States. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.

Notes

(1) https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-u-s-has-installed-a-neo-nazi-government-in-ukraine/5371554

(2) https://www.rt.com/news/156480-odessa-fire-protesters-dead/

(3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkoOGQnj_aE  “Ukraine on Fire”, the full story.

Images in this article are from the author except the featured image and the image of Stepan Bandera