Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III

by Stephen Lendman (Editor)

Overview

Flashpoint in Ukraine provides insight into today's gravest geopolitical crisis since WW II. Possible global war looms. Viewed from the perspective of Western mainstream media, the crisis arose due to pro-democracy activists overturning a brutal dictatorship, which led swiftly to Russian incursion into Ukraine and annexation of Crimea. Viewed from the perspective of the 22 highly-credentialed analysts who have contributed to this anthology, it's an entirely different story; Obama's pivot is global, in pursuit of unchallenged worldwide dominance, leading to multiple direct and proxy wars. Neocon-dominated Washington seeks to marginalize its Russian and Chinese rivals, surrounding both countries with US bases. Ukraine is in the eye of the storm, the crown jewel of NATO eastward expansion, the last step in Washington's drive to incorporate all former Soviet republics and Warsaw Pact countries into NATO and install missile defense sites on Russia's very border. To that end, the US has poured some $5 billion into "pro-democracy" NGOs which, counter to intention or not, were soon swept aside by neo-Nazi groups, and leading to the installation as President of former banker, Arseniy Yatseniuk, advance leaked as the unelected pick of Victoria Nuland, US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. While, as it is argued here, Russia did not invade Crimea and in fact has taken an extremely measured response with primary emphasis on diplomacy and ending the crisis, NATO, European and US spokespersons and media are seeking to dramatize and indeed resurrect a "Russian threat". Eastern resistance forestalls Obama's imperial project. The West appears willing to pursue it, at the risk not just of Ukrainian civil war and potential East/West confrontation but of global nuclear war. The flashpoint in Ukraine risks the unthinkable. This book explains what everyone needs to know, to get the world off the bandwagon to war.

STELLAR CONTRIBUTORS: Robert Abele, Michel Chossoudovsky, Michael Hudson, Edward Herman, Mickey Huff, Andrew Kolin, Cynthia McKinney, John McMurtry, Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, Michael Parenti, David Peterson, James Petras, Peter Phillips, Jack Rasmus, Paul Craig Roberts, Rick Rozoff, Rodney Shakespeare, Jeffrey Sommers. Matthew Witt

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780986073144
Publisher:	Clarity Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	06/20/2014
Pages:	252
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Stephen Lendman is a writer and broadcaster on The Progressive Radio Network. His work is exceedingly widely distributed online, with his articles carried on numerous listservs and websites such as Information Clearing House, Countercurrents, Rense,AltNews, Uruknet, Global Research, Counterpunch, and more. Lendman was awarded the Mexican Press Club's International Investigatory Journalism Award in 2011. Chinese editions of his two books, How Wall Street Fleeces America and Banker Occupation have now been released.

Read an Excerpt

The Washington-sponsored coup in Kiev is a reckless act. Such irresponsibility on the part of the US government should alarm the entire world.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US government has been raising the strategic threat that Washington poses to Russia. The US government violated its agreement not to take NATO into Eastern Europe. The US government withdrew from the ABM treaty.

The US government arranged with Poland to place US anti-ballistic missile bases on Russia's border. The US changed its war doctrine to permit pre-emptive nuclear attack. The US government financed "color revolutions" in Georgia and Ukraine, former constituent parts of both Russia and the Soviet Union.

The US government ignored Russia and attacked and dismembered Serbia. The US government trained and equipped the Georgian military and encouraged Georgia to attack the Russian peacekeeping force in South Ossetia. And now Washington has overthrown the democratically elected government of Ukraine and installed a puppet government.

Washington's Kiev coup is a direct strategic threat to Russia. Ukraine was long part of Russia and the Soviet Union. Indeed, southern and eastern parts of Ukraine are former territories of Russia that Soviet governments added to Ukraine for various reasons.

Crimea, overwhelmingly Russian, was stuck into Ukraine in 1954 by Khrushchev. Khrushchev did not include Sevastopol, the site of Russia's Black Sea fleet, when he transferred Crimea to Ukraine. Sevastopol was transferred to Ukraine by US pressure when the Soviet Union broke apart and Ukraine emerged as an independent country.

In exchange, Russia was given a lease on the naval base until 2042. The lease permits 25,000 troops and specified numbers of military aircraft, tanks, and artillery in Crimea. The 16,000 Russian troops that the White House and presstitute media intentionally misreported as an invasion force were already present in Crimea under terms of the lease agreement.

Washington either overlooked or worked with the Russophobic ultra-nationalist groups in western Ukraine who sport Nazi emblems and speak of killing Russians and Jews.

Washington used its funded NGOs ($5 billion according to Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland at the National Press Club in December 2013) to begin street protests when the elected Ukrainian government turned down the offer to join the European Union.

Excerpt from Paul Craig Roberts contribution

Table of Contents

Introduction Stephen Lendman 9

Washington's Recklessness Endangers the World Paul Craig Roberts 15

Washington Has Set the World on a Path to War Paul Craig Roberts 19

The New Cold War's Ukraine Gambit Michael Hudson 26

Obama's Ukrainian Power Grab, Sanctions and the Boomerang Effect James Petras 46

Ukraine and Regime Change Michael Parenti 50

Ukraine: Another Step in Capitalism's Global Dominance Strategies and Power Inside the Transnational Global Corporate Class and US-NATO Global Empire Peter Phillips Mickey Huff Nolan Higdon 54

Orange Revolution 2.0 Stephen Lendman 64

Libyam Syria, Venezuela, Ukraine: Another War Based on Lies, Pretexts, and Profiteering? Cynthia McKinney 80

The Gee-Politics Behind EuroMaidan Mahdi Nazemroaya 90

Crisis in Ukraine: Russia Extends its Control over the Black Sea and Strategic Waterways Michel Chossudovsky 109

The Geostrategic Significance of Ukraine in NATO's Drive to the East Rick Rozoff 114

Who Benefits from the Ukraine Economic Crisis? Jack Rasmus 119

Mother Russia: An Elusive Prize John Kozy 131

Hangover in Ukraine: Treaty of Versailles Spirits Packaged in Bretton Woods Bottles. The Morning After Jeffrey Sommers 138

The Labyrinth of Geography in a Time of Terror Matthew T. Witt 152

Containing Russia Stephen Lendman 163

The Ukraine Crisis and the Propaganda System in Overdrive Edward S. Herman David Peterson 171

The Norms of Justice, International Law, and the 'Duty to Protect' Robert Abele 200

The Odessa Massacre Stephen Lendman 215

Ukraine: From Coup to Police State Andrew Kolin 219

The Kiev Putsch: Rebel Workers Take Power in the East James Petras 227

Is Ukraine a Turning Point in History? Rodney Shakespeare 234

Washington Intends Russia's Demise Paul Craig Roberts 241

The Ukraine Crisis: Decoding its Deep Structural Meaning John McMurtry 244

Contributors 262

Index 265