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Thread: US Hypocrisy on Ukraine

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    US Hypocrisy on Ukraine

    http://www.antiwar.com/paul/?articleid=4135

    US Hypocrisy on Ukraine

    by Rep. Ron Paul

    President Bush said last week that, "Any election [in Ukraine], if there is one, ought to be free from any foreign influence." I agree with the president wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, it seems that several U.S. government agencies saw things differently and sent U.S. taxpayer dollars into Ukraine in attempt to influence the outcome.

    We do not know exactly how many millions – or tens of millions – of dollars the United States government spent on the presidential election in Ukraine. We do know that much of that money was targeted to assist one particular candidate, and that through a series of cut-out non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – both American and Ukrainian – millions of dollars ended up in support of the presidential candidate, Viktor Yushchenko.

    Let me add that I do not think we should be supporting either of the candidates. While I am certainly no supporter of Viktor Yushchenko, I am not a supporter of his opponent, Viktor Yanukovich, either. Simply, it is none of our business who the Ukrainian people select to be their president. And, if they feel the vote was not fair, it is up to them to work it out.

    How did this one-sided U.S. funding in Ukraine come about? While I am afraid we may have seen only the tip of the iceberg, one part that we do know thus far is that the U.S. government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), granted millions of dollars to the Poland-America-Ukraine Cooperation Initiative (PAUCI), which is administered by the U.S.-based Freedom House.

    PAUCI then sent U.S. government funds to numerous Ukrainian non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This would be bad enough and would in itself constitute meddling in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation. But, what is worse is that many of these grantee organizations in Ukraine are blatantly in favor of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko.

    Consider the Ukrainian NGO International Center for Policy Studies. It is an organization funded by the U.S. government through PAUCI. On its Web site, we discover that this NGO was founded by George Soros' Open Society Institute. And further on we can see that Viktor Yushchenko himself sits on the advisory board!

    And this NGO is not the only one the U.S. government funds that is openly supportive of Viktor Yushchenko. The Western Ukraine Regional Training Center, as another example, features a prominent USAID logo on one side of its Web site's front page and an orange ribbon of the candidate Yushchenko's party and movement on the other. By their proximity, the message to Ukrainian readers is clear: the U.S. government supports Yushchenko.

    The Center for Political and Legal Reforms, another Ukrainian NGO funded by the U.S. government, features a link at the top of its Web site's front page to Viktor Yushchenko's personal Web site. Yushchenko's picture is at the top of this U.S.-government-funded Web site.

    This May, the Virginia-based private management consultancy Development Associates, Inc., was awarded $100 million by the U.S. government "for strengthening national legislatures and other deliberative bodies worldwide." According to the organization's Web site, several million dollars from this went to Ukraine in advance of the elections.

    As I have said, this may only be the tip of the iceberg. There may be many more such organizations involved in this twisted tale.

    It is clear that a significant amount of U.S. taxpayer dollars went to support one candidate in Ukraine. Recall how most of us felt when it became known that the Chinese government was trying to funnel campaign funding to a U.S. presidential campaign. This foreign funding of American elections is rightly illegal. Yet, it appears that that is exactly what we are doing abroad. What we do not know, however, is just how much U.S. government money was spent to influence the outcome of the Ukrainian election.

    Dozens of organizations are granted funds under the PAUCI program alone, and this is only one of many programs that funneled dollars into Ukraine. We do not know how many millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) sent to Ukraine through NED's National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute. Nor do we know how many other efforts, overt or covert, have been made to support one candidate over the other in Ukraine.

    That is what I find so disturbing: there are so many cut-out organizations and sub-grantees that we have no idea how much U.S. government money was really spent on Ukraine, and most importantly how it was spent. Perhaps the several examples of blatant partisan support that we have been able to uncover are but an anomaly. I believe Congress and the American taxpayers have a right to know. I believe we urgently need an investigation by the Government Accounting Office into how much U.S. government money was spent in Ukraine and exactly how it was spent. I would hope very much for the support of Chairman Hyde, Chairman Lugar, Deputy Assistant Secretary Tefft, and my colleagues on the House International Relations Committee in this request.

    President Bush is absolutely correct: elections in Ukraine should be free of foreign influence. It is our job here and now to discover just how far we have violated this very important principle, and to cease any funding of political candidates or campaigns henceforth.

    Ron Paul is a Republican Congressman from Texas. He was the 1988 Libertarian Party candidate for President.

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    DDT
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    Ron Paul is often "spot on". I do disagree this time with him when he compares money channelled to Ukraine as being equal to a communistic authoritarian government that likes to flatten it's detractors in public with tanks like China!
    Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself. - Chief Joseph, Nez Perce

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    Quote Originally Posted by DDT
    Ron Paul is often "spot on". I do disagree this time with him when he compares money channelled to Ukraine as being equal to a communistic authoritarian government that likes to flatten it's detractors in public with tanks like China!
    Oracle most wise, pray tell us wherein the difference lieth. Knife or fork, steam roller or freight train - what's the sodding difference? They all KILL. It's like a doc asking if the deceased sweated in his final hour. He did? Good.
    Show yourself - destroy our fears - release your mask

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    DDT
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    Quote Originally Posted by VendingMachine
    Oracle most wise, pray tell us wherein the difference lieth. Knife or fork, steam roller or freight train - what's the sodding difference? They all KILL.
    Well. I would rather live in a country where they have to plan my assaination in secret than one where they can just bulldoze me into road kill in the public square. Just my personal preference, though!
    Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself. - Chief Joseph, Nez Perce

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    Quote Originally Posted by DDT
    Quote Originally Posted by VendingMachine
    Oracle most wise, pray tell us wherein the difference lieth. Knife or fork, steam roller or freight train - what's the sodding difference? They all KILL.
    Well. I would rather live in a country where they have to plan my assaination in secret than one where they can just bulldoze me into road kill in the public square. Just my personal preference, though!
    Have you ever lived in a country where they supposedly bulldoze people into road kill in public squares? No? So don't give me your I'd rather. I'm not interested in what you'd rather. Tell me, would you be able to tell if your lobotomy was planned or spontaneous? So what would you know about either Russia or Ukrain? Right, you gotcha history bukes. I hope you don't find them too boring. They do have beautiful pictures?

    BTW, I've lived in both types of countries, so I've got a far better view of the world than you have.
    Show yourself - destroy our fears - release your mask

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    DDT
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    Quote Originally Posted by VendingMachine
    [Have you ever lived in a country where they supposedly bulldoze people into road kill in public squares? No? So don't give me your I'd rather.
    Well, according to this logic because I have not thrust my exceedingly handsome face, through the plate glass window at the local barber shop, I should reserve judgment on as to whether or not I would enjoy this most stimulating experience.

    But don't you worry mate, I won't be voting in the Ukranian election and you are right all I can do is guess what is really going on there.

    Oh, and since you brought it up, where have you lived??
    Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself. - Chief Joseph, Nez Perce

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    Quote Originally Posted by DDT
    Well, according to this logic because I have not thrust my exceedingly handsome face, through the plate glass window at the local barber shop, I should reserve judgment on as to whether or not I would enjoy this most stimulating experience.
    Let me tell you something, my lad: a) I very much doubt that the windows where you're being kept are of a breakable variety, and b) your problem is that you automatically assume that there is a glass pane there whereas in real life there is none. Step one - invent something, the more shameless and blatant the lie the better. Step two: build a logical argument on the lie you created in step one. That's how your proper gander works, mate.

    People who have actually lived there are telling you you've been brainwashed all your life. You know, you're one of those who'd call white black just because somebody told them to. I'm happy you're comfortable oinking in your trough and if the idea of others having no troughs to oink in makes you feel good, fine, so be it. (Whatever keeps the baby happy...) Truth is, we've all got troughs to oink in and ours was once far more oinkalicious than yours, so there. Still don't get it? Then you're not from our planet.

    Oh, and since you brought it up, where have you lived??
    In Germany, the UK, Finland, for a while in Denmark and for quite some time in Israel. Paid short visits to Sweden, Norway, Holland, Belgium and France. Travelled all over Russia. Been to Africa - both business and on vacation. To the US I've only been a coupla times - very short stays.
    Show yourself - destroy our fears - release your mask

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    DDT
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    Quote Originally Posted by VendingMachine
    [
    Oh, and since you brought it up, where have you lived??
    In Germany, the UK, Finland, for a while in Denmark and for quite some time in Israel. Paid short visits to Sweden, Norway, Holland, Belgium and France. Travelled all over Russia. Been to Africa - both business and on vacation. To the US I've only been a coupla times - very short stays.
    Israel? Hmm......... Now that is an interesting place for a Russian to live. Members of this board will not be surprized to learn that you have lived in England given your extraodinary vocabulary.
    Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself. - Chief Joseph, Nez Perce

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    Quote Originally Posted by DDT
    Israel? Hmm......... Now that is an interesting place for a Russian to live.
    Israel's a nice place. Would be nicer, if it wasn't so f...ked up. And how is it more interesting (for a Russian to live) than, say, Australia, or, say, Burkina Faso?
    Show yourself - destroy our fears - release your mask

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    Quote Originally Posted by VendingMachine
    Quote Originally Posted by DDT
    Israel? And how is it more interesting (for a Russian to live) than, say, Australia, or, say, Burkina Faso?
    Perhaps I should have used the word "unusual" instead. One can only wonder at what VM was doing in Israel especially if the Cold War was still on at the time.
    Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself. - Chief Joseph, Nez Perce

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    Russian Jews make up a large part of Israel's population, so it isn't that unusual. I think I once listened to some Russian web radio broadcast from Israel.

  12. #12
    mike
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    Quote Originally Posted by DDT
    Quote Originally Posted by VendingMachine
    Oracle most wise, pray tell us wherein the difference lieth. Knife or fork, steam roller or freight train - what's the sodding difference? They all KILL.
    Well. I would rather live in a country where they have to plan my assaination in secret than one where they can just bulldoze me into road kill in the public square. Just my personal preference, though!
    I would rather live in a country where they don't assassinate people. Just my personal preference.

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    DDT
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    Quote Originally Posted by mike
    [
    I would rather live in a country where they don't assassinate people. Just my personal preference.
    Yeah, me too but good luck with that one, mate. Although I did once have a good friend from the island of Tonga, I don't think like was too bad there!!
    Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself. - Chief Joseph, Nez Perce

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