Here is an excerpt from a transcript of comments by Strobe Talbott (Russia Hand) and a comment from Stephen Cohen on his comment from Democracy Now:
STROBE TALBOTT: In the context of what is happening in Ukraine today, the right way to characterize it is an act of war on the part of the Russian Federation. This means that there is going on in Ukraine today a literal invasion, not by—it’s not a proxy war. It’s a literal invasion by the Russian armed forces. It’s a literal occupation of large parts, well beyond Crimea, of eastern Ukraine. And it is a virtual annexation of a lot of territory other than just the Crimea. And in that respect, this is a major threat to the peace of Europe, to the peace of Eurasia, and therefore a threat to the interests of the United States and, I would say, a threat to the chances of a peaceful 21st century.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s former Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, now president of Brookings. Your response?
STEPHEN COHEN: Well, he’s much more than that. People need to drop their masks and say what their personal stake in this is. Strobe Talbott, whom I’ve known for years, was the architect of the American policy that led to this crisis. He was “the Russia hand,” as he called his memoir, under President Clinton, when the expansion of NATO toward Russia began.
Understand what he said—and the rollout of this report has been coming. And if you look at the signatures, these are the leaders of the American war party, the people who literally want a military showdown with Russia. Stop and think what that means. Stop and think what that means, as though Russia is going to back off. But the people who signed this report—and they’ve been bringing it out for days—are saying that the—he literally just said this—the future of the 21st century is at stake in Ukraine. Stop and think what that means. Then he went on to say things that are fundamentally untrue, that Russia has invaded and annexed eastern Ukraine. I mean, when the State Department was asked a few weeks ago, “Can you confirm the presence of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine?” the State Department, which misleads about this story all the time, said, “No, we cannot.” So what are—this is what I’m talking about the fog of war, where we’re being told Russia has annexed eastern Ukraine, the stake of the world is at—the future of the world is at stake here, and basically they’re calling for war with Russia.”
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/2/3/is_ukraine_a_proxy_western_russia
Here is a link to Wolfgang Ischinger Financial Times essay of February 4, 2015 titled ‘Pledge weapons for Ukraine or the violence will go on’, the argument presented seems self-evident from the title:
Mr. Ischinger is the Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, that by this Wikipedia account has supported the Ukrainian Coup government. The 50th Munich Security Conference was held from 31 January to 2 February 2014.
A dominant theme of the conference was the violent clashes between government and opposition in Ukraine. At the Munich Security Conference US Secretary of State John Kerry promised the Ukrainian opposition support from the West.[20] The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the Western countries of assisting in the violent uprising in Ukraine which was getting out of control. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on the other hand, accused Russia of violating Ukraine’s rights to a free choice of alliances.[21] The Ukrainian politician Vitali Klitschko accused the Ukrainian government during a panel discussion of responding with acts of terror and violence to the demands of the opposition.[22] Klitschko called for economic sanctions against those responsible for the violence. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara dismissed the allegations that his country’s political policies were directed against Europe. Since Ukraine is geographically part of Europe and also carries a very close relationship with Russia, Koschara warned, it should not be faced with the decision “Europe or Russia”. The Foreign Minister also declared that Ukraine had already met key demands of the opposition.[23] His claims that the violence in Ukraine started from terrorists, was countered by Klitschko by distributing a collection of images of the protests in Ukraine to panel participants and spectators.[24] During the conference Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, started a mediation initiative, inviting members of the Ukrainian parties in conflict and the Foreign Ministers of important EU countries to participate.[25] During the conference, Swiss Federal President Didier Burkhalter, in in his capacity as OSCE Chairman, pointed out again an existing offer of mediation of the OSCE to the conflicting parties in the Ukraine.[26]Zbigniew Brzezinski, Leonid Kozhara, Vitali Klychko, Leonid Slutsky, Irakli Garibashvili, Traian Basescu and Štefan Füle participated in a discussion panel regarding the situation in Ukraine.[27]
Succeeding the Wolfgang Ischinger piece of February 4th is this essay by Philip Stephens of February 5th titled ‘Ukraine is only part of Putin’s game plan’
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e0332f12-ac59-11e4-9d32-00144feab7de.html#axzz3QpCAzHtl
The Stephens column trades on anti-Putin hysteria mongering: Putin’s putative Machiavellianism, in pursuit of a more effective propaganda. The Ischinger essay acts as the introductory phase of that endeavor, to shape, not debate, but a carefully massaged and easily exploited public perception, controlled by respectable bourgeois pundits and policy technocrats: beholden not to their readers, but to the corporations that own and control a government friendly press.
But the ultimate proof of Putin as the New Stalin, a political monster, is this leaked Pentagon document of 2008, identified as the ‘source’ in this report from The Telegraph:
The timing for this ‘revelation’ couldn’t have been more apt or more politically convenient. The headline and sub-headline says it all:
Vladimir Putin suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, Pentagon report claims
US Pentagon report from 2008 concluded that ‘the Russian President carries a neurological abnormality’, described as ‘a form of autism’
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