Last edited Sat Oct 25, 2014, 03:43 PM - Edit history (1)

Not a pretty sight.

By Brian Cloughley

In February 2008, the ethnically Albanian province of Kosovo declared itself to be separate from Serbia of which it had been part for 60 years. There was no referendum on sovereignty by its 2.1 million inhabitants. The declaration was greeted with warm approval by the United States.

In March, the ethnically Russian province of Crimea declared itself to be separate from Ukraine of which it had been part for 60 years. There was a referendum on sovereignty by its 2.4 million inhabitants. The declaration was strongly condemned by the United States.

Six months before Kosovo declared independence from Serbia US President George W Bush said that, "At some point in time, sooner rather than later, you've got to say 'enough is enough. Kosovo is independent', and that's the position we've taken." But immediately after Crimea declared independence from Ukraine, US President Obama stated "We've seen an illegal referendum in Crimea."

For once it seems that Bush had international law on his side, albeit entirely by accident, because in 2010 the UN International Court's Advisory Opinion concerning Kosovo indicated that "international law contains no prohibition on declarations of independence", a clear-cut endorsement of Kosovo's declaration.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/World/WOR-01-241014.html

The origins of the phrase “American exceptionalism” are not especially obscure. The French sociologist Alexis de Tocqueville, observing this country in the 1830s, said that Americans seemed exceptional in valuing practical attainments almost to the exclusion of the arts and sciences. The Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, on hearing a report by the American Communist Party that workers in the United States in 1929 were not ready for revolution, denounced “the heresy of American exceptionalism.” In 1996, the political scientist Seymour Martin Lipset took those hints from Tocqueville and Stalin and added some of his own to produce his book American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword. The virtues of American society, for Lipset -- our individualism, hostility to state action, and propensity for ad hoc problem-solving -- themselves stood in the way of a lasting and prudent consensus in the conduct of American politics.

In recent years, the phrase “American exceptionalism,” at once resonant and ambiguous, has stolen into popular usage in electoral politics, in the mainstream media, and in academic writing with a profligacy that is hard to account for. It sometimes seems that exceptionalism for Americans means everything from generosity to selfishness, localism to imperialism, indifference to “the opinions of mankind” to a readiness to incorporate the folkways of every culture. When President Obama told West Point graduates last May that “I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being,” the context made it clear that he meant the United States was the greatest country in the world: our stature was demonstrated by our possession of “the finest fighting force that the world has ever known,” uniquely tasked with defending liberty and peace globally; and yet we could not allow ourselves to “flout international norms” or be a law unto ourselves. The contradictory nature of these statements would have satisfied even Tocqueville’s taste for paradox.

On the whole, is American exceptionalism a force for good? The question shouldn’t be hard to answer. To make an exception of yourself is as immoral a proceeding for a nation as it is for an individual. When we say of a person (usually someone who has gone off the rails), “He thinks the rules don’t apply to him,” we mean that he is a danger to others and perhaps to himself. People who act on such a belief don’t as a rule examine themselves deeply or write a history of the self to justify their understanding that they are unique. Very little effort is involved in their willfulness. Such exceptionalism, indeed, comes from an excess of will unaccompanied by awareness of the necessity for self-restraint.

Such people are monsters. Many land in asylums, more in prisons. But the category also encompasses a large number of high-functioning autistics: governors, generals, corporate heads, owners of professional sports teams. When you think about it, some of these people do write histories of themselves and in that pursuit, a few of them have kept up the vitality of an ancient genre: criminal autobiography.

http://www.atimes.com/

FORMER Polish prime minister Donald Tusk denied claims yesterday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had suggested that their two nations carve up Ukraine.

The charge that the offer was made in a one-on-one meeting between the two men in Moscow in 2008 was laid by former foreign minister Radek Sikorski in an interview published on Sunday.

It sparked a huge outcry in Poland and Mr Sikorski backed away from the allegations almost immediately, suggesting that his memory had failed him.

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-aebf-Tusk-denies-Putin-offered-to-carve-up-Ukrained him.

changes in Europe - Not just Ukraine, the rise of the radical right, rise of fascist organizations - That the US right became an international organization. International Republican Institute is only one of many well funded organizations that were implementing their grand plan well before 9/11. Poland has become a Republican paradise only with a slight European twist due to differences in cultures.

We are being taken for a ride with liberals being distracted and misdirected (just like in the US)... look there! Putin.... Look there! Look here!!
When what we are really seeing is the effects of the same forces here are now in Europe coupled with complex and varied societies where the symptoms don't always look as we expect them (or are not always presented to us honestly).

Andriy Kobolev told the BBC Naftogaz was prepared to settle part of its debts, while the two parties had agreed a price for gas this winter.

But he did accuse Gazprom, Russia's state energy company, of wanting to "create another crisis".

Russia halted supplies to Ukraine in June over unpaid bills.

Ukraine refused to pay after Russia sharply raised its gas prices.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29764260

Vladimir Putin used a meeting with foreign journalists and Russia experts to rail against the United States and the current world order, blaming Washington for many current global problems, including unrest in Ukraine and Islamic terrorism.

Putin said that over the past two decades, the US had behaved as if it were someone “nouveau riche who had suddenly received a lot of wealth – in this case, global leadership”. Instead of using its powers wisely, said Putin, the US had created a unilateral and unfair system.

The Russian president’s sentiments were nothing new, but appeared to be a more concise and concentrated version of his grievances at a time when relations between Russia and the west are more strained than at any period since the cold war.

In a terse opening statement before taking questions for nearly three hours, Putin said: “The exceptionalism of the United States, the way they implement their leadership, is it really a benefit? And their worldwide intervention brings peace and stability, progress and peak of democracy? Maybe we should relax and enjoy this splendour? No!”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/24/vladimir-putin-ukraine-russia-us-blames-terrorism

(Reuters) - Hungary should back European Union sanctions against Russia and not talk about granting autonomy for ethnic Hungarians living in Ukraine at this time of instability, an American diplomat said in Budapest on Friday.

U.S. Chargé d'Affaires André Goodfriend criticized some of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's policies towards Russia such as support for the South Stream gas pipeline and granting Russia a contract to expand Hungary's Paks nuclear plant in a process that he said lacked transparency.

This week the United States said six Hungarians - public servants or people with government connections - had been banned from entering the U.S. because of alleged corruption. Budapest has asked the U.S. to present the evidence for the allegations.

Goodfriend told a news conference on Friday that the ban was not based upon Hungarian policies, but was related to specific action taken by the individuals, whom he declined to name.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/24/us-hungary-usa-russia-idUSKCN0ID1YM20141024?rpc=401

On Sunday Ukrainians vote in parliamentary elections after a momentous year in which people power ousted a pro-Russian political establishment, and pro-Russians in the east took up arms against Kyiv.

The election campaign has been fought on issues of patriotism with the war in the east making it difficult to campaign on urgent issues like political and legal reforms.

“I’m watching the TV debates, and I haven’t decided who I will vote for. But I think I will choose Poroshenko’s bloc or Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front,” said one young woman.

“I think the election make no sense. I haven’t made my decision, perhaps I will decide who I will vote for on the day,” was one young man’s opinion.

http://www.euronews.com/2014/10/24/campaigning-ends-in-historic-ukraine-elections/

While it is better that this vote happens, it is a sham to describe it as somehow fair or democratic. The country is severely controlled and is now much more a "mafia" state than it was before (most of the actual "mafia's" we actually removed or went "legit" years ago, despite our remaining perceptions). But the gangs of extremist that roam and infiltrate every aspect of society there look a LOT like what happened in the 90's there, with a nasty bent toward nazism.

Ousted Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych received Russian aid to escape the country in February, President Vladimir Putin said.

Russia helped to evacuate Yanukovych to Crimea, when the Black Sea peninsula was still part of Ukraine, and then agreed to assist him across the border into Russia, Putin told the annual Valdai Club meeting in Sochi today.

“I won’t conceal it that we helped him move to Crimea,” he said. “At that moment, Crimea was part of Ukraine. As the events in Kiev were developing very quickly and violently, it made no sense for him to return to Kiev.”

Putin’s comments mark the first time Russia has said it helped Yanukovych to flee into exile after months of anti-government protests in Kiev. Putin admitted in April that the soldiers who took control of Crimea before his annexation of the Black Sea territory were Russian. He’d previously denied that Russia’s military was involved.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-24/putin-says-russia-helped-yanukovych-to-escape-ukraine.html

BEIJING. KAZINFORM - The Chinese government will not join economic sanctions against Russia over the events in Ukraine, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told TASS on Friday.

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"We come against any sanctions or threats because they are not an effective method of solving problems. We believe that the political settlement of the situation in Ukraine is the only right way of solving problems," Hua Chunying said.

"China supports the efforts by the parties involved in the Ukrainian issue to improve the dialogue in order to search for comprehensive political settlement that will meet the interests of all sides," she said.

"The Asian countries have their own view on the Ukrainian problem. But China is sure that sanctions are useless," Hua said.

http://www.inform.kz/eng/article/2709808