Ukraine: A Clash of Capitalisms

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Ukraine-A-Clash-of-Capita-by-Steven-Jonas-Battle_Capitalism_Decline_Empire-140919-56.html

Ukraine: A Clash of Capitalisms
By Steven Jonas
OpEdNews Op Eds 9/19/2014 at 12:22:13

World War I has been interpreted in a variety of ways, from the "Accidental War" to a continuation of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. 　 But at its base it was a conflict between three imperial powers working together, Great Britain, France, and Russia, against the other three major ones of the time, Prussia, the Ottoman Empire, and the grandiloquently named Austro-Hungarian Empire. 　 World War II has also been characterized in various ways, from the "fight against fascism" to the battle to protect and defend "freedom and democracy." 　 In reality, at least from the time that France quit, it was the battle of Great Britain to defend its Empire, then the battle of the Soviet Union to defend its territorial integrity and its dismantlement into the jaws of a rapacious, genocidal Nazi Germany, and finally, with the US entry into the war, the first major stage in the establishment of the US World Empire.

Similarly, the current conflict in and around Ukraine has been variously characterized, from the battle of Ukraine to wrest itself from the control of a "rapacious" Russia, to a battle of the Russian-speaking Ukrainians of the Eastern part of the country to preserve their culture and a certain degree of political independence, to an attempted takeover by Russia of Eastern Ukraine, beyond the Crimea and its naval base at Sevastopol (which just happens to be Russia's most important warm-water port and has been in Russian hands for centuries).



The 'Ukraine' throughout its history was a russian Glacis-Protectorate

What is actually happening on the ground in Ukraine is a matter of intense international debate. 　 Certainly the Western Powers, led by the United States dominate the narrative, at least in the United States. 　 But we do know about certain facts on the ground, either because even the Western media have reported on them (emphasis on the "even&quot , or because certain stories have been dropped, and quite precipitously, in the Western media, so the alternate possible interpretations are very likely true. 　 So we do know that the former Constitutionally elected (and quite corrupt and incompetent) government of Ukraine was overthrown in a coup, not because of its corruption and incompetence, but because the former President decided that if Ukraine was going to enter into a trade pact with other countries he might as well at least explore other options beyond the European Union, namely the one offered by Russia.

We know that in the early days of the coup, openly and self-acknowledged fascist elements of the Ukrainian opposition were active in the coup and now occupy key posts in the post-coup government. 　 (John [Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran, Bomb Syria, bomb everything] McCain famously posed in photographs with them.) We can assume that the sniper-massacre in the early days of the coup came from the fascists, acting as agent-provocateurs, because that story was dropped precipitously by the Western media. 　 The same can be said for the burning alive of protesters against fascist elements (in Odessa), and the shooting down of MH-17, which stories also disappeared precipitously from the Western media when real facts began to emerge.