American Hypocrisy on International Military Aggression

Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking on Face the Nation, had some hard words for Russia on the situation in Crimea and Ukraine:

You just don’t in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on a completely trumped up pre-text.

Hmmm. Kind of like the U.S. has done over and over and over again? And I don’t think our “aggression” has been limited to the 19th century either—though the U.S. certainly has plenty of military aggressions to choose from in that century.

The 2oth and 21st centuries have witnessed unprecedented aggression from our military in international arenas. Whether you’re talking about bombing the Balkans, invading Iraq on the trumped-up pretext of invisible WMDs, or our extensive use of execution drones in Yemen, the U.S. has been an active military aggressor on the world stage for quite some time now.

In fact, according to data on VetFriends:

After World War II the United States created the most extensive network of military bases ever, allowing for the deployment of Air & Naval Forces in moments.

 

No military in the history of the world has been more widely deployed as the United States.

 

Currently, the United States has military personnel deployed in about 150 Countries… This covers 75% of The World’s Nations.

That’s mind-boggling. What Russia has done in Crimea and Ukraine, in comparison, is basically insignificant.

And we shouldn’t forget the fact that Crimea has a strong desire to join with its big brother, Russia. That Russia would vow to protect Crimea and its own ethnic people in Ukraine makes a lot of sense.

I don’t know that comparisons to Hitler and the era of appeasement are entirely fair in this situation. I know that the annexation of Austria-Hungary (the Anschluss) looks very similar to the contemporary situation with Crimea, but there are significant differences. For one, Russia is not claiming Crimea as its rightful territory: it is not seeking a restoration of its “traditional” geography. China’s re-acquisition of Tibet in 1950 was much closer to the Anschluss situation, yet the U.S. did not and has not (officially) reacted to it as an extraordinary act of military aggression.

We’ll see how this situation unfolds, but I don’t think it likely that Russia will continue any attempt at consolidating the old Soviet Empire. For now, I think that a peaceful and diplomatic resolution to the situation would be ideal, and, no, I wouldn’t call it appeasement. And we certainly should discontinue our vehemence concerning Russian military aggression until we ourselves have learned to deal with international conflicts diplomatically. If you are the neighborhood bully, no one is going to take you seriously when you go crying that some other kid is taking on a threatening posture.

28 responses

  1. I have learned in the last few weeks, when Russia let the Ukraine go it was with some conditions. One was that they maintain the roads and accessibility to the Russian military bases that would still be in the Ukraine. So, the country would be free of Russian rule, but Russia would still keep the military bases (expensive to build new ones and they would provide some military protection to the Ukraine). Well they failed to maintain and the Ukraine government was going to collapse. The Russians have a lot invested in that area, so it is no wonder they would want to protect it. If this is true, I can not blame them for their actions. If it is not true, well it defiantly looks bad… just like some actions of the US looks bad too from an outsiders point of view.

      • The justification would be in that they had a contract. Russia did not pay for the upkeep, because it was the compensation they were receiving for releasing the country. I still have to research this to see what the real details are, but if there was a contract or agreement, then Russia may have the right… If not, then well they do not, accept to protect their boarder… Ukraine was to maintain road to the base and such, not the ships and other equipment (again from my source that I have not confirmed).

  2. kerry is a freaking moron! we didnt go in2 iraq to anexx it to the u.s. or 2 subsjegate their people! we went in2 afghanistan for payback & remove a threat 2 us! stfu kerry!!

    • Nope. “We” went into Iraq to destabilize, and help Israel’s take over the entire Mid East oil supply. Or try to. It’s not working out so well. Iran and Syria are still intact, and America literally can’t afford another war for Israel.
      Afghanistan is all about the poppies. The global heroin trade, run by Israel, the USA, and Turkey.

      • Anti-Semitic racist rant! We never tried to destabilize Iraq, we never tried to take over any oil supplies. But America haters spew that dumb mantra….and it is anti-Semitic and racist.

        The Afghan ‘incursion’ was to get Osama bin Laden – and depose the Taliban, who were providing material support to Osama bin Laden. Mission was accomplished. (I do agree that we should have pulled out fairly quickly and not engaged in ‘nation-building’.

        The Iraq ‘incursion’ was to depose Saddam – who was in violation of the armistice after HE invaded Kuwait. He refused to account for WMDs, WMD precursors, etc. He engaged in various illegal actions that merited him being removed. Mission was accomplished – and again – we should have gotten out as quickly as possible.

        • Blah blah blah. Who do you think you are kidding? You do know that hardly any-one is suckered by that “Taliban/Osama Bin Laden” nonsense.
          Sorry – but that scam was blown by the American tax-dollar “Al Quaida” operatives, in Syria. People are waking up. Too bad.

        • By the way – tell me about the exclusive ethnic identity of the members of the Frankfurt Shul – and what they did.

      • Sadly mis or un informed. We don’t all get to make up our own history. You would be very hard pressed to substantiate any of what you say with provable facts.

  3. Hypocrisy maybe but I do not think we are maintaining a military presence in any country against there will.
    However if ‘Hypocrisy’ is what we are so against where are the drum beats where is the outrage with the Chinese occupation of and cultural genocide of the Tibetans. crickets, I thought so.

    • Crimea voted to join Russia. Egypt voted out the Muslim Brotherhood, and Obama/Hillary/Kerry tried to side with the Muslim Brotherhood.

      • From what I have heard it was only a small part of Crimea that was pro Russian that voted on joining Russia. Why wouldn’t BHO side with his Muslim brothers? Hill and Lurch should know better but neither of them has a clue either.

  4. Hmmm, no one in prison for arming Mexican drug cartels or the radical Muslim Brotherhood, eh Kerry/Barry Oblamer?

  5. Thanks for this article. Good work, Minkoff! Crimea was always Russian. The Ukraine just sufferered yet another alien coup. Their legal government was ousted by the vile Victoria Nuland, and her equally vile spouse Robert Kagan. All paid for by American tax slaves. Just like a century ago, when the “American” banker Jacob Schiff paid for his co-ethnics’ invasion of Russia. The modern-day Schiffs” installed their co ethnics,as the “government” of the Ukraine, and Blackwater mercs did the shooting. They just moved out TONS of Ukrainian gold, to the “Federal Reserve” vaults in NYC. The Ukrainians are just waking up to the reality of the way they’ve been looted, yet again.
    The illegal “government” of the Ukraine won’t last much longer. Putin won’t have to fire a shot, either.

    • Crimea was always Russia after a lot of ethnic cleansing to remove or kill off the majority of the population. Eventually, the majority of the surviving population was Russian. So….do enough killing and swapping out of the population, and you can justify the take-over of any area.

      • Do you really want to get into whosky did the vast majority of “ethnic cleansing”, in the past 100 years? Really?
        I’d try to see if that Madagascar deal is still viable, dear. The dominoes are falling.

  6. WOW! Why are we having so much trouble with the countries of Iraq and Afghanistan that we took over? I must have missed it when our president and congress signed the annexation papers? Did we also annex Kosovo, Vietnam, and Germany too? I must have missed that? How about Japan, is that part of the US too? We may or may not have stuck our nose in these countries where it didn’t belong, but it is quite a stretch to say we took them over like Putin did Crimea!

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