From article What 10 Years of U.S.
Meddling in Ukraine Have Wrought (Spoiler alert: Not democracy). Aaron Mate.
April 30, 2024. Section 2.
Seeking to
capitalize on the unrest in Ukraine in 2013, U.S. figures including State
Department official Victoria Nuland, Republican Sen. John McCain, and
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy visited Maidan Square.
In a show of
support for the movement’s hardline faction, which went beyond supporting the
EU trade deal to demand Yanukovych’s ouster, the trio met privately with
Tyahnybok and appeared with him on stage.
The senators’ mission, Murphy said, was to
“bring about a peaceful transition in ukraine.”
…
The Maidan
Movement’s most significant U.S. endorsement came from then-Vice President Joe
Biden.
“Nothing would
have greater impact for securing our interests and the world’s interests in
Europe than to see a democratic, prosperous, and independent Ukraine in the
region,” Biden said.
According to
Andrii Telizhenko, a former Ukrainian government official who worked closely
with Western officials during this period, the
U.S. government’s role went far beyond those high-profile displays of
solidarity.
“As soon as it
grew into something, into the bigger Maidan, in the beginning of December, it
basically was full coordination with the U.S. Embassy,” Telizhenko recalls.
“Full, full.”
…
When the
protests erupted, Telizhenko was working as an adviser to a Ukrainian member of
Parliament.
Having spent
part of his youth in Canada and the United States, Telizhenko’s fluent English and Western connections landed him a
position helping to oversee the Maidan Movement’s international
relations.
In this role,
he organized meetings with and coordinated security arrangements for foreign
visitors, including U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, Nuland, and McCain.
Most of their
briefings were held at Kyiv’s Trade Unions Building, the movement’s de-facto
headquarters in the city’s center.
…
Telizhenko says
[U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey] Pyatt
routinely coordinated with Maidan leaders on protest strategy.
In one
encounter, the ambassador observed Right Sector members assembling Molotov
cocktails that would later be thrown at riot police attempting to enter the
building.
Sometimes, the
U.S. ambassador disapproved of his counterparts’ tactics.
“The U.S.
embassy would criticize if something would happen more radical than it was
supposed to go by plan, because it's bad for the picture,” Telizhenko said.
…
That winter was
marked by a series of escalating clashes.
On February 20,
2014, snipers fatally shot dozens of protesters in Maidan square.
Western
governments attributed the killings to Yanukovych's forces.
But an
intercepted phone call between NATO officials told a different story.
In the recorded
conversation, Estonian foreign minister Urmas Paet told EU foreign secretary
Catherine Ashton he believed pro-Maidan
forces were behind the slaughter.
In Kyiv, Paet
reported, “there is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the
snipers, it was not Yanukovych, but it was somebody from the new [Maidan]
coalition.”
…
In a bid to
resolve the Maidan crisis and avoid more bloodshed, European officials brokered
a compromise between Yanukovych and the opposition.
The Feb. 21
deal called for a new national unity
government that would keep Yanukovych in office, with reduced powers,
until early elections at year’s end.
It also called
for the disarmament of the Maidan forces and a withdrawal of riot police.
Holding up its
end of the bargain, government security forces pulled back.
…
But the Maidan encampment's ultra-nationalist
contingent had no interest in compromise.
“We don’t want
to see Yanukovych in power,” Maidan Movement squadron leader Vladimir Parasyuk
declared that same day. “And unless this morning you come up with a statement
demanding that he steps down, then we will take arms and go, I swear.”
…
In insisting on
regime change, the far-right contingent was also usurping the leadership of
more moderate opposition leaders such as Vitali Klitschko, who supported the
power-sharing agreement.
“The goal was to overthrow the government,”
Telizhenko says. “That was the first goal. And it was all green-lighted by the
U.S. Embassy. They basically supported all this, because they did not
tell them to stop. If they told the Maidan leaders to stop, they would stop.”
…
Yet another
leaked phone call bolstered suspicions the U.S. endorsed regime change.
On the
recording, presumably intercepted in January by Russian or Ukrainian
intelligence, Nuland and Pyatt discussed
their choice of leaders in a proposed power-sharing government with Yanukovich.
Their
conversation showed the U.S. exerted considerable influence with the
faction seeking the Ukrainian
president’s ouster.
Tyahnybok, the
openly antisemitic head of Svodova, would be a “problem” in office, Nuland
worried, and better “on the outside.”
Klitschko, the
more moderate Maidan member, was ruled out as well.
“I don’t think
Klitsch should go into government,” Nuland said.
“I don’t think
it’s necessary. I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
One reason was
Klitschko's proximity to the European Union.
Despite her
government’s warm words for the European Union in public, Nuland told Pyatt:
“Fuck the EU.”
…
The two U.S.
officials settled on technocrat Arseniy Yatsenyuk. “I think Yats is the guy,”
Nuland said.
By that point,
Yatsenyuk had endorsed violent insurrection.
The
government’s rejection of Maidan demands, he said, meant “people had acquired
the right to move from non-violent to violent means of protest.”
The only
outstanding matter, Pyatt relayed, was securing “somebody with an international
personality to come out here and help to midwife this thing.” Nuland replied Vice President Joe Biden and
his senior aide, Jake Sullivan, who now serves as Biden’s National
Security Adviser, had signed on to provide “an atta-boy and to get the details
to stick.”
…
Just hours
after the power-sharing agreement was reached, Nuland’s wishes were granted.
Yanukovych, no
longer protected by his armed forces, fled the capital.
Emboldened by
their sabotage of an EU-brokered power-sharing truce, Maidan Movement members
stormed the Ukrainian Parliament and pushed through the formation of a new
government.
In violation of
parliamentary rules on impeachment proceedings, and lacking a sufficient
quorum, Oleksandr Turchynov was named
the new acting president. The Nuland-backed Yatsenyuk was appointed Prime
Minister.
…
In a reflection
of their influence, at least five post-coup cabinet posts in national security,
defense, and law enforcement were given to members of Svoboda and its far-right
ally Right Sector.
“The uncomfortable truth is a sizeable portion
of Kyiv’s current government – and the protesters who brought it to power –
are, indeed, fascists,” wrote Andrew Foxall, now a British defense
official, and Oren Kessler, a Tel Aviv-based analyst, in Foreign Policy the
following month.
While denying
any role in Yanukovich’s ouster, the Obama administration immediately endorsed
it, as Secretary of State John Kerry expressed “strong support” for the new
government.
(end of section
2)
… …
“The two U.S.
officials settled on technocrat Arseniy Yatsenyuk. ‘I think Yats is the guy,’
Nuland said.
By that point, Yatsenyuk had endorsed violent insurrection.
The government’s rejection of Maidan demands, he said, meant ‘people had acquired the right to
move from non-violent to violent means of protest.’
The only outstanding matter, Pyatt relayed, was securing ‘somebody with an international
personality to come out here and help to midwife this thing.’ Nuland replied Vice President Joe
Biden and his senior aide, Jake Sullivan, who now serves as Biden’s National
Security Adviser, had signed on to provide ‘an atta-boy and to get the details to stick.’”
While looking like trying to solve problems the more problems
and complications the better for our “international relations expert” Dems and
RINOs.
Zeir toy International Affairs Rubik’s Cube gets bigger, more
complex, and increasingly fun for dem to play with and profit from, and spend
our money on.
We need peace and wealth for All not fun and our money for dem
and zeir partner overseas troublemakers.
So, instead We need the simple, ‘international relations
experts’-free, Real Republican Libertarian Rubric Cube here, in Ukraine, Russia,
China, and everywhere.
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