Dear All,
It has been noticed that there have been more than a few visits to the "The Truth and Nothing but the Truth" from the Citizens of the Ukraine, over the last week.
For this reason, I am posting this recent "Press Release" by US Senator John McCain for consideration by the readers in the Ukraine.
Just so the Ukrainians know, Americans are very concerned for your country and what the "Bully-Putin" is up to.
Americans overwhelmingly support the Citizens of Ukraine and we fully expect that the Obama Administration and the European Union will take all necessary steps to bring pressure to bear on Russia's Dictator (Vladimir Putin) to cease and desist; leaving you and your leaders to seek peace, freedom, democracy, and a co-existence with your neighbors in the European Union to improve and enjoy the economic freedom and prosperity that democracy and capitalism provides.
"May God Bless the Citizens of the Ukraine"
Ron Kirkish, Citizen of America
Apr 16 2014
Permalink: http://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2014/4/mccain-remarks-on-ukraine-and-russia-in-Lithuania
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today delivered the
following remarks on Ukraine, Russia and European security at an event
sponsored by the Ronald Reagan House and held at Vilnius University in Vilnius,
Lithuania:
We are here to take your questions and have a discussion.
But first, I would like to make a few words on
geopolitics and security, and then invite each of my colleagues to make some
remarks.
We come to Lithuania after visiting Norway, Estonia and
Latvia.
We have had good discussions in those countries with
government, military, and parliamentary leaders, just as we have today in
Lithuania.
On our way to Vilnius, we also had a chance to visit
NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission, which is being flown out of northern
Lithuania.
Tomorrow we will travel to Moldova.
We are visiting the Baltic countries this week to consult
with our allies about how we must respond together to Russia's illegal
annexation of Crimea, its ongoing military intervention in eastern Ukraine, and
its other efforts to pressure its neighbors, including in this region.
We see the ongoing crisis in Ukraine as you and our other
Baltic allies do: It means the United States, Europe, and NATO cannot continue
with business as usual.
All of us had high hopes for our relationship with Russia
after the Cold War.
We provided billions of dollars of assistance to help
Russia's transition from communism.
NATO stated in the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act that it
had ‘no need, no intent, and no plans’ to deploy any significant military capability
onto the territory of new NATO allies in eastern and central Europe, even as we
enlarged the alliance.
So today, while NATO's membership has grown significantly
over the past 16 years, the presence of U.S. and NATO forces in Europe has
barely changed.
All of these actions reflected the U.S. and European
desire to build a constructive and cooperative relationship with Russia, and a
new, inclusive security order to sustain our vision of Europe whole, free, and
at peace – a vision that we always believed, and still do believe, would
benefit Russia, and that we consistently invited and encouraged Russia to join.
Unfortunately, it should now be clear to all of us that
Russia under President Putin has taken a very dark turn, and our highest hopes
for our relationship with Russia have not borne out.
This should have been clear, and was clear to many of us,
the first time President Putin invaded and dismembered a sovereign country –
Georgia in 2008.
It should definitely be clear now in light of Mr. Putin's
military intervention in Ukraine.
We need to recognize reality, and make our policies on
this basis: President Putin, and his desire to restore a kind of imperial
dominance over Russia's so-called near abroad, poses a geopolitical challenge
not only to Russia's neighbors but to our entire vision of Europe whole, free,
and at peace.
This does not mean a return to the Cold War.
But it should mean that we need to prepare, despite all
of our best efforts and intentions since 1991, for a more competitive relationship
with President Putin's Russia.
This demands more from all of us. It means that all of us
in NATO should re-commit ourselves to the alliance's core missions of
deterrence and collective defense.
The United States is committed to our obligations to the
collective defense of our NATO allies.
It is one thing to say that.
It is quite another to have the allied forces and
capabilities present in this part of Europe, on a persistent basis, to deter
aggression and demonstrate NATO's resolve and ability to meet our defensive
commitments if called upon.
That is what is needed now.
NATO must shift its force posture toward a more even
distribution of our presence and capabilities across the alliance, including
here in Lithuania and the other Baltic countries.
We are taking some modest steps in this direction.
And that is good.
But this shift cannot be tactical and temporary.
It must be strategic, sustainable, and enduring.
For NATO to do more for its members, its members must do
more for themselves and for our alliance.
I understand that economic times are still tough.
And we in the United States, including those of us in the
Congress, have our own work to do to reverse the harmful effects of recent cuts
to our defense spending.
That said, considering what President Putin is doing
right now in Ukraine, it is more important than ever for every NATO ally to
spend at least 2 percent of its GDP on defense.
I'm pleased that Lithuania has pledged and is planning to
do this, and the sooner you follow through on that commitment the better.
At the same time, we and Lithuania's leaders agree that
European countries need to increase their efforts to diversify their supply of
energy, as Lithuania is taking the lead in doing.
As Senators Hoeven and Barrasso will explain, the United
States can be an important part of that solution in Lithuania and Europe.
Finally, the United States, the EU, and NATO must do more
to support Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and other European countries that aspire
to be part of our Transatlantic community.
We cannot bar the doors to a Europe whole, free, and at
peace, leaving an unfortunate few outside to be hunted and harassed.
That means the West must provide far greater diplomatic,
economic, and military support to Ukraine – including a long-term program to
assist them in reforming and rebuilding their armed forces.
We need to provide similar support to Moldova.
We must show all of these countries that, as long as they
meet the rightfully high standards for membership, the doors to NATO and the EU
remain open, and the fundamental choices about their future foreign policy are
for them to make – no one else.
In the last century, the United States always supported
the captive nations here in the Baltic region.
I still remember as a boy seeing the flags of Lithuania,
Latvia, and Estonia proudly carried in our Fourth of July parades.
And we would ask what they were, and our parents would
tell us about the captive nations, and why your struggle was also our struggle.
All of us must do the same now for Ukraine.
We cannot, we must not, give up on Crimea, or any other
part of Ukraine or other sovereign country that Mr. Putin seeks to claim by
force.
This kind of aggressive, neo-imperial behavior is
fundamentally at odds with our vision of Europe whole, free, and at peace – and
indeed, to core principles of the post-war international order that all of us
have sacrificed so mightily to build.
We did not seek this challenge from Mr. Putin's Russia,
nor did we deserve it.
But we must rise to it all the same – for the interests
and values of our Transatlantic community depend on our resolve.
###
No comments:
Post a Comment