News Release

The Plot to Scapegoat Russia

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51y83D5Rz-LDAN KOVALIK, DKovalik at usw.org
Kovalik is author of the just-released book The Plot to Scapegoat Russia: How the CIA and the Deep State Have Conspired to Vilify Russia. He teaches international human rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. See the book’s forward by David Talbot, the founder of Salon.com.

Kovalik’s pieces on Huffington Post include “Listen Liberals: Russia Is Not Our Enemy” and “‘The Resistance’ That Doesn’t Resist War.”

He said today: “The House overwhelmingly passing sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea is not what it seems. While these sanctions were allegedly passed to respond to aggression by Russia, Iran and North Korea, they seem more targeted toward giving the U.S. a greater share of Europe’s market for natural gas — a market now largely supplied by Russia. The New York Times just reported: ‘”We are following the draft bill on Russia sanctions with some concern, notably because of its possible impact on the E.U.’s energy independence,” a European Commission spokesman, Margaritis Schinas, said on Monday.’

“The pretext for these sanctions is somewhere between dubious and laughable. First and foremost, the American public has yet to be presented with any reliable evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Moreover, the claims of Russian meddling are patently hypocritical given the U.S. government’s own meddling in many other countries in recent decades, including in the 1996 Russian presidential elections. The U.S. outright invaded Iraq, bombed Libya and numerous other countries in recent years to effectuate regime change, and it is currently threatening regime change in Iran, Venezuela and North Korea. It is therefore in no position to lecture Russia regarding Crimea, international law or anything else.” See Kovalik’s piece on Counterpunch: “The United States as Destroyer of Nations.”

“This doesn’t mean Russia and Vladimir Putin are beyond serious criticism. No one is. But what’s happening here is clearly a major effort to demonize Putin. This facilitates several agendas: Painting the U.S. as a benevolent force on the world stage rather than critically assess the damage its regime change wars have caused. It is used by the establishment of the Democratic Party to justify their loss to Trump and lack of a serious affirmative program. And it facilitates the continued militarization of U.S. foreign policy and the continued dominance of the Military Industrial Complex.

“These sanctions increase the chances of war between the U.S. and any or all of these countries. As such, these sanctions, which could indeed be interpreted as a declaration of economic war against these nations, should not be welcome. History and current events demonstrate that Russia is not our enemy, and the American public should resist the push to paint it as such lest we be misled into but another, and potentially more disastrous, war. Whatever one thinks of Trump, his one rational policy is his desire to have detente with Russia, and that is the very policy which the Democrats are resisting the most.”