Investigate Hank Paulson!

Why was it that Lehman Brothers was allowed to go belly up and AIG recieved a bailout to the tune of 75 billion dollars? Glen Greenwald in his excellent blog just revealed that Goldman Sachs, Hank Paulson was CEO of Goldman Sachs just two years ago, would lose 20 billion dolllars if AIG was allowed to fold. Even worse, when Paulson made the decision to bailout AIG, the current CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein was present. Add to this, recently Goldman Sachs was reorganized to allow it recieve some of the 700 billion dollar bailout loot that Paulson and his plutocratic bankster buddies were attempting to steal from the American taxpayers. Did Paulson bailout AIG to save his former company Goldman Sachs 20 billion dollars? What exactly was the CEO of Goldman Sachs doing in Paulson's office when the decision to bailout AIG was made? Exactly how much of taxpayer money would Goldman Sachs have been eligible to recieve had the bailout for the billioniare banksters passed? It should also be remembered that Hank Paulson was demanding unlimited discretion in what he could do with the loot he was trying to extract from the sweat and labor of the American kulaks. I wonder how much of that loot he was going to handover to his buddies at Goldman Sachs? Congress needs to launch an investigation into the double dealings of Hank Paulson. At the very least this thieving scumbag should be thrown out of office.

A Dangerous Game

The United States government continues to play a dangerous game in Russia's near abroad. Now the United States government has inserted itself in the middle of a dispute between Ukraine and Russia over Sevastopol, the traditional home of the Russian Black Sea fleet since the time of Catherine the Great. The Crimea peninsula which encompasses Sevastopol was seded to Ukraine by Khrushev as a gift during the time of the Soviet Union. Most of the people living in the Crimea peninsula are ethnic Russians and speak Russian, not Ukrainian. Yushchenko, the pro western and pro Nato president of Ukraine wants Russia to pay a higher rent for its use of Sevastopol and angry about Russia's actions in Georgia wants to impose regulations on Russia's use of Sevastopol. Russia, which has a lease on Sevastopol till 2020 has vowed to ignore any such regulations. To further complicate matters Tymoshento, the Prime Minister of Ukraine who was swept into power with Yushenko during the Orange Revolution is in a bitter political dispute with Yushenko. Tymoshento favors a less confrontational policy towards Russia with regards to Sevastopol and recently in the Ukraine parliment formed a tactical alliance with the former President of Ukraine, Yanukovich, who is pro Russia, to limit the powers of the Ukraine President. As a result the alliance between Tymoshento and Yushchenko has been broken and Yushchenko has lost his parlimentary majority. Yushenko has 30 days to rebuild that majority or he must call new elections. It would be the third election in three years for the Ukraine.
The United States government has inserted itself into the middle of this complex political, territorial, and ethnic dispute. Daniel Fried, the United States Undersecretary of State said "The United States and I daresay Europe as well support Ukraine in its independence, its freedom, its democracy, and its right to choose its own future." The extent of that support he did not make clear. Niether Fried, a bureacratic flunkie of the State Department, or the President have the power to make a military commitment to Ukraine. Under the Constitution, the supreme law of the United States, only Congress through the ratification of a treaty can make such a commitment. Such a treaty must be passed by a 2/3 maority in the Senate of the United States. The dispute between Ukraine and Russia over Sevastopol shows the danger of allowing Ukraine into NATO. If Ukraine is admitted into NATO there is a very good chance that the United States might be drawn into a war with Russia over Sevastopol and the Crimea peninsula. These areas of the world are only of marginal or no strategic interests to the people of the United States but are considered of vital strategic interest to Russia. There is no way Russia will peacefully vacate Sevastopol and then watch NATO establish its own naval base in Sevastopol. Already Russian Nationalist are screaming that Ukraine must return what rightfully belongs to Russia.
Up until 1991, Ukraine, had been a part of the Soviet Union. The people of the United States thrived while Ukraine was under the thumb of the Russians. Ukraine is not of vital strategic importance to the United States. The United States government should stay out of what promises to be a nasty political and ethnic dispute between Russia and Ukraine that has the potential to blow up into a military confrontation. The only dog the people of the United States have in a war between Russia and Ukraine is to stay out of it. Congress needs to start acting in a responsible manner, and stop handing out war guarantees as if they were penny candy. NATO was an alliance formed against the former Soviet Union. The former Soviet Union is now consigned to the dust bin of history and the same goes for the Warsaw Pact. NATO has served it purpose. It should have been buried when the Soviet Union collapsed and the Warsaw Pact was dissolved. It is past time for NATO to join other cold war relics such the former Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact in the dust bin of history.

NO WAR FOR GEORGIA!
NO WAR FOR UKRAINE!

Palin Drinks the Neocon Kool-Aid

, Republican Rock Star, Sarah Palin, in an interview with Charles Gibson left open the possibilitly of war with Russia over Georgia. Palin stated that she favors admitting both Ukraine and Georgia into NATO and that as members of NATO Georgia and Ukraine can expect the United States government to come to thier defense if attacked by Russia. This is pure unadulterated insanity. Georgia and the Ukraine are of no vital security interests to the people of the United States. For years both the Ukraine and Georgia were under the thumb of Russian domination and the people of the United States prospered. The same goes for the newly liberated Baltic States. The United States government should not be issuing war guarantees to countries that are as about as remote to the security interests of the people of the United States as Botswana. Palin is willing to risk the nuclear destruction of New York, Boston, San Diego, Houston, and Nashville over Tiblisi and Kiev for nothing of any concern to the American people. This position alone should disqualify Palin from holding the position of VP of the United States. The thought of this Neocon, Kool Aide gulping, war crazed fanatic with her finger on the button should be enough to fill anyone with jitters, and is another indication of the lack of judgement McCain shows not just on foriegn policy but in the people he chooses to associate with.

Get Out of Russia's Face!

At the risk of repeating myself I want to stress again that Georgia and its idiot President is the one responsible for starting this current war with Russia. Georgia attacked and killed innocent Russian men, women, and children living in South Ossetia. The Georgian military with arms purchased from the United States and Israel shot at and killed Russian peacekeepers serving in South Ossetia. In this case Georgia and its moron President are the aggressors, and not Putin and the Russians.
Second, it is absolutely of no consequence to the lives or liberties of the people of the United States if Russia annexes South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The so called territorial integrity of Georgia is not worth the life of one American soldier to say nothing of risking a shooting war with Russia. The United States government needs to get out of Russia's face. NATO should be disbanded (it should have been disbanded after the demise of the Soviet Union and the termination of the Warsaw Pact) Under no circumstances should the United States government give any war guarantee to any former Republic of the Soviet Union or any former member of the Warsaw Pact. The United States should terminate its plan to build an absolutely worthless missle defense system in Poland and the Chezk Republic.
The number one priority of the United States government should be to have good relations with Russia. In order to have good relations with Russia the United States government needs to start treating the concerns of Russia with respect. The United States government has no business interfering in Russia's near abroad in the Caucuses just as the Russian government has no business interfering in South or Central America. What if Russia were to start building an antimissle defense system in Cuba? What if Russia were to start training and selling sophisticated weapons systems to Chavez and the Venzuelan military? What if the Russians were to support a takeover of the Mexican government that was actively hostile to the interests of the United States. Would the United States government for one second tolerate such behavior on the part of the Russians? Is there and doubt that the super nationalist on this forum would consider such actions by the Russian government as hostile acts and a serious provocation.
The United States government is playing a very dangerous game with the Russians. It is a game that promises very few benefits to the American people and might very well lead to a nuclear war with Russia over some dumbass incident in the Caucuses. There are some very evil people in the United States (the list would include Randy Scheuneman, William Krystal, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, John McCain, Joe Lieberman, John Bolton, Richard Pearle, George Bush, and Dick Cheney) who are interested in restarting a cold war with Russia as an excuse to further increase the already obscene amount of money spent on "defense" by the United States government. These people are willing to risk nuclear war with Russia just so they can channel more profits to thier good time buddies in the military industrial complex, or give themselves some enemy to rant against on 24 hour hawk radio.

Can McCain be this Stupid?!

A Washington Post.Com story quotes McCain as saying "I am interested in good relations between the United States and Russia, but in the 21st century nations do not invade other nations." Excuse me Senator McCain, but what do you think the United States government did to Iraq? When the United States government launches a war of aggression against Iraq and imposes the worse type of depotism, a military occupation, on that country for over six years that is labeled a liberation not an invasion. And what of all this talk about the territorial integrity of Georgia? What about the territorial integrity of Serbia? Why is it legitmate for Kosovo to leave Serbia but it is not legitimate for Abkhazia or South Ossetia to leave Georgia? I think South Ossetia and Abkhazia have just as much right to leave Georgia as Georgia had to leave the Soviet Union. I think Russia has just as much right to annex South Ossetia and Abkhazia, a move that would be wildly popular in those two break away provinces, as the United States had to annex Texas. Russia should leave Georgia alone and Georgia should leave South Ossetia and Abkhazia alone. As for the United States government, it should just mind its own damn business, and stay out of spats that are of no concern to the lives or liberties of the American people.