History Important in Carlson-Putin Interview
More History in Excerpts from Previous Newsletter Articles
The stated purpose of Tucker Carlson’s interview of Vladimir Putin on last week in Moscow was to inform the American public about issues regarding the SMO war in Ukraine not well reported by the American mainstream media. Tucker’s team sees this interview as part of their role as journalists. Tucker introduced the interview as follows on February 7th.
“Most Americans have no idea why Putin invaded Ukraine or what his goals are now. They have never heard his voice. That’s wrong. Americans have a right to know all they can about a war they are implicated in. And we have a right to tell them about it because we are Americans too. Freedom of speech is our birthright. Anyone can watch the entire thing shot live on tape and unedited on our website, TuckerCarlson.com.
Elon Musk, to his great credit, has promised not to suppress or block this interview once we post it on his platform X, and we’re grateful for that. Western governments, by contrast, will certainly do their best to censor this video on other less-principled platforms because that’s what they do. They are afraid of information they can’t control. But you have no reason to be afraid of it. We are not encouraging you to agree with what Putin may say in this interview. But we are urging you to watch it. You should know as much as you can. And then, like a free citizen and not a slave, you can decide for yourself.”
It’s not possible to understand the causes and motivations driving the Ukraine SMO without knowledge of historical geopolitical events and goals of the key players in the region since WW II. Putin wanted to convey some of this information to the American people. It is all on public record for those who have had interest enough to see it. However, reading or listening to corporate controlled Western media headlines alone is insufficient and misleading; attending to alternative news and analytical sources from both sides of the conflict provides the only path to discernment between truth and propaganda.
I have written about Russian/Ukrainian history, Slavic culture, NATO/Russian relationships, failed treaties, ideology and nationalism, the 2014 Maidan Square Coup, NATO expansions, and WW II and post-war ethnic cleansing and population transfers in numerous articles here on my newsletter during 2023. Reading them is an easy way of catching up on or refreshing your memory about important events and perspectives. They cover most of the history mentioned by Putin in more detail.
Below are excerpts and highlights from three of those articles.
Dogma of Ethnic Anger At Russia, Part 1,
Russian and Ukrainian History and Ethnic Conflicts, February 7, 2023.
The Russian Revolution of 1905 set the stage for the 1917 revolutions that allowed the Bolsheviks to emerge as a distinct political movement of communism. A revolution may be defined as a rapid, fundamental and violent domestic change in the dominant values, institutions, social structures, leadership and governmental policies of a country. The revolutions of 1905 and 1917 matched those criteria.
There was widespread backlash for the corrupt, incompetent, autocratic policies by the tsars. The unjust treatment of serfs and peasants, overwhelming tax burdens, food shortages and miserable working conditions at industrial factories created anger, protests and unrest. Unwisely, Tsar Nicholas reacted by trying to distract the populace with a war against Japan that Russia lost. Revolution began in 1905, paving the way for different political ideas to percolate.
By the end of 1916, Russia was reeling from its tactical defeats in WW I. Food was scarce and the military demoralized. Anger grew and the masses demanded overthrow of the tsar by the military. This led to the second February Revolution and abduction of Nicholas II in 1917, ending the Romanov dynasty and monarchy. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, seized power and formed a provisional republic. This sparked the Russian Civil War from 1922 to 1923, ending with the founding of the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1922 as a communist state.
The USSR started with four constituent republics governed by the Communist Party and Politburo in Moscow that, with a few additions and divisions, grew to 15 republics. The constituent republics were Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Transcaucasian. The Bolsheviks wanted to avoid nationalistic threats and rebellion against their power. Their plan was to have different republics that would be politically controlled by Moscow but have some cultural autonomy.
This was the first time Ukraine officially became a state, within the Soviet Federation. Initially, the Bolsheviks promoted Ukrainian language and culture in specialized schools. By the 1930’s, though, nationalism of minorities was repressed by Stalin. The Ukrainians had previously gained a sense of nationalism during the Cossack’s Hetmanate in the 18th century and it persisted as an identity thereafter.
Vladimir Lenin died in 1924 and Joseph Stalin was installed as General Secretary of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union until his death in 1953. The USSR became a brutal one-party totalitarian police state with every aspect of the economy tightly controlled. Citizens of all the republics who opposed to Stalin’s regime were executed or sent to Gulags in Siberia. Or they were accused of fabricated sabotage and espionage and sent to labor camps or collective farms.
Banks, railroads, shipping, farms, industries, and public utilities were all nationalized by the state. Women were emancipated so they could go to work in industries, communal child care nurseries were set up and abortion was legalized. Religious leaders were exiled and atheism was promoted. Peasants were either forced off their land, executed or forced to surrender their surplus grain to the government. The agricultural policies and collective farms created a severe famine that killed millions of people of starvation.
From 1939 to 1940, the Red Army invaded eastern Poland and Finland, known as the Winter War. In 1940, the USSR annexed the three Baltic States, Moldova and Karel-Finnish. Germany declared war on the USSR in June 1941. By November, the German army had seized Ukraine, which was recaptured by the Soviets at the end of 1943. WW II devasted the economy of the USSR and 27 million Russians died. The Soviets occupied East Germany and Berlin after the war. The Cold War emerged between the US and the Soviets in 1945, after a conflict between President Truman and Stalin. Stalin died in 1953 and was succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev.
In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed by the US, Canada and European Allies. The Soviets responded by consolidating power among Eastern Block countries under the Warsaw Pact of 1955, but rivalry continued. During the 1960’s and 70’s, Soviet elites gained wealth and power while millions of citizens faced poverty and lack of basic necessities under Marxist communism. The unbalanced wealth sparked political upheavals in the Eastern Block beginning in 1989. Estonia was the first Soviet Republic to break away in 1990. Other states followed. The USSR was bankrupt and could no longer hold the republics together. The Russians were nationalistic and did not want to be responsible for ethnic problems in other regions, nor had a strong military force.
The Communist Party and Soviet Union dissolved in December, 1991 with Boris Yeltsin as the new president of the Russian Federation, who took over from Mikhail Gorbachev, the final leader of the USSR. Initially all the republics except Ukraine and Belarus voted against the dissolution. All 15 republics suddenly became independent and the transition from a socialist structure to free market economies was difficult on many levels. The industrial base and material supply chains crossing multiple countries were disrupted overnight. There was no money to pay wages and currencies were devalued. Jobs were lost and people had to relocate. Not everyone was happy with how the borders were drawn either.
During the Russian Federation transition, nationalized banks and industries changed to a private economy, gifting oligarchs great wealth while everyone else struggled to adapt. Some of the republics did quite well, but Ukraine remained one of the poorest and struggled with corruption.
Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin launched a disastrous war against Chechnya between 1993-1999, after which he resigned in December. Vladimir Putin took over as president and prime minister in January 2000.
Ukraine History
Ukraine was never a fully independent state until the collapse of the Soviet Union on Dec. 25, 1991. Prior to it being established as a semi-independent republic of the USSR in 1922, portions of its area were alternatively controlled by the Russian Empire, the Mongol Empire, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Cossacks and Austrian Empire. Fittingly, the name Ukraine means on the edge or borderland. For very long periods Russia and Ukraine were part of the same state.
Both Russians and Ukrainians originated in the East Slavic tribe based in Kievan Rus’, the largest and most powerful state in Europe from the 9th to the 13th century, when it was conquered by the Mongols. Over the next 600 years, Ukraine was contested, divided and ruled by different empires. Consequently, there was lots of mixing of ethnic groups of Slavic, Turk, German, Polish, Greek, Baltic, and Iranian people. Religion was a mix of Orthodox Christian, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and a little Islam.
The Ukrainians first began to develop a sense of nationalism in the 17th and 18th century when the Cossacks formed the Hetmanate state in Central Ukraine. The territory was initially divided between Russian Muscovites and Poland with the Dnieper River as the dividing line but later fully absorbed by the Russian Empire. Serfdom of peasants (slavery) in the large agricultural areas lasted until 1861.
The beginnings of a written Ukrainian language were evident by the early 1800’s, coupled with interest in the Cossacks as noble pirates, adventurers and freedom fighters. Russian remained the most common language in the Donbas, Crimea, in business communications and cities in the eastern half and southern portions of Ukraine. Most public and university education was conducted in Russian. All the East Slavic languages originated during the Kievan Rus’ and gradually diverged.
The Ukrainian War of Independence from 1917 to 1921 was fought within the frameworks of the Russian Civil War and the closing stage of the Eastern Front of the first World War of 1914-1918. The Bolsheviks from Russia, Ukrainian nationalists, Germans, Austrians, Polish, and French armies battled for control over Ukrainian territory. The Russian February Revolution of 1917 had encouraged many ethnic groups from the Russian Empire to demand greater autonomy. During WW I, Ukraine was the front line for the main combatants. Moral in the Red Army was poor, causing loss of faith in the Empire’s future. Control of Ukrainian territory went back and forth between the Poles and the Russians from 1920 to 1921, as it had for centuries.
In 1921 when the battles were over, Ukraine was divided up between the Bolshevik’s Ukrainian Republic, Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia. In 1922 the Russian Civil War, sparked by turmoil following overthrow of the monarchy with battles between the Red and White armies, stabilized and the Bolshevik communists founded the USSR as a federation of four republics, Ukraine among them. However, the communist party in Moscow retained the most centralized power.
Ukraine enjoyed a relatively good position in the USSR until Joseph Stalin consolidated his political power in 1928 and began a crushing campaign of repression, terror and famine. From 1932- 1933, 3.9 million Ukrainians died in the Holodomor devastating famine. At least another 700,000 of perceived enemies throughout the country were executed or deported by Stalin to Siberia, Gulags, labor camps, and collective farms in the Great Purge of 1936-1938.
Germany invaded the USSR in June 1941, conquering Ukraine in the first year of the conflict. Ukraine had one of the largest Jewish populations in Europe. Beginning in 1941, at least 1.5 million Jewish Ukrainians were shot to death in the face or back near their homes by Germans and Ukrainian collaborators. It was the first phase of the Holocaust, and they were not deported to death camps. The largest massacre by Germans was on September 29-30 killing 33,771 Jews in two days at Kiev. Around 100,000 Ukrainians collaborated with the Germans by joining the police force and helping with the shootings of Jews.
Also, the Soviet Secret Service (NKVD) executed between 10,00 to 40,000 prisoners in Western Ukraine at the start of the war, known as the 1941 NKVD Prison Massacres, 70 percent of whom were Ukrainian and 20 percent Polish. Western Ukraine had been part of Poland prior to WW II but came under Soviet rule in September 1939 following joint invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union. After the Nazis invaded the USSR, the region remained under Nazi control until the Soviets retook it in 1944.
Following the eradication of Jews by 1942, most of the Poles in Soviet Ukraine were forcibly deported back to Poland and Ukrainians in Poland returned in an exchange. Ukrainian young men either joined the Soviet army or the German secret police. A political vacuum arose which allowed Ukrainian nationalism to rise and ethnic cleansing against remaining Poles developed. In this case, changes in the political system, rather than any ancient hatred led to ethnic conflicts. All told, Ukraine suffered an estimated 5 million to 7 million deaths, or roughly 16 percent of its pre-war population, including around 1 million Ukrainian Jews, as WW II came to a close.
Following Soviet victories on the Eastern front during WW II, to which Ukrainians greatly contributed, several territories were added to Ukraine from the former Czechoslovakia, Hungry and Poland. Crimea was transferred from Russia to Ukraine in 1954 by Nikita Khrushchev.
Ukraine declared full independence for the first time in August, 1991 when the USSR and Communist Party dissolved. A new constitution was adopted in 1996. The Orange Revolution was a series of protests, strikes and civil resistance from November 2004 to January 2005 that arose following the Ukrainian presidential election claims of rigging and subsequent revote for Viktor Yushchenko. His opponent was Viktor Yanukovych, who wanted closer ties with Russia. A central issue was that about half of Ukrainians wanted to disassociate from the Soviet Union past. The conflicts continued when communist and socialist parties formed a coalition and nominated Yanukovych for Prime Minister in March 2006. Yushchenko dismissed the court judges who approved of the move as unconstitutional.
Civil unrest, prompted by Victoria Nuland, the US Assistant Secretary of State, broke out during a Maidan Square violent protest in February 2014, causing the elected president, Viktor Yanukovich to flee to Russia for safety. It resulted in a coup and new elections were held in June, electing Petro Poroshenko as the new president. In March, Crimea held a referendum voting to join the Russian Federation, which then annexed Crimea.
In April 2014, pro-Russian separatists in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk declared independence. Shelling of Donetsk and fighting between the separatists and Ukrainian nationalists began, killing 13,000 people in the Donbass by the end of 2020 and 1.5 million people fleeing to Russia and neighboring countries.
NATO & Ukrainian Hatred of Russia, Part 2
Ethnic Identities and Pre-war Buildup, Feb 14, 2023
The background history of NATO-Russian agreements dates back to the end of WW II. The Allied Control Council (ACC), also referred to as the Four Powers, was the governing body of occupied Germany and Austria following the end of WW II. Both Germany and Austria were divided into four zones of occupation by the August 1945 Potsdam Agreement. The four controlling countries were the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, United States, and France. The headquarters were in France.
The ACC determined how to change Central European borders and transfer of populations. The ACC was constituted to be the sole, legal, sovereign authority governing Germany, replacing the Nazi Party. The ACC issued a large number of laws but struggled to impose them because the real operational power lay in the hands of the separate Allied governments and their militaries. In addition to the Nuremberg Military Trials, each occupying power had its own legal system to try war criminals. Disagreements about war criminal policies marked the beginning of decline of cooperation among the Allies, which collapsed the Nuremberg Trials in October 1946.
In September 1946, a disagreement arose about the distribution of coal for industry in occupied territories. As a result, the Soviets withdrew support for the plan. Meanwhile, the Americans and British merged their zones to form Bizone and made currency reforms to introduce the Deutsche Mark in preparation for a future German independent state. The Soviets clamed this violated the Potsdam Agreements, leading to ACC paralysis when the Soviets withdrew from it. In 1949, two German states (West and East Germany) were founded. In 1955, both Germany and Austria were granted sovereignty.
NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was created in April 1949 by the United States, Canada and 10 Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. The treaty was based on the concept of collective defense, linking North America to Western Europe. The US viewed an economically strong, rearmed and integrated Europe was vital to the prevention of communist expansion. Large scale aid for rebuilding war-torn landscapes, and re-establishing industries and agriculture was provided through the Marshall Plan. This promoted the idea of shared interests and cooperation. The Soviets did not allow its Eastern Block satellites to accept economic assistance from the West, thereby reinforcing the growing division between East and West in Europe.
After the NATO treaty was signed, an additional $1.4 billion was appropriated in the Mutual Defense Assistance Program to help re-build European militaries. Greece and Turkey became members in 1952 and Germany in 1955. Since 1982 there were 6 more rounds of expansions, bringing the total membership to 30 nations. Since the current Ukraine War began, Sweden and Finland have applied for membership, but approval has been blocked by Turkey.
The Partnership for Peace program consists of agreements of bilateral cooperation between individual Euro-Atlantic nations and NATO. In 1994, Russia joined the program and in 1997 the NATO-Russia Founding Act (NRFA) was signed at a NATO Summit in Paris, France. This was near the peak of good US-Russian relations. The NATO-Russia Council (NRC) was created in May 2002 with each member as an equal partner that meets others in areas of common interest. NATO denied any plans to station nuclear weapons in new member states, nor station permeant military forces there.
After the fall of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, there were conversations between NATO and the new Russian Federation regarding the security landscape in Europe. Russians were assured by US President George HW Bush, US Secretary of State James Baker, and German and British foreign ministers that NATO did not intend to expand its territory eastward. The NRFA outlined the principles and military relationships between Russia and NATO to foster mutual cooperation. A forum called the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council was established for consultations, cooperation and consensus building.
In 1999 Russia condemned the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and expected to be part of a peacekeeping force at the end of the Kosovo War, which was refused by NATO. During the fall of 2001, Russia shared intelligence they had with the US, providing vital assistance to US forces in Afghanistan. In 2008, George W Bush vowed full support for admitting Ukraine and Georgia into NATO, in opposition to the security needs of Russia. This again caused a deep crisis in US-Russian relations.
In April 2016, NATO announced the deployment of four battalions to Eastern Europe, rotating troops through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland to deter possible future Russian aggression elsewhere on the continent, particularly in the Baltics. In September 2017, the United States also deployed two U.S. Army tank brigades to Poland to further bolster NATO’s presence in the region.
Failure of Minsk Accords
The Minsk Accords was a series of international agreements with the supposed goal of ending the Donbas war in Eastern Ukraine between Russian separatist groups and the Ukraine Army. It took place in two parts in Minsk Belarus. However, the war did not end, the provisions of the agreements were never fully implemented, and the mediators from France and Germany have publicly admitted that their real purpose was to stall the war and allow time to prepare for war against Russia by strengthening the Ukrainian Army and providing necessary supplies and equipment for support.
1. The Minsk Protocol drafted in 2014 was mediated by French President Francois Hollande and Germany Prime Minister Angela Merkel. It was signed on September 5, 2014 by representatives from the Trilateral Contact Group of Ukraine, Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR). The immediate objectives were implementation of a ceasefire, release of all hostages, withdrawal of armed groups and military equipment, and improvement of the humanitarian situation in Donbas. The Trilateral group consisted of representatives from Ukraine, Russia and Europe’s OSCE organization.
2. Minsk II followed with an update, which was signed on February 12, 2015. This agreement consisted of a package of agreements including a ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line (see map below), release of prisoners of war, constitutional reform in Ukraine granting self-government to certain areas of Donbas, and restoring control of the state border to the Ukrainian government.
Fighting immediately continued after the first Minsk Protocol, with both sides accusing each other of ceasefire violations. An amnesty bill was never passed by the Ukrainian parliament to protect DPR and LPR leaders. By January, everyone recognized the Minsk Protocol had completely collapsed although there was a reduction in the amount of violence. The DPR and LPR armed forces began a new offensive and recaptured the Donetsk International Airport on Jan 21st, 2015. In February the negotiators met again in Minsk and signed a second agreement, known as Minsk II. It was similar to the first Minsk Protocol and again never fully implemented.
In general, Moscow and Kyiv interpreted the pacts very differently. Moscow insisted that it was not a party to the conflict, so not bound by its terms. And the United States proceeded to build up Ukrainian forces with the intent of attacking and destroying Russia as a nation. Ukraine wanted control of the Russian-Ukraine border and very limited powers held by the Donbas separatists. They believed fulfilment of Minsk II would be a concession to Russian aggression. The separatists wanted more autonomy, representation in the Ukrainian central government, and cessation of shelling.
Buildup to NATO-Russian War, AKA Ukrainian-Russian SMO
In 2014, the Ukraine military was in ruins and corrupt. Over the next eight years, it became the strongest and largest NATO army with over 250,000 trained soldiers and officers. Volunteer civilians were also trained and organized in the use of defense tactics. Between the 2014 Maidan Square Coup and 2021, the US gave Ukraine $2.7 billion in military training and equipment. Five battalions per year were trained at the Yavoriv base to meet NATO standards and ability to integrate with other NATO units once deployed. Weapons and equipment included Humvees, drones, rifles, radar, and anti-tank missiles. Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts were shelled, killing thousands of civilians for 8 years.
The Azov Regiment was activated and merged into the armed forces. It also became a street militia and a political party. Azov is a far-right, neo-Nazi group that had begun as a National Guard unit in the port city of Mariupol. It had around 900 members who identified as Neo-Nazis and had a history of physically assaulting community people who opposed their views. They wore Nazi symbols on their uniforms and tattooed on their bodies. During the 8 pre-war years, they battled with pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk, from whom they captured Mariupol. The nationalists praised them as great warriors. The unit was led by Andriy Biletsky, who said Ukraine’s national purpose was to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade.” Biletsky was elected to the Ukrainian parliament from 2014-2019. Azov was privately funded by an energy oligarch.
Stepan Bandera (1909-1959) is the nationalist icon for Neo-Nazis and revolution in Ukraine. He was born in Western Ukraine while it was part of Poland. In the 1930’s he was imprisoned for political murders in Poland and released at the start of WW II. He belonged to the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) who collaborated with the German Nazis in hopes of gaining support for an independent Ukraine. He was jailed again by the Germans between 1941-1944. After the war, he opposed the Soviet regime and was assassinated by the KGB in 1959. Ukrainian President Yushchenko awarded Bandera the title “Hero of Ukraine”, which was later revoked by President Yanukovych. There are monuments of Bandera in Kiev, museums and streets named after him.
In October 2021, Russian armed forces deployed 100,000 troops on their border with Ukraine. US satellites detected this and also began massing troops and equipment in Eastern Ukraine. In December 2021, Russia proposed two draft treaties asking for binding security guarantees that Ukraine would not join NATO and a reduction in NATO troops and equipment in Eastern Europe. Russia threatened a military response if the demands were not met. NATO rejected the demands and instead instigated economic sanctions against Russia. Russia forces openly crossed the Ukrainian border from three sides on February 21,2022, calling it a Special Military Operation (SMO). It can be viewed as an escalation of the 8-year conflict that began in 2014.
Ethnic, Nationalistic, and Political Conflicts in Ukraine and Russia, Part 3
Political Philosophies, Feb 21, 2023
Ethnic Conflict Theories
The ethnic influences on the war cross all four of the Ethnic Conflict Theories described in Part 1, called intersectionality. First, the Primordialist theory of ethnic identity applies to Ukrainians and Russians because both are Slavs with ancient Viking cultural traits of strength and resilience. They are fierce warriors with centuries of experience of competition over territory. People in the southern and eastern regions feel kinship with Russians, speak Russian, and have pride in its Russian culture. In contrast, people in Western Ukraine have long been more aligned with European traditions and culture. They were part of Poland for extended periods. A number of them allied with the German Nazis during WW II and helped exterminate the Jews. Their memories, language, religion and alliances are different, leading to conflict with their Slav brethren.
Second, the Instrumentalist theory, in which political leaders mobilize cultural and tribal groups in their conquest for territory, resources, labor and power easily applies to Ukraine. The US government elites and NATO’s overall objective is to destroy and take over Russia. They spent eight years training and arming Ukrainian forces to do the dirty work of fighting without spilling blood in their own territories. They are willing to sacrifice Ukrainians down to the last man and woman. This theory uses a charismatic leaders and icons as motivating models. Stephan Bandera and the elected comedian Volodymyr Zelensky fit that bill.
Third, the Materialist theory of ethnic conflict is based on Marxist views of class inequalities and injustices. Ukraine was the poorest country in Europe. Millions of them died of famine, deportation or execution during WW II and Stalin’s reign in the USSR. Western Ukrainian nationalists were wannabe outsiders, begging to be included in the European Union. No doubt they were promised a higher status compared to that offered by Russia. The current American administration is the Woke Democratic Party that knows how to mobilize the disadvantaged by offering them the chance to take the lead in the military operations. Since the war, many Ukrainian soldiers and civilians have realized Western government values and concerns for them are worse than Russian Oligarchy and corruption.
Fourth, the Constructionist theory is demonstrated by how key politicians and administrative officials in the US government instigated a color revolution and coup of the elected president in Ukraine. Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State, organized the provocateurs and chose the replacement president for the Maidan Square Protest. Senator John McCain was photographed meeting with the Ukrainian Neo-Nazis troops, spoke at several Ukrainian demonstrations, and recommended sanctions against Russia. He was accompanied by Senator Lindsey Graham. McCain said, “We stand with them in their fight against Putin’s aggression.” He met with President Poroshenko in 2015 and visited each Baltic nation. The CIA and military special forces trained and supplied the Ukrainian army for eight years following the 2014 coup. The military operations, intelligence and communications are provided by the US military, reconnaissance aircraft and satellites.
Joe Biden, VP under President Obama, and his son Hunter Biden worked with Burisma Holdings in Ukraine, which is an oil and natural gas company with several energy subsidiaries. Hunter was placed on the Burisma Board of Directors for five years and paid $50,000 per month. Burisma and its owner had been the subject of anti-corruption probes and money laundering. The prosecuting attorney, Viktor Shokin, was fired under pressure from Joe Biden. Since the beginning of the war, President Biden has led the financing and military equipping of Ukraine to the tune of $100 billion in spite of no congressional declaration of war. He flew Zelensky to the US last month to meet with him and make a plea to Congress for more money. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and VP Kamala Harris held up the Ukrainian flag in our nation’s capital. Biden is prioritizing Ukraine over American needs. He traveled to Kiev on Presidents Day to meet with Zelensky this week.
I have added a fifth cause of ethnic conflict, that of how abominable cruelty and instability in history can result in persistent generational anger, hatred and desire for revenge against the perpetrators. This overrides the loyalty of ethnic ties. The UN international community has accepted four main types of mass atrocity crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. There are almost countless examples of these crimes and humanity rights organizations have ranked them in severity. Most often WW II, which led to the deaths of 55 million people, is usually at the top of the list. Stalin’s regime in the Soviet Union is often ranked somewhere in the top ten. China’s Mao Zedong and Genghis Khan’s regimes with 40 million deaths each are usually ranked in the top tier as well.