Unforeseen Contingencies

The Russian attack was just announced 11:00 minutes ago by NYT, a little less than 2 hours ago by Kyiv Post.

I've documented that the Euromaidan movement is a pro-freedom movement, that Yanukovych was extremely corrupt and oppressive, that Russia invaded Crimea without provocation and set up a puppet regime and plans for a Soviet-style referendum.  Now Russia has invaded Ukraine outside Crimea.

According to Lew Rockwell and company, this is just a reasonable Russian response to a neocon coup in "Kiev" (sic, it's actually Kyiv). Obama is about to seize the assets of anyone who disagrees with his "placing us on a war footing" with Russia over Ukraine, and this is all about trying to stop American world domination.  (This bit, from Russian official state television, is hilarious.  It turns out American diplomats --Assistant Sec'y of State Nuland and Ambassador to Ukraine Pyatt -- were concerned with Yanukovych's dictatorship, Russian attempts to dominate surrounding Ukraine, they met with members of the opposition to discuss how Ukraine might have a better government, they had opinions on the opposition leaders, and they lamented the indifference and incompetence of the E.U.  That's evidence of a coup?  You're kidding.)  But a "coup" isn't enough, the U.S. government wants war with Russia.  Need proof?  Why here's photographic evidence of Nuland and Pyatt conducting a coup and preparing for war.  Umm, OK, actually they are handing out bags of cookies, and the Rockwell.com post mocks them, not unreasonably, for such a pathetic action.

Obama sends diplomats to hand out cookies, Putin invades Crimea with 20,000 troops and asserts a right to invade all of Ukraine.  Rockwellians scream "America is starting another war!"

Of special note, Pat Buchanan argues that whether people in the former USSR live under freedom or dictatorship is irrelevant; their populations are shrinking, after all.  The thing we should be worried about is that "European Man" is an endangered species, while those darned Africans, Asians, and Latins just keep breeding without limit.  Buchanan's piece is so crazy it has to be read to be believed.

And Ron Paul is convinced that Viktor Yanukovych is the legitimate ruler of Ukraine and was deposed by an American plot, that we should increase trade with Russia in response, that the real dispute is just eastern Ukrainians vs. western Ukrainians, and that the referendum in Crimea is "certainly moral."  All this to Russian state radio VR (Voice of Russia) which notes that he needs little introduction.  Of course he doesn't, he's a regular on Russian state TV and radio, where he regularly denounces America.

But the finest (i.e. most horrible) bit comes from "Anti-War" (hah!) Justin Raimondo, who argues that "every nation has a right to set its own course, so "Let Crimea Go!"  It's only "Washington’s limitless supply of arrogance" that could find anything wrong with "self-determination."  The referendum is being conducted at gunpoint, there is no way to vote to not break away from Ukraine, and the everyone knows already what the results will be -- even Raimondo!  It's a forgone conclusion how the Soviet-style vote will go.  His account of Ukrainian events is entirely the Kremlin's account.

Lew Rockwell's stuff is so crazy and propagandistic you might almost think it comes from Pravda.  Well, in fact,  it does!  Are the Rockwellians Soviets after all?  They behave towards Putin the way the CPUSA behaved towards Stalin -- faithful mouthpieces.  This isn't anti-war libertarianism.  They keep harping on Yanukovych as being the "legitimate" ruler of Ukraine, forced out by a vicious mob.  (Wait a minute -- aren't they supposedly anarchists who deny the legitimacy of any government?!)  They seem utterly incapable of noting Yanukovych's unbelievable corruption, his oppressive police state and violence, and the clear danger that he was about to sell out Ukraine to the dictator in Moscow.  That Putin is a dictator who crushes his opposition and censors the media is never mentioned.  That he invaded Crimea, well, so what, "Russia has always had an interest there."  They regularly use Russian spellings for Ukrainian city names.  Rockwell even included a bizarre pro-Russian rant in which the author gloats over Russians giving us arrogant Americans our comeuppance at Sochi.  It's not just the federal government they hate -- it's America.

Ever since Murray Rothbard repeatedly defended Joseph Stalin his more rabid devotees have been profoundly anti-American.  Lew Rockwell and co. have now made it perfectly clear that they are not just anti-American but pro-Putin, and they welcome Russian dominance at his hands.  They work for it with their regular propaganda, which is directed, often as not, against Ukrainian citizens who don't want to be dominated by thugs like Yanukovych and Putin.  They take their leads from Kremlin propaganda. They are genuinely evil.