No amount of propaganda will hide the truth… John Kerry, April 24, 2014

Secretary of State Kerry may have a point about the truth. Despite the best efforts of the administration and corporate media, the lies about the attack on Libya have been exposed. The Arab Spring movement against Gaddafi was violent from the start and the "no fly" zone served as the flimsiest of pretenses for NATO's alliance with the Al Qaeda infested rebels. Kerry's absolute certainty in blaming the chemical weapons attack in Syria on government forces has been exposed as well. Investigative reporting by Seymour Hersh and scientific findings showed that Kerry's bombastic assurances were based on weak evidence. There was no certainty. (Image: U.S. Department of State screen capture)

Now, the Obama-Kerry road show is opening up a new hyper drama designed to meet the objectives of their masters. Accuracy and truth are the first casualties. What follows is a brief examination Secretary of State John Kerry's Remarks at the State Department, Washington, DC, April 24, 2014 . Kerry was more contained than his histrionic performance on the Syrian chemical weapons incident. But, these remarks offer an insight into the administration's current position on the Ukrainian crisis stirred up by successive administrations and their Non Government Organization (NGO) collaborators.

If the absence of accuracy and truth is a measure of desperation, these remarks show a policy in disarray, one incapable of success by any normal definition of the term.

Kerry's remarks are in italics, all from the April 24 remarks linked above. My comments are below his.

EU High Representative Ashton and I made clear that both Russia and Ukraine had to demonstrate more than good faith. They needed to take concrete actions in order to meet their commitments.

And what actions did each side take? Before the Geneva meetings, the Ukraine coup installed government designated citizens of the Southeastern Ukraine as terrorists. The coup government has tried at least two military missions aimed against the citizens it calls terrorists. Military force aims to stop a much less raucous version of the very same tactics that brought the coup government to power in Kiev, Ukraine's capital.

The protesters in the southeastern Ukraine have general goals like autonomy and self-rule, a viable economy, and safety. Russian assistance is a factor but that involvement, whatever the level, came after Russia proposed initiatives including a referendum on a federation government for the contested regions. After all, it was President Vladimir Putin who initiated the call to President Barack Obama that resulted in the Geneva agreement on Ukraine, April 17, to resolve the conflict peacefully.

Russia is actually mystified to see Ukraine’s neighbors and likeminded free people all over the world united with Ukrainians who want to build a better life and choose their leaders for themselves, by themselves.

Where is Kerry's proof? China supports Russia. There is little interest in the Ukraine among Indians where the government spoke of "legitimate Russian interests" in the region. Latin American people and governments seem t have little interest in the Ukraine. Where are these likeminded people? One place they're not is in the Ukraine. Forbes published a survey on March 24 that found that "strong support" by Ukrainians for the coup government ranges from 27% in the West to just 3% in the East (and this was a U.S. NGO poll!). Kerry's Ukrainians who want to build a better life apparently have little confidence in their leaders tutored and coached by the Obama administration.

(Image by Crimea State Medical University)

Kerry referred to events as a tale of two countries, two countries with vastly different understandings of what it means to uphold an international agreement. … only one side, one country, is keeping its word

Kerry's claim that Russia is violating the Geneva agreement of April 17 includes the claim that Russia isn't supporting key provisions that require that both sides refrain from violence, intimidation, and taking provocative actions [and] lay down their arms and that, in exchange for amnesty,

Speaking of international agreements, surely Kerry recalls the EU brokered agreement of late February between Ukraine's last elected president, Viktor Yanukovych, and protesters that included an end to violent demonstrations and the occupation of government buildings, prompt elections, and an orderly transition of power. That agreement didn't last even days before the protesters violated it.

From day one, the Government of Ukraine started making good on its commitments – from day one. … Prime Minister Yatsenyuk has kept his word. … He suspended Ukraine’s counterterrorism initiative over Easter … He also made a personal appeal to Russian-speaking Ukrainians, pledging to support – and again, these are his words – a special status to the Russian language and the protection of the language.

Let's see, the current president of Ukraine, chosen by the U.S. Ambassador to the Ukraine and Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, suspended the attack that he ordered on his fellow citizens. That's better than ordering and carrying out the attack but hardly the moral high ground. The praised move to allow Russian Ukrainians to continue using their own language came after the coup government proposed disposing of that option.

Kerry praised President Yatsenyukfor making sure that all ongoing demonstrations in Kyiv are actually government-approved and peaceful,

That's a means of exerting government control over the right to assemble; hardly a principled stand. Week after week, the pro U.S. - EU Maidan demonstrators in Kiev committed acts of violence, occupied buildings, and were anything but peaceful. Did the future president demand that these demonstrators, the street fighters who brought him power, seek government approval and behave peacefully?

The world has rightly judged that Prime Minister Yatsenyuk and the Government of Ukraine are working in good faith. … Not a single Russian official, not one, has publicly gone on television in Ukraine and called on the separatists to support the Geneva agreement, to support the stand-down, to give up their weapons, and get out of the Ukrainian buildings. [

Kerry is defining two types of demonstrators - those the U.S. and EU countries like and those they dislike. The U.S-EU liked the Maidan protests that brought down the previous government. Were there calls to end the demonstrations, have demonstrators "stand down, give up their weapons," and leave buildings? There were general statements about a peaceful process but no threats to abandon the coup movement if it failed to behave peacefully. The standards are different when it comes to demonstrators that the U.S. and EU dislike. Somehow, Russia must get these demonstrators to follow strict orders, as though the people of the East are automatons.

Meanwhile, Russian leaders are making increasingly outrageous claims to justify their action –

[a] that the CIA invented the internet in order to control the world

We know that the CIA didn't invent the internet. It was Al Gore, right? We also know this. From the Echelon program through PRISM and other cyber spying efforts revealed by Edward Snowden, the internet has been an integral weapon in the arsenal of the U.S. power elite used to achieve, how shall we say, consistent and beneficial influence throughout the world.

[b] that the forces occupying buildings, armed to the teeth, wearing brand new matching uniforms and moving in disciplined military formation, are merely local activists seeking to exercise their legitimate rights.

Here's the fabricated evidence that forms the basis for this claim. The New York Times published photographs claiming to show Russian soldiers in Ukraine. The photographs were taken without permission from a press photographer's web site. The photographer said those pictured were not Russian troops. Other evidence emerged that caused the Times reporter who made the original claim to retract the story.

Even as we were preparing to meet in Geneva, we know that the Russian intelligence services were involved in organizing local pro-Russian militias. And during the week leading up to the Geneva meetings, separatists seized at least 29 buildings. This is one more example of how Russia is stoking the very instability that they say they want to quell.

The assumption here is that the protesters in the Southeast have no minds of their own. They simply follow Russian orders. Whereas, the Ukrainian demonstrators in Kiev, those who toppled the elected government, protested and occupied buildings of their own free will. The Assistant Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, admitted that U.S. spent $5 billion to achieve "change" in the Ukraine, i.e., change favorable to the U.S. and EU nations. Even if the Russians had a reanimated Rasputin, that would be no match for $5 billion cash.

Obama and Kerry took the baton from Bush and Cheney in the never ending race of our (s)elected leaders to squander the resources, talent, and good will of citizens who seek nothing more than work with dignity, a decent life with some hope for the future, and the ever stronger desire to live in peace through productive relationships rather than endless war.

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