Mad Men.
We reported that east Ukraine saw heavy fighting in late January as government troops went on an offensive using special infiltration tactics.
However, weeks ago
we also reported that US Senators, and famous warmongers John McCain and Lindsey Graham spent their end of year holidays touring countries on Russia's doorstep which neocons have long billed as potential flashpoints, Georgia, the Baltic countries, and Ukraine.
In Ukraine McCain and Graham actually visited Ukraine's front line troops and spent the night with them alongside Ukraine's president Poroshenko in their barracks.
This is
how they spoke during the occasion, Senator Lindsey Graham:
"I admire the fact that you will fight for your homeland."
"Your fight is our fight, 2017 will be the year of offense."
"All of us will go back to Washington and we will push the case against Russia. Enough of a Russian aggression. It is time for them to pay a heavier price."
"Our fight is not with the Russian people but with Putin. Our promise to you is to take your cause to Washington, inform the American people of your bravery and make the case against Putin to the world."
John McCain:
"I believe you will win. I am convinced you will win and we will do everything we can to provide you with what you need to win. We have succeeded not because of equipment but because of your courage.
So I thank you and the world is watching and the world is watching because we cannot allow Vladimir Putin to succeed here because if he succeeds here, he will succeed in other countries."
Now I am not saying the reason Ukrainians went on an offensive is because two Americans egged them on, but it is indeed clear that the two very high profile American Senators went to a foreign country and encouraged them to restart their frozen civil war. Despicable!
Comment: The two US senators' latest
attempt to set off World War III during their visit to Ukraine is the last straw. Something must be done:
We do not know what else McCain and Graham promised Poroshenko out of sight of the cameras. But lo and behold, within weeks of this trip, Kiev started a new round of shooting.
The only possible motive for this outbreak of hostilities is a desperate attempt to regain the lagging sympathy of the world - a world long tired of Kiev's crying wolf over "aggression" and looting billions of money intended to boost its economy. It is also another attempt to sabotage any US-Russian reconciliation.
John McCain and Lindsey Graham are two men totally bought and paid for by the military-security establishment. They serve the CIA and the Neocon ideologues who want to spread American influence by force and believe in provoking conflict where necessary.
Just a few days ago, the US President accused the two men of trying to start World War III:
Donald J. Trump is now president of the United States. The president is head of state, and he directs foreign policy. Period. Yes the senate has the right to "advise and consent" on treaties and appointments, under the constitution. But the constitution does not grant congress the right to conduct an independent foreign policy.
In fact, under the Logan Act, it is a felony for any US citizen to interfere in US foreign policy without "the authority of the United States." Here is the full text of the act:
§ 953. Private correspondence with foreign governments.
Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply himself, or his agent, to any foreign government, or the agents thereof, for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.
1 Stat. 613, January 30, 1799, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 953 (2004).
In United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp., 299 U.S. 304 (1936), Justice Sutherland, writing for the Court, observed that the authority to represent the country abroad lies entirely with the president:
[T]he President alone has the power to speak or listen as a representative of the nation. He makes treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate; but he alone negotiates. Into the field of negotiation the Senate cannot intrude; and Congress itself is powerless to invade it. As Marshall said in his great argument of March 7, 1800, in the House of Representatives, 'The President is the sole organ of the nation in its external relations, and its sole representative with foreign nations.
John McCain and Lindsey Graham do not have the "authority of the United States" to represent the country abroad. They do not have the authority to promise weapons to Ukraine, or to suggest US support for a new offensive. That authority belongs exclusively to the president and his duly appointed officers within the executive branch. (In general, the secretary of state, ambassadors, and members of the foreign service.) There is no indication then-president Barack Obama granted them such authority. And President Donald Trump certainly will not.
The Logan Act has often been discussed in cases of politicians abroad appearing to interfere in the president's foreign policy positions. Legal scholars are generally unenthusiastic about the prospects of applying it to members of congress. Though the law has been on the books since 1799, there has only ever been one prosecution under the act, and it failed.
I say it's never too late to start.
Comment: The two US senators' latest attempt to set off World War III during their visit to Ukraine is the last straw. Something must be done: