By Eric Margolis
October 02,
2019 "Information
Clearing House" -
A crime worthy of
impeachment? Not really, just another unethical,
improper, crass act by President Donald Trump.
Many Democrats are
cock-a-hoop over the idea of impeaching Trump.
They would bed down with the Devil just to get
rid of the boor in the White House. But unless
really damning information emerges regarding
Trump’s efforts to dig up dirt on his
presumptive presidential rival, Joe Biden, it
looks so far as if Trump may survive this latest
scandal. Unless, of course, the mounting
pressure on him seriously affects his health. He
is showing clear signs of stress.
In a recorded 25 July
phone call, Trump, a former reality TV star,
asked Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr
Zelensky, a former TV comedy star, to dig up
dirt on Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. Trump’s request
came after a fawning Zelensky, who called Trump
‘teacher’, asked for more US anti-tank missiles.
Trump and Zelensky deny
there is any quid pro quo. But of course, there
was. It just went unstated. This is how
statecraft is exercised. Washington rules its
empire – that I call the ‘American Raj’ (title
of my second book) – using a well-tested
combination of trade concessions, velvet gloved
threats, special favors, military pressure and
good old quid pro quos.
When word of this sleazy
business got out, thanks to a CIA whistleblower,
Trump claimed he ordered his minions to suspend
almost US $400 million in aid from Washington to
Ukraine because of that nation’s ‘corruption.’
What a joke. The Trump
administration has provided billions of military
loans or grants to utterly corrupt Nigeria,
Mexico, Kenya, India and Iraq, to name some of
the most unethical recipients. Arms are lavished
on Trump’s head-chopping Saudi pals. Israel gets
carte blanche, no matter what it does.
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The Lies And
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Ukraine is a
frontrunner in the world’s most corrupt
marathon. I recall Soviet officials
tearing their hair out at the stunning
chicanery, malfeasance and gangsterism
going on in Ukraine. One called it ‘the
Soviet Sicily.’
I’m a long-time admirer
and friend of Ukraine and its colorful, zesty
people. But how dismaying it is to witness
Ukraine’s political mud fight, its ubiquitous
corruption, rampant oligarchs, neo-Nazi gangs
and bitter squabbles with its Russian-speaking
minority. Ukrainians deserve much better.
Ukraine is a tar baby of
corruption. So what was Joe Biden’s son Hunter
doing there on the board of an oil and gas
business? Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko
was thrown into jail because of her dealings in
this murky, crime-fraught business. The son of a
vice president of the US had no business mixed
up in this energy snake pit. Papa Joe should
have ordered him home.
Detaching Ukraine from
Russia has been a key US strategic goal since
the collapse of the USSR in 1991. Ukraine was a
key component of the Soviet industrial and
commercial system, not to mention Moscow’s
geopolitical Achilles Heel. Detaching Ukraine
would be like removing Texas and California from
the United States.
Many Ukrainians were
happy to be out of Moscow’s control and,
hopefully, headed for union with Europe. The US
and EU have funded Ukraine with $16 billion in
aid that will never be repaid. Much of the money
has vanished into Swiss banks.
But Russian-speaking
citizens of Ukraine’s industrial heartland in
the east were violently opposed to rule by Kiev.
So a low-grade war simmers between the two in
which the US and Canada (with its large ethnic
Ukrainian population) have gotten involved
raising risks of an accidental war between NATO
and Russia.
Trump, the master ethnic
politician, was trying to capture the ethnic
Ukrainian vote in the Midwest as he has
successfully done with voters of Polish and
Jewish origins. He has done the same with
Evangelical voters by backing a Greater Israel
and portraying himself as a later-day Biblical
prophet.
It’s hard to believe the
Democratic Party leadership – the people who
rigged the last primary against the popular
Bernie Sanders – believe they can unseat Trump.
The math is totally against them. One supposes
their hope is to whip up political chaos against
Trump right up to next year’s election. That’s a
feeble strategy and may help rather than hurt
him.
Eric S.
Margolis is an award-winning, internationally
syndicated columnist. His articles have appeared
in the New York Times, the International Herald
Tribune the Los Angeles Times, Times of London,
the Gulf Times, the Khaleej Times, Nation –
Pakistan, Hurriyet, – Turkey, Sun Times Malaysia
and other news sites in Asia.
https://ericmargolis.com/
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