Stephen Lendman

He's no diplomat. He's a world class thug. He mocks legitimacy. He disgraces the office he holds. He represents the worst of America's dark side. He's a serial liar. He's been caught red-handed lying numerous times before. He's at it again.

Big Lies infested his Monday Wall Street Journal interview. Truth was nowhere in sight. More on what he said below.

On April 28, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the following:

"Today, in response to Russia's continued actions in southern and eastern Ukraine, the United States is implementing additional restrictive measures on defense exports to Russia." "Accordingly, the Department of State is expanding its export restrictions on technologies and services regulated under the US Munitions List (USML)." "Effective immediately, the Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) will deny pending applications for export or re-export of any high technology defense articles or services regulated under the US." "Munitions List to Russia or occupied Crimea that contribute to Russia's military capabilities. In addition, the Department is taking actions to revoke any existing export licenses which meet these conditions." "All other pending applications and existing licenses will receive a case-by-case evaluation to determine their contribution to Russia’s military capabilities." "The United States will continue to adjust its export licensing policies toward Russia, as warranted by Russia’s actions in Ukraine." "We urge Russia to honor the commitments it made in Geneva on April 17 to deescalate the situation in Ukraine."

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Ron Paul

US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland (R) takes her seat
prior to meeting with Ukrainian politicians (L-R), Oleh Tyahnybok,
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and Vitali Klitschko in Kiev on Dec. 10, 2013.

It was almost ten years ago when, before the House International Relations Committee, I objected to the US Government funding NGOs to meddle in the internal affairs of Ukraine. At the time the “Orange Revolution” had forced a regime change in Ukraine with the help of millions of dollars from Washington. At that time I told the Committee:

We do not know exactly how many millions – or tens of millions – of dollars the United States government spent on the presidential election in Ukraine. We do know that much of that money was targeted to assist one particular candidate, and that through a series of cut-out non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – both American and Ukrainian – millions of dollars ended up in support of the presidential candidate…

I was worried about millions of dollars that the US government-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and its various related organizations spent to meddle in Ukraine’s internal affairs. But it turns out that was only the tip of the iceberg. Last December, US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland gave a speech in which she admitted that since 1991 the US government has:

[I]nvested more than 5 billion dollars to help Ukraine…in the development of democratic institutions and skills in promoting civil society and a good form of government.

This is the same State Department official who was caught on tape just recently planning in detail the overthrow of the Ukrainian government. That five billion dollars appears to have bought a revolution in Ukraine.

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Lyudmila Chernova / Paul Craig Roberts

A new round of sanctions announced by the White House will have unintended consequences and only benefit Russia, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Paul Craig Roberts told RIA Novosti Monday.

“The sanctions are nothing but gratuitous propaganda. Obama himself acknowledged that it is uncertain whether the additional sanctions will have any effect,” Roberts told RIA Novosti. “Besides, the sanctions will encourage and hasten Russia’s withdrawal from Washington’s exploitative system, and the BRICS countries are likely to follow.”

US President Barack Obama levied the additional sanctions against Russia to target individuals and companies close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The sanctions were imposed on seven Russian government officials, as well as 17 companies.

“The Obama regime continues to pretend that a few Russian individuals and companies are responsible for Crimea’s return to Russia,” asserted Roberts, stressing that the evidence is completely clear that the return of Crimea to Russia was the result of the Crimean people and their self-determination. “People voted 97 percent in an amazingly large voter turnout to return to Russia, from which Khrushchev detached Crimea in the 1950s,” he explained.

Roberts foresees that the announced measures will only encourage the Russian government to withdraw from the dollar-based payment system that makes sanctions possible.

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