The Politics of Red Lines by Noam Chomsky

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Dandelion Salad

by Noam Chomsky
In These Times
May 1, 2014

Putin’s takeover of Crimea scares U.S. leaders because it challenges America’s global dominance.

[…]

American red lines, in short, are firmly placed at Russia’s borders. Therefore Russian ambitions “in its own neighborhood” violate world order and create crises.

The point generalizes. Other countries are sometimes allowed to have red lines—at their borders (where the United States’ red lines are also located). But not Iraq, for example. Or Iran, which the U.S. continually threatens with attack (“no options are off the table”).

Such threats violate not only the United Nations Charter but also the General Assembly resolution condemning Russia that the United States just signed. The resolution opened by stressing the U.N. Charter ban on “the threat or use of force” in international affairs.

[…]

via http://inthesetimes.com/article/16631/russia_ukraine_noam_chomsky

see

Chris Hedges: There are No Winners When People Don’t Know the Truth

NATO’s Incremental But Inexorable Absorption of Ukraine by Rick Rozoff

Ukraine: Anti-fascists Resist U.S.-backed Offensive by Greg Butterfield

Michael Hudson: This Is Risking A Threat Of War

Robert Parry: Evidence for Russian Involvement in East Ukraine Based on Shoddy Journalism