There was no excuse for Congress’ ignorance of Ukraine. Here is a guide to help them.
By Ray McGovern
Five years ago, when Ukraine first came into the news, those Americans who thought Ukraine was an island in the Pacific can perhaps be forgiven. That members of the House Intelligence Committee don’t know — or pretend not to know — more accurate information about Ukraine is a scandal, and a consequential one.
As Professor Stephen Cohen has warned, if the impeachment process does not deal in objective fact, already high tensions with Russia are likely to become even more dangerous.
So here is a kind of primer for those who might be interested in some Ukraine history:
Late 1700s: Catherine the Great consolidated her rule; established Russia’s first and only warm-water naval base in Crimea.
In 1919, after the Bolshevik Revolution, Moscow defeated resistance in Ukraine and the country becomes one of 15 Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
In 1954, after Stalin’s death the year before, Nikita Khrushchev, a Russian born near the Ukrainian border, assumed power. Pandering to Ukrainian supporters, he unilaterally decreed that henceforth Crimea would be part of the Ukrainian SSR, not the Russian SSR. Since all 15 Republics of the USSR were under tight rule from Moscow, the switch was a distinction without much of a difference — until later, when the USSR fell apart..
Nov. 9th 1989: Berlin wall down.
Dec. 2-3, 1989: President George H. W. Bush invites Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to summit talks in Malta; reassures him “the U.S. will not take advantage” of Soviet troubles in Eastern Europe. Bush had already been pushing the idea of a Europe whole and free, from Portugal to Vladivostok.
A Consequential Quid Pro Quo
Feb. 7-10, 1990: Secretary of State James Baker negotiates a quid pro quo; Soviet acceptance of the bitter pill of a reunited Germany (inside NATO), in return for an oral U.S. promise not to enlarge NATO “one inch more” to the East.
Dec. 1991: the USSR falls apart. Suddenly it does matter that Khrushchev gave Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR; Moscow and Kyiv work out long-term arrangements for the Soviet navy to use the naval base at Sevastopol.
The quid pro quo began to unravel in October 1996 during the last weeks of President Bill Clinton’s campaign when he said he would welcome Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into NATO — the earlier promise to Moscow notwithstanding. Former U.S. Ambassador to the USSR Jack Matlock, who took part in both the Bush-Gorbachev early-December 1989 summit in Malta and the Baker-Gorbachev discussions in early February 1990, has said, “The language used was absolute, including no ‘taking advantage’ by the U.S. … I don’t see how anybody could view the subsequent expansion of NATO as anything but ‘taking advantage,’ particularly since, by then, Russia was hardly a credible threat.” (From 16 members in 1990, NATO has grown to 29 member states — the additional 13 all lie east of Germany.)
Feb. 1, 2008: Amid rumors of NATO planning to offer membership to Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warns U.S. Ambassador William Burns that “Nyet Means Nyet.” Russia will react strongly to any move to bring Ukraine or Georgia into NATO. Thanks to WikiLeaks, we have Burns’s original cable from embassy in Moscow.
April 3, 2008: Included in Final Declaration from NATO summit in Bucharest: “NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO.”
From and including: Thursday, April 3, 2008
To and including: Sunday, October 2, 2022
Result: 5296 days
Or 14 years, 6 months including the end date.
Or 174 months
"New World Order" = 174 (Ordinal)
"Number of the Beast" = 174 (Ordinal)
What happened on 10/2?
7:30 a.m.: Pope Francis has appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin Sunday, imploring him to "stop this spiral of violence and death" in Ukraine. Addressing the public in St. Peter’s Square, Francis also denounced what he called the "absurd" risk of nuclear war.
"That humanity again finds itself before the threat of atomic war is absurd," the pontiff said. "What more has to happen, how much more blood has to flow" before the war ends? asked Francis.
The pontiff also called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to "be open" to serious peace proposals. He also exhorted the international community to "use all diplomatic instruments" to end this "huge tragedy" and "horror" of war.
Throughout the war, Francis has denounced the recourse to arms and urged dialogue. But recently, he stressed Ukraine's right to defend itself from aggression.
From NATO welcoming Ukraine into Nato to Pope's peace doves...
From and including: Thursday, April 3, 2008
To and including: Sunday, January 26, 2014
1/26 is the 26th day of the year)
"Russian and Ukrainian war" = 260 (Ordinal)
Result: 2125 days
2125/27.322= 77.7 sidereal months
303 weeks and 4 days = 334
"Russian and Ukrainian nuclear war" = 334 (Ordinal)
"Russian and Ukrainian war" = 334 (Reverse Ordinal)
2125/27.322= 77.7 sidereal months
"Order out of chaos" = 777
"Russian Ukrainian nuclear war" = 117 (Reduction)
"Central Intelligence Agency" = 117 (Reduction)
"Ukrainian nuclear war" = 299 (Reverse ordinal)
"global dollar crash" = 299 (Reverse ordinal)
(10/26 Hillary's birthday 299th day of the year)
Subtracting the end date
From and including: Thursday, April 3, 2008
To, but not including Sunday, January 26, 2014
Result: 2124 days
303 weeks and 3 days = 30330 Biden text number
From Pope's doves to Ukraine central bank head stepping down
10/4/22 11:30 p.m.: Ukraine's central bank chief announced Tuesday he was stepping down for health reasons, more than seven months after the Russian invasion of the country, Agence France-Presse reported.
"I have submitted my resignation letter and asked the President of Ukraine to accept it," Ukraine National Bank governor Kyrylo Shevchenko said in a statement on his Facebook page.
From and including: Sunday, January 26, 2014
To, but not including Tuesday, October 4, 2022
Result: 3173 days
Or 8 years, 8 months, 8 days = 888
"Donald J Trump" = 888 (Sumerian)
Or 104 months, 8 days = 148
"Donald J Trump" = 148 (Ordinal)
From Pope's doves to 12/12/22
From and including: Sunday, January 26, 2014
To, but not including Monday, December 12, 2022
Result: 3242 days
888.22% of a common year (365 days)
The nukes and the currency collapse go together
"a nuclear war" = 1331 (Latin)
"twin eclipses" = 1331 (Latin)
"total currency collapse" = 1331 (Latin)
On the days in-between the 2 eclipses
Tuck both of the eclipses in at the ends and count 2424 days
8/20/2017 to 4/9/2024 = 2424 days divided by 2 is 1212
"total solar eclipse" = 1212 (Sumerian)
888.22% of a year is 3242 days
From Pope's doves to 12/12
"total solar eclipse" = 1212 (Sumerian)
"solar eclipse" = 134 (Ordinal)
From Trump inauguration to 11/11 is 303 weeks exactly
From and including: Friday, January 20, 2017
To, but not including Friday, November 11, 2022
Result: 2121 days
"total solar eclipse" = 1212 (Sumerian)
303 weeks
"eclipse" = 33 (Reduction)
(11/11 is the 315th day of the year) 3/15 Ides of March
"XI XI MMXXII" = 158 (Ordinal) (15/8 Jesuits birthday)
"The Economist 9-15 January 1988" = 277 (English Ordinal)
"forex market crashes" = 277 (Reverse Ordinal)
The song Trump's been playing at the beginning of every rally he's had for 3 years is "You can't always get what you want" by the Rolling Stones.
"You can't always get what you want" = 104 (Full Reduction)
Put the chorus of that song in the calculator exactly as google has it....
"No, you can't always get what you want You can't always get what you want You can't always get what you want But if you try sometime you find You get what you need" = 1787 (English Ordinal) 277th prime number
"Can Britain Keep Booming Takeshita Comes To Town Investment Banks Pull Back Perestroika's First Test" = 315 (Chaldean)
(11/11 is the 315th day of the year)
"The Economist" = 56 (Full Reduction)
11/11/2022
"XI XI MMXXII" = 158 (Ordinal)
15/8 (Jesuits birthday)
158 is from duodecimal 212 and to duodecimal 112
"Kamala Harris" = 212 (Reverse ordinal)
"Kamala Harris" = 212 (Reverse)
On Halloween it will be 811 days since she was picked for VP on 8/11
Is this a joke? 811 days is 222.19% of a year
"chaos" = 19 (Reduction)
"President Kamala Harris" = 222 (Ordinal)
"World Economic Forum" = 222 (Ordinal)
"President Harris" = 222 (Reverse Ordinal)
"Order out of chaos" = 222 (Reverse)
"President Harris" = 183 (Ordinal)
"Order out of chaos" = 183 (Ordinal)
"President Harris" = 661 (Latin)
"stock market crash" = 661 (Latin)
"currency market crash" = 118 (Reverse Reduction) 11/8 mirror of 8/11
"US dollar crash" = 200 (Reverse)
"Georgia Guidestones" = 200 (Ordinal)
From GG blown up to 11/11 is (18 weeks, 3 days) = 183
"President Harris" = 183 (Ordinal)
"Order out of chaos" = 183 (Ordinal)
From GG blown up to the 4th Scottish Rite Day on 11/12 is (4 months, 7 days) = 47
Kamala would be President 47
From Guidestones to Cleopatra's needle is 661 miles
"President Harris" = 661 (Latin)
"stock market crash" = 661 (Latin)
Date on Cleo's needle say 2/22
"President Kamala Harris" = 222 (Ordinal)
"World Economic Forum" = 222 (Ordinal)
"President Harris" = 222 (Reverse Ordinal)
"Order out of chaos" = 222 (Reverse)
"Pharoah Cleopatra" = 158 (Ordinal)
11/11/2022
"XI XI MMXXII" = 158 (Ordinal)
15/8 (jesuits birthday)
158 is from duodecimal 212 and to duodecimal 112
"Kamala Harris" = 212 (Reverse ordinal)
"Kamala Harris" = 212 (Reverse)
"Last President Kamala" = 201 (Ordinal)
"President Cleopatra" = 201 (Ordinal)
"A President Number Forty Seven" = 333 (Ordinal)
"President Volodymyr Zelenskyy" = 401 (Ordinal) 79th prime number
"Ukraine" = 79 (Ordinal)