The US government loves to \u201cpromote democracy\u201d overseas, often at the barrel of a gun. Strangely enough, however, it often \u201cdeplores\u201d actual elections being held in such places. Take Ukraine, for example. An election held last week by a group that forcibly seized power from a legitimately-elected government was hailed by the US administration as a great democratic achievement.<\/p>\n
Said John Kerry about last week\u2019s parliamentary election held by the post-coup government in Kiev:<\/p>\n
We applaud Ukraine\u2019s commitment to an inclusive and transparent political process that strengthens national unity. \u2026 The people of Ukraine have spoken, and they have again chosen to chart the course of democracy, reform, and European integration.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In this US-approved vote, the parties disapproved by the US were harassed and even essentially banned. But that\u2019s OK.<\/p>\n
However in eastern Ukraine, which refused to recognize February\u2019s US-backed coup in the western part of the country, parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for tomorrow are scorned and even \u201cdeplored\u201d by the US administration.<\/p>\n
The White House condemned tomorrow\u2019s elections in eastern Ukraine in no uncertain terms:<\/p>\n
We deplore the intent of separatists in parts of eastern Ukraine to hold illegitimate so-called local \u2018elections\u2019 on Sunday, November 2. If held, these \u2018elections\u2019 would contravene Ukraine\u2019s constitution and laws and the September 5 Minsk Protocol.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So much does the US administration hate the idea of unapproved people voting, that it even refused to call them elections, placing the very term in \u201cscare quotes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shortly after the February coup in Kiev, referenda were held in Crimea and in parts of eastern Ukraine to determine whether to remain tied to Kiev or declare independence from the new regime. Those elections were also condemned by the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe reject the \u2018referendum\u2019 that took place today in the Crimean region of Ukraine. This referendum is contrary to Ukraine\u2019s constitution,\u201d said the White House immediately after the March vote in that region. The February coup was also contrary to Ukraine\u2019s constitution but that did apparently not bother Washington.<\/p>\n
Similarly, when referenda were held in eastern Ukraine this spring to determine that region\u2019s future course, the White House spokesman condemned them as \u201cillegal under Ukrainian law and a transparent attempt to create further division and disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the wrong people hold votes, it seems, \u201cdivision and disorder\u201d are the result.<\/p>\n
Those who overthrow democracy by force are legitimized \u2013 you might even say laundered \u2013 by an election they had no legal right to hold in the first place, while those who stood by previously-elected leaders and scheduled elections as a way out of the crisis caused by US interference are condemned, ignored, and not even recognized by the US government.<\/p>\n
So here is the real message from the US government: elections overseas are only legitimate if we have pre-approved the parties allowed to stand and if we have pre-approved the outcome. The election must result in exactly the kind of \u201cpro-West\u201d government that we desire or we will begin destabilization and regime change, if completely ignoring the results does not do the trick.<\/p>\n
Source: Ron Paul Institute<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US government loves to \u201cpromote democracy\u201d overseas, often at the barrel of a gun. Strangely enough, however, it often \u201cdeplores\u201d actual elections being held in such places. Take Ukraine, for example. An election held last week by a group that forcibly seized power from a legitimately-elected government was hailed by the US administration as … Continue reading “Washington’s blinding hypocricy: Two elections in Ukraine”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2961,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[782,1295],"tags":[1018,10470,10472,114,10471,727],"class_list":["post-16718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-in-depth-coverage","tag-elections","tag-hypocricy","tag-promoting-democracy","tag-ron-paul","tag-ukraien","tag-washington"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2961"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16719,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16718\/revisions\/16719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}