Chuck Spinney — Ukraine: Manna From Heaven for the Green Line and Beyond Crowd

Strategist Chuck Spinney weighs in.

Most Americans know very little about the immediate origins of the crisis in the Ukraine and their government’s involvement in it. They know even less about its deeper roots, that reach back into Russian view of American duplicity in breaking its verbal promises not to expand NATO and the European Union eastward (useful summaries can be found here and here). These promises were interpreted quite reasonably by the Russians as a quid pro quo for Mikhail Gorbachev’s agreement to (1) the unification of Germany, (2) the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, and (3) the withdrawal of Soviet forces from eastern Europe. Gorbachev’s dream of a common European Home was always fanciful, but today, Ukraine proves it is in tatters.

If one is to believe the reportage in the mainstream media, the duly elected but decidedly corrupt government of the Ukraine was overthrown by a spontaneous revolt of the freedom-seeking Ukrainian people. But it is also clear from leaked recordings of phone conversations and the bloviations of U.S. “pro-defense” legislators that members of the U.S. government were at least tangentially involved, as were Ukrainian neo-fascists.

There is much more, however. This article by investigative reporter Steve Weissman is Part 1 in a series of reports detailing the nature of that involvement in the current crisis. It should be read carefully, because Weissman reveals a mind-boggling maze of tentacles reaching deeply into the Ukrainian regime change gambit.

Even if half his facts are wrong, Weissman proves a lot of hidden agendas are in play....

When it comes to power politics, there is always the agenda and the hidden agenda — what the public is fed by way of propaganda and what is really going on behind the curtain.

Counterpunch

Ukraine: Manna From Heaven for the Green Line and Beyond Crowd
Franklin C. Spinney, former military analyst for the Pentagon

Mark Thoma on the hidden agenda behind "expansionary fiscal austerity"

Mark Thoma doesn't buy that the people running things are so dim that they don't see that "expansionary fiscal austerity" is an oxymoron. Their agenda is the same old conservative agenda of shrinking government.

There clearly is a class of people willing to sacrifice the livelihood and well-being of others in pursuit of their ideological goal of a smaller government (so long as their own future remains secure). The notion of "expansionary austerity" was the cover, but so long as government shrinks as a result of the policy, the expansionary part is secondary. If reducing the size of government slows the recovery, that's a small price to pay for such a worthy goal -- for them anyway, the power behind this is in no danger of becoming unemployed. The main thing is to impose the small government ideology whenever there is a chance, and to use whatever argument is needed to serve that purpose, austerity is expansionary, tax cuts pay for themselves -- whatever works -- the ideologues will even embrace Keynesian economics if it allows them to argue for tax cuts that might further "starve the beast" (e.g. see Bush's argument for the first round of his tax cuts). But in the end the goal is a simple one, reduce the size and influence of government, and everything else is just a means of getting there.

Read it at Economist's View
The Purpose of Macroeconomic Policy?
by Mark Thoma

Morons or evil geniuses? Or may a combination of both?