By Verne Strickland July 21, 2014
I cannot understand why President Barack Obama
appointed Samantha Power to the powerful bully pulpit of U.S. Permanent
Representative to the United Nations.
She is everything I have ever wanted at this important U.N. post. Not since the much admired and simultaneously vilified Ambassador John Bolton -- who occupied the same prestigious post from August 2005 - December 2006 -- has a diplomat of ours exhibited the same eloquence and fiery spirit in touting American exceptionalism while decrying threats to freedom everywhere.
It's tough to know at this time whether the chronically liberal and appeasing American leader is regretting his choice now. I do hope not. Regardless who is in the White House at this time, it should be abundantly clear that the eloquent and patriotic U.S. Representative is precisely the tonic America needs at this time.
I'm sure I might be somewhat unusual in my reaction, but I could not restrain myself from cheering out loud at the television as this exceptional lady delivered her remarks. I had a lot of pent-up frustration, I suppose, at Obama's curious anti-American predisposition on so many issues for so many years.
Perhaps my greatest disappointment has been the response of the "national media" (code words for liberal sycophants of the Obama "glory train") -- in brief, almost total disdain for this 180-degree turn in the U.S. stance before the United Nations. That sea change in philosophy is a major story in itself, but not one that liberal writers and television commentators would want to
feature. And that, my friends, is not fair or reasonable.
But,with no further delay, here is the star of the day in my world -- Samantha Power:
YOU ARE IN:
the Briefing Room >
Statements >
2014 >
June
Remarks by Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to
the United Nations, at a Security Council Meeting on the Situation in
Ukraine
AS DELIVERED
Thank you, Mr. President. Time and again – at least 17 times since
February – we have gathered here to discuss the situation in Ukraine.
And time and again, we’ve had to dedicate significant amounts of time to
reviewing the efforts of Russia to destabilize its neighbor and to
refuting the bald misinformation and outright fiction about what is
happening on the ground in Ukraine.
Russian rhetoric has been inaccurate, inflammatory and
self-justifying. On June 17, just last week, Foreign Minister Lavrov
accused Ukrainian military authorities of carrying out “ethnic
cleansing.” Days earlier, a leader in the Duma accused Ukraine of
committing “mass genocide.”
My government, this Council, and the United Nations take extremely
seriously any reports of ethnic cleansing or genocide. But baseless
claims like this have the effect of radicalizing Russian separatists,
escalating this horrible crisis and further eviscerating the credibility
of Russian reports from the region.
We should consider such claims alongside the facts on the ground,
such as the situation of the ethnic Tatar community in Crimea following
Russia’s purported annexation, which the international community will
never recognize.
The homes of Tatar leaders have been arbitrarily
searched, and editors of its main newspaper threatened with prosecution.
Tatars who have participated in peaceful protests have been locked up
by the dozens, and many more insulted and harassed for speaking their
language in public. And its members have been told that they – and all
Crimeans – must give up their Ukrainian citizenship, or else be treated
like foreigners in their own land.
Meanwhile, in areas controlled by illegal separatist groups in
southeast Ukraine, we continue to see Russia’s extensive support for the
campaign of violence and separatist terror.
The crimes committed by these groups are methodically documented in
the UN Monitoring Mission’s reports, and follow a pattern set by
Russia’s unlawful intervention in Crimea. They include the violent
seizure and occupation of public and government buildings; unprovoked,
lethal attacks against Ukrainian security forces; and arbitrary arrests,
torture, beatings, death threats, disappearances, killings, and other
serious abuses carried out by Russian fighters and the pro-Russian
separatists.
We don’t need to look very far or very hard to find evidence of this
campaign. We see it in the three T-64 Russian tanks which suddenly
showed up in the hands of separatists in Eastern Ukraine. We see it in
the burnt out BM-21 rocket launcher – one of many that suddenly appeared
in Eastern Ukraine in the past weeks – which photographs shows recently belonged to Russia’s 18
th Motorized Rifle Brigade, based in
Chechnya.
We see it in surface-to-air missiles that were recently seized
by Ukrainian forces after a clash with separatists. They were still
accompanied by their official paperwork, revealing that – as recently as
two months ago – these missiles were held on a Russian Air Defense Base
in the Krasnodar region. These are just the type of surface-to-air
missiles, I would note, that were used to bring down a Ukrainian
military transport plane last week, killing all 49 people onboard. And
we see it in the alarming redeployment of thousands of Russian troops
and military hardware along the border with Ukraine – at the closest
proximity, since the invasion of Crimea in February.
Russia has attempted, erroneously, to characterize the events
unfolding in eastern Ukraine as a humanitarian crisis. They falsely have
cast themselves as the defender of rights and vindicator of the
vulnerable; and the Russian army and its operatives as a humanitarian
aid agency. But this Russian “aid” operation sends soldiers, not
doctors; it mans armored personnel carriers, not relief tents; it
provides surface-to-air missiles, not meals-ready-to-eat.
Russia claims that 100,000 people have fled Ukraine for Russia. Yet,
Under-Secretary-General Amos informed this Council in a briefing last
week, that the real number is around 4,600.
I do not for one moment intend to minimize the very real humanitarian
consequences of the crises in Eastern Ukraine and Crimea, including the
tens of thousands of internally displaced people within Ukraine’s
borders. But we have to be objective and fact-based in our claims and
candid about what has brought about these dire humanitarian
consequences: namely, the political and military support that Russia
continues to provide to armed, violent separatists.
And yet, remarkably, even in the face of separatist attacks and
inflammatory propaganda, the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian people
have shown in word and in deed a sustained willingness to work toward a
peaceful solution.
The Ukrainian people elected a leader – Petro Poroshenko – who
campaigned on creating a democratic, unified, and peaceful Ukraine. And
since taking office, President Poroshenko has persistently sought to
achieve this goal through dialogue and reconciliation – even in the face
of provocations and violence. He proposed, and then implemented a
unilateral ceasefire to allow separatists to lay down their arms; he
offered to create a safe passage for Russian fighters to return to their
country; and he proposed amnesty to Russian-backed separatists who have
not committed serious crimes.
We welcome yesterday’s reports that
representatives of the Ukrainian and Russian governments and separatist
groups met together, leading to an announcement by some separatist
leaders that they would respect the ceasefire. President Poroshenko and
his government have taken steps to decentralize power, increase
transparency, combat corruption, and protect the rights of minorities.
And he has put on the table a comprehensive and just peace plan. In sum,
he and the Ukrainian people have done everything that could be expected
in an effort to make peace in accordance with international law and
norms.
Over the last few days, we have seen more contradictory behavior on
the part of Russia. On the one hand, President Putin expresses his
support for President Poroshenko’s ceasefire and his intention to work
towards a peaceful settlement. That is a welcomed development.
Yet, on the other hand, Russia has recently returned a significant
number of its troops to the border, and has ramped up the flow of
weapons and materiel to separatists, an increasing number of whom are
Russian citizens with no personal connection to eastern Ukraine.
President Putin has also placed Russian troops on combat alert and
launched a new surprise military exercise.
President Putin’s recent statements are welcome. But it’s hard to
take a little rhetoric of reconciliation seriously when it is
accompanied by actions that are clearly aimed at stoking tension. And it
is even harder to take seriously given that Russia’s track record of
repeatedly breaking its commitments to dialogue and to peace – as it did
after the Geneva Statement in April, and after the pledges that
President Putin made to President Obama in Normandy earlier this month.
So while we welcome the more conciliatory rhetoric from President
Putin in recent days, these words now need to be reflected in a genuine
shift in the facts on the ground. And those facts are best gathered by
unbiased reporting, like that conducted by international monitoring
missions. But the Russians, and the armed separatists that they support,
don’t seem comfortable with facts or with monitors.
As we sit here,
eight OSCE monitors are being held captive for the crime of bearing
witness and gathering facts – actions that are dangerous only to those
who would distort those facts. These monitors have been held captive for
nearly a month – a month! – by separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk, with
no justification. For these crimes, there must be consequences.
There also must be continued consequences for Russia’s consistent
violations of the fundamental principles of the UN Charter and for its
ongoing failure to meet the commitments it has made. And there must be
consequences for the widespread crimes and abuses committed by the armed
separatists Russia supports. Both because the victims of these crimes
merit justice; and because, as we have seen, unless Russia feels
effective pressure to de-escalate, it will continue to choose to
escalate this crisis.
We have urged Russia to be part of the political solution to the
crisis in Ukraine. But if it persists with the same escalatory tactics –
it must face additional costs. Thank you.
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