U.S., EU out of Ukraine! Stop Washington’s threats!

The present crisis in Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula was provoked by the seizure of political power in Kiev by proxies of the U.S. imperialists and their junior partners in the European Union.

This seizure of power, by political subversion and fascist shock troops in the streets, if successfully consolidated, would bring a regime of pro-imperialist collaborators to the southern borders of Russia.

This provocative act of aggression by Western imperialism threatens the sovereignty of Ukraine and the stability of the region. It courts the danger of war.

All revolutionary and progressive forces should mobilize to get the U.S. and EU imperialists out of the Ukraine. It must be explained to the workers and the oppressed that all measures taken by Russia and the Ukrainian masses to prevent this takeover are defensive in character and have been provoked, primarily by the U.S.

President Barack Obama had the audacity to issue a threat to Russia demanding that it refrain from “aggression” and “respect the sovereignty of  Ukraine.”

This is like the thief who cried “Thief!” Washington and its allies fomented three months of demonstrations. The U.S. government manipulated right-wing politicians, working in coordination with fascist elements in the streets, to drive the legally elected government of Victory Yanukovich from office by intimidation and force.

For the U.S. to warn against “aggression” is an example of the Big Lie. It is Washington that has carried out an act of aggression against Ukraine — by mobilizing an illegal, undemocratic, pro-imperialist takeover in Kiev. This has trampled on the sovereignty of this strategically located country.

For the Pentagon, this takeover is part of a campaign to encircle and weaken Russia. It is part of the same campaign that added 12 former Soviet republics and Eastern European allies to NATO on the eastern and northern borders of Russia and installed anti-missile systems in Poland directed at Russia. Now Russia faces the prospect of NATO on its southern and western border.

For the EU it is an opportunity to grab the resource-rich Ukraine and pull it into its economic orbit for economic exploitation.

The leaking of the infamous “f… the EU” telephone conversation between the U.S. ambassador to the Ukraine and Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland showed that they were discussing who should be the new leadership of Ukraine while President Viktor Yanukovich was still in office! Their candidate for leader, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, has now been installed as the prime minister.

The present crisis has been provoked by the geopolitical drive against Russia undertaken by the most powerful imperialist powers on earth. Their victory can only be harmful to the interests of the workers of the world. It must be opposed.