Russian Foreign Ministry on Venezuela and Crimea
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (MZ below), things in Venezuela remain “extremely tense,” stressing:
“(S)abotage” was responsible for knocking out most of the country’s electrical power for days, things largely normalized again.
MZ: “Like the absolute majority of the troubles that have befallen independent Venezuela in recent years, (the blackout) came from outside,” adding:
“According to the legal government of the country, led by President N. Maduro, as well as information from other reliable sources confirming this information, the Venezuelan power sector (was) attacked from abroad.”
Western-produced equipment was targeted. “(A)ll the algorithms of work and vulnerabilities of this equipment and the corresponding systems were well known to the direct organizers of the aggression.”
“They, and the authorizers of the sabotage (in Washington were fully) responsible” for what happened. A forensic investigation will lay blame where it belongs with credible authenticity.
Attacking the infrastructure of targeted countries is a longstanding US tactic – usually by terror-bombing, the strategy in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and elsewhere.
Cyberattacks were used against the power grids in Iran and Venezuela, a likely joint US/Israeli operation against both countries, wrongfully blamed on their governments.
In 2015, US-supported Ukrainian fascists cut off most water to Crimea by closing North Crimean Canal sluices, running from the Khakhovka Reservoir to Kersh.
Weeks earlier, Kiev putschists cut water flows from 90 cubic meters per second to seven cubic meters, the lowest technically feasible volume.
The regime acted on orders from Washington in response to Crimea’s reunification with Russia. Satellite images showed it tried cutting off Crimea’s water entirely – the incident similar to attacking Venezuela’s power grid, both targeting essential infrastructure.
The US/Kiev plot failed. So did sabotage causing Venezuela’s blackout. Are greater violence, bloodshed, and chaos coming next? Trump regime-declared “all options on the table” likely assures escalated toughness ahead.
MZ: It includes “possibl(e) aggression from outside…We have already talked about plans to purchase weapons in Eastern Europe and the illegal supply of large quantities of weapons to Venezuela,” adding:
“US intelligence agencies are working to establish contacts with smugglers and drug traffickers in order to provide them with information about illegal cross-border crossings.”
“(E)vacuat(ing) all remaining (US) personnel (from) Caracas was alarming.” Were they gotten out of harm’s way ahead of planned violence?
What’s going on in Venezuela is an ongoing story, new developments nearly every day.
March 18 marks the fifth anniversary of Crimea’s reunification to Russia – approved overwhelmingly by Crimeans, correcting a historic mistake.
Putin and Russian lawmakers obliged them. According to MZ, “the issue of Crimea has been settled once and for all because its reunification with Russia was the result of the free expression of the will of the population at the referendum that was held in line with international legal standards and was a great triumph of democracy.”
Indeed so! There’s no ambiguity about it. Self-determination is a universal right. It’s a fundamental principle under international law, regarded as jus cogens, a higher or compelling law.
People everywhere have the right to choose their sovereignty and political status with no outside interference.
The UN Charter affirms “the principle of equal rights and self-determination of people…”
Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states:
“All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.”
Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states “(e)veryone has the right to a nationality (self-determination). No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his (or her) nationality nor denied the right to change his (or her) nationality.”
In December 1960, UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 granted independence to colonial countries and their people, affirming their right of self-determination.
Crimeans have the same rights as other people everywhere. Republicans and undemocratic Dems claiming otherwise is one of many examples of their double standard hypocrisy.
MZ: “(D)espite all attempts to isolate it, Crimea is one of Russia’s most dynamically developing regions with one of the highest growth rates in the country.”
“The federal targeted program for the socio-economic development of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to 2022 is being successfully carried out.”
“Key sectors of the Crimean economy are developing dynamically, the regional budget is steadily growing, the construction industry is on the upswing, infrastructure is being upgraded.”
Its energy dependence on Ukraine was resolved by construction of “high capacity thermal power stations. Transport links with Russia’s mainland have been created and logistics opportunities have substantially increased.”
“Active steps are being taken to involve Crimea in projects of international cooperation. Contacts with representatives of foreign political and business circles and public organizations are expanding.”
The peninsula is developing in ways not possible under Kiev’s fascist rule. Before reunification with Russia, many of its “socio-economic problems (were) unresolved for decades or were sometimes simply ignored, while the entire infrastructure was inexorably falling into decline.”
Russia turned things around dramatically, showing “Crimeans were right when they made a historic choice to return to their home port five years ago” – to the chagrin of bipartisan hardliners in Washington.
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