Russia Will Return Crimea When US Returns California To Mexico – OpEd

Speaking to Radio Sputnik, political commentator and The Duran contributor Adam Garrie pointed out just how absurd White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s statement that Russia must ‘return Crimea’ really sounds. The journalist also explained the reasons for the bizarre ‘civil war’ that’s going on in Washington over its policy on Russia.

On Tuesday, Spicer said that the Trump administration expected Russia to “deescalate violence in the Ukraine and return Crimea” to Kiev. Shortly thereafter, Russian officials responded, emphasizing that Russia does not ‘return’ its territories, and reaffirming that the Crimea issue is permanently closed.

Asked to comment on this apparent flip-flop by Trump, who had earlier hinted that he would “take a look” at recognizing Crimea as part of Russia, and said that the Crimean people “would rather be with Russia,” The Duran political author Adam Garrie explained why Spicer’s comment didn’t just border on the absurd, but completely crossed that boundary.

“Crimea was of course part of Russia ever since 1783. Before that it was part of the Crimean Khanate of the Ottoman Empire; so I don’t know who they want to ‘return’ it to,” Garrie said, speaking to Radio Sputnik.

“The whole situation is absurd,” the journalist noted, particularly given the US’s positioning itself allegedly as a country that promotes democratic values, and the fact that an overwhelming majority of Crimeans “voted to return home to their historical mother country of Russia. They should be praising it! It was done without a shot being fired, it was done smoothly and peacefully.”

In March 2014, a majority of over 95% of Crimeans voted to break off from post-Maidan Ukraine and to rejoin Russia, in a snap referendum organized by the peninsula’s government.

Effectively, Garrie suggested that the US position on Crimea is just as absurd as it would be for Kremlin Spokesman Dmitri Peskov to come out and say that the US’s western states including California should be ‘returned’ to Mexico, with Moscow now not recognizing the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo for some reason.

If that were to happen, the political writer noted, “you could imagine any American president going absolutely bonkers, let alone Donald Trump, whose views on Mexico are very widely known.”

“So the whole thing about ‘we want to get on with you and want to have good relations, but please give up your territory that’s been historically part of Russia, and just voted democratically in overwhelming numbers to rejoin’ is a bit like saying ‘I want to be your best friend, but can we please cut off your left arm to make things a bit easier’,” Garrie emphasized. “It just doesn’t follow any logic.”

The journalist noted that he “expected more of the Trump administration.” Unfortunately, he said, “there’s a war going on inside the administration, and at least in terms of rhetoric, policies of reconciliation toward Russia seem to be an early victim in this Trump civil war.”

Flynn’s resignation is connected to this ‘civil war’ Garrie added. “Flynn was sort of an interesting character; on the one hand, he was one of the leaders of the pro-Russian reconciliation party in the deeply divided White House. At the same time, his policies toward China were a bit strange, even though prior to his resignation, Trump said that he would accept the One China policy, meaning that perhaps Flynn’s anti-Chinese statements didn’t carry the weight some might have expected.”

“When it comes to Iran, all I’ll say is that I don’t know how to say ‘pass the popcorn’ in Farsi, but if I were in Tehran at this very moment, I’m sure I’d learn that quite soon,” the journalist quipped.

As far as America’s Russia policy is concerned, Garrie pointed out that “there’s a big part of the US deep state, – the Democratic Party as a whole and the neocon faction of the Republican Party, led by John McCain and Lindsey Graham, that will do anything to preserve the anti-Russian attitudes coming out of Washington. Some stand to gain materially by it – we all know about the military-industrial complex…and some are just ideologically dogmatic to the point of being, frankly, stupid,” he noted.

Ultimately, the journalist said that Flynn was a casualty of these powers that be. “The mainstream media, the political opponents of reconciliation between the US and Russia wanted blood, and it was sort of a night of the long knives. The first person to fall on his own sword was Flynn. I don’t think he should have resigned; he did nothing illegal or untoward.”

Garrie noted, for instance, that if it was the German ambassador whom Flynn called, it would have been a non-story. “But because Russia was involved, the people who hate Russia, and hate the idea of a Trump administration having good relations with Russia, they pounced, and as a result, Flynn is out.”