Es así que, consciente del momento histórico al que estamos asistiendo, y teniendo en cuenta que algún chiquillo de la Cancillería Argentina, con ganas de aprender, pensar o hacer algo distinto, podría estar leyéndonos con cierta asiduidad, mandamos un par de traducciones que postea hoy un blog que solemos revisar con cierta asiduidad en relación con Ucrania: The Vineyard of the Saker (http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.de/). Su autor, que firma simplemente como "The Saker" (El Halcón Peregrino), no tiene inconvenientes en que reproduzcamos sus posts, así que acá vamos. Son dos traducciones al inglés:
Primera: Intervención de Alexei Pushkov, jefe del Comité de Asuntos Exteriores del parlamento ruso, después del voto negativo hacia Rusia por parte del "PACE" (acrónimo inglés de la Parlamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe). Hemos sacado los intentos de interrupción que varios periodistas hicieron durante la intervención. El momento en que se produjeron consta en los puntos suspensivos.
Press-Conference of A. Pushkov
PUSHKOV: "We think that those people who took part in making those decisions did not have the moral right to make them. The Georgian delegation should rather explain how Georgia killed 147 people in Tskhinval in August 2008 by the orders of Saakashvilli -- which you all saw on your television screens. Tskhinval was bombed by “reactive” (rocket?) systems. 147 people died during this operation. What did we hear today from the Georgian delegates? That this did not happen. They bear responsibility for those killings.
Let us call things by their names. They will judge us for Crimea joining Russia which happened completely without the bloodshed and in accordance with the opinions and wishes of the people of Crimea. Georgia wanted to return to itself those territories on which she practiced genocide in 1991-1992 in an aggressive military way. There were people killed and this was acknowledged in OSCE(?) report which was prepared by Mr. ?. And everyone knows this.
And so...with the result that their representatives -- including those who advanced amendments about our exclusion -- with the result of aggression against Iraq in 2003. Somehow I did not notice that those 20 governments who supported that aggression in one or another way, and which was declared illegal world-wide -- this is known -- were sanctioned here. Somehow we did not see this. The parliamentary assembly on this crime closes its eyes, even though in Iraq, as a result of that occupation and aggression, died some several thousand people -- this is known. But no sanctions are implemented against those comrades.
I think that one should think about those governments who regularly in the past 20 years violated international law -- bombing Belgrade, bombing Libya, occupying Iraq -- do not have any moral right to make any decisions about the Russian delegation. And we completely disagree with this.
We also want to tell you that I think this very tense crisis between Russian and the Parliamentary Assembly of Europe (PACE) is tied to several things. Firstly, we see here the triumph of double standards. What we heard yesterday from the Ukrainian delegation is just comical -- it causes uproarious(?) laughter. Ukraine has no problems except danger from Russia. Go to Ukraine. See how that country lives. See what is happening in the east, west, and south -- look at Kiev and what the revolutionaries have turned it into. Talk to the families of those who were killed -- not only on Maidan but those of the Party of Regions. How right-wing extremists came to their headquarters and killed two people just like that. One an engineer and one a soldier -- who had no affiliation with the Party. Talk to them. Talk to the representative of the Southern Ukraine’s Communists, who was subjected to torture. They placed needles under his fingernails and beat him. This is all known. Talk to Simonyanka(?) who yesterday, or the day before yesterday, was beaten at the podium of the Rada by the representatives of Svoboda.
And what do we see here? We see an amendment to condemn Svoboda and “Right Sector” for racism, for ultra-nationalist views, for anti-Semitism, which the European Parliament called for in December 2012 -- this did not originate from us. We see that this amendment does not get the support of even a third of the delegates. 51 or 52 people voted for this amendment. What can we discuss here? Can we discuss any unified standards of European Assembly? We are talking about the full and hideous triumph of double standards.
We also see that the supremacy of law does not concern this Assembly. The Ukrainian government was overthrown. This is very obvious. This is being discussed by the foremost lawyers not only in Russia, but also in Europe. We know very well that the Constitution was violated. How come when we discuss Crimea, our Ukrainian colleagues refer to the Constitution? How come when we try to discuss how they overthrew the President, how they took un-Constitutional decisions, there is no discussion? The Constitution holds sway in one case, but not the other. So what are we discussing here? And if someone here took it upon themselves, beside the Euro Left faction in the Parliamentary Assembly -- the Euro Left faction was the only one who raised the question about the legality of what happened February 22nd in the Ukraine. At the very least, a decision should have been taken to look into this matter and then conduct discussions to understand whether those actions were or were not Constitutional. No! We are told ahead of time everything was Constitutional.
Who decided this?
The Ukrainian Constitution describes how the President may be removed from power. A special commission is set up to investigate the reasons for impeachment. Then, a hearing in Constitutional Court about this question. And following, a vote for impeachment in the Rada. This is the Constitutional procedure for impeaching a President in the Ukraine. If everything happened in this manner, I can assure you, Russia would not have protested at all. Instead of this, what happened? The Constitutional Court was disbanded. Five people were ejected from the Constitutional Court including the head judge -- notwithstanding their immunity. And people are trying to convince us this new power is legal and lawful?
The most unpleasant thing in this story is that the Parliamentary Assembly has betrayed its own principles. The majority in PACE have betrayed the principles of right, the supremacy of human rights, and the supremacy of law. The majority in PACE have taken care of the political interests’ of those governments who want the geopolitical assimilation of the Ukraine. I am very sad to say this because PACE was supposed to be an organization above politics. It was supposed to be an organization creating precise standards in that or another sphere(?) Russia is to blame...
And so, the Parliamentary Assembly of Europe (PACE) betrayed those principles it was supposed to defend. I should say, not all members did that. Those representatives who took a nuanced, well-thought out position; those who voted against the decision to...Russia...
Those people who voted for well though-out decision to leave an opportunity for Russia to work in the European Assembly -- they, I think, deserve all possible support. Those who voted to have the Russian delegation stripped of most of its powers made a conscious decision. The continued presence of the Russian delegation in PACE no longer makes sense, and I want this to be understood. If the majority in PACE believe they hold the keys to history in their hands, they are mistaken. Decisions are not only made here. We also are making a decision about whether we should remain in this assembly. Our presence here is of our own free will -- our presence in the European Assembly is of our own free will -- but we may change our minds. Thank you.
We here represent the large country of Russia. Everything we have heard here for the past two days, is upsetting for all of our country. That is first. Second, I would like to say that not one amendment we have tried to put forward was accepted. I even think that if I put forward an amendment that the Volga flows into the Caspian Sea, it would also not be accepted. The responsibility of the work of my colleagues...
Excuse me. If there will be further disturbances from the audience, we will finish this press-conference and leave. You can stay behind with your opinions and questions."
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Hasta acá las declaraciones de Pushkov. Ahora The Saker vuelve a la carga con sus comentarios:
"What is so important in the word of Pushkov?
First, this is the first time that a high ranking Russian diplomat who clearly "had it" decides to "hold up a mirror" so to speak to the EU officials and show them how ugly their faces are. Gone is the pretense of civility and friendship - Pushkov is calling the PACE delegates unprincipled hypocrites and liars whose lack of basic decency is total.
Second, Pushkov also tells the western corporate press to go to hell, well, not quite in these terms, but that is the substance of his reply when the press corps first tries to shut him up and then leaves the room.
In other words what Pushkov does is show his absolute contempt for the *cheap prostitutes* (there is no other way to put it) who would execute any order of their bosses, repeat any lie, deny any fact, no matter how obvious.
Of course, Pushkov does not use Mrs Nuland's colorful expression, but the message is the same. So now both the USA and Russia have expressed their total contempt for the EU. God knows the latter really had it coming.
In conclusion I will say that Alexei Pushkov is really a "big shot" in Russia and not just he hold the powerful position of head of the foreign affairs committee of Russia's lower house of parliament but also because he has his own weekly analytical program on the Russian TV called "post-scriptum" which is watched by a lot of people. He is a very smart man, impeccably educated, well-read and well-traveled. And he is a real diplomat, a man of a level of professionalism and expertise as Sergei Lavrov. All this is to say that his word carries a lot of weight, especially in the circles of power around the Kremlin.
Speaking of Lavrov, he also spoke for a full hour on Russian TV in the show "Sunday evening with Vladimir Soloviev" (a very well-known journalist) and his message was the same one: the EU has gone mad, and if they are dead set on a confrontation with us, we are quite ready.
As for Putin, he has had a public meeting with representatives of his Russian Popular Front movement and he is preparing for a lengthy TV "townhall meeting" on TV. All the signs are that his message will be the same one.
On March 1 of this year I warned that Russia was ready for war. It now appears that this war will not be hot (thank God for that!), but "cold" and primarily economic. I think that the PACE vote and the Russian reaction to it mark the beginning of active hostilities.
It shall be interesting to see what the EU muster in terms of "firepower" other than hot air and how much staying power all these EU prostitutes really have.
The Saker”
***
Segunda: Una carta para Vladimiro:
El segundo post del Saker que queremos reproducir acá se refiere a la carta que 300 intelectuales y figuras públicas alemanas escribieron recientemente a Vladimir Putin en ocasión de su mensaje al mundo después de la incorporación de Crimea a la Federación Rusa. Acá va:
Open letter to Putin (or the real face of the "other" West!)
The Saker: “We all know that the western corporate media lies, that western politicians lie, that a big segment of the population in the West has been zombified into terminal stupidity. But there is another West which is very rarely mentioned, whose voice is systematically ignored, which is categorically opposed to what is being done in its name by the ruling plutocracy and which refuses to shut up and obey. All of us who have lived in the West know this and, I believe, most people outside the West do realize that too. The truth is that the enemy of Russia today is also the enemy of the 99% of people in Europe and in the USA. Of course, the 1%ers try to divide us all into small groups and oppose us to each other, and when that does not work, they try to scare us. And still, some, many, see straight through this.
Today, thanks to a good German friend (thanks "FR"!!) who agreed to translate this letter especially for this blog now I have the translation into English of an "open letter to Putin" signed by large and diverse group of Germans who were touched by Putin's words about Germany and its reunification and who decided to reply to him in an open letter. You can find the original of the letter here. What follows is the full translation into English:
Open letter to Putin
By Volker Braeutigam
President Putin has turned in his speech to the reintegration of Crimea from March 18, 2014, directly to the German people. This appeal deserves positive resonance that corresponds to the real feelings of the Germans, so how they got these days in ad hoc surveys to the expression. The unilaterally anti-Russian statements of many our mass media and politicians as well as the escalating actions of Berlin do not represent the German population and her increasing distance to the bellicose policy of the EU and NATO. Therefore, here is now an open letter to president Putin which will be handed over on Thursday to the Russian embassy in Berlin:
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Dear Mister President!
In your speech in front of the state Duma you asked he German people for some understanding. We are German citizens, who experienced the post-war period by the majority in the west half of Germany. When the cold war 1990 was ended and our country was reunited, a sigh of relief went through the world, because the always threatening danger of a nuclear military conflict seemed avoided, which would have pulled the entire globe in. Germany would have been extinguished.
The Soviet Union has played the decisive role for the liberation of Europe from Nazism under incomparable victims. Nevertheless, it was in 1990 ready to support the German reunification in 1991 to dissolve the Warsaw Pact and community to accept NATO membership total of Germany. This was not honored by the West.
The former Ambassador of the United States in Moscow (1987-1991), Jack Matlock, a few days ago in the Washington Post confirmed that President Bush promised not to exploit the generosity of President Gorbachev.
The expansion of NATO up to the former Soviet republics, the establishment of military bases in former Warsaw signatories and the construction of an anti-ballistic missile defense screen in East Europe with concurrent withdrawal from the ABM treaty on the part of the USA are all striking breaches of promise.
These measures are understood by us only as a claim to power by the western leadership power which are directed against the state and economic consolidation pursued by you of your land after your assumption of office in 2000.
Moreover, Keir A. Lieber and Daryl G. Press stated beyond that 2006 in „Foreign Affairs “with her article „to The Rise OF U.S. Nuclear Primacy” convincingly that the anti-missile defense screen is to make a nuclear first strike possible for the nuclear neutralization of Russia.
This background in condensed form is the background before which we assess the events in the Ukraine since November 2013. Meanwhile, it is widely documented that the United States has exploited the legitimate protests of the Ukrainian people for their own purposes. The pattern is familiar from other countries: Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine 2004, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Venezuela ...
The “interference” of the European Union and OSCE was swiftly taken care within twelve hours after the deal negotiated by the foreign ministers for a peaceful transition was overturned with the help of fascist forces.
The website of the Open Ukraine Foundation of the incumbent Prime Minister shows who is behind the current coup government in Kiev.
Internal and international law questions about the secession of Crimea are differently answered. We want to evaluate them here not legally, but only from a political point of view.
Against the background of developments in Europe since 1990, the deployment of some 1,000 U.S. military bases around the world, the control of the Straits by the U.S. and the outgoing of the perpetrators of the Maidan threat to the Russian Black Sea fleet, we see the secession of the Crimea as a defensive measure with a simultaneous message: up to here and no further!
The crucial difference with Kosovo's independence declaration is that the latter was made possible by the illegal bombing by NATO, unfortunately with the participation of Germany , which created the conditions for independence.
Dear Mr. President, you have called for an economic community from Lisbon to Vladivostok for almost four years. It would be the economic basis for the “common European home”.
The Ukraine could take up an ideal bridge function for the future cooperation between the Eurasian Union lead by you and the European Union, not least in cultural respect. We are persuaded that the massive influencing control of the USA has as its purpose prevent the Ukraine from becoming such a bridge.
The forces which have prevailed in the European Commission are supporting the policy of the United States against Russia. The speech of the Executive Secretary-General of the European external action service, Pierre Vimont, on March 14, this year is so unique (EurActiv: "EU shunned from US-Russia meeting on Ukraine").
Dear Mr. President, we trust that your historic speech in year 2001, will continue to form the basis for your actions against the EU and Germany in the German Bundestag. The latest polls show that the majority of Germans does not want any confrontation with the Russian Federation and are expressing understanding for Russian actions towards the Ukraine.
We do not underestimate the difficulties faced Federal Republic of Germany as a member of the EU and NATO concerning Russia, these are also known to you. However, at least we expect the Federal Government operate in the old Roman legal principle audiatur et altera pars ("hear the other side too”). This was omitted in connection with the neighborhood policy of the EU in the case of Ukraine.
Even during the Cold War Russia has not made use of the argument that 27 millions of its citizens died during WWII for political gain against Germany. This figure alone gives a special quality in the relations between our countries.
The people of Germany have a keen sense of to this: when "The Group of Soviet forces in Germany" in year 1994 takes leave of Germany with a performance of its music corps on the square before the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn , there were moving scenes between the numerous spectators and musicians.
In this context, when we see the news reporting and commentaries in the German media we can only say that we find them disgusting.
Dear Mr. President, with our modest means as a simple citizen, we will help to ensure that the intended division of Europe does not succeed, but the ideas of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz be brought back to new life.
We are convinced: only if the states and peoples of the Eurasian double continent regulate their affairs peacefully with one another, respectfully, cooperatively, on the basis of the right and without outside interference, this will radiate also into the remaining world. We see you in this sense as our ally. For Your current, and hopefully also the next office period we wish you strength, power of endurance, intelligence and skillfulness.
With utmost respect..."
Y siguen las 300 firmas
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Hasta aquí la carta. Ahora vuelve The Saker con sus comentarios finales:
“One could say that 300 people is not that much for a country of 80 million people, but that would be mistaken. These are not "just" 300 people. These are 300 people willing to commit social and political seppuku and who dare to openly swim against what is arguable the worst hate and propaganda campaign since the end of WWII (I for sure do not recall such anti-Soviet hysteria during the Cold War). Furthermore, these people are showing the rest of the terminally passive Europeans that it is possible to speak up and not only refuse to participate in this hate campaign, but even to openly challenge it. In fact, these Germans go even further: they are calling Putin (the "New Hitler" and Worst-And-Most-Evil-Enemy-Of-Mankind-Ever) an 'ally' while rejecting their own national leadership. That, my friends, takes a lot of guts. It also proves that there is no such thing as historical inevitability. If the country which attacked Russia not once, but twice in the 20th century can produce this can of awareness then no situation is hopeless. I sure hope that this letter will be translated into Russia and circulated by the Russian media not just to show "support for Russia", but to show that the people of Europe are not all the enemies of the Russian people.
I don't know if that will actually happen, but I am sure there such letters are also possible outside Germany. I am getting a lot of emails from readers in Europe who are disgusted and outraged by what is being done, supposedly in their name. And the same goes for the USA and even central Europe.
I want to conclude this with a short except from the Book of Genesis:
And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place. (Genesis 18:17-33).
We all know how it ends: God sends two angels to remove Lot from the city and then He destroys Sodom and Gomorrah. Thus it is said that "just one man can save a city".
I think that the honor and dignity of 80 million Germans can be saved by the 300+ who followed the words of Stéphane Hessel and were outraged and followed the words of Yehuda Bower and refused to be bystanders.
Should any of them ever read these words - I respectfully salute them!
The Saker”
Hasta la próxima.
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