Speaking in Johanesburg, South Africa today, 59-year-year-old Secretary of State Anton Blinken tried to sell the Ukraine War as stopping Russian President Vladimir Putin from “open season” with other countries in Europe and around the world. Blinken hoped to win support from one of the BRICS nations, including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, who have remained neutral on the Ukraine War. Blinken was not preaching the Western choir when he tried to convince South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pamdor that the purpose of the U.S. involvement in the Ukraine war was to stop Putin from picking off other countries around the globe. Pandor wasn’t impressed with Blinken’s arguments, the same one give by Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky, telling European powers that if they don’t send troops and arms to Ukraine, Putin would seize other countries.
Blinken’s talking points fell on deaf ears in South Africa, a major trading partner with the Russian Federation, buying cheap Russian oil to run the South African economy. Speaking at a press conference with Pandor, Blinken gave the U.S. feeble excuse for giving Ukraine unlimited cash-and-arms to fight the Russian Federation. Kremlin officials see the war as one between the U.S. and Russia, not Ukraine and Russia. Trying to be polite, Pandor told Blinken she was equally concerned about the conflict in Gaza as anything going on Ukraine. U.S. faces stiff resistance in Africa, trying to win over African states to support the U.S. prosy war in Ukraine. Saying he didn’t want to give Putin “open season” to pick off other countries in Europe and around the globe, Pandor didn’t buy the argument politely telling Blinken that Russia was a partner to South African for many years.
Blinken continues the demonization offensive against Putin and the Russian Federation, telling anyone’s who’ll listen that Putin’s Russian regime is trying to take over the world. Putin told 79-year-old President Joe Biden for months before the Feb. 24 Ukraine War that that they needed to discuss new security arrangements in Ukraine and Eastern Europe or he would be forced to take “technical military measures” to correct the imbalance of arms shipments going to Ukraine. U.S. and NATO had been arming Ukraine for years to help Ukraine defend itself from a possible Russian invasion. Ukraine’s problems with Russia go back to Feb. 22, 2014 when a CIA-backed coup toppled the pro-Kremlin government of Viktor Yanukoych. Putin was busy at the time hosting the Sochi Winter Olympics. When the games ended, Putin invaded Crimea March 1, 2014 to protect his Sevastopol naval base.
No one in the Biden administration talks of CIA meddling in Ukraine in 2014, resulting in the coup that chased Yanukovych out of Kiev. While the events happened during the Obama administration with Biden as Vice President, the U.S. did nothing to push Putin out of Crimea. So, for the last eight years, the U.S. has been supplying Ukraine with lethal arms to eventually reclaim Crimea and lost territory Donestk and Luhansk, the Donbas area of Southeastern Ukraine. Blinken mentions nothing about the U.S. history in the Ukraine, trying to persuade Pandor to condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine. If the Feb. 22 coup had never taken place, Russia would have no reason to invade Ukraine to stop the flow of U.S. arms. Putin told Biden that the Kremlin would not accept a “puppet” U.S. regime in Ukraine. Today’s Kiev regime is bought-and-paid for by the Biden White House.
Blinken’s African trip which takes him to South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, won’t change to many minds. Russia has been a reliable partner, together with China, over many years supporting African economic development, far more than the United States. So, when it comes to getting Pandor to condemn the Ukraine War, she wasn’t prepared to toss Putin under the bus. Blinken can’t possibly think that the theory that Putin intends to go after Ukraine first, then other European countries, plays well in Africa. If the Feb. 22, 2014 CIA-backed coup hadn’t toppled the Kremlin-backed government, there would be no “technical military operation” to stop U.S. arms shipments to Ukraine. Pandor knows that the U.S. pays for the bankrupt Ukraine government and most of its arms. Selling Africa on the White House or Kiev excuse for the war doesn’t fly.
U.S. foreign policy in Africa would be far more advanced by not insulting the intelligence of African leaders who know exactly what’s happened and what’s going on in Ukraine. Pandor said she was just as concerned about what’s happening in Gaza than anything going on in Ukraine. South Africa welcomes U.S. foreign aid and economic development but won’t stop under its BRICS arrangement buying oil from the Russian Federation. Biden has tried but failed to get other major energy consumers like Brazil, China and India to stop buying Russia oil. Putin has the ability to slide way under the market in selling petroleum around the globe. Biden thought his U.S. and EU sanctions would force Putin to leave Ukraine. Well, they haven’t worked, despite creating economic hardship in Russia. No one in Africa buys Blinken’s “open season” theory in Ukraine and beyond.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
