Letter to President Obama RE: Ukraine
It is absolutely imperative that Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine be immediately halted.
Russia’s flagrant disregard for international law, principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and for various treaties such as the Budapest Memorandum must no longer be tolerated. After all, US and UK are signatories to the Budapest Memorandum and its guarantors.
These principles predicate our global progress, European stability and relative peace over the past 50 years. These principles should not be allowed to be blatantly undermined by anyone, let alone by the actions of one man.
The EU’s security is at stake, along with its continued economic prosperity. The opportunity cost of further Russian escalations is far greater than the short term pain of acting in stern opposition.
Under no circumstances, should the international community acquiesce or appease Russian actions in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.
Below, I recommend specific actions for the US, EU and NATO to take:
1) Enact stern sectoral sanctions on Russian finance, military, and energy.
2) Suspend more Russian banks from VISA, MasterCard and SWIFT banking exchange networks.
3) Impose travel bans on Russian tourists, particularly to France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and other EU countries.
4) Accelerate Ukraine’s membership to NATO.
5) Halt France’s deliveries of Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia, by having NATO or US NAVY repurchase of these ships instead.
6) Facilitate rapid development of LNG tankers and terminals in Germany, Ukraine, UK, France, Italy, Croatia and other EU members to export North American natural gas to Europe.
7) Encourage EU to form a single negotiating bloc to gain leverage in natural gas contract negotiations with Russia.
8) Further isolate Russia from BRICS, by building closer relationships with India, Brazil and South Africa. Maintain the current policy with China.
9) Use our influence with OPEC members to keep the oil prices low.
10) Support Ukraine’s military by providing intelligence, supplies, training and cash, so they can pay their enlisted men good salaries.
11) Counter Russian propaganda in Russia and Eastern Ukraine.
12) Monitor illicit activity in Poland, Moldova, etc. Russia is known to recruit criminal organizations to sabotage peace and stability, as they have done in Crimea and Donetsk.
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