McCain: Russians will end Putin’s imperial dreams US Republican Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain suggests that people in Russia will finally oust President Vladimir Putin. “Eventually, Russians will come for Mr. Putin in the same way and for the same reasons that Ukrainians came for Viktor F. Yanukovych,” the hawkish senator wrote in an op-ed in The New York Times on Friday. “We must prepare for that day now.” He was referring to the ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, who left the Ukrainian capital of Kiev in February. “He [Putin] does not accept that Russia’s neighbors, least of all Ukraine, are independent countries. To him, they are Russia’s “near abroad” and must be brought back under Moscow’s dominion by any means necessary,” McCain said. “If Ukraine can emerge from this crisis independent, prosperous and anchored firmly in Europe, how long before Russians begin to ask, “Why not us?” McCain claimed. “That would not just spell the end of Mr. Putin’s imperial dreams; it would strip away the lies that sustain his rule over Russia itself,” he added. “We must do all we can to demonstrate that the tide of history is with Ukraine — that the political values of the West, and not those of an imperial kleptocracy, are the hope of all nations,” he wrote. He also criticized President Barack Obama for not handling the crisis in Ukraine, saying Washington made Putin think the United States has a “lack of resolve.” The Arizona senator, who is currently in Ukraine with a delegation, wrote the article as people in Ukraine’s autonomous region of Crimea will vote on Sunday on whether they want to be part of Ukraine or Russia. “Crimea must be the place where President Obama recognizes this reality and begins to restore the credibility of the United States as a world leader,” McCain said. On Thursday, McCain also lashed out at US senators after they failed to impose sanctions against Russia and reach an agreement on a package of economic aid for Ukraine. “You can call yourself Republicans, that’s fine, because that’s your voter registration,” he said. “Don’t call yourself Reagan Republicans.”
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 06:46:38 +0000
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