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Ukraine crisis: The truth

It would seem as though conflict occupies a key aspect of our lives nowadays, and one would be forgiven for thinking that without it the world would be abnormal. Year after year world media outlets are always preoccupied, covering civil wars, terror attacks, rebel uprisings and international aggression.

That notwithstanding, it is important for people to shift their focus from the shallow and top surface progress of such events towards the deep intrigues of the same. Emphasis has to be put on the causes of these conflicts, their masterminds unmasked, the political power games exposed and the ultimate economic interests arrested.

Of particular interest has been the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Foremost, it must be clear that conflict in all its forms, including armed aggression, is detestable and contradictory to basic human principles. However, a careful analysis of the situation in Ukraine produces very disturbing questions. Why is there armed conflict in the first place? Who are the rebels? What are the political and economic interests at stake? Why is the West, particularly the United States, so passionately involved in this conflict?

Analyses are doubtlessly endless. A summarized overview reveals that Ukraine is struggling to maintain a unified country. Pro government Ukrainians support their government's increasing shift towards the West in economic and political terms. Anti government Ukrainians, on the other hand, are uncomfortable with these developments and prefer the traditional alliance with Russia.

But perhaps it is the involvement of the United States that raises most eyebrows. Notorious for its reputation as the self appointed 'big brother' of all nations, the United States is always busy looking for 'disputes to settle' and 'disagreements to mediate'. American media houses, naturally, will follow where their government is involved, preaching 'democracy, liberty and good governance'. American 'experts' and 'security analysts' would suddenly appear and look intelligent with their assessment of the situation at hand, and politicians would urge their government to move swiftly and get involved in other countries' affairs, over whom they have 'moral authority to monitor'.

What won't be reported, however, would be the countless companies and multinational corporations eager to spread their tentacles into new territory. It has been said that capitalism knows no bounds, and capital is always looking for newer areas in which to venture and exploit. A peep into Ukraine's vast natural resources, such as natural gas, is enough motivation for any greedy capitalist to desire deep involvement in the country's internal affairs and control its government and general policy. However, given the nature of modern day imperialism, whose emphasis is on the spread of monopoly finance capital, perhaps the greatest motivation for Western, particularly American, involvement in the Ukraine crisis is the desire to export capital into the country, currently in the grip of Russia.

The world should therefore not be fooled; the US and EU are involved in Ukraine not to ensure the preservation of peace, rather their involvement is driven primarily by the desire to ensure the penetration of capital from their financial institutions and multinational corporations. The end result, as expected, would be super profits for the said firms and increased exploitation of Ukrainian resources, both human and natural. Ukraine would further see increased wealth for the wealthy as the poor get poorer.

The world needs to understand that economic interests above all serves as the basis for the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, and Ukrainians must reject domination of their economy by Western finance capital.

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