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31 Jul, 2014 10:45

'Let's sanction Russia!'

'Let's sanction Russia!'

​Israel shells a UN school in Gaza killing 15. It's the sixth time a UN school has been struck.

'Children, women and men killed & injured as they slept in a place where they should have been safe and protected. They were not. Intolerable', says Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner general of UNRWA.

Overall, almost 1,400 people have been killed in Gaza by Israeli forces with missiles and military equipment supplied by the US. After the latest UN school attack, it was announced that the US will send more ammunition to Israel. The conclusion is: “Let’s sanction Russia!”

Over 1,000 people have been killed in the east of Ukraine and nearly 3,500 wounded since the US-backed Ukrainian government's brutal military offensive started in April. Around 100,000 people have been forcibly displaced. On Sunday, at least 13 civilians were killed by Ukrainian shelling- including a one-year-old girl killed next to her parents. What do we hear? “Let’s sanction Russia!”

The US and EU supported the violent overthrow of a democratically elected President and government in Ukraine, one year before elections were due, creating the current crisis in the country. “Let’s sanction Russia!”

Ukrainian ultranationalists set fire to a trade union headquarters building in Odessa and kill around 40 people. As people tried to escape they were bludgeoned with baseball bats “Let’s sanction Russia!”

After the illegal unconstitutional coup in Kiev, which brings far-right, Russia-hating ultranationalists to power, the people of Crimea vote in a peaceful, democratic referendum to rejoin Russia. “Let’s sanction Russia!”

A passenger plane comes down over Ukraine – the second plane from Malaysia Airlines to be lost in mysterious circumstances in a space of a few months. We don't yet know who was responsible, or even what happened to the first Malaysia Airlines plane. “Let’s sanction Russia!”

Four Palestinian children are playing football on the beach in Gaza. They are murdered by Israeli fire. “This was a cowardly crime,” says the spokesperson of the Gaza Health Ministry. Russia was one of the 29 countries who voted for a UN Human Rights Council probe into alleged Gaza war crimes. EU countries abstained, the US voted against. “Let’s sanction Russia!”

Smoke rises following what witnesses said was an Israeli air strike in Gaza City July 30, 2014 (Reuters / Suhaib Salem)

Since 2008, it's been estimated that over 2,400 people have been killed by US drone strikes. The Bureau for Investigative Journalism says that in Pakistan alone the number of civilians killed by drone strikes in the period 2004-2014 ranges from 416 to 957. The number of children killed in Pakistan by US drones is between 168 and 202. “Let’s sanction Russia!”

US launches an illegal war of aggression against Iraq in which up to 1 million people have been killed. The justification of the war was that Iraq possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, which did not in fact exist. Large parts of Iraq are now run by ISIS. Russia strongly opposed the Iraq war. “Let’s sanction Russia!”

Libya: like Iraq, a country destroyed by a Western military intervention in which Russia did not take part. Due to Western aggression, a country which had the highest standard of living in Africa is now a failed state. “Let’s sanction Russia!”

US ally Saudi Arabia is one of several countries in the world where homosexuality is illegal and where gay people can be executed. Russia has no such laws, but isn't one of the allies. “Let’s sanction Russia!”

Western countries fund rebels to violently overthrow the government of Syria, increasing aid and support every time the conflict looks to be coming to an end. “Let’s sanction Russia!”

On July 15, it was announced that the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) were establishing a $100 billion BRICS development bank and currency pool worth over another $100 billion. “The big launch of the BRICS bank is seen as a first step to break the dominance of the US dollar in global trade, as well as dollar-backed institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, both US-based institutions BRICS countries have little influence within,” reported RT. "BRICS Bank will be one of the major multilateral development finance institutions in this world,” announced President Putin. Western elites know that resurgent Russia is a block on their ambitions for total global hegemony and that BRICS and its New Development Bank are a threat to their economic power. Russia is “getting in the way” in other areas too. Neocons and the West's pro-Israel faux-left wanted war with Syria last summer to topple the Syrian government and break the alliance between Syria, Hezbollah and Iran – a long-term strategic objective of Israel. Russia, along with public opinion in the western countries, helped to block that war and to the frustration of the Permanent War Lobby, the Syrian government is still in power. In short, Russia needs to be weakened, and weakened fast. “Let’s sanction Russia!”

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

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