In 2014, Russia attacked Ukraine, seizing Crimea and other Ukrainian
lands. In 2022, Russia renewed the war, pillaging and raping its way
through Ukrainian towns and villages. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian
children were kidnapped and transported to Russia.
Now the LNC enters the public policy issue with its own press statement,
seen below. At the bottom, the original X.com post, the statement seen elsewhere, and an artist’s impression of where 2022 is taking the LNC.
Here the LNC, speaking through its X.com site, blames the wars on
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. That’s a remarkable piece of support for
the Russian fascist invasion.
The LNC overlooks the minor detail that Zelenskyy took office in 2019,
not 2014 as it claimed. The claim that Presidents Putin and Trump could
settle the war without consulting with Ukraine is also remarkable for its
ignorance.
The full LNC statement reads
Libertarian Party
@LPNational
Today in Alaska, two tyrants (Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump) meet to
decide the fate of the blood soaked Volodymyr Zelensky.Since 2014, Ukraine has been bled dry under his rule, with young men
ripped from their homes and thrown into NATO’s proxy meat grinder.
When peace was possible, he spat on it at the urging of Boris Johnson,
choosing more corpses over compromise.This war… Zelensky’s war… has piled over a million bodies high, and he’ll
keep feeding the furnace at the expense and dignity of American taxpayers.
Why is the United States Libertarian Party debating the nuances of geopolitics in Eurasia? They have no influence over either party and a total influence of zero in the region. The local priest in some town that’s a jumble of consonants carries more weight than the 3rd largest US party on this matter, and he doesn’t carry much at all. It’s a completely waste of time.
Military support and engagement? THAT is where the Libertarian Party can shape or influence debate. It’s a debate worth having. Instead they’re talking about the fourth most recent British prime minister, who hasn’t any idea who you are and doesn’t care.
Or has the Libertarian Party completely won on all their other issues and now want to pretend to be think tank nerds pontificating on great structural geopolitical questions?
The ironic thing about the occupation of Crimea was that it made a West-leaning Ukraine possible. Prior to 2014, the pro-West and pr-Russia constituencies in Ukraine were evenly balanced. The loss of the Russian constituents in Crimea led to the election of Zelensky.
The Russians are going to do what Russians have always done to minorities anywhere near them. They’ll slaughter the men (in process), rape the women (ongoing), as well as young girls and boys (ongoing), haul any impressionable children off to be used as sex toys and to brainwash them until they come out of it not remembering they were Ukrainians and don’t know a nation or an ethnic identity of “Ukrainian” ever existed (ongoing); the resources seized will go straight into the hands of the rich party members & oligarchs who were the Fuhrer’s support network (ongoing), and so on.
But the people of Ukraine were always the secondary target of Czar Putin.
The real aim was a resource grab — absolutely nothing else, all Putinese excuses notwithstanding.
Prior to 2014, Ukrainians were very busy developing massive deposits of oil, gas, coal, and many other minerals — and they were doing so with Western investment providing the infrastructure needed. In 2014, those developments were looking pretty tasty to emperor Putin. A few were seized by Il Duce Putin and his supposedly “pro-Russian” militias in 2014, but others were left alone (relatively speaking) to be developed further by the Ukrainians. Then in 2021-2022, a a batch of much larger projects were just coming online — making it irresistibly tempting.
The rest is history.
They have no valid security claims; that’s just nonsense.
History lesson: The only reason there was a large-ish population of Russians in the eastern part of Ukraine was because of the mass murder of Ukrainians in the 1920s and 1930s, and the subsequent colonizer Russians who were given free shit to encourage their migration into stolen lands.
Let’s be real.
Libertarians should know their history. But they should also know when they’re being the idiot tools of tyrants, Russian or American.
The only Libertarian position on the war in Europe is for the US government to stay the fuck out of it.
If we “do anything” at all, at most it should be to fast-track (like, less than one day) the immigration process for the minority ethnic groups under siege who wish to leave (Ukrainians, Armenians, Georgians, Jews, Copts, Assyrians, the various minority groups being slaughtered under the renewed Taliban regime, etc).
People from the majority groups doing all of the killing can wait for the years-long normal process.
I surmise by “they” you mean Putin had no valid security claims.
Which is correct.
The LP/Steve Nekhaila statements Putin was “provoked” is beyond ignorant, it’s moronic and shows a lack of understanding of history and the current situation.
Also ignorant is the LP statement on Twitter/X this is “Zelensky’s War”.
I don’t think any libertarian wants to get directly involved, but let’s be on the right side of who is the aggressor here and who is fighting off aggression.
Russia invaded Ukraine. The Ukrainian people are fighting for their lives, their families and their country.
Putin is a tyrant.
There is nothing “not libertarian” about a statement from the Libertarian Party calling for Putin to leave Ukraine and go back to Russia.
That would end this war in 5 minutes.
Instead, the LP and Steve Nekhaila have fallen for Russian propaganda that Putin had security concerns and/or was “provoked”, which is an FSB attempt to legitimize Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Here’s the statement posted on the LP’s Facebook: page:
Zelensky and Netanyahu have been locked in a race to see who can spark World War III first, each seeking more U.S. weapons and support. That race could end today, if a real peace deal for Ukraine emerges.
Donald Trump promised to end the war in 24 hours. It’s been over six months. The war still rages. What began in 2014 has escalated into a West-vs.-Russia conflict, dragging Belarus, North Korea, and others toward the brink. Nuclear brinksmanship has played out in real time, and the West has been a belligerent backer of Ukraine.
When Turkey hosted peace talks, there was a chance to stop the war. Instead, Boris Johnson told Zelensky the West would back him if he kept fighting, so he did.
Since then, Washington and Brussels have poured in billions in aid, intelligence, and military hardware, prolonging the bloodshed for over a decade.
Let’s be clear: Russia is the aggressor. But they have security concerns the West refuses to acknowledge — concerns that, if the roles were reversed, would have Lindsey Graham in anaphylactic shock. This doesn’t make Russia right, nor Ukraine wrong to resist.
I am not Russian. I am not Ukrainian. I am American. And as long as my government seeks to use this war to damage a nuclear power, risking escalation to Armageddon, as long as it funds the conflict through inflation and taxation, enriching defense contractors and bureaucrats while civilians and soldiers on both sides die, I will oppose it.
Zelensky could have chosen peace. NATO could have honored the Minsk agreements. Putin could have kept his young men at home. And the United States could have abandoned its entangling alliances. Instead, here we are, with nothing to show but more graves.
It is time for the United States to end its involvement. No more foreign military aid. No more financing civil or military operations in Ukraine. No more fanning the flames of a war that should have ended long ago.
— Steven Nekhaila
Chairman, Libertarian National Committee
Thank you for the Facebook statement. The X statement is not the same. However, peace and surrender are not the same. Zelensky has supported peace, as described by the United Nations Charter — borders are inviolable– and Russia has proven that it only takes one to start a war.
Chairman Nekhaila,
Thank you for the statement of your position, although you did not answer the question as to who penned and who authorized the posting on X. I also am a American and you are fully within your rights to hold your positions and speak them as an individual. I will however oppose you at convention for any elected position in the national Libertarian Party.
Joe Hauptmann
Former chair of the Libertarian Party of Indiana
The only ‘peace’ Zelensky could have chosen traditionally involves six feet of earth in a vertical direction, for him and and all of his countrymen.
As a future delegate to the next national convention I also want to know who authorized this, this will not be forgotten.
I sent an email to LNC asking them to retract the statement the Russian aggression in Ukraine is “Zelensky’s War”.
I encourage others to do the same.
This war would be over in 5 minutes if Russian forces left Ukraine and went back to Russia.
*provoked
Wow!
Ignorant AF.
Zelensky and Ukraine are defending themselves, their families and their country from Russian aggression.
Russian invaded Ukraine.
Period.
And anyone who thinks Putin was provided is a complete moron.
Who wrote this?
MAGA Brian McWilliams?
And by the way, for all the clowns out there, it is not “not libertarian” to help your neighbors, or another country, to fight off aggression.
I so bad want this organization to succeed, but sometimes I don’t think it’s worth saving.
Sad.
How about press statement from LP calling for Russian forces to leave Ukrainian territory and go back to Russia?
Who wrote this?
MAGA Brian McWilliams?
Yes & then Steve tries to cover it with his own statement rather than actually being in control of social media thru his staff. And they still wonder why donations continue to dry up & why membership continues to decline?
All social media at this point should be thru the development Dept as part of a cohesive fundraising & membership growth strategy. This is how the LP came out of the hole they were in & had such great success in 2012-2022. It takes time to re-build but it all goes back to goals & objectives – combined w-actions that back those 2 things.
Also – all messaging should be ran thru the APRC or get rid of the APRC once & for all.
I do not know who Rob K is but if Brian McWilliams is the person responsible for the website he needs some help in the Public Relations world. and try asking others for comments.
Social media was not through the development department in 2012-20. I.don’t know about 2020-2.