U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper’s (D-Colorado) Unsurprising Take on U.S. Proxy War Against Russia in Ukraine

Above, a response from U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper concerning U.S. policy towards  Ukraine in response to a constituent email protesting the Administration’s policies towards the war and NATO expansion.

Hickenlooper’s response is typical “party-line” response in lock step with the Administration’s policies, The usual “Putin-bashing” is prominent in the first paragraph,, an undignified commentary from a U.S. Senator, but then there really isn’t anything particularly dignified about John Hickenlooper, so I suppose, no surprises here.  I suspect the letters from other Senators and Representatives on the subject would be more or less the same. It would be interesting to compare.

From its tone and content, one senses that, it could have been written by Victoria Nuland, Anthony Blinken or that stable of neo-Cons running U.S. foreign policy (into the ground) these days so filled with warmongering bluster as it is. It was sent to a constituent who wrote a letter criticizing the NATO military build up in Ukraine calling on him and the Biden Administration to seek a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis and an end for support for NATO, no more than a aggressive military alliance.

Below, a few comments clarifications…

1. “The United States stands unequivocally with the Ukrainian people.” Translation: The Biden Administration stands unequivocally with NATO and will continue its proxy war with Ukraine, using the Ukrainian people as cannon fodder it its hybrid war to weaken Russia, and if possible trigger regime change there
2. “In lockstep with our allies in Europe and around the world, President Biden has implemented a series of crippling sanctions on Russian oligarchs with ties to Putin, as well as the banks and financial institutions enabling Russia’s tyranny.” Translation: The “crippling sanctions” have failed to weaken Russia, to the contrary, the Russian economy has strengthened while Washington’s European allies find themselves in an increasingly difficult position economically, with energy shortages throughout the continent and an impending global recession combined with inflation.
3. “In addition to economic sanctions, the United States announced the deployment of 7,000 additional U.S. troops to Poland, Germany, and Romania to bolster the security of our NATO allies. These troops are stationed in Europe in a purely defensive capacity and are not authorized to deploy to Ukraine.” Translation: Even though the U.S/NATO is losing its proxy war in Ukraine, in fact it is turning into a debacle, the U.S/NATO will continue with the war it is already losing as it did in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Syria, Kazakhstan in an effort to “bleed Russia” while the U.S. economy,, badly in need of domestic attention continues to fester. Hickenlooper (and the rest of the Senate) will continue to happily piss away billions on foreign wars disguised as “human rights” efforts. They are little more than grabbing for energy and mineral resources of other countries, in this case Russia.
4. “We always value hearing directly from Coloradans and hope you will continue to share your thoughts as we work together for Colorado and our country.” Translation: Like many members of Congress, we actually can’t stand direct contacts with constituents unless they make sizeable contributions to our re-election efforts. (Most recently, Hickenlooper got into a shouting match with a constituent over student loan forgiveness, which the good Senator opposes.)

So wrote U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper, one of the laziest members of the Senate who was a mayor of Denver and Governor of Colorado (run by developers and contractors). He continues that  tradition in the U.S. Senate.

Some suggestions for a different U.S. policy towards Russia and Ukraine in line with the global shift from a unipolar to a multipolar world configuration::

1. The Biden Administration should end its uncontrolled military aid to the Zelensky government in Kiev and call for and support an immediate negotiated settlement of the conflict. Rather than discouraging Kiev from negotiating with Russia (Minsk II, the Istanbul negotiations), Washington should encourage negotiations
2. Rather than pumping up the continued militarization and expansion of NATO, the Biden Administration should enter into direct negotiations with Russia to seek an new security arrangement in Europe that would protect the interests of all involved
3. Rather than continue its (obscene) nuclear weapons’ modernization program estimated at not billions but trillions of dollars over the long run, the Biden Administration should work to re-engage Russia in rebuilding a global program towards reducing world tensions and reversing a nuclear arms race currently spiraling out of control
4. Rather than feeding a military budget spiraling out of control, the Biden Administration should invest in programs and policies that help address rather than intensify U.S. and global dependency on fossil fuels, to protect biodiversity, and to invest in improving healthcare, education, infrastructure, sustainable employment and countering the intensification of racial prejudice – the latter – that is reaching new highs (or is it new lows).