Russian soldier stands guard outside a Ukrainian military facility in Crimea – weapon with affixed bayonet at the ready.
On April 7, 2014 Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio asked for and was granted permission to speak before the United States House of Representatives for one minute regarding the situation in Ukraine:
“Mr. Speaker, a threat to liberty anywhere is a threat to liberty everywhere.
Freedom’s bell rings now for nations around our world to choose between the fledgling democracy of Ukraine or the dictatorship of Russia.
As the Russian bear eats its way through Ukraine’s easternmost regions with abandon, the scene seems almost surreal as the world waits while Putin’s pushes his illegal aggregation further.
The questions for freedom loving nations are:
Who defines freedom’s edge for Ukraine? Surely, not Russia. Where does the edge of defiance stop? And who will push the bear back in its cage?
Aggressor Putin says he will send Russian peacekeeping forces to the nation he has just invaded illegally. That would be a line for “Saturday Night Live” if it were not so real.
When the Budapest Accords were signed in 1994 and Ukraine voluntarily gave up the third-largest cache of nuclear weapons on Earth, it was left defenseless, but was promised by our government, the United Kingdom, and Russia to respect the independence, sovereignty, and existing borders of Ukraine.
So let me ask our government, the United Kingdom, and Russia: Do words mean anything, or were they merely artful conveniences at the time?
Now, let me ask NATO nations: Where is the edge of liberty you will defend?”
Source: Congressional Record http://thomas.loc.gov
NOTE: Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, who represents Ohio’s Ninth Congressional District, is currently serving her sixteenth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. She is the senior-most woman in the House and the longest-serving woman from Ohio in history. Congresswoman Kaptur ranks 17th in seniority among 435 Members of the 113th Congress.