Has Washington forgotten how it acquired much of its own territory? For Mexico’s Reforma, columnist Sergio Sarmiento writes that the way Crimea was annexed by Russia bears a striking resemblance to the way the U.S. annexed Texas, and that there is a large number of more recent examples that show when it comes to the self determination of peoples, Washington is talking out of both sides of its mouth.
For Reforma, Sergio Sarmiento begins to lay out his case this way:
“Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.” — Bertrand Russell
Washington hasn’t always opposed regions that declare themselves free to join other states, whether or not it was the will of a majority the population. Its current refusal to recognize Crimea as a part of Russia contradicts its previous positions.
In 1835, the U.S. government supported the Texan rebellion – of Anglos and Mexicans – which led to Texas independence in 1836. In 1845, Texas joined the American Union, which was a factor in the 1846 war against Mexico, and which led to the loss of half of the nation’s territory.
After the war with Spain in 1898, the U.S. coerced the independence of Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines. Puerto Rico now maintains the status of a commonwealth within the American Union.
Perhaps one might say that was a long time ago, but in recent years, the United States and Western European powers have supported the independence of certain entities like Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo, which separated from the former Yugoslavia – or the current Serbia. They also supported the breakup of the Soviet Union.
The independence of these countries was a result of the popular will. Texans wanted to join the United States; Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Philippines, sought separation from Spain; the peoples of Yugoslavia wanted to cut their ties, despite the resistance of the Serbs who were the dominant group; and Estonians, Lithuanian, Belarusians, Ukrainians, and others, wanted to secede from the Soviet Union and Russia. The principle of self-determination of peoples was used to justify all of these separations.
READ ON IN ENGLISH OR SPANISH, OR READ MORE GLOBAL COVERAGE OF THE UKRAINE CRISIS AT WORLDMEETS.US, your most trusted translator and aggregator of foreign news and views about our nation.
