January 14, 2016 at 09:24AM

UCCA Issues Reaction to President Obama's State of the Union Address... Ukraine Is Not a Client State of Russia New York, NY (UCCA) - In his final State of the Union address, President Obama got it wrong when it came to Ukraine. Speaking before the annual joint session of Congress, the President declared, "Even as their economy severely contracts, Russia is pouring resources in to prop up Ukraine and Syria -- client states that they saw slipping away from their orbit," when summarizing the United States’ national priorities. When it came time to mention Ukraine, a long-time strategic partner of the United States, President Obama once again demonstrated a shocking ignorance of foreign policy hotspots in his biggest address to the nation. The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), the largest representation of Ukrainians in America, is outraged by the description of Ukraine used in the State of the Union address. To be clear, Russia is NOT propping up Ukraine; the Russian Federation is destabilizing Ukraine. Nor did Ukraine “slip away from Russia’s orbit;” the people of Ukraine made up their own minds with regards to national policy, including their open and democratic decision to demand basic human rights, journalistic and economic freedoms and closer integration with Europe during the Revolution of Dignity. Signaling this administration’s lack of understanding of geopolitics, this major address, in the planning since November of last year and intended as a summary of the President’s goals in his last year in office, omitted references to many international affairs, slighted Ukraine in the manner quoted above, and focused instead on petty political squabbles. On the very anniversary of the Sausio įvykiai, when the Soviet army was mobilized to seize state institutions in Lithuania following its declared independence, and ordinary citizens placed themselves in harm’s way to defend their freedoms, the President failed to raise the level of political discourse to the leading role America has demonstrated time and again throughout its history. The President also made a second, fleeting mention of Ukraine, this time praising his limited actions in regards to Ukraine by stating, "When we help Ukraine defend its democracy, or Colombia resolve a decades-long war, that strengthens the international order we depend upon." According to the New York Times, 3.2 million Ukrainians now live amid destruction or are in dire need of humanitarian aid this winter. Can we really claim to have done all that we could to aid Ukraine in its hour of need? The United States, as the bastion of democracy in the free world, and the President, as its Executive, must take the lead in promoting international norms, defending basic human rights and freedoms, and charting a course of geopolitical stability. The President could start by following Congress' lead: publicly calling for the release of Russia's political prisoners, including Iraq veteran First Lieutenant Nadiya Savchenko, and releasing the authorized military aid to Ukraine's armed forces.
http://ift.tt/1Aclsl1