SFL Faction Starts Website to Oppose Ron Paul Speaking at SFL Convention

By Robert Wenzel

So this is what Students for Liberty has become?

Three SFL activists Egle Markeviciute (Lithuania), Alexandra Ivanov (Sweden) and Irena Schneider (USA/Russia) are out with an  essay at a web site they have named "I Do Not Support Ron Paul".

In the essay, they first tell us:

Students For Liberty (SFL) is a big-tent organization that focuses on inclusion rather than division. 

But, in their view, this tent is not big enough to get Ron Paul under it:

[T]he organization‘s decision to invite Ron Paul as a keynote speaker to the annual International Students For Liberty Conference (ISFLC) is upsetting for some of SFL’s counterparts in Europe.

And then they pull the trigger:

Despite his previous achievements, Ron Paul has been irrevocably destroying this discourse. He and his institute have crossed the line from a position of US non-intervention in international affairs to the outright promotion of tyrants and the lies they weave. By pursuing a campaign of misinformation in the name of liberty, peace and prosperity, Ron Paul is flying in the face of everything SFL stands for, undermining a movement of students fighting against brutal regimes at the risk of life and freedom. In doing so, Ron Paul is morally abetting the ratcheting repression of civilians and psychological warfare waged ruthlessly by Vladimir Putin.

  We strongly oppose SFL’s decision to host an advocate of Russian aggression at an event with this noble purpose. It compromises not only SFL’s mission, but the endeavours of millions of people in the world to live in freedom.

Their "evidence" of this advocacy:

 Ron Paul and his eponymous Institute for Peace and Prosperity have been unconscionably regurgitating this propaganda, feeding Putin’s narrative that Ukraine’s revolution was a fascist coup choreographed by the US. In March of last year, Ron Paul stated that the occupation and referendum of Crimea was approved and in accordance with the will of the people.

It is unclear how up-to-date , these ladies are with current events, but the Ukraine revolution was a coup, encouraged, if not outright planned by the US, That is a fact. Assistant US Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and U.S. Ambassador to the Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt were caught on tape discussing the new Ukranian leadership before the coup actually took place. SEE: An Important Second Listen to the "F--k the EU" Ukraine Recording.

Second, the people of Crimea did in fact vote to become a part of Russia and Russia did have a contract with Ukraine to maintain forces in the area.

None other than NYT explained, the vote:

The outcome, in a region that shares a language and centuries of history with Russia, was a foregone conclusion even before exit polls showed more than 93 percent of voters favoring secession. 

Here's RT on the long history between Russia and Ukraine and dealings over Crimea:

1) A Russian naval presence in Crimea dates to 1783 when the port city of Sevastopol was founded by Russian Prince Grigory Potemkin. Crimea was part of Russia until Nikita Khruschev gave it to Ukraine in 1954.

2) In 1997, amid the wreckage of the USSR, Russia & Ukraine signed a Partition Treaty determining the fate of the military bases and vessels in Crimea. The deal sparked widespread officer ‘defections’ to Russia and was ratified by the Russian & Ukrainian parliaments in 1999. Russia received 81.7 percent of the fleet’s ships after paying the Ukrainian government US$526.5 million.

3) The deal allowed the Russian Black Sea Fleet to stay in Crimea until 2017. This was extended by another 25 years to 2042 with a 5-year extension option in 2010.


4) Moscow annually writes off $97.75 million of Kiev’s debt for the right to use Ukrainian waters and radio frequencies, and to compensate for the Black Sea Fleet’s environmental impact.

5) The Russian navy is allowed up to

- 25,000 troops,

- 24 artillery systems with a caliber smaller than 100 mm,

- 132 armored vehicles, and

- 22 military planes, on Crimean territory.

Ukrainian marines look at a Russian ship floating out of the Sevastopol bay on March 4, 2014 (AFP Photo / Viktor Drachev)Ukrainian marines look at a Russian ship floating out of the Sevastopol bay on March 4, 2014 (AFP Photo / Viktor Drachev)

6) Five Russian naval units are stationed in the port city of Sevastopol, in compliance with the treaty:

- The 30th Surface Ship Division formed by the 11th Antisubmarine Ship Brigade. Comprises the Black Sea Fleet’s flagship guard missile cruiser Moskva as well as Kerch, Ochakov, Smetlivy, Ladny, and Pytlivy vessels, and the 197th Landing Ship Brigade, consisting of seven large amphibious vessels;

- The 41st Missile Boat Brigade includes the 166th Fast Attack Craft Division, consisting of Bora and Samum hovercrafts as well as small missile ships Mirazh and Shtil, and 295th missile Boat Division;

- The 247th Separate Submarine Division, consisting of two diesel submarines – B-871 Alrosa and B-380 Svyatoy Knyaz Georgy;

- The 68th Harbor Defense Ship Brigade formed by 4 vessels of the 400th Antisubmarine Ship Battalion and 418 Mine Hunting Ship Division respectively.;

- The 422nd Separate Hydrographic Ship Division boasts the Cheleken, Stvor, Donuzlav and GS-402 survey vessels and hydrographic boats.

7) Russia has two airbases in Crimea, in Kacha and Gvardeysky.

8) Russian coastal forces in Ukraine consist of the 1096th Separate Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment in Sevastopol and the 810th Marine Brigade, which hosts around 2,000 marines.

9) Russian naval units are permitted to implement security measures at their permanent post as well as during re-deployments in cooperation with Ukrainian forces, in accordance with Russia’s armed forces procedures.

 To somehow claim that Russia is an "aggressor," when the majority of Crimeans are of Russian background and Russia had a legitimate agreement with Ukraine to maintain forces in the region, is quite  stunning. And to do this, when the U.S. Empire is meddling. far away from its shores. on the border of Russia, suggests that this SFL Ladies Troika has an odd way of  presenting current events. To be sure, no libertarian will stand in support of any measures of any government that interferes in the free exchange and actions of individuals and all governments violate the non-aggression principle to various degrees. But to stand in support of the current greatest aggressor on the planet, the US Empire, against any other country, is an outrageous position. Empires are ultimately the most dangerous and evil.  To object for a great libertarian such as Ron Paul to speak, when he is merely pointing out the actions of the Empire, does not suggest a big tent philosophy. It suggests, in this case, that lady skunks have gotten in under the tent, not to expand the tent, but to spray stink on those who justifiably belong in the tent and who should  honored for their advocacy of liberty and in opposition to the Empire.

The question that must be asked now is: Has the empire infiltrated the International Students For Liberty, so that it has becoming nothing but another propaganda outlet for the empire?

There  are certainly currently some odd goings on around some "libertarian" organizations.  First, there was the firing of Vacalv Klaus at the Koch-funded Cato Institute SEE: Vaclav Klaus Fired By Cato. The Klaus dismissal came after he pointed out the involvement of the Empire in the Kiev coup. And now we have this SFL Ladies Troika pissing on the great Ron Paul.

 Robert Wenzel is Editor & Publisher at EconomicPolicyJournal.com and at Target Liberty. He is also author of The Fed Flunks: My Speech at the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Follow him on twitter:@wenzeleconomics