JEREMY KUZMAROV, jkuzmarov2 at gmail.com
Kuzmarov is co-author of the new book The Russians are Coming, Again: The First Cold War as Tragedy, the Second as Farce.

He said today: “While the Democratic impeachment managers have accused Trump repeatedly of dishonesty — often with good reason — they themselves have twisted the truth to serve their own political agenda.

“Impeachment manager Adam Schiff, for example, claimed that ‘more than 15,000 Ukrainians have died fighting Russian forces and their proxies’ and that the military aid [which Trump subverted] was for ‘such essentials as sniper rifles, rocket propelled grenade launchers, radar… and other support for the war effort.’

“While the military aid may have assisted the war effort, Schiff’s comments are misleading because the majority of those killed have been Eastern Ukrainians who died at the hands of the Ukrainian military that the U.S. has armed — not the Russians. …

“At the hearings, Schiff frequently referenced the danger of ‘Russian expansion’ and its efforts to ‘remake the map of Europe’ and quoted a witness who stated that ‘the U.S. aids Ukraine and her people so that they can fight Russia over there, and we don’t have to fight Russia here.’ …

“By spreading misleading or outright false information about Russia and Ukraine, and drumming up anti-Russian sentiment, the consequences of the hearings, however, could be even more damaging than the Trump presidency.”

Kuzmarov also recently wrote the piece “Biden’s Shameful Foreign Policy Record Extends Well Beyond Iraq” for Counterpunch. A piece on Schiff is slated to be published Tuesday on Counterpunch and on Antiwar.com. His prior books include Obama’s Unending Wars: Fronting the Foreign Policy of the Permanent Warfare State and Modernizing Repression: Police Training and Nation-Building in the American Century.