WHAT DOES JOE BIDEN
MEAN BY "LAND-GRAB"?
On his recent visit to Kiev,
Ukraine, US Vice-President, Joe Biden, pointedly referred to the accession of
Crimea to the Russian Federation by democratic vote of the people as a “land-grab”
by Russia. Continuing the propaganda line of the West which tries to demonise
Russia and ignores the total breaches of international law by the US and its allies in invading
Afghanistan and Iraq; bombing Yugoslavia, Pakistan rural areas,Libya, Somalia, Yemen,
Sudan, blatant subversion in Ukraine, Syria and Venezuela and dozens more
brutal interventions in Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, and several Latin American and Caribbean
countries over the course of a century.
Having earned a BA in history
from the University of Delaware in 1965, he seems to have forgotten most of
whatever he learned including his own country’s history which is a succession
of “land-grabs” from the 17th Century onwards.
One “land-Grab” was a spectacular
failure, though; the attempt to seize Upper Canada (now the province of
Ontario) from Britain in 1812. With Britain heavily engaged in the Napoleonic
wars in continental Europe, gung-ho politicians in Washington thought it an
ideal moment to grab the sparsely populated territory to the North in what was
expected to be an easy walk-in takeover. An attack across Lake Ontario on Fort
York (now Toronto) in April 1813 is remembered for the burning of the Upper
Canada Parliament and other buildings and after withdrawing from territory they
seized in the Niagara Peninsula the Americans burned Newark
(Niagara-on-the-Lake) to the ground which incensed Canadian opinion and
increased resolve against the American aggressor.The invasion was resisted by the British Garrison, local Canadian Militias and a force of indigenous warriors led by Chief Tecumseh who routed the Americans on several occasions.
In I814, with ships and troops
available again from Europe, the British reinforced their garrisons in Canada
and, in August, 1814, landed a large force south of Washington on the Chesapeake
Bay. Accompanied by Canadian Militia, they easily advanced against the poorly
organised American defenders and captured Washington. The city was undefended
and the Government had fled to Virginia. The British and Canadians sacked
Washington and burned down the White House in revenge for Fort York.
Perhaps this will help Mr Biden
remember some history:
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