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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Monday, March 10, 2014

Ukraine and Florida - So very much alike



Catherine the Great
Empress and Autocrat of All the Russias
(r. 1762 to 1796)
Catherine conquered the Crimea for
Russia before the U.S. even existed
as a nation.

A New Cold War
Obey the Government-Media Complex and hate and fear the designated Enemies of the State.


By Gary;

The liar political hacks and mindless pundits were all over the TV this last weekend ripping into Russia and pushing for a new cold or hot war.

The Government-Media Complex works as one unit to keep us all afraid and keep our minds off poverty, unemployment and a corrupt American government.

Yellow journalism always pushes for conflict.

Nothing has changed since the media driven and created Spanish-American War.  Big media needs to make money.  Lots and lots of money.  Stories are run in an endless 24 hour loop to make you scared to death of hot dogs, terrorism, beer, cell phones or evil foreigners.
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Foreigners are a favorite with their "strange ways" and funny looks.  They are always painted by the media and politicians as evil and bloodthirsty beasts.  Just let the government go to war with them and then you will be safe.

Russia has been chosen as the official "Evil Foreigner" of the year.  Before the Olympics even started there was a steady drum beat of anti-Russian news stories on Gays, Olympic hotels, etc. 

Ukraine

What the Government-Media Complex tries to ignore is a huge part the Crimea and Ukraine are Russian speaking and have been part of Russia since before the U.S. declared independence in 1776.  Those who speak Ukrainian might want independence, but the Russian speaking population has other ideas.

Russian land and sea forces under Catherine the Great defeated the Muslim Turks to win the area.

The Russo-Turkish War (1768–74) was the decisive conflict that brought Southern Ukraine, Northern Caucasus, and Crimea into the Russian Empire.

So pardon me if I can't get worked up about the Russians returning to what was part of the nation for centuries.  Some things are just not the business of the U.S.  We should encourage peace, but the locals need solve their own problems.


Florida

The Crimea and Florida are very much alike.

Under Catherine the Great, Ukraine was made Russian.  And under James Madison and James Monroe, Florida was taken from Spain and made American.

Spanish Florida formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and the Spanish Empire.

In 1810, American residents of Baton Rouge overthrew the local Spanish government, seized the corresponding fort and requested protection by the United States.

President James Madison authorized William C.C. Claiborne, governor of the Territory of Orleans, to seize West Florida from the Mississippi River to as far east as the Perdido River. Claiborne only occupied the area west of the Pearl River (the current eastern boundary of Louisiana). Madison sent George Mathews to deal with the disputes over West Florida. When an offer to turn the remainder of West Florida over to the U.S. was rescinded by the governor of West Florida, Mathews traveled to East Florida to incite a rebellion similar to that in Baton Rouge.

The residents of East Florida were happy with the status quo, so the US raised a force of volunteers in Georgia with a promise of free land. On 13 March 1812, this force of "Patriots", with the aid of some United States Navy gunboats, seized Fernandina. The seizure of Fernandina was authorized by President James Madison, but he later disavowed it. The Patriots were, however, unable to take the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine.

The increasing tensions and approach of war with Great Britain led to an end of the US incursion into East Florida. In 1813 an American force succeeded in seizing Mobile, Alabama from the Spanish.

General Andrew Jackson gathered his forces at Fort Scott in March 1818, including 800 U.S. Army regulars, 1,000 Tennessee volunteers, 1,000 Georgia militia, and about 1,400 friendly Lower Creek warriors. On March 15, Jackson's army entered Florida, marching down the Apalachicola River.

Spain was effectively forced by invasion to "give" Florida to the United States.

(Spanish Florida)      (Patriot War of East Florida)


Spanish Empire in 1800
Shades of the Crimea!!!  Without a declaration of war General Andrew Jackson invaded Spanish Florida and created an international incident.  The U.S. had no problem using our military to take land from Spain and other nations against "international law" (whatever that means).  But heaven forbid if Russia tries to re-claim Russian speaking Crimea.  


Castillo de San Marcos, Florida
The Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States. Located on the shore of Matanzas Bay in the city of St. Augustine, Florida, construction began in 1672, 107 years after the city's founding by Spanish Admiral and conquistador Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, when Florida was part of the Spanish Empire.
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The U.S condemns Russia about the Crimea, but the original residents of Florida, Hawaii, Ohio, Kansas and Montana were never asked if they wanted to become Americans.  If locals dared to fight back against joining the union the U.S. military killed them.

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