Yesterday, President Biden Created Connectivity With Russia Invasion Of Ukraine To 1976 Statement By President Ford: Territory Versus Domination. Look To 3/30/22 Statements By DOD And White House.
The White House
Washington DC
21 April 2022
Remarks By President Biden Providing an Update on Russia and Ukraine- Roosevelt Room
"Our unity at home, our unity with our Allies and partners, and our unity with the Ukrainian people is sending an unmistakable message to Putin: He will never succeed in dominating and occupying all of Ukraine. He will not — that will not happen."
The Second Governor Jimmy Carter-President Gerald Ford Presidential Debate (excerpts)
San Francisco, California
6 October 1976
MR. FRANKEL: Mr. President, I’d like to explore a little more deeply our relationship with the Russians. They used to brag back in Khrushchev’s day that because of their greater patience and because of our greed for – for business deals that they would sooner or later get the better of us. Is it possible that despite some setbacks in the Middle East, they’ve proved their point? Our allies in France and Italy are now flirting with Communism. We’ve recognized the permanent Communist regime in East Germany. We’ve virtually signed, in Helsinki, an agreement that the Russians have dominance in Eastern Europe. We’ve bailed out Soviet agriculture with our huge grain sales. We’ve given them large loans, access to our best technology and if the Senate hadn’t interfered with the Jackson Amendment, maybe we – you would’ve given them even larger loans. Is that what you call a two-way street of traffic in Europe?
MR. FORD: …If we turn to Helsinki – I’m glad you raised it, Mr. uh – Frankel. In the case of Helsinki, thirty-five nations signed an agreement, including the secretary of state for the Vatican – I can’t under any circumstances believe that the – His Holiness, the Pope would agree by signing that agreement that the thirty-five nations have turned over to the Warsaw Pact nations the domination of the – Eastern Europe. It just isn’t true. And if Mr. Carter alleges that His Holiness by signing that has done it, he is totally inaccurate. Now, what has been accomplished by the Helsinki agreement? Number one, we have an agreement where they notify us and we notify them of any uh – military maneuvers that are to be be undertaken. They have done it. In both cases where they’ve done so, there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration.
MS. FREDERICK: Governor Carter?
MR. FRANKEL: I’m sorry, I – could I just follow – did I understand you to say, sir, that the Russians are not using Eastern Europe as their own sphere of influence in occupying mo- most of the countries there and in – and making sure with their troops that it’s a – that it’s a Communist zone, whereas on our side of the line the Italians and the French are still flirting with the possibility of Communism?
MR. FORD: I don’t believe, uh – Mr. Frankel that uh – the Yugoslavians consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union. I don’t believe that the Rumanians consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union. I don’t believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union. Each of those countries is independent, autonomous: it has its own territorial integrity and the United States does not concede that those countries are under the domination of the Soviet Union. As a matter of fact, I visited Poland, Yugoslavia and Romania to make certain that the people of those countries understood that the president of the United States and the people of the United are dedicated to their independence, their autonomy and their freedom.
THE MODERATOR: Governor Carter, have you a response?
MR. CARTER: … In the case of the Helsinki agreement, it may have been a good agreement at the beginning, but we have failed to enforce the so-called Basket 3 part, which insures the right of people to migrate, to join their families, to be free to speak out. The Soviet Union is still jamming Radio Free Europe - Radio Free Europe is being jammed. We've also seen a very serious problem with the so-called Sonnenfeldt document which, apparently, Mr. Ford has just endorsed, which said that there's an organic linkage between the Eastern European countries and the Soviet Union. And I would like to see Mr. Ford convince the Polish-Americans and the Czech-Americans and the Hungarian-Americans in this country that those countries don't live under the domination and supervision of the Soviet Union behind the Iron Curtain.
Ms. Kate Bedingfield (40), Communications Director at The White House, on 30 March 2022 would not confirm the position of the Biden-Harris Administration (2021- ) requires a complete withdrawal from Ukraine by the armed forces of the Russian Federation. Unlike Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who was unequivocal that a withdrawal was required for any change in sanctions placed upon the Russian Federation.
Mr. John Kirby (59), Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs for the United States Department of Defense (DOD) and retired Rear Admiral (lower half) in the United States Navy, shared on 30 March 2022 that the sovereignty and national territory of Ukraine “needs to be protected.”
Unknown is whether the Biden-Harris Administration (from podiums at The White House and the DOD) is defining the “territory” of Ukraine to be the map that included the Crimean Peninsula and Donbas Region (Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast)- both under control since 2014 of the Russian Federation?
Ms. Bedingfield shared the Biden-Harris Administration has provided to Ukraine everything that the country needs. President Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, has shared the Biden-Harris Administration has not provided everything that the country wants.
Transcript of Ms. Bedingfield’s media briefing on 30 March 2022:
Q Thank you. And the other one is: Today, Boris Johnson said -- very black and white -- he said sanctions -- Western sanctions, not just British or G7 sanctions -- should stay in place until the Russian troops are all gone. That was a lot more black-and-white than anything that's come out of the White House. Did you -- does the White House share that kind of maximalist goal with sanctions? Are they going to stay there until the last Russian troops are gone?
MS. BEDINGFIELD: That's not something that I'm going to be able to pre-state in this moment. I will let -- I will let Boris Johnson and the UK government speak for themselves.
Q Thank you, Kate. When I asked Jake Sullivan the question of why no one in the administration had said definitively whether or not the White House thinks that Ukraine can win this war, he referred me to the Pentagon. And moments ago, when the same question was asked to you, you said, you know, "I don't know I ha- -- I don't know I have to say it." But the President has said, "I don't care what Putin thinks." So why isn't the administration being more definitive on this question? Is it for fear that this might provoke Moscow? Is it that you don't have a clear definition of what victory might look like over there?
MS. BEDINGFIELD: I think what is important here, as I said in my previous answer -- I think what's important here is our actions. I think we have -- we have provided the security assistance. We've provided the weapons to Ukraine. We continue to support Ukraine. We continue to do everything in our power to ensure that they have what they need. So, I think if there's -- I don't think there should be any question about whether this White House and this President is doing everything in his power to support Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.
Q But towards what end?
MS. BEDINGFIELD: No Answer; went to next question.
John Kirby, the spokesperson for the United States Department of Defense (DOD), shared on 30 March 2022 that the sovereignty and national territory of Ukraine “needs to be protected.”
Question: Is the United States OK with Russia at the end of all of this getting the Donbas Region?
Answer: No, no, not at all and we said before Mr. Putin decided to invade Ukraine that Ukraine’s sovereignty and national territory needs to be respected. Whatever negotiations Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Putin come to, that’s between them. The United States is not inserting ourselves in a peace process. But, we’ve said from the very beginning that Ukraine’s sovereignty must be respected. So, no it’s not OK with the United States if Mr. Putin gets to grab a piece of territory of Ukraine. We’ve never observed the annexation of Crimea.
Question: We’re not encouraging the president of Ukraine to accept losing some of that territory?
Answer: No ma’am.
