On the recordFebruary 28, 2014
I think this is a good time to reflect on a couple of things. One is certainly Iran. The other is certainly Ukraine. I think that the American people obviously have a very important stake in what is going on in both countries. In Ukraine, in Kiev, we see people marching for freedom, demanding the kinds of freedoms that we, in the United States, are used to, the freedoms that we hold so dear in our country; and we saw the people initially being countered by brutal police attacks on them. But you know, Mr. Speaker, the right prevailed, and the people in the streets won, and they clearly said that they don't want to have Russian domination; but, instead, they want to look toward the West, rather than look East. The European Union has been negotiating with Ukraine for some time, and their president, now deposed, said that he would rather work with Russia into the Russian Customs Union, which is sort of, in my opinion, a rekindling of the old Soviet Union. That angered many people in Ukraine, and they took to the streets. I hope that the European Union continues to make overtures to Ukraine. I think now is a very, very critical moment, in that the United States has a role to play with our European allies, to try to tell the people of Ukraine that we would like them to look Westward and that, in looking Westward, there will be opportunities for their country.…





