Founder of Prominent Libertarian Group Says Ron Paul is Wrong

Alexander McCobin, one of the five co-founders of Students for Liberty, a prominent libertarian organization, says Ron Paul is wrong on the Russian-Ukraine situation. Dr. Ron Paul has stated that Crimea has the right to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. McCobin says, the vote was illegal and forced by Russian military intervention.

On Monday, McCobin put out a statement saying:

"While it’s important criticize misconduct of the United States and some of its Western allies exacerbating the turmoil in the Middle East over the past two decades, it is also important to remember that there are other aggressors in the world; Russia — with it’s ongoing wars in the Northern Caucasus, the invasion of South Ossetia, and it’s most recent annexation of Crimea — being key among them.

Former Congressman Ron Paul, whose views are interpreted by many as wholly representative of the libertarian movement, gets it wrong when he speaks of Crimea’s right to secede. Make no mistake about it, Crimea was annexed by Russian military force at gunpoint and its supposedly democratic “referendum” was a farce. Besides a suspiciously high voter turnout with legitimate international observers, the referendum gave Crimeans only two choices — join Russia now or later.

It’s much too simplistic to solely condemn the US for any kind of geopolitical instability in the world. Non-interventionists that sympathize with Russia by condoning Crimea’s secession and blaming the West for Ukrainian crisis fail to see the larger picture. Putin’s government is one of the least free in the world and is clearly the aggressor in Crimea, as it was even beforehand with its support of the Yanukovych regime that shot and tortured its own citizens on the streets of Kyiv.

The recent spate of anti-war activists arrested in Russia is just one of many examples that illustrate that the Russian Federation is not a free country and everyone should be very careful with showing sympathies to an autocratic leader such as President Putin.

In contrast to his father, Senator Rand Paul gets it right by condemning Russian aggression while not subscribing to hawkish calls for military intervention at the same time. It is one thing to not intervene; it is another thing to applaud an autocrat for the sake of blaming our own government."

 Ron Paul stated in an article in USA Today:

"Critics point to the Russian "occupation" of Crimea as evidence that no fair vote could have taken place. Where were these people when an election held in an Iraq occupied by U.S. troops was called a "triumph of democracy"?

Perhaps the U.S. officials who supported the unconstitutional overthrow of Ukraine's government should refocus their energies on learning our own Constitution, which does not allow the U.S. government to overthrow governments overseas or send a billion dollars to bail out Ukraine and its international creditors."

 I agree with both. I agree with Ron Paul that Crimea has the right to secede and I agree with McCorbin that the Russian government is one of the most tyrannical governments in the world. I agree that Crimea was annexed, and did not secede. but I also agree that the the U.S. government has no right to interfere. While what Russia has done is wrong, Ron Paul simply wants the United States government to stay out of a conflict that does not involve them. Even economic sanctions are an act of war... Just like our sanctions with Iran.

While I disagree with Dr. Paul on certain issues, his knowledge and understanding of foreign policy is better than most. The great things about libertarians is that we can disagree on somethings, but still move forward to change our nation for the better.