I have never followed the Paul family and its politics very closely. There might be some kind of context that would make some sense out of this, but it escapes me. It just seems really strange.
Ron Paul slams US on Crimea crisis and says Russia sanctions are 'an act of war' • Paul tells Guardian change in Ukraine is US-backed coup • Views are opposite to those of son, Senator Rand Paul
The former Republican congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul has launched a scathing attack on what he calls a US-backed coup in Ukraine, insisting the Crimean people have the right to align their territory with Moscow and characterising sanctions against Russia as “an act of war”.
He also said providing economic aid to Ukraine was comparable to giving support to rebels in Syria knowing it would end up in the hands of al-Qaida.
The libertarian guru’s remarks in an interview with the Guardian are almost diametrically opposed to those of his son, the Republican presidential hopeful Rand Paul, who has called for stiff penalties against Russia and declared: “If I were president, I wouldn’t let [Russian president] Vladimir Putin get away with it.”
“The evidence is pretty clear that the NGOs [non-governmental organisations] financed by our government have been agitating with billions of dollars, trying to get that government changed,” he said. “Our hands are not clean.”
I suppose this has some ideological basis in Libertarian philosophy carried to a logical conclusion. However, it seems to overlook the reality that under the government of Putin Russia is decidedly authoritarian rather than libertarian.
So far most of the Republican efforts to sling mud at the Obama administration's handling of the Ukrainian crisis have the ring of historical cold war politics. They are generally accusing a Democratic administration of being weak on national security. It is difficult to tell if Paul's comments are part of some sort of Tea Party libertarian initiative or just the rant of an individual who is able to find a soapbox.