Mass mailing anti-American propaganda to Eastern Ukraine
Mass mailing anti-American propaganda to Eastern Ukraine
In 2001 I was living in Odessa, Ukraine in the Peace Corps when the terrorists hit the World Trade Center. I had an Arab friend from Dubai who was the kindest, most honorable, most incredible man I have ever met in my entire life. A couple of days after 9/11, I was walking on the warm promenade of the port city of Odessa with Jaz. In a low tone that was so foreign, he said, "If they [Americans] come to my country, I will kill them". I was shocked, how could the gentlest man I ever met hate America so much? I then began to study American Foreign Policy and was horrified with what I found.
The Ukraine Peace Corps had always said officially that they were not part of the CIA and the CIA would never be allowed into the Peace Corps. But I found congressional testimony that the CIA can legal infiltrate the United States Peace Corps. I created a letter and had a local Ukrainian translator, Natasha Tsuranova l, translate this letter into Russian. The day I left Ukraine in September 2002 I secretly mailed approximately 100+ of these letters from the airport mailbox to media organizations throughout Eastern Ukraine.
In 2002 the United States Peace Corps was kicked out of Russia. Based on my understanding of sociology, I posit that there is a better than 50% chance that my letters had something to do with this.
In 2014 America overthrew the democratically government of Ukraine, I was devastated when I found out that dozens of protesters died in Odessa. I walked on that square everyday for over 2 years. Every death is a deep tragedy. But my deepest hope is that I helped plant some of the seeds for the eventual split up of pro-American Ukraine on Russia's doorstep, into East and West Ukraine.
