US provocations to blame for Ukraine war
Turning to the conflict in Ukraine, he said recent revelations indicate that President Putin and President Zelensky signed an agreement in April 2022, which outlined the withdrawal of Russian troops from around Kiev, adding that they were complying with the agreement's stipulations. However, he alleged that then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, acting on behalf of the White House, attempted to undermine the accord in question.
"That's not the first time we've we've done that [...] all the nations like France, Germany, and Russia all agreed to the Minsk accords earlier on," he underlined.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted in February that he had previously told German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron that the Minsk agreements were "impossible", and he
did not plan on implementing them.
Weeks before the Ukraine war broke out, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia was yet to
hear Ukraine's words about readiness to swiftly start the implementation of the Minsk agreements during the meeting between Macron and Zelensky.
Ex-German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was in office from 2005 to 2021 said in an interview published in early December that the Minsk Accords were signed to
"give Ukraine time" to strengthen itself.
Merkel said "The 2014 Minsk agreement was an attempt to give time to Ukraine. It also used this time to become stronger as can be seen today. The Ukraine of 2014-2015 is not the modern Ukraine."
Man of peace
The Ukrainian people, yearning for peace, elected President Zelensky, a comedian and actor, based on his promise to sign the Minsk Accords, Kennedy underlined, highlighting that Zelensky broke his promise to the people of Ukraine. Yet, pressure from individuals like Victoria Nuland, in tandem with ultranationalist factions within Ukraine, pushed the government to pivot away from these agreements, he divulged.
The war in Ukraine has claimed the lives of an estimated 350,000 young men. While acknowledging the brutality and illegality of the conflict, the role of external provocations, including those by the United States since 1997, should also be looked into as a reason for the outbreak of the brutal war, Kennedy said.
"He ran as the peace candidate. You guys, this is a guy who is a comedian and an actor [...] he was not a politician, a veteran politician. Why did people vote for him? They voted for him because he was the peace candidate, and the Ukrainian people wanted peace," he said.
"I think it's going to be quite easy to get out of the war in Ukraine," the Democrat candidate added.
US military presence abroad
Another significant aspect he touched on was the excessive military expenditures of the United States. Despite promises of a peace dividend following the end of the Cold War, the country currently maintains approximately 800 military bases worldwide, surpassing other nations by a significant margin.
The exorbitant defense budget, now reaching $1.3 trillion dollars, far exceeding the original projection of $200 billion dollars, has impacted the economy, national strength, and the well-being of the middle class.
"The Chinese have one and a half bases. I don't know if the Russians have any now, you know, outside of the Ukraine. I don't know if they have any. And we have each one of those bases as a platform for a future war," the presidential candidate highlighted.
"We were told we were going to get a peace dividend [after the collapse of the Soviet Union]. We were told that we would stop investing billion of dollars in bombers that can't fly in the rain. And then we would bring that money home to build schools and roads and infrastructure and help it lower taxes and help, you know, help farmers convert to regenerative agriculture [...] But none of that happened," the nephew of former US President John Kennedy said.
RFK had previously explained that Russia made it clear what its demands were before the war began and that the US should have given in to its demands. He explained that the US and NATO continued to move eastward after agreeing with the dismantled Soviet Union in 1991 that they would not do so.
"We spend three times what China spends. It's not good for our economy. It's not good for our national strength. And it has not helped American security or safety," he added, arguing that the US, instead, was in "much more danger" due to its military "adventures" abroad.
He proposed winding down military ventures and redirecting resources towards rebuilding the country's industrial base and fostering entrepreneurial opportunities for Americans. This, he argues, would allow for a more secure and prosperous future.
Furthermore, he pledged that if he were to become president, he would wind down the country's military spending and start instead rebuilding its industrial base.