Appearing on state-owned Russia Today, failed three time GOP presidential candidate and former Congressman Ron Paul accused the United States of seeking to profit from the crisis in Ukraine as a way to assist American ’empire building’ and to promote the interests ‘global bankers’. 

Paul praised President Obama for having the “strength and courage” to so far resist the pressure being applied on him by America’s “military industrial complex.” 

Paul averred that for the US “to be lecturing anyone about violating sovereignty”, after we “violated the sovereignty of Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, North Africa, Pakistan’s sovereignty” was of a piece with America’s “interventionist compulsion to be constantly involved in expanding America’s empire.” 

He said of his countrymen: “Americans always wants their hands in things,” because “they have an empire to build.” 

During the interview Paul blamed the crisis in Ukraine on European and American ‘bankers’.Their interest, he claims, to get the EU and U.S. to provide massive financial and technical assistance to Ukraine’s fledgling new government in order to “prop up bad investments.” Any new financial support to Kiev can only be explained, he argued, by the fact that “the bankers have set this up” to make sure they can profit when Ukraine “pays its bills.”

“America’s interest in the crisis,” said Paul, is to use it to “vie for control” of the strategically located nation. On American foreign policy, he said Americans “don’t believe in self determination,” he said, “they believe in control.”

Ukraine should be provided with “no instructions, not assistance and no subsidies” from either the U.S. or the EU. When asked what the response should be, Paul replied “Don’t tell people what to do.” 

The former congressman neither opposed nor condemned any Russian actions in the crisis, though he praised President Obama’s reluctance to respond aggressively to Russia’s invasion of Crimea as being “courageous”. 

“It takes a lot of strength and courage to resist those people who pressure,” he said, “whether it is from the military industrial complex, or from some other special interest.”

The interview, which first aired on March 6, can be viewed below: