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US Democratic Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vehemently and extensively criticized the United States on Monday during a speech before the Free State Project, where he touched on numerous issues, from the war in Ukraine to bioweapons, US bases on foreign soil, and the cases of Julian Assange and Edward Snowden. 

Operation Paperclip, the CIA's first project, aimed to bring Nazi scientists to the United States after World War II. These scientists were employed to work on developing missiles, nuclear weapons, and bioweapons at high-security labs such as Fort Dietrich, as well as other facilities across the nation, the Democratic candidate revealed.

He also revealed that the CIA sought to enlist Japanese scientists, known for their use of bioweapons during World War II, to participate in the development of a pilot weapons program.

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"It's to begin developing a pilot weapons program and to get the Japanese scientists who are the only ones who would ever use actually use bioweapons against the Chinese and kill many, many tens, hundreds of thousands of Chinese before and during World War II with bioweapons," he underlined.

Kennedy also highlighted how then-US President Richard Nixon unilaterally announced the end of the bio-weapons program in 1969, when he went to Fort Dietrich and announced the program's end.

"The American government was going to stop developing bioweapons no matter what anybody else in the world did [...] Nixon closed the Fort Dietrich. They turned it over to NIH (National Institutes of Health) right before that, and they destroyed all the bioweapons before they went destroyed it. The CIA went in and got cultures of all of them and moved them to warehouses in New York and elsewhere," he revealed.

Biolabs and biological weapons are of utmost importance in the current state of affairs, as it was discovered that the United States has been helping with the construction of biolabs in Ukraine. Initially, Washington refused to admit the existence of US Biolabs in Ukraine, however, later in time Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland did.

"Russian troops have secured over 20,000 documents, reference, and analytical materials, and interviewed eyewitnesses and participants in American military-biological programs," since the start of the Ukraine war, Russian Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense chief Igor Kirillov said earlier this year.

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.

Assange, Snowden to be pardoned

Finally, in a bold and shocking statement, Kennedy pledged to pardon both Julian Assange and Edward Snowden if he were to be elected as president, highlighting the lack of support from the American press and publishers for Assange's release. Kennedy emphasized the importance of recognizing Assange's role as a publisher and stressed the significance of his actions in exposing classified information to the public.

Moreover, he turned his attention to Edward Snowden, asserting that Congress has effectively made a case for his pardon. He referred to the revelations Snowden brought to light, revealing extensive surveillance practices by the intelligence apparatus. Kennedy highlighted the unlawful collection and archiving of personal data, which came as a shock to both the public and Congress itself. Subsequently, Congress passed legislation aimed at safeguarding citizens against such encroachments on privacy.

Kennedy maintained that Snowden's actions aligned with deeply held American values, including the pursuit of personal courage and the defense of democratic ideals. By exposing the mass surveillance programs, Snowden contributed to the ongoing debate surrounding privacy rights and government transparency.

His public support for pardoning both Assange and Snowden underscores the growing recognition of their impact on public awareness and the need to reassess the treatment of whistleblowers in the United States.

Read next: RFK Jr. says Pentagon hid Ukraine truth from Americans

Assange has been at the Belmarsh prison in London for more than 1,500 days. He was unlawfully charged in the US with 17 counts of "espionage" and one count of computer misuse, connected to him leaking tens of thousands of military and diplomatic documents that exposed US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Assange is currently facing prosecution in the United States under the Espionage Act, which marks a new precedent, as the legislation was never utilized against classified information being made public.

In Assange's case, he's been unlawfully charged in the US with 17 counts of "espionage" and one count of computer misuse, connected to him leaking tens of thousands of military and diplomatic documents that exposed US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The journalist faces a 175-year prison sentence following the approval of extradition to the US by the UK High Court in December 2021.

Kennedy has long been vocal against the Ukraine war and the way the US government handles domestic issues and its foreign policy, and he is making a bid for the presidency on a democratic platform.