All my life it seems I’ve been waiting for the other shoe or the next bomb to drop, as a teenager waiting for the end of the world during the Cuban Missile Crisis to the spurious justification for war in Iraq, and it’s no different today. In fact, US complicity in another conflagration is becoming more and more transparent, wafting like cordite to a foregone conclusion in the streets and alleys of Kyiv. And why? Well, for freedom and democracy, of course, not for the rights of Americans to buy more stuff but for a Neo-Nazi haven on Russia’s border. And where does that leave the rest of us? Support a corrupt autocracy, armed to the teeth with a Western arsenal and empty US promises, or the viability of Vladimir Putin’s “red line” and a possible, contentious Ukrainian NATO membership? Such a presence on the Russian border, along with missiles that could reach Moscow in minutes, has been a non-starter for Putin since the 2015 Minsk II ceasefire derailed.
The Donbass region, specifically Donetsk and Luhansk, both recognized this month by Putin as independent and sovereign states, has been on the receiving end of the brunt of Minsk II violations and constant bombardments for eight years resulting in nearly 14,000 dead. Consistently missing, besides agency for the Donbass citizens, was any cable news coverage of this slaughter. According to Joe Lauria of Consortium News, “U.S. and European newspapers and television repeatedly show detailed maps of Russian forces near the Ukrainian border but never show any Ukrainian military positions. It’s like setting up a chess board with only black pieces.” Minsk II adherence would have negated that bloodbath but for over seven years the US ignored every entreaty by Putin for its re-implementation.
So, the Ukrainian crisis is complicated, or worse. For a short time, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was a nuclear power with a stockpiled Soviet arsenal that included over 100 ICBMs and 1,700 warheads at its disposal. Last Saturday at the Munich Security Conference Ukraine’s frustrated President Zelenskyy made it clear that he had every right to revive Ukraine’s nuclear capabilities should Kyiv’s security be threatened by Russia, a signatory of the Budapest Memorandum. This political agreement committed the Russian Federation to security assurances for Ukraine in exchange for its adherence to the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty. Whether or not Zelenskyy was blowing smoke, there is little doubt Putin would not have taken such a declaration lightly.
Also, with a peaceful resolution in Ukraine now moot, a glaring omission from our hawkish national narrative continues to be a Congressional discussion of an appropriate war powers authorization for the thousands of US troops already deployed to bolster eastern European countries. With our Commander-in-Chief promising to “defend every inch of NATO territory” that discussion is long overdue, and a fawning, rubber stamp “We strongly urge” letter from the Congressional War Powers Caucus, urging “President Biden to follow the Constitution and the law and receive authorization from Congress before involving US forces in the Russia-Ukraine conflict” is hardly a substitute for a AUMF debate. In any case, pursuing a consultation with proud members of the Military Industrial Congressional Complex - at the onset of an arms industry cash-cow conflict in Europe - has been a colossal waste of time since the Bush Doctrine’s preemptive war supplanted Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution and the War Powers Act. But it might be worth a try. Again.
One. More. Time.
Meanwhile, whether you’re rooting for the Ukrainian Neo-Nazi military, Putin’s invasion forces or US sanctions, don’t rely on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News or any other Western corporate media for updates or source journalism. Cable news Pentagon stenographers actually dwelling on possible ceasefires, or sanction retaliations from cyber attacks accidental or otherwise, or possible cataclysmic escalations between nuclear adversaries, won’t even be afterthoughts. Armageddon just doesn’t sell, not like Trump ‘24. They’re all reading from the same script and it gets around.
Fortunately, there are reliable alternative news sites and platforms for skeptics who still question authority in this age of media regulation through fear and self-censorship. While we all try to remember why we hate the Russians, sites like Rumble, The Grayzone, Substack and RT are always reliable alternatives to sock-puppet cable coverage. And credible, independent journalists like Matt Taibbi, Caitlin Johnstone, Aaron Maté, Glenn Greenwald, Max Blumenthal, Anya Parampil and others, relentlessly counter government narrative managers and expose corporate deception.
So, while we wait for the next shoe to drop, as we cope at home with the upshots of this latest US foreign policy failure like it was long Covid, stay skeptical, stay informed.
Hello,
I have just watched your interview, sir, with RT (Regis T.) I could not find out from anybody, YET, why "propaganda"/"narrative" is so powerful - yet THEY (people pointing that out) were not caught by it! Accordingly, Eastern Europeans would have been drunk with Communist propaganda. Were they ? Was that one "very poor quality" propaganda ? Is this one ... "more appealing" (and people loving to believe it - even if it risks wiping out everything ? Or they can't believe that possible ?).
Anyway, let me show my "trolling colors" (just ask Mr. RT) and ask you my one and only question: could it all have ANYTHING to do with the academic quality of the schools for the masses ? (Plus, health-degrading pollution of all sorts ? Plus who knows what else ?)
Thanks.
Agree, keep up the good work.