As long as the fact this war was provoked remains unacknowledged by the side that provoked it, the sane path of detente will look like reckless appeasement and nuclear brinkmanship will look like sanity.
Biden and Zelensky, November 2021. (President of Ukraine/Wikimedia Commons)
Listen to a reading of this article
By Caitlin Johnstone
CaitlinJohnstone.com
Vladimir Putin has approved the annexation of four territories in eastern Ukraine, whose addition to the Russian Federation now await authorization from Russia’s other branches of government.
The Zelensky government responded to the move by applying to join NATO, only to be immediately shut down by U.S. and NATO officials. Can’t have sacrificial pawns trying to rise above their station on the grand chessboard, after all.
But the empire’s proxy war against Russia continues, and the Ukrainian government has announced its intentions to drive out Russia from all of the Ukrainian territories it has claimed as its own.
“For our plans, [Russia’s annexation] doesn’t matter,” Zelensky advisor Mykhailo Podolyak told Politico, adding that Ukraine will “protect our land using all our forces” and “should liberate all its territories.”
Ukraine Vows To ‘Liberate’ Territory Annexed by Moscow
A top aide to President Zelensky said Russian forces will be "exterminated"
by Kyle Anzalone@KyleAnzalone_ #Ukraine #Russia https://t.co/tqUd3ALRhp pic.twitter.com/Gw1XQSJRcg— Antiwar.com (@Antiwarcom) October 1, 2022
The plan to reclaim territories annexed by Russia will according to Zelensky also include Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.
All this talk about preparing a massive western-backed counter-offensive to recapture annexed territories from Russia — whose ranks are being reinforced with an additional 300,000 reservists — comes as Putin suggests that nuclear weapons may be used to protect what Moscow considers parts of Russia. Russia, like the United States, is one of the nuclear-armed nations without a No First Use policy.
So we appear to be on a collision course toward a massive escalation between two nuclear-armed powers. The more things escalate the more likely it is that a nuclear weapon may be used, either deliberately or as a result of miscommunication or malfunction as nearly happened many times during the last cold war.
Once one nuke is used the odds go up astronomically that a great many more will immediately follow, with variables on this outcome including the location where it detonates and how cool all the relevant heads happen to be at that particular historic moment.
It is therefore no exaggeration to say that the human species has a vested interest in de-escalation and detente right away.
Avoiding nuclear war is the single most important agenda in the entire world, without exception. It is the single most important agenda that has ever existed in all of history.
But whenever you advocate for this supremely important agenda in any kind of public forum, you get a bunch of brainwashed empire automatons bleating about “appeasement” and accusing you of supporting a monstrous madman. And they do this because that’s what they were trained to do.
the world is now closer to nuclear war than it has ever been, even the Cuban missile crisis, and the entire Western media and political class is just doubling down on getting closer and closer to nuclear apocalypse. It's seriously the most deranged shit I've ever seen in my life
— ??? (@zei_squirrel) September 30, 2022
As Noam Chomsky has been pointing out repeatedly, the political/media class have been continually indoctrinating the public with the completely false narrative that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “unprovoked”.
Every time the war comes up the imperial spinmeisters utter that slogan, in much the same way Michael Jackson had a quota for how often MTV hosts were obligated to refer to him as “The King of Pop Michael Jackson” when his name was mentioned.
But what does it mean if the war is “unprovoked”? It means Putin didn’t invade Ukraine because of anything the western empire was doing, so it couldn’t have been prevented by the western empire behaving less aggressively on Russia’s borders.
It means Putin necessarily invaded because he is some kind of evil lunatic who loves to commit war crimes, or a megalomaniacal tyrant who wants to conquer the world because he hates freedom and democracy. Which means he will keep attacking and invading other countries unless he can be stopped.
Which means the only answer to the Putin problem is more war.
This is why empire apologists get angry at those who advocate the only sane and rational position toward nuclear brinkmanship by calling for de-escalation and detente. It’s because they’ve been aggressively indoctrinated into the belief that war is the only answer.
The moronic narrative that the invasion of Ukraine was “unprovoked” poses a massive obstacle to peace, because if Putin is just attacking and invading countries solely because he’s crazy and evil it means detente is impossible and he won’t stop until he’s decisively crushed.
If it’s accepted that the U.S. empire has played no role in provoking Putin’s actions, that means there’s nothing the empire could do to make continued Russian aggression less likely apart from regime change, or at least severely crippling and punishing Russia militarily.
It's Not Okay For Grown Adults To Say The Ukraine Invasion Was "Unprovoked"
"So as you can see, the notion that this war is 'unprovoked' is a fart-brained fairy tale for idiots and children"https://t.co/EmznLiO2Xq
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) September 7, 2022
As long as the fact that this war was provoked remains unacknowledged by the side that provoked it, the sane path of de-escalation and detente will look like reckless appeasement of an irrational madman, and aggressive escalations of nuclear brinkmanship will look like sanity.
The absurd position that Putin is an irrational actor with some kind of weird sexual fetish for war crimes is a one-way ticket to endlessly escalating war and eventual nuclear annihilation, because it leaves you with no options but continually intensifying military confrontation.
The claim that peace is impossible and Putin must be crushed imperils the whole world. Even to deliver total victory in Ukraine (pushing Russia back to pre-2014 borders) could easily end up costing millions of lives and trillions of dollars and exponentially increase the risk of nuclear war, with no guarantee of success at all.
But even if you did push Putin all the way out of Ukraine, what then? He’ll still be a crazy madman who wants to invade countries because he’s evil and hates freedom.
The internal logic of your narrative says the attacks on Russia must continue until you get regime change. There’s no stopping point on your line of thinking until there’s a direct hot confrontation between nuclear superpowers.
Be an adult and engage your critical thinking. Does a madman who goes around invading countries solely because he’s evil and hates freedom sound like a real-life human being to you? Or does it sound made up?
Like something you’d see in a Hollywood movie? Like something that was concocted by people responsible for controlling the dominant narratives of our society and funneled into your mind using media?
Marvel supervillains have more depth and complexity than the one-dimensional characters the imperial spin machine concocts to represent its official enemies. Thanos was a more believable character with more understandable and nuanced motivations than the propaganda machine’s fictional representation of Putin.
That representation has been overlaid on top of the actual government official who you might not necessarily agree with, but can definitely understand and engage in diplomacy and negotiation.
People who believe the empire’s narratives about its official enemies have fewer critical thinking skills than your average Marvel movie viewer. Think. Be a grown up and think.
Someone’s benefitting from the aggressively promulgated narrative that peace is impossible and war is the only solution. And that someone isn’t you.
Caitlin Johnstone’s work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following her on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud or YouTube, or throwing some money into her tip jar on Ko-fi, Patreon or Paypal. If you want to read more you can buy her books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff she publishes is to subscribe to the mailing list at her website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything she publishes. For more info on who she is, where she stands and what she’s trying to do with her platform, click here. All works are co-authored with her American husband Tim Foley.
This article is from CaitlinJohnstone.com and re-published with permission.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
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The only nearly one dimensional political figure I can think of was the most recent previous president of the US, and this represents the projected inversion of the propaganda that other leaders in the world are one dimensionally evil or incompetent: a dramatic and terrible ‘chickens come home to roost’….just another consequence of the distortions of reality driven by desire for absolute impunity by an oligarchy that has, it seems, finally slipped the boundaries of both social and biophysical reality.
Ahhhh, . . . isn’t it interesting that no one seems to be able to understand that , legitimate or not Putin finds himself in the position having the responsibility to protect the nation he is head of. The very same thing Biden and his NATO cohorts claims to be doing.
Putin finds him self in a no win situation, now that he is caught up in the same U.S. foreign policy/offensive strategy that has failed the U.S. since the late 1960’s.
A strategy I feel is the result of the U.S. allegiance to Israel, that standing steadfastly by Israel no matter what the issue” thing”.
In my humble opinion Israel has always been at war with certain neighbors in the region. One sign to me is Israel embracing the philosophy of preemptive offensive actions and developing it’s tactics accordingly very early on in it’s history.
Interesting how the increasingly authoritarian government, see the patriot act, of the U.S. copies both Israeli policing tactics and now preemptive war.
Putin was pressured into making some difficult decisions by earlier U.S. government lies ( early talk of Ukrain NATO membership then Bush claiming Ukraine would never be allowed into NATO) and changes in approach, went for the bait and the U.S. and NATO have been overplaying their hand ever since.
All the result neocon Joe, his NATO (?) buddies creating a Ukrainian political crisis in 2014. As usual once a region become unstable the shadow insurgents start even more serious troubles by creating the extremely volatile environment of revolt.
Like Will Rogers said, “It ain’t what people know that bothers me so much as what they claim to know that ain’t so”. or very similar words to that affect.
Seems to me finding individuals possessing the ability to think clearly, sensibly, logically with enough intelligence to acquire and apply knowledge is at a premium. Finding any who possesses those qualities and are willing to speak out critically are becoming very rare. Except for here where it seems obvious whose has it right and who doesn’t.
Lincoln is to have said, “You can fool some of the people some of the time and some of the people all the , but you can’t fool all the people all the time”. In this day and age we add to the Lincoln quote, Caitlin seems to be very much to be member of a fourth minority group. Some people become very adept at not being fooled.
Great stuff Caitlin give them hell!
Thanks CN
As a kid, I thought that Pravda meant propaganda – now I know it means truth…
We should ask all these mainstream so-called “journalists” if they actually honestly believe the US government’s proxy war against Russia is unprovoked. If they do, they will prove themselves to be clowns and not real journalists.
These days, one can find “plug-ins” to browsers that automatically translate the text. Both Google and Yandex offer such tools.
This means that anyone can read any news website in the world, without having to find a speaker of that language to translate. The ‘machine translations’ are a little rough sometimes. But you’ll get the gist of what they are saying.
And yes, the statements of soldiers and civilians fighting in this struggle are worth reading and listening to. You might find some close caption translations of video and audio interviews as well.
We must survive until the first big event that we must reach: the U.S. November elections. We must then achieve Republican majorities in the House and Senate to get this White House Regime under some oversight that will act decisively. Congress can limit spending to exercise some control over Biden. We need more of a debate in Congress over how this undeclared war is being waged. Congress can prevent Biden from piling up ever more debt to finance his insane foreign and domestic policies. After that, we will see how Europe gets through the Winter. Only if people wake up and demand change from their representatives, will there be any chance for an early end to this conflict. If the war continues expect Russia to dig in and continue to skirmish with Ukrainian forces. Critical infrastructure may be targeted to increase the difficulty of daily living in war zones and beyond. How many Ukrainians and Russians will be sacrificed before an agreement can be reached. The U.S would normally lead the NATO operations. Since Biden is incapable, the door is open for a leader from Europe to emerge. Macron was punished for trying. Erdogan was rebuffed. Orban is a possibility. Truss possibly could but probably won’t. Scholz may come to his senses. Forget Von der Leyen and the E.U. Macron might try again. None of which looks promising. The odds favor a drawn out bloody stalemate until Ukraine or Russia bleeds out.
Other information sources on the US NATO Ukraine proxy Russia war: Lt Col Douglas Macgregor, Lt Col Daniel L Davis, Ray McGovern (ex CIA. )
I encourage everyone to find a native speaker of Russian to translate for you and read (or listen to) the accounts of Russian soldiers in Ukraine. Hear form the horse’s mouth what they found (or not found) in Ukraine. There is absolutely nothing like first-hand accounts.
Don’t hold your breath. The Establishment still won’t admit the truth about the beginnings of the Vietnam War. Even today, ‘the Gulf of Tonkin Incident’ is still presented as the beginning of America’s war in Vietnam. I checked wikipedia even as I began to type. Yep, still there. And yet, it was 50 years ago that Daniel Ellsberg leaked and the New York Times published The Pentagon Papers that gave the true account.
If you are waiting for America to tell the truth, well, good luck with that. I’ve got gray hair, and I don’t think I’ve seen it yet. Not once. Empire of Lies is an excellent descriptive name.
RECTIFICATION:
Les États-Unis peuvent utiliser l’arme nucléaire comme arme de première instance sans qu’ils aient été, auparavant, bombardé par arme nucléaire. Autrement dit, Washington peut utiliser le nucléaire à sa guise.
Great
I agree with you, Renate, and that is despite the fact that, as Catholic socialist/distributist, I loathe Bush and Trump and their trampling on the poor and the environment. Biden has been a disaster, and a deep disappointment to me.
It is also true that Russia was sorely provoked and is arguably fighting for its survival. But I think we have to be honest about what this war is really about. Why are we supporting Nazis in Ukraine?
Because we–the United States–want to control their natural resources. We want to impose our neoliberal world order, to the great benefit of our corporations. Someone on social media mentioned one word in regard to the Donbass. That word? Lithium.
If this is true–if the Donbass, in addition to their other mineral wealth, has rich supplies of lithium– it’s easy to see why empires might clash trying to take it.
This is something else that should be brought into the light. The only people who should have control of the Donbass’s wealth are the people who live there. It is their choice with whom they align. We have no right to steal their resources, and neither does Russia. Neither does Western Ukraine.
JEAN-MARIE CHAUVIER, historien communiste, correspondant du Drapeau Rouge en URSS.
Le comble de l’hypocrisie des dirigeants de l’UE est atteint.
« La tragédie se répète »… après les nazis, les Russes.
Au lieu dit « Babi Yar », à Kiev, les 28 et 29 septembre 1941, plus de trente mille Juifs ont été exterminés par les occupants nazis et leurs auxiliaires ukrainiens locaux. Il y en aura au même ravin – Juifs, tsyganes, prisonniers de guerre soviétiques, communistes, partisans ukrainiens etc…- près de 100.000 de 1941 à 1943. Ce massacre n’était que l’un des plus importants. Dès août 1941, à Kamenets Podolski, en Ukraine, on liquidait déjà plus de 20.000 Juifs amenés de Transcarpatie/Ruthénie sous occupation hongroise…La « solution finale » fit, rien qu’en Ukraine, environ un million de morts. Les armées et polices ukrainiennes de Bandera, Choukhevitch, Stetsko, Melnik et autres « chefs nationalistes » y prirent une part active.
Le massacre de septembre a été officiellement commémoré et dénoncé à Kiev, pour mettre en accusation…la Russie.
Le premier ministre ukrainien Demis Smigal a tracé un signe d’égalité entre le génocide nazi et l’agression russe en cours : « ??, ??? ????????? ??????? ? 1941-?, ? ??, ??? ?????????? ??????? ? 2022-?, — ?????????? ???????????, ??????? ?????? ?????? ? ?????????????? ????????? »
[according to Telegraf.com.ua}:
« Ceux qui ont organisé le génocide en 1941 et ceux qui organisent le génocide en 2022 sont les mêmes criminels pour qui le chemin est seulement le tribunal international »
L’assimilation entre l’invasion russe actuelle et l’occupation hitlérienne fait partie de ce révisionnisme officiel qui, par ailleurs, amalgame communisme et nazisme. Une théorie avalisée par les Etats-Unis et l’Union Européenne.
Les dirigeants du régime kiévien se gardent bien d’établir un lien entre les bourreaux de Babi Yar et l’Organisation des nationalistes Ukrainiens dont les chefs, impliqués dans ce massacre, sont aujourd’hui officiellement réhabilités et glorifiés par ce même régime : monuments, noms de rue, parcs et stades leurs sont dédiés. Sujet tabou « chez nous ».
Pour rappel et pour éviter tout malentendu « les Ukrainiens » n’étaient pas « nazis ». La très grande majorité d’entre eux se battaient au sein de l’Armée Rouge, le nombre de collaborateurs est estimé à 200.000, essentiellement localisés en Galicie et autres territoires occidentaux sous régime polonais jusqu’en 1939. La réhabilitation des collabos ukrainiens n’a pas été « le désir du peuple ukrainien » mais la volonté du régime imposé en 2014, moyennent active intervention occidentale , et au sein duquel des néonazis ont été pourvus de positions influentes, notamment dans les forces armées et milices. Sans oublier les manuels scolaires et les musées de la « Mémoire Nationale ».Une grande partie du nouvel « encadrement idéologique » a été fournie par la Diaspora du Canada, elle-même de longue date « encadrée » par les rescapés de la collaboration, de l’OUN et de la Division Waffen SS « Galitchina » (Galizien) exfiltrés par les « amis » américains et britanniques. (dès 1945)
Toutes ces informations sont à proscrire, bien sûr, vu qu’elles font « le jeu de Poutine ».
???????? ???????????: ? ??????? ???? ?????? ????? ??????? ???
TELEGRAF.COM.UA
Caitlin Johnstone, Good article. I quote you:
“…the United States, is one of the nuclear-armed nations without a No First Use policy.”
Can there be any other doubts about who can launch a nuclear strike first! Tired of listening to hysterical cries from all sides about bad Russia, about the terrible dictator Putin. The West and America are acting on the verge of losing their minds. The war between Russia and Ukraine has moved into the phase of a war between NATO and Russia and is going to DESTROY Russia, and nothing else. From the very beginning (1991) it was planned precisely for this. There’s no point in bluffing anymore. The world is on the verge of a third world war. You can write a lot about the deception that is being promoted. Wake up planet!
You’ve described our problem excuisitely, Caitlin. One can only wish you and those of like mind could gain a foothold in corporate media, think tanks, and most importantly, Washington.
I squirm every time I read, or hear, “unprovoked” and “rules based international order”, and now, after reading this article, I realize the deeper importance of my squirm – those fabrications prevents resolution to the war in Ukraine.
Last night I watched “ The _________ Report” (The Torture Report) where the use of torture in the wake of 9-11 by the USA was clearly evident, and obviously ineffective. The report describing the crime was buried, and those who were implicated simply said “no we didn’t, it never happened”, and couldn’t help themselves but to add “but it was effective”.
In the same vein, global warming denials kept emissions reductions from happening.
That movie and this article are just timely reminders of how blatant the American death machine can be in it’s lies.
What confuses me is that 95% of the people around me, in North America, are so willing, eager even, to accept whatever the TV news says. If I contradict that narrative, I am the bad guy.
I am not afraid for myself, I am afraid because this means the end of possibilities for our continued existence. The lies mean that no resolutions are possible. The USA is the source of all the big problems in our world, and their mainstream media minions ensure that those problems will not be solved.
Kev – thank you for writing this comment – it is sadly exactly how I feel. I’ve been a “bad guy” my entire life – never having been one to make believe that everything is OK. One day it will all be over. Thank you Kev.
The war has been deliberately provoked just as, in an earlier age, the invasion of Afghanistan was deliberately provoked.
In May this year, Boris Johnson went to Kyiv and told Zelensky not to agree a deal to end the conflict, according to a leading Ukrainian newspaper, Ukrainskaya Pravda.
Zelensky is in a difficult position here because, if he were to try to shake off US control, he could probably expect to be the victim of an unfortunate plane crash.
One step, and then one stumble forward toward nuclear WW III with Russia over…wait for it…America’s underwriting the national sovereignty rights of faraway Ukraine. Let that sink in. Everyone got it now?
Good, so go ahead and continue to fly your Ukrainian flags and post your virtue signaling yard signs. If this entire thing should ever blow up on our war mongering Washington DC power elite class, we are all going to pay a very steep price for their amateurishly naive foreign policy decision making.
[File under: Fed up yet? VOTE!]
“It means Putin necessarily invaded because he is some kind of evil lunatic who loves to commit war crimes, or a megalomaniacal tyrant who wants to conquer the world because he hates freedom and democracy. Which means he will keep attacking and invading other countries unless he can be stopped.” [above article].
The psychology of projection is quite real. Simply listen to what loudmouths accuse others of. Invariably, it is what they themselves do. In particular, the US and UK are exactly like this, all the time. It’s as if it’s an Anglo-Saxon psychological disorder.
In contrast, here is what John Pilger has documented on US activity in the world since 1945: “Every year the American historian William Blum publishes his “updated summary of the record of U.S. foreign policy” which shows that, since 1945, the U.S. has tried to overthrow more than 50 governments, many of them democratically elected; grossly interfered in elections in 30 countries; bombed the civilian populations of 30 countries; used chemical and biological weapons; and attempted to assassinate foreign leaders.” [hxxps://consortiumnews.com/2022/09/24/john-pilgers-2014-warning-about-ukraine/]
The great, benevolent leader..? Lover of freedom, democracy and self-determination for all..? Yikes! The US does not export freedom and democracy but rather ravaging capitalism and war. Wealth concentration, environmental destruction, and war are the very hallmarks of the American empire. As such, US leadership and humanity’s survival as a species on this planet are incompatible. The US has certainly had the opportunity over the last 30+ years to show us what it could do as the uni-pole leader of the world. And it has…
The best article I have read on the situation.
“Avoiding nuclear war is the single most important agenda in the entire world, without exception.”
History is clear: every empire eventually gets the war it is trying to avoid. The closer it gets to it the more convinced it becomes that it can win.
A free ebook: The Pattern Of History and Fate of Humanity
Can we have some cold, hard facts here? Back in 2014 there was a coup in Ukraine, largely financed and guided by the United States, using various flags of convenience. These flags included: The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the ubiquitous George Soros and his (Open Society Foundation). American intervention was also evident in the shape of Victoria Nuland, then Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, and Geoffrey Pyatt, US Ambassador to Ukraine.
Prior to the putsch a head of steam had been building up in Western Ukraine and the foot-soldiers of the counter-revolution – various neo-nazi Banderist/Shukeyvich units – had been bussed into Kiev with a view to overturn the existing (and legitimate government) of Victor Yanukovich. This resulted in the battle of the Maidan (the main square in Kiev) which was triggered by Yanukovich’s decision to reject Ukraine’s application to join the EU. Then everything blew up. In the middle of the battle Yanukovich, frightened for his life, fled the scene and the counter-revolution was established.
The problem for the putschists led by Poroshenko (who had been Yanukovich’s Finance Minister) was that the Russian speaking Don Bass and Crimea were overwhelmingly Russian and wanted no part of a counter-revolutionary neo-nazi regime which had been now established in Kiev. Poroshenko was to send is legions to Eastern Ukraine and the first civil war of the Ukraine began.
The battle in the East was fought by the the neo-nazi units who firstly bombarded the whole line of contact and then mounted a full-scale offensive against the Eastern oblasts. The hurriedly assembled Donbass militias – with tacit support from various Russian sources – met the invading force and defeated them in two crucial battles: Ilovaisk and Debaltsevo. This was in 2014/15. The Ukie army licked its wounds and then limited itself to a prolonged bombardment along the contact line between 2014 and 2022, killing some 14000 inhabitants of the Don Bass. This has continued to the present day. But Russia was not about to stand idly by and let Azov Regiment, the Tornado Battalion and Aidar Battalion run amok in the Don Bass, or the Crimea. So the ‘Special Military Operation’ (SMO) was launched in late February.
Such is the background. The Ukraine was, and still is a playground, a deadly playground, for all the players. The readers will have to make up their own minds as to who will win and who was in the right.
Thanks Caitlin, thinking is important. Thinking like adults is important. Thinking is a starting point. But thinking alone isn’t sufficient. Another thing Noam Chomsky recommends is “organise”. A single person, thinking, is powerless. The forever-warmongers of the empire don’t act individually. They are a massive collective. Individual reaction won’t succeed. It might help keep you sane, but it won’t change things. Collective action is required in response. Please turn your mind, and future articles, in that direction. Yes, thinking adults are needed. Determined action must follow. (ps. the people reading CN are probably already thinking adults).
Oh Caitlin, you are a National Treasure.
Bless you.
One should refrain from using the word ‘annexed’ which means forceful removal. Citizens voted democratically to join Russia within the rules stipulated by the UN Charter.
Yes! Thank you for that comment John Mason.
Caitlin J writes, “Avoiding nuclear war is the single most important agenda in the entire world, without exception. It is the single most important agenda that has ever existed in all of history.” We can, of course, throw climate change into the equation. What is utterly incomprehensible, is how so-called intelligent human beings, staring at global annihilation, continue down the same, tired path of conflict and destruction that has plagued so-called civilization for several thousand years. Why they are incapable of recognizing how depleted their tactics are, is a great mystery, but if we don’t turn to a new paradigm of international cooperation, including a truly sustainable economic system, then we are only a few missteps from oblivion.
The irrational, devious, madman in Washington has to go. He has caused more damage in less than 2 years than Bush and Trump combined did in 12 years. He must go immediately and the insane cabal in his administration.