#5. The Russians are Coming!

unanswered initial thoughts on the fray

Wrote a newsy letter to an old friend, just to keep in touch. With Bob, I avoid politics, so even though it was the day after the invasion, I didn’t mention Ukraine. The combined effect of 4 year of TDS, 2 years of plandemic hysteria and now the daily 2-minute hate with Putin as Goldstein renders rational discussion between us impossible. Still, Both Bob and I miss our political debates of old, and he asked, “Why no remarks about Ukraine?  Our nation’s full of the subject.  Are not the Japanese concerned?  Don’t they remember the Russo-Japanese war?”

Well, I could be wrong but I don’t think the Japanese hold a grudge against the Russians for the time they sunk the Russian Pacific fleet and emerged victorious in a war of imperial ambitions on both sides. I believe what sticks in their craw is the Soviet declaration of war a week before Japan surrendered in WWII, and then the USSR’s annexation of the southern Kuril Islands.

In any case, I felt compelled to respond. That was two weeks ago; a lot has happened since then but I’ve not heard* from ol’ Bob.

What did I write that shut the discussion down before it even got started? Are my bullet points unassailable or full of nonsense? You be the judge:

Hi Bob,

Maybe no remarks on Ukraine because the situation is so new and fluid, and I'm less than an expert on politics in that region. Plus, politics with the family... meh.

I have to say it took me by surprise when I saw towns in western Ukraine being bombed. I figured the most Putin would do, at the onset anyway, is supply the breakaway regions with arms, and wouldn't go full invasion until the proxy skirmish got out of hand.

But if you want my amateur opinion, it's basically this:

• I don't think it is unreasonable for Russia to oppose Ukraine joining NATO. Supersonic missiles that could hit Moscow in 5 minutes makes about as much sense for Russia as Chinese missiles located in Nuevo Laredo that could take out Austin in ten minutes makes sense for the US.

• Buchanan is mostly right again:  https://original.antiwar.com/buchanan/2022/02/24/did-we-provoke-putins-war-in-ukraine/

• The US strategists were clever: they put Putin in a no-win situation. Either stay out of Ukraine and let NATO expand to the Russian border, putting Russia in mortal danger, or stop NATO expansion by invading Ukraine and becoming Hitler redux.

• I don't think it is unreasonable for Germany to buy cheap, plentiful Russian natural gas, but allowing trade and friendship between Germany and Russia could spell the end of NATO and the US imperial empire.

• I don't think the US has to involve itself in every conflict in every corner of the world at all times.

• The US largely created this mess with our CIA/neocon, neolib overthrow of the Ukranian government in 2014.

• That Putin is a tyrant doesn't mean that we should embark on a course that threatens WW3.

• I don't think it helps the US or Western Europe to antagonize and alienate Russia to the point that they strengthen their ties with our other 'enemy', China, now the world's #1 economic power.

• It's rich to condemn Russia for foreign intervention considering our murderous history of intervention and nation wrecking.

Say hello to A_____!

Dan

*This reminds me of another time I preempted further dialogue with Bob in a back and forth over Covid. I had said, “I’d just like to know what good is a vaccine passport if the vaccine doesn’t prevent infection or transmission.” Discussion over.