by Ghassan Kadi for the Saker blog
I am not here to write about historic, strategic and military details pertaining to the issues surrounding the Ukraine crisis. Apart from those fabricating Hollywood material, there are many excellent analysts covering these areas competently.
But as a Syrian/Lebanese, within my limited capacity, I have a duty to show support and reciprocate Russia’s support to Syria where it is due and, in this case, it is as it is one that is based on truths and moral issues that cannot be overlooked, even if Russia did not support Syria at all.
What I want to discuss is the justification and morality of self-defence.
War is a heavily-loaded word, a word that implies man killing man, humanity fighting humanity, armies pillaging nations, creating orphans and widows, refugees, sex slaves, destroying civilizations, economies, beautiful ancient architectural icons and a whole hoard of other atrocities that often are never repaired or resolved.
But there are wars and there are wars.
One cannot place the actions of the USA’s invasion of Iraq in the same basket as that of resistance against Nazi occupation.
People, and nations, have the right of self-defence. Self-defence is not an act of aggression. It is an act to prevent further aggression.
Not surprisingly, when the rules of the jungle prevail, just like in La Fontaine’s fables, aggressors on one hand conjure up for themselves the justification to kill, and on the other hand, they vilify the victims of their aggression when they try to exercise their right of self-defence.
The USA has been engaged in wars ever since WWII ended. Beginning with the Korean War, the West moved the theatre to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Iraq I and Iraq II, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria; not to mention other smaller wars. In reality, there was never ever any justification for any of them and the national security of the United States of America was never under threat by any of those much pooper and much less equipped nations.
What is ironic is the fact that even though the odds were always in favour of America, and this is an understatement, America never won any of those wars. Some cynics argue that America’s objectives were not about winning wars but about leaving mess and destruction behind. Whilst I partially agree with this sentiment, I cannot accept that America has intentionally invaded Iraq to hand it on a silver platter to Iran any more that it invaded Taliban’s Afghanistan to hand it back to the Taliban. Those who believe that America has always been successful in achieving its target of havoc seem to give it more kudos than it deserves. I genuinely believe that America has been a total failure and that its performance as the world’s self-appointed custodian of the post WWII era had been abysmal to put it mildly.
Perhaps America could be excused for it actions during the hot Cold-War era. It was a period of uncertainty, fear, and what was behind the ‘dreaded’ ‘Iron Curtain’ left little surprises to be desired.
But, using American administration rhetoric, with the dismantling of the USSR this hot-cold War era was also supposed to cease.
Contrary to the commonly-held belief in the West, America did not win the Cold War. The Cold War ended when Gorbachev negotiated with Raegan the terms of disengagement. https://sputniknews.com/20190402/gorbachev-nato-expansion-reasons-1073764558.html
The rest is history. The manner in which America broke all of its promises to never encroach into Eastern Europe, how it coaxed former Warsaw Pact nations to join NATO, how it positioned missiles close to Russian borders, how it pillaged Serbia, how it tried to create a puppet regime in Georgia in 2008, how it sponsored a coup d’etat in Ukraine in 2014 putting Neo-Nazis in charge, how it bombarded the Eastern provinces for eight long years, how it reneged on the Minsk Agreements, how it refused to reach a deal on Ukraine in Jan 2022, a deal that took into consideration Russia’s legitimate security concerns, are all acts of provocation that can only lead to war; a Russian war of self-defence.
Western arrogance remains high despite the fact that Russia has clearly demonstrated red lines in Georgia and Syria. But Kiev is not Damascus. Kiev was the capital of the Russian Empire long before Texas was a state of the Union.
Furthermore, Russia is not Afghanistan or Somalia. Russia is not only a nuclear superpower, but also one with weaponry that is far more advanced than the West’s.
The Western bully has been picking on the wrong would-be adversary, and for a very long time.
What is most unbelievable about the current situation is the Western European compliance with America’s stance. Americans may well be distanced from the history and internal politics of Europe, but Germany, France, Italy and Spain must surely know better, but they are behaving in a manner as if they are either totally ignorant or extremely callous.
Puppet states of Eastern Europe should look over their shoulders and see what real support Ukraine is receiving from America after America promised Ukraine the world and then hung it out to dry.
This brings us back to the issue of drawing the line between instigating war for no reason other than imperial gain and fighting legitimately for self-defence.
The West and its media are taking the line of presenting Russia as the aggressor, portraying Putin as a crazed Tzar who wants to rebuild the USSR; not only ignoring the events of 2014 onwards, but also ignoring past and present atrocities of the West that had no justification at all.
Have we forgotten Iraq’s WMD blunder?
Russia did all it could to avert a military confrontation in Ukraine.
For eight long years, Russia refused to acknowledge the independence of the eastern provinces.
Russia continued to keep all bridges of communication with the West open in the hope of reaching an agreement to end the impasse.
Russia made it clear to America time after time, that it has red lines that cannot be crossed, including not accepting Ukraine to join NATO.
But all that America did was to ignore and continue to intimidate. When the talk about the impending Russian invasion of Ukraine was flagged on Western media, it was because America had the full intention to make sure that the January 2022 Switzerland talks with Russia must fail leaving the military option alone on the table.
The actions of Russia to neutralize and de-Nazify Ukraine are acts of self-defence. Any fair and proper court of justice would attest to this, but not in the West, where media is the echo chamber of the Western globalists and the only key to the hearts and minds of people in the West who unquestionably believe what their media dishes out.
But why are some of Russians so surprised and dismayed now by the new wave of anti-Russian propaganda? Lucky enough to visit Russia a few years ago, I found myself in an alternative paradigm; not a ‘Truman Show’ little bubble, but a huge world that did what it believed was right and didn’t give a pig’s butt (excuse the French) about what the West and Western media thought and decreed.
I was able to see the so-called ‘iron curtain’, way after the USSR was no longer, but not from a Western xenophobic vantagepoint, but from a Russian one that did not seem to care much at all about the views and the attitude of the West.
It was disappointing to see Western franchises like Starbucks and McDonald’s, but Russia looked like a proud stand-alone nation that is big enough, strong enough and rich enough to dictate its own directive and destiny.
If anything, a few years later, Russia is now in a much stronger position to dictate what it wants to the old ailing West and the stronger sanctions today are not going to be any more effective than previous milder ones.
President Biden now represents the West in many more ways than one. Not only he is meant to be the leader of the so-called ‘Free World’, but at his old age, a mental state that borders dementia, he represents the global hemisphere that has lost its technical edge and rationality; not to mention economic clout.
It is very sad that the once developed West that paved the rest of the world in technology and innovation has put its leadership under the hands of short-sighted impotent leaders like Biden, Merkel (formerly), Johnson and Macron. Those weak and shortsighted leaders are pushing the West into the corner of cultural suicide.
They represent the political legacy that led to the exodus of Western manufacturing base.
They are the legacy that destroyed family values, cultural values as well as moral values.
They are the ones forcing Russia to create an alternative global power with China; the West’s main and primary competitor.
But the problem with Western political leaders is that they are not serving their own people; they are serving their sponsors and their own profit and loss statements.
Nations are not corporations, and the corporate aspect of Western political leadership is bursting its own bubble. It is not ready to confront the challenges of either Russia or China, let alone both of them combined. The West continues to live in the euphoria of a bygone era in which it had the upper hand by way of being a leader in technological advances and manufacturing which are the basic foundations for strong economies. It has lost its technical edge, placing itself in a conflict it can neither win, let alone be able to fight.
The West needs to learn to accept humility as a desired value. For the sake of humanity as a whole, it needs to learn this lesson before its obstinance and arrogance leads the world into further and deeper wars and disasters.
“President Biden now represents the West in many more ways than one. Not only he is meant to be the leader of the so-called ‘Free World’, but at his old age, a mental state that borders dementia, he represents the global hemisphere that has lost its technical edge and rationality; not to mention economic clout”
oh my…
Yes self defense the relevant issue.
But another relevant point is this – I would like to know whether the EU (as people from all over were fighting Russia between 1941-45) ever made full $ compensation to the USSR over the WW2 war damage and whats the figures were then and if not paid are now.
For USSR to cede East Germany and the Eastern Bloc back to the EU in 1990 without the war damage being paid was a very very generous thing and ENTITLES Russia today to demand them abiding by the 1990-91 agreements made and NATO not pushing east.
Not only Germany but there were troops from France, Holland, Belgium, etc… fighting on the eastern front.
Perhaps the SAKER could get those $ figures for new article and refer to to Putin etc… as an issue.
This may be an issue to raise in the International Court in the Hague if most of it is not paid.
And you can bet that if the situation had been reversed in 1941 and USSR had invaded the EU as the first aggressor, and the EU had beaten them back, the EU would have enforced a damages reparation payment in full.
Whether morally today the current generations of people in EU are responsible for the actions of the great grandparents is another issue, but regardless, the agreements of 1990 need to be honored in good faith.
But Russia now needs to be very careful to ensure the Ukrainian people and property is keep safe & intact if possible.
One can understand the UKN wanting and likeing to have their own identity like the Czech, Slovaks, Dutch, etc… and that needs to recoginzed in the final outcome.
But the key issue here is a bunch of EU Soros installed junkies who have hijacked the UKN and are nothing but troublemakers and incompetent economic managers. They have to go.
Very nice, succinct history up to the present day:
“The rest is history. The manner in which America broke all of its promises to never encroach into Eastern Europe, how it coaxed former Warsaw Pact nations to join NATO, how it positioned missiles close to Russian borders, how it pillaged Serbia, how it tried to create a puppet regime in Georgia in 2008, how it sponsored a coup d’etat in Ukraine in 2014 putting Neo-Nazis in charge, how it bombarded the Eastern provinces for eight long years, how it reneged on the Minsk Agreements, how it refused to reach a deal on Ukraine in Jan 2022, a deal that took into consideration Russia’s legitimate security concerns, are all acts of provocation that can only lead to war; a Russian war of self-defence.”
The nugget:
“Russia did all it could to avert a military confrontation in Ukraine.
“For eight long years, Russia refused to acknowledge the independence of the eastern provinces.
“Russia continued to keep all bridges of communication with the West open in the hope of reaching an agreement to end the impasse.
“Russia made it clear to America time after time, that it has red lines that cannot be crossed, including not accepting Ukraine to join NATO.
“But all that America did was to ignore and continue to intimidate. When the talk about the impending Russian invasion of Ukraine was flagged on Western media, it was because America had the full intention to make sure that the January 2022 Switzerland talks with Russia must fail leaving the military option alone on the table.”
Excellent article with all the meat and potatoes in a few paragraphs. Bravo.
contemporary history, current affairs, the reality of what has been happening in recent years. Russia helped Syria and saved Syria. People and nations have the right to self-defense. But the world has entered a very intense scale, the western bully is determined. Europeans resigned themselves to being vassals. Yes, Russia did everything possible to avoid a military confrontation in Ukraine, but the empire was determined. Russians and Slavs must now abandon the West and turn to Asia.
Slavs should abandon their admiration for Western products and Adidas. Adidas is just a cloth made of plants, Adidas is just a design. The Adidas design is a stylistic design, and something similar can be created on any Russian computer. Any country can make adidas, mcdonads, subway, starbucks. It was not a creation of extraterrestrials, it was humans who created, according to the laws of semiotics, industrial design, and marketing strategies. Russia can also make its marks. China learned this. Mickey is just a rag doll, made with circles, rectangles, squares, foam.
Slavs have to get rid of Western products, have to stop worshiping the West. What the west did was just evolution of the industry by stealing ideas and intellectual property from other countries.
Look at the Chinese, learn from the Chinese, learn to make your Russian facebook and youtube. The Russian people are some of the most creative people on the planet. Russian telegram for example is a success, and it is better than whatsapp. Abandon Western intellectual property, and develop your industries. Russia can do this.
Look at Russian ballet, music, painting, rockets, missiles. Russians can also create “Russian Adidas”. The Russians have the raw material and industry to do this, and the blessed partnership with China. The West needs to learn to be humble, and humanity has to look at the gravity of the days we live in today.
“The Russian people are some of the most creative people on the planet. Russian telegram for example is a success, and it is better than whatsapp. Abandon Western intellectual property, and develop your industries. Russia can do this.”
I prefer Pepe Escobar’s counter-sanction suggestion to keep using west’s intellectual property but no longer paying for it. It causes a loss that is measureable and is more enraging to the west. And when Russia does that, it will be likely the west will no longer have the means to collect royalties.
The problem is, as Alex Jones on INFOWARS says, is the West (US UK EU) is now is not a Govt entity but a corporate entity serving the interests of the few elites who own it or control it, not the voters / people in those countries who are bombarded with media propaganda and have been since the invention of newspapers, radio, TV and internet.
And this is the entire problem.
It has been probably since about 1850 but more directly since 1920 and it started with the British and Dutch East India companies 300+ yrs ago.
Hopefully someone/some group in the west will move to change this situation else the west will collapse in the end and those who own it will also go down whether they realize it or not.
India is not taking U.S.’s colonial shit anymore
https://twitter.com/skbozphd/status/1499298691156705282
You have the Head of the Ron Paul Institute, which is libertarian really, in this nothing-burger vid. You need to get someone from the Council of Foreign Relations/WEF, or any Contributor to the Clinton Foundation to make your Colonial-Shit statement more legitimate.
I dont disagree with your statement, its just that this particular vid isnt a good presentation of it.
Great analysis!!!! Thank you.
The actions of the NATO block led by the US are not caused by arrogance, or vanity or some other emotive expression. The are driven by the ruthless demands and the fundamental logic of monopoly capitalism. To the capitalist strategist there are no nations or peoples there are only markets. There is no “fair play” only winners and losers. There are no moral considerations that have any weight except in how they can be spun in PR strategies. The people of the Ukraine are fodder, to be sacrificed in a strategy of drawing Russia into a war. The objective is to weaken Russia, while preventing US clients in Europe from developing closer economic ties – with Russia mainly, at present , but also China. In the long term strategy China is the ultimate target.
One will continue to be enslaved and abused until they stand up & say STOP. Russia has made many bad choices and continue to do so.
Russia profited from its real partners (China, Syria, Iran, India,…) and invested in its fake partners (UK, EU, Israel, Japan…). Its 60+% of $630 billion investment was not in Russia or real partners but in the Financial Empire. What kind of decision is this? Russia still continues to sell oil to the U$A in dollars and Germany/EU on long term contracts prices while the market price approaches new high. It can’t use this earned income. What is the price at which Russia is selling gas to China and Asia? Please stop blaming the West. Russia has been happy to be a free prostitute for the West (the choice of the word reflects disappointment with Russia’s conduct).
Until, China and Russia don’t sell their resources, goods and services in their respective national currencies they’re their own worst enemy. Similarly, they will need their own payment, semiconductor and operating system ecosystem. They are handicapped in sovereignty until they develop a minimum foundation.
China and Russia need to take personal responsibility and stand up for their sovereignty. When will China and Russia do the right thing for their citizens & sovereignty?
I would say that those goals within the given framework are unattainable.
I would also wager, that said framework was originally designed decidedly to achieve no peers from entering the club.
…but what do I know…
Nations are not corporations, but the Western nations have, via their electoral systems, been taken over by a matrix of multi-national corporations whom have allegiance to no nation, but only to their stockholders/bottom lines.
You have to trace human laws back to their origin.
I thought and wrote the same as you and posted it on a blog. This is the reply (parsed) I got from Joe Roberts
There are 3 jurisdictions and each has its own body of Law.
Air- Cannon Law
Land- Common Law
Sea- Maritime/Admiralty Law
You have yet to recognize that your “government” is incorporated.
We are dealing with service corporations ultimately owned by the Holy See and passing themselves off as National, State and local government. But they are not. They employ Statutory Law which is not true Law. It’s a collection(Codes) of purely private and purely corporate by-laws. Until people start listening and making an effort to understand this, we are never going to get the answers we seek. We are dealing with a corporation. Not a dejure government. To my knowledge Russia is the only country that has gotten itself free of this web…possibly!
A dejure government is not a commercial Corporation. It is not an incorporated entity enslaving its populace via “Citizenship” to said incorporated entity and enforcing private statutory law on them. Unless you have studied jurisdictional Law this subject is tricky to grasp and requires much study. And no way can it be broken down in just a comment. There is just too much to pass on. But, as simply as I can put it: What they have done is pass off their corporations as governments. That is fraud. An act of inland piracy( when the Sea jurisdiction encroaches on the Land jurisdiction). Corporations are not people. Therefore we have one jurisdiction for people and all things living. That would be Land Jurisdiction. Corporations likewise have their own jurisdiction and that would be the international jurisdiction of the Sea. In very simple terms they have pulled us from our Lawful jurisdiction, Land and Soil jurisdiction, into their legal Sea jurisdiction.
Corporations have their origins in the Air and function in the Sea. Living things/people have their origins in the Land and function in the Land.
In real simple terms they take your name and create works of legal fictions so they can traffic you and pillage you in their corporate Sea jurisdiction. All Public Office is of the Land Jurisdiction. It cannot be incorporated. That is unLawful conversion of Public to Private. Land to Sea. That’s crossing jurisdictions. It’s a hanging offense. All of these politicians that we believe are holding Public Office, are really holding Private Office in the Sea jurisdiction. Hanging offense. There is no one left on the Land to enforce the superior Public Law. But that is changing because some of us have made it back to Land so-to-speak
My appreciations from Ethiopia!
The West especially USA is destroying what humanity has built for Millennia. Wherever there is culture, civilization, natural resources or anything that makes money, USA is there either to destroy, pillage or both. Look at Iraq & Syria, Libya, Yogoslavia and dozens of others. Look also how this cabal is trying to destroy Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, N Korea, etc. Even Poor Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea are directly and indirectly attacked by the Empire.
Had it not been Russia’s principled resistance and China’s economic leverage, a number of countries might have been wiped out from the map.
The World has the moral obligation to support Russia.
Ukraine!
Well, Ukraine is a sacrifice lamb. My heart breaks to the innocent ones who are either killed, displaced or made hostage by the coward Neo-Nazis. Naive Ukie politicians lured by the perfidious West, brought mayhem and misery to their own people. My prayers are with those innocent souls. God save us from such scum ‘politicians'(=UkroNazis).
Good thinking. But “The West needs to learn to accept humility as a desired value.” is not likely to happen when the system of choosing leaders is to appoint people who want power. Politicians stand for election (at all levels) because they want to rule and spend large sums in advertising themselves to the electorate in order to win the ballot.
If we want leaders with wisdom, honesty, sincerity and the humility to serve then could there be a worse possible system to find rulers?
Well, concerning UN Resolution A/ES-11/L.1 “overwhelmingly condemning Russia”, I did the math.
At first glance, 141 for, 5 against, 35 abstentions and 12 that did not vote look pretty bad for Russia. Remember though, that at the UN General Assembly, Nauru (population 10.000), gets as much a vote as China (population 1.5 Billion) – which is batshit insane if you ask me, a coalition of heavyweights like Tauru, Tuvalu, Palau, Liechtenstein and San Marino (combined population : 100.000) would “overwhelm” China 5 to 1.
If you account for population, the picture is quite different.
Against : around 3% of the world population
Abstention : around 51% of the world population
Did not vote : around 4% of the world population (and most of them are Russia allies like Venezuela, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan…)
Which leaves around 42% condemning Russia (and amongst them, really tepid condemners like Brazil and Serbia or “governments in Exile” – LOL – like Myanmar and Afghanistan)
Not that overwhelming in the end, eh ?
Excellent, Ghassan! Thank you so much for that very enlightened and enlightening perspective.
Wow! Awesomely accurate!
This article cuts to the bone. As a so-called citizen of Canada, I can attest that our governments (all of them) serve their corporate masters, not the population. They’ve stuffed our universities with post-modernists who declare there can be no universal human rights, they’ve opened up our natural resources to corporate pillage and they’ve destroyed our industry. Any semblance of national sovereignty here has long since been exchanged for adherence to the almighty US dollar.
Sorry to be so verbose… I just want to say that I for one would like to see a world where real international law, universal human rights, social justice and rationality were upheld. Sadly, this is a voice crying in the wilderness…. I hope justice prevails in this conflict.
All these companies sanctioning and pulling out of Russia – – – I wonder, have Starbucks and MacDonald’s as well…..
Thank you to the author for writing and Andrei posting this great article. God Almighty says in the Majestic Koran…Justice is nearer to piety. HE also says HE is with the patient. Also, HE gives victory to the patient. HE also says that HE checks one power with another. (Can’t provide exact references to the verses off the top of my head, but they are there in The Majestic Koran).
In Chapter 30 (Surah Al Rum) of The Majestic Koran God Almighty says HE gave victory to Byzantines (Orthodox Church) over the Zoroastrians (Fire-worhsipping Persians)…(during the life of The Last Messenger, Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him), and in the end victory will be with the Orthodox Christians and they will remain dominant until the Day of Judgement (according to Sheikh Imran Hosein’s interpretation of those opening verses in Chapter 30 – https://quran.com/30).
From the advanced weapons that Orthodox Russia has developed and the patience it has exercised over the last 30 years, it deserves this final victory over falsehood. God-Willing!
Even though I live in the West, I have to accept/ follow the Truth, and face the consequences of the folly of Western fake leadership.
I hate to Godwin the thread, but the one who attacks is guilty by default.
Let’s not pretend this is not a failure for Putin and Russia, because it is.
According to the article’s logic now we should also consider if Germany really had no other choice but to start WW2. Which is not a bad intellectual exercise, and there are books that can help with this endeavor, but I’m pretty sure most readers of this blog cannot entertain the idea that Germany could have a justification for the shot they’ve started.
As a neutral observer, formerly Russophile, all I can do is wait for the conclusion of this conflict. That will either condemn, or vindicate, Russia definitely. If the nukes fly, or if the war extends to other countries, Russia will be the new Nazi Germany. Frankly the positive margin for Russia here is very small: creating some sort of Ukraine that is independent and fairly prosperous, with minimal loss of life.
I’ll take your premise.
Even if this invasion falls short of it’s original goals, it already has dismantled, destroyed, annihilated the largest ammo dump ready to be deployed against anyone in the neighbourhood.
Along with the retards, that like to play with fire next to Your house….
BTW…I’ve read through your Your comment too fast.
There is a lot in there, that I would LOVE to discuss with You, and considering priorities, will have to wait…😉
Godspeed.
Yes, that will also be a good outcome. Not very good for Russia, but better than some alternatives, for all of us.
Like I’ve said, the end of the conflict will dictate how Russia will be seen from now on, but the margin of “success” is slim, IMHO.
I sure hope the Russians have thought this trough, as I don’t really find all those reports of bad military planning that credible. But they do seem to thread a very thin rope.
How can I say this…without sounding like…let’s just do impressions…
hundreds of thousands of men, armed, sleepless, hungry, dirty, stinky, afraid, jubilent, exhausted, disappointed or just…alive…
women, children, that they are all trying to defend…
…and the War…which, is in us all…
A thin line it is.
Life is a thin line as it is.
…the hardest thing in this conversation is though, that I am whacking the bush with someone else’s dick…
I am not out there. I am not doing what I think needs to b done…but I am talking about it as if I could just put it in my pocket…
Last nite I watched a video with 3 Russian POWs in captivity, they had no idea, what they were getting into. They were cops, got a month of training, then loaded on a truck.
Mother Russia called on them.
Are we putting these lads in their graves?
Me?
God, I hope I am not.
All I hoped for was to be left alone.
…and…from what I understand – so hoped Russia.
…but they keep pushing and choking and stealing and lying…and shelling and maiming and raping…
I hope, you understand, that it is not warporn for me…
I hate to Godwin the thread, but the one who attacks is guilty by default.
It’s strange that for some people the history of the conflict in the Donbass starts on 24 February 2022. Have they forgotten Ukrainian president Poroshenko’s assault on Ukrainian citizens in Donetsk and Lugansk — the so-called Anti-Terrorist Operation — in 2008? Oh, I get it — that was OK because Poroshenko only attacked his own people; Russia is wrong because it attacked a neighbour.
If somebody puts a knife to your throat and you’re able to disarm him, would it be wrong for you to act in self-defence?
That is exactly what Russia is doing. Here, read this:
‘Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security.’
https://legal.un.org/repertory/art51.shtml
You sound like a typical MSM journalist writing a psywar piece. ‘Neutral observer’ indeed.
It is more like an example of the Normandy landings of occupied France or Italian ‘liberation’ andc Western invasions of ww2 Europe. If you want historic reference. Both Italy and France were peacefully occupied before the allied invasions.. Just as Ukraine was ‘peaceful’… And indeed French and Italians can tell you of legions of crimes some 500 US servicemen charged with rape in France in one yr alone. And blitz bombings of french and Italian cities was standard.. Not unlike Russia today.. In former Russian lands (France and Italy were never former US lands by the way)..
The confusion in trying to figure out “why” America hasn’t won a war since gulf-war-I you need to understand why America goes to war.
And that has a simple answer, war is good for business.
And the longer and more protracted the war, the more successful it is….for business. Vietnam, in this regard was a sterling success. Iraq and Afghanistan were also successes. The longer the war the better.
Gulf-war-1, where America won, was a failure, it ended WAY to quickly.
The psychopaths running the USA fight wars to spend money because America’s ruling families hold all the shares in the MIC, the banks, the medical monopolies, etc, etc.
A simple perusal of the federal reserve act shows that the more debt there is, the more money the primary dealer banks make when the treasury issues bonds. Its money, money, money for doing nothing except getting someone else’s children killed.
And for the ruling families, that’s a price they’re will to pay.
Jim
Thank you for an absolutely clear and forceful representation of the present situation and its past and probable future. One important point to add is the frightening sudden complete capitulation of Germany to the US orders to stop NS2 definitively, to increase vastly its “defense” budget and support for the EU, led by Nazi daughter and granddaughter Ursula van der Leyen, in its urge to incorporate Ukraine into the EU and arm it to the teeth.
Strange, that the two words of such a basic and obvious concept, as “self defence”, despite all the reams and gazillions of facts and information re Russia’s whole position – are not spoken clearly more often. So, the current ‘war’ is enacted self defence, perhaps there could be different positions and perspectives of viewing it, not necessarily “Ukrainian” media-hyped invasion war, but others.
The Russian war of self defence seems like it could be far more complex than presented
Cultural European suicide indeed, no complexity there, terrible to live through, depending on the weight one places on this gargantuan factor of life . . .
Humility belongs to the future, it will be reborn.
I agree with the notion of the article being forceful and clear; impelled to look towards a future which demands some realization now, in forms of objectivity and ideas formulated on the basis of non personal driven ego.I do see this happening, and when it happens, it shines out with great strength, and thanks too to Saker for this.
The author makes the most relevant point concerning Syria, where the initial actions and subsequent actions of the government could always be excused as self-defence, even if they had been brutal and excessive. But while the West lied about who was responsible for the killing and who was exercising legitimate self defence, it also condemned “Assad” for crimes which the US was happy to carry out in its wars of Offence and self interest. The same duplicity is evident over Palestine, and the automatic presentation of Palestinians as the victim of Israeli provocations and aggression. Well it should be automatic!
This article touches upon, but misses the most important international law issue repeatedly talke about in the West; most interestingly by those who totally sympathize with Russia.
Specifically, the illegality of “preemptive war”. Everyone seems to agree that Russia has violated this precept of International law.
What is interesting is that Russia has constantly insisted that international relations be governed by “international law” as opposed to the US who talks about “rules based” international relations.
Question: Has Russia contradicted itself: on the one hand calling for “international law” behavior and then blatantly violated that law?
I think not. Russia has repeatedly posited per international law that ‘one nation cannot establish its security at the expense of another nation’ and NATO has violated that legal precept; especially in the matter of Ukraine. Accordingly, in my opinion, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not “preemptive” and therefore illegal; rather it is ‘self-defense’ and legal.
“I am not here to write about historic, strategic and military details”
So why the title ?:
“A matter of self-defence”
Framing always limits perception.
Lieutenant-Colonel Andriy Biletsky, a member of Ukraine’s parliament has made statements about “crusade” of “White races” against “Semitic Untermenschen” is commander and founder of The Azov Battalion and is a leader of a Ukrainian organisation called the Social National Assembly which according to the BBC has “typical neo-Nazi narrative”. Patrons of the Azov Battalion include Oleh Lyashko, a member of the Verkhovna Rada, and billionaire Ihor Kolomoyskyi, who funded the presidential campaign of Volodymyr Zelensky.
Andriy Biletsky has said: “Our nation’s historic mission at this critical juncture is to lead the final march of the white race towards its survival. This is a march against sub-humans who are led by the Semite race.”
In response to a question about the country’s “Jewish problem”, Biletsky said that “in the government there is non-Ukrainian blood – this must be addressed.”
Svoboda MP and deputy leader Ihor Miroshnychenko attracted international criticism in December 2012 for writing on his Facebook wall that American actress Mila Kunis, who was born in the Ukrainian SSR of Jewish descent, is “not Ukrainian but a zhydivka” (a pejorative term for a Jew).[43][46] According to Svoboda, the word does not have the antisemitic connotation in Ukrainian that it does in Russian.[46] Citing a Ukrainian academic dictionary, the Ministry of Justice considered the word archaic but not necessarily a slur.[46][76] Svoboda has repeatedly said that it would not stop using words it considers legitimate Ukrainian parlance.
In 2004, Oleh Tyahnybok was expelled from the Our Ukraine parliamentary faction for a speech calling for Ukrainians to fight against a “Muscovite-Jewish mafia”, and celebrated the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists for having fought “Moscovites, Germans, Jews and other scum who wanted to take away our Ukrainian state.” The speech was delivered at the grave-site of a commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army where Tyahnybok praised its struggle against “Moskaly”, a derogatory term for either Russians or pan-Russian nationalists; Germans; and “Zhydy”, an archaic but controversial term for Jews in Ukraine due to it being a slur when used in the Russian language. Tyahnybok’s 2004 comments were widely circulated on the three TV channels controlled by the head of the Presidential Administration, Viktor Medvedchuk: State Channel 1, 1+1 and Inter.
Azov Battalion is based in Mariupol in the Azov Sea coastal region. It saw its first combat experience recapturing Mariupol from pro-Russian separatists forces in June 2014. Initially a volunteer militia, formed as the Azov Battalion on 5 May 2014 during the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine, Azov has since been incorporated into and is armed by Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs. ll members of the unit are under contract of National Guard of Ukraine.
The Ukraine in recent years has been led by a throng embedded with fascist figures – individuals with many years of neo-Nazi activism under their belts, such as Andriy Parubiy, Chairman of the Ukraine’s Parliament since April 2016 and co-founder of the fascist Svoboda party. Parubiy is an old associate of other neo-Nazis such as Svoboda chief Oleh Tyahnybok, Oleh Makhnitskyi and Dmytro Yarosh, the latter a Ukrainian Member of Parliament (MP) since late 2014 and a former leader of Right Sector, another fascist party. These men are all followers of the terrorist Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian Nazi who collaborated with the Third Reich before and during World War II.
Other fascists currently working as MPs in the Ukrainian parliament, are Ihor Mosiychuk (former Svoboda member), Oleh Lyashko (Radical Party head), Yuriy Bereza (Dnipro Battalion leader), Serhiy Melnychuk (former Aidar Battalion commander) and Andriy Biletsky (founder of the neo-Nazi Social-National Assembly).
In the postwar years, Bandera and his cronies received extensive protection from the Allied victors, enjoying significant aid and support from American and British intelligence services, the CIA and MI6.
Almost all of the Ukraine’s far-right extremists are supporters of NATO and American-led military intervention, whilst many of them have enjoyed trips to see their de facto bosses in America. This includes Andrij Parubiy who visited Washington in 2018, and he was previously in the US capital during February 2015, where he met among others senator John McCain and John Boehner, then speaker of the House. In the same outing, Parubiy held top level meetings with the US Department of State, Department of Defense and National Security Council. He was graced too with interviews from the editorial boards of the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.
The Donbas Battalion commander Semen Semenchenko – another far-right figurehead and Ukrainian MP – has received invitations to America where he saw members of Congress and Pentagon representatives, while seeking “non-lethal aid” from the US.
In September 2014 Semenchenko said that, “I want to make Ukraine into another Israel”. Over four years ago, he was elected as a parliamentary deputy, a position he continues to hold. In December 2018, it was reported that Semenchenko was briefly detained in Tbilisi, Georgia while illegally attempting to purchase weapons there, and avoided arrest due to his possession of a diplomatic passport. President Petro Poroshenko previously praised the much-decorated Semenchenko for his “courage, commander’s endurance and moral fibre” while also eulogizing the Donbas Battalion as “real heroes”.
Poroshenko was the Ukraine president before Zelensky. He had to step down to confront corruption charges; Like Zelensky, Poroshenko is an ally of Israel, and has repeatedly visited the expansionist state.
In the Ukraine, its 21st century fascist battalions receive much of their funding from oligarchs with ties to the West; such as powerful billionaire businessman Ihor Kolomoyskyi, who is a Ukrainian-Israeli-Cypriot citizen with a US visa and he has spent periods living in America – where he holds vested corporate interests in states like Ohio and West Virginia. Kolomoyskyi is presently being investigated by the FBI after being accused of “ordering contract killings” along with undergoing probes relating to claims of “financial crimes”, such as embezzlement and the laundering of money into America. Kolomoyskyi is a firm supporter of Volodymyr Zelensky.
I am so disgusted with the Australian government …hand in glove with the evil globalist cabal who monopolise Ukraine.
That proves to us that Morrison is working for the Great Reset..he has sold out his own country…there is no worse treachery than that!
Thank God that he is not likely to be re-elected…more people daily are waking up to his hypocrisy…and he calls himself a Christian! That is the most hypocritical of all!