An important part of how nations in conflict slide into war is the demonization of the opposing side.
Putin, we are told, is a mad, bad dictator, and that's the only reason Russian troops are in Ukraine.
An important part of the demonization process is to forget or suppress whatever historical context preceded the conflict, as this might undermine simplistic and self-serving explanations as to the nature of the conflict.
Here is some of the important information that is being airbrushed out of any discussion of the Ukraine conflict:
1) Twenty-four million Russians died during World War II, mostly civilians. That shared trauma made national security very important to the Russian people.
2) Ukraine was the country in Europe that most actively collaborated with the NAZIs during World War Two, and developed a home-grown version of Jew-hating, white-supremacist ultra-nationalism.
3) When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Mikhael Gorbachev made a deal with US President George H. W. Bush. Russia would allow East and West Germany to be re-united. In return, Bush promised that the former Warsaw Pact nations would remain independent to act as a buffer zone between Europe and Russia. America has broken that promise numerous times in the decades since, inviting Hungary, Poland, Latvia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to join NATO. America's failure to keep such an important agreement destroyed Russia's trust in the United States.
4) Ukraine became incredibly corrupt in the decades after it left the Soviet Union. That corruption even extended to its relationship with the United States.
5) The democratically- elected government of Ukraine was overthrown in a violent coup in 2015. US ambassador Barbara Nuland boasted that the United States had spent 5 billion dollars and several years organizing the Maidan Revolution that overthrew the government. Most particularly the United States funded, armed and trained neo-NAZI groups, including the infamous Azov battalion. This further eroded Russian trust in the United States.
6) The Ukrainian Government then tried to outlaw the Russian language, even though a large part of population of the Southeastern Provinces of Ukraine spoke Russian and were ethnically Russian. (Roughly one-quarter of the population speaks Russian and one sixth is ethnically Russian.) The Ukrainian Province of Crimea withdrew from Ukraine and asked to be a part of Russia. The Ukrainian Provinces of Luhansk and Donbass also tried to withdraw, which created a civil war.
7) The Ukrainian Government did not accept the succession of Donbass and Luhansk. Over the next seven years, the Ukrainian Government shelled Donbass and Luhansk relentlessly, killing 14,000 of its own people, including 10,000 civilians. Half a million people fled Ukraine, entering Russia as refugees. The West neither noticed nor cared.
8) Not only did the West not care that Ukraine was killing thousands of its own citizens, it placed economic sanctions on the Russian Government when Russia tried to intervene to protect the ethnic Russians in Donbass and Luhansk. This further damaged Russia's trust in the West.
9) Volodymyr Zelensky was an actor who played the Ukrainian President in the TV comedy series Servant of the People. Ukrainians were so fed up with the corruption of Ukrainian politicians that they elected Zelensky President in 2019 despite his complete lack of previous political experience.
10) Zelensky was elected as the 'peace candidate.' Initially he opposed the increasing power of the neo-NAZI militias, but they laughed at him, and threatened his life. Eventually he gave in to all their demands. Neo-NAZI militias became an official part of the armed forces of Ukraine. The birthday of Nazi collaborator Stepan Banderas became a national holiday.
11) Much of the country opposed the increasing power of the Uko-NAZIS. Zelensky jailed the leader of the main opposition party. He shut down the three TV stations that supported the opposition parties. The Uko-NAZIS have threatened and/or murdered those who opposed them.
12) By 2022, there was active discussion of Ukraine joining NATO. This would have put American nuclear ICBMs five minutes flight time from Moscow. That was no more acceptable to Vladimir Putin than it had been for US President John F. Kennedy to have Russian ICBM's in Cuba, five minutes flight time from the US back in 1962. The Russians removed those ICBMs only because Kennedy made clear America would invade Cuba if Russia did not remove them. University of Chicago distinguished professor and political scientist Dr. John Mearsheimer argued several years ago that the United States was setting up Ukraine to get ‘wrecked’. He lays out the argument for that in a mere 90 seconds.
None of this makes Putin's invasion of Ukraine less morally reprehensible. It does make it more understandable. It also helps to remember that the West is far from blameless in how events have unfolded. And that there is probably a way out of the mess that has been created if we stop pretending that Vladimir Putin is the anti-Christ.
The risks of World War III have never been higher. If there is a war between Russia and the NATO, it will be very hard to prevent it from sliding into an all-out nuclear war. If even 10% of the world's nuclear weapons are fired off it will create a nuclear winter of two years or more. Those who aren't vaporized in the war itself will starve in the dark.
We need to stop the virtue signalling. We need to stop escalating the conflict. We need to find a way to dialogue, to negotiate. We need to de-escalate. We need to listen to the other side. Maybe start here, listening to what Vladimir Putin has to say.
Otherwise we may find ourselves in the true War to End All Wars.
PS: Just so I don’t leave on too dark a note, add this to your “Laugh or Cry” file. And this:
very nice and succinct. I have spread it around already...
Bruce, thanks for the history lesson. I agree totally with your conclusions. Thanks also for the link to Putin’s explanation. This is a major world relationship we need to depolarize by making the effort to understand the full context, instead of salivating like Pavlov’s dogs at the name of Putin, the ultimate evil monster.