Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict (Ukraine) - a Review
Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies provide a far, far from normative vision in: WAR IN UKRAINE: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict. Their perspective is made clear on the first page of the book where they say:
Yes, Russia’s aggression was reckless and
ultimately indefensible. But the West’s
reneging on promises to halt eastward expansion of NATO in the wake of the
collapse of the Soviet Union played a major part in prompting Putin to
act. So did the U.S. involvement in the
2014 Ukraine coup and Ukraine’s failure to implement the Minsk peace agreements.
The common story we hear from all major news sources
including NPR is a tale of U.S. and NATO benevolence and of a brutal dictator
Putin and an aggressive Russia.
U.S. media ignore the buildup of USian empire and how
NATO is politicized to carry out aggression, while doing little to prevent
warfare. We aren’t exposed substantively
to the profits to be made by many large corporations and the corresponding
costs to both our people, and those of other nations.
We are missing much in our “profit oriented”
media! We don’t hear the voices that
suggest the nuances of the push towards war, and how Ukrainian leadership
continues to exploit its people, who are the most real victims of both their
own leadership, as well as how Russian people are victimized similarly by the
leadership of both Russia and Ukraine.
The world is changing greatly, and the leadership of
Joe Biden is missing the boat, just as his predecessor did. The words are more moderate, frequently, but
the results are often similar.
These authors stress the dangers of escalation into a nuclear
war, which would threaten the survival of much of the world’s population, even
if limited to “tactical” nuclear weapons.
In reading this book, one must in the end choose
between a vision of trust of Biden and the Democratic Party, or being “radical”
and seeing a very, very different world pushing into our faces and future. In that world, the power of the U.S. is
weakening, as China and other countries fill the void left by the U.S. leadership’s
ignoring the warning signs of experts who know a lot. Such experts include at least one former
U.S. Ambassador to Russia, and others with much valuable experience.
Moving towards negotiating a lasting peace will be
very challenging with serious U.S. efforts, together with our NATO allies. It is impossible, given the current demands
of Russian surrender and immediate withdrawal of forces. While the Russian leadership is clearly “wrong”,
this, in no way shows that the Ukrainian leadership and the U.S. pushing its
own agenda upon Ukraine is right.
This effort is putting a huge strain on the U.S.
economy, as well as threatening a nuclear holocaust. It is time that we wake up - and speak out
against this travesty! We need to seek
peace and cooperation! War - is Not The
Answer!
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