Drum Beats and Nuclear Weapons

Ukrainian political history is extremely complicated but it is now simplified by Western media. We are being told who is in the wrong as if the issues are black and white, who are the aggressors, who shot down MH-17, and how we need to arm the Eastern bloc European countries. And the winner is!.....the arms merchants.

Furthermore, some of the rhetoric has made no sense. John Kerry, US Vice-President, demands that “Russian disarm the separatists”. How, exactly, was Russia going to take the weapons away from the dissidents in another country?

The United States has admitted that it put millions of dollars into the protests that eventually brought down the previous Ukrainian president (remember, the one who was going to align with the Russians instead of the EU). A Western-friendly multi-million dollar chocolatier becomes president after an election that barely passes for legal.

Unanswered questions: why was the US in there in the first place? Why are they supporting a despot (“West-friendly” doesn’t mean “democratic”)? Why is it ok for the West to supply arms to the one side if it is wrong for Russia to supply the other (whether they are or not)?

The Eastern often-Russian speaking Ukrainians do not want separatism. Or at least they didn’t until the media started reporting it. For years they have wanted a federal arrangement with the Ukrainian government, much like Quebec with Canada.  Putin has asked for meetings to resolve the issue. The US says, “no meetings until you do what we are asking.” Putin doesn’t seem to be a particularly nice guy but at least he has called for the separatists to halt their activities and for the government to move its army out of the contested areas; the US insists that the government has the right to put down dissent by military means.

I hear drum beats and see false flags. Remember the lead-ups to Afghanistan – “gotta get Bin Laden”, Iraq – weapons of mass destruction, Iraq – babies being thrown out of incubators?

A million people have been displaced because one country decided to meddle in the politics of another. This time the two international players are facing off with aging nuclear weapons fleets and aging computer systems. Will not calmer heads prevail? 

Remembering D-Day: It could be Nuclear this time

And learn from our past. Could the terrible loss of life and environmental destruction that was World War II been prevented? If we don‘t learn from our past, we are bound to repeat our mistakes; honouring the battle of D-Day and the men who lost their lives should include  answering the question, “how could it have been prevented?”

My aunt lost two sons in the war; she spent almost a decade depressively in mourning. She spoke resentfully of people who got rich during the war while she lost her children. 

So as the US and Russia face off over the Ukraine, what could we learn from World War II?

When someone, a leader or a country says that it wants world domination or implies that it is somehow “above the law”, they mean it! Hitler said it. Now the US says it. 

US exceptionalism was recognized as fact in the eighteenth century; unfortunately the more recent US leadership have mistaken exceptionalism for superiority. Paul Bolt, on taking his position as US representative to the UN said (and I paraphrase) that there wasn’t really a United Nations, the world was governed by one super-power and everyone else had to go along. In fact, the failure to understand the nature of US exceptionalism has lead to universal blindness about the invasions and bombings of more than seven different countries in the last century, the building of military bases in more than 25 countries, the surrounding of China, Russia and the Korean Peninsula – and acceptance of US hegemony at the UN Security Council. Finally, the United States does believe that it is above the law; it does not accept the existence of the International Criminal Court.

The US wealthy need have wars. They even support the use of drones so the sales of arms will continue but US citizens don’t actually have to get killed. Obama has made threats to Iran, Syria and now Russia – none of which have threatened the US. So the US is on a war path.

Why do we (the rest of the world) stand silent?

1. Denial:  We can’t believe that war will actually happen. Chamberlain so wanted to believe Hitler that he proudly referred to the “Munich Agreement” of 1938 which “gave” Czechoslovakia to Hitler, as a “Peace agreement”.

We can’t believe that there would be unscrupulous people in the arms industry who would lobby for war for their own profit – of course, that’s not what they say.  They say that the war is for “education for women”, saving “babies from being thrown out of their incubators” or “to establish democracy”.

We don't face the fact that the sales of arms is considered ethical; we can’t conceive that the arms profiteers don't realize that they carry a responsibility for arming terrorists, underground militia, or despotic governments – or draw a line between their profits and the deaths of very ordinary people.

2. Personal Gain: This played a role in the delay with which the US entered WWII. It plays a role among nations currently allied with the US; disagreeing with the US might mean imposition of some new sanctions, some passport hassle or trade issue. Additionally, of course, other countries may have arms industries equally eager to see a war break out. Canada could become very wealthy if a major war occurred in Eastern Europe.

3. Bad-mouthing the US: No one wants to be labeled as “anti-American” partly because the term “American” is equally applicable to Mexicans, Central and South Americans and partly because mostly we like the citizens of the United States even as their government doesn’t represent them on the world stage.

Even so, the United States is behaving like a big bully; it must accept the same rules as everyone else. Why is it in the Ukraine in the first place? Why is it leading the inflammatory remarks towards Russia? Why cannot world leaders become civilized and behave like adults, sit down at a table and start negotiating a peace process. It is the US that refuses to meet with Russia.

The fact that Russia and the United States both have nuclear weapons means that no one will be left unaffected if war occurs - we cannot afford to just watch the process - we need to be vocal.