Provocations Continue to Fuel the Russia-Ukraine Conflict

By David Starr

In the United Nations General Assembly, U.S. President Joe Biden made a few shrill accusations in response to rhetorical comments made by Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 21.

Biden did make a positive remark, saying that “A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.” (Emma Kinery, CNBC, September 21, 2022) Other than that, Biden trotted out the same demonizing cliches that the western media and western governments have used constantly in relation to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Russia is the demon while Ukraine is totally innocent with the good guys being the United States/NATO alliance trying to rescue it. But it should be noted that Russia is not a hero in this conflict. There are no heroes.

Biden asserted the following: “Let us speak plainly: A permanent member of the United Nations Security Council invaded its neighbor, attempted to erase the sovereign state from the map. Russia has shamelessly violated the core tenets of the United Nations’ charter, no more important than the clear prohibition against countries taking the territory of their neighbor by force.” The hypocrisy is amazing. The United States, as an empire, has invaded, bombed and/or occupied other nations for decades. It has violated the U.N. charter repeatedly. Some of the examples are El Salvador, Nicaragua, Cuba, the Philippines, Hawai’i, Vietnam, Korea, etc.

What did Putin say that got Biden riled up? Putin accused unidentified (?) Western leaders of threatening to use nuclear weapons against Russia. (Michael Klare, The Nation, September 27, 2022)  He continued: “I would like to remind those who make such statements regarding Russia that our country has different types of weapons as well, and some of them are more modern than the weapons NATO countries have. In the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country and to defend Russia and our people, we will certainly make use of all weapon systems available to us. This is not a bluff.”

While the conclusion of Putin’s comments is irresponsible, he is saying that IF the West uses nuclear weapons, Russia would have no choice but to retaliate. Russia right now is backed into a corner. The U.S./NATO alliance has put weapon systems in Eastern Europe and now in Ukraine. And they are pointed at Russia near its borders. And when one is backed into a corner, desperate measures could transpire.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. U.S. leaders promised Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev that the U.S./NATO alliance would NOT expand Eastward into the former socialist countries. But it was a blatant lie. And not surprising if, for example, one looks at the numerous treaties between a young, expanding U.S. and Native American tribes. The U.S. violated most, if not all, of the treaties. And the only country to have used anything like nuclear weapons is the United States. The atomic bombings of Japan during World War II are evidence.

Rather than prioritizing a peaceful solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict through negotiations, U.S. leaders took an adversarial position, that is, spreading war hysteria and funneling weapons into Ukraine. At one point, there was a chance for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, but the West stifled that. It continues to push for more conflict in the guise of defending Ukraine, and to promote freedom and democracy. In reality, the U.S. has seldom exported freedom and democracy. But more often than not, there has been the attempts to protect U.S. foreign interests as the priority, meaning the maintaining and expansion of capital.

Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern is familiar with the details of the current Russia – Ukraine conflict. (Ray McGovern, Consortium News, September 27, 2022) McGovern wrote, “Fourteen years ago, then U.S. ambassador to Russia (current CIA Director) William Burns was warned by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Russia might have to intervene in Ukraine, if it were made a member of NATO. Thus, Washington policymakers were given forewarning, in very specific terms of Russia’s redline regarding membership for Ukraine in NATO.

“Nevertheless, on April 3, 2008, a NATO summit in Bucharest asserted: ‘NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO.  We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO.”’

McGovern also brought up the Feb. 22, 2014 U.S.-backed coup in Kiev, “rightly labeled ‘the most blatant coup in history.’ Kiev’s spanking new leaders, handpicked and identified by name by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, immediately called for Ukraine to join NATO.” It can accurately be said that the U.S. handpicking Ukraine’s leaders is a violation of Ukrainian sovereignty. But it isn’t an aberration, as U.S. leaders have done this before in other countries.

What if the Russia-Ukraine problem was a United States-Canadian problem? What if the roles were reversed, with Russia sending weapons to Canada and pointing them at the U.S.? What if Russia staged a coup and handpicked Canada’s leaders? U.S. leaders and their supporters would be up in arms, wanting to strike Russia. U.S. leaders could even talk about a nuclear option, which would sound maddening.

The West has claimed that Russia’s invasion was unprovoked. Given the above information, this is another distortion of reality. It is a fact that the war started in 2014 after the U.S.-backed coup. Ukrainian forces, with Nazis being a major part of them, attacked the Donbass region which is mainly populated by ethnic Russians. The new Ukrainian regime has wanted to ban Russian culture and language. And Ukrainian Nazis think of ethnic Russians as scum. There were about 14,000 deaths, mainly Russian. This hardly gets highlighted by Western media.

Rather than continuing the war, a ceasefire and negotiations should be the top priorities. “While the West should continue to support Ukraine, the time has come to negotiate a ceasefire and launch serious peace talks,” wrote Shlomo Ben-Ami, former Israeli foreign minister. (Shlomo Ben-Ami, The Strategist, July 19, 2022) “This includes negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to decide the fate of Russian-occupied territories.”

Ben-Ami suggests continuing support for Ukraine but on what grounds? Humanitarian? Military? Both? Humanitarian is of course preferable, as long as both sides agree to have a ceasefire. Mutual trust must be established.

There was a moment where negotiations were underway. One of the promises of Ukraine’s President Zelensky was to fulfill a peace agreement with Russia. There were the Minsk agreements. But that was scuttled by the U.S./NATO alliance. Zelensky is willingly breaking his promise. And the U.S. arms industry wants to make huge profits off the war; to the detriment of ordinary Ukrainians.

The western media and governments must stop their demonizing propaganda, and work toward a peaceful solution. Unfortunately, the U.S./NATO alliance had plans to expand into Eastern Europe and Russia all along. That can only worsen the situation. Biden and      other U.S. leaders must stop pushing war hysteria and abandon their ulterior motives. That goes for Russia too, if it has imperial designs, hungry for past glory during Tsarist Russia.