Significant numbers of people in America have the following sentiment: “Russia MUST be stopped, it cannot be allowed to take over other countries at will. I just wish that Obama would see the light of day and provide military aid to Ukraine to offset the enemy.”
A reading of this article may help place Putin in a different light for those who think he’s another Hitler. For a discussion of the propaganda alleging Russian aggression, see here.
Putin had years to make a move on Ukraine if he had wanted to take it over. He’s had important posts in Russia since 1999. He never made such a move, never hinted at it, never built up a military force to accomplish it and never wrote books or made speeches to prepare Russians or the world for such a bold move. The current turmoil in Ukraine is not of Putin’s making. He’s been reacting to events in Ukraine that he did not initiate. He reacted to Kiev’s attacks on eastern Ukraine. Furthermore, his reactions have not been to take over Ukraine, which the Russian armed forces could have accomplished swiftly had he ordered them to do so.
Russia is not taking over countries at will. It specifically is not taking over Ukraine. Why would it want to do so? Ukraine is a basket case economically. It’s divided and would be a headache to govern. Large numbers of Ukrainians would see Russia an an invader and form a troublesome resistance to its rule. It’s not impossible that Russia might make a military move on Kiev, under certain conditions, such as Kiev making stronger moves against Donbas or Russia, under the auspices of the West. There are those in Ukraine who want to attack Russia. Other conditions might include events (possibly false flag) that disrupt Ukraine’s nuclear facilities or blow up an important dam or assassinate its current leadership. However, the current sentiment to stop Russia is not based on such scenarios. It is based on the false idea that Russia is an aggressive force out to take over nearby countries. There is not the slightest evidence that Russia wants to take over the Baltic republics or other eastern European countries that once were satellites of the Soviet Union. Under threats and provocations of NATO and the West, a variety of Russian actions and pressures become possible and more likely, but these possibilities are not what motivate the notion that Obama or the West should stop Putin. That idea is being planted by an immense propaganda effort and demonization of Russia that is pushing the false notion that Putin is another Hitler and that to do nothing is appeasement. Americans who believe this are more than willing to turn a blind eye to one American aggression and/or use of military force after another in countries far from these shores; while at the same time condemning Russia for whatever aid it’s providing to help Russians in Donbas from being slaughtered by Kiev’s attacks. This region is clearly also within a Russian sphere of influence and has long been so, especially Crimea. The U.S. government was more than willing to invade Mexico on several occasions for reasons that were far less defensive in nature. World powers saw no reason to intervene. If Russia had no designs on Ukraine and still doesn’t, the term appeasement does not apply. No American interest is at stake anyway that warrants Americans inserting themselves into yet another trouble spot, this one confronting a major nuclear power. Russia cannot sit idly by while American forces enter Ukraine. And if America does adopt the bankrupt and divided Ukraine as its child, it can only be the greatest of follies.
5:03 pm on February 1, 2015
