OMNI WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS,
#104, DECEMBER 14, 2022
Ukraine War
Benjamin Abelow. How the West Brought War to
Ukraine.
Art Hobson. Dangers of
the Ukraine War.
Benjamin Abelow. How the West Brought War to Ukraine.
May 8, 2022.
Misguided American and NATO policies created
the Ukraine crisis. Now they risk nuclear war.
https://medium.com/@benjamin.abelow/western-policies-caused-the-ukraine-crisis-and-now-risk-nuclear-war-1e402a67f44e
Preface:
If you prefer to read this essay as a book
This
essay is now available, slightly modified and revised, in book form —
Paperback, eBook, and Audible. You can purchase these at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and your local
independent bookstore. You can also read more about me and my work at my
website.
A German-lauguage edition is available in all markets, including in Germany,
for example, here, and a free German edition — beautifully
illustrated with landscape paintings by the artist Archip Kuindschi
(1841–1910), for whom a museum is named in Mariupol, Ukraine — is
available here. A Slovene translation,
which is being published by the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, is in
progress, and a Polish edition is being negotiated. Translations into other
languages are being explored.
Copyright This essay is protected by copyright. Copyright
© 2022 Benjamin Abelow
Overview
For
almost 200 years, starting with the framing of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, the
United States has asserted security claims over virtually the whole Western
hemisphere. Any foreign power that places military forces near U.S. territory
knows it is crossing a red line. U.S. policy thus embodies a conviction
that where a potential opponent places its forces is crucially
important. In fact, this conviction is the cornerstone of American foreign and
military policy, and its violation is considered reason for war.
Yet when it comes to
Russia, the United States and its NATO allies have acted for decades in
disregard of this same principle. They have progressively advanced the
placement of their military forces toward Russia, even to its borders. They
have done this with inadequate attention to, and sometimes blithe disregard
for, how Russian leaders might perceive this advance. Had Russia taken
equivalent actions with respect to U.S. territory — say, placing its military
forces in Canada or Mexico — Washington would have gone to war and explained
that war as a defensive response to the military encroachment of a foreign
power.
When viewed through this lens, Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine is seen not as the unbridled expansionism of a malevolent Russian
leader but as a violent and destructive reaction to misguided Western policies: an attempt to
reestablish a zone around Russia’s western border that is free of offensive
threats from the United States and its allies. Having misunderstood why Russia
invaded Ukraine, the West is now basing existential decisions on false
premises. In doing so, it is deepening the crisis and may be sleepwalking
toward nuclear war.
This argument, which I
now present in detail, is based on the analyses of a number of scholars,
government officials, and military observers, all of whom I introduce and quote
from in the course of the presentation. These include John Mearsheimer, Stephen
F. Cohen, Richard Sakwa, Gilbert Doctorow, George F. Kennan, Chas Freeman,
Douglas Macgregor, and Brennan Deveraux.
MORE https://medium.com/@benjamin.abelow/western-policies-caused-the-ukraine-crisis-and-now-risk-nuclear-war-1e402a67f44e
[Buy this book. We did too little to prevent this war, so now we strive harder to stop it. The key is knowledge. Opponents of US global aggression should support the scholars, publishers, and distributors of that opposition. Instead of asking ourselves what can I do to stop US imperialism; I’m just a single person: Buy two copies—and Medea Benjamin’s excellent new book too. –Dick]
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Dear Friends,
The war in Ukraine becomes ever more dangerous for the planet. Nuclear weapons use has become a real possibility. A more general war in Europe, between NATO and Russia, has become a real possibility. Here is my summary of the most pertinent parts of a news story, quoted from this morning’s NWADG:
NATO chief Stoltenberg calls the risk of war with Russia real. Ukraine could spin out of control. "If things go wrong, they can go horribly wrong," he says. "It is a terrible war. It is also a war that can become a full-fledged war that spreads into a major war between NATO & Russia. We are working on that every day to avoid that, There is no doubt that a full-fledged war is a possibility. It is important to avoid a conflict that involves more countries in Europe and becomes a full-fledged war in Europe." Russia has repeatedly accused NATO allies of effectively becoming a party to the conflict by providing weapons, training, and military intelligence to attack Russian forces. Putin again accused the West of using Ukraine as a tool against his country: "For years, the West shamelessly exploited and pumped out its resources, effectively turning the country into a colony. Now it is cynically using the Ukrainian people as cannon fodder against Russia by continuing to supply Ukraine with weapons, sending mercenaries, and pushing it to a suicidal track.:"
Where is the national peace move movement when we need it.? The peace movement showed up during the Vietnam War, the First Iraq War, and the Second Iraq War. We should in my opinion have shown up more forcefully in the Afghan War, the attack on Libya, and the Syrian War. This war in Ukraine is a bigger mistake than these past wars because it carries a real threat of expansion to the entire planet. Peace – Art
My Peace Movement Directory (James Richard
Bennett 2001) described 1200 anti-war orgs in N. America. Some peace groups did
disappear after Iraq, as I discovered by checking a sample a few years later.
But that did not mean the peace movement was not showing up following that
war. Although some of those groups ceased operation
after the Iraq invasion, others continued forcefully (e.g., the Quaker AFSC and
FCNL) and strong new ones arose (e.g. World Beyond War).
Art’s comments reminded me of similar
criticism a decade ago; e.g., “Where are the
protests now?”by JONATHAN GURWITZ , SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS. Posted: June 6,
2011 at 3:58 a.m.
With U.S.
forces engaged in military conflicts in three countries—four, if you count
Pakistan—have you ever wondered what happened to the vigorous antiwar movement
of the Bush era and all those trendy protests against American bombs falling on
Muslim nations? (Also published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 6-6-11 ) .
Dick’s Comment jotted down at
that time: Most of the replies to
Gurwitz at the SAE-N focused on
Gurwitz’ criticism of the Democrats’ “anti-war opportunism of the Bush years” (Democrats
anti-war under Bush, silent under Obama).
Another theme in his article is the admirable consistency of principled
anti-war protesters, whom he illustrates by Cindy Sheehan. He respects individuals who, having
evaluated the human and financial costs of war, have become “committed to a
philosophy of peace,” because “…there
are legitimate, principled reasons to oppose U.S. military interventions.”
The peace movement is the varied expression of
this philosophy of peace, for which we can be proud: prevent wars, stop them,
succor the injured and homeless.. Gurwitz,
of course, does not in the least prove that Democrats who marched and wrote
against the unnecessary, illegal, immoral, and wasteful
Yes, our leaders have gone to war belligerently ever since WWII;
and yes our two Parties are the ruling one War Party in foreign affairs. But Art, Arkansas’ preeminent principled,
anti-war peacemaker, is right: it doesn’t have to be that way. Be informed about the Ukraine War. Overthrow the War Party. Join a local or/AND a national principled peace
organization and make it stronger. (Fayetteville has OMNI; Little Rock has ACPJ and WAND.)
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