The Propaganda War thickens. The collective West has been unabashedly on a historical revisionist tour de force trying to rewrite history. Some have even argued that America won the Cold War because Regan had decreed it so, back in the 1980s.
Full disclosure. Here is the article that prompted me to write this post.
https://www.hoover.org/research/peril-ukrainian-attacks-against-nuclear-russia
Yeah, yeah. That’s right. Read and weep, folks, read and weep. It ends with the BS exhortation:
Ukraine is fighting with all its might against a hulking brute openly challenging the resolve of the United States and its NATO European partners. Ukraine deserves the victory of driving Russia from its territory. For its bravery and sacrifice, Ukraine merits fulsome aid, including tens of thousands of inexpensive long-range drones and missiles to strike targets inside Russia. It is perilous not to provide Ukraine with the weapons to fight as hard as it can. First target: Putin’s dacha.
Bing West (Hoover Institute)
This op-ed is academically invalid. It is downright noxious. This nasty piece of propaganda is meant to galvanize a vacillating U.S. government, which has squandered more than $100 billion in the last two years on military aid to UKR. Yet, Russian troops are in Ukraine still. And the war is not going well for Ukraine.
But the premise of the article is bombastic in nature. Its clickbait title is just that. Because, in the end, the author promises Russia won’t ever retaliate with nuclear weapons if the West enables Ukraine militarily. This joker pretends to know what Putin is ready to do or will do.
The world has never been treading so close to War as it has been these past couple of years.
In fact, Cold War 1.0 came with some very clear rules of engagement that dictated the exact lengths the Participants were willing to go to protect their respective national interests.
As it happens, the world sorely needs such a clarity during this Cold War 2.0.
But speaking of Cold War 1.0, the article commits several logical fallacies.
First off, the United States of America did not win the Cold War. The USSR refused to play any longer.
Bush met Gorbachev, as did Baker and Shevardnadze, and they agreed to reduce nuclear arsenals to a decent level as they realized nuclear war is unwinnable. The whole process started in the 70s and continued throughout the 80s.
The fact neither did away with nukes, should give pause to those who believe nukes harmful to world peace. If post-1991 era was as violent/non-violent as it was, it was due to nuclear weapons safeguarding world peace. Without it, WW3 would have been waged already. Perhaps even WW4. After all, before 1945, the world was on a 20-year cycle when it came to waging world wars.
The USSR did not unravel because the Soviets lost the Cold War. Again, people should stop drinking the Kool-Aid. Don’t get high on your own supply of BS propaganda, people.
The Soviet Union came apart in December 1991, two years after the Wall came down. It was not in consequence of the Soviets losing the War to America. Bush himself gave a speech in Kyiv in 1991, exhorting the Soviet republics to choose freedom over independence. Back then, America did not want the USSR to split.
We all know how that turned out.
Furthermore, Gorbachev promised to allow German reunification if NATO would not extend eastward. State Secretary James Baker put his name on a public memo to this effect.
We also know how that turned out.
Fact is that America went back on its word multiple times. Every time NATO advanced to the East, it signaled its commitment to bring War to a Russia that had neither the inclination nor the means to wage one in the 90s.
So, when Putin assumed office, he defined the Red Line in the sand. Still, the West crossed it.
Now, is Eastern Europe historically weary and apprehensive of Russia? Of course, they are. Having been occupied multiple times by Tsarist and Bolshevik armies, they should, and they are.
The thing is Russia is no longer in the occupying foreign territories business. They are however in the defend their own land business. And they are quite good at it.
So, when Putin comes before the world and tells it “Why Do We Need a World if Russia Is Not In It?”, people ought to pause and reflect long and well at its implications.
As it stands, in contrast to USSR, Russia is no longer a hegemonic power. With Ukraine, Russia remains a regional power. Without it, it’s not even that. And Ukraine is historically a part of Russia. Russia is ready and has the means to burn not just Ukraine, but the entire World. Russia has the capabilities to X-Ray that Point onto the faces of naysayers.
Götterdämmerung 