You have to know the history to know the culprit of Ukraine war.
One of the common arguments that you will come across on the social media when you say that the US knowingly provoked the war in Ukraine is that it’s Russia who crossed the border and started the war, not the US. They would say it’s the Russian armed forces that have their boots on the ground in Ukraine, not the US ones.
And I came across such an empire simp today on Twitter:
According to him, the US should not be blamed for the war because “Russia chose to cross the border and start the war, not the US.”
Having this line of thought shows one doesn’t understand the meaning of the word “provoke.” When I provoke a fight between two guys, does that mean I am directly involved in the fight? Of course, not. Saying that I am not fighting directly, therefore I am innocent, is not a valid argument. Looking from a distance, it would seem that I am completely innocent, but only after taking a closer look do you find that I am the far bigger culprit than either of the two guys fighting.
Let me clarify myself by saying that I do not support Russia in its war in Ukraine, neither am I saying that it’s a completely innocent side. Every bit of me is against the suffering and pain that the people living in Ukraine have to go through as a result of invasion. No amount of evidence can justify the killing of people. So, I am against the Russian invasion, but that doesn’t mean Russia is the only side responsible for the chaos in Ukraine.
Saying “Russia must be held accountable for the destruction of Ukraine” is not the same as saying “Everyone who had a hand in starting this war must be held accountable.” When you say the former, you are giving the impression that one and only one side is “bad”, and there was no involvement of any kind from anyone else, but when you say the latter, you are implying that anyone whom the available evidence points finger toward must be held accountable.
There’s a lot of evidence available which shows how the US, in specific, or NATO, in general, provoked Moscow into crossing the border line separating it from Ukraine, how Boris Johnson spoiled the possible peace talk between Moscow and Kiev earlier in 2022, how the US weapons manufacturing industry has a vested interest in continuing this war, how this war advances the US interests regarding geopolitics, and how many Western officials spent years warning that the West’s actions would lead to the current crisis we see in Ukraine.
You can say “Russia bad” “Putin evil” as many times as you want, but that doesn’t disprove the fact the US/NATO is as much responsible for the war as Russia is.
By “knowing” Ukraine, it do not mean geographically, but historically and geopolitically. Knowing where it is located on the map doesn’t mean you know its political history and how strategically important it is for Russia in terms of national security.
If we are to pretend that a nation called Russia came into being on Feb 24, 2022 and straight away decided to invade a neighboring country just because it hates democracy, then sure everything that the Western media says about it is true, but you know that it’s not true even if you are die-hard anti-Russia. If you perceive the global conflicts with the lens of “who invaded who” and conclude “good” and “bad” guys from that, then the chances of you knowing the truth are lower than the chances of you being a victim of propaganda.
If you have been learning about Ukraine from the mainstream media only since the invasion, then you will conclude that ONLY Russia is responsible for this war because the Western mainstream media has been trying to erase the history of Ukraine since after the invasion.
There have been numerous historical incidents when the Western media reported what would be considered “Russia propaganda” today. For example, many media organizations in the West had no problem calling out the Nazi ideology of the Azov battalion or reporting that the US had a big role in making the 2014 Maidan coup successful, but if you dare highlight these things today, you would be called a “Russian agent.”
If you think that the only trustful source for the global news is the Western media, then considering checking out what it had to say about Ukraine prior to the invasion.
Here are a few examples:
That’s why it’s important to know the historical reporting of Western media on Ukraine. If you just keep looking at what they have to say today, you will miss the full context and you will not get an idea about how the most powerful propaganda machine in the world uses its power to inroad its agendas by manipulating the public thought at a vast scale.
There are people who oppose Russia because they claim they are anti-imperialist, but they don't oppose the US empire that deliberately provoked the very war they oppose.
Then what are they really opposing?
They are opposing Russia not because it invaded Ukraine, but because their minds are hijacked by the propaganda machines of the US empire.
That explains why they can't see the major role US played in starting this war.
Here’s the recent thread I uploaded on Substack Reader app; it’s a WhatsApp-like group where we can discuss our opinions about a topic.
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