For the past year and a half, we all been watching a terrible disaster unfolding. This time not in the Middle East or Asia, but right on our doorstep; Ukraine.
"Putin's War", as Western media often portray it, is anything but though. These kind of conflicts have happened many times before in history, one of such times it was Greece that suffered the consequences of the struggle between East and West, with the Greek Civil War happening back in the post WW2 '40s.
That conflict was the first proxy war of the Cold War and represents the first example of postwar involvement on the part of the Allies in the internal affairs of a foreign country, an implementation of George F. Kennan's containment policy. Greece in the end was funded by the United States (through the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan) and joined NATO (1952), while the insurgents were demoralized by the bitter split between the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin, who wanted to end the war, and Yugoslavia's Josip Broz Tito, who wanted it to continue. (Wikipedia)
Drawing parallel's from one disaster, we can see what future awaits Ukraine for the coming decades, if it manages to win this war and maintain its territorial integrity; it cannot do it alone, unless NATO goes to war with Russia, but no one is prepared to do this yet. We have a stalemate as it stands, with Russia still occupying roughly the same amount of territory, since the start of the war.
The West insists on helping the embattled nation at all costs, "for as long as it takes" to achieve victory! The problems is, does any of them care about the human casualties, or teaching Putin another lesson is the only thing that matters? In addition, does any of the Western leaders have any vision of what will happen to Ukraine, once it joins NATO and EU, will it be just another unstable, problematic member like Greece or the Balkans?
This is clearly another war between the West and Russia for supremacy, similar to that of the Greek Civil War. Ukraine is being used by both sides to settle old scores once and for all, and one can only wonder why don't Americans just don't go to war with Russia themselves in the Pacific and their shared borders close to Alaska, but insist on dragging everyone else in the vortex of their power struggles with their old arch-enemy. Whoever wins that slaughter, gets Greece, Ukraine and Europe, or the rest of the world for that matter.
Europeans already pay a high cost for this war, we have all noticed our cost of living sky rocketing, despite all anti-Russian propaganda by our media, and Ukraine cheering. This war could have been easily avoided, if the two sides just gave up the "super-power" complex. But no, this bras de fer is not new, in fact it never went away. The West has maintained the arrogant "winner" complex of the Cold War, and wishes that neither Russia, China or anyone else ever challenge their hegemony again. But the world is changing. Plus, for how long can the West maintain this unethical monopoly in the world's riches and when poorer nations'citizens pour into Western lands, the solution they can think of is "building walls and make them pay for it?"
The struggles between Russia and the West started with the emergence of Vladimir Putin, as a dominant figure in Russian politics. And partly, this is the West's fault too. In a recent BBC documentary series, "Putin, Russia and the West" we can see that ever since the Libyan Civil War and the West's involvement in it, relations started going sour between NATO and Putin, after a few very promising years of reconciliation efforts. Russia's view was the any outside involvement in Libya should not be a "regime change", rather a humanitarian assistance, to save lives. Putin, who was acting as a Prime Minister, while Dmitry Medvedev was Russia's President at the time, openly clashed back then even, as Medvedev tried to approach and please the West, negotiating the conflict with them. Putin on the other hand, a former KGB man, knew from the start that this is a regime change operation.
US President Obama and his Western allies, proved Putin right, as they ousted Muammar Gaddafi from Libya despite Russia's objections, making it very difficult for Medveden to defend any trust in the West again among his country's elites, pushing of course the Russian public opinion, firmly behind Putin. In the Syrian Conflict, Putin was able to solidify his dominance in Russian politics, again after Western insistance of another "regime change" and a decisive victory in favor of Assad.
It is then a wonder why then Western Powers condemn Russia when they meddle in other nation's affairs, while they do exactly the same in regions of their interest. I would wholeheartedly support the Western cause, if I saw that in the aftermath of each Western invasion or bombardement, countries like Libya, Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan saw their political, financial and societal standards rise. But this is not the case. In fact what we have seen, is that these regions are far worse after the "removal" of their "dictators", so why do we continue messing countries up, and then we do not like dealing with the consequences; refugees, migration, instability.
We are proving Putin right all the time. His stance of "no regime change", sounds much better, than the hypocrytical Western "humanitarian cause". If our leaders trully cared about human rights, there would be no need for "Black Lives Matter" demonstrations in America, or riots in France over the killings of migrant youths. Why we do not focus on bettering our own societies first, but insist on meddling in other nations' affairs?
It is simple; our leaders do not like "dictators", because they are harder to handle and manipulate. Little do they care about human rights in other nations. If a "dictator" is not West friendly, our governments and elites, cannot get access to the wealth and riches of that nation, under favorable for Western interests terms. We never bother Saudi Arabia, despite their terrible human rights records (women and LGBT individuals or migrant worker treatment). They play nice with USA and many of its Western allies, notable the UK. However Gaddafi and Assad, were not nice to the West like the Saudis, nor is Putin.
If the West establishes a new puppet regime, it can then achieve its goals in the region. This is not a conspiracy theory. John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former White House national security adviser, admitted that he had helped plan attempted coups in foreign countries. He made the remarks to CNN after the day's congressional hearing into the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
So how can the US blame Russia for doing exactly the same? The Americans do not even show any regard for their own allies. In 2012, a Greek prosecutor pressed charges of treason and trying to destabilize Greece against unknown suspects, over an alleged 2008 plot to overthrow the then-conservative prime minister, Costas Karamanlis. Court officials said the plan was hatched to thwart efforts by Karamanlis efforts to improve energy relations with Russia and included overthrowing and even killing the premier. It was not clear who was behind it. Eeehmmm...
Karamanlis pursued closer cooperation with Russia on energy issues, annoying Greece’s western allies. He supported the South Stream gas pipeline, which would bring Russian natural gas to Greece and western Europe and rival the Nabucco, the U.S.-backed pipeline that will convey gas from central Asia to the West. Yeah sure, it is "not clear who was behind it", just like there is not enough evidence to explain the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage. Funny because every time Russia or China do something wrong, the West always finds enough evidence to condemn them, yet when it is them staging coups even in allied nations, somehow there is never enough proof!
Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss allegedly sent a message saying ‘It’s Done’ to the U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken immediately after the Nord Stream attack. Yet the US as always refuses to admit the obvious. Who else would blow Russian pipes in the North Sea, since the Russians paid to built it and they could just turn it off, instead of blowing it to stop the gas flowing into Europe?
Is it any wonder also, that the Greek Economic Crisis, started in 2009, a year after the attempted coup to kill or overthrow Karamanlis in 2008, for his pro-Russian stance? Suddenly scandal after scandal hit Greece and the whole of Europe and America turned on Greece, ridiculing the country, bringing it to its knees with bullying and debt, all because the intentions of a Greek PM. The works of John Bolton come to mind here for sure. No other EU nation receiving an IMF bailout (ie Ireland, Portugal) faced such humiliation like Greece.
With attitudes such as these by Western leaders, is it any wonder why Putin has this bullish and standoffish attitude towards the West? I am not sure I agree with his stance, but I totally understand it after all the things the West has done over the years. Ideally I would like closer relations between Europe and Russia, but America and the European puppet governments it has established over the years, are a thorn. When the USA does not hesitate to plot to assasinate a Prime Minister of an allied nation, in order to push for their gas pipes and interests in Europe, in an ever ongoing effort to "de-Russify" our continent, how can Russia trust us and cooperate nicely?
The West keep hiting Russia economically hard, by sabotaging any projects that will allow closer EU-Russian collaboration, then it cries wolf when Russia fights back and acts the same way in Georgia and Ukraine. We do not just expand NATO and EU, we are cutting away partners, markets and source of income for Russia, to push for American ones and we are doing this by staging coups like the ones in Greece, or bribing the aspiring EU/NATO member states' leadership with money in order to join our "club" and denounce Russia. Any efforts for closer relations with Russia are faced with the threat of assasination or coup, just like the case of Greece.
Why does it always have to be us or them, and why we can never be with both and either of them? If America portrays itself as the "land of the free", it surely does not allow for much freedom to its allies once they join their club, unless they do its biding. These are developments that should worry all European citizens. This is a proof of democratic deficit in the West, evidence of corruption, of a fascist regime similar to what we accuse Russia of.
Anyone who does not hate Russia at the moment in Europe is being treated as "Putin's mouthpiece", a "paid troll paid by Kremlin" (including me most of the times), and no one wants to see things for what they are. We are not allowed to express our concerns openly, think or question the current status or our government's actions in Ukraine. We are forced to pay for this war, just as we were forced to save European and American banks in the economic crisis of 2009 (remember the crisis started in the USA, plus no bailout money stayed in Greece, Ireland etc) and no amount of protests can change anything. We are not being heard. This is scary.
I for one would worry more about the state of European democracy, as I am a European. If Russians love Putin, it does not affect me as I am not a Russian citizen, but that does not mean I must not cooperate or trade with them, as we do with Turkey (a brilliant example of Western democracy by the way) or Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States.
It really does bother me where Europe is heading, right under US control, with the full collaboration of our own "elected" leaders. We are becoming a US colony and it is obvious (something that I suspected but did not want to accept that it could not be changed in the future) that the EU itself is nothing more than a US tool to bring the whole of Europe under their absolute control, and we as citizens have no say whatsoever in our own future. European leaders must reconsider and stop this path we are heading. They lied to us and promised that a "united Europe" would stand with Russia, China AND the USA as an equal partner and contender, becoming a global player for the betterment of the lives of all EU citizens. But sadly all we see is the sell out of our future and reputation as Europeans, to the interests of the "few" in the West.
