Social media is awash with liberal progressive WOKE people decrying Trump's decision to end the American Empire's proxy war against Russia. I certainly understand why liberal progressive WOKE people despise Trump, as I am one of them. However, once upon a time, Democrats were the antiwar party. Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden ended that masquerade. It appears that many antiwar liberals crossed over to the pro-war side. This is understandable to some extent, as the Empire's propaganda machine has been demonizing Putin and Russia for my entire life, as well as convincing the electorate that war is sometimes necessary.
In 1962, President John F Kennedy negotiated an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis, an event that had American children learning how to survive a nuclear blast, by hiding under their desks, while their parents absorbed the feeling of helplessness. The threat was very real, as America learned much later that nuclear tipped missiles were already in Cuba, and that ground level commanders were authorized to use them.
Recall that in January 2018, Hawaii experienced a false missile alert that caused widespread panic, as residents received a message stating there was an inbound ballistic missile threat. The alert was mistakenly sent during a drill, leading to a 38-minute period of fear before officials confirmed it was a false alarm. (Wikipedia summary). Hawaii's preparation for such an event is described in the "Emergency Preparedness" document, published in November by Hawaii's Emergency Management Authority, warns that Hawaiian residents and visitors would have "less than 12 to 15 minutes" to seek shelter in the event of a real nuclear missile threat. Just one nuclear bomb would kill 18,000 Hawaiians immediately. The entire island was helpless.
The reader is encouraged to read the Wikipedia entry titled “Nuclear close calls” which lists around 50 events, the most recent reported event being in 2007. Anne Jacobson's book Nuclear War describes the carnage in the event of a nuclear exchange, including the many deaths from starvation, nuclear radiation, and the chaos created by humans competing for lack of resources.
And yet, it is undeniable that the conflict in Ukraine brings the world closer to nuclear annihilation.
This author will advance the arguments made by others that the American Empire provoked the proxy war in Ukraine. However, before we consider the facts supporting that viewpoint, let us consider the choices faced by Donald Trump. He could:
Continue the Biden policy of pressing Russia as much as possible, without causing a nuclear war. Every decision Biden made during his reign as manager of Empire involved the consideration of avoiding a nuclear conflict. At the end, Biden even supplied American-made missiles with a range of about 190 miles, known as ATACMS and allowed them to be fired at targets inside of Russia. So how could Biden be so sure that Russia would not retaliate? How could Trump be sure? Why would anyone want to hold the entire population of the northern hemisphere hostage to this game of risk?
Authorize a nuclear first strike. This would involve hoping that the Empire could destroy most of Russia before they could retaliate with their 2000 tactical nuclear weapons, as well as hoping that neither North Korea or China would counterattack as well. America would lose major cities, as it is unlikely that we can defend against nuclear submarine launches. And if Russia were obliterated, there would still be enormous destruction throughout the globe.
Admit defeat and end the conflict. This is easy because the entire war was over Ukraine joining NATO. No to Ukraine in NATO, no to new weapons systems in Ukraine. No repercussions to ordinary Americans other than saving 5 Billion dollars. No war has ever been easier to solve.
A brief history lesson:
The Soviet Union ended officially 1991 with the hope of integration with Europe. George Bush Sr was president, James Baker was Secretary of State. Kissinger was...around. It is well documented that these people promised Russia that America would not expand NATO. Period. Here and here and here.
The Empire promised again and again not to expand NATO, but Bush Sr. lost to Clinton and policy changed. NATO enlargement was back on the table. With respect to Bosnia. According to Jeffrey Sachs “The splitting of Serbia, the creation of Kosovo, and the formation of the Bondsteel military base are the essence of NATO's bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999”. The American propaganda machine branded it as a peacekeeping mission. Russia noted that a country does not necessarily have to attack a NATO country to be attacked itself, which is what happened in the Balkan conflict on Clinton's watch.
GW Bush Jr then expanded NATO to seven Baltic states. Russia objected but took no action. Six more members were added after Bush left office. Two were admitted under Clinton. From the date of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, NATO added 15 states, all in the direction of Russia.
The 2014 Maiden coup was done in public since Victoria Nuland's comment "fuck the EU, Yats is our guy" phone call was made public. Three days later, the Empire completed the coup and installed pro-American leader. The Empire spent 5 BILLION dollars to achieve regime change in Ukraine. Although this should be evidence enough, there is more and more and more.
Russia took over Crimea in 2014 primarily due to its historical claims and strategic interests in the region, viewing it as an integral part of "Mother Russia." The annexation was also a response to the ousting of Ukraine's pro-Russian president, which Russia perceived as a threat to its influence in Ukraine. Crimea is home of Sebastopol Naval Base. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbors, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base throughout its history. Since the city's founding in 1783 it has been a major base for Russia's Black Sea Fleet.
Biden ran from Afghanistan so he could pursue a different war. The position of the Russian government under Putin was stated repeatedly. Putin told the world that he would not allow Ukraine to join NATO, that this was a red line. Biden ignored the red line, and refused to speak to Putin in the run up to the war. Russia amassed troops for 3 weeks, all while trying to negotiate. The Empire sent Boris Johnson to kill the peace talks, specifically saying that Ukraine must be allowed in NATO as the reason to stop Minsk talks.
Somehow, Americans in all their wisdom and arrogance think that Putin=bad, America=good, that Russia should have allowed themselves to be fcked in this way and they should have enjoyed it. But that is not what happened. Instead, Russia has conquered 4 territories in Ukraine (Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson), Chat GPT estimates that Ukraine has lost 60,000 young men, Russia has lost 850,000, and civilian casualties stand at about 12,000. The American Empire has spent 5 billion dollars. Trump is simply recognizing the fact that the war is already lost, and he refuses to give more weapons and money in a lost cause.
Regarding the 5 billions dollars, this is, as one would expect, printed money made out of thin air. Printed money causes inflation. Inflation is measured in simplest form by the price of eggs. Political observers like to point to the price of eggs (inflation) as the reason Biden lost the election. It stands to reason that Biden lost the election because of his decision to provoke war in Ukraine, his complicity in Israel's genocide of the civilian population in Gaza, and the massive cost of both as reflected in the severe inflation, which is exceeds $200 billion.
For the record, I despise Donald Trump for being a criminal, racist, misogynist, stupid, narcissistic man. But I also hate Joe Biden for being Genocide Joe. Floating in the clouds above these two men is the fact that the American Empire has provoked or created every war in my lifetime, which includes Vietnam (1955-75), Cambodia civil war, (1967 to 1975) Soviet Afghan war (1979-89), Iran Iraq war (1980-1988), Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005), Grenada invasion, Panama invasion, NATO intervention in Yugoslavia (Balkans war, 1998-99), Afghanistan (2001-2021), Iraq (2003-2011), Libya (2014-2020), Saudi-led Yemen (2015 to present). This list should include the “war on terror” which begun in 2001 and is expected to be a valid reason for any war that the Empire wants some other country to fight.
For those reasons, I support Trump's decision to end this war without reservation.
Great article, well researched and written