Russian Foreign Minister says U.S. is "directly at war" with Russia. Why wasn't I informed?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made an interesting comment during a press conference he hosted recently in New York City.  A journalist asked him when Western involvement in the Ukraine conflict would escalate to the point that the US and its allies were at war with Russia.

Lavrov responded that the United States and its allies are “directly at war” with Russia right now.

What? The U.S. is at war with Russia—a nuclear power? Why wasn’t I informed? Is it time to start building a bomb shelter in my backyard? Should I cancel my plans to visit Spain next year?

No, of course not. Obviously, Mr. Lavrov is misinformed. The United States is not directly at war with Russia. Nevertheless, I understand how Lavrov and the Russians might get the mistaken idea that America has gone to war with Russia without a formal declaration.

After all, The US has given Ukraine Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, F16 jets, and missiles capable of sinking Russian ships in the Black Sea. General Mark Milley has been helping the Ukrainians manage their counteroffensive against Russia and providing intelligence to assist them in planning their drone attacks on Moscow. America has given Ukraine cluster munitions to kill Russian soldiers more efficiently. And we're going to provide them with depleted uranium artillery shells.

On second thought, maybe the United States is at war with Russia; we've just been so distracted by more important matters that we haven’t given the war much thought. For example, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is probably looking for another transgender person to be the International Woman of Courage award for 2024. The U.S. Senate is pondering whether its members should be allowed to wear gym shorts on the floor of the Senate.

As for President Biden, he’s probably been tied up planning General Milley’s retirement party.

Give me a minute to slip into something more comfortable.

 

 

New York Times: Don’t worry your pretty little head about the Ukraine war

New York Times reporter Vanessa Friedman published a story last month with advice about what American tourists should wear when vacationing in Europe. It’s okay to wear sneakers, Friedman assures us. However, Americans should wear low-top running shoes to avoid being spotted as tourists. Good to know!

The New York Times’s shoe article contains a subtle, hidden message: Don’t worry your pretty little head about the Ukraine war.

It’s true that a half million soldiers have been killed or maimed over the past 18 months in the fight between Ukraine and Russia. And millions of civilians have fled the war zone and are living as refugees. But the war won’t interfere with Americans’ plans to get drunk at Oktoberfest this fall or smoke dope in Amsterdam. Just be sure to wear the shoes that the Times recommends when you’re frolicking in Europe.

And don’t worry about the money our government is sending to Ukraine. Uncle Sam has plenty of money and can always print more if he runs out.

America’s legacy media has broadly supported the Ukrainians in their senseless war with Russia. The Times and the progressive news outlets have downplayed the fact that Ukraine is losing this war.

But again, don’t worry your pretty little head about it. After all, who cares which side wins the war in Ukraine so long as it doesn’t interfere with our vacation plans.

War in Ukraine? Will it interfere with my vacation?

The Ukraine war. Do Americans know what's really going on?

The man who reads nothing at all," Thomas Jefferson observed,  "is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."

Jefferson's observation was accurate when he wrote it, and it's even more true today. I am interested in the war in Ukraine and try to learn more about it by reading online news stories.

As I skim through the online newspaper reports, it seems like they're all written by the same person. Day after day, I read stories about Russian rockets and drones that injure Ukrainian civilians. According to the news stories, few civilians are killed by these attacks, and most Russian missiles are shot down. The overall message of these newspaper accounts seems to be that the Russian attacks are a sign of Russian brutality but are no more than a nuisance for the civilian population. I'm skeptical.

Today, I read that Ukrainians have introduced amissile with a range of 400 miles. Did the Ukrainians invent this new menace on their own? Again, I'm skeptical. Surely, most of these innovations were developed with American assistance.

Almost daily, the legacy media refers to Russia's "illegal” occupation of Crimea. Illegal in what sense? After all, the Crimeans voted on annexation and overwhelmingly said they wanted to be part of Russia. It's possible that the voting was rigged by the Putin government and that the people living in Crimea don't want to be part of Russia.

Again, I'm skeptical. Crimea has been part of Russia since at least the 18th century. Americans have no interest in history, but they should do a little reading on the Crimean War (1853-1856).

Russia had an important naval base in Crimea in 2014 when the region was annexed. It seems reasonable that the Russians were concerned about the security of that base when Ukraine made a radical shift toward aligning with the West after the Maidan uprising.

I am no apologist for Russian imperialism, but the United States should not be promoting a war in Eastern Europe without a clear sense of what that war is about. I'm beginning to think the US has bullied its way into a conflict that is none of our damn business.

The Ukrainian War isn’t a trivial event.  According to the New York Times, nearly a half million soldiers have been killed or wounded over the past 18 months. The Times estimates that 70,000 Ukrainian troops have lost their lives. An independent military analyst thinks the number is more than five times that number. Who knows?

One thing is certain. The war between Russia and Ukraine has wrecked Ukraine. Millions of refugees have fled the country. Millions more have been displaced from their homes. Ukraine is a significant source of the world's food supply, and its ability to raise and export grain has been severely hampered.

Americans seem indifferent to the fact that our country is prosecuting a proxy war against a nuclear power. We apparently think we can get away with this reckless behavior and that there are no consequences for our participation in the slaughter.

I don't think so.