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.