UKRAINE AND THE FURTHER RISE OF AN ALREADY ASCENDANT EXTREME RIGHT

There are multiple layers to the irresponsibility of western leaders currently in regard to their unquestioning support of Ukraine. One of the most deadly consequences for both Ukraine and the rest of Europe is the evident willingness of these elites to see extremism continue to thrive there. 

The so-called volunteer battalions within western Ukraine, many of whose members have now been invited into the Ukrainian army and national guard, are one of the greatest threats to sound governance in Ukraine and a western victory there would undoubtedly see them gaining even more power than they already have, and that power is already immense.

Groups such as the Azov Battalion have had a de facto veto on Ukrainian governmental decision-making ever since the insurrection that deposed both the democratically elected president and government of Ukraine by them in 2014.

No movement toward peace and reconciliation has been found to be possible even though Volodymyr Zelenskyy, campaigned and won the presidency on this issue. Humiliated on his first visit to the battle lines in eastern Ukraine and without any doubt threatened personally, he quickly moved from the peacemaking role he had won on to that of a political wartime commander.

This shows the level of power the ultra-nationalist and Nazi-legacy fanatics have in Ukraine. Their power to achieve their goals and thwart others through the threat of, and actual acts of violence, is very real and provides them with a power far beyond that which their numbers would indicate they could wield.

With the western powers, now flooding Ukraine with weapons of every variety including some of the most deadly ever devised, I think you will agree that certain eventualities to this are potentially catastrophic for Europe as a whole.

On Kiev’s Maidan Square in the winter of 2013-14 the violent extremist forces in Ukraine have been seen to have the greatest effect in bringing about change. After the insurrection at that time they were boosted beyond any dreams of gaining power they had before. Now, if the West manages to bring about a guerrilla war against Russia in Ukraine you don’t have to guess which groupings will be at the forefront of it. Naturally it will be the most extreme and ruthless groupings, those who still form the heavily-armed ‘volunteer battalions’ and those now deeply embedded within the Ukrainian army and national guard.

What chance would Zelenskyy or any replacement president of Ukraine have in the eventuality of Ukraine become a nation permanently at war? Whoever that person was would inevitably become a puppet whose strings were pulled by two separate puppet-masters. The levels of anarchy, intimidation and brutal criminality posing as “justice” and “patriotism” seen if this becomes reality are too awful to contemplate. Already, time after time in still images and video we see what it would look like in the vigilante-infested streets of a Ukraine permanently at war. 

The hate-fuelled nature of the extreme right in Ukraine is being ignored by the western powers as an act of convenience at a time when all things Ukrainian must be depicted in terms of glorious sweetness and light. That these convenient shadow-play depictions of good and evil with Russians indelibly evil and the Ukrainians delightfully good can’t last longer than western goals demand. Subsequent to any kind of western “victory” in Ukraine the darkness will swiftly begin to seep into that false image of sweetness and light, despoiling everything western populations thought real and creating in its place a renewed level of fear unseen since that fateful day in September 2001. This at least within Europe. What other distractions will fill the minds of those in North America is another matter.

The Azov Battalion thugs are very much present in the war that is raging in Ukraine. Have them continued to be be lauded in the West, their t-shirts and other paraphernalia now on sale on Amazon with their crude swastika and Nazi black sun symbol, framed as noble patriots fighting for freedom and sovereignty and their resulting rise to even greater power will surely be one of the most foolish geopolitical acts ever seen.

The level of irresponsibility being shown now across the western world in respect of Ukraine and the rise of the right is now hopefully clear to you. The number of dangers we now face as a species are myriad, why must we now add this additional layer of potential horror to them? 

AZOV at their ultra-violent "work".

WESTERN ELITES ARE DRIVING UKRAINE HEADLONG TOWARD TOTAL DISASTER

Is the western world led by madmen? It certainly seems so.

Obsessions tend to ruin those who find no way to release themselves from them. They have arrived at a central locus within the minds of those who have fallen victim to a habit of mind that has been nurtured rather than rejected and are now in the driving seat.

The addiction that follows becomes virtually impossible to overcome, especially if peer pressure on top of all else, puts a second seal upon it.

Ukraine has become such an obsession for western elites. Unable to recognise reality, confusing themselves with endless wishful thinking and driven mad by the conviction that the next thing or the next thing will do the trick and win the day for them.

Meanwhile those Ukrainians on the battlefield, increasingly relatively elderly conscripts frogmarched into uniforms and sent as cannon fodder continue to die uselessly and tragically, decimated by a professional army. A professional army originally sent in the hope of a capitulation by Kiev that would have been agreed by a more responsible and wiser president and government, with a view to saving both lives and territory.

The longer this war goes on the more needless deaths of Ukrainians will occur and the more of Ukraine will be lost forever. Zelensky has been promised that the next thing and the next thing will do the trick. But the magic silver bullet never, ever arrives and never will. No matter what weapons the USA, UK or Europe sends, no matter how much money they senselessly pour into Ukraine, Russia will match on taking more lives and territory, far more than were ever contemplated.

The West has upped the ante constantly, forcing Zelensky to keep fighting to the last Ukrainian. Those sensible Ukrainians who could get out have gone. Now Kiev is forcing men well past their prime to be paraded as virtual sitting ducks to be mown down in their hundreds day after day.

However, back in western capitals those who run the mainstream media news outlets are pouring out an endless waterfall of deception claiming the perpetual defeats that the Ukrainian forces are experiencing are in fact indicators of victory. One wonders what they will say as the last uniformed Ukrainian expires or surrenders? That the next thing or the next thing will bring the long-sought victory? Somehow after so many such false promises, I really don’t think so.

THE ATROCITY IN ODESSA REFLECTS A MUCH DEEPER MALAISE AT THE CENTRE OF POWER IN UKRAINE

The unconscionable atrocity which took place in Odessa on the second of May 2014 was reported in the western world but with an almost eye-blink time frame.

If it had occurred almost anywhere else at any other time it would certainly have been deemed worthy of detailed and lengthy coverage over days rather than dismissed in a single article or news bulletin.

Forty-two individuals lost their lives on that day, most, but not all young adults. They met their fate in the most grisly ways imaginable. Trapped by a violent mob inside a building them set aflame. Unable to escape for fear of the mob waiting to kill them outside they ventured out onto high ledges far above them or resigned themselves to burning to death inside.

Those who fell from those ledges, due to the flames approaching them from inside, or through a final act of utter desperation, were beaten to death by the mob using baseball bats as their weapon of choice.

It was only days later that video footage showed that the building had not been sealed by fire initially. In the first hours some of the mob had entered the building of five stories and had begun killing at random. The images of these bodies, burned out of all recognition I will spare you. One, in an upper floor room shows a pregnant woman bent over backward over a desk, murdered by persons unknown.

What was the “crime” these people committed?

Their “crimes” were in fact several and it was these that consigned them to their deaths due to the “judgement” of the large mob of neo-Nazi, Ultras, so-called ‘football/soccer club supporters’ who killed them.

The first crime was to be labelled generally ‘pro-Russian’. In fact they were only Russian-speaking Ukrainians.

The second was for them to be taking part in a peaceful (tented) demonstration in support of autonomy for their region of Ukraine.

The third was to be seen as traitors to Ukraine by the ultra-nationalist western Ukrainians who formed the bulk of the Ultras in Odessa that day for some soccer match.

You may say, okay, this was an absolutely one-off happening and yes, Ultras are known across Europe and are universally composed of thugs so this was not all that surprising, very much worse than their normal activities but also very much in character for their type. If only this were true.

In Ukraine the minority who are willing to countenance such acts of total barbarity against those who just happen to live close to the Russian border than they do is large. It certainly comprises ten thousands and I suspect many more. You may say that is a small proportion of the Ukrainian population as a whole and that is true, but the power they wield through their willingness to use violence at will gives them influence far beyond what their numbers would indicate possible.

In the months after the president and government were toppled by similar acts of violence seen on Maidan Square those who were willing to perpetrate that total violence against authority saw themselves arrive at a position of power in Ukraine unimaginable before. Members of Parliament who did not speak and act as they wished were subjected to ritual humiliation by being carried bodily to large trash containers and dumped inside. Car tires were burned in front of the Ukrainian parliament as a warning to those inside. (In South Africa in previous years it became quite common to burn people alive within a ring of tires.)

Since 2014 such people have held a de facto veto over what the Ukrainian president and parliament says and does. Anyone who says or does something contrary to the mob knows what his or her fate might be. The fear generated permeates not only the political figures in Ukraine but those within the media sphere also. Those who say the “wrong” things have been murdered. This is how strongly the ultra-nationalists (some call them Nazis or neo-Nazis) feel about certain issues such as those in the east of the country they call ‘Moskals’ (Russians), ordinary Ukrainians who live closest to the Russian border and who naturally have many affiliations with Russia including inter-marriage, trade and a historical respect for the Soviet Red Army that liberated Ukraine from the Nazi Germany.

Those who came to Odessa that day were prone, as you can see in the example image above, to use the Hitler salute. The mythology behind this act is that Hitler and his Nazis were very positive in the long search for Ukrainian national sovereignty. Why this? Because in ‘Operation Barbarossa’, Hitler’s campaign to invade and occupy the Soviet Union he drove the Russians out of Ukraine. For this reason Swastika and other tattoos depicting Nazi motifs are favoured most among the ultra-nationalists. Organisations and even a political party have been formed around this potent myth in Ukraine, potent despite the horrors committed by the Nazis within Ukraine during WWII.

The organisation known as ‘The Azov Battalion’ is the most commonly known entity that uses symbols very closely resembling those used by the Nazis but there are more than a few with like-minded members. Then there is the political party which was once called ‘The Socialist National Party’ but which had its name changed to ‘Svoboda’ (Freedom). The leader of this party likes to give the Hitler salute and after the Maidan insurrection three leading members of his party received top positions in the government which took over.

The largest part of the Nazi-legacy-admiring entities of the militia type were taken into the Ukrainian army and Ukrainian National Guard. This occurred from 2014 and the effects of this and those who remained independent of these state institutions were seen most vividly during the random shelling of villages, towns and cities of eastern Ukraine from 2014 onward. To date some 14,000 people have died from that time to the present day, the majority of them being civilians including women, children and the elderly.

So you see, the horrific atrocity which took place on May 2nd 2014 in Odessa was far from a one-off occurrence. The mentality embedded within a sizeable and extremely dangerous minority, hell bent on ethnically cleansing those who they see as sub-human traitors to Ukraine, even though their sole crime is in reality is living in that region, creates a unquenchable hatred and absolute willingness to kill every man, woman and child in that region of Ukraine closest to the Russian border known as the Donbass.

Odessa does not stand alone as a testament to the potential within human beings to act out a nationalistic barbarism that must surely be removed from, or at least contained within Ukraine, as for now, its power over the political sphere there is all but total. As in Germany in the mid-Thirties the Nazi Party was small and represented a tint proportion of the German population as a whole. It was even mocked at the time, treated with derision and it was thought they would NEVER gain power. Yet we all know what happened. Through the use of violent intimidation and ruthless determination without conscience they did indeed come to power and wreak havoc upon the world.

Those of a similar mentality in Ukraine and who avow their belief that the Nazis were a force for good need not take power in Ukraine as Hitler did in Germany. They have power enough through their ability to intimidate with the fear of swift retribution if, as in Zelensky’s case initially, anyone seeks reconciliation and peaceful cooperation and the re-establishment of good relations with those of the Donbass in eastern Ukraine that the ultra-nationalists wish to see exterminated.

WHAT IN A WIDER CONTEXT IS AT STAKE IN THE UKRAINE WAR?

I will presume for the purposes of this commentary that all readers are aware of the fundamental immediate goals and ambitions, concerns and sought for outcomes regarding the present conflict in Ukraine.

But what are the larger geopolitical ramifications involved, if any?

As I see it, this war has an enormous importance for the geopolitical makeup of our planet for all the time left to us as a species. This may appear a big claim, perhaps a hyperbolic claim that makes too much of the present situation. I will attempt to explain why I believe this is not the case.

As I have referenced before, I see much if not all of the geopolitical interventions and most of the western foreign policy narratives, talking points and official statements as intimately linked to decisions made in the hours immediately after 9/11.

It follows then that I see the Ukraine situation, stretching all the way back to 2014 and in fact years before, as very much part of the processes having their genesis in 9/11.

The primary and I would argue clear goal set after 9/11 was to establish supreme dominance by the United States over the world to ensure no such event could ever come to pass again. This meant nullifying and wherever possible replacing all individuals and entities that could add to the possibility of recurrence.

I feel the above statement is incontrovertible in fact and a quite natural response by the elites of the most powerful and influential nation on the planet. The great problem for the rest of the world however, lies in the actions needed by those elites to achieve that goal. To achieve it, and I am quite sure from statements made and actions followed, that absolutely no ethical, moral or any other barrier was to be placed that could hinder the speedy achievement of that goal. International law and normal codes of conduct of all kinds were not to be a barrier. Nothing and no one was to be a barrier and without exception. All means necessary was to be the modus operandi.

It is well known what followed soon after 9/11. A program of regime change operations across the Middle East, with varying tactics deployed. Full on attack and invasion in the case of Afghanistan and Iraq. NATO in Libya and proxy combatants in Syria, sanctions and other financial instruments of war as a constant meanwhile. All overt and covert attacks were also complemented by an enormous effort regarding enhanced psychological operations which incorporated a now compliant mass media. This latter directed mainly at western populations themselves, the purported benefactors of the full spectrum dominance project initiated after 9/11.

China is by far the main target for the USA and its allies but too big a meal to take on so early. The obvious way this was to be done was to tackle the low-hanging fruit first. As we have seen that has not gone particularly well… though the sub-goal of substantially weakening U.S. “enemies” was achieved in all cases to one degree or another. None of those attacked will present the kind of problem the U.S. elites have sworn to defend themselves against in perpetuity. However, perpetuity is a rather long time frame to work to and without doubt those nations that did not fully succumb to regime change will be returned to time and again to maintain their weak position.

So we come to Russia, a larger stepping stone than the previous targets, and one leading ultimately to the number one target, China. Russia had to be relieved of its current president and then have its system of governance modified. Modified to suit the goals set post-9/11 of course, its transformation into a state compliant to U.S. needs, demands and implicit instruction as all other ‘liberal democracies’ were.

So, along comes Vladimir Putin to the Munich Security Conference in 2007 and a little abashedly states that Russia is not onboard with the project that the USA plus its allies become global hegemon on a unipolar planet.

How do you think that went down in the context of the absolutely must-have goal the U.S. political and military elites had set for themselves after 9/11. Like a lead balloon. Precisely.

NATO, used as the spearhead against Russia to soften it up and over time create fractures in its society (along with a plethora of other methods operating concurrently) was to bring about the undoing of the Russian state to the degree that it could be shaken apart. Chaos-creation was the name of the game, at least confusion and if possible greater and greater degrees of anarchy and opposition.

I believe this is all rather obvious. America’s playbook is not all that long really and hiding the various paragraphs within it doesn’t take a degree in rocket science or a deep knowledge of Einstein’s theory of relativity to understand them I’d say. They are a bit too blatant to miss.

The CIA and all those who conjoin into its various elements such as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and a great many others over a vast array and network of activists, embassy chiefs, “journalists” and myriad functionaries across all allied states, wield enormous power and influence and are indeed THE true blade of power and influence of the western world.

So it was that the blade turned primarily toward Russia. Putin must go and Russian must be taught a lesson… the lesson being that you can’t deny the power of ‘The Boss’, the great arbiter of good and evil, the world’s exceptional cop… especially not now when we need you to TOTALLY comply to our needs due to what happened to us on 9/11.

Russia was to be harried on as many issues as possible. China was to get its initial share also but that was the really big project for when Russia was dealt with. Putin and Russia had to be seen in the frame of being responsible for just about every negative circumstance that could possibly be thought of. Putin was first for the treatment with long years after his Munich address in 2007 being filled with articles portraying him as some kind of reincarnation of Hitler.

After many years of Putin-bashing, which still continued of course, this was expanded to Russia in general, or to be precise to its current hierarchy. They were to get the same treatment as devils beyond the pale, irretrievably lost to the precepts of ethical behaviour, baby-killing, schoolkid injuring, hospital patient targeting fiends. And this time and time again in a hypnotic repetition to embed the required conditioning in as many minds as possible across the western world.

Then the final card to be played when other softening up efforts to create the requisite unrest in Russia largely failed to be effective… Ukraine. NATO and Ukraine. NATO, Ukraine and the Russian-speaking majority in the Donbass. Russia was to be pushed past its limits of endurance and then be bled dry, weakened beyond repair… and then find itself moving ever closer to where the U.S. elites and their allies wanted it.

And this is what is at stake as I see it in Ukraine. This I am convinced is the broader picture, the deeper context. But… there is one last and in my view preeminent factor at stake:

The potential loss of a multipolar world replaced by an ever-suspicious unipolar entity that can never quite bring itself to trust any of us and monitors each of us to a depth, even with all the big data gathering now, has never been seen before. 24/7 in geosynchronous orbit the spies in the sky will feed on what we say and do and report immediately if any of it is suspicious and we will be flagged appropriately in consequence. One power dominating with servants helping do its bidding. A world controlled by a single entity and its proxies. No resistance of any kind brooked. No China, Russia or any other fly in the US’ elite ointment. Obedience… or else. A virtual prison planet in fact.

WHAT IN A WIDER CONTEXT IS AT STAKE IN THE UKRAINE WAR?

HAS RUSSIA MADE AN 'UNPROVOKED' & UNWARRANTED ATTACK ON UKRAINE?

If the people of any nation know of the horrors of war better, or with greater resistance to future war than the Russians, I would be very surprised. Having lost in excess of 25 million of their fellow countrymen and women and reminded constantly and in particular on an annual basis on May 9th each year they are unlikely ever to forget the sacrifice made by them during WWII. This was one of many reasons also why the dove of peace became a particularly common subject of artists and sculptors during the years after its conclusion.

However, Russia is being accused currently of waging an "unprovoked" attack on Ukraine, waging an unwarranted war with no historical, legal or logical basis to it. I have to say that only those who have not heard a single thing concerning the last eight years of Russia's determination to find a peaceful resolution there could believe this. 

In 2014 Ukraine's president and government were replaced, not at the ballot box but through a violent insurrection overwhelmingly backed by western political elites with some of them mingling with those instigating that insurrection. Soon after this Crimea voted to rejoin Russia and the two Russian-speaking regions of eastern Ukraine took control of their own administrative functions as a countermeasure fearing the new regime posed a danger to their language, pro-Russian connections and culture. Subsequently as Kiev sent a military force there and violence broke out leading to a siege of the two republics by the Ukrainian military they asked Putin to allow them to join the Russian Federation.

Putin's response was to deny them this request, even though the republics had held an enthusiastically attended referendum which showed the people by majority wanted no more to do with control by Kiev. Putin's stance was that the two republics ought to remain as an integral part of Ukraine but should appeal to Kiev to be given a high degree of autonomy and so safeguard their language, culture and many diverse affiliations and relationships with Russia. Putin advocated a federalized system for Ukraine such as exists elsewhere in the world where two or more such radically different peoples managed their affairs to maintain peace among them.

Thus, after a vicious war where many died, including thousands of civilians in the two republics due to random bombardments by the Ukrainian army and its extremist militias aligned with them Kiev finally came to the negotiating table. This came about with the formation of a self-defence force built by the republics to face down those who were firing mortar shells and the occasional missile into the civilian-occupied spaces of the villages, towns and cities of the two republics. The negotiations were held in the Belarusian city of Minsk and so became known as the Minsk Accords, or Minsk Agreements. This agreement principally called on Kiev to begin direct talks with the leaders of the republics to create a dialogue required to come to a peaceful settlement. A second requirement of Kiev was to pass a law granting the area of the republics special status that would grant them the ability to run their own affairs and maintain their own distinctive culture, their predominantly Russian language, their close connections to Russia through inter-marriage and otherwise, and the preservation of their legacy of commemorating the liberation of the Donbass by the Soviet Red Army during WWII. The Minsk Accords were duly signed, then ratified at the United Nations.

That was in 2015.

For seven years long, through the Normandy Format where representatives of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine met regularly, the stumbling block was always the resistance of Kiev to the two steps noted above. I wonder, does this sound as if Putin was longing to invade Ukraine? Didn't he have justification enough as he saw the video films of Ukrainian shells hitting the apartment blocks in the republics, seeing as I am sure he must have, as I did the constant stream of photographs where both young and old, male and female civilians had been struck down by mortar shells on their town streets or in their homes. The attacks were at their most horrendous and bullets, mortar shells and the occasional missile hit but were almost completely absent from western news media.

Did Putin take that opportunity to invade Ukraine? He did not. He had to watch the absolute misery of the people in the republics and simply hope they could withstand all they were going through. The total of the dead in and around the two republics from that time to this stands at around 15,000. Putin had to avoid all temptation to intervene and put all his hopes into getting the peace and reconciliation and autonomy for the republics through the Minsk Accords. And this he did.

Putin knew personally what horrors come from war. Besides knowing at a very deep level the history of the second world war he also suffered a personal family loss from the Great Patriotic War as Russians have named it. There is no reason to believe that Putin was averse or an exception to the deep and abiding fear and loathing for war that the Russian population feels as a whole. Waiting and hoping that Minsk would lead to a solution in Ukraine that would allow the people of the republics, within the area known as the Donbass the security and freedom from fear they needed to continue to thrive and retain their own unique culture within Ukraine.

It was not to be.

Just a few months ago the Kiev representatives at a final, nine hour meeting of the Normandy Four stated that they no longer wished to discuss the Minsk Accords. If they were unwilling to take the only path available to peace and reconciliation what was the alternative?

During last years continuing into the early months of this one Ukraine had been building up its troop deployments near the borders of the republics, training by western military personnel of Ukrainian troops was also underway as well as manoeuvres with NATO troops. In recent times the president of Ukraine, Zelensky, who had campaigned on bringing peace to the Donbass suggested that Ukraine might regain its nuclear status. Zelensky had become ever more belligerent over the years since his hopeful beginnings as president and openly talked of 'taking back' Crimea and the republics. The rhetoric from NATO about Russia as an adversary did not help matters. Everything pointed to things getting ever worse for Russia with Ukraine already showing signs that it had de facto become a member of NATO, anathema for Putin as he held Russia's security as his highest duty. Then, early in February Russian intelligence caught wind of an imminent Ukrainian attack planned against the two republics.

Putin clearly and finally gave up all his hopes for a peaceful settlement with Kiev regarding any possible agreement that could bring any kind of peaceful resolution that would bring reconciliation between Kiev and the republics. He saw that the extremist forces of the Maidan who had caused the downfall of both president and government of Ukraine in 2014 now embedded in the Ukrainian military and National Guard would never allow this eventuality to come into being but were dedicated instead to the genocide through ethnic cleansing of those they called 'Moskals' (Russians) these being the millions of Russian-speaking Ukrainians who lived in the two republics.

That was it for Putin. He quite clearly could stand for no more delay.

In the next days Russia recognised the two republics as sovereign entities and that the Russian Federation agreed to their request for protective assistance due to their being under imminent threat.

So, on February 24th Putin green-lighted Russia's 'Special Military Operation' which continues to this day with the goals of ensuring Ukraine becomes a neutral nation, never to join NATO, to ensure the liberation of the republics from the eight year siege by Kiev's forces and the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine.

Having read the above I wonder if anyone can place any faith at all in the words of those who say that Russia has made an "unprovoked" and unwarranted attack on Ukraine.

THE WESTERN WORLD'S NIMBYs ARE IN UPROAR OVER UKRAINE

War has come much closer to the comfortable liberal elites of the western world than they can tolerate. They can pretty much accept it in far-flung locations that lie at the periphery of their interest, but not almost up close and personal as in Ukraine.

How dare the Russians fight for their national interests in the way the western liberal majority find vaguely unpleasant but largely not too unbearable in the succession of nations the United States (with their nations' assistance) has done in similar style recently?

Not in my back yard, right? The geopolitical Nimbys are therefore in uproar. "How do you have the gall to bring what we find more or less tolerable elsewhere near to us?" War becomes very suddenly totally unacceptable, a matter for vast outpourings of hand-fluttering woe, a mobilisation of every liberal voice to speak in unison demanding this particular war stop. That other one, in Yemen... well, we'll just keep ignoring that as usual. It's being fought by 'our guys', the USA & UK supplying the necessary logistic support and weaponry to promote... What was it again? Oh yes, freedom and democracy. Yeah, right.

War is hell. But whether that hell is semi-respectable or outright wrong depends in the western world on who's fighting it, who gets sanctioned, punished, sent to The Hague and who gets to write their memoirs saying they'd do it all over again?

All depends it seems on four factors:

Who is fighting the war, is it our western guys are or some others deserving of demonisation?

How far away is this war? Is it right 'over there' where people with brown faces live that we feel we have little or nothing in common with?

How white and familiar in culture are the people in this war who we've been told to support with all our might?

How will we be affected by the war? If we are going to be greatly out of pocket and feel it then we're against it.

The Nimbys are currently busting a gut to help and support Ukraine and through them NATO (that did its level best to destroySerbia and did destroy Libya) and the twin empire-builders, the USA and UK who are part of the Coalition of the Willing (or Coalition of the Killing if you like or don't like).

Isn't the proximity, the white faces, the identification with a similar culture and that good old and very reliable , extremely simplistic mythology concerning total good and total evil that is really the basis for the present attitude of the liberal West. And ignorance of course, huge indifference and commensurate ignorance regarding anything approaching a desire to investigate the historical timeline involved.

Will the Nimby's get their way and have all war... well, THIS war... banished? No, I don't believe so. They are having their noses pushed in their own noses for once. And both NATO and Washington's elites are going to do all in their great power to see that those noses get pushed ever deeper.

Be careful what you wish for is a well known saying. It should also be said 'Be careful what you don't protest against'. Good men and women did next to nothing to stop the USA & UK's wars of choice. Now they have one right next door.