A conservative tells the truth about Ukraine

Most Americans are convinced that Vladimir Putin personally ordered the shootdown of MH17, even though we've seen no genuine evidence that Russia had anything to do with the incident.

In order to present an alternative view of that shootdown -- and I hope to do just that, very soon -- we must first come to terms with the war in eastern Ukraine. One of the few people who understands what is happening there is David Stockman. Stockman isn't exactly my favorite economic thinker, but on this issue -- well, hear the man out:

But it is the larger narrative that is so blatantly offensive—that is, the notion that a sovereign state is being wantonly violated by an aggressive neighbor arming “terrorists” inside its borders. Obama’s deputy national security advisor, Tony Blanken, stated that specious meme in stark form yesterday:

“Russia bears responsibility for everything that’s going on in Eastern Ukraine” and “has the ability to actually de-escalate this crisis,” Blinken said.

Puleese! The Kiev government is a dysfunctional, bankrupt usurper that is deploying western taxpayer money to wage a vicious war on several million Russian-speaking citizens in the Donbas—-the traditional center of greater Russia’s coal, steel and industrial infrastructure. It is geographically part of present day Ukraine by historical happenstance.

On the other hand, Kiev’s marauding army and militias would come to an instant halt without access to the $35 billion of promised aid from the IMF, EU and US treasury. Obama just needs to say “stop”. That’s it. The civil war would quickly end, permitting the US, Russia and the warring parties of the Ukraine to hold a peace conference and work out the details of a separation agreement.

After all, what is so sacrosanct about preserving the territorial integrity of the Ukraine? Ever since the middle ages, it has consisted of a set of meandering borders in search of a nation that never existed owing to endemic ethnic, tribal and religious differences.

So the rebels— who properly fear for their lives and property were the nationalists and neo-fascists who run the Kiev government to prevail—are not “terrorists” by any stretch of the imagination. That is just insipid Washington propaganda. Instead, they are the Russian speaking remnant of the Soviet empire who fear an ethnic cleansing and who noted well the fate of their kinsmen in the hands of Ukrainian thugs during the fire at Odessa.

Most Americans don't know about the protestors who were burned to death by supporters of the Kiev regime. The news about that outrage was censored here; if American journalists mentioned the matter at all, they tried to make it seem as though the protestors themselves had been responsible for the fire. Even after the newspapers in Kiev reported the truth, our tightly controlled mainstream media refused to do so.

This is no small matter. If our media allowed us access to the full story, we might better understand why the Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine want no part of the madness now engulfing Kiev.

The Crimeans also opted out of that madness. They held an election in which the citizens voted to join with Russia -- an alliance with deep historical roots. (Traditionally, Crimea had not been part of the Ukraine.) The lying American media rarely mentions that election, preferring to present Crimea's peaceful and democratic choice as an example of Putin's alleged aggression.

Stockman's whole piece is worth reading, but the excerpts I've presented here should provide you with a good start.

Once again, the American Warfare State has confected a false narrative to justify policies and missions that have nothing to do with the safety and security of the citizens of Lincoln NE and Worcester MA. About 55-years ago such a false narrative arose in the form of the “domino theory” that lead to the carnage of Vietnam. Ten years ago it cropped up in the form of the WMD story that led to the disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq. Today, it is the preposterous story of Ukrainian territorial integrity, terrorists in the East and a latter-day Hitler in the Kremlin.

Unfortunately, false narratives are what the Warfare State does.

Just so. Bravo!

My "bravo" would be heartier if Stockman were not, at heart, a libertarian. To their credit, the better libertarians oppose mindless militarism and the toxic dream of an American empire, which is why we librul peacenik types must occasionally quote their writings. Unfortunately, that libertarian antiwar stance is something of a Trojan horse, designed to sneak in some very dangerous economic notions.

I imagine that Stockman is tired of the Trojan horse metaphor by this point...