I'm just catching up with some of the overnight news on matters Russian and Ukrainian. No, I really didn't expect what I've been seeing, and what I'm seeing is not (quite) the "all out invasion" that has been predicted in Washington, London, and Brussels for months. It's something else. A sort of Russian net thrown over the Ukrainian Republic (as it came to be styled in Soviet times) to be reeled in -- or not -- at leisure. In other words, it seems the Kremlin/Putin is seeking to control Ukraine from afar, but not to possess its rotten hulk.
Hmm.
Putin's recapitulation of Russian/Ukrainian historical connections seems pretty accurate to me. Revisionism is strong in the West, and the assumption of long time Ukrainian full "independence" from Russia is simply absurd. There never was such a time. Russia and Ukraine are so intimately intertwined historically that it is all but impossible to disconnect them.
But the Kagan clan (including that Horrible Nuland Person) at State (and similarly minded colleagues in London and Brussels) together with a passel of NGOs (some funded by Pierre Omidyar) and a vicious cohort of Ukrainian Nazis (I mean the real thing) and fascists have been hard at work trying to do just that.
Why?
For the Horrible Nuland Person, it seems to be very deeply personal. I don't know what the deal with her is. She has Ukrainian Jewish ancestry, and I can well imagine that her Russophobia comes from ancestors who faced pogroms during the fading days of the Russian Empire, but... damn all. Hooking up with actual Ukrainian Nazis to de-Russify the Ukraine? It doesn't make sense. The pogroms were horrifying, but the Ukrainian Nazis were loading Jews into the transport trains when they weren't machine gunning them on the spot. These people exterminated Ukrainian Jews in great numbers and way too recently to be "forgiven."
The Russians in their Soviet garb did not. If anything, they were much rougher on the Orthodox Church; something not happening now.
It was pointed out in some post I saw recently that much of the current Ukrainian oligarchy and government including Zelensky is Jewish, and in effect, the Nazis and fascist militias and security forces have been operating to protect them and on their orders. Turn about? I don't know.
So whatever the Kagans and the Horrible Nuland Person are doing, it isn't (quite) out of an implacable historical need for revenge for things done to Jews in Ukraine and Russia. It's something else, something even darker. But I don't know what.
The Vindman Twins (also Ukrainian Jews) might have some insight, but they've been holding it close to their chests. I think they know what is going on and pretty much why, but for whatever reason, they stay pretty quiet about it. They are as anti-Russian as the Kagans, though not so belligerent.
Both Ukraine and Russia are effectively captive to oligarchs who managed to steal everything of value as the Soviet Union collapsed. They hold on to their ill-gotten gains very tightly. It is my (limited) understanding that though Ukrainian oligarchs and Russian oligarchs are rivals, they are also interrelated, and both sets of oligarchs launder their money in the US and Britain and elsewhere, and they are deeply tied into the Western looting and finance economy (and the Trumps as well as -- apparently -- the Bidens). In other words, they're all kleptocrats, and for some unknown reason (at least to me) they all expect to profit handsomely from this war, if war it is.
I won't say it's a Phony War, but it was really unexpected by me. I thought Putin was smarter than this. Russia and the United States and Nato do not need a physical (what do they call it? "Kinetic"?) conflict right now. There are too many other pressing crises. Or....? Are the other pressing crises the reason for this diversion? Is it a diversion?
Russia, Ukraine, Europe and North America (US and Canada) are all facing crises that could conceivably lead to disintegration. The underlying crisis is irreversible climate change forcing huge population and economic disruptions that can't be stopped or avoided. We long ago passed the tipping point, and there's no way out now. The West and Russia have not taken these matters seriously -- at least not for most of their populations. On the other hand, China among others in the East is taking it seriously and has been taking mitigation actions.
Putin was mighty angry as he announced his intentions the other day. Mighty, mighty angry. He had his reasons, but still. What is this really all about at bottom?
One thing it obviously is is "catapulting the propaganda." The messaging war may be the most important factor. Detaching or reintegrating Ukraine from/to Russia seems the least of the interests. Who can tell the most compelling story, create the most believable narrative seems to be the underlying motivation. The Western version strikes me as simply revisionism, but isn't Russia's story revanchist,? Are they tussling over territory or is it legitimacy? Or both?
I wish it weren't happening. There are too many other things that need to be addressed. Our political leadership chooses not to address those things and instead has decided that "warfare" is the most important thing. They're mad, quite mad. And that goes for Vladimir Vladimirovich as well. They need to back off, sit down and shut up.
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