Harry Targ
Most accounts of the Ukraine crisis still
ignore the extraordinary expansion of NATO in the 1990s and the 2014 coup
against the elected government of Ukraine carried out with the covert support
of the United States. Including this in the accounts today adds important
context, not for determining “good guys and bad guys,” but for figuring
out where peace forces should stand. Reflection on this context does not deny the immoral and inhumane Russian invasion of Ukraine.
My takeaways so far are the following:
1.Russia has fallen into a trap that could significantly and negatively impact on its economy.
2.The invasion gives fuel to the emerging
anti-China Cold War rhetoric for politicians of both parties and the corporate
media who suggest that Taiwan will be next, presumably after a Chinese
invasion.
3.The Ukraine war is an enormous plus for
military/industrial complexes in the US and in Russia as well.
4.The Ukraine story transforms the global
narrative from the critical discussion of exploitation by the Global North of
the Global South to the Biden narrative of “authoritarians” vs. “democracies.” For
example, see the powerful presentation by V J Prashad of the essential nature
of the North/South struggle. https://youtu.be/Lg9c0jv6wTA
5.The impacts of the debate on progressive
forces in the US and elsewhere are potentially devastating. In the US, our
discourse is shifting from a progressive agenda including President Biden’s
2021 Build Back Better program for example to stories about the relationships
between Putin and former President Trump and so-called “national security.”
Biden’s 2022 State of the Union address reflected his “shift to the center.”
Now we have a cause all Americans can get behind: opposing the Russians recalls
the Soviet menace in the 1940s which was used to defang CIO militancy, the
drive for free health care, Henry Wallace’s call for US/Soviet dialogue and, of
course, civil rights for all.
The Russian invasion and the incomplete and war-oriented narrative of the Ukraine crisis dominating the news from such sources as the Washington Post, the New York Times, National Public Radio, and CNN/MSNBC constitute a real setback for us. Media news is a commodity. War and portraits of American exceptionalism are profitable commodities for the increasingly concentrated corporate media. And the rising militarism at home, inflaming rhetoric, and troop movements and arms transfers increase the probability of nuclear war and reduce the possibility of the world addressing impending climate disaster.
For these reasons and more, I endorse the Code Pink demands that all parties cease fighting and negotiate all outstanding issues. The 12-point Chinese proposed peace plan is a good place to start. Russian withdrawal of its troops from Ukraine and the United States and its allies pulling back NATO forces from its presence in Eastern Europe are desirable goals. In addition, diplomatic efforts should ensue to replace NATO with an organization that can provide security for Europe and the Global South. The Code Pink frame gives appropriate recognition to both the immorality of the Russian action and the context, including NATO expansion and the events in Ukraine since 2014.
https://www.codepink.org/ukraine
And a short power point on US and geopolitics: Mackinder, Brzezinski, and Rand.
