How many more people have to die on the vast plains of Ukraine before the Masters of War are sated with blood? How long before the mainstream media stop lying about the war in order to drum up business for the military-industrial complex?
Experience tells us that the last won’t happen until long after the first — which will itself happen sometime after the snow falls in Hell.
From the get-go, the mainstream media have lied about the war, and they’re not showing any sign of giving it up soon. Especially about Ukraine’s much-vaunted counter-offensive, which has so far been even less successful than the Somme.
In more than two months Ukraine has retaken little territory at an unknown cost, despite months of Western training and total NATO military and economic aid since January 2022 of €165bn ($279bn – more than five times Australia’s annual defence budget), according to the Kiel Institute. Between 20,000 and 50,000 Ukrainians have lost one or more limbs since the start of the war, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month.
Even before the counteroffensive began, Ukraine had lost some 100,000 soldiers, according to US General Mark Milley. The reality could be even worse given Western media has generally created the impression that Ukraine is “winning”, even though more than five million Ukrainians have emigrated, the nation’s infrastructure has been crippled and more than 20 per cent of its territory is occupied.
The military-industrial complex and its media lickspittles are certainly not interested in peace talks — why would they? There are fortunes to be made in Washington, and who cares how many dead Ukrainians and Russians it takes?
And they’ll turn like pack wolves on anyone who does dare suggest peace talks.
Last year Elon Musk was derided for suggesting Russia be allowed to keep Crimea and the UN hold referendums on the status of the four annexed provinces in eastern Ukraine.
“This is highly likely to be the outcome in the end – just a question of how many die before then,” he said, prompting accusations the world’s richest man was on Vladimir Putin’s payroll.
Almost a year on, having instead heeded the wisdom of foreign policy experts, that looks like a best-case scenario.
Like it or not, despite what the propaganda machine wants us to believe, Russia is not about to lose. Putin may not have got the blitzkrieg victory he probably bargained on, but neither is Russia about to be dislodged from the territories it’s taken. Nor is it about to collapse internally.
Russia’s military advantage appears insurmountable in troops and artillery without mobilising, and sanctions appear to have failed. Eight in 10 Russians say they haven’t personally been affected them, according to a recent survey by the Chicago Council of Global Affairs. Crimea – supposedly under threat from Ukrainian military – is currently overflowing with Russian tourists.
Moreover, by promising to welcome Ukraine into NATO after the war ends (something Russia launched its invasion to prevent), Moscow has an incentive to keep the war going and even seize more of the country to make its ultimate NATO membership less of a problem. The promise of “Ukraine in NATO” created ample opportunities for virtue signalling but may have extended the war for years.
Just as the Masters of War were furious at Donald Trump for calling for an end to their Forever Wars in the Middle East, they’re even more apoplectic that he’s threatening to stifle their plump, golden goose in Ukraine.
“I want everybody to stop dying. They’re dying. Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying,” he said.
Trump appears to be more in touch with the war-weary American public than ever before. Ordinary Americans may not be sending their sons and daughters off to die and be maimed in Ukraine — yet — but they have only-too-fresh memories of what war costs them. And while it might not be costing American lives right now, it’s costing American taxpayers plenty that they can ill afford.
A CNN poll last week found 55 per cent of Americans opposed sending further aid – well up from 17 per cent in February 2022 when Russia launched its invasion. Yet the Biden administration asked congress last week for another $US24bn in aid for Ukraine – fully backed by top Republicans.
The warmongers aren’t even hiding their real motives, either.
“We haven’t lost a single American … Most of the money that we spend related to Ukraine is actually spent in the US, replenishing weapons … So it’s actually employing people here and improving our own military for what may lie ahead,” Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said, batting away criticism.
And despite the high-falutin’ rhetoric, anyone who thinks that Ukraine is a fight for freedom and democracy is as big a fool as the mainstream media plainly think they are.
However much a boon for the US defence industry the war is, it’s not clear ordinary Ukrainians want it to continue. Opposition parties have been banned in Ukraine. Elections have been suspended. And all media and journalists have been under state control since January.
For months, social media has been awash with videos of young Ukrainian men being dragged into trucks to be sent to the frontline.
It’s also a bit rich for Western nations who aggressively pursued their interests via illegal wars, to point the finger at Russia for doing exactly the same.
The sad reality is Moscow’s interests and arguments, whether we agree with them or not, will need to be taken into account in Ukraine, at least as much as Washington’s.
If that means the Russian-speaking parts of Ukraine become part of Russia, or even if Ukraine has to promise not to join NATO, perhaps that’s preferable to another 100,000 young Ukrainians dying or losing their limbs, and Moscow and Beijing becoming even closer allies. It may not be forever: Russia won’t be able to hold on to the territories it has annexed if the people don’t want to be part of Russia. Time will tell.
The Australian
Do we want Russia to win? No one wants that, but the grim reality is that they’re going to, like it or not. The only real question is how many more people have to die.
