Speaking on Democracy Now! last week, professor Stephen Cohen of NYU & Princeton said, “we are not beginning a new Cold War. We are well Into it.” The tremendous military resources of the U.S. and Europe are lining up in preparation for a showdown — which as Cohen said, could lead to a shooting war — aimed at backing Russia out of Ukraine.
In U.S. media, we’re hearing what we heard in 1990 and 2002, that American interests are being endangered by “terrorists.” Russia is taking advantage of the deep discontent and desperation in Ukraine among people increasingly impoverished. But are they terrorists seeking to attack the U.S., or people fearing the disaster that western IMF austerity measures represent?
Robert Parry, in Prepping for a Ukrainian Massacre, sharply questions the lies being told to justify NATO/US military moves:
“Between the anti-Russian propaganda pouring forth from the Obama administration and the deeply biased coverage from the U.S. news media, the American people are being prepared to accept and perhaps even cheer a massacre of eastern Ukrainians who have risen up against the coup regime in Kiev.”
In Revolution this week, Nicholas Kristof on Ukraine: Rationalizing “Our Side” in a Clash of Global Oppressors characterizes Kristoff, writing in The New York Times, as aiming his arguments at a war-weary and skeptical U.S. public:
“For years, the U.S. and the European Union (EU) have been moving steadily, if not in lockstep, to move Ukraine into their orbit—not just or even mainly to claim a lion’s share of the rich agricultural and factory output of the country, but as part of geostrategic contention with the rival imperialists who rule Russia. This has included steps to integrate Ukraine and other countries in Eastern Europe into NATO, the U.S./Europe military alliance.”
Most of us will be skeptical of John McCain’s sudden embrace of the Ukrainian peoples’ right to self-determination. But what about John Kerry, the one-time radical Vietnam veteran? Again, from Revolution:
“Behind the lies about the reasons for the conflict in Ukraine, and the utterly the self-serving U.S. government declarations of representing the interests of the people of Ukraine, are the interests of rival predatory powers.”
Don’t believe the hype. Join or call protests, forums, and speak-outs against U.S. or NATO military involvement in Ukraine.