My previous blog, and posts related to it, have generated a great deal of negative comments. Most of these commenters are appalled by my lack of outrage and zeal over Russia's attack on Ukraine. They also are angry about Putin's aggression, and the human costs of the war. The war is said to be a prelude to WW3 if we don't 'stop Putin' as well as an outrageous abuse of human rights. There are ongoing calls for peace, prayers, and protection of the Christian church, even though both sides are Orthodox. There are loud calls to stop serving Russian foods even though the purveyors are usually Russian immigrants with nothing to do with Putin or war.
I published my assessment of the geopolitical reasons Russia attacked Ukraine, and the West's lack of options and more importantly of will in considering any response. I have four responses about the sanctimonious, emotional replies and posts I keep seeing.
First, I can't see what makes Russia so bad. It seems both are being judged by their human rights record. But international politics is not about exporting western democratic human values, and Russia is certainly not the West, as anyone familiar with history knows. Russia is worse than the liberal West but better than Africa, the Middle East, and China. Homosexuality is legal. Women's rights are legally guaranteed, although western sources are outraged that Russian women consider the two most important attributes of women to be beauty and being a good homemaker. Russia hazes its military recruits. It limits access to Facebook. It has expelled some western NGOs. It has significant press controls. It has oppressed and murdered religious and ethnic minorities.
My response is "So?" The internal behavior of a nation is its business, not mine or that of the United States. We are allies of nations that outlaw homosexuality, prevent women from driving, punish theft by mutilation, practice infibulation, and normalize sex with children. We depend on these nations for oil! They are strategic allies. How is Russia worse than these nations?
Russia has limited press freedom, and censors Facebook. We are proud of our press freedom....except if you say something it doesn't like, and then you get censored by the press. Facebook silences people all the time, plus spreads all manner of disinformation and ignorant, uninformed ranting. We criminalize 'hate speech'. Our press is unabashedly politically biased, and proud of its efforts at political manipulation and intervention. It's hard for me to see how Russia is materially worse than we are, and in fact seems better off in some ways. I wish our social media were edited and restricted, and I often wish the same of our media. What is less accurate, less free- a grossly biased presentation of the world, or a censored one? Is there a real difference?
Second, I don't see what is 'bad' about Putin. He is manipulative, a liar, secretive, vindictive, violent. That sounds like every other politicians I've ever seen, it's just that he's more open about it. Yes, elections are rigged in Russia. Of course, some feel the same way here in the US, but there is no question our elections are more open and free. We also don't poison our political opponents (at least, that we know of, although there are many who wish we could) or throw them in jail. No, all we do is invent sex scandals that are fake, spy illegally on our opponents, pay for fake dossiers to smear them. What do we have to be so proud of that we can righteously condemn others?
Putin is unabashed in putting Russian needs first. This seems entirely right to me. Nations do not exist to promote moral ideas or export political systems. They exist for the good of the governed, a concept well established in western political theory. Putin uses methods we don't approve of to advance Russian needs. He uses his military. Don't we do the same? What is different about our 60 years of interference in Persian and Iraqi politics? Have we not used assassination, military incursion, and financial coercion? It seems to me Putin does what needs to be done. We should do so well for ourselves. While we decry Putin's methods we have a completely uncontrolled border, 12 million illegal immigrants, public disorder and rioting passed off as peaceful political protest. Who looks dumber here? Not Putin.
Finally, I don't understand the love affair with Ukraine. The comments, press, and posts I see depict Ukraine as a wonderful, productive, peace-loving, orderly nation. Little of that is true. Attitudes toward homosexuals and women are the same in Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine has ongoing politically motivated attacks on homosexuals, human rights journalists, and anti-corruption politicians. Their president, Zelensky, was a TV comedian before becoming a politician and being elected president one year after beginning his political career. Much of the US sneered at Donald Trump for a similar lack of experience, but we are canonizing Zelensky. Why?
Political corruption is rampant in Ukraine. Justice is perverted by it, contracts controlled. Political spending and priorities are shaped primarily by bribes to and offered by the same class of oligarchs we condemn in Russia. Hunter Biden appears to have benefitted grossly inappropriately for selling access, but this is a common practice in Ukraine. It is so bad that a 5.5 billion dollar aid package has been held up by the IMF until Ukraine addresses its corruption problems. Its elections are freer than Russia's, but damaged by fraudulent voting and other manipulations.
Finally, I have been amused by the breathless press reports of civilian casualties and damage in Ukraine. The West seems to believe that modern warfare can and should be prosecuted without any damage to civilians or civilian infrastructure. I can't understand where that idea comes from. Every war that has ever been has destroyed civilian life. Britain had 40,000 dead in London alone from The Blitz. The US killed 50,000 in Dresden, 35,000 in Hamburg, all killed in horrifying firestorms. B-29 firebombing raids on Tokyo killed 100,000 civilians. In one night. The atomic bombings were merciful in comparison. 200,000 Iraqi civilians have died since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. There is nothing surprising or dramatic about apartment buildings, oil refineries, transportation systems, and communications being destroyed in war. Civilian death and infrastructure damage is inevitable in war. This doesn't make Russians horrible abusers.
Taken together, I just don't see why Russia is 'bad' and Ukraine 'good'. This seems to me an internecine conflict between the two largest fragments of the old Soviet Union. It is only a prelude to WW3 if we interfere, and for this reason and the others above I just don't see why we are so concerned. Of course human suffering is terrible, but war is terrible. The human toll is inevitable once fighting begins. As I see it, this is just reality, a reality the West is too effete to accept. We are buried in nonsense about gay rights, roles for women, equal pay, press freedoms, and many other issues that are none of our business and have no bearing on the drivers for geopolitical decisions. Neither Russia nor Ukraine seem terribly 'good' to me. It is the West that seems terribly deluded and moralistic.
Ted
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