The path to avoid a war is quite simple. The US can guarantee no NATO expansion into Ukraine. The American response has been countries "can choose their own alliances." Maybe it's worth looking back to see what has happened when other countries have tried to do that?
Lindsey O'Rourke finds 64 cases of covert US attempts at regime change during the Cold War, in addition to 6 overt ones. "these missions targeted all types of states: adversaries and allies, powerful and weak, democratic and authoritarian, communist and capitalist."
"the United States covertly supported regime change efforts that directly or indirectly replaced democratically elected leaders with authoritarian regimes in six cases and covertly tried to influence the outcome of democratic elections in a dozen additional cases."
The US is now fighting a potential Chinese military base in Equatorial Guinea. America seeks to prevent "a permanent military presence on waters the US considers home turf." West Africa is "American turf," but Russia can't have a say in Ukraine? Makes logical sense.
The US claimed that Venezuela was increasing its ties with Russia and China. For this and other reasons, the US imposed sanctions that have killed an estimated 40,000 people. Everyone knows about American wars, fewer know about the death and destruction sanctions cause.
People say this is "whataboutism." Of course it is! If one guy in a city has declared himself sheriff and says he has the right to enforce the law everywhere, it's legitimate to point out that he's the biggest violator of all the laws and principles he pretends he's defending.
Does that mean Russia is perfect? No, it pursues its interests. But the American position here is justified by its supposed moral superiority. No one is even pretending there is any US strategic interest in Ukraine. It’s all about “sovereignty” and “democracy,” a complete farce
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A very early 2000s Halftime show. Heteronormative. Wokeness losing power, we’re back to west coast gangsta rap.
The first thing I thought when I saw 50 was black Alex Jones.
They let him dance with girls like they did in rap videos 20 years ago. But to compromise with the current year, one had short hair and a few men were off to the side. But mostly the same light skinned black girls of the genre.
"Putin and much of the Russian population that supports him are pretty much like white folks in the South who are still pissed that the Confederacy lost ...like Black folks in America, Ukrainians...have no interest in going back to Massa’s house." thegrio.com/2022/02/05/why…
"Like America, Russia is a settler-colonial state and we as Black folks need to understand how leaders of such states operate because we aren’t that far behind when it comes to being on the lower end of the totem pole of racial oppression."
"A friend of mine, a Black Ukrainian, worries about a Russian invasion and shared with me that, while she is proud to be Black, she feels the trauma of the Kremlin’s aggression as much as any white Ukrainian."
Important context: Ukraine is repressing Russian speakers, arresting opposition figures and launching a cultural purge, with tacit US support. It chose the path of repression because it thought Russia was weak and the US would bail it out. It bet wrong. ti.me/32QLp4o
“The Ukrainian government started by taking his TV channels off the air, depriving Russia of its propaganda outlets in the country. The U.S. embassy in Kyiv applauded the move.”
Sure sounds like America stands for democracy! If they’d shut down LGBT, then US would’ve been mad.
The Ukrainian government with US support prevents pro-Russian figures from owning TV stations or running for office and then we’re told democratic and sovereign Ukraine is making a free choice to join the West.
“the Pentagon said it would temporarily pull 160 American military trainers out of the country, where they had been working with Ukrainian troops near the Polish border.” Sign Biden isn’t that reckless, even if politics prevents him from making a deal. nytimes.com/live/2022/02/1…
Russia pulling embassy staff it says because the other side is panning aggression. So everyone agrees war may be coming, they just disagree on who will start it.
“The United States has picked up intelligence that Russia is discussing next Wednesday as the target date for the start of military action, officials said, acknowledging the possibility that mentioning a particular date could be part of a Russian disinformation effort.”
I mean maybe calling yourself they/them and leading men around on leashes in your free time has no correlation with your ability to do an important government job well. But I have no idea why on earth you would think that.