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David North

Oct 8 • 9 tweets • 2 min read

Is there any limit to the wretchedness of the #NYTimes? Each day brings new evidence that no such limit exists. The latest specimen is David Brooks' column, "The Triumph of the Ukrainian Idea." It glorifies rightwing Ukrainian nationalism as the liberal ideal. 1/

Brooks' hero, Volodymyr Zelensky, "is fighting not just for democracy but also for Ukraine - Ukrainian culture, Ukrainian land, the Ukrainian people and tongue. The symbol of this war is the Ukrainian flag, a nationalist symbol." Brooks is wallowing in the rhetoric of fascism. 2/

But it is not just a matter of rhetoric.Brooks argues that liberalism, if it is to survive, must embrace nationalist mythology. He writes that national unity cannot be maintained on the basis of reason: 3/

"Countries are held together by shared loves for a particular way of life, a particular culture, a particular land. These loves have to be stirred in the heart before they can be analyzed by the brain. 4/

"Nationalism provides people with a sense of meaning. Nationalists tell stories that stretch from a glorious, if broken, past forward to a golden future. Individuals live and die, but the nation goes on." 5/

Though he claims that nationalism is essential to liberal democracy, Brooks promotes an aggressive and exclusionary nationalism that has been its antipode. "Democracies need nationalism if they are to defend themselves against their foes." 6/

Brooks leaves out of his celebration of the "Ukrainian idea" mention of the atrocities committed by its leaders. The name of Stepan Bandera, the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, which was allied with the Nazis in genocidal crimes against Jews and Poles. 7/

To learn more about the alliance of Ukrainian nationalism with the Nazis, read the WSWS review of historian Grzegorz Rssoliński-Liebe's biography of Stepan Bandera: wsws.org/en/articles/20… 8/8

In paragraph 7, the sentence should read: "The name of Stepan Bandera, the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, which was allied with the Nazis in genocidal crimes against Jews and Poles, is not mentioned by Brooks." 9/9

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David North

@DavidNorthWSWS

Oct 7

@nytimes

The @nytimes reports that President Biden told a group of billionaires at a fundraising event last night:“We have not faced the prospect of #Armageddon since Kennedy and the #CubanMissileCrisis.” #nuclearwar 1/

Biden continued: “We are trying to figure out: What is Putin’s off ramp? Where does he find a way out? Where does he find himself where he does not only lose face but significant power?” These are questions that Biden should ask himself. 2/

Having instigated the US-NATO proxy war, provided #Ukraine with unlimited weapons and money, pledged the reconquest of Crimea, and called for regime change in Russia, what is Biden's "off ramp"? How can he deescalate "where he does not only lose face but significant power?” 3/

Read 15 tweets

David North

@DavidNorthWSWS

Oct 6

In its report on the August 20 car bomb assassination in Moscow of #daryadugina, daughter of the Russian fascist Alexander Dugin, the #NYTimes hastened to declare that there "was no evidence that the attack was connected to the war in Ukraine..." #UkraineRussiaWar 1/

The Times cited, without a hint of skepticism, the denial of Ukraine's involvement by #Zelensky adviser Mykhailo Podolyak: "Ukraine certainly had nothing to do with yesterday’s explosion. We are not a criminal state like the Russian Federation, much less a terrorist one.” 2/

But today, the Times has posted an article headlined, "U.S. believes Ukrainians were behind an assassination in Russia." It reports: 3/

Read 21 tweets

David North

@DavidNorthWSWS

Oct 5

The Biden administration and the media present Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons in response to military setbacks as an unprecedented break with long-established and hitherto unquestioned rules of international statecraft. This narrative is a lie. 1/ #nuclearthreats

In fact, the United States and other imperialist powers have not only considered on several critical occasions using nuclear weapons to reverse military defeats. They have directly threatened to drop atom bombs in order to extract concessions from their enemies. 2/

There are the well-documented demands of General Douglas MacArthur for the dropping of nuclear bombs on China, President Eisenhower's weighing of France's request for the detonation of nuclear devices at Dienbienphu, and Kennedy's threats during the Cuban Missile Crisis. 3/

Read 12 tweets

David North

@DavidNorthWSWS

Oct 2

With the deterioration of the Russian military position - the outcome of the reactionary strategy underlying the invasion of Ukraine and the general rottenness of the oligarch regime of capitalist restoration - the danger of #nuclearwar is escalating. 1/ #UkraineRussiaWar

Backed into a corner, #Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons should not be viewed as a bluff. The US and other imperialist powers have threatened in the past to use nuclear weapons to avert military defeat. This fact is being ignored by the media. 2/

In 1950 General Douglas MacArthur sought authorization to use as many as 30 atomic bombs against Chinese troops crossing the border into Korea. In 1954 France pleaded with US President Eisenhower to use nuclear bombs to save its encircled troops at Dienbienphu. 3/

Read 5 tweets

David North

@DavidNorthWSWS

Sep 16

@TimothyDSnyder

The current edition of Foreign Affairs includes an article by @TimothyDSnyder, which provides further proof of his role as a purveyor of historical falsification - even to the point of covering up the mass murder of Jews by rightwing Ukrainian nationalists. 1/

The article, titled "Ukraine Holds the Future: The War Between Democracy and Nihilism", presents the regime in Kiev as the culmination of Ukrainian nationalists' heroic struggle, spanning more than a century, for freedom. He writes: 2/

"When Ukrainian leaders founded a republic in 1918, they revived the trident as the national symbol. Independence meant not only freedom from bondage but the liberty to use the land as they saw fit. Yet the Ukrainian National Republic was short lived." 3/

Read 11 tweets

David North

@DavidNorthWSWS

Sep 15

The scale of the disastrous defeat of Russian forces in #Ukraine is clearly evident in the Xi-Putin meeting. #XiJinping certainly asked #Putin to explain the catastrophic mismanagement of the war. But the latter has no strategically coherent explanation. #UkraineRussiaWar 1/

According to the South China Post, the Russian debacle "has obviously alarmed Chinese leaders." Putin told Xi: "We understand your questions and concerns" about the war. This is a shame-faced admission of his regime's desperate situation. 2/

Putin launched the "special operation" hoping that his "Western Partners" could be induced to make concessions to the oligarchic regime's security interests. But US imperialism, having maneuvered Putin into a war for which he was unprepared, is not interested in compromise. 3/

Read 4 tweets

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