My Post About the Russia/Ukraine Conflict

in #blog2 years ago

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I am deeply disturbed by the invasion of Ukraine. I feel that I should include a post about the event. This post is long. I wrote it to voice to my opposition to the war and negative rhetoric which is ripping the world apart on the HIVE blockchain.

Unfortunately, we live in a world in which pundits take the words people say and frame them in the ugliest light possible.

Rather than talk about the invasion itself, I decided to write a polemic about how the approach to discourse in the modern world tears things apart.

My sympathies lie with the Ukrainians. I see Putin as a KGB thug who should be tried for war crimes.

My impulse is to praise the resistance while saying snide things about Putin. The game of vilifying the opposition rarely leads to positive outcomes. I despise Putin but there may be some merits to his actions that I don't understand and there is often a dark side to resistance movements.

The people in Ukraine and Russia both received the same radical and militaristic education of the former Soviet Union. One should expect to see both sides of the conflict reflecting this education.

So, rather than look at the invasion itself. I want to look at the discourse that led to the crisis.

Pundits like to use crisis to score political points. An example of this came early in the crisis. Donald Trump wanted to express the opinion that Biden mishandled the lead up to the invasion. Trump said that the current administration was a fool and he said that Putin was a genius in contrast.

I do not like Trump. It is clear that Trump was trying to make an exaggerated comparison that juxtaposed the terms "fool" and "genius" to strengthen his claim of mismanagement.

After Trump made his bombastic statement, the leftwing media took one half of Trump's exaggerated comparison and used it to say that Trump was a Putin sycophant who supported the invasion of Ukraine.

I agree with Trump that America foreign service and NATO did an abysmal job in interfacing with Russia and Ukraine in this last decade.

I would have used the term "incompetent" describe the foreign service that systematically caved into Putin's prewar maneuvers. I would have used the term "cunning" instead of "genius" to describe Putin.

To be truthful, I am not fully convinced that Putin is the driving force behind the invasion.

It is rare for an individual to drive history. There is usually a group standing behind a figurehead in events like the invasion of Ukraine.

I am more worried about the groups that benefit from the war than I am about Putin.

There were reports from several outlets claiming that Xi Jinping of China asked that Putin put off the invasion until after the Olympics.

If these reports are true; then Xi Jinping might be the true ring master of this circus.

Some outlets claim that China is interested in invading Taiwan. If China and Russia were both interested in territorial expansion; then it is likely that the weaker of the two parties would start the invasion process.

One reason to praise the Ukrainian resistance because Taiwan is in the same negative situation. Taiwan cannot depend of foreign assistance. The future independence of Taiwan rests on the ability of the people to resist a militaristic power.

Is Ukraine a Proxy War?

The term "proxy war" refers to a war fought between major powers in a third country. The Korean and Vietnam Wars are often cited as examples of proxy wars. There are arguments that the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria were proxy wars.

If China spurred on Putin, then the war in Ukraine might actually be a proxy war between China and the West.

The hawks in China and Russia are not the only groups interested in war.

Dwight Eisenhower refereed to a thing he called the "military–industrial complex." This idea hints that there are entities the West that promote war for monetary gain.

Most of the people in the military-industrial complex are good people who believe that a strong defense is the best deterrence to war.

Some outliers in the military industrial complex are likely to spur on war for the sake of war.

I am slow to join anti-Putin chants because provocateurs are skilled at escalating chanting into hostilities. Provocateurs are known to infiltrate any movement.

My distaste for Putin does not mean I approve of all anti-Putin rhetoric.

An example of destructive anti-Putin rhetoric occurred when Senator Lindsey Graham stood on the pulpit of Fox News and called for the assassination of Putin.

While I would not be upset if a Russian general did unto Putin what Putin did unto Ukraine, public calls for assassination rarely do more than escalate hostilities.

Putin is an entrenched dictator who does not listen to Western leaders. While a call for assassination might score some political points in the US. It simply makes an entrenched dictator more entrenched.

Unfortunately demands that Putin be tried for war crimes has the same effect. I agree that many actions of Putin qualify as war crimes. Putin is likely to become more brutal on learning that the West want to try him for war crimes.

War is inherently unjust. While it is imperative that civilized war record the injustices that occur during the war, I fear that people will have a hard time imposing justice after the war.

Is Ukraine in a Civil War?

There happens to be a large number of ethic Russians who live in Ukraine. There are people in Ukraine who favor Putin and support the invasion.

Civil wars are brutal. I would not be surprised to learn that Ukrainian resistance that I support has engaged in some atrocities of their own.

The best that people can do on the justice front at this point is to record the atrocities with hope that society can find a way to confront the perpetrators at a future time.

Social media can play a positive role by providing an uncensored outlet for coverage of the war. Media becomes part of the problem when shadow bans the reporting from one side or another.

There is reason to believe that Ukraine bombed Russian speaking Ukrainians in the Donbas Conflict of 2014. This conflict was poorly reported in the United States.

Break Down of Communication

On a side note: One thing that I noticed about the war is that many people lost their ability to get online.

I believe that people are foolish to depend on centralized internet service providers for our connections to the outside world. Why did we let big business destroy all of the independent ISPs that were providing internet access a few decades ago.

In a time of crisis, centralized communications becomes compromised.

What Is Propaganda and What is Real?

Sadly, the impulse of many people is to repeat whatever propaganda supports their local partisan position.

An example of this occurred when Right Wing pundits began irresponsibly repeating unsubstantiated rumors that there were Bio-weapon Research Labs in Ukraine.

The truth is that there were Bio Research Labs studying agents that could be used in biological warfare ... a totally different thing.

These same right wing crackpots claimed that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was engaged in the research of viruses. When will this irresponsible right wing propaganda end?

The No Fly Zone is a No Go

Calls that NATO impose a "No-Fly Zone" over Ukraine is problematic because attempts to impose a no-fly zone involves shooting down plans which is a direct escalation of war.

Of course almost every action taken to assist an resistance movement can be framed as an escalation of war. The problem the west face shows that the best path for supporting resistance is preparation.

Boycotts and Economic Repercussions of Boycotts

I can see some value in boycotting Russia businesses. Blanket boycotts often have unintended effects. For example, cutting Russia's access to International banking forces Russia to depend more heavily on China's banking system.

While it is true that boycotts hurt Russians who support Putin. The boycotts also hurt Russians opposed to Putin.

Boycotts generally have the effect of harming organic economic built up by people over time. The lifting of boycotts almost always give an advantaged to politically connected centralized concerns over the people at large.

In my experience, organic economic relations that huild up through the years lead to peace. Politically controlled commerce tens to lead to poverty and additional conflict.

It is common for the political elite to use boycotts for power grabs outside the arena of conflict. Some people want to use the Russian financial boycott to push regulations on crypto.

What are we supposed to do here on HIVE? Are we supposed to downvote anyone suspected of being Russian?

My final instinct is to support charitable efforts to help people in Ukraine? Unfortunately, I am suffering NGO and Charity fatigue. Far too many NGOs and charities simply profit from conflict while failing to protect people from the scourges of government abuse.

For example, Bill Clinton is using the Ukraine invasion to relaunch fundraising efforts of the Clinton Foundation. History seems to indicate that the primary function of the Clinton Foundation is to promote the Clintons. The foundations record of assistance is sparse in comparison to the amount of funds the foundation collected.

Personally, I would not trust the Clinton Foundation with my charitable donations anymore than I would trust the Trump Foundation. Partisan based charities have a a history of engaging in power politics and often fail to help the people at large.

Some of you may recall a group called "The White Hats" that emerged in the Syrian. That charitable effort proved to be a front for partisan movement.

I think that it might be possible to use HIVE to help individuals affected by the war. HIVE is also a decent avenue for people to report on the war. Of course, everything on HIVE is also suspect.

For example, I decided to give a delegation to a new account that claimed to be from Ukraine. The first post seemed suspect. The account was out of resources. The purpose of my delegation was simply to give resources for more posts. Subsequent posts confirmed that the account fraudulent.

Can you imagine someone so despicable that they would pose as a Ukrainian refuge just to get some sympathy HIVE? A great thing about delegations for new users is that delegation don't give money. It gives resources. I think we should give delegations to all new users so that we would have something to yank away when the account goes rogue.

Small frauds are simply an annoyance. Unfortunately, the world seems full of power politicians who benefit from conflict. Pundits who use the tragedy of others for partisan talking points and players who game the charitable instincts of others.

Recently, Biden announced that he would borrow tens of billions of dollars and give it to politically connected entities in response to the crisis.

Hooray, Biden plans to use the crisis to give money to his friends while taxing his enemies. One should never let a crisis go to waste.

I used to feel a sense of pride when the United States funded international relief efforts. Since our foreign aid is channeled through political structures, I fear that most of the foreign aid doled out by the US over the decades has done more harm to good.

Colbert Is Insulated from Prices

A walking/talking piece of garbage named Stephen Colbert announced that he would like to see gas rise to $15 because he is wealthy enough to buy a Tesla and feels insulated from the crisis.

I can't afford to drive. So, I guess I can be smug and claim that I am insulated as well. But I know that $15/gallon gas means $3.00 a pound bananas and $10 loaves of bread.

What Should I Say in my Ukraine Post?

I am still deeply upset with Putin's invasion of Ukraine. I feel that I should write about the event as silence is a form of complicity.

I live in the United States. I figure that the best use of my post is to discuss the destructive nature of the current approach to modern political discourse.

I do not like Trump. I campaigned against Trump in 2016.

Immediately after the election, there was a concerted effort in the media to claim that Trump colluded with Russia.

While it is true that Russia and other foreign powers try to meddle in US elections, I found the claims dubious.

Enough people took the claims seriously and there was an attempt to impeach Trump on the Russian Collusion claim.

The Russia Collusion kind of makes sense. Putin is somewhat of a narcissist and Trump is somewhat a narcissist. It is easy to assume narcissists would collude with other narcissists in some sort of international brotherhood of narcissists.

But guess what? Narcissists tend to hate each other. The feared international brotherhood of narcissists would break up in the first meeting.

Trump would enter the room and declare: "I am the greatest negotiator who ever existed and am the center of the universe." Putin would respond: "No, I am rebuilding the Soviet empire and am center of the universe." Xi would retort; "No, me with my Confusing Confucius twist on Marxism, am the center of the unverse."

The claims are absurd because we we all know that Justin Sun is the center of the universe.

The Russian collusion claim never made sense to me.

Russia does all that it can to interfere with elections in the US.

The investigation by Special Counsel John Durham indicates that anti-Trump forces colluded with Russia to create the original Russian collusion claims.

The Obama/Biden administration was knee deep in the Russian/Ukraine War of 2014 which ceded Crimea to Russia.

There is a recording of Vice President Biden asking for a quid-pro-quo from the Ukrainian president. He asked that Ukraine fire a prosecutor who was investigating charges of corruption in return for a loan guarantee. It also turns out that Hunter Biden was employed by questionable entities in Ukraine and in China.

President Trump had a phone call Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Trump approved the corruption investigations. This second called was branded a quid-pro-quo. The phone call led to Trump's first impeachment.

This Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a former comedian who somehow became the Ukraine president. This joker was held up as the face of Ukrainian corruption during the impeachment hearing.

Just for the record, I would like to point out that there are too many Ys in Zelenskyy's last name. Much as I like the letter "y," one "y" and the end of the name should be sufficient.

Americans tend to focus on the drama between Trump and Biden.

The press spent four solid years claiming that Trump colluded with Russia and Ukraine ... while shadow-banning the fact that the Obama/Biden Administration was knee deep in a war between these countries.

I guess I have to say this again. I do not like Trump. I think Trump was a terrible president. However, I see the narratives that used Russia and Ukraine to attack Trump heightened tensions in the region.

For several years the American Media told us that this Volodymyr Zelenskyy joker must be a horrible and corrupt creature because of he colluded with Trump.

While the charges of collusion were aimed squarely at Trump, the charges had the effect of isolating Zelenskyy from the West. The charges caused Putin to become entrenched in his imperial ambitions.

The collusion charges seemed to increase the corruption in both Russia and Ukranian markets.

Personally, I wish that partisan Americans would look at our tendency to repeat propaganda. The four years of collusion claims in the US destroyed American relations with Russia and Ukraine.

A Conclusionless Wrap Up

I decided that I needed to write a post on Putin's invasion of Ukraine. There's been a 10 day gap since my last post because most of the news reports I've encountered on the conflict have been seriously flawed in one way of another.

The things I find most interesting is that Ukrainian resistance seems to have shown that armed civilians can slow the invasion of a modern army.

Just prior to the invasion, the Durham probe presented findings that indicated that charge of collusion between Trump and Russia may have been trumped up by partisans who colluded with Russia.

American media failed to provide adequate coverage of the Obama Administration in the Russian/Ukraine conflict of 2014. It over reported claims of collusion betwen Trump and Russia and Trump and Zelensky.

I guess I have to repeat this again. I don't like Trump. I never liked Trump. I think Trump is a narcissists and was a horrible president.

The false narratives that the opposition used to attack Trump were worse than Trump.

Most of the reporting that I've seen on the news is suspect. Most of the reporting is by people who want to gain partisan points. The people in Ukraine need help. Most of pleas for relief that I've seen are scams by people who want to use the conflict to get money.

I think that the best thing for people at large to do during the times of conflict and crisis is to ignore the news and focus on history. What one finds in studying history is that much of what is presented in the news is tinged with partisan propaganda.

I am not in a position to do quality research on the Russia/Ukraine conflict. This will be my only post on the subject.

That does not mean my heart does not go out the people affected by the war.

To put my words into action, I decided to stop serving Moscow Mules. Yeah, not serving Moscow Mules will show Putin.

I guess I should drink this ginger beer. I might add a little vodka and a lime.

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The only thing that this is hurting is that how many people.

And an invasion of the Ukrainian people wasn't by chance. That area had had unrest for a while. And Russia took Crimea without NATO reaction.

It's all bad. And no one is right.

But at the end of the day, Russia invaded Ukraine, not the other way around. To me that makes Russia more wrong than everybody else and i don't think it can just be dismissed by saying "everybody is wrong". And just because NATO didn't react to Russia seizing Crimea, it doesn't make it ok.

Just because everybody is wrong nobody is right...

Personally I absolutely agree.

The claim of self-defense is on the fence however I'm not buying Russia preemptively invading another country and having this war.

This is just a tragic cycle of trauma.

The only winners are the arms dealers.

The losers are the common people.

If that's your Wheat Cent... I'm feeling quite jealous. lol I still don't have one.

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I would draw a distinction between Russians who live in Russia and those who engage in international commerce or who live outside Russia.

You would probably see that Russians who interact outside of Russia have a more nuanced view of Putin. These are the people who are most negatively affected by the boycotts.