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(Fifteen-minute read)
The military-industrial complex and its clients, seem to have decided that the next place we need to go and kill people (or at least sell weapons to help others kill people) is Ukraine, assuming that Russia decides to slice off a section of its former province.
However, misfortunes of geographical fate do not mean that we should wander into conflict.
Now is not the time for more foreign and military adventurism and yet another pointless war just to expand NATO to the Russian border. ( How near do you have to be to fire a rocket?)
In fact, it boggles the mind that European powers are not standing firm against such an escalation considering they have the most to lose from a war in Europe.
It is high time to reject warmongering and embrace appeasement; yes appeasement; mutual strategic appeasement to avoid another devastating European war and dreadful world crisis.
Fortunately very few of us alive today have ever experienced the horrors of war, it is turned into entertainment by Hollowood and Net flicks.
Perhaps this is the reason that most of us are silent and not shouting.
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The pace of change in an ever more challenging global environment inevitably has a significant impact on how the powers of the world influence and protect their national interests.
The UK Government is using the phrase ‘Global Britain’ since the EU referendum in 2016 to summarise its post-Brexit foreign policy.
Let me tell you that it is a cynical attempt to distract from the state of the UK since it left the EU.
If you believe everything written in the mainstream press in Britain or heard on the airwaves, you would no doubt think that Russia is on course for either an all-out invasion or a coup d’etat in Ukraine.
Boris Johnson has just touched down in Ukraine is whipping up hysteria around the ‘threat’ of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. – presumably to single-handedly avert the impending ‘catastrophic invasion’. He will not tolerate Russia’s ‘destabilizing activity.
Putin is shitting in his pants in case he gets an invitation to a drinks party in no 10.
We have all heard the Boris lies – and know the imperialist interests that hide behind them.
Unfortunately England no longer a member of the European Union and now thinks that is it is once more a Global Power. Global Britain’ was dreamt up as a way of underlining that Brexit did not mean insularity.
Mr. Johnson needs to consider whether it really makes sense to create a grouping of democracies without engaging closely with the EU, whether some of those he is inviting really merit the label ‘democracy,’ and, indeed, what balance he wishes to strike between sanctioning and engaging with China.
It is hard to believe, that he repeatedly called for a free trade agreement with China.
With one of the highest numbers of death from covid his leadership of the country, is hinging in part on setting an example at home and this is not a UK Government that has, as yet, shown an aptitude for thinking beyond the short term.
It is obvious to all that Britain/Uk ( Whatever it is now called- The four Ununited Nations) with its departure from the EU signaled a lessening of international ambition and commitment. Its economic recovery from both the pandemic and from Brexit, and its ability to retain its unity in the face of separatist challenges are far bigger political problems than selling arms to Ukraine and then sending British soldiers to be killed by the very arms it sold in the first place.
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To deliver on the rhetoric of a Global Britain, the Government will need to make hard choices and to show evidence of clarity and long-term vision that, to date, have been rather notable by their absence.
All the while, Ukraine looks at Britain with confusion and consternation, with officials in Kyiv distancing themselves from the alarmist picture being spun by Washington and its obedient allies.
You would think that after two world wars, Vietnam/ Afghanistan not to mention the numerous other wars in progress, we would all understand that wars are easy to start, costing young lives, for nothing to change other than the reassess of the warring nation’s place in the world.
Global Britain is now the UK government’s mantra for its post-Brexit foreign policy which involves thinking and acting globally but the UK is regarded by most Americans as a kind of historic theme park that helps tourism.
Beyond the slogan, what is now it’s global standing.
On the military front, British threats are just farcical. Britain could make all the sound and fury it likes, and it would signify nothing.
Obviously, the countries with the most influence are those with military power and it depends on the range and depth of bilateral and regional relationships. Militarily, Great Britain is less than great.
Boris Johnson not surprisingly is supposed to be cutting the British army to 72,500 soldiers by 2025, its lowest level for 300 years. By 2026 the Royal Navy will be down from 13 to 10 frigates. There has been a huge shift in emphasis from conventional forces to cutting-edge warfare, with investment in drones and laser weapons.
It is often said that the first casualty of war is truth.
While this is nothing new the press has once again wasted no time in greasing the wheels of war.
The truth is, there is no appetite for war. The idea that you can invade a country is for those that want to commit Harry Carrie.
Putin’s maneuver has already brought relative success, forcing NATO and the US to the negotiating table for discussion of Russia’s demands.
It is not in Russia’s interests to invade. An all-out invasion would prove disastrous for Putin and his oligarchical regime.
But why let such facts spoil a good story?
When it comes to Global Britain there are few better distractions than banging the drum about war.
As an increasingly irrelevant world power, Britain is relegated to playing the role of faithful sidekick and loyal accomplice to the interests of US imperialism – a ‘special relationship’ which more resembles the way a poodle looks wistfully to its master.
For a recent example of this flag-waving rabble, the UK’s evacuation from Afghanistan – in step with the US – was utter humiliation.
British imperialism – now a third-rate power; a veritable pygmy in terms of world relations – was (and still is) in no position to give any credence to being a world power. So Boris is making no serious commitments that he will actually ever need to honor.
Such people have pitifully short memories, it seems, as this is precisely the sort of rhetoric that preceded NATO’s road to ruin in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and many other countries.
But the real question is as always. Should the world standby and watch as one nation invades another.
The truth is that there is no answer to this question as wars lead to new wars.
In the 350 years since the Eternal Peace Treaty (actual name) was signed in 1686, Ukraine has been either a vassal state or province of Russia. Ukraine has been independent only since 1991, and that independence happened only as a consequence of the United States and its allies winning the Cold War.
Ukraine will continue to be a hotbed of chaos and division, as long as it is ruled by a rotten capitalist oligarchy; crushed between the interests of competing for capitalist nations.
Is this what is worth fighting for. I would say No.
War always costs more than you expect. Hostility takes over every facet of your accustomed life. It worms and digs its way into each tiny crevice, spreading, ripping, and shredding everything that is familiar. Eventually, fighting congeals and reforms itself into a living, breathing reality that consumes everything you knew.
All human comments are appreciated. All like clicks and abuse chucked in the bin.
