Listen to a reading of this article: "Why don't you ever criticize RUSSIA'S warmongering?" is a question I am often asked with great indignation. People cannot comprehend why I would spend all my time criticizing the warmongering of the power structure
You could have said that the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics which were formed after the US-sponsored Maidan coup in Ukraine had asked for recognition by the Russian Federation shortly after the coup in 2014. You could have added that the Russian Federation said no, choosing to engage with the unelected regime in Ukraine and its US/NATO backers for an agreement which would have guaranteed some autonomy to those self-declared republics by Ukraine, especially allowing the continued use of the Russian language in them, and that this came to fruition in the Minsk Agreement. You could have added that Russia watched as Ukraine ignored the agreement, and continuously attacked those areas for the next 7 years, and was beginning an attack on them in earnest last February, and that the enormous pressure on Putin from the Russian Duma to help their Russian countrymen in those self- declared republics finally resulted in the Russian Federation recognizing the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk before Russia sent in its troops, at the request of those republics. So, technically, it was not even an invasion. You could have said all of that, but you didn’t- maybe because your critics’ heads would have exploded. So, I have.
1) Ukraine's LEGALLY ELECTED government would not have been overturned in an ILLEGAL COUP in 2014 if not for American neocons orchestrating it.
2) Ethnic Russians, who make up a majority in the Donbass, had been bombed relentlessly for the past 8 years by the Ukrainian military, led by the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion and funded by Washington. Thousands had been killed. If anything, Putin showed exceptional patience and waited too long to stop it.
3) Would Washington have put up with Russia arming Mexico and turning it into a hostile client state on our southern border? The answer is obvious.
4) It is the American neocons, who control NATO with an iron fist, who are responsible for tens of thousands of Ukrainian deaths as well as the demolition of the Nordstream pipeline. This war, which wouldn't have started in the first place if not for the delusional belief in AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM, could have ended months ago in negotiations but the blood thirsty neocons would not allow it to end until Putin is overthrown and Russia is defeated. That's a fantasy and isn't gonna happen. There are too many other points to list here.
I do not believe Russia is much of the problem. If Putin wanted war and more territory, he has had decades to amass an assault. He is mostly reacting to Ukranian and NATO terrorism.
The lack of critical thought that these arguments show tells me that a large part of US/Western populations are simply incapable of anything more than impulsive 'thinking.' Probably a result of having their senses bombarded by loud noises and shiny things on their electronic devices since childhood. It's the immediate gratification that matters, which only creates a need for more of the same. We've become a nation of 3 year olds who throw temper tantrums to get our way. Even the more thoughtful leftists have fallen into the trap. They should know better, but this conflict, unlike Iraq where the US itself put sent its own military to bring Iraq into line, is a proxy conflict, giving them a chance to indulge in plausible deniability. The problem for those who once opposed the US invasion of Iraq is that Ukraine presents them with a stark choice: you either come to grips with the criminality of the US empire as the single most destructive agent in the world, or you give in to the propaganda and go with the flow. There is no middle ground.
It is also akin to criticizing oneself as opposed to the "other". Like seeing the log in one's own eye rather than the speck in the "other". I know more about the West because I live in it and have traveled in it. I have never visited Russia or China (unfortunately), do not speak their languages and have rarely read or seen enough info about their histories and cultures, other than western viewpoints and movies.
This should not be necessary (in a wiser world) but as it is NOT a wiser world....this is helpful ! Thanks! It works to bolster our own views which you so eloquently express!
No country is perfect, but the fact is, the great proportion of Russians back Putin and Russia, and more so since the admission by Merkel and Holland - Murky and Hollow, that the Minsk Accords were a complete fraud from the start, and in keeping with the aim of conquering Russia by forcing it into war with Ukraine, and from there into regime change, division into three, and complete submission to Western exploitation, as in the almost successful attempt in 1991 with the drunken Yeltsin. That is the truth, and there is nothing that allows for a "moderate, two-side approach": Russia is right, and the West and its lackey, Ukraine (without the approval of it citizens - as in the free vote the West holds sacrosanct when it serves its purposes) are totally, completely wrong, without merit, and mere clowns on the International stage. Yes, some agreement between the two would be great, but on Russia's terms. Criticize Russia? FOR WHAT? For wanting to survive, intact?
Yup. Many of these arguments are overlapping, but the one that resonates most for me right now is the "you look bad..." one, which is an appeal to a now prevalent mental and moral trap called "equity". People in this trap are lacking self awareness and unlikely to "find themselves" in this trap. But until they do, they will be unable to participate in any real movement toward sanity, freedom, economic security and so on. So Caitlin, by triggering these folks and eliciting that particular response, you are actually creating the context for the needed growth, although the prospects are practically nil. Still, it is in a sense precisely the most important thing you could do.
People just wanna hear the same complaints so they don’t have to think. Switch it up and they start having to analyze your analysis and that’s too much work for most people <3
"Throwing your weight behind "Russia bad!" messaging in such an environment is an irresponsible use of your voice, especially when you could be using your voice to call for de-escalation, diplomacy and detente and help people understand that they are being deceived."
Amen! If more of us would speak out and wake up those who have fallen into the sleep-inducing propaganda of the Western war machine, then all wars would stop because we'd realized that we've all been used by like pawns by the military industrial complex in order to fill their pockets with blood-soaked profits.
De-escalation, diplomacy, and detente will prevent further deceptions! Power to the people!
You could have said that the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics which were formed after the US-sponsored Maidan coup in Ukraine had asked for recognition by the Russian Federation shortly after the coup in 2014. You could have added that the Russian Federation said no, choosing to engage with the unelected regime in Ukraine and its US/NATO backers for an agreement which would have guaranteed some autonomy to those self-declared republics by Ukraine, especially allowing the continued use of the Russian language in them, and that this came to fruition in the Minsk Agreement. You could have added that Russia watched as Ukraine ignored the agreement, and continuously attacked those areas for the next 7 years, and was beginning an attack on them in earnest last February, and that the enormous pressure on Putin from the Russian Duma to help their Russian countrymen in those self- declared republics finally resulted in the Russian Federation recognizing the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk before Russia sent in its troops, at the request of those republics. So, technically, it was not even an invasion. You could have said all of that, but you didn’t- maybe because your critics’ heads would have exploded. So, I have.
1) Ukraine's LEGALLY ELECTED government would not have been overturned in an ILLEGAL COUP in 2014 if not for American neocons orchestrating it.
2) Ethnic Russians, who make up a majority in the Donbass, had been bombed relentlessly for the past 8 years by the Ukrainian military, led by the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion and funded by Washington. Thousands had been killed. If anything, Putin showed exceptional patience and waited too long to stop it.
3) Would Washington have put up with Russia arming Mexico and turning it into a hostile client state on our southern border? The answer is obvious.
4) It is the American neocons, who control NATO with an iron fist, who are responsible for tens of thousands of Ukrainian deaths as well as the demolition of the Nordstream pipeline. This war, which wouldn't have started in the first place if not for the delusional belief in AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM, could have ended months ago in negotiations but the blood thirsty neocons would not allow it to end until Putin is overthrown and Russia is defeated. That's a fantasy and isn't gonna happen. There are too many other points to list here.
Doesn't the truth sting the ears of the self righteous? It did mine. Thank you for opening my eyes just a little wider.
I do not believe Russia is much of the problem. If Putin wanted war and more territory, he has had decades to amass an assault. He is mostly reacting to Ukranian and NATO terrorism.
Thanks for being one of the few islands of sanity across the media wasteland 
Yes ... But - why don't you ever criticize RUSSIA'S warmongering? :P
The lack of critical thought that these arguments show tells me that a large part of US/Western populations are simply incapable of anything more than impulsive 'thinking.' Probably a result of having their senses bombarded by loud noises and shiny things on their electronic devices since childhood. It's the immediate gratification that matters, which only creates a need for more of the same. We've become a nation of 3 year olds who throw temper tantrums to get our way. Even the more thoughtful leftists have fallen into the trap. They should know better, but this conflict, unlike Iraq where the US itself put sent its own military to bring Iraq into line, is a proxy conflict, giving them a chance to indulge in plausible deniability. The problem for those who once opposed the US invasion of Iraq is that Ukraine presents them with a stark choice: you either come to grips with the criminality of the US empire as the single most destructive agent in the world, or you give in to the propaganda and go with the flow. There is no middle ground.
It is also akin to criticizing oneself as opposed to the "other". Like seeing the log in one's own eye rather than the speck in the "other". I know more about the West because I live in it and have traveled in it. I have never visited Russia or China (unfortunately), do not speak their languages and have rarely read or seen enough info about their histories and cultures, other than western viewpoints and movies.
The thing with ego is that it wants to point fingers, it wants to blame others for what's wrong but not itself.
Ego plays different mental games to show that it's always right, no matter what.
That's why people find it easy to criticize Russia but it becomes very difficult to do the same for the governments that are "ours."
Love your work
This should not be necessary (in a wiser world) but as it is NOT a wiser world....this is helpful ! Thanks! It works to bolster our own views which you so eloquently express!
Spot on
No country is perfect, but the fact is, the great proportion of Russians back Putin and Russia, and more so since the admission by Merkel and Holland - Murky and Hollow, that the Minsk Accords were a complete fraud from the start, and in keeping with the aim of conquering Russia by forcing it into war with Ukraine, and from there into regime change, division into three, and complete submission to Western exploitation, as in the almost successful attempt in 1991 with the drunken Yeltsin. That is the truth, and there is nothing that allows for a "moderate, two-side approach": Russia is right, and the West and its lackey, Ukraine (without the approval of it citizens - as in the free vote the West holds sacrosanct when it serves its purposes) are totally, completely wrong, without merit, and mere clowns on the International stage. Yes, some agreement between the two would be great, but on Russia's terms. Criticize Russia? FOR WHAT? For wanting to survive, intact?
Yup. Many of these arguments are overlapping, but the one that resonates most for me right now is the "you look bad..." one, which is an appeal to a now prevalent mental and moral trap called "equity". People in this trap are lacking self awareness and unlikely to "find themselves" in this trap. But until they do, they will be unable to participate in any real movement toward sanity, freedom, economic security and so on. So Caitlin, by triggering these folks and eliciting that particular response, you are actually creating the context for the needed growth, although the prospects are practically nil. Still, it is in a sense precisely the most important thing you could do.
People just wanna hear the same complaints so they don’t have to think. Switch it up and they start having to analyze your analysis and that’s too much work for most people <3
"Throwing your weight behind "Russia bad!" messaging in such an environment is an irresponsible use of your voice, especially when you could be using your voice to call for de-escalation, diplomacy and detente and help people understand that they are being deceived."
Amen! If more of us would speak out and wake up those who have fallen into the sleep-inducing propaganda of the Western war machine, then all wars would stop because we'd realized that we've all been used by like pawns by the military industrial complex in order to fill their pockets with blood-soaked profits.
De-escalation, diplomacy, and detente will prevent further deceptions! Power to the people!