Has the West been sold a one-sided view of Russia’s war with Ukraine?
This week, US President Biden granted permission to Ukraine to use US armaments on targets in Russia.
USA now supports the expansion of the war in Ukraine by sanctioning limited strikes on Russia - a major departure from no strikes on Russia employing US weapons.
Aftermath of Russian bombing of homes in Ukraine
Is the West moving very slowly into an expansion of the war into Russia? Will Russia expand the war into a NATO country (countries)?
Via the media, Western governments and NATO seem to have ensured the public have a simplistic and one-sided view of the war in Ukraine. The view states:
President Putin ordered the Russian army to make an unprovoked attack on Ukraine.
The West must support Ukraine with armaments to defeat the Russians.
This view has become the widespread public perception of reality. Our governments and media currently offer an interpretation of the past back to the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Our media rarely investigates the causes/conditions for the Russian invasion. All responsibility falls on Putin. Those who disagree with this view face abuse, ridicule and being out of touch with reality.
We are led to believe Russia launched an unprovoked attack on Ukraine with no prior conditions, nor threatening expansionism by NATO. You might think that NATO has never engaged in decades of encouraging countries on the Russian border to join NATO.
President Putin and President Zelensky
You might describe President Putin as a dictator, mass murderer, psychopath, sociopath, megalomaniac, thug and war criminal. Such language of politicians and citizens on Putin’s state of mind help sustain the war, the deaths and suffering. The stereotype of abuse of power feeds public anger avoiding a thoughtful analysis and initiatives for negotiation. We need to wake up to the abuse of power of both sides in a conflict.
The mindset of the Russian President emerges out of Russian history, personal ambitions, insecurity, control issues alongside a range of social/political/environmental factors - much the same as many other political leaders.
Reactivity, threats and arrogance produce blind spots obscuring the way to the resolution of suffering.
US supported the campaign to elect President Zelensky, a former Ukrainian comedian, who become President of Ukraine. On television, he played the comedy role of a schoolteacher, who ranted about politics only to became Ukrainian President in the show and then in the real world. This is not life imitating art but life revealing the insignificance of art/entertainment compared to reality of life.
During his campaign for presidency in the real world, Zelensky avoided serious interviews and released light weight videos instead. He named his party Servant of the People – the name of his TV show. After winning the election by a landslide, public relations experts groomed their national celebrity for the role of President of Ukraine – to the dismay of Russian residents in Ukraine.
Democracy and one-party states suffer, due to absence of comprehensive analysis and understanding of leaders’ behavioural patterns, conditioning, views and insecurity of those in high public office. Thus political leaders lack the wisdom, compassion, negotiation skills, creativity and energy to bring about meaningful change to resolve conflict. No wonder they go to war.
Russia, Fear and NATO. 12 examples of One-Sided Views
NATO countries next to and close to Russia expanded along the 2000 kilometre plus border in the past three decades to protect the West.
These are the Eastern European countries who joined NATO since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 -: Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Eight of these countries border Russia. Sixteen countries in total have joined NATO since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
NATO’s expansion has increased pressure on Russia to the point that Russian fears, fanned by their history, government and media, triggered the Russian invasion of Ukraine. President Putin and his government ordered the invasion.
Russia lost more than 27 million citizens, including more than eight million soldiers, when Hitler order the German army to invade Russia in 1941, via eastern Europe. There is fear in Russia of history repeating itself.
Second World War trauma of Russia never went away. Russia calls the war the Great Patriotic War.
Ukraine includes 17% ethnic Russians. 34% of people in Ukraine speak Russian. Ethnic Russians live mostly near the Russian border.
The West supported the overthrow in February 2014 of Ukraine’s former President Viktor Yanukovych, who wanted closer ties with Russia.
NATO will accept Ukraine as a NATO member in due course. Ukraine border with Russia runs to 2,295 km. Georgia’s membership enables NATO to surround Russia in the Black Sea region.
NATO countries, especially USA, have spent more than $100 billion arming Ukraine and other NATO countries.
USA governments and NATO have consistently ignored Russian requests to stop the expansion of NATO.
NATO breathes down the neck of Russia.
Would USA permit a hostile Canada and Mexico to import armaments to support Russian expansionism right up to the USA border?
The Resolution of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine attacks on Russia
Senior diplomats in the 1990s and onwards warned of the risk of war in Europe if NATO continued endorsing countries to join NATO, who live on or close to the Russian border.
The current war can only stop through negotiation and diplomacy with Ukraine agreeing to stay out of NATO and Russia agreeing to leave Ukraine.
Russian residents in east Ukraine need to have the opportunity to vote whether they wish to stay with Ukraine, become an independent state or join Russia.
NATO and Russian agree to fund the rebuilding of Ukraine including east Ukraine.
Negotiation, diplomacy, conflict resolution and acknowledging the needs for security for Russia and the West take priority.
Russia and NATO have more in common that what separates them – a common situation in war.
The Buddha offered the teaching/practice to speak what is ‘true and useful.’ People can only speak what is true and useful, wise and compassionate, if they live with mental wellbeing. Non-reactive clarity supports a steadfast commitment to end conflict and suffering rather than endorse it.
In February, 2024, President Zelensky said more than 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died. Reports said more than 50,000 Russian soldiers have been killed. There are more than 10,000 civilian deaths and more than 19,000 causalities in Ukraine. There is widespread destruction in cities, towns and villages. Hell on Earth.
MAY ALL BEINGS DEVELOP CONFLICT RESOLUTION
MAY ALL BEINGS UNDERSTAND THE NEEDS OF EACH OTHER
MAY ALL BEINGS LIVE IN PEACE AND HARMONY.
Why does Russia need to exist in opposition to Europe. Putin feels the collapse of the USSR was the greatest disaster and wants a legacy of restoring the Russian empire (see actions in Georgia, Chechnya, and other Moslem republics of Central Asia). If Russia would stand down, so would Europe. Then could proceed more economic integration for the benefit of all, particularly Russian citizens, and further nuclear and other weapons decreases. Please don’t obfuscate the obvious fact that Putin is the aggressor here. I’m frankly surprised at this twist of the facts by a respected dharma teacher.
There was some discussion around this in the media in the early days of the war but not much. What is certainly not mentioned much is the linguistic complexion of Ukraine. Zelensky himself is a native Russian speaker who taught himself to speak Ukrainian. So it’s obviously a more complex situation than Putin bad Ukraine good.
If you try to understand the reasons behind Russian actions please often confuse this with excusing their actions. But any student of history looks at the push and pull of causes and geo political history. Our movies and culture paint us (the west) as the good guy and a little bit of cognitive dissonance to even contemplate that NATO may not be a cuddly toy.