First, I want to clarify that I don’t support any sovereign state invading another sovereign state, contrary to international law and norms. But the hypocrisy of the West led by the United States of America is amazing about the Ukraine crisis and the potential invasion of it by Russia. Further, I hope the two countries can settle this conflict through diplomatic means.
We all have short memories about world history and so I want to remind myself and others of the events that transpired almost twenty years ago. We should remember there was an American President named George W. Bush who raised the war hysteria against Iraq, ruled by dictator Saddam Hussein. George W. Bush included Iraq as a member of the ‘axis of evil’ that comprised Iran and North Korea. The U.S. President asserted Iraq possessed “weapons of mass destruction” and Saddam Hussein had links to Al-Qaeda.
The U.S., United Kingdom, and its allies without United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approval invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003, with over 177 thousand troops. After the invasion, we found out that weapons of mass destruction didn’t exist and that there was no Al-Qaeda presence in Iraq and so, the U.S. and its allies began an invasion based on lies and fabricated intelligence. Given this reality, did the international community place sanctions on the U.S. and its allies for waging an illegal war? We all know that the answer is sadly a big “No.”
Let’s see, the U.S. and its allies without UN approval launched an invasion of Iraq, a sovereign country, overthrew its government, and continues to occupy it till this day but never punished and/or sanctioned by the world community. And now, the U.S. and the West are threatening Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia with sanctions and armed force if they invade Ukraine? This is the height of hypocrisy. The 2003 Iraq invasion and the Ukraine conflict are similar, but we don’t see or hear anyone in the international mainstream media highlighting the U.S. hypocrisy.
Was anyone in the U.S. or its allies ever held accountable for the Iraq invasion based on lies? Also, during these twenty years of occupation, war crimes were committed, but they will probably go unpunished.
The recent opinion polls of the American public show that the majority don’t favor sending U.S. troops to Ukraine, but U.S. President Biden and the national security establishment sure look like they want a war. Why? Maybe it has something to do with Biden’s sinking popularity among Americans. History shows that when a U.S. President’s popularity is plunging, waging war boosts American patriotism and support for the sitting President. The biggest example of this tactic is George W. Bush in 2002-03, when he targeted Iraq for invasion. His poll numbers surged just like his father George H. W. Bush in the aftermath of the first Iraq war in 1991.
Another reason for the U.S. wanting war with Russia might be the military-industrial complex. We all know that the war industry is a major player in the U.S. economy and so they need a war somewhere to generate profits and economic activity. The U.S. Congress has no problem in hiking defense spending at the cost of social spending and generating large fiscal deficits.
Let’s hearken back to the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 and see if it offers some lessons to de-escalate tensions over Ukraine. During this crisis, the situation was unusually like that in today’s Eastern Europe, although there was a reversal in the roles of the U.S. and the USSR (predecessor of today’s Russia).
In 1962, the Soviet Union had infringed on the U.S. government’s self-defined sphere of influence by installing medium-range nuclear missiles in Cuba, a nation only 90 miles from U.S. shores. The Cuban government had requested the missiles as a deterrent to a U.S. invasion, an invasion that looked very probable given the long history of U.S. intervention in Cuban affairs, in addition to the 1961 U.S.-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion.
The Soviet government was open to the request because it wanted to assure its new Cuban ally of its protection. It also believed that missile deployment would level the nuclear balance, for the U.S. government had already deployed nuclear missiles in Turkey, on Russia’s border. However, the U.S. government couldn’t fathom a sovereign nation like Cuba requesting the USSR to place nuclear weapons on its soil as being no different from the U.S. placing nuclear weapons in Turkey.
Since the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, the U.S. believed the Western Hemisphere to be its sphere of influence or backyard and warned European powers not to interfere. Likewise, Russia believes that Eastern Europe, particularly the former Warsaw Pact nations and breakaway republics of the former USSR, is their sphere of influence and doesn’t want NATO expansion reaching its borders.
Fortunately, the world avoided nuclear annihilation because of secret diplomacy between the U.S. and USSR that resulted in the de-escalation of the conflict. Maybe, secret diplomacy between the U.S. and Russia on the Ukraine crisis is the requirement of the day. Also, confidence-building measures from both sides, along with third-party intervention, could help defuse the tension and lead to a peaceful solution.
