Politicians in the United States have a long tradition of skillfully navigating hypocritical policy contradictions. A compliant media and a hardworking distracted electorate have made it easy to convince the masses that an amoral empire is practicing benevolence while prosecuting wars of aggression, overthrowing democratically elected governments, and supporting brutal extremists across the globe. Americans have traditionally believed that they are fortunate passengers on a luxury liner when in reality they are, more often than not, unwilling passengers on a pirate ship.
The conflict in Ukraine is exposing the glaring contradiction between the rhetoric of self sacrifice and the defense of human rights and an uncomfortable military alignment with self proclaimed Nazis. President Biden proclaimed the infamous “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville as his casus belli for a war on the evils of white supremacy. Prior to Russia’s entrance into the Ukraine conflict his position was minimally plausible. His new found moral posture comfortably aligned with a political party that had positioned itself as the defender of marginalized communities and presented an organic defense for his dubious record on issues of justice and human rights.
The military conflict in Ukraine created a troublesome contradiction for Joe Biden and the Western liberal class that he represented. On one hand, the opportunity to demonize the leader of a nation chock full of valuable natural resources was a dream come true. Vladimir Putin could be removed from power and replaced with a Boris Yeltsin style puppet who would facilitate the plunder of Russian riches. NATO-ized Ukraine was a grenade on Russia’s border and, from their perspective, Russia’s “special military operation” had pulled the pin. However, there was a difficult problem that would need.. shall we say, tidying up. The US had overthrown the government of Ukraine and, in keeping with tradition, had worked to amplify the power of the most extreme and violent element in their new colony.
The US had expended significant resources re-writing history. The official historical narrative presented world war two as a US led war against Nazi fascism. The cynical use of Israel as an unsinkable aircraft carrier in the oil rich Middle East was hidden by platitudes of protecting its citizens from anti-semitism and supporting the only democracy in the region.
The plot to use Ukraine as a blunt weapon against Russia held a poison pill. The neocon plotters had not only aligned with a number of Ukrainian fascist groups, they had worked to bring these groups to political and military prominence. After the 2014 US backed coup, a number of self proclaimed Nazi militias were integrated into the regular Ukrainian military structure. Bipartisan groups of US politicians regularly visited Russia’s border land and met with Neo Nazi leaders and troops. The plot to destabilize and balkanize Russia was in full swing and Ukraine’s Russia hating Nazi fascists were on Washington’s leading edge. The trap was set, but for whom?
Early in the conflict, it became obvious that the US backed Ukrainian troops openly displayed reverence for world war two nazi collaborators. Numerous articles and videos surfaced in which mainstream news organizations had covered Ukraine’s “Nazi problem.” Denying the existence of people who brazenly sported the iconography of the third reich was impossible so the US information war took to discrediting those who pointed out the obvious. When a shooter in Buffalo New York slaughtered a group of Black people in a grocery store it was quickly pointed out that he wore the black sun symbol that was a preeminent feature on the infamous Azov battalion’s shoulder patch. When alternative media sources blasted the government’s support for the Azov fanatics the US information machine responded by changing the unit’s patch. The glaring tribute to various Nazi forces on the patch was replaced by a trident. Unfortunately, Ukrainian troops in any number of groups take great delight in displaying their dedication to the third reich.
The US foreign policy machine’s audacious support for unapologetic Ukrainian Nazis will haunt the self righteous Western liberal class for years to come. Whether the fourth reich has actually risen in the form of an ultra-liberal fascist framework or the amoral nature of neoconservative politics has a natural alignment with traitors and extremists world wide is a question of philosophical and ideological interpretation. However, social media censorship and propaganda will not stop regular people from wondering why their government is in bed with the brutal ideology that their ancestors thought they were fighting and dying to snuff out in 1945. The Western liberal’s position that they stand for social justice in opposition to racism is contradicted by a fervent support for a nasty group of goose stepping swastika tattooed fascists.
Luxury liner vs. Pirate Ship. I love it!
Garland's straight to the point description of the present landscape, filled with his wonderful analogies and metaphors, is the prescription to cure media induced insanity. I hope a lot of liberals and conservatives, too many of whom have aligned with neocon ideology, will read him and take the cure.