Apologizing for Russia

Patrick Buchanan has written an illogical and ignorant puff piece titled: Did We Provoke Putin’s War in Ukraine?

I’m nearly speechless at the rampant stupidity expressed in the article. It’s an apologist position for Russia’s attack on Ukraine. I’ve read this sort of ‘apology’ numerous times elsewhere from other ignoramuses and idiots and it’s illogical, false and presents countless straw arguments and conjecture.

Every country has the right to “self-determination”. That is a fact. It is not debatable. It is up to the citizens of each country to decide what form of government they will choose for themselves. It is NOT up to neighboring countries.

Whoever is in power will often intervene against any opposition that might reduce that power, or see them removed from office. We just experience that here in the United States. But it is illegal, immoral and non-justifiable.

It is irrelevant if Putin didn’t want Ukraine or Georgia “in NATO”. Doesn’t mean anything, it is not up to Putin, although he clearly thought it was his decision alone.

Buchanan completely failed to see that fact, and so has every other Putin apologist. Let me state this again: It is NOT up to another nation to choose whether or not any nation can choose to become a part of NATO. Countries must apply for membership, but that application is NOT TO BE INTERFERED WITH BY ANYONE. This right to self-determination is the right held by all countries throughout the world. Overt intervention (acts of war) like this is NEVER legal, justifiable or moral. Yes, it’s been done before, but that changes nothing.

Certainly Ukraine’s independence and possibility of joining NATO is not a “justification” for a murderous war and an invasion of a sovereign country. This is the supposed pretext for Putin’s invasion, but it’s really about resources which the media is barely even mentioning. In any case, Buchanan is dead wrong here. It is not up to Putin to “decide” whether or not Ukraine will join NATO someday. He took that decision upon himself, illegally and without any moral or legal justification.

NATO is not a “threat” to Russia. It would make no difference at all if a NATO country shared a border with Russia. Nothing would change. Being a member of NATO would only mean that an “attack on one is an attack on all”, and therefore, this would serve to keep ANY country from attacking an NATO country.

Obviously, that didn’t happen and now the world’s governments and countries are indecisive about this genocide. Which is another topic for another post.

Buchanan now claims that Putin has “established his credibility” by this invasion. This is unbelievable in context. By going to WAR with a sovereign nation over virtually NOTHING Putin now has credibility? There is something deeply wrong with Buchanan’s thinking and admiration of Putin. Why do these apologists worship these tyrants? Do they long to be tyrants themselves but lack the courage?

Then Buchanan goes into a historical revisionist narrative about “how we got here“. Who’s WE you ignorant nitwit? What Buchanan narrates is what RUSSIA did with Russian leaders and now he’s trying to shift the blame to the ubiquitous “we”. What a moron this man is. Yes, numerous countries were involved in the dissolution of the USSR, but this has no relevance anymore and certainly NOT to the alleged justification for Putin’s war on Ukraine. How we “got here” is dead simple. Putin INVADED a sovereign nation, full stop.

This is what Russian apologists do – deflect, distract and dissemble with endless bullshit to create the appearance of a strong argument. A lot of Americans have been completely fooled by this sort of nonsense, but it’s all GARBAGE.

The former eastern “Russian” republicans that later on became a part of NATO chose to do so on their own – nobody held a gun to their proverbial heads and Russia did NOTHING which was the correct response.

That changed in 2014 when Russia illegally took Crimea. Buchanan claims “he’s no Stalin” but he is. Putin has had hundreds of people simply disappeared (at a minimum) and you can choose to believe that or not (or just look it up for yourselves). The “gulags” are STILL THERE.

The speculation that “he does not want war with us” is Buchanan’s and so far, I find this ignoramus to be someone I would avoid and never trust.

If “Putin is a Russian nationalist, patriot, traditionalist and a cold and ruthless realist looking out to preserve Russia as the great and respected power it once was and he believes it can be again” doesn’t that actually mean that Putin WON’T stop at Ukraine’s borders and there is a possibility that he will seek to recapture more of those lost republics? That’s stands to reason if he’s truly going to try and restore Russia. Buchanan ignores this fatal flaw in his logic. And wouldn’t that risk a direct conflict with “us” and the NATO countries as a result? Isn’t this exactly what Buchanan just told us that he didn’t want?

It is this type of dissembling and convolution that really irks me about these apologists. They don’t even grasp what they’re saying. But there’s more:

President Joe Biden almost hourly promises, “We are not going to war in Ukraine.” Why would he then not readily rule out NATO membership for Ukraine, which would require us to do something Biden himself says we Americans, for our own survival, should never do: go to war with Russia?

The sheer stupidity of this statement blows my mind. Let me break it down in case you don’t see it –

a) It is NOT up to President Joe Biden on whether or not Ukraine would ever be a member of NATO.

b) Posing this false negative question as a “proof” of Biden’s real intentions is to deliberately mislead his readers. Buchanan does not know Biden’s true intentions – we just saw Putin endless lie about his intentions for the “military exercise” and then the “extensions” he foisted on the world just before the invasion. Biden does NOT have to inform any of us what his true intentions are at this stage, it’s both unwise and unnecessary. Moreover, it’s pure speculation on what this might be. Buchanan’s assumptions are simply his own – and there is NO evidence he’s right about this.

c) IF Biden did somehow “rule out NATO membership for Ukraine” that would be to then finally capitulate to Putin’s demands, which is something Biden could have allegedly done all along (but didn’t). Is that what Buchanan wants? Capitulation? Apparently so. So why now? Because Putin’s “proved himself” and now has “credibility” as a mass murderer? This is a claim to cowardice.

And if that were to be the case with Biden’s capitulation, then it isn’t even necessary now since Russia has invaded. Therefore, this statement from Buchanan makes no damned sense at all, but it says an awful lot about Buchanan.

d) Buchanan is actually saying here that he wants Biden to capitulate to Russia over the Ukraine and NATO membership. Let that sink in and grasp what it means. Let tens of thousands, even millions of Ukrainians die at the hands of Russia. This is not speculation, they’re already fighting like hell and will fight for a LONG TIME. Just have Biden give up on Ukraine and hope this appeases Putin ‘somehow’. This is INSANE advice. This is not a strategy. This is not a plan. This is a Hail Mary and an admittance to already being defeated without even entering into the fight.

Holy shit.

Frankly, this piece by Buchanan is pathetic. It’s like a lot of other crap being published right now that doesn’t even bear mentioning. The heartless, cowardly, fearful quivering and apologist attitudes towards this aggression is appalling. It’s coming from the SAME CROWD of cowards that claimed they have a “right” to secede from their own country, the United States and even kill their own politicians. Now that that has actually happened in Ukraine which chose to be independent, somehow this right isn’t their right to do the same. Worse, they’re apologizing for Putin’s unprovoked war and murderous rampage as if it was Ukraine’s fault, or the fault of the West. That’s just insane convoluted apologist babble.