The war between Russia and Ukraine becomes not only more surreal and unstable by the day, but also more threatening to the rest of the world.
More threatening because the possibility of a tactical nuclear missile either being deliberately or accidentally launched grows by the day. Should that occur, the potential for an all-out nuclear conflict grows with it.
To those who think that’s an exaggeration, review the events that led up to World War I. Seemingly unconnected tripwires ultimately lit the fuse for “The Great War,” resulting in 20 million men, women and children dying.
The war between Russia and Ukraine is littered with such seemingly unconnected tripwires. One new tripwire was President Biden’s shocking decision last week to approve the transfer of cluster bombs to Ukraine — bombs that are banned by more than 100 countries, including 18 members of NATO. They are banned because they kill civilians and children long after they have fallen.
More than 40 human rights organizations — as well as several Democratic lawmakers — have condemned the transfer of these banned weapons to Ukraine. “The decision by the Biden administration to transfer cluster munitions to Ukraine is unnecessary and a terrible mistake,” said Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), the ranking member of the House’s defense appropriations subcommittee. “The legacy of cluster bombs is misery, death and expensive cleanup generations after their use.”
And yet, here we are. A tripwire laid and an escalation that will most certainly harden Russian resolve.
To that point, just this past week, Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and current deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said: “World War Three is getting closer.”
Some may argue, “Who cares what Medvedev says? He’s an ally of the evil Putin.”
Okay. Let’s switch to the other side.
Also last week, while at the NATO summit in Lithuania, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted that it was “logical” that some NATO leaders fear sparking World War III by admitting his country while it’s at war with Russia.
As these tripwires become more exposed — and as Russian leaders openly threaten London with a nuclear strike — here in the U.S. it all seems to be “ho, hum,” as we focus on a boycott of Bud Light, Hunter Biden’s questionable lifestyle and connections, or the pending takeover of the world by AI.
Newsflash: None of those things will ever matter again if a tactical nuclear missile is launched which then initiates a retaliatory response.
We have never been closer to the potential annihilation of tens of millions of human beings — and almost no one seems to care.
One reason being that almost every entity in the Western world — be it the U.S. government; the vast majority of our media; the vast majority of academia; as well as our allies, their media, their academia; and celebrities the world over — is on “Team Ukraine.”
That, of course, being the correct decision.
That said, one can still strongly oppose Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and question United States policy as it relates to that war. Or can one?
Not only is it rare to find articles, columns or televised news hits questioning the blanket U.S. support of Ukraine, but if one is found, someone in the comments sections or the Twitter-verse will label those making such arguments “Putin Lovers,” “Russia Lovers” or even “Traitors.”
I would certainly argue that questioning our policy as it pertains to the war between Ukraine and Russia is one of the most “pro-American” actions one could take. It is our responsibility and duty to ask such questions.
To be sure, Ukraine and Zelensky are in the fight of their lives against Russia. Spinning any and every situation to their advantage is part of their job description. That said, it is incumbent upon the American government — and hopefully our professional media — to separate fact from fiction and then act or report accordingly.
Neither our government nor our media should act as fawning, unquestioning cheerleaders for Zelensky and his policies. Most especially as those policies — and spins — can have a direct negative impact upon the welfare of the American people.
One of the most important questions seemingly not allowed to be asked, or which gets ignored if it is asked, is: “Are the allies supporting Ukraine on a quest to save the Ukrainian people, or are the ‘leaders’ of those countries in reality using them as cheap and disposable pawns in order to fight a proxy war against Russia while testing some of the latest weapons systems, depleting their own military supplies and reaping billions in profit for defense contractors?”
If it’s because we want to save the lives of the people of Ukraine and salvage their infrastructure, then we are failing miserably.
With regard to questions being frowned upon or outright censored as they relate to U.S. involvement in Ukraine — possible corruption in Ukraine, the tracking of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars going into Ukraine or the increasing demands of Zelensky — a report out this week from the House Judiciary Committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government is headlined: “The FBI’s collaboration with a compromised Ukrainian intelligence agency to censor American speech.”
The report says the Ukrainian intelligence service SBU sent the FBI lists of social media accounts that allegedly “spread Russian disinformation,” and that the FBI then “routinely relayed these lists to the relevant social media platforms, which distributed the information internally to their employees in charge of content moderation and enforcement.” The committee further alleged that the FBI and SBU “flagged for social media companies the authentic accounts of Americans, including a verified U.S. State Department account and those belonging to American journalists” as well as requested that those accounts be taken down.
As Americans, we should be free to debate the level of U.S. involvement in Ukraine in a civil and productive manner. That acknowledged, I suspect most Americans on either side of that debate would be in total agreement that the intelligence service of Ukraine should not be dictating what Americans are allowed or not allowed to say on social media.
Douglas MacKinnon, a political and communications consultant, was a writer in the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and former special assistant for policy and communications at the Pentagon during the last three years of the Bush administration.