Mick Hall ☭ Albert Einstein once said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

After the disastrous 2003 Iraq war and occupation which eventually had British troops scurrying out the back door in Basra in the middle of the night. The recent chaotic scenes when the British military retreated from Afghanistan leaving much of the country decimated and many Afghans without food or work, and ten years after NATO intervened in Libya. it's gone from a cohesive country, all be it with major flaws, to a failed state.

Now, you would have thought lessons would have been learnt from these failures but, no. The British prime minister is now poking the Kremlin with a long stick and has not dismissed putting British troops on the ground in the Ukraine. This beggars belief, when a casual glance at history would see the outcome would be disastrous for the Ukrainian people not least because NATO intervention would antagonize the bear.

Nevertheless the British MSM have been daily stoking up a war with Russia. Night after night, BBC TV news has been showing the same clip of Russian troops with a narrative - Putin is warmongering.

What is indicative of this shoddy reporting is the almost total failure of MSM outlets to report from the ethnic Russian speaking part of the Ukraine which makes up a third of the country's population.

What the Russian government wants was summed up succinctly by Alex McCrory:

If you found your home being surrounded by hostile forces, what would you do? This is precisely the position Russia finds itself in today. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the West, in the shape of NATO, has fashioned a noose for the Bear's neck. Most of the former Russian satellite states have been wooed by the West via the European Union and NATO at the behest of America. Nuclear missiles are capable of striking Russian cities in minutes from a number of NATO bases located along its border. What Russia demands is a Pan-European security agreement that removes the current existential threat. A reasonable request in the circumstances.

China is already surrounded by US bases and the hawks in the Pentagon are doing the same with Russia, you don't have to be a groupie of President Putin or President Xi Jinping to understand how dangerous this is for world peace.

It's worth reminding ourselves who is the serial aggressor here. Since 1945, the US has tried to overthrow more than 50 governments, many of them democratically elected; grossly interfered in elections in 30 countries; bombed the civilian populations of 30 countries; used chemical and biological weapons; and attempted to assassinate foreign leaders.*

* Taken from the American historian William Blum who until his death in 2018 yearly updated a summary of the record of US foreign policy.

⏩ Mick Hall is a veteran Left Wing activist and trade unionist.

US ✑ A Serial Aggressor

Mick Hall ☭ Albert Einstein once said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

After the disastrous 2003 Iraq war and occupation which eventually had British troops scurrying out the back door in Basra in the middle of the night. The recent chaotic scenes when the British military retreated from Afghanistan leaving much of the country decimated and many Afghans without food or work, and ten years after NATO intervened in Libya. it's gone from a cohesive country, all be it with major flaws, to a failed state.

Now, you would have thought lessons would have been learnt from these failures but, no. The British prime minister is now poking the Kremlin with a long stick and has not dismissed putting British troops on the ground in the Ukraine. This beggars belief, when a casual glance at history would see the outcome would be disastrous for the Ukrainian people not least because NATO intervention would antagonize the bear.

Nevertheless the British MSM have been daily stoking up a war with Russia. Night after night, BBC TV news has been showing the same clip of Russian troops with a narrative - Putin is warmongering.

What is indicative of this shoddy reporting is the almost total failure of MSM outlets to report from the ethnic Russian speaking part of the Ukraine which makes up a third of the country's population.

What the Russian government wants was summed up succinctly by Alex McCrory:

If you found your home being surrounded by hostile forces, what would you do? This is precisely the position Russia finds itself in today. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the West, in the shape of NATO, has fashioned a noose for the Bear's neck. Most of the former Russian satellite states have been wooed by the West via the European Union and NATO at the behest of America. Nuclear missiles are capable of striking Russian cities in minutes from a number of NATO bases located along its border. What Russia demands is a Pan-European security agreement that removes the current existential threat. A reasonable request in the circumstances.

China is already surrounded by US bases and the hawks in the Pentagon are doing the same with Russia, you don't have to be a groupie of President Putin or President Xi Jinping to understand how dangerous this is for world peace.

It's worth reminding ourselves who is the serial aggressor here. Since 1945, the US has tried to overthrow more than 50 governments, many of them democratically elected; grossly interfered in elections in 30 countries; bombed the civilian populations of 30 countries; used chemical and biological weapons; and attempted to assassinate foreign leaders.*

* Taken from the American historian William Blum who until his death in 2018 yearly updated a summary of the record of US foreign policy.

⏩ Mick Hall is a veteran Left Wing activist and trade unionist.

10 comments:

  1. The above won't go down well with Noraid members . Thousands of their kids serve the American military murder machine .

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  2. The nations and former satellite nations of the Soviet Union which Putin seeks to recreate have every right as sovereign, democratic countries to join NATO and the EU. There should be no Munroe Doctrines or spheres of influence in any part of the world.

    It has been Putin whether through open military interventions (e.g. Syria, Georgia and Crimea) ;the murder of dissidents and journalists at home and abroad and his cyber warfare against the democratic process in Western countries who has been this century's serial aggressor. This former KGB thug, bully and kleptocrat needs to be kept in his box.

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  3. Not this Irish Northern Aid Committee members two boys!

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  4. The reality is that Russia regards it's periphery in the same was as the USA regards South America. Indeed the parallel is that Ukraine is the Cuba of Russia. The stuff about Russian speakers reminds me of the terror the DUP has for Irish going on road signs. Ukraine has a right to self determination. It's is as democratic as Russia. It has an oligarch dominated rulingclass, just like Russia. The sad result closer to home is that the Irish state will up it's military spending. I am one of those who thinks this is a prelude to coaxing us into Nato. I think targetted foreign aid is much better than militarisation.Not well known is the fact that Ireland has/had troops in Mali being used to help sort out a French imperialist mess. My views here. https://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article7503

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  5. Barry/ John D...

    John D,
    Can you help me square a circle? NORAID support the GFA that rubber stamps partition but they also promise to up hold the ideals of the 1916 proclamation that declared and end to Bristish rule on the island. One is pro Bristish and the other is pro Irish....

    Barry..........
    There should be no Munroe Doctrines or spheres of influence in any part of the world.

    Are you including the EU, Trans-Pacific Partnership, NAFTA....? What about NATO, SATO....P.E.M.A.? Or is it only the Russian, China and Iran 'shpere's of infulence' that you don't like?

    It has been Putin whether through open military interventions (e.g. Syria, Georgia and Crimea)

    Why do you as a rule of thumb always fail to mention the mess the west left Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan in? How the west (includes Israel) secretly fund /sell arms to Saudi Arabia knowing the will be used in Yemen?

    the murder of dissidents and journalists at home and abroad

    While the west rarely kill journalists they do lock them up on turmped up charges for telling the truth. They force dissidents like Snownden to leave home and live abroad.

    and his cyber warfare against the democratic process in Western countries who has been this century's serial aggressor.

    And no mention how the U.S. Carried Out Cyberattacks on Iran or how the US attacks Russia’s power grid as warning to Putin, NYT says . I suspose you will once again brush under the carpet that Clinton's election team paid a tech firm to infiltrate Trump Tower and White House servers in an effort to establish Kremlin link

    This former KGB thug, bully and kleptocrat needs to be kept in his box.

    I bet Vlad would be quaking in his boots if he read your threat....

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    1. Frankie






      I refer you to the article from People and Nature published today on this weblog entitled "Putin's Little Helpers Undermine Solidarity" as my response to your usual pottage of "whataboutery".

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  6. As far as I can tell Russia has not made a move outside it's own borders.

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  7. When I read Frankie's question, I imagined someone trying to surround a balloon, using a frame with legs hinged at three corners, free at the fourth.
    Sinn Fein the balloon; republican ideals the legs.
    There had been a time when closure could be achieved. But like the Irish senses of time and distance, Sinn Fein possessed an elasticity. The orb grew larger; its quality changed. It was no longer possible to join this frame. It was apparent there was, what land surveyors would call, an error of closure.
    There were those in INAC that recognized this, as late as 1986. They left to support CIRA and RSF.
    There were others who continued on, later felt dismayed with the GFA, and left to back RIRA and 32CSM in the late 90s.
    Those remaining watched as the window for armed struggle closed.
    There was Omagh in 1998, and NYC in 2001. The race was over, and their horse hadn't won.
    Some institutional momentum probably kept INAC rolling along for a few years longer. They had sponsored a tour in 2006 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the hunger strikes.
    A brother and sisterhood of had been forged over all the years of work within the republican family. Shared experiences will not be easily forgotten. We still enjoy keeping in touch and attending commemorations. Some are still active in various republican issues; others spend more time on troubles in our own backyard, of which there are many.
    Those who had joined INAC had joined to support the army--its volunteers and their families.
    When the mission wound down, the office moved and was downsized. Eventually the lease was not renewed. On the way out the door for the last time, someone got to turn off the light.

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    1. John D,

      I didn't ask for a run down on the splits within Irish Republicanism. I asked you to square a circle. On one hand NORAID/INAC say they support the ideals of 1916 and on the other agree with the GFA that rubber stamps British rule in the six counties. It smacks of SF double speak.

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  8. It would be a fools errand to attempt to square this circle, Frankie...kind of like asking an apprentice to fetch a bucket of steam, or bring back a left handed monkey wrench.
    I had initially noted my Irish Northern Aid Committee affiliation when responding in a lighthanded manner to Sandy. I was chuckling at the thought of "Noraid members" and "thousands of their kids". I doubt that there were ever much more than two hundred members, coast to coast.
    I will say now that I am a former member. I am not aware of Irish Northern Aid's continued existence, although there is a website, a long neglected one.
    So, there's no "they" anymore at Irish Northern Aid to answer your questions.
    There is an active Friends of Sinn Fein group here in the States. Me, I don't think I would even bother to ask them to explain any contradictions, even if I had the time.
    Mary Lou was in town recently. I was offered ticket, and attended the event. The audience was invited to submit written questions, and so I did.
    I had a burning desire to know how Sinn Fein could come out in favor of jureyless trials in the South, after what Republicans had suffered under Diplock courts in the North.
    Sadly, my question wasn't selected by a moderator, and I left the hall no more wiser than I had come in.

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