I shouldn’t have to say this, but I will once again because some folk seem to be hard of hearing.
Like millions of people in the world I say no to Russia and no to NATO, no to Biden, no to Putin. They are all war mongering scum.
Neutrality is the only sound position I can take. All else is fanning the flames of war, making a bad situation worse. As for democracy, despite all his pious words Zelenskyy and his masters have shut down all avenues of dissent. Putin has done much the same in Russia. For these people there is no middle ground: you either support the Empire and NATO or Putin. As to those who cling desperately to the remnants of the Soviet Union and support Russia, they are delusional. Putin’s oligarchy has nothing to do with socialism.
Of course, Ukrainian refugees should be supported that goes without saying. In all probability many will make new lives in their host nations and will never return home permanently. Who could blame them given the Ukraine is the second most corrupt country in Europe after Russia, and in the pocket of an imperialist neoliberal state and it’s European Allies?
In a documentary l watched recently about the Vietnam War, a former Vietcong soldier was asked by a journalist what’s it like to be on the winning side. He replied; “Whoever comes out on top? Nobody really wins a war.”
I feel the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Chechnya, and Georgia, all victims of Russian or US/NATO aggression would understand what he meant perfectly.
No to Moscow no to Washington.
⏩ Mick Hall is a veteran Left Wing activist and trade unionist.
Would Mick have established the same sort of moral equivalence between the Allies and the Axis in the Second World war? Churchill and Hitler may have been imperialists in their respective ways but only one had the occupation of the European continent and its offshore islands as his goal. What Mick continually fails to engage with is the indisputable fact that Russia invaded Ukraine without provocation with the intention of permanent occupation of all Ukrainian territory and of extinguishing indepedent, Ukrainian nationhood. In other words, the supreme international crime of waging aggressive war. Ukrainian democracy is not perfect (where is the perfect one) but, in terms of war crimes, there has been no Ukrainian counterpart to the mass killings at Bucha; the destruction of Mariupol and the kidnapping of thousands of Ukrainian children. I know I sound like a broken record but what I have said needs to be repeated ad infinitum every time Mick comes onto this blog to spout such doggerel.
ReplyDeleteI always find neutrality in this as an unsustainable position. What are the grounds for neutrality when one side has no right to invade and the other side has every right to resist? To my mind, as toxic as Hamas might be, there are no grounds for remaining neutral in the conflict with Israel. The Israelis have no right to invade and steal land whereas the Palestinians have every right to resist.
DeleteGenuine peace negotiations can start if the territorial status quo pre-invasion is returned to. The cards to make that move are in the hand of the aggressor not the defender.
As a result of it all we are likely to see a growth in NATO rather than it shrinking. Much Left logic is twisted. It leaves me feeling that the Tanky Left was infatuated with the totalitarian dimension of the USSR and never what social benefits it brought. Czarist Leninism rather than Marxist Leninism.
Mick Hall Comments
DeleteBarry,
You don’t have to worry about your ‘doggerel’ being repeated all you need to do is turn on the news, it’s repeated almost every hour by the MSM media. You must be as happy as a pig in shit.
Mick Hall Comments
ReplyDeleteAnthony,
Far from neutrality being unsustainable it’s the position taken by much of the world. As I wrote elsewhere all else is pouring petroleum onto the flames of war. Times have changed as have geopolitical politics. The US is no longer the only game in town and BRIC countries like India, Brazil, South Africa and China know it.
As to the tankies I made it clear those who cling desperately to the remnants of the Soviet Union and support Russia are delusional. Besides I doubt the CPB have more than eight hundred members if that. Sadly many on the left over here supported the bourgeoisie and folded as soon as the war started. Much like they did at the start of WW1 the bugle called and they put on khaki. Rosa Luxembourg and James Connolly would be spinning in their graves.
Mick - which of those BRIC regimes is not borderline fascist or authoritarian capitalist?
DeleteDo you support the right of Ukraine to resist? Do you support the right of Russia to invade? A Left wing perspective has to be yes to the first and no to the second. That is hardly being neutral.
Neutrality is a myth in this war. How do we actually be neutral between invader and invaded?
Luxemburg and Connolly, if spinning would be at the thought of the Left failing to support a country being invaded.
There should be immediate peace talks but that will require a stabilisation of the borders as they were prior to the invasion.
And now we have Finland and Sweden ready to join NATO thanks to Putin.