In a characteristically polemical piece by Caitlin Johnstone, yesterday, she ridicules the simplistic scare-mongering of the Western establishment of Putin and Russia. “Does a madman who goes around invading countries solely because he’s evil and hates freedom sound like a real-life human being to you? Or does it sound made up?” While this is somewhat laughable, the danger is that if people repeat the “Russia was unprovoked” mantra, it prevents the ability to negotiate. If Russia’s invasion was entirely “unprovoked,” she argues, then by definition there is nothing the West could have done to prevent it, and there is nothing they could do now to reach détente. Hence, anything other than full confrontation is deemed “appeasement.” (https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/10/02/the-narrative-that-this-war-was-unprovoked-prevents-peace/ )
Johnstone continues: “Marvel [comic book] supervillains have more depth and complexity than the one-dimensional characters the imperial spin machine concocts to represent its official enemies.” She emphasizes that avoiding the danger of nuclear war is the single most important agenda ever in the history of the world, and the belief in a fictional character called “Putin” who launched an “unprovoked” war in Ukraine leaves no off-ramp from such a nuclear war. Therefore her advice to people: “Think. Be a grown up and think.” (Emphasis in original.)
A particularly appropriate and novel way for Americans and others to engage such a vitally important faculty would be to actually read President Putin’s Sept. 30 speech to a live audience on the signing of treaties with the four regions choosing to join Russia: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/69465
