If I was Ukrainian, had Ukrainian relatives or lived in a country directly bordering with either Ukraine or Russia, I would probably be asking the rest of the world to help us repel the invading Russians. I might even be willing to lend my meagre abilities to the war effort. Thus, when commentators such as Konstantin Kisin speak about the conflict in Ukraine, I both listen and appreciate his views. After all, he has forgotten more than most will ever know about the situation in Russia and Ukraine. He is implacably opposed to Putin and has relatives on both sides of the Ukraine border. His concern is palpable. However, it still does not explain to me exactly why we in the UK are so keen to continue arming Ukraine, having poured arms in for over five years in advance, against Russia.
What I fail to understand is the enthusiasm for politicians of nearly all persuasions for helping Ukraine to defend itself in the full knowledge that this will only extend the war and lead to greater loss of life, more infrastructure destroyed and further atrocities by both sides. Even less I understand the proliferation of Ukrainian flags on our streets. What interest or stake in the situation do these people have? I have never knowingly seen a Yemeni flag, a Tibetan flag or one of any number of African flags that people could fly in support of the never-ending series of incursions, invasions and slaughters that take place daily on that continent. The exception is the South African flag which, while that does indicate support for another murderous regime in Africa it is an acceptable one as it was established by Saint Nelson Mandela. The utter incompetence of the incumbents must be overlooked as they used to live under apartheid which absolves from all sins.
A possible reason people are so concerned about the war in Ukraine and willing to accept that we are pouring millions of pounds of our own scarce resources, including ambulances, into it is that it is in Europe, on our doorstep, and of course these people look remarkably like us. But surely this very proximity should be our reason for staying out of the war. Putin’s army seems a lot less competent than initial assessments (except by Peter Hitchens) suggested. But I doubt Putin is going to look favourably on us here in the UK because we did not put our own boots on the ground. We are within the radius of a well-placed nuclear explosion, and it does not take a great deal of expertise to press a nuclear button. It only takes the will to do it and we seem determined to test Putin’s resolve on this matter.
I had the privilege of attending a lecture in London this week by historian David Starkey at the New Culture Forum 2022 conference Believe in Britain and The West. Despite his unacceptable views on compulsory vaccination, he deserves to be listened to as there are few other issues on which he does not have new and sensible insights to offer. On the Ukraine he described President Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy as the ‘epitome of toxic masculinity’. He also pointed out that in the west we are deluding ourselves by thinking that the world is against Vladimir Putin. In fact, it is far from the case. It is essentially Orwell’s Oceania (the UK and the USA) that is opposed, supported by the usual puppets such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The reason that the UN have not voted to censure him is not just the Russian veto but that the rest of the world, where they have been steadily achieving influence, supports them. Where the west waged a war in Afghanistan to enable ‘women to wear mini-skirts’ (according to Starkey a declared aim of the war), Russia tends to respect local cultures of countries where it has influence.
It seems that Russia has learned at least some lessons from the folly of the USSR invasion of Afghanistan and that we may yet have to learn the same from ours. Naturally, any sane and humane person wants the war in Ukraine to end and for the atrocities being committed by both sides (NB: ‘both sides’ includes Ukraine) to stop. I fail to see why we should take sides in this war and by doing so continue to pour petrol, instead of water, on a smouldering fire.
Opinions from the Unity News Network (UNN) editorial team & various contributors. | UNN always clearly distinguishes between news and opinion pieces and as an open minded outlet we publish views from a variety of people and organisation that do not necessarily reflect the views of UNN or its writers. Articles published under UNN Opinions are always opinion pieces and if published on behalf of a contributor will contain that authors name at the start of the piece.
