The Ukraine flag was flying over my local university this week. At Wimbledon, where the ludicrous ban on Russian players has been lifted, they are dealing with their presence by omitting their nationality from the electronic score board. One Russian player who handed a player from some other country his rear end on a plate was booed, to no comment from the BBC commentators. A Belarusian female player was also booed meaning that the chattering classes at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club exposed both their ignorance and their prejudice. Belarus is a different country from Russia.
If these people understood the origins of the war in Ukraine, they may think twice about booing the Russian players and boo some of the North American and European players instead. But it is so much easier to have a single villain, a ‘new Hitler’ to which opprobrium can be directed and to react to the obvious fact that Russia invaded Ukraine than to try to understand why.
The title of this article is taken from a book published last year which I do not recall seeing reviewed in The Telegraph or The Spectator, but which is available on Kindle. The author is Benjamin Abelow. The book is short. Nevertheless, it is well written and meticulously referenced. That there is a war currently being fought in Ukraine is undoubtedly a result of Russia’s invasion which is sacrificing thousands of lives, civilian in Ukraine and military on both sides. Abelow is clear on that point. However, he also says: “The story of an evil, irrational, intrinsically expansionist Russia with a paranoid leader at its helm, opposed by a virtuous United States and Europe, is a confused and strange confabulation.”
The war need never have taken place and Abelow explains this as follows: “Had the United States not pushed NATO to the border of Russia; not deployed nuclear-capable missile launch systems in Romania and planned them for Poland and perhaps elsewhere as well; not contributed to the overthrow of the democratically elected Ukrainian government in 2014; not abrogated the ABM treaty and then the intermediate-range nuclear missile treaty, and then disregarded Russian attempts to negotiate a bilateral moratorium on deployments; not conducted live-fire exercises with rockets in Estonia to practice striking targets inside Russia; not coordinated a massive 32-nation military exercise near Russian territory; not intertwined the U.S. military with that of Ukraine; etc. etc. etc.—had the United States and its NATO allies not done these things, the war in Ukraine probably would not have taken place.”
Zelensky has been no help and, according to Abelow, was given the opportunity before the war to come to an agreement, brokered by Germany, with Russia over their relationship. He refused on the grounds that he did not believe Putin would honour it. While Abelow does not point to forces acting on Zelensky, it is not hard to see why Zekensky would have been reluctant. The free handouts would, presumably, have stopped and the ego-stroking by a series of world leaders, rock stars and Hollywood glitterati would likewise have stopped.
The precise reasons for Russia’s invasion at the point at which it took place are obscure and Abelow does not speculate. But he is clear that “false narratives lead to bad outcomes” and that “(b)y functioning as models of reality, narratives serve as guides for action. Then, through the dynamic of action and reaction, push and pushback, they can produce the results they allege are already present.” We all know what the outcome is, as do the innocent people of Ukraine. The question now, which only Peter Hitchens amongst mainstream commentators asks, is ‘how is the war going to end?’
The final word goes to British Political Scientist Richard Sakwa who said that the war in Ukraine could have been avoided by five words from Zekensky: “Ukraine will not join NATO.” On his behalf, the Ukrainian people are living to regret his omission.
How The West Brought War to Ukraine (2022) by Benjamin Abelow is published by Siland Press, Massachusetts is available on Amazon, Kindle Edition £3.49; Paperback £7.99.
Roger Watson is a retired academic nurse who lives in the UK.
He is currently engaged in a range of professional consultancies in the UK, Europe and China. He writes regularly for several outlets including The Daily Sceptic, The European Conservative, Country Squire Magazine and The New Conservative.
