{"id":217707,"date":"2022-08-08T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2022-08-08T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=217707"},"modified":"2022-08-07T09:53:51","modified_gmt":"2022-08-07T08:53:51","slug":"shedding-light-on-who-exactly-is-responsible-for-the-war-in-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/08\/shedding-light-on-who-exactly-is-responsible-for-the-war-in-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Shedding Light on Who, Exactly, Is Responsible for the War in Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

[Source: english.news.cn]<\/p><\/div>\n

6 Aug 2022 – <\/em>On July 7, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR.org) published an article by Gregory Shupak analyzing the hypocrisy of U.S. corporate media in its reporting of Ukraine, specifically the differing treatment by Western media of the situations in Donbas compared to that of the Serbian-Albanian territory of Kosovo. The article<\/a> was titled, \u201cMedia support \u2018self-determination\u2019 for U.S. allies, not enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shupak writes, \u201cMy aim is to investigate whether there were significant differences in how corporate media covered the Kosovo [1999 and onward] and Donbas [2014 and onward] cases despite their similarities.\u201d He details how there are, indeed, significant differences in the media coverage\u2014whereas corporate media supported \u201cself-determination\u201d for Kosovo, they do not accord the same support to the people of Donbas.<\/p>\n

\"Maps
[Source: fair.org<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is an informative read. Even more so if it is read in tandem with an April 25, 2022, article by Dan Kovalik of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, titled \u201cWhy Russia\u2019s intervention in Ukraine is legal under international law<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, Shupak\u2019s article contains several inaccuracies and oversights that detract from its otherwise informative presentation. These are very important to understand, given the significance of Russia\u2019s political\/military intervention in Ukraine and the stakes in an eventual settlement.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Gregory Shupak [Source: fair.org]<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dan Kovalik [Source: law.pitt.edu]<\/p><\/div>\n

Setting the record straight on \u201cseparatism\u201d and who invaded whom in Donbas in 2014<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Shupak writes, \u201cDonetsk and Luhansk, the Donbas\u2019 two major regions\u2026 have been war zones since 2014, when Russia-aligned separatists began fighting Ukraine\u2019s central government after the success of the U.S.-backed overthrow of Ukraine\u2019s elected government.\u201d This is factually wrong on several accounts.<\/p>\n

First, the claim of \u201cseparatism\u201d directed against the rebel movement in Donbas is inaccurate. The Donbas republics agreed in February 2015 to the Minsk 2 peace settlement (text here<\/a>). It envisioned a referendum on political autonomy<\/em> that would, among many measures, more formally guarantee language rights for Russian speakers in Ukraine. Minsk 2 superseded<\/em> earlier talks and agreement in the late summer of 2014 (also reached in Minsk, hence the term \u201cMinsk 1\u201d) which Shupak\u2019s article describes.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Shupak does not mention Minsk 2 in his article text. That highly important agreement was endorsed by no less than the Security Council, on February 17, 2015, unanimously to boot. Kyiv and the NATO powers that signed onto the agreement then proceeded to sabotage<\/em> it during the seven years that followed.<\/p>\n

Second, the conflict in Donbas commenced in April 2014 when the coup regime in Kyiv and its paramilitary, extreme-right battalions-in-formation invaded<\/em> the two then-Ukrainian oblasts<\/em> (provinces) of Donetsk and Luhansk. The two oblasts comprise the historic region of Donbas. Kyiv intended to violently suppres<\/em>s the pro-autonomy movements there.<\/p>\n

\"Ukraine's
[Source: socialistproject.ca<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Paramilitary forces-in-formation acted similarly against the people protesting in favor of autonomy in the city and oblast of Odessa. The rightists murdered as many as 50 pro-autonomy protesters on May 2, 2014, after protesters had taken shelter in the city\u2019s massive, historic Trade Unions Building. The building was set on fire by the rightists and many of those who tried to escape the building were clubbed to death.<\/p>\n

\"Ukraine
Trade Unions Building in Odessa after it was burned by rightist forces.
\n[Source: nbcnews.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An unjust intervention by Russia in Ukraine in 2022?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Shupak describes Russia\u2019s military intervention in Ukraine is unjust. But unjust for whom? Certainly not for the people of Donbas. They have endured seven years of low-intensity war against them by Ukrainian armed forces and paramilitaries, with political support as well as military training and equipping by NATO countries.<\/p>\n

That war cost some 14,000 lives on both sides<\/a> (as of February 24, 2022), including more than 3,100 civilian deaths. Most of those deaths occurred on the Donbas side.<\/p>\n

Today, it is necessary to understand not only<\/em> what Russia is doing with its intervention in Ukraine but also what alternative<\/em> existed to stop Ukrainian aggression against Donbas and to<\/em> assure Russia\u2019s national security. Recall that Ukraine and NATO were preparing in late 2021 and early 2022 for what they hoped would be a \u201cfinal\u201d military blow to aspirations for Donbas autonomy (now independence-from-Ukraine). Russia warned the world against this months earlier.<\/p>\n

\"Ukrainian
Ukrainian servicemen ride atop an armored fighting vehicle in eastern Ukraine.
\n[Source: rferl.org<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is eye-opening to read today the \u201cUpdate on Ukraine\u201d by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on December 1, 2021. (The full text of that briefing is appended at the end of this article.) She explained, \u201cKyiv\u2019s efforts to subvert the Minsk agreements are most vividly on display at the contact line in Donbas. The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are building military power, and drawing up heavy equipment and personnel. According to some estimates, the strength of Ukraine\u2019s armed group in the conflict zone is already close to 125,000. This is half of the AFU personnel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adding to this threat was, and remains, the presence of NATO soldiers in Ukraine. In December 2021, the Zelensky regime in Kyiv adopted a special law to permit foreign soldiers onto its soil.<\/p>\n

As an entry by the U.S. Library of Congress<\/a> explains, \u201cThe adoption of this law was required because the Constitution of Ukraine prohibits<\/a> the creation and operation of armed units in Ukraine if they are not authorized by national law.\u201d<\/p>\n

NATO has waged a decades-long drive to expand its country membership right up to the Russian border. NATO doctrine holds that an attack against one country-member is \u201can attack against all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Training
UK-NATO soldier on exercise in Estonia training for war against Russia.
\n[Source: politico.eu<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whose diplomacy?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Shupak says a return to diplomacy is needed to settle the conflict in Ukraine. But Russia and the people of Donbas have exercised seven years of extreme patience in hoping and expecting that diplomacy in the form of Minsk 2 would be implemented. What is needed is real diplomacy<\/em>, not a repeat of the sham diplomacy<\/em> as we saw following Minsk 2.<\/p>\n

Shupak disregards this dilemma over diplomacy. He leaves the false impression that Russia is to blame for the current failure to reach a diplomatic solution. He further compounds such a distorted view of events by failing to explain that, in the recent weeks, it is Ukraine that has refused to engage<\/em> in diplomacy and negotiations. Far from being nudged by NATO members to engage in negotiations, Kyiv is being encouraged not to do so<\/em>. The reason for this is, by now, public information\u2014NATO is counselling Kyiv against negotiations because the two partners are recklessly (and hopelessly) pursuing military action in a bid to weaken Russia, a goal which leaders in Washington no longer even try to hide.<\/p>\n

A proper humanitarian response to all this would be to call upon the aggressor powers<\/em> to recognize Russia\u2019s legitimate national security concerns and to negotiate peace with the people of Donbas. Negotiation is precisely<\/em> what Kyiv and NATO\u2013not Russia\u2013are refusing to engage. Indeed, the photo caption of Shupak\u2019s article in FAIR.org cites his own words in explaining: \u201cHad the U.S. seriously pursued peace, Minsk II could have both ended the war in Donbas and extinguished the NATO issue that was a driving factor in the invasion Russia launched.\u201d Precisely. And we can add today that little or nothing since has changed on this front.<\/p>\n

\"Cartoon\"
[Source: globaltimes.cn<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Hedges condemns NATO expansion but muddies the waters over Ukraine<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Writer Chris Hedges has detailed in a new article<\/a> the years and decades of aggressive, NATO expansion intended to weaken and humble Russia.<\/p>\n

He explains that, following the demise of the Soviet Union in 1990-91, \u201cNATO and the militarists had no intention of embracing [a] \u2018peace dividend,\u2019 fostering a world based on diplomacy, respect of spheres of influence and mutual cooperation. [NATO was instead] determined to stay in business. Its business is war. That meant expanding its war machine far beyond the border of Europe and engaging in ceaseless antagonism toward China and Russia\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chris
Chris Hedges [Source: ineteconomics.org<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is a powerful news article and commentary. But the reader will find in it descriptions of events that are unclear if not mistaken. Notably, Hedges writes, \u201cNATO expansion and the\u00a02014 U.S.-backed coup<\/a>\u00a0in Kyiv led Russia to first occupy Crimea, in eastern Ukraine, with its large ethnic Russian population, and then to invade all of Ukraine to thwart the country\u2019s efforts to join NATO.\u00a0The same dance of death is being played with China over Taiwan\u2026\u201d Here, in one sentence, we find three<\/em> mistaken ideas or interpretations.<\/p>\n

First<\/em>, Russia did not \u201coccupy\u201d Crimea in early 2014. Following the violent and illegal coup in Kyiv in February 2014, Russia was immediately invited, indeed urged, by the elected and constitutional government<\/em> of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Wikipedia<\/a>) to protect the Crimean government and people from similar, violent coup actions as occurred in Kyiv and from threats of invasion (as Ukrainian far-right paramilitaries were commencing in Donbas).<\/p>\n

Russia reacted positively and promptly, moving soldiers, sailors and police from Sevastopol into positions of defense and control. Those forces were already stationed in Sevastopol, Crimea, by virtue of the Russia-Ukraine \u201cPartition Treaty on the Status and Conditions of the Black Sea Fleet\u201d in 1997. (Wikipedia<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"Crimean
Crimeans cheer signing of treaty that made Crimea a part of the Russian Federation.
\n[Source: scmp.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is important to understand here that, as a result of the coup in Kyiv, there was no constitutional government in power<\/em> in Ukraine following February 2014. There was<\/em> a constitutional government still in power in one region of the country\u2013Crimea. It was the only region<\/em> of Ukraine to have its own government. Its powers were similar to those of state governments in the U.S. or provincial governments in Canada.<\/p>\n

Second<\/em>, Russia has not \u201cinvaded all of Ukraine\u201d in the year 2022. It has acted to defend the lives and right to political self-determination of those regions of Ukraine with high numbers of ethnic Russians and where residents are under military threat or attack by Ukraine armed forces and ultranationalist paramilitaries.<\/p>\n

Russia is also defending its own national security from the direct threat that NATO membership for Ukraine would represent and that the current presence of NATO soldiers and weapons on Ukrainian territory currently represents.<\/p>\n

Third<\/em>, it is not a \u201cdance of death\u201d taking place in Ukraine. What is taking place is a life and death struggle for political self-determination by people in Donbas and elsewhere in Ukraine facing political violence and loss of political rights. Russia is defending the right of self-<\/a>determination of these people and it is defending the security of its own people.<\/p>\n

\"People
People wave Russian national flags celebrating the recognition of independence in the center of Donetsk, the territory controlled by pro-Russian rebels, in eastern Ukraine, on Monday, February 21. [Source: aljazeera.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Chris Hedges\u2019 mistaken measure, self-determination struggles and wars of national liberation throughout the 20th<\/sup> century should also be termed \u201cdances of death.\u201d China\u2019s long struggle for independence in 1949 comes to mind. So, too, the \u2018people\u2019s wars\u2019 in Korea and Vietnam following World War Two which freed those countries from imperialist domination.<\/p>\n

\"We
Vietcong freedom fighter engaged in a just war against a foreign aggressor\u2014much like the people of eastern Ukraine. [Source: reddit.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yes, many people tragically died in the many national liberation conflicts during the 20th<\/sup> and 21st<\/sup> centuries. But the blame for this does not lie with those who resisted<\/em> imperialist war and violence (and, tragically, continue to do so today in many cases). No, the blame lies with those who perpetrate<\/em> such.<\/p>\n

Similar off-the mark points of analysis by other writers can be found who, otherwise, present informative news and commentary on the conflict in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

For example, another writer at FAIR.org, Joshua Cho, published a very informative analysis on July 21<\/a> titled, \u201cCalling Putin \u2018Hitler\u2019 to smear diplomacy as [being] \u2018appeasement\u2019.’\u201d But out of left field appears this sentence in the article: \u201cRussia\u2019s brutal invasion of Ukraine is a violation of international law, condemned<\/a> by 141 out of 193 countries in a UN General Assembly vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
Joshua Cho
\n[Source: fair.org<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

But Russia\u2019s action in Ukraine can be accurately viewed as a legitimate act of national self-defense, as per the article by Dan Kovalik cited earlier in this article. Moreover, Ukraine and its backers among the Western countries were given ample warning of the need to pull back from their reckless course of militarism and NATO expansion.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Russia is acting in a \u2018responsibility to protect\u2019 capacity in Donbass and southern Ukraine. Its actions in this regard are light years removed from the self-declared \u2018responsibility to protect\u2019 doctrine which Western countries created and have used in recent decades to justify countless violent and bloody coups and political interventions against governments that dare to defy imperialist diktat<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Yes, a large majority of UN General Assembly member countries voted for a resolution on March 1 condemning Russia\u2019s intervention in Ukraine. But three of the world\u2019s five most populous countries, with more than one third of the world\u2019s population, abstained<\/em> on that vote (India, China, Pakistan), while a repeat of such a vote in today\u2019s conditions would receive far fewer votes in favour because the world now understands much better the true history and stakes in the conflict in Ukraine compared to more than five months ago.<\/p>\n

Writer and broadcaster Aaron Mat\u00e9 penned an article on his Substack<\/em> media outlet<\/a> on July 16 in which he wrote a blatantly false accusation against Russia: \u201cBy invading Ukraine rather than<\/em> [emphasis added] exhausting all diplomatic solutions, Russia bears obvious responsibility for the crisis.\u201d This is, quite simply, factually wrong, as this present article has explained above in its explanation of the demise of the Minsk 2 agreement.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
Aaron Mat\u00e9
\n[Source: soundcloud.org<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Difficult as this is to believe, considering the tidal wave of corporate media messaging saying the opposite, Russia is far from being the \u2018imperialist\u2019 country which so many on the political right and also on the political left accuse it of being.<\/p>\n

That accusation does not stand the test of serious analysis<\/a>. What\u2019s more, its intervention in Ukraine qualifies as an anti-imperialist initiative<\/em>. Russia\u2019s actions in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world (for example, in Cuba<\/a>) are creating space\u2013economic, political and military\u2013for the victims of imperialism<\/em> to live, breathe and fight for a different world in which big power dominance and hegemony give way, kicking and screaming, to a world of cooperation among peoples and countries.<\/p>\n

Surely, this is something worth understanding and to welcome? And to prompt asking: How can the people of the world draw inspiration and follow the examples of the self-determination struggles in Donbas and Crimea and the decisions of the Russian government to refuse to abide by imperialist diktat?<\/p>\n

Appendix: Update on Ukraine<\/strong><\/h2>\n

[This \u201cUpdate on Ukraine,\u201d delivered by Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation,<\/a> was part of the broader, weekly briefing on December 1, 2021.]<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Russia
Maria Zakharova [Source: reuters.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We receive many questions with a request to comment on the situation in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

We are seriously concerned over Kyiv\u2019s efforts at dismantling the Minsk process, and its de facto refusal to try to settle peacefully the conflict in Donbas.<\/p>\n

On November 29 of this year, President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a draft law to allow foreign armed units to come to Ukraine in 2022 for participation in multi-national exercises. This action directly contradicts Article 10 of the Minsk Package of Measures providing for the withdrawal of all foreign armed formations from Ukrainian territory.<\/p>\n

The draft Ukrainian law \u201cOn the Principles of the State Policy of Transition Period\u201d has not been removed from the agenda, either. I would like to recall that we have repeatedly said that the adoption of this document will mean Kiev\u2019s withdrawal from the Minsk agreements. We do not see any other option. Instead of a special status and amnesty for the residents of Donbass, this document envisages forced Ukrainisation, screening of officials and the de facto complete \u201cmopping up\u201d of the territories in the east of Ukraine. Although President Zelensky said during the press marathon on November 26 of this year that this is \u201cnot a current issue,\u201d everyone understands that a decision on its approval may be adopted any time.<\/p>\n

Kiev\u2019s efforts to subvert the Minsk agreements are most vividly on display at the contact line in Donbass. The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are building military power, and drawing up heavy equipment and personnel. According to some estimates, the strength of Ukraine\u2019s armed group in the conflict zone is already close to 125,000. This is half of the AFU personnel.<\/p>\n

According to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM), violations of ceasefire are recorded along the entire contact line rather than merely locally. On some days in the past few weeks, the number of violations exceeded the maximums that the mission recorded before the additional measures on enhancing ceasefire entered in force on July 22, 2020.<\/p>\n

Heavy weapons banned by the Minsk agreements are being used increasingly. We have spoken about this more than once. Civilians are the hardest hit by the shelling by the Ukrainian military. It is strange that this is not seen by human rights champions in the Western countries nor by observers and special rapporteurs assigned to international organizations. The absolute majority of destroyed houses and civilian facilities are located in Donbass districts. Where is the international human rights movement? Where are the champions of humanitarian law? What about articles in the leading Western media? The matter deals not just with one person who becomes a target of Western media campaigns. This is about the population of a region that has been suffering under the iniquity of the Kiev regime for many years. It is on the verge of a disaster. The Kiev regime is tightening its military power around this population and does not deem it necessary to conceal its real attitude to the Minsk agreements. What else should the Kiev regime do, how should it humiliate the residents of Donbass for the Western mainstream to turn its head to the residents of this region and start wondering what is really happening there?<\/p>\n

\"Russia-Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky plotting attacks in war with Russia.
\n[Source: indianaexpress.com<\/a>]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A civil war is raging in Ukraine. The population is suffering and dying from military adventures (we will talk about this later today). In these conditions, it is impossible to understand the cynical approach of the NATO countries and of NATO as an association. They continue supplying Ukraine with arms and ammunition and sending their military instructors to it.<\/p>\n

Recently, Western capitals have started making statements about their readiness to send troop contingents to Ukraine as well. London reported its intention to send up to 600 British military personnel to Ukraine. Rendering such assistance to the state where settlement is a remote prospect and the domestic conflict is far from being resolved, the West should understand that it automatically becomes an accomplice in the crimes against Ukrainian civilians.<\/p>\n

Against this backdrop, the hysterical campaign in the media, unleashed by Kiev and its foreign patrons about Russia\u2019s alleged preparations for an offensive is simply a sidetracking maneuver, a fake excuse for the further militarization of Ukrainian territory.<\/p>\n

We urge the NATO countries to stop their provocations and encouragement of the Kiev regime\u2019s militaristic plans and do all they can to encourage Kiev engage in direct dialogue with Donetsk and Luhansk with a view to finding a sustainable peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian domestic conflict in line with the Package of Measures endorsed by a UN Security Council resolution. [end this section of briefing]<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Roger Annis is a retired aerospace worker and resident in Vancouver, Canada. He publishes the website and blog <\/em>A Socialist In Canada<\/span><\/a>. Roger can be reached at contact@socialistincanada.ca<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original – covertactionmagazine.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

6 Aug 2022 – Western capitals make statements about sending troops to Ukraine. London intends to send 600 military personnel. Rendering assistance to the state where settlement is a remote prospect and the domestic conflict is far from being resolved, the West should understand that it automatically becomes an accomplice in the crimes against Ukrainian civilians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":217709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[207],"tags":[1035,1268,1126,1050,2462,91,1301,112,818,278,961,2200,95,70,1594,481,172],"class_list":["post-217707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-balkans-eastern-europe","tag-eastern-europe","tag-european-union","tag-hegemony","tag-imperialism","tag-military-industrial-media-complex","tag-nato","tag-nuclear-war","tag-pentagon","tag-proxy-war","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-us-empire","tag-us-military","tag-usa","tag-war-economy","tag-warfare","tag-west"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}