A New Age of Barbarism
Brownstone Institute,
by
Jeffrey Tucker
Original Article
Posted By: earlybird,
2/25/2022 12:25:29 PM
Political leaders in the US, Canada, Germany, and France – all NATO countries – got back on script yesterday. They could not wait to get to the microphones. They all seemed to have new energy and purpose in life. Politicians are made for this moment! They are vastly more talented at dishing out righteous opprobrium directed at foreign beasts, which make far more compelling enemies, than inveighing against invisible viruses.
As Russian bombs rained down on Ukriane, Western leaders – having spent the better part of two years bullying their citizens and quelling protests – spoke in soaring tones about freedom, democracy, peace, and human rights.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
stablemoney 2/25/2022 12:48:29 PM (No. 1082595)
I will never look favorably on Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, and Great Britain again. It is time for a divorce from NATO, from any alliances with these countries that have stripped their citizens of liberty. I want nothing to do with them, and reject them.
16 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
mc squared 2/25/2022 12:51:10 PM (No. 1082598)
I vote for a must read.
8 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
msliberty1937 2/25/2022 1:27:48 PM (No. 1082633)
FTA: "There are two dates in my adult life that truly seemed darkly shattering of every enlightenment ideal. The first was March 12, 2020, when Donald Trump announced, under cover of emergency, the end of travel from Europe, the UK, and Australia, all in the name of virus avoidance. The second was February 24, 2022, when Vladimir Putin took the first major steps in the restoration of the 19th-century Russian empire, thumbing his nose at the once-mighty US empire and its pretensions to rule the world. "
This is the second to last paragraph. I must have missed something.
3 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
swarfer 2/25/2022 1:34:08 PM (No. 1082638)
The Ukraine crisis began in 2013 with the overthrow of the democratically elected president Viktor Yanukovych because he was leaning toward Russia. The West cheered pushing for Ukrainian admittance to NATO right on Russia's doorstep and teasing with military aid. Russia invoked their equivalent of the Russian Monroe doctrine but being still too weak to alter the situation, they secured their Black Sea Naval basis by occupying Crimea, and supported Donets and Luhansk rebels.
Recall the Cuban Missile Crisis where JFK risked nuclear war to have the missiles removed citing the Monroe Doctrine which included the entire Western Hemisphere. Wisely Krushiv did and never again did this issue recur.
Fast forward today, the crisis is a result of the possibility of Ukraine becoming a NATO member urged by the West. The US and its allies would be right on Russia's doorstep. Diplomatic negotiations failed because NATO was never taken off the table. Russia acted in own interest to make sure Ukraine would never be in NATO. This could have been avoided.
To frame this in terms of barbarism one must also consider the US actions in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan, countries half a world away with no security implications. Surely our weapons are more numerous and lethal operating with digital high-altitude impunity. Perhaps 9000 murders and 60,000 drug overdose deaths in the US every year could be considered a sign of barbarism. Surely the causalities in Ukraine will be but a tiny fraction.
As long as Russia attempts to avoid civilian casualties, targets command and control, bases, airfields, weapons storage, tanks, armored fighting vehicles, artillery positions etc. and honors surrender and protection to prisoners, then they are prosecuting war to same standards as the US. As for political leaders, remember what happened to Saddam Hussein and his sons Qusay and Uday and Muammar Gaddafi.
Barbarism is surely in the eye or might of the beholder.
8 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
MrDeplorable 2/25/2022 1:44:55 PM (No. 1082647)
#4, I seem to recall that the REAL reason the Cuba-bound Russian ships (allegedly) bearing missiles were turned around in October 1962 was not so much on the strength of JFK's giant cojones but because he secretly agreed to withdraw the US Jupiter MRBMs from the Russian doorstep in Turkey, what Uncle Nikita wanted all along and got for the price of a few thousand gallons of diesel fuel.
8 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 2/25/2022 2:01:52 PM (No. 1082656)
Face it, most of the world's 'leaders' are thieves, thugs, and murderous tyrants. We aren't that far removed from the age of uncivilized savages and barbarians.
8 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Lawsy0 2/25/2022 7:27:46 PM (No. 1082852)
Hate Trump and use big words to do it. Wow. That must be what passes for intellect nowadays.
0 people like this.
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Hypocrisy writ large.