Progressive Memes and Essays

Senior U.S. diplomats and three Secretaries of Defense warned that aggressive NATO expansion into Ukraine would result in a war.

The RAND Corporation recommended arming Ukraine as the best way to weaken Russia and predicted it would cause a war.

The CIA was deeply involved (see this and this) and tried to hide its tracks. The New Yorker reported that the CIA and NSA engaged in a broad effort "around the time of the invasion, to close off many sources related to Russia/Ukraine matters."

Jack Matlock (former U.S. Ambassador to the USSR under Ronald Reagan) said in a 2024 interview: "Why don't we understand that trying to remove Ukraine from Russian influence and put military bases there would be, in their case, absolutely unacceptable and worthy of defense?" Matlock said the U.S. backed the 2014 coup, and "Obviously, to any Russian leader, not just Vladimir Putin, that would have been an absolutely impossible, hostile act, which they had to react to. And in particular, they were not going to lose their naval base in Crimea." Finally, Matlock said the Ukrainians are "dominated in their thinking by neo-Nazis -- we tend to ignore that, or when Putin points it out, we say he's lying. He's not lying."

Reuters reported in 2019 that Ukraine banned the official use of Russian.

U.S. hypocrisy is stunning, given that it bombed, invaded, and launched coups in countries worldwide, often for flimsy reasons involving resources or the unwillingness of a government to follow U.S. lead. The U.S. allied with Muslim extremists groups in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Libya, Chechnya, and Syria and with brutal regimes in Latin America and elsewhere. Russia's invasion was along its borders and in response to CIA meddling.

Would the U.S. allow Russia to mass troops and missiles in Cuba and Mexico; overthrow the government of Canada; install the new Prime Minister; ban the official use of English; build up Canada's military; and ally with and arm anti-American militias?

Harpers: Why are we in Ukraine?
How the U.S. Provoked Russia in Ukraine