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Col. Daniel Davis on U.S. provocations in Ukraine (summary)
Col. Daniel Davis spoke with Massachusetts Peace Action about the hypocrisy of the United States concerning NATO expansion. Here’s my summary. Davis starts out by saying that people in the West believe a lot of disinformation, and there is a lot of wishful thinking. He criticizes the notion that one side is totally evil…
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Why it’s crucial to expose U.S. provocations in Ukraine
(Also published at antiwar.com) If you believe that Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was unprovoked, you will likely compare Putin to Hitler and will likely oppose President Trump’s peace negotiations with Russia. After all, if Putin’s invasion was unprovoked, a settlement would reward naked aggression and would be akin to Neville Chamberlain’s 1938 appeasement with…
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Four Increasingly Cynical Views about the War in Ukraine
by Donald A. Smith, PhD This is an extended version of my essay published in Common Dreams as Who is to Blame for the War in Ukraine?. Here are four views about the war in Ukraine, listed in order of increasing cynicism about U.S. culpability for the crisis: The Russian invasion of Ukraine was totally…
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Letter from Bellingham Travail: Stopping the War Machine
In Bellingham on Jan 28, 2024 the Washington State Democratic Central Committee passed a resolution written by me, Donald A. Smith, PhD, along with Sharon Abreu and Linda Boyd, calling for a less militarized foreign policy and for a “just transition” to a peace economy. Resolution on the Urgency of Transitioning to an Economy Based…
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Another good article by Jeffrey Sachs
In Jeffrey Sach’s NATO Expansion & Ukraine’s Destruction, he quotes NATO Secretary0-General Jens Stoltenberg saying, “So, he [Putin] went to war to prevent NATO, more NATO, close to his borders. He has got the exact opposite.” When Prof. John Mearsheimer, I, and others have said the same, we’ve been attacked as Putin apologists. The same…
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Did the U.S. orchestrate the 2014 Maidan uprising? Or did it just back it and exploit it?
There are competing views about this. Modern Diplomacy’s US campaign behind the turmoil in Kiev says, “Incontrovertible proofs will be presented here not only that it was a coup, but that this coup was organized by the U.S. Government: “that the U.S. Government initiated the ‘new Cold War’.” I don’t know the nature of that…
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Summary of Jeffrey Sachs interview with Andrew Napolitano about the CIA, JFK, and Ukraine
CIA Manipulation of Public Opinion Here’s my summary: The security state (CIA and Pentagon) run the government more than the White House does, especially when the president is old and weak, as is Biden. Congress mostly follows what the White House wants (on foreign policy) [and funds the security state extravagantly]. The peoples’ voices barely…
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In response to David Ignatius on the strategic windfall from the war in Ukraine
From an opinion piece in the Washington Post by Washington Post associate editor David Ignatius: The West feels gloomy about Ukraine. Here’s why it shouldn’t: Meanwhile, for the United States and its NATO allies, these 18 months of war have been a strategic windfall, at relatively low cost (other than for the Ukrainians). The West’s…
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Short note about government secrecy on Ukraine
This New Yorker essay Is the F.B.I. Truly Biased Against Trump? about the FBI’s investigations of Rudolph Giuliani and Hunter Biden has a couple of telling paragraphs: According to [FBI agent] Buma’s statement, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, on February 24, 2022, he was told to terminate relations with one of his most valuable sources…
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Comments on Aaron Maté ‘s interview with John Mearsheimer
John Mearsheimer: Ukraine War Is A Long-Term Danger The main point of Aaron Maté ‘s interview with John Mearsheimer is that the U.S. miscalculated about how easy it would be to defeat Russia via arming Ukraine and imposing sanctions. Both sides are in a position where they’re now unwilling to negotiate or give up land. …