We have an obligation as individuals to unearth a truthful picture of any historical event. Erasing any account of reality in favour of a contrived summation is the only true crime a politician or a journalist can perform.
This is the first in a series of essays where I revisit many traditional tropes of western media and hold them against information easy to dig out using simple means.
Who’s War?
We hear that Putinism drives the war, and that Putin himself is willing to sacrifice his countrymen.
Example: Victoria Nuland said in December 2021 during a Foreign Relations hearing about the leadup to the war:
None of us seeks confrontation or crisis. Certainly, the Russian people don’t need it, as they come out of a difficult COVID period. […] We will continue to have very deep disagreements with the Kremlin on human rights […] And yet, as we all know, when the United States and Russia can work together, as we are doing now on Iran and in the nascent Strategic Stability Talks, we offer both our citizens and people everywhere the prospect of a better future. But what we could and should do together will be put at risk if President Putin chooses more aggression against Ukraine.
Digging deeper into the inner life of Russia, things are looking a bit different.
The view of KPRF.RU - The Russian Communist Party
Here is a series of quotes offering insight into the Party’s perception of the war. Note that the Communist Party is generally not considered a “cartel party”, a support party for Putin.
2014
Leading up to the revolution in 2014, the KPRF described the Euromaidan protests in ways that reminds us about the inherit conflict between communism and everything which they perceive as fascist.
They clearly do not view Euromaidan as a liberation process but as an attack on communism itself.
It all started with “pranks” - choral singing on the Maidan of a blasphemous alteration in the Bandera spirit by Orest Lyuty (stage name of Anton Mukharsky) of “Victory Day” and public wiping of feet on the red Victory Banner. Then pogroms and pure vandalism began - the demolition of the monument to V.I. Lenin.
From a Ukrainian perspective, anti-Soviet emotions quickly came to the forefront. This is doubly problematic, since these themes pervert a deeper and stronger current in the Euromaidan movement, namely the desire to identify as Europeans.
Few were alarmed by this, but it was precisely with the barbaric destruction of communist monuments that the Nazis began to establish their “new order”. The next step was to ban the activities of the Communist Party, which we see now in a number of regions of Western Ukraine. In the regions where neo-Banderites have seized power without prior arrangement, the first thing they do is to try to revoke the registration of the local branch of the Communist Party of Ukraine, and at the same time the very bourgeois Party of Regions.
The past is full of banishment of communist parties from western countries, especially as part of more or less hysterical trends, e.g. McCarthyism. Seeing these motives explode in a neighbouring country triggers a strong allergic reaction to the old class enemy:
That is, they are not going to preserve any democracy, any freedoms, even for show. They have outdone even the German fascists. They needed the Reichstag fire to ban the KKE, while modern neo-Banderites did it without any reason at all. And without formalities - without any court decision.
[…]
There is no doubt that there are many people among the protesters who are dissatisfied with the catastrophic results of liberal socio-economic reforms, who are confused and misled by the pseudo-social rhetoric of the bosses of this whole event. But thanks to online broadcasts, the whole world can clearly see that they are not the ones making the weather: in the front rows are the neo-Nazi stormtroopers with the corresponding, albeit veiled, symbols. Supporting them, even indirectly, for the defenders of workers’ rights is a kind of Stockholm syndrome.
2017
Moving forward to the Donbas(s) conflict at its third year. Unlike our Western perception, there are many examples of sympathisers being moved to voice their emotions in Russia.
The following is from a comment on the 2017 London Bridge attack.
Innocent victims are certainly sad. Telegrams of sympathy and support poured in from all over the world. The Russian President also expressed condolences. However, in Novorossiya, the Kiev junta and Bandera’s punitive forces kill civilians every day. Over the past 2.5 years, 10,000 people have died there. This is 100% terrorism. Why is all of “truth-loving” Europe silent about this? Where do such double standards come from? Why should we sympathize with Europe, which supports international terrorism in Donbass? According to V.N. Tetyokin, this is nothing more than hypocrisy and duplicity.
We may not agree with their version of events, but as the statement stands, there is little reason to doubt the sincerity of this utterance. The party claim to have collected help and gifts:
We extended a hand to all the poor, the needy, and our faction did everything on the eve of the New Year to support those who are in great need. I thank my comrades who two days ago sent the 93rd convoy to Donbass — 150 thousand gifts for children who are simply in dire straits there!
2022
Moving to late 2021, early 2022, it appears that the idea of recogninzing LPR and DPR came from the Communist Party itself.
We recognize the republics of the DPR and LPR - we will stop the war in Donbass!
The Party has put forth a suggestion to the Duma:
“For almost 8 years, Ukraine has been waging a war against the peoples of the republics. […] We must recognize the DPR and LPR to ensure their security from external threats, and move on.
The proposal has been submitted to the Duma:
Communist deputies, led by the Chairman of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation G.A. Zyuganov, submitted to the State Duma a draft resolution […] The document has been officially registered and included in the State Duma’s work schedule for February [2022].
However, there does not seem to be complete agreement on the course of action, as Putin’s own party, United Russia, do not want to rock the boat:
United Russia believes that “now a step towards recognizing the republics could harm the interests of the Russian Federation,” “would mean a withdrawal from the Minsk agreements,” and this, according to Zatulin, “cannot be allowed.” He is in favor of continuing measures to support the republics, but “recognition of their sovereignty is hardly possible at the present time, or even in the near future.”
Another party, A Just Russia - For Truth, claims also to be in favour.
The KPRF finds the western version of Putin’s motive being territorial conquest particularly offensive:
And the West, under the cover of fake accusations against Russia of preparing to attack Ukraine, is intensively arming the “independent state”. This week, the Armed Forces of Ukraine received a batch of aid in the form of anti-tank weapons. According to Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine for European Integration Anatoly Petrenko, “this will strengthen the country’s defence capabilities.”
Evidently the Communist Party sympathises strongly with the Donbas(s) residents.
The single most heartbreaking aspect of this whole situation is that the Russo-Ukraine war happened like an unavoidable accident.
War is conflict on a sociological scale. And conflict is sociological plate tectonics. When critical masses of people are moving towards each other as two gigantic colliding ideological rigid bodies in space, the end result is as predictable as it is tragic.
Stirring up emotions to a degree that obstructs any possibility of compromise is demonstrating dangerous negligence.
Peel away mass media narratives and social media wildfires, and a simpler picture usually emerges:
“The situation in the republics is extremely difficult,” says Nikolai Kolomeytsev, first deputy head of the Communist Party faction, “people there have been living in conditions of war, uncertainty and disaster for eight years. It’s time to put an end to this. Examples are Abkhazia and South Ossetia. There was also banditry and shelling. As soon as they were recognized, everything calmed down. Here comes Donbass… It’s time to protect people from arbitrariness, when they shoot at residential buildings in the middle of the night, destroy schools and hospitals. There, Bandera’s supporters shoot mainly at social facilities and civilians. How long will the blood of our brothers be shed? We must protect them.”
… “As soon as they were recognized, everything calmed down.” …
History will have to be the judge of that observation.
/ПРИЗРАК