Tag: Russia

The Origins of Genocide

Thursday 6 October 2022

Not only is this about history — about something that happened in the past, the Holocaust is a warning for our future. With right-wing racism on the rise, with racist and intolerant parties and personalities again entering the mainstream of European and American politics, the Holocaust stands as a terrible reminder of what happens when we use hatred and intolerance as instruments to achieve our own patriotic and nationalistic political ends. The Holocaust remains the most important lesson of the twentieth century — and Trump, Brexit, and the war in Ukraine only serve to remind us that this is a lesson we need. … More The Origins of Genocide

The Sabina Coyne Higgins Affair

Tuesday 2 August 2022

On Wednesday (27 July 2022), The Irish Times published a letter penned to the letters section of the newspaper by Sabina Coyne Higgins, the wife of the President of Ireland (Michael D. Higgins), in which she wrote: ‘Until the world persuades President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire and negotiations, the long haul of terrible war will go on.’ She was perfectly correct. Without an end to the fighting and without peace talks, the war in Ukraine will continue and many more thousands of people will suffer and die. … More The Sabina Coyne Higgins Affair

Žižek on the War in Ukraine

Monday 27 June 2022

Žižek’s recent comments on Ukraine have quite understandably bewildered and divided socialists around the world. Ukraine, he says, ‘risked the impossible, defying pragmatic calculations, and the least we owe them is full support, and to do this, we need a stronger Nato.’ But wait! Supporting Ukraine is to support a Nazi-captured state, post-Maidan, and to seek a stronger NATO is to desire a reinforced US unipolarity and the furtherance of American liberal and capitalist hegemony. To the socialist (qua a leftist who reads) this is simply anathema. … More Žižek on the War in Ukraine

Parallel Realities on Russia

Friday 6 May 2022

The notion that Putin has designs on invading Finland, the Baltic states, Poland, or anywhere else in eastern Europe is unsupported by the facts. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has largely stayed within its own borders. There has been no realistic indication or intelligence that Russia has been planning an assault on Europe. It is plain to see that, like the war in Georgia in 2008, Russia has no plans on annexing Ukraine. … More Parallel Realities on Russia

Zelenskyy’s Dirty Propaganda War

Thursday 5 May 2022

This is the nature of the information war being fought by the Ukrainian government — the side that is the righteous victim, the side that does not need to tell lies, the side that has innocence on its side. Yet, the multiplication of the entities of these stories — their details — point to them being fictitious; they push the boundaries of believability. … More Zelenskyy’s Dirty Propaganda War

Chekhov’s Nuclear War

Wednesday 4 May 2022

NATO and the western media have made a great fuss about Russia’s revision of its nuclear strategy; suggesting that, by incorporating a particular nuclear option into its conventional military response, the Putin administration has adopted a fundamentally more aggressive and bullying strategy — and has leapt on this to accelerate the expansion of the anti-Russian nuclear alliance and the buildup of ‘defensive’ forces on the Russian border. Little if anything, however, has been said about why Russia made these revisions in the first place. … More Chekhov’s Nuclear War

The Problem with Russia

Tuesday 19 April 2022

Now that the war is happening, and now that we are at — as Noam Chomsky described it — ‘the most dangerous point in human history,’ the West finds itself unable to see Russia correctly. We are still looking at our projection of Russia — a false image of our fears rather than Russia as it really is. In effect, then, Washington and its NATO client states are boxing their own shadows while the real Russia acts in totally unexpected ways because we don’t expect a fiction to behave as anything other than a fiction. … More The Problem with Russia

War Room | Ukraine, 15 April 2022

Friday 15 April 2022

The Russian flagship guided missile cruiser Moskva is reported to have sunk in the Black Sea under tow after a fire in the ammunition hold led to an explosion that seriously damaged the vessel. The Russian Defence Ministry, however, has denied that the cruiser has sunk, stating that it was still afloat and heading for repairs. What is known for sure is that the ship did suffer significant damage and is for the time being out of service. … More War Room | Ukraine, 15 April 2022

The Propaganda War

Thursday 14 April 2022

Within Ukraine, there is clear evidence of a disinformation mill churning out outrageous anti-Russian propaganda that is repeated by western Ukrainian journalists in English on their social media pages for western consumption. Naturally, this is picked up by western media and treated — uncritically — as news from the war. It is interesting to note that Lapatina also contributes in English to The Guardian and The New York Times. … More The Propaganda War

Serious Questions about Bucha

Tuesday 5 April 2022

One does not have to be ‘pro-Russian’ or a ‘Putin apologist’ to ask these questions. Bucha is a story about ordinary human beings caught up in an awful situation. Journalism should be about seeking the truth and serving people in a healthy and informed democracy. What we know for certain is that hundreds of people have been deliberately targeted and ruthlessly and mercilessly murdered by a state actor. What we do not know is which state actor perpetrated this despicable crime … More Serious Questions about Bucha