There’s been a lot of noise from the vocal minority about halting aid to Ukraine and letting them fall to the Russian forces. These are the same Russian forces who the UN accuses of torture, executions and rape (Forbes). Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, told the AP, “Ukraine is a crime scene.” Reporting by The Associated Press and “Frontline,” recorded in a public database, has independently verified more than 600 Russian war crimes (PBS Newshour).

According to the State Department the Russians have committed numerous atrocities; “This includes the Mariupol maternity hospital, as the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressly noted in a March 11 report. It also includes a strike that hit a Mariupol theater, clearly marked with the word “дети” — Russian for “children” — in huge letters visible from the sky. Putin’s forces used these same tactics in Grozny, Chechnya, and Aleppo, Syria, where they intensified their bombardment of cities to break the will of the people.” US Dept of State

Pulitzer prize-winning Ukrainian journalist Mstyslav Chernov made a movie with footage he filmed in Mariupol during the Russian occupation. The movie was premiered at the Sundance Movie Festival and is called 20 Days In Mariupol. You can watch the movie on YouTube.

All the talk about the threat of NATO’s proximity to Russia if Ukraine gained membership scaring Vlad is garbage. Ukraine was a Russian puppet state until 2014 under Viktor Yanukovich<<. After he was ousted Vladimir Putin‘s<< forces invaded Crimea. Belarus is still a Russian puppet state under Alexander Lukashenko<<. It shares a border with Poland, a NATO member state.

The distance from Kyiv to Berlin is 752 miles, to Warsaw 429 miles. The distance from the Poland/Belarus border to Berlin is 420 miles, to Warsaw it is 116 miles.

NATO and Russia are right next to each other and always have been.

That most of Europe was relying on Russian oil highlights the fact the West didn’t regard Russia as an enemy. If Putin expected NATO to assist Ukraine he would not have invaded. NATO’s blind eye to the invasion of Crimea probably supported his expectations. The message he got from higher powers<< was the same Saddam Hussein<< got before he invaded Kuwait.

Putin has created this new antagonistic relationship with NATO unilaterally, mostly for domestic political purposes. In September of 2021 Russia was faced with massive protests against rigged elections granting Putin the ability to keep the office of President for another 12 years (Wikipedia). In February of 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine. This was an intentional effort to shift national attention away from the election fraud protests.

The claim that NATO might put nuclear weapons in Ukraine is absurd. NATO would not risk Russia capturing the weapons and reverse engineering the technology. The range of these weapons does not necessitate their deployment to Ukraine.

So where is this propaganda coming from? Russia’s only chance of winning is based on the hope NATO will stop supplying Ukraine. The alt right’s persistent regurgitation of Putin’s propaganda attempting to justify the Russian invasion is why Karl Loves the Alt Right. The Russian lies are aimed at swaying public opinion against the support of Ukraine. These false claims are parroted by “Neville Chamberlains” of the West.

The proximity of the war to NATO states is one reason why The West will not, and should not, back down. Putin’s imperial ambitions are reflected in Sudan, Libya and Sryia and must be considered.

The atrocities of soldiers and mercenaries of the Russian Federation must be halted – allowing Ukraine to fall to them would be a crime history will not forget.

Related:

• “War Crimes in the Russian Invasion of Ukraine” Wikipedia
• “Senate Releases Final Report On Russia’s Interference In 2016 Election” NPR
• “Intelligence Report: Russia Tried To Help Trump In 2020 Election” NPR
• “The truth about Russia, Trump and the 2016 election” Washington Post