"Sleepwalking Virtuously Toward the Abyss"

Jordan Peterson & Senator Mike Lee Discuss U.S. Proxy War Against Russia in Ukraine.

By JOHN LEAKE

Last February (2022), when it became evident that United States government made no effort whatsoever to defuse the Russia-Ukraine crisis—but instead sent Kamala Harris to the Munich Security Conference to deliver a message of unintelligible doublespeak—I posted the following reflections on Facebook:

After Congress voted to expand Nato in 1998, George Kennan stated: “I think it is the beginning of a new cold war. I think the Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies. I think it is a tragic mistake. There was no reason for this whatsoever. No one was threatening anybody else. This expansion would make the founding fathers of this country turn over in their graves… Of course there is going to be a bad reaction from Russia, and then [the NATO expanders] will say that we always told you that is how the Russians are — but this is just wrong.”

I guess we have entered a phase of history in which we are doomed to lurch from one crisis to the next—perhaps intentionally so that the citizens will quickly forget the last crisis caused by our ruling class. Why wasn't a Ukrainian neutrality deal at least attempted? During the Cold War, neutrality deals were made with respect to Sweden, Finland, and Austria, and they have held for decades. How can it have been a forgone conclusion that Putin would have violated such a neutrality deal? It appears to me that NO effort was made to avert this war, which may result in something truly catastrophic for mankind.

If Vladimir Putin didn't exist, the US Military-Industrial Complex (as President Eisenhower called it and warned about it in his Farewell Address) would have to invent him in order to sustain a big chunk of its annual 750 billion defense budget. Numerous analysts have understood and warned for years that the US policy would eventually result in war in Ukraine. The people who run our country and pretty much every other nation don't care one fig about their citizenries, and they care even less about the countries they wreck with their policies (as the recent Afghanistan debacle showed). I keep wondering when people are going to wake up to this terrible reality. It's a testament to the sheer charming power of propaganda that this never seems to happen.

Does the United States or Nato have a plan for how the war in Ukraine could be concluded? There seems to be some vague assumption that the valiant people of Ukraine will hold out like the Afghans did in the 1980s and bleed out the Russian army. This is extremely unrealistic, and at any rate, things didn't subsequently go well for Afghanistan, which is currently in the midst of a massive humanitarian crisis following the US's chaotic withdrawal a few months ago. People like Lindsay Graham have long been encouraging the Ukrainians to take a tough stance against Russia with semi-assurances that when the chips are down, the US military will come to their aid, but no plan has been offered for how such a military conflict could be resolved. How will Nato respond if—with his back against the wall—Putin uses tactical nukes? Vice President Harris's statement to the Munich Security Conference was incoherent. Sensible people need to start considering the possibility that this sort of ad hoc policy could result in a billion people killed.

My posts were met with the usual mindless criticism that was directed against anyone who questioned the U.S. wars (and proxy wars) in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria.

Over a year later, all of my misgivings about U.S. policy in this conflict have been confirmed and reinforced. As Jordan Peterson points out in his conversation with Utah Senator Mike Lee (published yesterday), the U.S. government has no concept for how this war can be won. I strongly recommend watching the interview in full.