I wasn't alive for the scariest points of the cold war so can't make the comparison, but the way western elites have been acting throughout the Ukraine debacle has been frighteningly single-minded and apparently completely reckless, not thinking of the consequences. And there's practically no opposition, at least not within 'polite' society. At least with the war on trrr invasions there was mass opposition including some of the liberal class, but with this even stop the war and the furthest left unions have struggled to articulate even mild dissent, and been completely hounded for it. And this before the country is even (officially) at war.

It feels like they've gone all in with what they believe to be a surefire winning hand, but not noticed the possibility of the other player landing a flush or other hand that would blow them out of the water. And we'll be the ones who have to pick up the pieces. It's difficult to know what Russia can do to make western leaders back down at this point. Hopefully they can hit an economic pressure point that hurts the elite interests really badly, rather than military strikes, conventional or (gods forbid) nuclear. We should be thankful they're not like the US targeting enemy populations to 'make the economy scream' and force regime change, though the self-defeating result of the western-imposed sanctions could eventually force the same result.

Where even are the artists and musicians on this? Silent or complicit. This Billy Bragg song is as relevant as ever:





but fast forward to 2022 and here's what we get:

'Billy Bragg @billybragg
25 Feb 2022
Sad to hear a few left wingers say invasion is justified because Ukraine is run by ‘fascists’, echoing Putin’s claim that he wants to ‘de-nazify’ Ukraine. His use of ‘genocide’ as an excuse is as dodgy as the 45 minutes claim Blair cooked up to justify invading Iraq

Sorry, but two of those things are not true. Ukraine is not run by facsists - the president is Jewish. NATO did not provoke Putin, it accepted requests from democratically elected govts that asked to join.

NATO was formed to protect democratic nations from Russian invasion. It's raison d'etre is to come to the aid of other memebers if they are attacked. No I wouldn't be happy to see Warsaw Pact extend to France but without NATO that could have happened.' - https://nitter.poast.org/billybragg/status/1497239413658566658#m

Somehow the empire has to be humbled, and in such a way that it doesn't lash out and destroy the whole world out of spite, "if we can't have it all then no-one can".

jeers,
I