Editorial

It’s a good thing that Canada is not big, rich and armed to the teeth like its American cousin. And it’s a bad thing when Canada takes instructions from that cousin and does its bidding, no question asked.

So we have soldiers in Ukraine training the country’s army to deter “Russian aggression”. We’ve sent Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly to Ukraine “amid mounting fears of a Russian invasion”. Her trip included stops in Brussels and Paris to show “unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of continuing Russian aggression.”

Meanwhile our “impartial and free press” is writing editorials about resolutely standing by Ukraine because “Ukraine is an independent nation, with its own language, traditions and territory. Like other nations, it has a right to control its own land, and it has a right to make its own decisions about its future.” Even as Canada was a major player in overthrowing an elected government in this “independent nation” that “has a right to make its own decisions about its future.”

They say that Russia has amassed 100,000 soldiers at its own border with the intent of invading Ukraine as a prelude to reestablishing its Empire lost with the fall of the Soviet Union. Russia says that it is in a defensive position in response to NATO’s (the organization created to fight “Russian aggression”) expressed intention of making Ukraine a member with the added perk of stationing a military base with missiles aimed at Moscow.

Meanwhile we are writing profiles of Vladimir Putin “as he enters his 22^nd year as leader of 145 million [Russian] souls.” This mantra is repeated hourly by our TV newsreaders in the same way profiles of “the evil” Saddam Hussein and Maummar Gaddafi were written just before Iraq and Libya were invaded and destroyed by America and friends, including Canada.

Our media go on about Russia invading and annexing Crimea, even though Crimea was part of Russia since 1783, and was handed over in 1954 to Ukraine, a member state of the USSR at the time, by former Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev. Khrushchev was Ukrainian of Russian roots. According to one take on the issue, he “allowed Crimea to be included in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic since Crimea is linked by land to Ukraine.”

The “annexation” occurred following a Western orchestrated coup that chased out a democratically elected Russia-friendly government. Russia took back Crimea in 2014 with the blessing of the majority of Crimeans. After all, the Sevastopol Naval Base, the main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet since 1783, is located on the Crimea Peninsula. Why would they allow a hostile Ukraine government to control a naval base that is historically linked to Russia’s security?

Our media referred to Russia’s action as an illegal seizure of Ukrainian territory effected by a military invasion. It was a lie; Russian army units have been permanently stationed at Sevastopol for centuries. There was no invasion.

This is but one example of a stream of lies and disinformation peddled by our media, all designed to bolster the assertion that Russia intends to invade Ukraine. Russia insists that their troops amassed at the border are there to warn and deter NATO’s stated plan to accept Ukraine as a member.

From Russia’s perspective – a perspective that our media treats as irrelevant – there is this small matter of being invaded in 1605, 1707, 1812, 1914 by France and other European states, and in 1941 by NAZI Germany. The toll in Russian deaths is a small matter of over 27 million, 24 of which were counted at the end of WWII in 1945.

To get a sense of the enormity of the loss of Russian lives, Canada’s population in 1945 was 12 million. Imagine having your entire population wiped out twice over.

So, notwithstanding the past behavior of former Soviet Russia, President Putin has every right to draw a red line, and tell the West that he will not allow hostile NATO military bases anywhere on Russia’s border.

People have a right to believe whatever they want about the Russian president, but they would be lacking a sense of decency if they do not see his point. Twenty-four million dead Russians and 145 live ones will thank you for it.