The above is a quote from Ukrainian Ambassador to the UN, Mr. Sergiy Kyslytsya at the emergency UN Security Council meeting, last night. Last night, around the same time that a last-ditch effort was just starting at the UN to prevent bloodshed and war in Ukraine, the Russian Federation decided to invade. President Putin held another deranged speech similar to the one a few days ago, about how he was going to “de-nazify” Ukraine. Russia decided to invade another sovereign country, and in doing so, committed an act of aggression, according to the definition in UN General Assembly Resolution 3314.
Russia’s lies
For months now, the Russian Federation has built up troops around Ukraine, in neighbouring Belarus, in its own territory, and in the occupied territories of Crimea and Donetsk & Luhansk. Every time, when concern was raised, Russia lied and downplayed it.
- When the military exercises were going on, Russia claimed the troops would go back to their barracks after the exercise in Belarus finished on 20 February. They didn’t go back. Russia lied.
- When there were concerns about the constant increases in troop numbers, Russia claimed they were retreating, despite NATO intelligence showing that this was not happening. Russia lied.
- Russia claimed that the Minsk Agreements were the best way out of the crisis between Ukraine and the DNR/LNR, then proceeded to blow up the agreements by recognising the independence of these Russian-controlled proxy republics. Russia lied.
- And now, when the Russian President Putin has announced a “special military operation in the Donbas”, his troops went way beyond the region and proceeded to bomb Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Mariupol and many other cities and places in Ukraine. Russia lied.
- Russia claimed it wanted peace. Russia lied.
During the UN Security Council meeting, Ambassador Kyslytsya raised an interesting point: he challenged whether the Russian Federation is the legitimate successor of the USSR’s Security Council seat and associated veto right. We’ll see where that goes.
Meanwhile, the US and the UK are currently preparing a Resolution to be proposed, which undoubtedly will be vetoed by the Russian Ambassador to the UN, Mr. Vasily Nebenzya, who will subsequently wipe his arse with the Resolution. How can these people sleep at night?
This shows an important point the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Mr. Dmytro Kuleba raised after his speech at the General Assembly yesterday. Which is, that the UN must be careful to not end up like the League of Nations. The League of Nations was powerless to stop Adolf Hitler’s remilitarisation of the Rhineland in 1936, the occupation of Sudetenland and the Anschluß of Austria in 1938. We all know where that led us to. The United Nations is similarly powerless, it seems. After WWII, the victors of that war had carved out for themselves permanent seats on the UN Security Council and given themselves veto powers. Because of this veto system, whenever a permanent member of the UNSC commits heinous crimes and other actions that are against the UN Charter, the UN is often powerless to stop it.
Strategically, Putin’s actions are a major mistake. Even seen from a Russian viewpoint, which claims that NATO is their adversary, it cannot be denied that the current aggressive Russian actions will only cause other non-aligned states to align themselves with NATO, or at least speed up steps towards that goal. Finland and Sweden have previously made statements towards that end, and I cannot imagine Ukrainian support for NATO will go down with these actions. Similarly, I would imagine Moldova might be looking very closely at a possible future NATO membership right about now.
My own foolishness
I must now take a moment to admit my own failures of the past. Often, in previous posts, and in television appearances, I was more likely to give Russia the benefit of the doubt and follow narrative lines that I now see are thought up and propagated by the Kremlin. Now I see how foolish I was; how I was being used by propaganda outfits like RT as a cog (however small) in a huge, orchestrated, and brutal propaganda machine. I have taken the decision not to be interviewed by RT or other Russian propaganda channels in the future, and not to aid them or follow them in their narrative of events. I have also taken the decision to take these old articles, that I had doubts about for a few years already, offline, as well as take all my interviews with RT offline. I will no longer allow myself to be fooled and used. Now a few years later since I wrote those articles and gave those interviews, I have become a little older and hopefully wiser.
This war of aggression now started by the Russian Federation against Ukraine have changed my own opinions and views profoundly. Now my support for NATO as a defensive alliance has only increased. I bet there are other people, not only in NATO member states, but in Ukraine and other places threatened by Russian aggression, who feel the same.
I sincerely with all my heart hope that the Ukrainian people stay safe, keep up morale and spirits, and together, find ways to fight off this aggression. And we as fellow European peoples and nations need to support Ukraine in its defence wherever we can.
During the previous UN Security Council meeting, Ambassador Kyslytsya said the photocopier at the Kremlin works very well. This is true. Who will be the next victim of Russian aggression? Moldova? Georgia? Finland? Putin’s speech was full of irredentism, rewriting of history and imperialistic ambitions. It is hard to predict what will happen now, as wars are fluid and the first victim in warfare is the truth, but what is true, is that, whatever happens, the criminal in the Kremlin, Putin, must be stopped.