The world of nation-states is a lawless jungle. The heavily-weaponized nation-states—among them the US, Russia, the UK, France, and last but not least Israel, all nuclear weapons states—represent the greatest threat to humanity. Because international law is not enforceable except on weaker nations, pacifism—“turn the other cheek”—is not an option for any of them, and to think otherwise is dangerously unrealistic.. To evaluate Russia’s preemptive/defensive action in Ukraine without recognizing the impossibility of pacifism in that context is deceptive. The best we can hope for is mutual respect and avoidance of provocation between nation-states. In fact, provocation—when deliberately perpetrated to cause war—is the greatest evil. The US provoked Russia needlessly over the past 30 years, the ultimate being the coup against Ukraine’s legally-elected government in 2014. But apologists for the US national security complex, in fits of dangerous fantasy, would like Russia to wave the white flag of surrender in the face of continuous provocation designed to weaken Russia and meddle in its internal affairs. The US is politically and morally vulnerable on this point, which is why the major propaganda line carried ad nauseum by Western mainstream media consistently characterized Russia’s defensive move against the US’s Ukraine client as an “unprovoked invasion.” When considering the US’s proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, look at the history of US provocations and adhere to the truth of Orwell’s warning: Omission is the most dangerous form of lie.
The following link is to an op-ed I had in the Roanoke Times on January 5, 2022, prior to Russia's provoked invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The op-ed criticizes the US's emphasis that Ukraine has a right to sovereignty in Crimea. The article also emphasizes the danger of NATO expansion as a clear provocation of Russia. This provocation is just one of many carried out egregiously by the US since the collapse of the USSR in 1991.