Past is Prelude: Putin & Ukraine

Peter Maguire — Sour Milk — on the Debacle in Europe

My friend Peter Maguire is a widely published historian with expertise in modern European military history, the laws of war, war crimes, and the history of warfare more broadly considered. He also has a finger on the proverbial pulse of the events unfolding in Ukraine and Russia at this time, with close contacts both on the ground in Ukraine as well as within the higher echelons of the so-called “National Security” establishment. He knows what he’s talking about and worth listening to and reading closely.

No one knows where this debacle is going at this point and, as Maguire notes, “this is not a simple conflict, and we ignore the deep, tangled, historic and economic roots at our own peril.” It’s been said before and should, therefore, be repeated: Past is Prelude.

Consider the following insight:

If nothing else, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has forced China, America’s greatest strategic threat, out of the closet.  Beijing has not condemned Russia and will aid and abet their ally because they have similar territorial ambitions.  Unlike western political leaders, tech plutocrats, and multinational corporations who turn a blind eye to China’s concentration camps, genocide, imperialism, and blatant racism in order to increase their profits, China is not burdened by such hypocrisy.  Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s ongoing predations in the Pacific Rim and Africa have exposed neoliberalism/globalism’s Achilles heel—unprecedented and amoral greed that created a strategically dangerous dependence on Russia and China. 

Please review Peter’s latest essay: “Ukraine 4,” the fourth in a series of excellent essays regarding current crises in Europe and beyond.

Ukraine 4