Even among conservatives, there’s been wide disagreement about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s justification for his invasion of Ukraine. Did the U.S. make security promises to Russian leaders to not expand NATO’s membership eastward following the collapse of the Soviet Union as Putin alleges?
As we watch the terrifying media coverage of the events unfolding in Ukraine, however, I think most of us can agree that Putin’s decision to unleash devastation on the people of Ukraine was insanity. Dropping bombs and imposing misery upon tens of millions of innocent civilians was pure evil.
At any rate, we are where we are. As the U.S. and our NATO allies work toward bringing the carnage to an end, few positions have been as preposterous or as unhelpful as those from the far left.
The Democratic Socialists of America, whose leadership includes New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, issued a statement on Saturday in which they rightly condemn the invasion.
It reads, “We stand in solidarity with the working classes of Ukraine and Russia who will undoubtedly bear the brunt of this war, and with antiwar protestors in both countries and around the world who are calling for a diplomatic resolution.”
They call for “the total withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine.”
So far, so good.
Then, in the middle of a crisis, they call for “the U.S. to withdraw from NATO and to end the imperialist expansionism that set the stage for this conflict.”
DSA reaffirms our call for the US We call on antiwar activists in the US and across the world to oppose violent escalations, demand a lasting diplomatic solution, and stress the crucial need to accept any and all refugees resulting from this crisis. Much of the next ten years are coming into view through this attack. While the failures of neoliberal order are clear to everyone, the ruling class is trying to build a new world, through a dystopic transition grounded in militarism, imperialism, and war. Socialists have a duty to build an alternative.
No war but class war.
They condemn Putin on the one hand, while offering him a great gift with the other. Nothing would please this madman more than to create division between NATO members which he could then exploit to his advantage.
If it had been Putin’s hope to sow discord, he has clearly failed. The individual member nations are unanimous in their opposition to his deadly gamble.
Former Democratic Rep. Max Rose (NY), who is a military veteran, immediately responded to object to this demand:
Now is the time to double down on our alliances, particularly NATO, to send economic and military aid to Ukraine, and to comprehensively punish Russia with crippling and unprecedented sanctions.
— Max Rose (@MaxRose4NY) February 27, 2022
Rose was backed by Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi (NY).
Well said, @MaxRose4NY! I adamantly oppose the DSA's statement calling on the US to leave NATO.
We must stand by NATO, stand with Ukraine, and stand up against Putin's bullying. https://t.co/L4GPiTEZo3
— Tom Suozzi (@Tom_Suozzi) February 27, 2022
Next, from the creator of the 1619 Project, The New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, comes the accusation that the media coverage of the invasion is racist.
How can this be so, you may ask, if Putin is white, the inhabitants of the defending country are predominantly white, and most of NATO’s leaders are white?
Fox News reported on Hannah-Jones’ response to a Twitter user’s thread about “incidents of insidious racism in the media coverage of the Ukrainian crisis.”
“Every journalist covering Ukraine should really, really look internally,” Hannah-Jones replied. “This is why I say we should stop pretending we have objectivity and in [sic] instead acknowledge our biases so that we can report against them. Many of us see the racialized analysis and language.”
“And honestly, these admissions of shock that this is happening in a European country are ahistorical and also serve to justify the lack of sympathy for other invasions, other occupations and other refugee crisis involving peoples not considered white.”
In a separate tweet, she wrote: “What if I told you Europe is not a continent by defintion [sic], but a geopolitical fiction to separate it from Asia and so the alarm about a European, or civilized, or First World nation being invaded is a dog whistle to tell us we should care because they are like us.”
She added: “To be clear: We should care about Ukraine. But not because it is European, or the people appear white, or they are ‘civilized’ and not ‘impoverished.’ All people deserve to be free and to be welcomed when their countries are at war.”
Hannah-Jones’ attempt to tie this crisis to race is disingenuous. She is well aware that neither this crisis, nor the media’s coverage of it, is even remotely connected to race.
But race-baiters like Hannah-Jones, AKA The Beyoncé of Journalism, will find a racial angle in any story.
Actually, the media has paid a great deal of attention and expressed tremendous sympathy for “peoples not considered white” who have been in crisis throughout the world – the most recent example being the oppression of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China. Other international crises which have captured the attention of the world include the genocide in Uganda, Apartheid in South Africa, the Ethiopian famine and the plight of the people in Tibet.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is of grave importance because it involves a ruthless, unpredictable megalomaniac who happens to control one of the largest arsenals of nuclear weapons on the planet.
This journalist feels no empathy for the people of Ukraine because they aren’t black. In her worldview, only the blacks have known true suffering. They are the only group that has ever been persecuted in history.
Just as The View’s Whoopie Goldberg trivialized the suffering of the Jews at the hands of Hitler last month when she declared the Holocaust wasn’t about race, Hannah-Jones is trivializing the anguish of the Ukrainians.
This is anti-white racism at its finest.
And honestly, these admissions of shock that this is happening in a European country are ahistorical and also serve to justify the lack of sympathy for other invasions, other occupations and other refugee crisis involving peoples not considered white.
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) February 27, 2022
Good thing people like Hannah-Jones, Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders aren’t in charge.
Oh … wait.
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Where are Abbott & Costello when the doo doo hits the microwave and the hits keep on coming !!!!!!
who is the moderator ??? and why ???
I am one. What can I do for you?
All race, all the time with the left.
Always.