Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Yep. NATO expansion, another here .. Many predicted Nato expansion would lead to war. Those warnings were ignored

Ted Galen Carpenter

It has long been clear that Nato expansion would lead to tragedy. We are now paying the price for the US’s arrogance

Tue 1 Mar 2022 06.00 AEDT

Russia’s military offensive against Ukraine is an act of aggression that will make already worrisome tensions between Nato and Moscow even more dangerous. The west’s new cold war with Russia has turned hot. Vladimir Putin bears primary responsibility for this latest development, but Nato’s arrogant, tone-?deaf policy toward Russia over the past quarter-?century deserves a large share as well. Analysts committed to a US foreign policy of realism and restraint have warned for more than a quarter-?century that continuing to expand the most powerful military alliance in history toward another major power would not end well. The war in Ukraine provides definitive confirmation that it did not.

Thinking through the Ukraine crisis – the causes

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/28/nato-expansion-war-russia-ukraine

The dangers involved in NATO's expansion, though idealistically well-minded, as i think that article you read there said, it was at odds with the realpolitik of major power dynamics. It's been on the table for years.

Also there are those who oppose NATO sorts of alliances because they see them as serving as much to widen wars than to deter them. Like if one member is attacked the others are in it too. I've posted on that, here somewhere. It's elusive.

All that said, personally, i do agree with Ukraine being of Russia's border as better sitting in the neutral camp and that being respected by all. Fat chance of course of that with Putin there.

Also off-the-top now as to Finland and Sweden and NATO i'm uncertain on that. Impulse is to be certain and say join, still... That's what i mean by the hard road.

This Sept, 2019 - War junkies: Why foreign fighters are flocking to Ukraine

"Ukraine’s troops prepare for mutual withdrawal along Donbas frontline
"Latest Trump Putin Appeasement: Growing Hostility Toward Ukraine | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC" "

[...]

Ultra-nationalists and far right-wing ideologues .. https://www.rt.com/op-ed/211703-donbass-west-war-europe-clashes/ .. come to support Ukraine against the influence of communism and what they view as the threat of a neo-Soviet Russia.

Anti-imperialists, anti-fascists, and those on the far left come to defend the pro-communist separatists and defend the autonomous regions from what they see as global imperialism.

For both the far right wing and far left, the battle for Ukraine duplicates the issues driving the war in Syria: it is a fight between the US and Russia, or "Western values" and communism, or between "Western imperialism'" and "true" freedom and democracy — depending on your ideological stance.

[...]

While their motivations for joining the fight differ greatly, the foreign fighters on each side of this conflict bear a striking resemblance — young, male, politically charged and with previous experience in the armed services.

Men on both sides see the war in eastern Ukraine as one of the front lines in a global war between competing ideologies.

The foreigners I spoke with on the left wing separatist side saw NATO expansion into Eastern Europe as a tentacle of a malignant US global imperialism, and saw defending the People's Republics in Donbass as a means of fighting this hegemonic global order.

Peter*, an anarchist from Russia who fought with the separatists, told me: "Almost everyone went there expecting to fight pro-American fascists".

Another fighter from American who I will call Rich characterised the war as "a war between normal people and fascists".


Photo: A Ukrainian scout watches over a strip of no man's land between Ukrainian government
positions and those held by the Donetsk People's Republic. (ABC: Bryce Wilson)

Meanwhile, George, an American fighting on the Ukrainian side, described those he fought with as having "the same hatred for Russia or the same kind of sense of nationalism".

Though the men in George's battalion came from various countries, including Britain, Germany, Austria, Canada, and the Netherlands, they shared a belief that the outcome in Ukraine would have domino consequences across Europe.

Luke, an American who volunteered with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said:

-
"What is going on in Ukraine now is really a fight for the future of Europe. Depending on
which round Ukraine goes will decide a lot of what will happen in Europe in the future".
-

For men on the right, defending Ukraine from "Russian invasion" was a necessary step in curtailing a malignant political force and defending Western values.

Shopping around for a fight

Given their ideological motivations, most of the foreign fighters I spoke to in Ukraine had been in or attempted to fight in other wars, including Syria.

George first tried to join the French Foreign Legion, but when he was unsuccessful, looked for other opportunities to participate in war.

[...]

Two Australians who returned from Ukraine in 2018 .. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-01/foreign-fighters-return-to-australia-with-military-training/9696784 .. have ties to right-wing extremist groups like the Right Wing Resistance.

These links point to not only the polarisation of politics here in Australia, where violent clashes have frequently occurred between far right-wing groups and so-called "antifa" groups, but also to a transnationalisation of these extremist politics .. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/03/world/white-extremist-terrorism-christchurch.html .

The terrorist attack in Christchurch proved the extent of the danger extremist ideology can pose.

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