Enabling the Warmaking of Empire
by Kim Petersen
UPDATED AND REPOSTED
David Swanson at Washington DC antiwar rally.
Enabling the Warmaking of Empire
Part 1
It is understood by all that at least two sides are required in a war scenario. One side must be waging war on another side. It is not required that the aggressed side fight back. To surrender to a warmaker, however, means coming under the suzerainty of the warmaker. That is almost always anathema to a people since people cherish their freedom. Therefore, succumbing to a warmaker is likened to the indignity of living on one’s knees as opposed to the dignity of dying on one’s feet.
I am antiwar. In a perfect world, all warmaking would be abolished, the toys of war disassembled, and the military industries repurposed to more humane ends. While the warmakers and the armaments industry would likely be discontented in such circumstances, the great mass of humanity would be far better off. But I am not antiwar in a vacuum. Antiwar sentiment must not be slapdashed in the same manner to any and all protagonists and situations.
On 26 January, Scott Horton of Antiwar Radio interviewed prominent antiwar activist and author David Swanson. The episode was entitled “David Swanson on What Russia Could Have Done Instead of Invading Ukraine.”
Attempting to strike an impartial demeanor, and it is assumed that Swanson believes that he is indeed being evenhanded, the antiwar activist says, “I will speak against US warmaking and Russian warmaking which will blow some circuits in most human brains because, God knows, I hear from many people everyday who oppose only one of those two things…”
Drawing an equivalence by pairing “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world” (as spoken by Martin Luther King, Jr.) with Russia is not only wrong, but it points to a bias, probably tied to patriotism.
Moreover, speaking to Russian warmaking begs the question of whether Russia’s war in Ukraine was unprovoked or whether it was instead provoked by the US-NATO.
Former US marine intelligence officer Scott Ritter read what he considers journalist Seymour Hersch’s “most important work ever” on the US sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines and concluded:
The decision to attack the Nord Stream pipeline puts a lie to the US contention that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was an unprovoked act of aggression, instead underscoring the harsh truth that the United States had a strategic plan which hinged on provoking a conflict with Russia in Ukraine to provide the geopolitical cover for ending Europe’s reliance upon cheap Russian natural gas by demonstrating that every time Russia sought a negotiated end to the crisis, whether before the invasion through implementation of the Minsk Accords, or after in the Istanbul round of talks scheduled for April 1, the United States sabotaged the effort, keeping the conflict alive long enough to implement its major objective—the destruction of Nord Stream.
Horton turns to Swanson and poses the question: “What other choice did Vladimir Putin have?”
Swanson says that Russia could have tried to communicate its position to the world. Swanson opines that most of the world doesn’t believe in “Russia’s innocence.”
Comment: It is assumed that Swanson believes Russia is not innocent since he merely stated it and didn’t refute it? Granted, it matters somewhat what the world believes. What matters much more is the truth of Russia’s innocence. Is it not absurd to describe a country as innocent — presumably in toto, as innocence is all-or-nothing? And it is quite puerile because, after all, what country is innocent? Further clarification is required: what does Swanson mean by “world”? Is he referring to the 8 billion people on the planet? And just how is it that Russia would achieve effective communication of its position? President Vladimir Putin did speak to the Duma about how a NATO member Ukraine would imperil Russian security and that Russia was seeking a binding security guarantee and how that could be achieved. It was posted online and translated into English. Nonetheless, the state of concentrated media ownership and the reliance on advertising revenue would tend to slant any narrative toward that desired by the corporate-governmental nexus (in which the military-industrial complex holds great influence). Or is Swanson speaking to the leaders of the world’s nations? This would also have been fanciful because when does a hegemon – especially one which has accorded to itself exceptional status, indispensability, and the right to full spectrum dominance – bend to the concerns of its subalterns? Besides, the US can count on genuflection from NATO, Sweden, Finland, Israel, Australia, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Japan, and South Korea, and let’s not forget Micronesia. That is a fair chunk of the world, but then there is South America, Africa, and Asia – and it turns out that most of the world’s population is arrayed against the US directives connected to the war in Ukraine – rejecting the sanctioning of Russia and 73% of the global population rejecting the call for Russian reparations to Ukraine. (It is important to note that such demand for reparations from the US and NATO for their warmaking in ex-Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, and Syria — or of Israel for its violence against Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, and Syria — have not been made widely known. Syria, for one, has demanded reparations for the US invasion, air strikes against it, and theft of its oil.)
Swanson argues that Russia could have signed on to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and sought prosecution of the US.
Comment: How effective would that be? What happened when the ICC sought to investigate the alleged war crimes of US-arch ally Israel, a non-member of the ICC? The Middle East Monitor pointed to a bias causing one to wonder what kind of justice might be expected from the ICC:
This important development came seven years after the Palestinian Authority first asked the Court to investigatecrimes “in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, since 13 June, 2014″. In comparison, it took only six days for the same Court to start investigating Russia for the alleged crimes committed during the invasion of Ukraine. The comparison here begs the question: “How far is the ICC prepared to go, and how long will it take to produce any results on Palestine?”
Honestly and pragmatically very little is expected from any investigation and it is likely the ICC will face pressure to shelve any criminal indictments against any Israeli military and political officials.
having executed Russian prisoners-of-war and using chemical weapons. This is not to deny that war crimes were perpetrated by fighters from Russia and other countries. This merely points out that Putin is named by Swanson and Zelenskyy is not named and neither are Biden, Trump, and Obama named. Finally, by having more time, how much better militarily armed and trained would Ukraine become? Might Ukraine not have become a NATO member in the interregnum? Ukraine used the many years after the Minsk agreements to violate them and to militarize. Swanson must have heard the common refrain: “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” Putin, however, does not come across as a fool.
Swanson suggests that Russia could have sent unarmed non-violent defenders into Donbass. Swanson realizes that some of these unarmed defenders could be killed but rationalizes that thousands more could die in a war.
Comment: All these choices that Swanson puts forward on the radio interview conspicuously place an onus on Russia. Russia did pursue a path to peacefully solve its security concerns vis-à-vis Ukraine seeking membership in NATO. The then-German chancellor Angela Merkel, then-French president Francois Hollande, and Ukraine’s former president Petro Poroshenko have all admitted that the Minsk agreements were a stalling tactic so that Ukraine could become militarily fortified. Furthermore, did Russia not approach the US and NATO to address security concerns for which it was rebuffed?
Swanson proposes a ceasefire.
Comment: Is Swanson a clandestine propagandizing ally of NATO? Why should Russia agree to a ceasefire knowing that time is a critical issue for NATO to resupply Ukraine with weapons and train its fighters?
Swanson: “Russia could have used financial weapons that US and NATO have been using.”
Comment: And how has that gone for the West? Russia’s economy is growing according to the IMF. On 23 June 2022, CNBC headlined, “Russia’s ruble hit strongest level in 7 years despite sanctions.” Blowback is in process as the world is removing a major weapon in the US arsenal with de-dollarization. Besides Russia does not control SWIFT, the IMF, World Bank, or the willingness or necessity of NATO and other countries to use the US dollar. So what are the “financial weapons” that Swanson suggests Russia could use?
Reaching into his bag, Swanson pulls out the Russia-could-have-tried-more card to get Ukraine to comply with the Minsk agreements.
Comment: Why is the onus put on Russia instead of the deal-breaker Ukraine and the deal-breaking guarantors of the agreement, France and Germany? Swanson appears partial and still seemingly unaware of how NATO and Ukraine could take advantage of any time delays.
Swanson calls for a new vote in Crimea and Donbass.
Comment: Swanson, seemingly, does not grasp that this is not just about the territorial acquisitions of Crimea and Donbass. These proposed votes would not address Russian security concerns on the arming of Ukraine and its joining NATO. Besides, does Swanson call for a new vote for Indigenous Hawaiians on return of sovereignty? Or Puerto Ricans for return of their sovereignty? Chagossians, Chamorros, and the Original peoples of the continental US for the return of sovereignty?
Swanson: “There are always choices other than bombing people’s houses.”
Comment: Well, Russia tried other choices with the Minsk agreements and the security proposals to the US. So who is rejecting peace? It clearly points to the US-NATO-Ukraine as rejecting peace. With all due respect to the incredible suggestions put forward by Swanson, Russia must protect its security. History is clear how the US will react to perceived weakness.
Conclusion
Those who identify as antiwar aspire to a world rid of warring. Worldwide peace is the goal of an enlightened, moral humanity. However, the roots of warmaking must be identified as well as the major perpetrator of warmaking. Lumping all countries that wage war together equally without regard for the circumstances that led to their warring is shallow analysis and cossets imperialist warmakers. Such poorly thought-out antiwar rhetoric is antithetical toward bringing about a world beyond war. If this rhetoric is unquestioningly accepted by would-be peacemakers, it, plausibly, detracts from opposition to imperialism, which is a sine qua non for world peace. It must be understood that as long as there is a military superpower that, for its own selfish reasons, threatens other nations, forms strategic military alliances, and surrounds its designated enemies with bases and armaments that any aspiration for a world devoid of war will not be realized. The head must be chopped off the warmaking kingpin.
In Part 2: The impartiality of some antiwar activists.
Antiwar, Apathy, and War Hawks
Part 2: Enabling the Warmaking of Empire
Back in February of 2003, an estimated 10 million to 15 million people hit the streets around the world in opposition to a war on Iraq. US president George W Bush dismissed the protesting masses as a “focus group.” Bush and his partner in crime, UK prime minister Tony Blair, invaded Iraq and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died, as well as thousands of the invading troops.
Unfortunately, 20 years later, the Rage Against War Machine rally in Washington DC didn’t draw near enough numbers to make an impression. One estimate put the numbers between 1,000 and 3,000 people, which has to be majorly disappointing for the antiwar movement. The rally has been for the most part ignored by the monopoly media, much as the W Bush and Blair governments paid scant heed to the antiwar protestors in 2003.
Why the low turnout? Did W Bush crush the soul of the antiwar movement?
While the number of protestors in the US and Britain seemed impressive in 2003, when one considers the numbers as a percentage of the population, then one might conclude that either many more people were insouciant or worse that many more people supported the war machine.
TP Wilkinson interviewed Joan Roelofs, author of The Trillion Dollar Silencer: Why There Is So Little Anti-War Protest in the United States. As to the paucity of antiwar protest, Roelofs postulated:
There is a heritage of violence and its glorification in the US, perpetrated by propaganda, the educational system, and the adoration of family members who have been in the military. In addition, there are other reasons for supporting the military, including fear (of being considered unpatriotic, etc.), distractions, and interests. My book is mainly about the interests and the military connections pervading our social, educational, cultural, and economic institutions.
Or does a segment of the antiwar movement pursue a wrongheaded strategy?
*****On 11 April 2022, important antiwar activist David Swanson wrote:
Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons and was attacked. Therefore every country should have nuclear weapons.
NATO didn’t add Ukraine, which was attacked. Therefore every country or at least lots of them should be added to NATO.
Russia has a bad government. Therefore it should be overthrown.
These lessons are popular, logical — even unquestionable truth in many minds — and catastrophically and demonstrably wrong.
Swanson tries to dismantle the argument that “every country that gives up nukes gets attacked.” He states Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons. Those nukes were Soviet nukes, and Ukraine never had control of these nukes. All of the nukes were removed to Russia under a 1994 agreement. Swanson acknowledges, “Now, it is true that Libya gave up its nuclear weapons program and was attacked.” Libya gave up its program, but it never had nukes, and Swanson eludes the question of whether Libya would have been attacked if it had succeeded in the development and retention of its nukes.
Swanson: “And it is true that numerous countries lacking nuclear weapons have been attacked: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, etc. But nuclear weapons don’t completely stop India and Pakistan attacking each other…”
Comment: The key words here are “don’t completely stop” attacks. What has not transpired is an all-out attack. Dangerous as a pin-prick attack might be, there is a undeniably large difference between such attacks and launching a major military offensive. Granted, a pin-prick attack is risky and might indeed provoke a heightened response leading to great devastation, but both sides certainly must be aware that if a certain red line is crossed and a nuclear exchange is precipitated that it is goners for all sides. Such is the ineluctable outcome of nuclear war.
Swanson: “… don’t stop terrorism in the U.S. or Europe…”
Comment: Terrorism is a damnable scourge. What Swanson points to is retail terrorism, and it is tiny in destructive magnitude compared to the wholesale terrorism of nation states such as the US. One must not condemn one form of terrorism, retail, and neglect to condemn the far greater wholesale terrorism. Indeed, all terrorism that targets civilians must be condemned. Thankfully, terrorists do not have nukes … yet. There are still, however, unrecovered broken arrows out there.
Swanson: “… don’t prevent a major proxy war with the U.S. and Europe arming Ukraine against Russia…”
Comment: Proxy wars speak more to madness and false bravado. In the case of the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, it speaks to cowardice — the abject refusal to own up to the crime one committed, even though every politically aware person knows the US did it with the considerable aid of Norway and also the investigation’s cover-up carried out by Sweden and Denmark. The reality is a nation that presents itself as an exceptional and indispensable beacon on the hill, but it doesn’t have the gumption to own up to what it did.
Swanson: “… don’t stop a major push for war with China…”
Comment: Pushing for and carrying out war are different animals. As it stands, US-NATO-Ukraine are headed for a major defeat, and that precludes an attack on China in the near and longer term.
Swanson: “… don’t prevent Afghans and Iraqis and Syrians fighting against the U.S. military…”
Comment: What is the choice?: either capitulate and live on one’s knees or resist with honor. Besides, the US is hamstrung from using nukes, particularly against less militarily potent countries that do not possess nuclear weapons because overtly using WMD would thoroughly undermine (if that isn’t the case yet) the attack on an Iraq that was fundamentally disarmed. And it would/should result in a massive condemnation of the US and the fracturing of its alliances.
Swanson: “… and have as much to do with starting the war in Ukraine as their absence does with failing to prevent it.”
Comment: Looks like Swanson is destroying his own argument here. The Ukrainians don’t have nukes, so Russia need not employ nukes. If Ukraine had had nukes, would Russia have invaded? Just imagine a nightmare scenario of neo-Nazis having control over nukes.
Swanson: “Among Russia’s excuses for invading Ukraine was the positioning of weaponry nearer its border than ever before. Excuses, needless to say, are not justifications…”
Swanson: “… and the lesson learned in Russia that the U.S. and NATO will listen to nothing other than war is as false a lesson as those being learned in the U.S. and Europe.”
Comment: Sounds like a strawman argument. So who is saying that “the U.S. and NATO will listen to nothing other than war” and that this is the lesson Russia has learned? Swanson is, arguably, absolving the US and its NATO minions because provoking a war is more-or-less warmaking by intention. If setting up the situation knowing that it will lead to war is not sufficient to qualify as a “lesson learned,” then the flow of weapons from the US-NATO into Ukraine is undeniably a “lesson learned.”
Did the US intentionally provoke the war? There are numerous pronouncements by politicians and media calling it a proxy war, for example, by German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said: “We are fighting a war against Russia…,” by Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton, who serves on the House Armed Forces Committee, by the Washington Post, by Fox News: “Tucker: We are at war with Russia, whether or not Congress has declared it,” by the Cato Institute, by Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd, etc. It is indeed a proxy war, a war the US, Canada, and Europe finance with Ukrainian blood to try and weaken Russia.
The goal is to break up Russia and exploit its resources.
Swanson: “Russia could have supported the rule of law and won over much of the world to its side.”
rulings by the World Court against it. Russia is well aware of this. Israel is a serial violator of international law, yet it is backed by the US and many of the NATO countries, so Swanson appears to be talking from the ether here. Julian Assange has been awaiting justice for over a dozen years, yet Swanson laments that Russia “chose not to” have pursued the legal route. Before proposing solutions such as turning to the courts, first it has to be demonstrated that law works. The law throughout history, up to the present day, has been clearly and demonstrably hit-and-miss. Why would Russia submit its security to such a flawed process?
Swanson: “In fact, the United States and Russia are not parties to the International Criminal Court.”
Comment: Why would Russia bind itself to the ICC when its main adversary refuses to join? What sense would that make? Why would Russia sign the Ottawa Treaty on the prohibition of landmines when the US refuses? Why would Russia denuclearize if the US doesn’t? Moreover, why does Swanson grant that the ICC is an impartial administrator of justice?
Swanson: “The U.S.-backed coup in Ukraine in 2014, the U.S. and Russian efforts to win over Ukraine for years, the mutual arming of conflict in Donbas, and the Russian invasion of 2021 highlight a problem in world leadership.” [italics added]
Comment: A contradiction? Why did Swanson earlier make the argument that Russia could appeal to the rest of the world through law when there is a problem in world leadership? Again, no mention was made of NATO encroachment toward Russia. Is not the eastward spread of NATO (facilitated by a US-backed coup in Ukraine) the greater precipitating invasion? And did not the US-fueled coup in Ukraine beget the Russian invasion?
Furthermore, what needs to be stated is that there is no Russian encroachment toward Europe or the US. Europe and the US do not find themselves ringed by Russian military bases. Knowing this, it is undeniably clear who the intrusive, provocative party is.
Swanson: “Of 18 major human rights treaties, Russia is party to only 11, and the United States to only 5, as few as any nation on Earth. Both nations violate treaties at will, including the United Nations Charter, Kellogg Briand Pact, and other laws against war. Both nations refuse to support and openly defy major disarmament and anti-weapons treaties upheld by most of the world.”
Comment: Again, if a major belligerent such as the US rejects treaties, then countries targeted by the US, such as Russia, might feel compelled to abstain from such treaties that would tie their hands vis-à-vis an antagonist. This may well hamper the ability of a country to defend itself. Consider also treaties signed by Russia and not signed by the US, such as “Protection from Torture, Ill-Treatment and Disappearance,” “Employment and Forced Labour,” and “Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity.” Therefore, to criticize both parties and without pointing out key differences points to a bias. Succinctly, there is no equivalence between the US and Russia.
Swanson: “… the United States actually keeps nuclear weapons in five other nations and considers putting them into more, while Russia has talked of putting nukes in Belarus.”
Comment: As they say: talk is cheap or, more aptly, actions speak louder than words. Hence, there is no equivalence between militaristic actions actually carried out by the US and rumors about what Russia might do. Besides, if Russia did move nukes into Belarus, criticism must take into consideration why Russia did so because every nation has a right to ensure its security, and that is why the special military operation was launched against Ukraine: because Russian security concerns were ignored.
Swanson: “Russia and the United States stand as rogue regimes outside the Landmines Treaty, the Convention on Cluster Munitions, the Arms Trade Treaty, and many others.”
Swanson: “The United States and Russia are the top two dealers of weaponry to the rest of the world, together accounting for a large majority of weapons sold and shipped.”
Comment: Has Swanson considered that Russia might very well stop selling weaponry if the US and all other countries agreed to this? Should Russia stand aside and allow the US to reap monster profits from weapons sales to further finance its own arsenal? Would that be a prudent move by a nation exposed to incessant US warmongering against it?
Swanson: “Meanwhile most places experiencing wars manufacture no weapons at all. Weapons are imported to most of the world from a very few places. The United States and Russia are the top two users of the veto power at the UN Security Council, each frequently shutting down democracy with a single vote.”
Comment: It is poor argumentation to argue against the use of a veto right by a UN Security Council member nation without analyzing what the veto was used for and whether the veto use was valid or not. Consider, for example, what happened when China and Russia abstained from the UNSC Resolution 1973 calling for a ceasefire and setting up no-fly zones in Libya. NATO members reinterpreted the resolution, invoked the Farcical Responsibility to Protect principle, (Obviously farcical because what about the responsibility to protect Palestinians from Israeli killing sprees? Protect the Yemenis from -- instead of bolstering -- Saudi attacks. Etc.) and attacked Libya which wound up being destroyed by the attackers. Arguably, if either Russia or China had used its veto, the carnage and devastation in Libya could have been averted. Besides, if one country flagrantly wields the veto to the detriment of the other what choice is left to the other? Reporting an equivalence in criticism to both parties when one party is the preponderant warmaker suggests a superficial analysis.
Swanson: “Russia could have prevented the invasion of Ukraine by not invading Ukraine.”
Comment: How should one respond when someone states the obvious? But sure, allow Ukraine and NATO to deny Russia their desired security. If Russia permitted that would it be a smart move on Russia’s part — inviting NATO to set missiles up near its border?
Swanson: “Europe could have prevented the invasion of Ukraine by telling the U.S. and Russia to mind their own business.”
Comment: That would be nice, but it would also be absurd. Since when does Europe tell the US what to do rather than bending over when ordered to do so by the hegemon?
Swanson: “The United States could almost certainly have prevented the invasion of Ukraine by any of the following steps, which U.S. experts warned were needed to avoid war with Russia:
- Abolishing NATO when the Warsaw Pact was abolished.
- Refraining from expanding NATO.
- Refraining from supporting color revolutions and coups.
- Supporting nonviolent action, training in unarmed resistance, and neutrality.
- Transitioning from fossil fuels.
- Refraining from arming Ukraine, weaponizing Eastern Europe, and conducting war rehearsals in Eastern Europe.
- Accepting Russia’s perfectly reasonable demands in December 2021.”
Comment: If Russia’s demands were “perfectly reasonable,” why is Swanson inordinately finding fault with Russia? Is Russia militarily encircling the US? And why does Swanson think that the US wanted to prevent the invasion? Why does Swanson not put the whole onus on the US-NATO where it belongs and demand that they should have accepted the “perfectly reasonable” security demands sought by Russia?
Swanson: “In 2014, Russia proposed that Ukraine align with neither the West nor the East but work with both. The U.S. rejected that idea and supported a military coup that installed a pro-West government.”
Comment: Again, why is he criticizing Russia so much? If Russia had supported a military coup to overthrow the government in Mexico and installed an unfriendly regime that placed missiles pointed at the US, what would have been the American response? Informed people are well aware of what happened when Soviet missiles were stationed in Cuba.
Swanson: “But refraining from expanding NATO would not have prevented Russia attacking Ukraine because the Russian government is a noble philanthropic operation.”
reputation of Putin for not bluffing; succinctly, he means what he says.
Also consider why Russia was not admitted into the purported defensive alliance of Nato? What better way to remove an adversary than to join them.
Swanson: “It would have prevented Russia attacking Ukraine because the Russian government would have had no good excuse to sell to the Russian elites, the Russian public, or the world.”
Comment: Does Swanson mean an excuse, or does he mean justification? Whatever, it presupposes that Putin wanted to attack Ukraine, and that the security proposals that his government proffered were just a ruse. Swanson offers no substance to his speculation. It appears rather that Swanson is providing an excuse for the US. Although he is critical of US warmaking, he lessens criticism against the US by providing a justification/excuse in the form of a reified Russian bogeyman for the US — all without irrefutable substantiation.
In Part 3: What should the antiwar movement do to bring about a world without war?
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