War and Peace

I had a “water cooler” conversation with a friend at work recently, in which he told me that he believed Putin was the greatest threat to world peace. He made this claim on the basis of the annexation of Crimea. This is a kind and intelligent man who I respect. But does this claim stand up to scrutiny?

Since winning the Nobel Peace prize. President Obama has authorised tens of thousands of bombing raids on 7 countries (Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan and Somalia). The effect of US intervention in these countries over the last decade has been to destroy civil society and civil infrastructure, reducing thse counties to chaos and ruin, in increasingly flagrant and reckless violation of international law. No sanctions have yet been imposed on the US.

The destruction of Iraq by US forces included some of the most appalling war crimes in all history (Google Images “Fallujah Babies” for evidence to back this claim but BE WARNED!! This is the stuff of nightmares and you should NOT TRY IT if you are sensitive). The official death toll of verified deaths reported in English speaking papers to 2006 was 60,000. The “Lancet” estimated in 2006 that actually over 600,000 Iraqis had died as a result of the invasion. After eight more years of war, with civil infrastructure in ruins, the toll must be over a million.

Ten years ago, the UK travel advice on Syria was that it was one of the safest, friendliest, welcoming countries in the middle east, adventurous Brits flocked to Aleppo to marvel at the historic bazaars, and Assad was hailed by Western nations as a modern and enlightened ruler.  But Syria too has been completely destroyed. The US has made no secret of it’s support for religious fundamentalist rebels, and since it is clearly impossible for unarmed teachers and shopkeepers to take on a large, well equiped professional army and win, that support must have been very considerable. The destruction has been a staggering tragedy. According to the UN, 10 million (50% of the population) have fled thir homes and become internal or external refugees. The dead are uncounted. The Syrian crisis has been described by aid agencies as the worst humanitarian catastrophe in Middle East history. The Telegraph recently published a picture a four year old girl who lifted her arms in terrified surrender when the camera was pointed at her, a sobering commentory on the effects of years of war. Similarly, Libya, Somalia and Afghanistan are now anarchic lawless states as a result of Western bombing, over-run by competing factions. Pakistan has been bombed with thousands of drones.

The fingerprints of the CIA are also all over the crisis in Ukraine – US Secretary Victoria Nuland was famously plotting the installation of right wing extremist “Yats” in government 2 weeks before the overthrow of the government in a coup. The subsequent bombing of the Russian speaking areas by Kiev, has resulted in 50,000 civilian casualties, according to German intelligence, and over a million refugees fleeing to Russia for safety, with another million internally displaced. It is said that 60% of the houses of this 7 million population are damaged.

Throughout this campaign, Russia in general and Putin in particular have been painted as violent aggressors. The annexation of Crimea in particular has been held up as a frightening crime of aggression. But in contrast to the interventions listed above, not a shot was fired by Russian troops in Crimea. This is probably because, according to a German polling organisation commissioned by Canada, over 97% of the population would rather be part of Russia than Ukraine – perhaps because they don’t speak Ukrainian, and the Ukrainians hate them (much of the population were born as Russian citizens, when Crimea was still a part of Russia). Russia is accused of the downing of a Malaysian passenger jet – but although many questions remain unanswered, the only concrete evidence made public to back this claim, videos of Russian missiles on the move, were actually fabricated from films shot in Georgia years ago.

I know there will be many people who will be shocked at my defence of Putin. They will claim that I have been brainwashed by Russian propaganda. I have no doubt that he is guilty of many offences. But facts are facts. There have been repeated claims in the media that Putin is a mad dictator who is bent on the invasion of Europe, and who is a threat to the world. But the claim that the annexation of Crimea was a worse violation of international law and human rights than the invasion, bombing, occupation and destruction of the countries listed above simply cannot be squared with the facts.

It is said that the leaders of these countries were monsters, but intervention has resulted in the slaughter of millions. Military invasion of another country is absolutely prohibited as the worst of war crimes in international law, whatever the motives, and we see now for good reason. It is said that the interventions were necessary to spread democracy and protect the population, but these objectives have been so spectacularly failed, so repeatedly, one begins to wonder. Is this death and destruction at colossal expense really the consequence of honest incompetence and misguided pilanthropy?

The Brazilian journalist Pepe Escobar has been the author of an article called “The Roving Eye” in the Asian Times for the last ten years. He has recently published a collection of his articles under the title “Empire of Chaos”. His thesis is that the intention of American interventions across the world for the last decade has been to spread chaos in countries which refuse to sign over their oil resources to American interests. The maze of names, places and dates is bewildering, but the research is meticulous; The US has armed rebellions against governments, and has then armed rebellions against the rebels, the effect of which has been to lock these countries into a Long War. Iraq and Afghanistan in particular have been theatres of war for the United States for decades.

Like most people in the West I have been brought up to admire and trust the United States. But the slaughter of millions of people is a crime that must be answered. The total destruction of one country could be an accident; the total destruction of two looks like carelessness; but the destruction of half a dozen really should make one sit up and ask questions.

At any rate, what is one to do? When in doubt, I wonder what Jesus would have done. Would Jesus have found himself piloting a military drone over Pakhistan? No? When war and chaos are the goals, the only true act of rebellion is to strive for peace and reconciliation.