Richard Boyd-Barrett got a rough ride on RTE radio the other day. He was questioned (to use that term loosely) as to why he and Paul Murphy of the People Before Profit stood when Zelensky of Ukraine entered the Dail but did not join the applause for the miniature tiger of Ukraine.
RBB replied that he had stood as a mark of respect for the Ukrainian people but had not applauded Zelensky because, while he believed an invasion of your homeland justifies armed resistance, he rejected the wider use of weaponry which was shipped to Ukraine. The inquisitor kept on badgering the PbP man.
Most Irish people support Ukraine whole-heartedly, and cite the Easter Rising and those who took up arms against Britain, so they tend to swing in behind the pro-Ukraine line on this. Except that it’s a bit more complicated than that.
Would the US react positively if Canada proposed to form an alliance with Russia? Hardly. Did the US react gently when the USSR placed nuclear weapons in Cuba? Hardly. Do major powers like to think that the next door neighbour won’t be a threat? Definitely.
There is talk of Ukraine joining NATO, of joining the EU. Both of these would mean a next-door neighbour was a part of opposition to Russia.Just as Russia (and now, it seems,Trump) want to weaken the EU, so an EU or NATO including Ukraine would be a major worry for Russia.
In other words,this good guys Ukraine/bad guys Russia is a useless mantra which those who think in clichés like to parrot.
As I’ve said before,why doesn’t some enterprising journalist get an interview in which Putin can lay out his reasons for the huge expense in weaponry and men which Russia has been paying for the past four years?
Putin is a dictator but Russia has always produced more than it’s fair share of those. Imagine America if Trump were the norm rather than the exception. The Russia/Ukraine thing is complicated, the “military industrial complex” of the west loves the opportunity to rev up the war drums. Ukraine and Zelenskyy are far from perfect. But Putin has been in power for over twenty years. He should do the world a favour and bugger off.