A Czech’s Position on the Russian Invasion into Ukraine
Or what happens when people delete my comments
By MARTIN REZNY
A few cents from a person who lives in a country that was at one point invaded by Russian tanks, the Czech Republic, which is now part of NATO. Yes, Americans are assholes too, have committed unjust wars, and do meddle in local politics. Also, Ukraine isn’t a country of saints. None of that in any way justifies what Russia/Putin is doing right now. If war in Iraq was wrong, this one is too.
Whatever Putin may believe, the expansion of NATO was never going to lead to artillery shelling Russian civilians. It is a defensive, just-in-case alliance. Because Russia tends to have historical periods that aren’t strictly defensive. Countries like the Czech Republic, Slovakia, or Poland didn’t join it in any universe to wage war on Russia on Russian territory.
As for American meddling, however it may be against international law or the sovereignty of any particular country, being under American influence is still vastly superior to being under Russian influence.
I’m personally an anarchist and a pacifist, I would prefer being under the influence of no empire, but Russian rule is worse, by far. Under American influence, one is still economically exploited, but less poor, and, more importantly, one has a far greater freedom of choice and expression. Russians only do full-on oppression of their subjects.
You could say that Americans selectively consider Europeans worthy, and therefore are better to them than to people in third-world countries, and that is wrong and should be condemned.
Russians are worse to everyone who’s not Russian, and their peak worst is worse. By the way, regarding the neonazi point, I assure you as a Slav that between Ukrainians and Russians, the level of racism is very much the same. Or to be exact, the willingness of both governments to use such radicals as fanatical front-line fighting forces. That’s pragmatism, in an area of the world where people believe they can’t afford too much idealism.
I do believe that Jimmy means well, but if you want to compare empires, which all always suck, the Russian empire is something that the world should try really hard to keep in the past. While working really hard to improve the American one, which does have the capacity to improve, or to move beyond imperialism altogether.
Also, American coup or no coup, it seems apparent now that Ukraine’s people are very much united behind their government and against Russia. Which kinda implies that if there was meddling, it was more against Russian meddling than against the will of the Ukrainians, which again doesn’t make either empire automatically more or less justified.
Except if you do believe that the American empire is objectively the one that guarantees more freedom overall. Which is why the Ukrainian people want to be part of the West much more than subjects of Russia.
Just to be clear, I’m personally against all invasions, all empires, and all nazis. This is definitely about picking the lesser evil, and even with all American war crimes factored in, it’s still not a hard choice. America just needs to focus on getting better leadership, of which it is capable, that’s all.
And this is the end of the original comment that I believe was immediately deleted under a video on Jimmy Dore’s channel where he and Aaron Maté exclusively argued that Americans are to blame for the current war. I would like to respectfully disagree with their interpretation, if I may.
If you want to talk who’s to blame, you can’t just focus on criticizing the actions of one side. Yes, like I already said, Americans do meddle. It’s probably even true that many American elites do that cynically for their own financial gain. That doesn’t change what Russia is, who Putin is, and what the current regime in Russia is like. Of which Russia’s neighbors are fully aware.
America isn’t forcing or duping local countries into joining NATO. The local countries want to be in NATO, apparently including Ukraine (judging by its fierce resistance to Russian takeover), because that’s the only guarantee of Russians not rolling in with tanks to install a government friendly to them.
This may appear to be an aggressive stance toward Russia, but you really need to try to understand the perspective of pretty much all non-Russian Slavs. Take my nation, Czechs. In the last more than a century, we haven’t really used arms even to defend ourselves, with the exception of some limited foreign legion adventures and partizan action. We will never invade Russia.
Russia doesn’t need protection from us, not even hypothetically. NATO, as in the actual countries in the region, is only a threat to Russia in the sense that it is a threat to its expansion into currently sovereign countries that want to stay sovereign, and western.
Russian people are our brothers and sisters, all Slavs are very much one family, both linguistically and in terms of interconnected relationships. But the fact is, the Russian uncle needs to be kept away from the Vodka, everybody has to be careful about what they say around him at all times, and when he becomes belligerent anyway, somebody stronger needs to make him calm the fuck down. Otherwise, everyone is going to have a really bad time.
The whole situation isn’t complicated at all. The Russian way is blunt, not any kind of sophisticated 5D chess. Putin wants to make the Russian empire great again, and his way to accomplish it is the old Soviet classic — roll in with tanks and take territory. If the people resist, he will keep blowing up civilians to bully them into submission. He won’t care about losses or costs.
To the extent to which American meddling and international pressure were/are/will be effective, he will keep sending in troops anyway, but say they’re just tourists. Alternatively, he will send in spies to bribe, sabotage, and assassinate. Anything wrong that the west or Ukraine does, he will use as justification for invasion, but the thing is, he would have done it anyway.
Except if Ukraine was in NATO, then he wouldn’t do it, because NATO works as a defensive alliance, as a deterrent. That’s how it is “threatening” Russia. Again, it’s a very simple situation. If Putin actually had real justification, then Ukraine wouldn’t be totally united in opposing its “liberation”.
Speaking of what Ukraine wants, their message is simple and clear — just for Russians to stay in Russia. As Czechs do. As Slovaks do. As Poles do. As Lithuanians do. As Latvians do. As Estonians do. As Finns do. And so on. Nobody here was planning to invade Russia, or to sabotage its sovereignty.
I guess you could construe that as sabotaging Russia’s greatness, but imperial greatness isn’t protected under international law. If Russia instead focused on building itself up to be actually greater, the EU and NATO would just keep on falling apart and becoming a joke. Putin has only made the west stronger.
Because that’s the thing, dictatorship is a self-destructive form of government. Russia, as a true democracy with informed and resilient public sphere, would have had every opportunity to rival the U.S. in terms of international influence. As an aggressive authoritarian regime, it’s destroying itself.
For me personally, the brilliant silver lining of this tragedy is the principled stand that Ukraine took, under president Zelenskyj’s leadership. I think that for quite some time now, “freedom” and “democracy” have been just empty words for many people, and especially leaders, in the west. This stand appears to have reminded us of the reality of what they represent, why they matter.
What’s happening now in Ukraine has made the western world realize just how much we don’t want this kind of 19th-century style of war and imperialism to be a thing that exists. That it doesn’t matter whose empire it would be, because it’s not worth it even if your nation is on top. Free travel, free trade, free exchange of information, and no (nuclear) war are just better.
As the American empire is itself waning right now, the world doesn’t need Russia or China to goose-step in, it needs to get over empires. To be more exact, the people of the world. Just try to watch the Ukrainians holding on and not feel like you’re a Ukrainian too or that they’re your people. People seem to be finally realizing that all people who want freedom are our people.
Should we have responded the same when America was invading places? Yes, very much so. I guess America had better PR, or we were more naive back then. We’re not anymore, all of this shit got real old. How about we oppose all invasions from now on, no ifs and buts? Wouldn’t that be great.
