The New Age of Militarism
As the war in Ukraine escalates, common sense withers
Today, all major news outlets are running stories on the war in Ukraine, citing the one year anniversary of the outbreak of the war. They are citing the date of Russia’s renewed offensive in the war, which began on 24 February 2022. This is, of course, not when the invasion of Ukraine or the war in Ukraine began. The current war began on 20 February 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea (not the first time in history, either) and started the war somewhat unofficially — at the time, the military units and PMCs involved were operating without uniform and vehicle markings and Russia denied all involvement in the action.
So, in reality, the war in Ukraine has now been going on for over nine years. It just took the corporate news media eight years to actually notice what was happening. Ever since the regime change in Ukraine in 2014 — which in the West is usually called by the preposterously obvious propaganda moniker “Revolution of Dignity” — the big, corporate press outlets have disgraced themselves by coverage that has little to do with the reality on the ground. Which itself has become very hard to observe because of the prevailing propaganda-filled nonsense that’s saturating the airwaves, the internet and the pages of newspapers.
In general, pro-Ukrainian propaganda is accepted as fact and pro-Russian propaganda is endlessly “fact checked” and in many cases even censored outright — especially in the European Union, where such censorship is now enshrined in law. Despite the fact that the legal frameworks of many member states, the constitution here in Germany for one thing, would seem to make such laws illegal. I guess in cases like this it is very convenient if you have a de-facto government like the EU, which is wielding legislative power that exceeds that of it member states, but is in itself not a state per se, legally speaking.
This new status quo has given rise to a new wave of militarism in Europe. Even people who would have characterised themselves as staunch pacifists a year ago are suddenly advocating for countries like Germany to export howitzers, tanks and fighter planes to Ukraine and thus get involved in a war that, if you look at it from a pure legal perspective, should not concern us. Ukraine isn’t a member of NATO or the EU, nor were there, to my knowledge, any bilateral defence agreements in place between Germany and Ukraine before this war started in 2014. Thus Germany would, on paper, seem to have the perfect excuse for not getting involved. Which would be very much in the spirit of the country’s constitution and geopolitical stance for about 50 years from its founding in 1949 to the events of 11 September 2001. Instead, German politicians and a very vocal part of the public are advocating to join in this war — in the best tradition of the Bush/Clinton neocons and their odorous political successors in America.
The very same people who spent years alarmingly calling out Donald Trump as a warmonger and the possible cause for World War III are now the loudest when it comes to undertake military action that would, without doubt, badly aggravate a nuclear superpower located right on Europe’s doorstep.
This new age of militarism is very alarming. And it it’s a direct outcome of a new kind of propaganda war that is being waged by both sides in the Ukraine conflict and which the press is completely unequipped to handle. The media has completely lost its way, no longer serving its mission to inform the public and call the powerful to account. In fact, in many cases, it is now serving the powerful while calling the people to account. For example, when it spends its energy on denouncing people who advocate for peace as pro-Russian Nazis. In a recent episode of my podcast, I discussed how this pathology developed in relation to the Russiagate story, but the same mechanisms are at work everywhere. The same issues with the press are readily apparent when one takes a critical eye to most coverage of the Ukraine crisis; starting with the delusion that today is the first anniversary of the war.
The war in Ukraine is horrible. All wars are. It is also incredibly unjust. Not because Putin had no right to invade Ukraine. Again: All wars are criminal and morally reprehensible. No matter who starts them or why. The war is unjust in the way all wars are unjust. It is unjust to the civilian population. It is a crime against every young man (of any nation) murdered in its execution, and against every mother and father they leave behind grieving.
People who call for this war to go on one second longer, be they the president of Ukraine, Russia or Germany, a newscaster on TV or a random person on Twitter, are disgusting human beings.
My mother, who is a very smart person and has raised me in the spirit of justice and with a strong dislike of war of any kind, often says that nobody should follow leaders who sent young men off to war without shouldering a rifle and marching off to the front lines themselves. I think that should be our general rule in dealing with coverage about this, and any other, war. If someone writing in a newspaper or talking on TV thinks that tanks should be delivered to Ukraine, they should at least have the balls to drive those tanks up to the frontline themselves. Or sit in a building that is being shelled by 120 mm grenades fired from those tanks.
If you find war exciting, play some Warhammer or another wargame. Go try to survive an Escape from Tarkov raid. But don’t amplify propaganda that glorifies war or write about it like it is a good or necessary thing.
Things are not going to change, of course. And nothing of this unfortunate situation we now find ourselves in should be a surprise to anybody. When the renewed Russian push in Ukraine started in February of 2022, I surprised many people in discussions a few days into the offensive with my prediction that this war would last at least five to ten more years. Especially after the initial Russian push for Kiev failed, many observers (both in the press and in my immediate circle of friends) suggested Ukraine would win very quickly. Based on my assessment back then of the stalemate in the war since 2014, I could hardly understand where this idea made any sense at all. And I don’t understand it to this very day. It’s probably another outcome of just swallowing pro-Ukrainian propaganda hook, line and sinker. Like thinking that the economic sanctions will end the war, when there is literally a century of historic evidence that would suggest the very opposite.
In the best case scenario, this war will be an ugly meatgrinder that feeds on the lives of young men for at least another four years in a bogged-down stalemate before societal pressures on both sides finally force the powers that be to the negotiation table. And then we are in for another Cold War between Russia and the West that could last half a century again. In the worst case scenario, this escalates to World War III and the large-scale use of nuclear weapons and we get to see how close Fallout actually was to getting the further story of humanity on this planet right.
“War. War never changes.”
How about we stop listening to the warmongers in the press, on TV and on Twitter peddling their obvious bullshit and lies and instead advocate for peace and understanding between nations and people here? Wars are bad. Let’s end them!