Three Cognitive Levels of the Political Story about Russia’s Inevitable Offensive on Ukraine
The West openly declares that it is not ready to defend Ukraine by military means, but that it has a moral and political excuse
By Valentin Yakushik
The three levels of the current situation around Ukraine in connection with the hysteria unleashed by Western politicians and Western mass media about the alleged imminent massive Russian offensive against Ukraine look approximately like this:
First, at the level of a simplified geopolitical picture offered to the authorities of the Russian Federation, the West openly declares that it is not ready to defend Ukraine by military means, but that it has a moral and political excuse: during and after the occupation of Ukraine the West will be providing assistance to Ukrainian guerillas and Ukrainian resistance in general. Thus it is a kind of a tacit invitation to the eschatological insatiable predator to take advantage of the current weakness and indecision of the West and get his payoff.
Secondly, at the level of real politics a different action plan is visible. To the Ukrainian armed forces and the people of Ukraine as a whole there is a role allocated to be a specific bait for the aggressor. While the chosen ones, the golden billion, would not feel sorry for them, would not have any compassion for this kind of imagined manure of history, doomed to disappear in the the sacred struggle of democracies against authoritarianism and autocracy. And according to such plans, the Russian Federation must again fall into a historical trap, cleverly set for it, similar to the Afghan one in 1979, or even worse, similar to the one that Saddam Hussein fell into in 1990 in Kuwait.
Thirdly, at the level of common sense and political wisdom, the current paranoia that has engulfed the world and is whipping up international tension, unprecedented in recent years, there seems to be a well-staged political performance, after which the process of simplifying the political situation will begin, and old acute problems will be resolved, and it will be possible to start rewarding peacemakers and winners of the World Evil.
I am sure that the telephone conversations between the presidents of the United States of America and the Russian Federation on February 12, 2022 were essentially devoted to the mutual exchange of messages between the lines: We know that you know that we know … the whole depth and all aspects of your plans. Sure, there are no naive amateurs among us. So, we shall gradually start preparing a historical compromise.
The author is Professor, National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv.
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