Neoliberals would prefer war with Russia to peace in Ukraine

They're worried that peace could spell the end of NATO

Unpopular politicians love war because it’s the perfect way to divert attention from their failings at home and whip up patriotic fervour. It’s the perfect excuse for them to introduce authoritarian measures and cement their control over a disillusioned population. I fear this is what Sir Keir Starmer is doing right now.

The British prime minister is talking about taking a “leading role” in Ukraine’s security. He has suggested putting peacekeeping troops in Ukraine and boasting that he takes jeopardising our lives very seriously. It reminds me of when he cut the winter fuel allowance for pensioners to send money to Zelensky and boasted of “making tough choices”. You’re not making tough choices, Keith, you’re just a prick.

It seems none of this bluster has been remotely thought through because former head of the British army, Lord Richard Dannat, told BBC Breakfast: "Frankly, we haven't got the numbers and we haven't got the equipment to put a large force onto the ground for an extended period of time.”

Starmer has pledged £3 billion a year for Ukraine, a sum I would rather spend on bolstering our military than provoking Russia. This might surprise you, but I am in partial agreement with President Trump that Europe should increase defence spending. Trump wants all NATO members to increase spending to 5% and Starmer wants the UK to go from 2.3% to 2.5%. I personally think our defence spending should be at least 2.5%, although 5% is a bit high.

While I am very much pro-peace, I think every country should be strong enough to stand on its own and not depend on the US or anyone else for security. I am anti-war, not anti-military.

Europeans are talking like the US is abandoning them and Ukraine, but the US position is not a million miles from theirs. The US has been talking about security guarantees for Ukraine, including more weaponry, and even the possibility of peacekeepers.

The talk is of sending a peacekeeping force of between 30,000 and 150,000 troops to Ukraine, but even the higher number would be insufficient if Russia went all out. Are we forgetting it has Oreshnik missiles?

I can’t see how a western peacekeeping force could possibly work, given the West’s growing presence in Ukraine was precisely what led to war. And aside from anything else, we would struggle to fund such an operation. Are you ready for more austerity to send our troops to Putin’s doorstep? Because I’m not.

As well as security guarantees, the US has been talking of more rigorously enforcing sanctions against Russia. It sent a six-point document to European countries asking their opinions on these matters, but Europe is foaming because it won’t be at the negotiating table in Saudi Arabia. This would be the same Europe that told us Putin was unwilling to negotiate because Europe didn’t want to negotiate!

It is perfectly sensible to keep Europe out of negotiations, given how ridiculous it has been throughout this conflict, doing everything it can to derail peace and trick the public into thinking war was unavoidable. I’m looking at you, Boris Johnson.

Europeans are saying it’s not Trump’s place to negotiate with Russia, but suddenly it is theirs! You can argue all you like it’s not Trump’s place to negotiate, but Trump could argue it is not his place to arm one of the parties in the conflict. Trump can’t make any decisions for Ukraine, but if Ukraine doesn’t agree a peace deal, he doesn’t have to continue arming it. See how this works?

While I agree with Trump’s push for peace, I certainly don’t see him as a saviour of the Ukrainian people. His motives are far from noble. He wants Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, but the only thing that sets him apart from Biden is that he is honest about his looting plans. Looting Ukraine was always one of the empire’s objectives.

Trump, like Putin, is no anti-imperialist hero. His position on Gaza, for example, is horrific, but the idea that Trump is wrong to end brinksmanship with Russia and cut back imperialism is absurd. We are seeing neoliberals lamenting the decline of empire, rather than seeing an opportunity to shape a better world.

Neoliberals have yet again pivoted from Putin is losing badly to Putin is going to conquer all of Europe unless we start World War III first. They just can’t make their minds up!

If you can see the West is committing genocide in Gaza, but you think its motivations in Ukraine are freedom and democracy, I honestly don’t know what to say to you. Our government cares as much about Ukrainians as it does about Palestinians. I am begging you to stop swallowing imperialist propaganda, especially if you’re finding yourself nodding along to Julia Hartley-Brewer.

The Talk TV host had a run-in with Richard Tice where she challenged him on Trump’s eagerness to push for peace in Ukraine and neoliberals were suddenly like “I agree with Julia Hartley-Brewer”. No shit! That’s because you’re both imperialists!

Hartley-Brewer insisted “wars stop when one side is defeated”, ignoring that almost every war ends in a negotiated settlement and this war is only going to have one winner: Russia. Hartley-Brewer’s argument was that it doesn’t count as a negotiation if you’re giving Putin everything he wants. This is interesting because imperialists have been telling us Putin wants all of Ukraine and all of Europe, none of which is on offer.

“Which part of Britain would you give away if we were invaded?” Hartley-Brewer shrieked, but the situation here is a little different. We’re talking about Putin keeping a sliver of Ukraine that these keyboard warriors hadn’t even heard of a few years ago, a sliver of Ukraine that had been at civil war with western Ukraine for eight years because it wants its independence.

Peace negotiations must reflect the realities on the battlefield, and like it or not, Ukraine is losing badly. If you keep fighting for unachievable goals, all you’re doing is killing more Ukrainians, but our leaders don’t care about them, and their tears are performative.

Personally, I value human life more than lines on a map because once you’re dead, there is no coming back. And while these lunatics are screaming for more war, the Ukrainian people don’t want war. A majority want a negotiated settlement according to Gallup, and the Ukrainian army is having to kidnap men from the streets because it can’t recruit.

The one thing most likely to put a stop to this insanity is that Europe is not in a position to fight. Germany, in particular, is less equipped to fight a war than it was at the start because it has given so much of its weapons to Ukraine. I’m guessing many other European countries are in a similar position.

While Putin is incapable of conquering Europe, he is certainly capable of inflicting mass casualties. A wider war would favour no country, but unfortunately, Starmer seems horny for war. He is doing his Churchillian thing about this being a “once in a generation moment”, an “existential” matter for Europe. He is getting aroused by the possibility of being a leader who goes down in history, but he will likely be remembered as the guy who tried and failed to start a war to boost his poll ratings.

The British prime minister has been saying Ukraine will join NATO while the US insists it will never happen, and he has been expressing his reluctance to accept peace, saying: “We must be clear that peace cannot come at any cost. Ukraine must be at the table in these negotiations because anything less would accept Putin’s position that Ukraine is not a real nation.” Where is this energy when it comes to Gaza, please?

There has just been a security conference in Munich and another one is starting in Paris, and even the BBC is suggesting this could spell the end of NATO. Everyone is panicking because they think Europe is being left helpless, but there is no reason for this to be the case. A land mass with 3/4 billion people, some of the most skilled arms manufacturers in the world, and more wealth per capita than anywhere else is quite capable of defending itself. How about we give up our ridiculous imperialist ambitions and instead turn our continent into a fortress? The message of every country should be: we won’t mess with you, but you don’t dare mess with us.

Putin has zero incentive to attack Europe if it is no threat to him. He would have no hope of controlling Europe, and starting a wider war would only hurt his popularity at home. Sadly, neoliberals are incapable of seeing reality and instead only see things in terms of the binaries laid out by propagandists. This is a battle of good versus evil, you see. The fact that the goodies have spent a year and a half committing genocide is neither here nor there. Our rulers would never lie to us over something like war. This is why they should be censoring us whenever we disagree with them.

One thing that has come out of the Munich conference is that neoliberals are upset JD Vance called Europe out on its authoritarian direction and attacks on free speech, and while they are right to point out his hypocrisy, he is equally right to point out there’s. You are all awful!

Former British prime minister John Major said that opponents of Putin fall out of windows, but he failed to mention what we’ve done to journalists in Gaza. The centre is only capable of recognising these things when people they don’t like do them. And while we pretend to have a free press in the UK, we see no divergence of opinion when it comes to matters like Ukraine. Our journalists are not allowed to question the national security state. Just ask Julian Assange.

You need to understand our participation in the Ukraine war was based on lies. We spent years building a “kill chain” around Russia and talking of “toppling Putin” and you think this whole thing was unprovoked? We have a recording of Victoria Nuland handpicking the next Ukrainian leader and you think this was about sovereignty? We laughed about the Minsk agreements and kept arming Ukraine and you think we gave a shit about peace? The CIA and MI6 started waging a covert war against Russia in 2014 and you think this began in 2022? Are you joking? Our rulers wanted this fight and now they’re mad because it’s not ending the way they’d hoped, by which I mean it’s ending too soon for their liking.

Ukrainian men don’t want to be thrown into a meat grinder any more than you do, and while neoliberals are shrieking for us to send troops to Ukraine, I’ve not heard one say they would be prepared to pick up a rifle.

Ukrainians are suffering terribly due to this war with many left without central heating during the harsh Ukrainian winter. Their economy has been kept on life support by the US which has been paying the wages of its civil service and army, and that funding was never going to last forever. Why force Ukrainians to fight an unwinnable war against their will if peace is on the cards?

Leaked files showed it was the policy of the UK to keep this conflict going for as long as possible, even if Ukrainians wanted it to end. Even worse, the West never at any point believed this war was winnable, but wanted Ukraine to fight to the last man any way. I don’t know about you, but I find this unforgivable.

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