19Apr2025
Had a discussion about NATO expansion recently. I believed, along with groups like Code Pink, that this was provocative and helped to start the initial invasion of Crimea in 2014 and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. I changed my mind about that a few months later. First, let’s get the Code Pink view. I’ve quoted the full three paragraphs here.
Russian President Putin has stated repeatedly for two decades that this expansion threatens the national security of the Russian Federation. Two NATO members, Latvia and Estonia, border Russia, while other NATO members, such as Poland, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Lithuania, are close neighbors.
In fact, the current CIA director William J. Burns spoke about Russian security concerns in 2008.
He explained that during his time as the U.S. ambassador to Russia he had spoken to Russians from all different political backgrounds and found that NATO expansion was a common security concern that no Russian president could allow to go unaddressed.
Note please, that the viewpoint expressed is exclusively from the Russian perspective. I read a few more versions of this from various outfits and began to wonder why if, when NATO decided to expand Eastward, was so little attention paid to how people in Eastern European countries felt about that expansion?
Some further research uncovered how much each NATO country was contributing to Ukraine. Very interesting map here. The darker the color, the more the country contributed as a percentage of their GNP. The countries that don’t feel there’s a crisis are light. They’re Italy, Spain and Ireland, among a few others. The countries that are in dark are the ones that are very enthusiastic about giving to Ukraine and include Finland, the Baltic States and Poland. The closer you are the more deeply you care.
I don’t believe these states want or ever wanted to go storming into Moscow. I believe they just wish to be protected from Russia. Putin said in 2005 that:
“First and foremost, it is worth acknowledging that the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century. As for the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and countrymen found themselves beyond the fringes of Russian territory.
“The epidemic of collapse has spilled over to Russia itself,” he said, referring to separatist movements such as those in Chechnya.
Please note of course, that former Soviet provinces and former member of the Warsaw Pact have been free to join in on “Let’s get the ol’ gang back together!” None have done so.
UPDATE: Had a conversation with someone who denounced NATO for trying to take in Ukraine as member. I wonder just when that first happened. Oh, turns out Ukraine first applied for membership in 2002! And it wasn’t just a one-time request. Ukraine tried again in 2005 and 2008.
Update II: Putin’s explanation of how a wronged and eternally patient Russia put up with Ukraine’s continual insubordination and irrational hostility. Everything is the fault of Ukrainians and their NATO manipulators and paymasters!
Of course, our President has shown great enthusiasm for supporting his good buddy Putin. Zelenskyy makes his and his country’s position absolutely crystal clear. Ukraine is not willing to surrender ANY territory! Giving up territory to Russia is simply out of the question. Trump’s primary concern? Seems to be the Rare Earths Deal that has not been formalized into a document yet. One would THINK that a President who was genuinely interested in peace would regard a deal that might profit either the US or him personally would be a low priority!
Sadly, both Trump and Russia have agreed, in contrast to Zelenskyy’s and Ukraine’s view, that Crimea is lost to Ukraine and is a Russian province now.
The London Times has a really excellent summary of the situation between Zelenskyy/Ukraine, Trump and Putin/Russia. Ukraine may have to swallow a very bitter pill. There just doesn’t appear to be any alternative to Trump’s very bad, highly unsatisfactory offer. But reading the first part of this post, including the undiminished enthusiasm of Georgians to break Russian control over their country through peaceful, nonviolent means, shows very clearly that Ukraine is far from ready to say the heck with it and to throw in the towel.
Secretary of State Rubio brings up the dilemma of the immigration issue, a dilemma that was first introduced with the “kids in cages” when the first Trump Administration in 2018 “began separating children from their parents at the Mexico border and housing the children temporarily in chain-link enclosures” Essentially, the US can go through the annoyance of “once you come into our country illegally it triggers all kinds of rights that can keep you here indefinitely, and that’s why we were being flooded at the border.” So he and the administration seem to feel that flying all the way over to the other end, fundamentally that of reviving Argentina’s “Dirty War” (1976-1983), where opponents of the military dictatorship were “disappeared,” extra-legally seized and no one ever saw them again.
As the Trump Administration has demonstrated no desire to fix even obvious errors, such as Abrego Garcia, Rubio’s proposed “solution” promises to bring us back to the days of the Spanish Inquisition, where Jewish people, Muslims and Protestants were burned at the stake.
Trump has staffed his administration with yes-men and sycophants. Problem with that is that he loses a bit of touch with reality and is shocked to learn that he’s actually very unpopular. His policies are even more so. Trump and his people pursued Project 2025 with great energy and knew they had to move quickly to succeed. But the Judiciary is beginning to catch up. All in all, things look hopeful!
Update: Medea Benjamin of Code Pink puts out a piece on the war between Russia and Ukraine. Interestingly, like the quote at the top of this piece, Benjamin quotes exclusively from Russian sources. She doesn’t reference any talking points from Finland, the Baltic States or Poland or any other member of NATO. No talking points from Ukraine or from the pro-EU opposition to the pro-Russian government in Georgia. Why is that? My guess is that she’s trying to keep her group’s message simple and straightforward. Her message now is very uncomplicated: “Big, bad, evil NATO is attacking poor, innocent, virtuous Russia.”
The answer, therefore, is very simple. NATO should back off from providing military aid and should open up talks instead. This message is consistent with every other foreign policy situation Code Pink addresses. But on the night of June 29-30, Russia launched
Over 450 drones, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and hypersonic aeroballistic missiles russia launched at Ukraine tonight.
The updated figure was 537. And keep in mind that while Russia does attack military targets, bloggers can always present photos of apartment buildings, individual houses, civilian facilities, etc., that were wrecked and set on fire the night before. So no, Russia is not an innocent, well-meaning, peace-loving nation that’s just trying to live in peace with its neighbors!
A look at the ceasefires President Trump tried to work out between Ukraine and Russia shows that Ukraine was willing to give Trump’s proposals the ol’ college try, but Russia simply wasn’t. Trump has
…been showing signs of frustration over the process, suggesting that he is prepared to “just back away” and allow the fighting to continue if the two leaders can’t make progress soon.
My theory then, as to why Code Pink uses only Russian talking points and ignores anything that the other side might have to say is that they’re trying to keep the story they’re presenting to the public as simple and as straightforward as possible. If they were to bring up the idea that, hey, Ukraine might have very good reason to want military goods and that maybe the West should crank up its military-industrial complex to be on a war footing so that it can supply those goods, ehh, that introduces a lot of unwanted, undesirable complexity into the story that Code Pink is trying to tell.
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