The Media's Neo-McCarthyism on Russia Is Getting Worse

[Uncle Joe]

After weeks on the sidelines, Bernie Sanders and other progressives are taking a forceful stand on the Ukraine crisis. They’re navigating a dangerous climate created by mainstream media — including liberal outlet MSNBC — that casts antiwar opinion as disloyalty.

Yesterday, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) weighed in on the standoff in Ukraine with the most comprehensive stance he’s taken on the conflict so far. Liberals, progressives, and socialists should all pay attention.

Writing in the Guardian, Sanders places the blame for the crisis firmly at the feet of the “liar and demagogue” Vladimir Putin and his “gang of oligarchs,” but makes clear his unease with the “familiar drumbeats in Washington” and the “simplistic refusal to recognize the complex roots of the tensions in the region.” Pointing to not just the devastating potential of war in the region, but the ruinous ripple effects that even just imposing sanctions would have on ordinary people in Russia and throughout the world, he urges all parties to “work hard to achieve a realistic and mutually agreeable resolution” — starting with taking seriously the “legitimate concerns” in Moscow about NATO’s eastward expansion.

“To put it simply, even if Russia was not ruled by a corrupt authoritarian leader like Vladimir Putin, Russia, like the United States, would still have an interest in the security policies of its neighbors,” Sanders writes. “Does anyone really believe that the United States would not have something to say if, for example, Mexico was to form a military alliance with a US adversary?”

(snip)

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2022/02/neo-mccarthyism-russia-ukraine-bernie-sanders-putin-media

[rso]

1. Ukraine

This entirely neglects the fact that if Putin is allowed to take Ukraine with no severe consequences, he will not stop with Ukraine. Let’s not repeat Neville Chamberlain’s foolish diplomacy.

[OnDoutside]

6. 100% agree.

[marie999]

8. Putin does not want to invade Ukraine. The cost is too high.

[rso]

9. Ukraine

If so, that is great news.

[TheRealNorth]

2. Why is it neo-McCarthyism?

It's one thing to be a pacifist and oppose war no matter what or unless you yourself are under attack. But some of us view Ukraine in a manner similar to the Anschluss or Sudetenland. Putin won't stop with the Ukraine if he gets away with it.

And McCarthyism was mostly focused on accusing US citizens with being Communists and/or Russian agents. If people oppose a war with Russia because of pacifist beliefs or because they naively think Putin will stop there, then I somewhat agree that I wouldn't call that being disloyal. But I think there are some on the right that want to undermine the US response because they want to see Biden fail no matter what the costs.

[The Magistrate]

3. Those Fellas Are Comedic Genii, Sir, They'll Put the Onion Out Of Business

First, there is no 'anti-war' element here because there is no 'pro-war' element, save in Moscow.

Second, not one argument advanced by Russia would be countenanced for a moment by these people if it were advanced by the United States in regards to Venezuela or Bolivia.

[marie999]

4. If NATO would put it in writing that Ukraine cannot become a member of NATO,

Putin will not invade Ukraine. The cost would be too great. If Ukraine does join NATO, Russia and Belarus would not have a choice, they would have to invade Ukraine and probably the Baltic countries too. Russia and Belarus can not allow their enemy to have a 3,322-mile border with them. Russia distrusts NATO as much as NATO distrusts Russia. Something has to be done soon. Russia and Belarus are already having joint air force drills using TU-22M3 Russian bombers with nuclear capabilities and they are in discussions on placing Russian nukes in Belarus since the US has nukes in 5 NATO countries. This is not the same as having nukes in Cuba. As I remember it the US promised to pull its nukes out of Turkey if Russia pulled its nukes out of Cuba. Now the US has put back nukes in Turkey.

[OnDoutside]

5. How about Russia hands back stolen Crimea first as a gesture of goodwill ?

Or does this vicious thug get a pass on that one ?

[marie999]

7. Not going to happen. He has already proved no other nation cares about Crimea.

[OnDoutside]

14. So, your solution is to give in to him ? And what happens when he

then invades Ukraine completely ? Ukraine is entitled to be a free independent nation without the threat of the North Korea of the west terrorising them.

[marie999]

16. Russia will not invade Ukraine as long as it isn't about to join NATO.

The cost is too high and the Ukrainians are better equipped than they were when Russia invaded Crimea. I don't think that Ukraine will even be asked to join NATO. It only takes one no-vote to keep it out.

[RussBLib]

17. so you trust Putin

seems like a fools errand to me.

[marie999]

18. Of course not.

I don't trust any government. Biden is a good president but he is not the whole government.

[rso]

11. Ukraine

Western leaders, including Biden, have already publicly stated that Ukraine is not ready to join NATO and won’t be for some time. However, for them to declare that NATO membership is totally closed to Ukraine now or in the future, is to totally capitulate to Putin the thug, and that is a non-starter.

[OnDoutside]

15. Well said.

[Effete Snob]

12. So Ukraine cannot decide what they want to do

Who gives a Fuck what Russia thinks about a sovereign nation deciding to join an alliance.

You seem to not believe that Ukraine is an independent sovereign country with a right of self determination.

[Uncle Joe]

13. That's the moral cost for our own support of coups,

belief in "spheres of influence," strong aversion to World War III in particular and other war in general.

The only right of self-determination is democracy, not membership in NATO.

[Effete Snob]

19. WTF?

I'd like to understand this.

If the people of Ukraine, through their democratically-elected representatives, want to join an international alliance - be it NATO, the EU, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, or whatever else...

Then it is your view that because the US has historically done bad things, that Ukraine cannot do what other democratic countries in the region have done?

[Uncle Joe]

20. Ukraine has the fundamental right to democracy and be their own nation, they don't

have an inherent right to join NATO unless NATO allows them to.

Finland is a democracy on Russia's border and they're not a member of NATO, so that kind of scenario is not unknown to exist.

Furthermore, fundamentally the people of Earth have a right to democracy, self-determination and peace, pushing the world's premier military alliance up to the borders of Russia only serves to threaten all of that.

Let there be space.

[Effete Snob]

10. No sale /nt