In one of the seemingly endless and vacuous TV Leaders debates and interviews, Nigel Farage has, again, done what he always sets out to do, which is to draw attention to himself, by challenging the established narrative of the “establishment”, and its main parties – Tory and Labour. He did so, on this occasion, by pointing out what any honest observer of events already knew, which is that NATO provoked Putin into the invasion of Ukraine.
I was going to say that anyone who draws attention to this fact is automatically branded an apologist of Putin, but that is not the case. Blair-right, former Secretary-General of NATO, George Robertson, also admitted that NATO had goaded Putin into the invasion of Ukraine. It would clearly have been hard to accuse him of being a Putin apologist, but the fact that he, also, drew attention to this fact illustrates that the two things are not the same. Moreover, Robertson did not draw, from his observation of this fact, the conclusion that Putin's invasion of Ukraine was, therefore, justified. Again, these two things are not the same, and one does not flow immediately from the other.
As Trotsky points out, Lenin noted that prior to WWI, the dominant imperialist powers – Britain, France and Russia – had similarly goaded Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey into war. The former had been building up their armies and weaponry, ready for a war, and snapping at the heels of their adversary. Given the way that capitalism/imperialism works, therefore, it was no surprise that the latter, did not wait to be attacked. In those terms, that attack was “justified”, but that didn't mean that socialists had to support it.
“Imperialism camouflages its own peculiar aims – seizure of colonies, markets, sources of raw material, spheres of influence – with such ideas as “safeguarding peace against the aggressors,” “defence of the fatherland,” “defence of democracy,” etc. These ideas are false through and through. It is the duty of every socialist not to support them but, on the contrary, to unmask them before the people. “The question of which group delivered the first military blow or first declare war,” wrote Lenin in March 1915, “has no importance whatever in determining the tactics of socialists. Phrases about the defence of the fatherland, repelling invasion by the enemy, conducting a defensive war, etc., are on both sides a complete deception of the people.” “For decades,” explained Lenin, “three bandits (the bourgeoisie and governments of England, Russia, and France) armed themselves to despoil Germany. Is it surprising that the two bandits (Germany and Austria-Hungary) launched an attack before the three bandits succeeded in obtaining the new knives they had ordered?””
In fact, back in 2008, following the ethic cleaning committed by the western backed Saakashvilli, in Georgia, and subsequent invasion of South Ossetia, by Russian forces, to end it, I wrote about the interview, on Newsnight of former Yeltsin Advisor, Alexander Nekrasov, who commented that, if a repetition of that week's conflict, in Georgia, arose in Ukraine, after Ukraine had joined NATO, then this would mean World War III. Interestingly, it was in response to this post that I was contacted, by Paul Mason. Reading the description of the ethnic cleansing in South Ossetia, by the western backed Georgian regime, its notable how it resembles the genocide being committed by the western backed Zionist regime against Palestinians, today. The description of what might happen in Ukraine, if a similar pattern of what had happened in Georgia/South Ossetia happened, is pretty much exactly what has happened in Ukraine, since 2014. Some of the comments, to that post including from the US, are also interesting.
The fact, however, that simply stating what is fairly obviously true, as Robertson had noted, that NATO goaded Russia into the invasion, does not, of itself, make Farage an apologist of Putin, also does not mean that he isn't!!! As the saying goes, just because your paranoid, it doesn't mean the state isn't watching you. The fact that the Tories and the media have drawn this simplistic link – as they do with anyone who challenges the established narrative – is simply a reflection of the degeneration of the political culture, in which we are asked to accept that there is always only a choice between one of two evils, in this case, either you back NATO/Ukrainian imperialism, or you back Russian imperialism, just as workers were told they could back British/French/US/Russian/Italian imperialism or German/Austrian/Turkish imperialism, in WWI, and British/French/US imperialism or German/Italian imperialism in WWII.
In WWI, as Lenin describes above, the gloss was added to this that the former were defending the fatherland, democracy and so on, presenting Germany, and the Kaiser, as a threat to such democracy – whilst the western allies not only denied democracy and freedom to millions of colonial slaves, and included in their ranks the brutal, Asiatic despotism of Tsarist Russia. In WWII, that narrative was only slightly changed, claiming the same defence of the fatherland and of democracy, but now with the lie that this was a war against fascism, the same fascism that those western states had welcomed, when it arose, in the 1920's and 30's, to smash down the workers' in Italy and Germany, and acted to threaten the workers' state in the USSR! For all of that time, from the 1920's and 30's, not only did the same denial of freedom and democracy to millions of British, French, Belgian and other colonial slaves continue, but the anti-Semitism that was also added as a cause upon which the war was fought, by those allies, also ran rife through the ruling classes of the US, Britain, France and so on. Churchill himself was a well known anti-Semite, along with the rest of his grotesque, racist and colonialist beliefs.
This facile insistence of a choice of one of two lesser-evils, of course, suits ruling classes, because, on each side of this dichotomy, the respective ruling classes present themselves as the “good guys”. Their own appeals to defend the fatherland, to patriotism, and use of the media, and all the other panoply of the ideological arms of the state, enable them to achieve that. Go to Russia, and you will find that a large majority of the population believe the nonsense that Putin and his regime pump out, just as in Nazi Germany, a large majority of the population, even of those that had opposed Hitler and the Nazis, needed little convincing that they were under immediate threat from western powers, and that they had to “rally around the flag”. The fact that “socialists”, and “communists”, then and now, associated themselves with their own ruling classes, facilitated that narrative by, then, Hitler, and, now, Putin. As Trotsky put it,
“The democracies of the Versailles Entente helped the victory of Hitler by their vile oppression of defeated Germany. Now the lackeys of democratic imperialism of the Second and Third Internationals are helping with all their might the further strengthening of Hitler's regime. Really, what would a military bloc of imperialist democracies against Hitler mean? A new edition of the Versailles chains, even more heavy, bloody, and intolerable. Naturally, not a single German worker wants this. To throw off Hitler by revolution is one thing; to strangle Germany by an imperialist war is quite another. The howling of the "pacifist" jackals of democratic imperialism is therefore the best accompaniment to Hitler's speeches. "You see," he says to the German people, "even socialists and Communists of all enemy countries support their army and their diplomacy; if you will not rally around me, your leader, you are threatened with doom!" Stalin, the lackey of democratic imperialism, and all the lackeys of Stalin —Jouhaux, Toledano, and Company — are the best aides of Hitler in deceiving, lulling, and intimidating the German workers.”
(Phrases and Reality)
Everywhere you look, this same ridiculous presentation of a choice between two evils prevails whether it is a choice between the zombie-like Biden or the moronic fascistic Trump, the genocidal Zionist regime, or the Islamo-fascist Hamas, the Brexitory Sunak, or the Brexitory Starmer, the anti-working class Macron, or the anti-working class Le Pen. But, the reality is that workers do not have to accept that these grotesquely horrible options are the only ones they can choose.
Farage made the comment in relation to Ukraine, not because, it is a fact, as previously established by George Robertson, but, because it has, again, given him the headlines he relishes. As with his proposal for a £20,000 Income Tax threshold, the purpose is also to expose and put on the spot the main parties. But, as with that proposal, as I set out, previously, the fact its designed for that purpose, does not mean that its content is not valid. And, the two things are related. The main parties as they have talked about “inflation”, and a cost of living crisis, have tried to excuse their own culpability for it, by claiming that it was all the fault of Putin, and the invasion of Ukraine, but that is nonsense.
Inflation is the result of years of excess currency being pumped into the economy to push up asset prices – shares, bonds, houses/property/land – and specifically, in order to finance the furlough and other income replacement schemes made necessary by the imposition of the ridiculous lockdowns. Sunak was the architect of those furlough payments, but it was Starmer and Blue Labour that was most insistent on the implementation of the ridiculous lockdowns of the economy that made those payments necessary!
As for the sharp rise in energy and food prices, that resulted not from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but from the UK and EU's decision, under instruction from NATO, to boycott Russian oil and gas, supplemented by the US's blowing up of the Nordstream pipelines, just in case a cold Winter had caused Europeans to change their minds! The rise in food prices was a result both of the rise in gas prices that flowed from that, because the gas is used to produce fertiliser, but also from the fact that Russia is by far the largest exporter of grain, and western sanctions on it, prevented a large part of those exports, pushing up global food prices. So, by making his factual point, Farage also draws attention to the fact that the cost of living crisis, and the hit to the economy – though it is even more apparent in the EU – is, itself, also, a consequence of the policies pursued by the Tories and by Blue Labour.
Of course, what Farage does not say, is that an even bigger hit to the UK economy, and to the living standards of workers, in Britain, is the Brexit that he championed. As I wrote at the time, the connections between Farage and Putin, on that score, were again, rather clear. But, the sensationalist media were, of course, keen to get ratings by having him on their screens and filling their pages, at every opportunity, and so paid little attention to those links. Moreover, it was not just Farage that had those links with Putin. As I wrote, then, the reactionary Brexit supporting wing of the Tories, also had those close links with Putin, just as they had with Trump, who, in turn, had those links with Putin.
Putin's aim in supporting Brexit, as with his support for Le Pen, and other nationalists across the EU, is to weaken the EU, or, if possible, break it up, because that removes a large imperialist bloc on Russia's borders, thereby, relatively strengthening the position of the Russia/China/BRICS imperialist bloc. But, in attacking Farage as a Putin apologist, the Tories also open up these old wounds of their own support for Brexit, and links to Russia, especially as they continue to push that damaging Brexit.
And, of course, it is not just the Tories. There were right-wing, nationalist Labour MP's that were part of Farage and Boris Johnson's “Leave” coalition also, and, now, Starmer is Brexiter in chief, as his reactionary Blue Labour proclaims that it will NEVER re-join the EU, or the Single Market, and so on, despite the terrible damage that is doing to the UK economy, and to British workers. In continuing to push that line, which even the clear majority of the British electorate reject, Starmer is, himself, not just insisting on damaging the economy, and the interests of workers, but is also doing the work of Putin, in weakening the EU!
And, of course, the more you draw these connections, the more the shifting alliances of various sections of the global ruling class, and of its factions appear. Starmer, of course, has continued to support and apologise for the genocide being committed by the Zionist regime in Israel, but who are also the backers of Netanyahu – Putin and Trump! Indeed, as Trump looks set to replace the walking dead regime of Biden, Blue Labour's David Lammy, who is lined up as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, has been led to claim that Trump is not a racist, and is misunderstood!
This is the cesspit that politics has become, and we are asked to choose between one turd or another.
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