Well, the Russians finally did what Joe Biden said they were going to do. They have invaded Ukraine...
...except, that they haven't. First, Biden said they would invade on 16 February at 3 AM, with a missile salvo targeting Kiev (Hughes). When that date came and went without incident, the Biden regime changed its tune and said "oops! Uh, we meant 20 February. Yup. That was what we meant the whole time (Withers)." This too came and went with no violence except a car bomb in Donetsk a few days prior (Reimann). Any given Friday in Democrat-ruled Chicago, Mardi Gras in Democrat-ruled New Orleans, or basically any day in a Democrat controlled city during the Democrat-led BLM riots, or the Democrat-led Michael Brown riots, or the Democrat-led Antifa riots, or the Democrat-led OWS riots makes that look tame by comparison. And of course, the Biden Administration (a pack of Democrats) continues insisting "well.. well, okay. So we were proven wrong twice, but we know it's going to happen! ...I mean, eventually (Vazquez, Klein & Liptak)."
Meanwhile, even as Ukraine's Ministers have said "umm... no, the Russian troops on the borders are not sufficient for a full-scale invasion (Lister & guy)," the Biden Administration (let me emphasize this: it is not "the US," it is "the Biden Administration" that is crying in the wilderness) has insisted that Russia had sufficient troops in place for an apocalyptic invasion of Ukraine, which Biden insists will not be aimed at annexing or ruling the country, but some megalomaniacal plot to simply exterminate them (Cooper & Schmitt; Corera).
...Because, you know, killing half the labor force in what is likely already a sympathetic country is the best way to guarantee they stay sympathetic and productive, right?
Well, today is the 22nd of February. And here in Kharkiv, on the Russian border (check the map above), there have been no explosions, no rockets across the sky, no tanks, nothing. What DID happen, a day AFTER the 20th, was a rather anticlimactic speech by Russian president Vladimir Putin (Sky News). In this speech, he recognized the declarations of independence by a pair of breakaway regions in the Southeast corner of Ukraine, on the Russian border. He also signed "treaties of friendship" with both of these new "countries," which guaranteed Russia the right to build military bases within them and guaranteed Russian assistance if they were ever "attacked." Such as, you know, an attack by the Ukrainian government forces seeking to put down the Russian-backed rebellion and reclaim what has always belonged to Ukraine (just like Crimea has). He also rolled Russian tanks and artillery into these regions.
Yes, this is illegal.
Yes, this is a violation of the UN Charter (which prohibits a nation from being formed by breaking away from a member state without said member's consent).
Yes, this is a violation of the Minsk Agreement.
What it is NOT, is a danger to the West.
Nor, frankly, is it a change in the status quo.
If anything, it's a call for recognition of what has already been the status quo.
You see, Russian troops have already BEEN in Donetsk and Lugansk since 2014 and have been in control of the regions since 2016 (SBS Staff)!
I don't like citing Wikipedia because any yutz with an internet connection can edit it and call his opinions "fact," but their article on this subject has 626 sources so I'll go ahead and link it. In short, Putin has not rolled a single Russian vehicle or even left a single Russian boot-print in any part of the country except what has already been under de facto Russian control for six years. The only difference is now the Russian troops leading the rebels can quit pretending to be Ukrainians and put their Russian uniforms back on to make them easier targets. If I were to put it in metaphor, Russia is not raping Ukraine. Russia is admitting they already knocked up Ukraine from 2014 to 2016 and they are now showing up to sue for visitation rights.
In other words, Putin is not invading Ukraine in 2022. Putin is admitting that he ALREADY invaded a slice of Ukraine in 2014, and is basically calling for international recognition of what has already been the reality on the ground for 6 years.
In 1950, when China laid claim to Tibet and launched a genocidal campaign, the UN was told to "accept the reality on the ground" and acknowledge Chinese rule in Tibet. When China laid claim to East Turkestan and launched a genocidal campaign, the UN was told to "accept the reality on the ground" and recognize Chinese rule in what they had renamed as "Xinjiang." When China invaded the Republic of Korea and created the puppet state called the DPRK (North Korea), which is the closest thing one can find to Hell on Earth, the UN was told to "accept the reality on the ground" and recognize the DPRK's existence. But suddenly, when Russia says we should recognize the reality on the ground (namely, that the Russian speaking Russian-descendants living in Eastern Ukraine want to be closer to Russia than to the West), Joe Biden tells us that this is a problem and we should be outraged at Russia?
What I don't understand about the Biden Administration's reaction is "why is this an issue now when it was perfectly fine back when your boss was the president, Joe?" Think about it. Why is it, that the Russian occupation that began under Obama, was not addressed by Obama (or Trump, really), but it suddenly is an issue now? Why is it an outrage when Russia casually shrugs off criticism of their annexation of Russian-speaking territories three hours' drive from the Russian capital, populated by the descendants of Russians relocated there by the Russian-led Soviet government, while the same administration utters not a peep about China's annexation and militarization of the Philippines's Panatag Shoal, or Fiery Cross Reef, or Mischief Reef, or Vietnam's Paracel Islands, or Japan's Senkakkus?
Russia is not committing a crime. They are confessing to a crime they committed 8 years ago, that was acknowledged 6 years ago, and saying it's basically too late to do anything about it. And unless we're willing to go to war with Russia (a war we'd win but at an unimaginable cost), they're right. And we're being told we should be outraged about this, while turning a blind eye to China, whose crimes on a slow day surpass anything in Russian history; Imperial, Soviet or Federal.
See, if Biden (or NATO) was actually serious about pushing back, they have an easy lever they could pull. Sanctions won't do much. Russia's economy is already in shambles. IF they wanted to actually match Putin step-for-step, they could simply say "okay. You want to recognize the independence of Donetsk and Lugansk? Fine. We in turn recognize the independence of Chechnya, and we're going to fast-track their NATO membership." Vladimir Putin would shit plutonium bricks! But that's not going to happen, because the West does not actually give a damn about what is happening in Ukraine (and to be fair, not much IS happening in Ukraine).
There is an inescapable conclusion here. Biden wants a Russo-Ukrainian war. I've already speculated on the reasons for this. I also suspect Biden's Beijing masters want the war to escalate into a Russo-American war, so China (which is too weak to fight Russia or America alone) can pick up the pieces after the two countries ruin each other.
Regardless of who stands to gain or who is pulling the strings, when Biden is more worried about Russians in Ukraine than Ukraine is (after his party ignored the issue for 8 years), something is out of place. If this was about Ukraine, we'd have done something 6 years ago. If this was about international law, we'd have done something 8 years ago. If this was about Russia, we'd play the Chechnya card and the game would be over. No, this is what George Orwell called "the two-minute hate." This is about keeping us focused on the telescreens and staying mad at who we're told to stay mad at, so we won't look where Biden doesn't want us to look. I just want to know what we're being distracted from. I am going to guess it's something that starts with a "C," ends with an "A," does not contain a "U," an "S" or an "R," and rhymes with "China."
Works Cited
Cooper, Helene & Schmitt, Eric. "Russia Is Positioned to Invade All of Ukraine, U.S. Says, but Kyiv Downplays War Talk." New York Times. 28 Jan, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/01/28/world/ukraine-russia-news
Corera, Gordon. "US reveals claims of Russian 'kill list' if Moscow occupies Ukraine." BBC. 21 Feb, 2022. Web. 22 Feb, 2022. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60472889
Hughes, Chris. "Russian invasion of Ukraine set for '3am today' with missiles and tank attack." Mirror. 15 Feb, 2022. Updated 16 Feb, 2022. Web. 22 Feb, 2022. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/breaking-russian-invasion-ukraine-set-26232612
Lister, Tim & Guy, Jack. "Ukrainian Foreign Minister says current Russian troop numbers insufficient for full invasion." CNN. 26 Jan, 2022. Web. 22 Feb, 2022.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/26/europe/ukraine-russia-latest-news-wednesday-intl/index.html
Reimann, Nicholas. "Car Bombing Reported In Separatist East Ukraine Amid Fears Of False Flag Attack To Justify Russian Invasion." Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2022/02/18/car-bombing-reported-in-separatist-east-ukraine-amid-fears-of-false-flag-attack-to-justify-russian-invasion/?sh=7213b75e28b4
SBS News Staff. "Ukraine rebels agree to new indefinite truce." SBS News. 24 Dec, 2016. Web. 22 Feb, 2022. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/ukraine-rebels-agree-to-new-indefinite-truce/yfrx0clzp
Sky News. "In full: Russian President addresses the nation." Youtube. 21 Feb, 2022. Web. 22 Feb, 2022.
Vazquez, Meagan; Liptak, Kevin; & Klein, Betsy. "Biden says he's now convinced Putin has decided to invade Ukraine, but leaves door open for diplomacy." CNN. 19 Feb, 2022. Web. 22 Feb, 2022. https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/18/politics/joe-biden-russia-ukraine/index.html
Withers, Paul. "Watch the date! Key time Putin could launch full-scaled invasion EXPOSED - key clue." Express. 18 Feb, 2022. Web. 22 Feb, 2022. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1568155/russia-news-ukraine-invasion-vladimir-putin-military-drills-exercises