NO to US Proxy War in Ukraine

by Wyatt Miller, member of the Anti-War Committee, speaking at the MN Peace Action Coalition protest on 5/10/22

The list of escalatory actions the US and NATO have taken toward Russia is too long to list in its entirety. Biden wants $33 billion more for Ukraine. US and other western mercenaries are showing up Ukraine. Weapons are pouring into Ukraine. NATO has doubled its troop presence in Eastern Europe. They’re even talking about deploying NATO troops to non-NATO countries like Sweden to “protect” them. The US is pressuring and sanctioning countries all over the world merely for their non-alignment with either side in the Ukraine conflict. Censorship of independent media is taking place under the auspices of “fighting disinformation.” Nearly everything that the anti-war movement has warned of is coming to pass. Powerful political forces are lobbying for direct NATO involvement in the war in Ukraine.

Nuclear war is absolutely in the cards. I think some people think this is hyperbole. People reassure each other that there’s no way our leaders would let things escalate that far. But we know that’s not how the behemoth that is the US war machine operates! The push toward war is a systemic feature. It’s not decided by any one person but by a whole economy of weapons manufacturers, energy corporations, investment managers, think tanks and lobbyists. The war machine is like a train. It moves by inertia and once it picks up momentum—as we learned with Iraq—it’s really, really hard to stop.

We have to stop it. Many people are confused about the conflict in Ukraine. Many of these people think of themselves as anti-war. The reality is that they are not getting a fair representation of what’s going on from US media, which is boosting every absurd, exaggerated claim from Ukrainian officials and the US State Department, and never go back and report on it when these claims are debunked days or weeks later.

But sooner or later they will have to see that this is the endless war we’ve been warning of. I really think this is inevitable. Do we think anything good, any material benefits, will come out of this war for ordinary people here in the US? NO.  The realities, the material costs, the truth of the war in Ukraine and where it’s heading will eventually, categorically, become undeniable. Sooner or later. But sooner is better! The anti-war movement has to refuse to be demoralized, we have to refuse to be divided, and we have to educate people , fight back against the censorship, and show people that what’s happening in Ukraine, everything our government is doing in Ukraine, is a part of the same US war machine that destroyed Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya; and so many other countries.

We can’t afford to isolate ourselves with the smug knowledge of being right. We have to be patient, we have to be forgiving, we have to understand the unprecedented levels of propaganda and censorship being used. But we have to challenge them that if they really care about occupation, what if we told you there’s an occupation somewhere in the world, that’s been going on for 74 years, 74 years with no respite from the most ruthless, brutal, degrading human rights violations against an entire people, subjected to a racist apartheid system ultimately designed to destroy and displace them as a nation? And with billions of dollars in direct US support every year? There is, it’s called Palestine. I don’t bring this up as petty whataboutism, or even to highlight the US hypocrisy; but because it shows: they don’t really care about things like occupation. They conjure up and utilize outrage when it serves their interests but at their core the US warmongers have no moral qualms whatsoever. And the occupation of Palestine is at the center of their project to dominate west Asia.

We won’t stand back for another attack. We were there when they destroyed Iraq!