The Russian point of view

Hello this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday March 4, 2022. I will be talking about the war in Ukraine from a Russian perspective. This is possible, I believe, because one can see the other’s point of view in a conflict without agreeing with the other’s tactics. I would not wish to be seen as supporting the Russian invasion in any way because I don’t. But I want to be free to examine evidence and draw my own conclusions without being told by opinion makers what to think.

How something called Ukraine came to be – while addressing Russian security concerns

This is the 10^th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, so a little history is in order. Thirty-one years ago, the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan,¹ and the Premier or leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, met to discuss a possible deal to allow the Soviet Union, which was financially broke and desperate, to end peacefully, and with dignity. The deal was that the 16 Soviet satellites or colonies would become separate independent countries. East Germany would remain divided, but the wall would come down and then the two countries would be completely integrated.²

Reagan agreed that NATO would not expand beyond its present boundaries at that time. In other words, the Soviet colonies, now freed, would not become part of NATO. No NATO or U.S. troops would be stationed in the Russian borderland countries. Both sides would keep those countries free of offensive missiles. That part of the agreement was later formalized in a treaty to ban intermediate range missiles from that part of Europe. American presidents have denied the authenticity or even existence of the agreement. But Secretary of State James Baker was there, and he took notes. So denial of the deal only adds to the hypocrisy.

Putin takes over from the weak and soused Yeltsin

The deal was made to give the world a sigh of relief from the long, expensive, and very dangerous cold war in which mutually assured destruction was the order of the day. It came after a long series of dour, hardline Russian leaders and ended with the eloquent, Westernized Gorbachev, who was succeeded by the disastrous Boris Yeltsin. President Clinton reportedly took advantage of Yeltsin because of his greed and most of all his alcoholism. NATO began its continual march to the east and to Russia’s border. During that time the U.S. withdrew from the Intermediate Range Missile Ban Treaty and moved missiles to Poland and Romania.

Yeltsin held power for about 10 years and then power was transferred to a former colonel in the KGB European Division, Vladimir Putin.³ Mr. Putin set out to rebuild Russia’s reputation and status as a great nation. His first tactic was to divert a large part of the Russian GDP to modernizing the Russian military. NATO had advanced to the border of Ukraine by that time and there were constant rumors of Ukraine’s joining the NATO treaty. The Nation of Georgia was also a target for NATO expansion. So when it became an open objective Putin invaded and put a stop to it. The West seemed to learn nothing from that event, however.

The Russian Influence Hoax (and Trump wins anyway)

Fast forward to the year 2016 and the American presidential election in which Putin and Russia were accused of interfering in the election on behalf of Donald Trump. For the next four years that was the constant theme of the American media. But the Durham investigation has revealed that the Hillary Clinton campaign instigated the entire hoax. Other than that, it was a complete lie. But I’m sure that Putin was both amused and outraged to be Clinton’s scapegoat.

The Maiden Revolution of 2014

The interesting part of all this and the complete hypocrisy of the American leadership came into view just two years before that. The President of Ukraine was Viktor Yanukovych, pro-Russian and corrupt in the Ukrainian tradition, but nevertheless freely elected. Putin was satisfied with a Russia leaning government, freely elected, but the United States was not satisfied. Protests occurred across the country especially in the capitol of Kiev due to the failing Ukrainian economy. The main square of Kiev was known as Maiden and that is where the protests got the name Maiden Revolution.

I’m not accusing the U.S. of instigating the protests because I don’t know if that happened or not. Yanukovych had the country’s economy in shambles, and it was lagging far behind its neighbors. That is typical for a communist economy as opposed to free market capitalism, so there were legitimate reasons for the protests. The U.S. became the cheerleader of the protests constantly fanning the flames. John McCain, ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee went to Kiev to openly support the protesters. Victoria Nuland, assistant Secretary of State, made many trips there during the protests and during the elections. She reportedly, took cookies for the protestors.

Russian intelligence knew what happened

They discussed in detail their preferences for the post Yanukovych government. This is known because Russian intelligence intercepted the phone calls and emails and released them to the media verbatim. Nuland stated “Yats is the guy” who would be the best candidate referring to the Chosen U.S. candidate Arseniy Yatsenyuk. The U.S. conduct seems more akin to micromanagement than to interference, but Vladimir Putin is not stupid, so he watched while the U.S. installed a pro-Western Government on his most vulnerable border putting the West only 300 miles from Moscow.

For the next 8 years Putin pleaded time and again for a pledge that NATO would not take in Ukraine. By this time Ukraine was openly aligned with the West and asking to enter NATO. The acceptance of new NATO members requires a unanimous decision by all the 30 current members, so the U.S. always used that as an excuse to say no to Putin. Its not our decision it takes everybody, and we don’t control them.

Why the invasion?

Putin once referred to the West as the Empire of Lies because of the 8 years of back and forth over NATO expansion. Finally, he moved into Crimea and retook the Black Sea naval base that had traditionally been Russian for 300 years. Then he moved into the Eastern Russian speaking provinces of Ukraine, and finally he moved the equivalent of 10 infantry divisions plus armor and artillery to the Ukrainian border. Ten days ago, he invaded and I’m sure he was surprised at the tenacity of the Ukrainian resistance plus the heroic gallantry of their soldiers and civilians.

Why now? Why invade at this moment? In Putin’s 2018 State of The Union address he presented all the new Russian military weapons that the West did not have at that time. Weapons such as the hypersonic missile capable of carrying conventional and nuclear warheads. While the U.S. was building new supercarriers, the Russians were developing missiles to counter them. The point is that he was sending we’re back messages to the West, but Western politicians and media were apparently not listening.

Biden the dotard

Putin sees the same videos we see. The ones exacerbating Biden’s obvious mental decline. The ones with Kamala Harris acting like a nervous schoolgirl, and the ones showing the mental decline of Nancy Pelosi. That is the president and the next two in line for the presidency. In other words, he was given clear evidence that the U.S has weak and ineffective leadership and so would not act. Don’t forget America’s defeat and humiliating retreat from Afghanistan, abandoning citizens and allies alike.

Just after the 2020 election when Biden was asked if he though Putin was a killer and he said yes, Putin and the Russian people were listening. That comment didn’t garner much attention in the Western Media, but on Russia Today it was very important. It was an insult to the Russian people and to their president personally. The story about the time he told Putin, “I’ve looked in your eyes and you have no soul” didn’t help either.

The American and the Russian experience with invasions

The West had many chances to avoid conflict starting with the agreement itself. The election in which the U.S. had to install a pro-Western government on Russia’s border and finally the refusal to pledge no more expansion of NATO, all help to explain it. We might just add that as any U.S. President might say, if a country must be invaded, I’ll do it. Ukraine good, Russia bad, Grenada, Panama, Nicaragua, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, all good. You may notice that I left out Korea and Vietnam. That is because we were invited there as we commonly are. I am surprised that Putin didn’t set up a Ukrainian government in exile so he could be invited. Is Putin a war criminal? Perhaps, but if so, then so are a succession of American presidents.

Ignoring legitimate Russian security concerns

Russians tried to convince the West that for the world to have security, all parties had to feel secure, but the West just didn’t get it or didn’t care. Russia did not feel secure, and Putin refused to continue to be insecure. This led to all the accusations in the American media of false flag attacks to justify invasion etc. This information is public knowledge because Russia released most of it, but it takes some digging since we in the U.S. only get the news the mainstream wants us to see and hear. The meetings and leaked information point to the fact that the U.S. knew the invasion was on as Biden assured us many times, but still made no effort to resolve it through dialogue and diplomacy.

Putin explained that the situation with Ukraine was so threatening that it was unacceptable. Still, no one in the West seemed to be listening. The cold war in some ways was more stable than what we have now. The two sides understood the danger and tried to do things and have agreements that reduced tensions and kept things more stable. Today, however, things have changed, and Washington has changed. The 20th century part of the cold war contained efforts to find mutual security through arms control. But that is all disavowed now by the U.S. withdrawal from most of the treaties.

The danger of escalation

The U.S. position now seems to be one of you must accept lower tier status because we are a great power, and you are not. No nation with 6000 nuclear weapons can be treated like a third-rate vassal and Russia is no exception. Presidents and their advisors during the cold war were constantly on the look for any nuance of consequences in Russia speak. For example, Putin’s dire Consequence’s warning got no heed from the American government, as it would have during the cold war.

My greatest fear in all this is escalation which has been war-gamed many times by both sides. A conventional war between Russia, China, and the U.S. with NATO as a partner would not be a pretty thing. But would it stop there? No nation is going to lose a war with missiles still in their silos so nuclear annihilation is a foregone conclusion, especially when the missiles are mixed with narcissistic egos of today’s leaders. It doesn’t have to be that way because Russia wants a security agreement, and it is not willing to settle for less. To me that seems like not too much to expect.

Western decadence

The State of the Union Speech this week was all about Ukraine. Flags and banners adorned the House and even the clothes of the courtiers. They always revel in telling us what to think and what to believe despite the evidence. The war kept most in a mood to listen to him. But he didn’t spend too much time on the actual state of the union, and it is obvious why. President Biden doesn’t have to wait for Vladimir Putin to destroy Western Civilization because we have done a bang-up job of that ourselves. In fact, the entire West will not be much of a problem for Mr. Putin much longer unless changes are made and fast.

The West is collapsing from its own moral degeneracy and self-hate. I’ll defer to Paul Craig Roberts for an explanation.

The West dishonors its founders, its heroes. The West tears down its own historical monuments, blacklists its own classic literature, teaches hatred of itself in its own universities and public schools, and now has created two powerful enemies. The West rejects its values. It has no morals, no respect for truth. The government has trampled the Constitution into the dirt. As the U.S. is the Constitution, the U.S. has trampled itself into the dirt. The law schools are silent or encouraging of the destruction. As the rest of the West is American empire, all goes down with the U.S.

Actions have consequences

Sanctions may seem like a harmless way to meddle in the affairs of others. But actions have consequences, and we will have to wait and see what they are. I am afraid that the shutting off of people’s money, people who are just Russian, is an introduction, as is Canada, to the play our game or you don’t play, that is our future.

Finally, folks, an old maxim of marketing is love me or hate me because there is no money in the middle. I’m giving the other side of a struggle that the mainstream tells us has no other side.

At least that’s the way I see it.

Until next time folks,

This is Darrell Castle.

From castlereport.us, appearing by permission

Editor’s Notes

1 Ronald Reagan was no longer President when, in 1991, the year the deal finally took effect. The actual meeting took place three years earlier, in 1988.

2 On November 9, 1990, the very anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Berlin Wall did indeed fall.

3 The following YouTube videos of the popular song for female vocals, A Man Like Putin, illustrates popular Russian attitudes better than can anything else. Indeed, Boris Yeltsin was the boyfriend who got in trouble, got drunk, and had his people chase him away. The lyrics, and the English subtitles, speak for themselves.