{"id":6350,"date":"2022-01-18T00:35:36","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T00:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepoog.com\/wp\/?p=6350"},"modified":"2022-01-18T00:42:24","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T00:42:24","slug":"fault-line-ukraine-obedience-to-authority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepoog.com\/wp\/2022\/01\/18\/fault-line-ukraine-obedience-to-authority\/","title":{"rendered":"Fault Line: Ukraine; Obedience to Authority"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have written some background information on NATO and the Ukrainian front in The American Empire<\/a>. I have noted from time to time some of the aggressive actions that NATO has taken towards Russia and other countries. Indeed, I view NATO as America’s foreign legion. A key point that I wish to emphasize is that we view NATO and the American Empire as the good guys – that’s us. This bias does not even enter into our consciousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have been programmed from birth that Russia is evil and that Vladimir Putin is an evil dictator repressing his people. Any cyber crime is automatically assigned to Russians. Russia is spoken of as if it is some kind of aggressor trying to take over at least a good part of Eastern Europe. In fact it has only repossessed the Crimea which Khrushchev, a Ukrainian, had given to Ukraine only to administer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want real insight into the situation, imagine what the American response might be if Russia became friendly with Canada and wanted to move troops and armoured divisions or missiles into Southern Ontario … or Cuba. The Ukrainian border is at its closest to Moscow, about 280 miles. This is closer than the Canadian border at Buffalo to Washington DC, about 290 miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for Putin, read the article by Harald Malmgren<\/a> titled “What the West gets wrong about Putin<\/a>” to gain some insight into the man and why the Russians love him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I noted in my article, we are now in a multipolar world and the US is only slightly ahead of Russia and China in military strength (see: 2022 Military Strength Ranking<\/a>). The lower the number means more firepower). Further, as I have noted, Article 5 of the NATO charter – Collective defence – Article 5<\/a> – escalates any kinetic conflict between Russia and any European NATO country, effectively all of Europe, into a world war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NATO policy is determined by the Atlantic Council, a US based think tank that is still fighting the Cold War. More recently they have ramped up pressure on Russia using Ukraine as a pawn. Recent examples of NATO aggression include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n