Perceptions

By Gerry Warner

Will it hold? Apparently not as bloodshed and carnage continue in the Ukraine despite heroic efforts by the leaders of Germany and France to stop it.

But the shaky agreement crafted last week by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande appears to be falling apart this week, as have all the other attempts at peacekeeping before it.

And who’s the bad guy in this piece like Hitler was in the Second World War? Most would say Vladimir Putin, the former KGB head and current, for all intents and purposes, Tsar of Russia, intent on resurrecting the former glories of the Soviet Union. And there’s a lot of truth in this because Putin is clearly a nasty piece of work and a cunning leader to boot.

But there’s also another actor in this ugly conflict that threatens to spread far beyond the battered borders of the Ukraine. Most would not call him a villain, but he’s certainly no angel considering his ironic role in the conflict. And who is this, you ask? None other than former Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of the most powerful country in the world. Yes, that guy – US President Barack Obama, who never seems able to resist the opportunity to inject US force into a dispute no matter how far that dispute is from American shores.

In this case, Obama has offered to supply Ukrainian President Petro Proshenko, as corrupt a leader as can be found anywhere, with “improved equipment” so that he can slaughter his countrymen more effectively. Surely not the kind of offer you’d expect from a Nobel Laureate? But that’s what Obama did and they call Putin the “villain.”

Maybe in his heart, Obama want to pursue peace, but he’s just a pawn in the clutches of the Military Industrial Complex, the sinister force former U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower warned Americans about shortly after the Second World War.

And when you consider the American military and the industries that supply it have bombed 25 countries since the end of the Second World War (Global Research Newsletter May 4, 2011) the only conclusion you can come to is that the US is a bellicose country that doesn’t yet realize you don’t promote peace by constantly waging war.

Surely there’s a pattern here? A pattern that’s never going to bring about “peace.”

Chancellor Merkel clearly sees the pattern. That’s why she and Hollande met with Proshenko and Putin in Minsk last week and crafted an agreement to stop the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine where most of the fighting is taking place.

And what was driving Merkel and Hollande to make this singular deal with the devil? Not the fact that Putin is clearly supporting the Ukrainian separatists that want to re-join Mother Russia, but the fact that Obama is following the standard American peace making script – praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!

That’s like trying to douse a fire with gasoline and Merkel made this stingingly clear to Obama with her extraordinary rebuke to the world’s most powerful leader.

“I cannot imagine a situation in which improved equipment for the Ukrainian Army leads to President Putin being so impressed that he believes he will lose militarily,” she said.

Zap! That was the most impressive putdown delivered by a world leader against an American president in recent history and it made Obama look like the naïve, boy scout, leader he manifestly is and the US itself the Big Bad Bully always thinking it can solve any problem by force and failing every time it tries – whether it’s Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan or the dozens of other countries it has dropped bombs on over the years.

My advice to the president comes from John Lennon – “give peace a chance!”

– Gerry Warner is a retired journalist who calls Cranbrook home.

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