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Revisiting Russia: US/NATO led Ukraine War through a Geopolitical Lens (7/10/23) (Part 2/2)

·23 min

Mike Whitney, an investigative journalist, joins the show to analyze the geopolitical causes and current state of the Russia-Ukraine war. This second part of the interview focuses on the events immediately preceding the invasion and the broader strategic context. Whitney asserts that Russia presented reasonable security demands to the US and NATO in December 2021, including limits on missile deployments and NATO expansion. He cites the OSCE's monitoring of over 2,000 artillery shells fired into ethnic Russian areas of the Donbas in the week before the invasion as a key proximate cause. The host notes that pre-invasion civilian deaths in the Donbas since 2014 exceeded 14,000, a figure he says is omitted from US media coverage. Whitney argues Ukraine had become a de facto NATO member through extensive joint military drills, arms provisions, and training in the years before the conflict. He draws a historical parallel to the US oil embargo on Japan before Pearl Harbor, suggesting Russia was similarly cornered. The host outlines a sequence of US treaty withdrawals, from the ABM Treaty in 2001 to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019, alongside NATO's eastward expansion. He references the 2008 Bucharest Summit declaration on Ukraine's NATO aspirations and former Ambassador William Burns's warning that this was a Russian "red line." A striking analogy compares the situation to a million American expatriates in Tijuana coming under artillery fire from a hostile Mexican government. Whitney claims 80% of the world's population does not support sanctions on Russia, viewing the conflict through the lens of past US interventions. He presents battlefield casualty ratios favoring Russia at 5-to-1 or even 8-to-1, describing Ukraine's counteroffensive as an "unwinnable" effort. The discussion turns to potential false-flag events, referencing Seymour Hersh's reporting blaming the US for the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage. Whitney suggests Ukraine, not Russia, had greater motive to destroy the Kakhovka Dam, as it was a Russian-controlled asset. On the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, he notes the IAEA found no evidence of Russian mining, contradicting claims by President Zelenskyy. He connects US Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal's statements on activating NATO Article 5 to potential escalation at the facility. The tone is analytical and deeply critical of US foreign policy, framing the war as a predictable outcome of deliberate provocations. The style is a dense, fact-driven conversation between a host and an expert, aiming to debunk mainstream narratives. Listeners interested in alternative geopolitical perspectives and critiques of US media coverage will find this episode compelling. Those seeking analysis supportive of Ukraine or NATO's strategic decisions will likely disagree with its foundational premises.

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