If America Can Justify Attacking A Sovereign Country, Why Can’t Russia?

I should say from the outset that I am not a Putin apologist. He is nasty and a killer. However, he is not the first nor the last. However, there is so much one-sided reporting and a failure to appreciate the hypocrisy concerning Russia’s incursion into Ukraine. Have people not heard of the Monroe Doctrine? This was a policy instituted by President Monroe in the 1800s to prevent European powers from spreading their form of colonialism to the Americas.

This policy has been implemented over the years in various forms by the U.S. In all these cases, it was a larger, more powerful country invading or attacking a much smaller sovereign nation.

Bay of Pigs

The U.S. CIA led a covert operation with exiled Cubans to overthrow the Cuban Communist dictator, Fidel Castro, in 1961. It failed miserably on the infamous Bay of Pigs. Why did the U.S. attempt an invasion of a much smaller and weaker country?

Castro came to power by leading a Cuban revolution to overthrow Batista, a corrupt leader. America did not want a communist dictatorship on its doorstep, spreading communist ideology throughout Latin America. That was a pretext for the attempted invasion.

Cuban Missile Crisis

In 1962, the Soviet Union put nuclear missiles on the Caribbean island of Cuba. When U.S. spy planes provided photos of the installations, President Kennedy confronted the Soviets and blockaded the Cuban island. I can still remember all the TV channels pre-empted programming to broadcast Kennedy’s speech live. It was an intense moment with the prospect of a nuclear confrontation. The U.S. was entirely justified in its reaction because having nuclear-tipped missiles aimed at the American mainland was just not acceptable.

In the end, Kruschev, the Soviet leader, relented and agreed to pull his missiles out of Cuba. However, many don’t realize that America gave in by pulling out its rockets from Turkey aimed at the Soviet Union. So it was a win-win situation based on negotiation.

As early as the 1960s, Russia––or the Soviet Union at that time––was sensitive to the western allies under the banner of NATO putting missiles near its border.

Invasion of Grenada

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan ordered an attack on the Caribbean island of Grenada, which was under the leadership of a Marxist government. Reagan felt the American citizens were under threat, so he ordered an island invasion. It only took a week to overthrow the government and install a “democratically” elected government.

So what did we see here? America, a much larger country, attacked a tiny country 4377 kilometres away, not even on America’s doorstep. In fact, Grenada is a close neighbour of Venezuela. Powerful countries like the U.S.––and Russia–– can justify anything because they simply have the power to do so. Sound familiar?

Invasion of Panama

In 1989, under the pretext of Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega’s involvement in drug trafficking, the U.S. invaded this tiny nation. The result was that thousands of civilians were rendered homeless, and several hundred lost their lives.

The Bush administration pursued a unilateral solution via an old-style invasion. Many countries denounced the attack, but President Bush pursued his objective anyway. Once again, the U.S. overstepped the mark by invading a much smaller country with a vastly more powerful military. Sound familiar?

We can argue about whether these actions were justified or not. But we must consider that Russia takes offence to have Nato countries adjacent to its border. Both Poland and Romania—which are not that far away—have sophisticated rockets. Moscow sees this as a further threat. The U.S. and Europeans have been pushing Ukraine to join NATO for some time. Also, for some time, Putin has stated that he will not tolerate hostile elements near his border. To many Russians, eastern Ukraine is considered part of Russia. This may appear irrational; however, both superpowers have not always acted rationally.

The sad part is that it was preventable. If America hadn’t shut off its energy dominance, Russia would be a poor state financially. Suppose the Europeans hadn’t gone so “green” that they became dependent on Russia to meet their energy needs. In that case, Russia would not be in such a powerful position.

Suppose the Americans hadn’t swallowed the Russia hysteria and engaged in face-to-face dialogue. In that case, the carnage may have been avoided. For months, we kept hearing that the Russians intended to attack Ukraine, yet what did the Biden administration do? They projected weakness, and that is a no-no when facing a tyrant.

Let’s remember that Stalin was a mass murderer. His policies caused the starvation of millions of Ukrainians in the 1930s. Yet, Britain and America had to engage with him out of necessity.

We hear more and more war drums today. While both sides appear firmly entrenched, innocent civilians die. That is the ultimate tragedy.

.

.