(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
The war in Ukraine and the humanitarian tragedy shocks, and these emotions can bring out the best and the worst in us. In a Europe and a world where security interests are organized in opposition, perhaps our humanity is the only thing that can unite us. If the starting point is to reduce the suffering of Ukrainians, diplomacy between the conflicting parties can work. But to what extent is our natural humanity something that motivates us to unite, or something that can be manipulated to divide us?
Moralism with strategic interests?
The The Washington Post reports that much of the world outside NATO deem our moral outrage inconsistent, hypocritical and racist. The newspaper refers to Western media coverage where the journalists argue that Ukraine is completely different from Iraq or Afghanistan, as it is "a relatively civilized, relatively European" state. The Washington Post also criticizes that some journalists very openly explain that this war is particularly upsetting because the people fleeing have blond hair and blue eyes.
Why are some victims more worthy than others? Over half a million Iraqi children died as a result of sanctions in the 1990s, and more than a million died in the 2003 invasion – but we didn't close a single McDonald's to punish the US. NATO's destruction of Libya continues to create suffering, and the resulting terrorism has spread throughout Africa. In Yemen, hundreds of thousands have been killed in a US-backed genocide, but these victims hardly deserve a place in the media.
But is it only ethnic groups that matter for the value of sacrifice, or is it driven by cold strategic interests? When the US supported the ethnic cleansing of more than 200 innocent Serbs in Croatia, there was not a single sanction. In Kosovo we were outraged by Albanian victims, but the crimes against the Serbs became a footnote in NATO's illegal attack on a European nation.
Sometimes our humanitarian values disappear overnight. We occupied Afghanistan for 20 years ostensibly to help the Afghans, and when the Taliban took control, we were horrified at how the civilian population would suffer without NATO. The US therefore punished Afghanistan with sanctions which are now leading to a humanitarian disaster in the country – but suddenly we no longer care about the Afghan civilian population. In Ukraine, we did not care about the children and grandmothers who were blown to pieces for eight years, but now our humanity and empathy will be used as a weapon.
Russia-hating with liberal legitimacy
The Russian hatred, which has been covered up behind a liberal facade, is now unleashed. Obama's ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, wrote: “There are no more 'innocent', 'neutral' Russians. Everyone must make a choice – support or oppose this war.” Americans are now suddenly moral advocates, and with theirs moralske slogan, we are now heading down a very dark road.
Russian athletes, writers, chess players, hotel guests and others are to be excluded from the West.
Now 145 million Russian men, women and children are to be driven out into poverty. We do not want to understand Russia. Our morality demands censorship by shutting down Russian TV channels. Russian athletes, writers, chess players, hotel guests and others are to be excluded from the West. American politicians demonize Russian students as "children of rich Russians" and demand that they all be deported. A British politician requires that all Russians to be deported from the UK. Ethnic Russian children who go to school in Norway are informed of how terrible their country is, and leave with their heads bowed.
But Indian Media points out that the rest of the world will not participate in the West's "moral parade» over the war in Ukraine as NATO shares blame for this conflict after ignoring Russian security interests for decades. This does not mean that the world supports Russia's illegal invasion, which is seen as dangerous and destabilizing. After decades of illegal wars and millions of victims, the outside world does not accept the West's moral authority.
In this terrible conflict, Ukrainian victims have become one piece , worm power game. , the Opagandists appeal to the best in our nature – to make us do the worst.
