It is difficult to take the moral high ground when it comes to warfare and foreign affairs.
As a nation, our foreign policy is quite hypocritical. We are happy to prop up dictatorships as long those leaders support our strategic aims. At the same time we will call out other countries for doing the same thing.
The bombing of Ukraine is disgusting and has been rightly condemned by nations across the world.
In the past many nations could conceal their motives and aims by allowing certain ‘facts’ to be published or aired.
In the modern age where information is at everyone’s fingertips it is difficult for any country to hide their actions. Yet, leaders across the world continue in this desperate hope to bury news that they don’t like.
In the past weeks we were told over and over again how the Russian invasion of Ukraine might unfold. Western allies were on high alert for any attempts by the Kremlin to create a false pretext for a new war in Europe.
What this means is that they may create a ‘false’ incident which can be used to launch an attack on their ‘enemies’.
That may well be the case but at the same are we really allowed to bring this up? We have in the past used the same tactics to invade smaller nations – most spectacularly during the disastrous Iraq occupation. Do we not remember how large sections of the media were happily sharing news they knew all too well to be false.
Should we really be accusing another country of using tactics that we ourselves are past masters at? That does not mean in any way Russian movements should be ignored.
In the present scenario we have an egotistical Russian leader who is going to great lengths to cause carnage and mayhem in a smaller country. A nation which has a functioning government and one which does not wish to be ruled by Russia. It is in the same manner smaller nations close to the US who have been perceived as a threat for many years, were vilified and targeted.