Times of War History Goes Missing
Categories: Historical news
Times of WarHistory Goes Missing
Over thepast six months, much of the reporting on the Ukraine war in the US media hasfailed to acknowledge or even consider anything that happened before February21 of this year. On that date Russian President Vladimir Putin gave alengthy televised discussion on the history of relations between Russia andUkraine. It was clear to attentive observers that an invasion of thelatter by the former was imminent.
By then,despite Putin's protests, history in the region had become irrelevant, if notnon-existent, in the eyes of the American media. Of course, Russian troops werelargely on the border and America expected an invasion, but this can beexplained not by history, but by the unstable personality of the man in theKremlin. The US State Department may be preparing patiently for theinevitable.
In fact,they had been planning the upcoming showdown for decades as they focused on theintegration of Ukraine into the utopian space of the Western world. Thatintegration represented a slow campaign led by a series of US presidents,including two Bushes, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and now JoeBiden.
ForAmericans, who usually hurry because of the belief that time is money, theprocess appears to be comparable to the geological phenomenon of continentaldrift. It may have taken time but it was inevitable, an alien version ofmanifest destiny. Ukraine's drift from the Asian continent to theEuropean continent and its integration into the western region has been goingon - and under US management - since 1991.The historical period to thepublic appeared to be little more than natural earthquakes that alwaysaccompany continental drift.
In otherwords, Putin's history lessons were meaningless, because, as Caesar once said,already, in 1991, was already dead. The Soviet Union was falling apart and, inthe maturity of the times, Russia would face the same fate. The result was thatin the six months following the invasion, all references to history prior tothe fatal date of 24 February were darkened when Russian troops began crossingthe border.