Why you need to stop criticising Putin’s “Special Military Operation”
Westerners — and especially Americans — have no right to criticise something that they themselves do on a regular basis.
I have many friends in the West who criticise and condemn Putin’s characterisation of the Ukraine conflict as a “Special Military Operation”. They say that this is a poor attempt at propaganda, and that what Russia did in February 2022 was actually a “full-scale invasion”.
This is RIDICULOUS.
Not a “full-scale invasion”
Firstly, let us acknowledge that when Putin launched his SMO, he crossed the border with only 150,000 men. This represented about 20% of the Russian Army at that time.
Hardly a “full-scale” effort.
Moreover, any military expert can tell you that this number of troops would be woefully insufficient to “conquer” a country the size of Ukraine. Indeed, a force of that size would not even be able to maintain comntrol of Kiev!
By way of comparison, it should be noted that when Hitler launched a “full-scale invasion” of Poland (a much smaller country), he did so with 1.5 million men.
Prepared for a parade, not a fight
As Russian troops withdrew from Kiev, reports started coming in that Russian soldiers had packed not for battle, but for a parade. In fact, Business Insider quotes a Ukrainian military official saying: “We also find some parade uniforms there, so they expected to get Kyiv in two days and then have a parade here”.
These facts point to the obvious: Putin did not consider himself to be “invading” Ukraine, nor did he intend to conquer and subjugate Ukraine. Indeed, the force he deployed in February 2022 was only 10% of what he would have needed to occupy Ukraine.
What was Putin’s plan?
So if conquest was not the plan, what did Putin hope to accomplish with his “Special Military Operation”?
The answer, based on what we now know, is obvious: Putin did not want to “conquer” Ukraine; rather, he wanted to force Ukraine to the negotiating table and convince the Ukrainians to sign a peace treaty on which they would confirm the perpetual “neutrality” that was written into the Ukrainian constitution.
In short, they would promise never to join NATO, and would agree to expel all NATO forces and installations from Ukrainian territory.
This was Putin’s plan — and it ALMOST SUCCEEDED.
The peace plan that almost was
Many westerners are completely unaware that Zelensky was prepared in March 2022 to strike a peace deal with Putin that would guarantee Ukrainian neutrality — even though it was widely reported at the tim, even in Western outlets.
The Russian-Ukrainian peace talks started in late February, shortly after Russia had crossed the border into Ukraine. The two sides met in Istanbul March 29 to enter what The New York Times said was a “new phase” of negotiations:
After more than a month of talks — first in person in Belarus, then in recent weeks by video link — the diplomacy between Ukraine and Russia running in parallel to their war entered a new phase on Tuesday. The fact that the negotiations had become more serious was reflected in the setting, the palace where Mr. Erdogan — who has maintained ties with both Moscow and Kyiv — often holds major government events when in Istanbul.
The series of peace talks started in March 2022 in Belarus, and seemed to be moving towards a resolution of the conflict:
Oleksiy Arestovich, an adviser to the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, wrote on social media:
“I think that no later than in May, early May, we should have a peace agreement, maybe much earlier, we will see, I am talking about the latest possible dates”.
The successful Belarus meetings were followed by meetings in Istanbul, where the two sides agreed a draft comprehensive agreement.
Russia topped off the meeting in Istanbul by offering to withdraw their forces from Kyiv and other places as an immediate “good will gesture”.
For their part, Ukraine had agreed to forever forego joining NATO. As the Times reported:
Ukraine proposed adopting neutral status and a 15-year consultation period on the future of Russian-occupied Crimea as long as a complete ceasefire with Russian forces is agreed, negotiators said at the conclusion of peace talks in Istanbul on Tuesday.
Johnson scuttles the peace deal
Yes, it seemed for a few precious days that “peace would break out” in Ukraine.
Then Boris Johnson arrived.
Ukrayinska Pravda (Ukrainian Pravda), reported that Johnson arrived suddenly, “without warning” on April 9, swooping down like some perverse deus ex machina to kill the infant peace deal in its crib.
A close associate of Zelensky described Johnson’s meeting with the Ukrainian President as follows:
“Johnson brought two simple messages to Kyiv: Putin is a war criminal, he should be suppressed, not negotiated with. And secondly, if you are ready to sign any agreements on guarantees with him, then we are not”.
The UP article continues:
Johnson’s position was that the collective West, which back in February had suggested Zelenskyy should surrender and flee, now felt that Putin was not really as powerful as they had previously imagined.
After Johnson’s intervention, according to the article, there was no chance of peace talks progressing.
The SMO is also a “regime change” operation
In addition to guaranteeing the perpetual neutrality of Ukraine, the Ukrainians also agreed to “de-Nazify” their government. We know now what this means, thanks to Putin’s interview with Tucker Carlson.
What will “de-Nazification” look like in post-war Ukraine?
Thanks to the interview, we now know what the Russian President means by “de-Nazification”.
As Putin explained, the scope and methodology of the de-Nazification process “can be handled as part of the negotiations”, and indeed formed part of the agreement that was initialed in Istanbul.
This will mean:
Purging the Ukrainian government of all Nazi and ultranationalist elements;
Outlawing the practice of Nazism and the use of Nazi slogans and symbols;
Prohibiting Nazis and ultranationalists from running for election;
Prohibiting the worship and exaltation of Nazi heroes such as Stepan Bandera.
So, in addition to demilitarising Ukraine, Putin also wanted to effect a sort of “regime change” to remove the Banderite Nazis from positions of power within the government, and — essentially — reverse the changes that were imposed on Ukraine by the US and its Western allies throiugh the Maidan Coup of 2014.
Taking a page from the American playbook
It is a sign of the supreme arrogance of the West — and especially the Americans — that they cannot see Putin’s SMO for what it is — namely, a re-enactment of what the USA has done so often: launching a “special military operation” to effect regime change and pre-empt a general threat, while avoiding the encumbrances and legal jeopardy thjat a full on delaration of war would imply.
Why an “operation”?
Many Westerners ridicule the term “Special Military Operation”, saying that it is just a propaganda term, and what Russia is doing in Ukraine is actually a full-scale war.
I would submit that Putin got this idea from the US. After all:
The 1991 Gulf War was not a “war”, since only Congress can declare war. For this reason the American invasion was called “Operation Desert Storm”.
The Afghanistan invasion in 2001 was also not a “war” — rather, it was a SMO called “Operation Enduring Freedom”.
Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 was also not a war, instead it was “Operation Iraqi Freedom”.
The only difference, perhaps, is that, with typical Russian modesty, Putin chose not to give his military operation a fancy name.
Putin had to frame it as a special operation under Russian law. Believe it or not, the Russians are real sticklers for laws, rules, regulations, and Putin does have his enemies, all of whom would not hesitate to attack him if he did something illegal. That is a holdover from the reform movements of the 2000’s.
Also, declaring a war would I believe have modified the standard operations of the government, all of which Putin wanted to avoid.
Why the West wants to discount the SMO
The limited scope of the SMO, the targeted goals that are — in most respects — similar to operations conducted by the US and NATO many times around the world, are all facts that the West cannot allow its people to recognise.
An SMO does not comport with the West’s narrative, namely that Putin is a modern-day Hitler, based on pursuing “total war” and conquering not just Ukraine, but all of Europe
For this reason they must constantly attack Putin’s use of the term SMO and accuse Putin of being a propagandist simply by refusing to declare war on Ukraine.
The above mentioned arrogance of the USA is also related to the massive hypocrisy for which Russia criticises the US and its allies on a regular basis. Recognising the SMO for what it really is — a limited military operation to achieve limited, targeted goals — goes against the whole “Putin is a madman bent on conquest” theme that the Western authorities and their media minions are pushing.
Do not fall for it.
#End.
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Thank you for this great overview of the SMO in Ukraine. If we could only time travel back a couple of years and prevent Boris Johnson from telling Zelensky to scuttle the peace talks. Think of all the lives that could have been saved! It's criminal of the West to have enticed Zelensky to extend the bloodshed.