As Ukrainians and others attempt to flee to safety, many Russians are jumping on trains to Finland due to the collapse of the Russian economy and a looming threat of Martial law. Even with this, there are some in the West cheering on an armed response by NATO. Putin’s war is abhorrent. But his reckless belligerence is costing the Russians a lot. There is no need for an armed response, since economic warfare is being dispensed by the US and its allies.

Any military intervention by the West in Ukraine would be absolute insanity. Not only is NATO, itself, one of the worst war criminals in terms of body count and countries reduced to rubble, but it is partly to blame for the escalation of this unnecessary and stupid war. Not to defend Putin’s indefensible actions, but over the last several years it has repeatedly provoked Russia and amped up its militaristic approach. And such an action would undoubtedly lead us to the precipice of a war of no return. A nuclear holocaust.

It is worth remembering that the leaders of the West supported Putin’s war against Chechnya. And now it expects us to forget that, as it opposes his murderous rampage in Ukraine? The message should be clear that their outrage is selective and political. And their solutions only provide the war profiteers like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Raytheon and Northrup Grumman more options for collecting a tidy profit off an industry of death.

Ask yourself, where was or is their outrage for Saudi Arabia’s ongoing massacre of Yemenis or their long list of human rights abuses? Or for Israel’s murderous rampage against the open-air prison called Gaza? Or its ongoing apartheid in occupied Palestine? Or for India’s ongoing occupation of Kashmir? Or for Libya, which has become the center of a modern-day slave trade, after NATO bombed it to smithereens in a “humanitarian intervention”?

War is the very apex of horror. The best example of human failure. It is also the death of truth. And in our times, it could very well speed the demise of our already fragile and besieged biosphere. Those who court it should be seen as depraved. This is not to say that people fighting back against oppression or state violence are wrong to do so. Not at all. And they have that right under international law. But it is to say that war has been historically used by empires to repress dissent and whip the public up so much that reason, itself, becomes as big of a threat as any supposed villain.

Support the people of Ukraine, and every where else where war and state violence make life a misery, by opening the doors to refugees no matter who they are, standing in solidarity with the Russian and Ukrainian working class and antiwar activists, and by demanding an end to all war and imperialistic militarism. Start first with those who govern us. But for God’s sake, don’t be a supporter of their reckless belligerence.

Kenn Orphan, March 2022

*Photo is of an advertisement in St Petersburg, Russia, saying “No War.” Olga Maltseva/AFP/Getty Images

Let’s take a simple test. Ask yourself these questions: has Facebook ever placed a non-white nation’s flag on the top of the list as a choice for profile photo frames? Has Saturday Night Live ever had a Syrian, or Palestinian, or Yemeni choir open their show? Did liquor stores ever stop selling Russian vodka when it was involved in the Syrian civil war? Did Shell or BP or any other major fossil fuel company ever stop doing business with Saudi Arabia despite massive human rights violations or its murderous war in Yemen? I think the answer to these questions should come easily.

One might accurately say that this is merely performative activism that has little to no impact on the real conditions of people suffering from war. And that is correct. But there is more to this than simple virtue signaling.

In the past few weeks, reporters from various networks have been lamenting the war in Ukraine as different because it is supposedly a “civilized” country. The odious message here is clear: war is not the normal state for “white” countries. But the implication is even more odious: Ukrainians deserve more of our sympathy than Afghans, Palestinians, Rohingya, Somalians, Syrians, etc.

In other media, lavish praise was given to Ukrainian kids making Molotov cocktails to fend off Russian invaders. Just days earlier, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy was killed by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) for allegedly throwing one. This same media was silent except for dispassionately repeating the IDF version of events.

These commentaries and the framing of events do not happen in a vacuum. Over the last several days as people fled Ukraine to neighbouring European countries, scores of Black and Indian refugees were turned away, many at gunpoint, while white-appearing people were allowed to cross over. Some have had to walk for many kilometres in frigid temperatures to reach the border. Many had infants and small children with them.

And on social media, a photograph went viral which showed a young, blonde-haired girl bravely confronting a soldier. It was erroneously attributed to being a Ukrainian girl and a Russian soldier. But the outpouring of sympathy was telling. When it was revealed that the girl was Palestinian and that she was courageously confronting occupying Israeli soldiers on her family’s land, that sympathy faded off the newsfeeds of many whose shameful hypocrisy was clearly demonstrated.

The prevailing arrangement of power in our world has been designed to eclipse the suffering of the Global South. We are told the lie, sometimes quite plainly, that war and calamity are a given to certain places in the world and have nothing to do with this arrangement or the exploitation and brutality that go with it. These attitudes are widespread in the mainstream, corporate media as well as among politicians of every stripe. And they often manage to filter into the way ordinary people think about world events and crises.

Without a doubt, war reveals our prejudices, biases, bigotries and indifference in a way that other situations do not. And the world has been set up as a hierarchy that puts white-appearing nations on the top of the list for collective sympathy. But regardless of what cynics might suggest, it does not have to be this way. We don’t have to pick and choose where and with whom we build our solidarity based on racist lies. We need only begin with the time-tested axiom: no human is alien to us. And go on from there.

Kenn Orphan, March 2022

*Photograph is of an African father attempting to flee Ukraine and is by Umit Bektas of Reuters.

What Russia is doing to Ukraine is horrific and should be condemned. There are thousands of Russians taking to the streets to oppose this war. All of them deserve our support unequivocally and without prejudice.

But when people in the Global South, be it Palestine, or Libya, or Yemen, or Somalia, or Iraq, or Afghanistan, do the same, they are often ignored or maligned by Western media. In fact, the oppression or war crimes they experience, especially when produced by or approved of by Western states or NATO, is often whitewashed. As Orwell inferred, it is as if it “never happened.”

We need to see through the ruse. All human beings deserve a life free of occupation, apartheid, cruelty and state violence, whether they live in Kiev or Gaza. Cry for Ukraine, but don’t let your tears or sympathy be coopted by our own merchants and profiteers of war.

Kenn Orphan, March 2022

Across Russia, in at least 48 cities, thousands of Russians have taken to the streets to protest Putin’s invasion and war on Ukraine. They have faced bitterly cold winter temperatures and brutal arrests by police, but they keep pouring out into the streets nevertheless. And they put many of us to shame. How many of us in the West would risk the same in opposing our government’s militarism, wars and war profiteering?

My fullest solidarity with these Russian antiwar protestors. Stand in solidarity against all war, state violence and militarism, whether it comes from Russia, the US, NATO, China or anywhere else. Stand for universal human rights and the preservation of what is left of our fragile biosphere. Oppose the war profiteers like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, Northrup Grumman, General Dynamics and BAE Systems. Demand the global war industry be dismantled. And don’t equivocate on any of it.

Kenn Orphan, February 2022

*Photographers are Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images in Moscow, Denis Kaminev/AP in Moscow, Dmitri Lovetsky/AP in St Petersburg. 

There are some amongst the Western left who seem confused about how to react to the invasion of Ukraine. This is unsurprising since few of them knew how to build solidarity with the Syrian people and build an international antiwar movement, instead preferring to come to the defense of the oppressive government that they lived under simply because it was the supposed enemy of Washington. But if there is one thing this situation has shown, it is that ordinary Russian people are putting those Western leftists to shame.

Thousands have taken to the streets across Russia to denounce Putin’s invasion, and over a thousand have been arrested. None of them seem to have a problem with equivocation when it comes to war or their government’s criminality. Sadly, the same cannot be said for many on the Western left who are wringing their hands trying to find ways to defend Putin.

Without a doubt, Putin is not a 21st century Hitler as some Western propaganda outlets have inferred, and this is not World War II. We should reject such idiotic and shallow correlations. But he has invaded a sovereign country, and one that has been historically colonized by Russia in the past. One would think that would be enough for condemnation. Not so, to these leftists, many of whom have swallowed the rubbish of highly paid sock puppets on the Trumpenleft.

Being antiwar is not something we can afford to equivocate on. It is either a core principle, or else it is meaningless. Opposing Russian militarism and imperialism is as important as opposing American militarism and imperialism, as well as NATO aggression. Has the American Empire committed more atrocities and launched more wars? Yes. Has NATO expansion over the past couple decades exacerbated the situation? Of course. But this doesn’t mean that Russian imperialism does not exist or does not present a danger. And taking a stand against the Russian invasion of Ukraine in no way diminishes a stand against American invasions, meddling or covert actions in Somalia, Yemen, Cuba and dozens of other places.

If you claim to be on the left and cannot grasp this, then I suggest you step out of the way. Because the imperative now is to join in solidarity with our antiwar allies in Russia. Not to spout empty theoretics in the defense of some government or state actor simply because that actor happens to be the enemy of the American Empire.

Kenn Orphan, February 2022

*Photo is of a Russian antiwar protestor. Photographer is Peter Kovalev/TASS.

For anyone who may be tempted to support one, the solution to the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not US or NATO military intervention.

The US military and NATO (along with their associated nefarious agencies) have a long list of war crimes, most of which they have never had to answer for in any way that matters. Lest we forget the carpet bombing of South Asia? Agent Orange? Supporting and training death squads in Central America? Toppling democratically elected governments in Iran and Chile. Assassinations of political rivals like Lumumba? The use of depleted uranium and white phosphorus in Iraq? Torture in prisons like Abu Ghraib? Or the recent “mistake” of a drone strike in Kabul which killed many members of one family, including children?

The war hawks are salivating for more war, but escalation into more militarism will not solve any of this, it will only add to the misery. And it could, quite possibly, lead humanity toward its quietus. No to war anywhere.

Kenn Orphan, February 2022

Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it was painfully apparent within certain circles of the West that there was a thorough lack of even a rudimentary education on what the Russian government is today. Some erstwhile leftists have even been seen praising the despotic leader in a fashion that would make even Putin cringe. So let’s make a few facts clear.

Putin is the de facto head of United Russia, a reactionary, rightwing political party that dominates the executive branch and the Duma (legislative). He, and he alone, has essentially what amounts to dictatorial powers. His party is not even remotely left, progressive or socialist in the least. And he has thrived on stoking racist nationalism.

What is interesting to note is that despite UR being the dominant political party, communists have been gaining more sympathy in recent years and there is a marked longing for the days of the USSR where at least in its hay day most Russians had reliable work, good educational opportunities, housing, paid holidays and a decent living standard. Today, the poverty rate has been rising steadily while population declines, leaving a lot of elderly Russians in a bad state. And, like the United States, powerful and wealthy oligarchs run the economy to the benefit of their coffers.

So it is laughable that there are some people who identify as left who cannot stop themselves from praising Putin as an “anti-imperialist” and thinking he is their comrade. Putin, himself, would laugh at such idiocy.

Kenn Orphan, February 2022

*Photograph by Sean Gallup / Getty

No one should blindly take Pentagon talking points as absolute truth. But the same applies to Kremlin talking points. Think of it this way. These battles are between the Great Imperial Houses of the 21st century vying for geopolitical dominance on the stage of a world whose biosphere is dying. It is ordinary people, and untold species, who are counted (or not) in the casualties.

Remember that last point, because it is what matters the most to everyone of us, no matter where we live.

Oppose them all.

Kenn Orphan, February 2022

#NoWarAnywhere #Ukraine#Russia#NATO

Never equate an entire people with their government.

Tens of thousands of Russians have taken to the streets in scores of Russian cities, in frigid temperatures and against brutal crackdowns, to oppose Putin’s invasion and war against Ukraine.

The task of people of conscience is to link arms with them in solidarity and in opposition to ALL war everywhere, whether that be in Ukraine, the Middle-East, Africa or anywhere else.

Photograph is of an antiwar demonstration in St. Petersburg, Russia, by Anton Vaganov of Reuters.

Kenn Orphan, February 2022

If we cannot connect with each other beyond the political chicanery and sheer idiocy of those who rule over us at this stage in our evolution, we will not grasp the urgency of our collective situation in any way that will matter. There is no national anthem, colourful flag, marching army or well worded propaganda that will stop the oceans from warming, the coral from dying, the seas from rising and drowning our cities, the fields from going barren, the people moving in enormous masses for survival, the forests from burning and countless species from going extinct.

That we still court war as any solution in this era of biospheric catastrophe speaks to our fatal disconnection from this earth and to each other. Do we dare deny the impermanence of our existence? Do we dare think we are beyond the warm embrace of the other?

Photo is of a young couple sharing an embrace at a train station in Kyiv following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The photographer is Daniel Leal for AFP.

Kenn Orphan. February 2022