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New Speedway Boogie [1]
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Date: 2023-06-24
As Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group races toward Moscow the whole world is nervously contemplating the stability of a nation with the largest nuclear arsenal on the planet. Will he overrun Moscow and depose Putin, or will Putin prevail? The answer to this question remains to be seen.
What we do know is that Prigozhin has called into question Russia’s public facing justification for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to Prigozhin, the war was never about NATO, or creeping Western influence in Ukraine. It was about material resources.
Prigozhin also accused Kremlin-linked oligarchs of seeking to plunder Ukraine’s resources after its military capture and appointment of a puppet regime in Kyiv. “The task was to divide material assets in Ukraine. There was widespread theft in the [industrial eastern Ukrainian territory of the] Donbas, but they wanted more.”
When I published “Bracing for War — Part One” on February 8, 2022, and “Bracing for War — What’s Past is Prologue” on February 15, 2022, I received considerable push back from war hawks who believed that supporting the war on behalf of Ukraine was a noble and patriotic endeavor. I hope Prigozhin’s recent comments make it clear that this war has always been about steel factories, coal deposits, nuclear power plants, and all the other industrial facilities built by Russia in Ukraine.
Now, fifteen months later, it seems the truth has come out.
War has always been about material gain. It is waged by rich old men who aspire to take more than they could ever possibly carry. There is a lyric in an old Grateful Dead song that encapsulates this moment perfectly.
“Now I don’t know but I’ve been told
It’s hard to run with the weight of gold
Other hand I heard it said
It’s just as hard with the weight of lead”
Prigozhin may find that his march on Moscow will end in a deadly firestorm, but he clearly has given the world a first hand account of what the war in Ukraine has really been about — a battle between oligarchs for control of the resources and machinery that makes the world go round.
So, as Prigozhin’s troops march on Moscow, be mindful of the roots of this conflict, the thousands dead and millions displaced, and remember that a war between nations is always, at root, a war between greedy old men. It should never be fought under any circumstances. It is a failure, a loss of control, and it should never take place.
On February 18, 2022, I published another piece on the impending invasion of Ukraine. It was titled “Selling Out Ukraine”. It delved into the longstanding history of Ukraine and Russia, while also detailing my experiences in Sochi, Russia, during the Winter Olympics and the first Russian invasion of Ukraine. It was a condemnation of war and the destruction of human lives. The linked video at the end of the story still brings me to tears.
Prigozhin has urged all-out war with Ukraine, including a total nationwide mobilization, and the introduction of martial law in Russia. It seems clear that he does not care for the prizes so coveted by Putin and his inner circle. Most, like the aging steel factory in Mariupol, have long been destroyed.
What happens in the next few hours may well chart the course of history for decades. Whoever survives will probably tell anyone seeking to know that war is hell. It is also profoundly corrupt.
On March 8, 2022, I sat down and penned my fourth essay on the war. It was simply named, “Corruption and War”. The first paragraph of that story tells us all we need to know.
“Political corruption, clearly evidenced in Ukraine and Russia, lies at the heart of the violent confrontation unfolding before us in Eastern Europe. The levers of military power in both countries, initially funded by political consensus and developed under the guise of national defense, have now been co-opted by criminals and thieves posing as government officials. Acknowledging this age old truism is the first step toward resolving the conflict roiling the world today.”
Prigozhin was hired to do the dirty work for the two men he now disparages, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the chief of the General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov. If Prigozhin succeeds in taking Moscow we will have the largest nuclear arsenal in the world under the control of a known criminal. Think about that for a minute. War is unpredictable, it never ends the way it starts, and today’s turn of events is exactly why I have consistently argued for diplomacy. Let’s start talking before this war spirals out of control.
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