Reparations for Russia?

This illustration is from a dream I had featuring Vladimir Putin and Hillary Clinton. In it, Putin told Hillary that his favorite thing about America was the things he was able to buy (from corrupt politicians like Hillary.) If you want to read the dream, it’s on my other page, here.

I’m reusing the illustration because I don’t feel like drawing a new one today, thanks to a very painful allergic reaction on my arm.

My question today is something I’ve been wondering about ever since the destruction of the Nordstream II pipeline. According to investigative reporter Seymour Hersh (and others), the United States is directly responsible for Nordstream.

Not that Nordstream is the only legitimate greivance Russia has against the United States. US support for Ukraine in the war against Russia is arguably the only reason the war wasn’t resolved years ago.

At the very least, Russia’s perception is that the US destroyed a vital pipeline, then materially assisted in hostilities against them. Most recently, Biden gave permission to Ukrainian president Zelenskyy to send advanced US missiles into Russia, thus expanding the scope of incursions into Russian territory.

Russia responded, as might be expected, with a barrage of high-powered hypersonic missiles of their own. This was a warning to the west (not to Ukraine) to avoid future “reckless” action, such as encouraging Ukraine to escalate attacks in Russia.

US policy in Ukraine, and toward Russia, has indeed been reckless for about 4 years. Oddly, as far back as 2016, I wondered if the Democrat Party wanted to start a war with Russia. Their rhetoric during the 2016 election, particularly from Hillary Clinton, left Russia little option but to assume the US had become a hostile nation.

When Iranian leaders chant “death to America” they unambiguously state the obvious: they are our enemy. When Hillary Clinton directly accuses Russia of trying to effect a coup in the US by supporting Trump, and then congress initiates hearings under false pretenses to “prove” it, they may as well be saying to Russia, “we think you’ve committed an act of war aainst us.” If I had been Putin, I wouldn’t look upon such public actions as benign to my interests.

My impression at the time was that Hillary was recklessly destroying any possibility of a cooperative or non-hostile relationship with Russia for the sake of demonizing Trump. To win an election, she painted Russia as the devil. Now, it seems to me that she always wanted war with Russia. The signs were there as early as the Obama administration and of course her campaign, but then she actually got the war she wanted, even if by proxy, when Biden came into office.

From his perspective, President Vladimir Putin has valid reasons to demand war reparations from America. He could say that we provoked the war, directly caused serious economic damage (Nordstream) and effectively paid for attacks that killed Russian citizens and destroyed infrastructure.

Recent US policy seems designed specifically to cause a war with Russia. That makes US citizens collectively responsible for the actions of our government. It isn’t a position I am comfortable with. I don’t want to be responsible for aggressive acts of war that do not serve any cognizable national purpose.

On the other side of the argument, there is Russia’s purchase of US uranium through Hillary Clinton, a corrupt and possibly unfriendly act. And then the two invasions of Ukraine by Russia. Undoubtedly, there are other examples of less than friendly actions against America and other countries by Russia. However, none of them rise to the level of instigating a devastating war in response. If I was on the jury, I would reluctantly award sanctions to Russia, but to keep things fair, the money awarded would have to be extracted from the Ukrainians who corruptly siphoned it from America.

I also wouldn’t object if Russia insisted on annexing all of Ukraine. At this point, the Ukrainian government appears to be so corrupt that they are unredeemable, and their people, for tolerating such a government, have not earned separate consideration.

American aid to Ukraine, far from helping the people there, has doomed them instead. They were nothing more than a pawn to Biden and his supporters, to be discarded like a used kleenex.

American recklessness shouldn’t be allowed to continue. Not even for the 60 days until Trump resumes his duties as President of the United States.