Nuclear War and Clashing Ukraine Narratives

Though constitutionally elected, Yanukovych was depicted as a corrupt tyrant who had a pricy sauna in his official mansion. Though Putin had just staged the Winter Olympics in Sochi, signaling his desire for Russia to integrate more with the West, he was portrayed as either a new-age imperial czar or the second coming of Hitler -- if not worse because he occasionally would ride on a horse while not wearing a shirt.

Further, the U.S. news media refused to conduct a serious investigation into the evidence that Nuland and other U.S. officials had helped destabilize Yanukovych's government with the goal of achieving another neocon "regime change."

Nuland, who personally urged on anti-Yanukovych protests in Kiev, discussed with U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt who should lead the new government -- "Yats is the guy," she said, referring to Arseniy Yatsenyuk -- and how to "glue this thing."

After weeks of mounting tensions and worsening violence, the coup occurred on Feb. 22, 2014, when well-organized neo-Nazi and other right-wing militias from western Ukraine overran presidential buildings forcing officials to flee for their lives. With Yanukovych ousted, Yatsenyuk soon became Prime Minister.[See Consortiumnews.com's "When Is a Putsch a Putsch." ]

Many ethnic Russians in southern and eastern Ukraine, who had strongly supported Yanukovych, refused to accept the new U.S.-backed order in Kiev. Crimean officials and voters moved to secede from Ukraine and rejoin Russia, a move that Putin accepted because of Crimea's historic ties to Russia and his fear that the Russian naval base at Sevastopol might be handed to NATO.

The resistance spread to eastern Ukraine where other ethnic Russians took up arms against the coup regime in Kiev, which responded with that it called an "anti-terrorist operation" against the east. To bolster the shaky Ukrainian army, Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov dispatched neo-Nazi and other "volunteer" militias to spearhead the attacks.

After the deaths of more than 5,000 people, a shaky cease-fire was announced in September, but -- amid complaints about neo-Nazi death squads operating in government-controlled areas and with life deteriorating in rebel-controlled towns and cities -- the ethnic Russians launched an offensive in January, using Russian-supplied weapons to expand their control of territory.

In reaction, U.S. pundits, including columnists and editors of the New York Times and the Washington Post, called for dispatching U.S. aid to the Kiev forces, including proposals for lethal weaponry to deter Putin's "aggression." Members of Congress and members of the Obama administration have joined the chorus.

On Feb. 2, the New York Times reported "With Russian-backed separatists pressing their attacks in Ukraine, NATO's military commander, Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, now supports providing defensive weapons and equipment to Kiev's beleaguered forces, and an array of administration and military officials appear to be edging toward that position, American officials said. ... President Obama has made no decisions on providing such lethal assistance."

That same day, the lead Times editorial was entitled "Mr. Putin Resumes His War" and continued with the theme about "Russian aggression" and the need "to increase the cost" if Russia demands "a permanent rebel-held enclave."

On Feb. 3, the Washington Post ran an editorial entitled "Help for Ukraine. Defensive weapons could deter Russia in a way sanctions won't." The editorial concluded that Putin "will stop only if the cost to his regime is sharply raised -- and quickly."

A new war fever gripped Washington and no one wanted to be viewed as "soft" or to be denounced as a "Putin apologist." Amid this combination of propaganda, confusion and tough-guy-ism -- and lacking the tempering wisdom about war and nuclear weapons that restrained earlier U.S. presidents -- a momentum lurched toward a nuclear showdown over Ukraine that could put all life on earth in jeopardy.