Ukraine: three wretched years since April 2022

BY DAVE GUTKNECHT

Thanks to maverick Trump, we have partially backed away from the threat of nuclear war — so far, a victory for realists over ideologues. But concerning Israel, the ideologues are in charge.

Remember Istanbul 2022 and negotiations to end the Ukraine war? No, a censored story. The earlier 2014 coup and the subsequent betrayal by Kiev and NATO of 2014 and 2015 Minsk Agreements had allowed a NATO military buildup — at the cost of 14,000 Russian speakers killed in eastern Ukraine from years of bombardment by the Kiev forces. This escalated until February 2022, provoking Russian intervention, which quickly brought Ukraine to the negotiating table in Istanbul.

An agreement was reached in April 2022, but the West told Zelensky to fight on. Why? Because the root cause of the war was years of NATO expansion including nuclear missiles and a strategy of sanctioning and provoking Russia, with the aim of regime change there. U.S. planners commissioned a 2019 Rand study on “Extending Russia” (available online) that reviewed this strategy in detail. Ukraine became the tragic proxy, sacrificed in the U.S. drive for supremacy.

The U.S. and allies thought extreme economic sanctions would bring Russia to its knees, but this failed and instead harmed Europe. Now, after hundreds of thousands of casualties and immense damage, Ukraine is forced to accept conditions significantly worse than what would have been achieved by the Istanbul 2022 negotiations.

The pro-war mainstream media has voiced anger and panic about Trump negotiating with Russia. This follows years of lies about the history referenced above and about Ukraine strength and Russian weaknesses — self-serving assumptions seldom questioned in a compliant media. But now, Ukraine clearly has lost the war and will not be joining NATO. Its remnant should revert to Ukraine’s former status as a neutral state.

Europe has been demoted, and among European leaders subservient to the U.S. there is panic over peace possibly breaking out. Leading European madwomen and madmen want to make war on Russia and, implausibly, say they fear invasion from Russia.

But European economies are in trouble. The Ukraine narrative bubble has burst, notwithstanding recent grandstanding and evidence of delusion. Breathing the fumes of their nation’s dead empires, France’s Macron and U.K.’s Starmer are desperately urging military buildup, while fearing the loss of protection by the declining empire of the U.S. Starmer is reliving, on behalf of the U.K.’s American masters, the British/French Crimean War of the 1850s — and again failing to deny Russia a warmwater port on the Black Sea. This time, the tragic and deadly charge of the light brigade is Ukrainians by the many thousands, in a disastrous rout in Kursk, Russia. Denying defeat and U.K. economic decline, Starmer has absurdly announced a 100-year financial commitment to Ukraine.

Strangely, Starmer has also revived the unfortunate phrase, “the coalition of the willing,” previously used to manufacture Western consent for the Iraq War, a campaign based on lies and propaganda about Iraq weapons of mass destruction. Back then, the coalition-of-the-willing phrase served to cover serious Western opposition to what proved to be a devastating and failed Iraq intervention. Now Starmer is making a similar false claim in 2025 — but there is no such coalition, and there won’t be any “peacekeeping” European troops in Ukraine.

Negotiating an end to war in Ukraine signals a clear break with the U.S. war policies, and Russia is mostly in command. Late March saw a long Trump/Putin conversation and a shaky cessation of attacks on energy infrastructure — that pause would stop Ukrainian bombardment of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (the largest in Europe), which is controlled by Russia.

In Israel, however, Trump is failing to stop horrific ethnic cleansing and genocide by Israel. Deliberately killing civilians for political ends is a definition of terrorism.

Despite losing badly in Afghanistan and achieving little but ruin in Iraq and Libya and elsewhere, the U.S. appears to plan wider war. Neo-cons and Israel continue to draw the U.S. into war on Iran, while neither Trump nor anyone else besides the Yemenis seem capable of forthright action against Israel’s ethnic cleansing.

In Ukraine we will soon see the last of Zelensky, and Trump will force disengagement from yet another losing NATO campaign. The deeper problem is Israel, where the Zionists have a deep hold on U.S. and European political power. The U.S. political leadership is captive to this, and U.S. wars have followed an Israel agenda. Will Trump interrupt that agenda short of a catastrophic war on Iran?

Daily, we see the erosion of constitutional rights in the U.S., in great part because of supporters of Israel. Resistance is needed.

Editor’s note: Southside Pride supports an immediate ceasefire and an internationally supervised referendum in the disputed provinces to decide if the people want to be Russian or European Ukrainian. 

Letter to the editor: A response to Dave Gutknecht’s piece on Ukraine

His piece blends some real events with misleading or heavily biased interpretations, cherry-picked facts, and outright conspiracy-like claims. Here’s a breakdown of what’s true, what’s distorted, and what’s left out:

What Has Some Basis in Truth:

• • • Istanbul negotiations in 2022: Yes, Russia and Ukraine did hold peace talks in Istanbul in March-April 2022. Ukraine and Russia appeared to reach tentative agreements, including neutrality and security guarantees. However, there’s no conclusive public evidence that the West forced Ukraine to abandon them — that’s an interpretation, often made by critics of U.S. policy.
      • RAND “Extending Russia” study (2019): It exists and explores ways to exploit Russia’s geopolitical vulnerabilities. But it’s not a war plan — it’s a think tank assessment, not official policy. The piece overstates its influence as a playbook.
      • Minsk agreements (2014/2015): These were real ceasefire agreements meant to resolve the conflict in Donbas. Both sides accused each other of violating them. The author’s claim that Ukraine/NATO “betrayed” them is simplified and biased — Russia also violated the agreements.
      • Sanctions and their impact: Western sanctions didn’t collapse Russia’s economy as some predicted. They hurt, but Russia adapted. Europe’s economy also suffered, especially in energy prices. But to say the entire effort “failed” is debatable and leaves out key context.What’s Misleading or False:
    • “Ukraine clearly has lost the war”: This is not true as of early 2025. The war has become a bloody stalemate in many areas, and Russia holds some territory. But Ukraine continues to resist with support from the West. Calling it a “lost war” is an overreach and not supported by current facts.
      • “NATO expansion provoked Russia”: This is a key Russian talking point. While NATO expansion concerns Russia, many former Soviet countries voluntarily joined NATO for protection from Russia. It’s simplistic to say this “caused” the war — Putin’s own ideology and goals also played a big role.
      • “Ethnic cleansing/genocide by Israel”: The term “genocide” is controversial and politically charged. The war in Gaza involves immense suffering, with huge civilian casualties, but labeling it genocide requires meeting legal definitions that are still debated by legal bodies. Also, the idea that Trump could unilaterally stop it is not realistic, considering Israel’s independent governance.
      • “Zionists have a deep hold on U.S. and European power”: That’s a classic anti-Semitic trope, framing Jews or “Zionists” as a shadowy controlling force. While pro-Israel lobbying exists (as in any democracy), this kind of language veers into conspiratorial territory.
      • “U.S. wars have followed an Israel agenda”: The U.S. has engaged in wars for many reasons — oil, geopolitics, security, ideology. Saying it’s all due to Israel is deeply misleading and reductionist.
      • “Erosion of U.S. constitutional rights due to supporters of Israel”: No credible evidence supports this. Rights debates in the U.S. are more tied to post-9/11 security laws, tech surveillance, and political polarization than anything related to Israel.What Was Left Out or Oversimplified:
    • Russian war crimes: The piece is silent on mass civilian casualties, torture, and destruction caused by Russian forces. Ignoring that shows bias.
      • Ukrainian agency: Ukraine is treated as a puppet of the U.S., ignoring its own goals, political decisions, and resistance efforts. That’s a paternalistic narrative.
      • Internal Russian politics and media control: Russia’s domestic situation, including harsh repression and censorship, is ignored.
      • Trump’s complex foreign policy: The piece paints him as anti-war, but Trump increased drone strikes, pulled out of nuclear treaties, and assassinated Soleimani, nearly sparking war with Iran. His record isn’t consistently pacifist.Bottom Line:This is partially grounded in real events, but it’s highly ideological, biased, and laced with conspiracy thinking. It uses some truths to build a narrative that distorts the bigger picture — especially by blaming the West for nearly everything, and absolving Russia or others.

  Respectfully,
  Oscar Peterson

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