Why Putin opted to support ‘independents’, not invasion

Why Putin opted to support ‘independents’, not invasion

BY NURY VITTACHI

THE RUSSIAN LEADER called the bluff of his Western critics by pointedly NOT invading Ukraine at the precise time and place that they had specified, according to many media reports.

But then he did something even more surprising — on the day of writing this article, the news media is full of reports saying that he had recognized the independence campaigns of two areas of Ukraine.

This writer will not pretend to be a fan of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, but it is worth pointing out that he has been very clever in using the West’s favorite trick, which was to recognize independence movements to its own advantages.

For example, Hong Kong people have always been passionately against independence – yet the West idolizes the few who disagree.

The Dalai Lama strongly opposes independence for Tibet – yet you wouldn’t know that from what you read in the West.

China’s Uyghur people are smart, and know that the UN and Obama were right to condemn the violent ETIM independence movement. But what you read about the Uyghurs today implies the opposite.

So, in the Western playbook recently, independence fighters, however unpopular, are presented as heroes.

Which is why Putin recognized the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk.

So what will be the eventual result? Western politicians and press will do an instant u-turn and say that recognizing independence is an international crime.

Bizarrely, they will find a way to blame the Chinese, or lump them together with the Russians for convenience. They’ll say that China and Russia are enemies of USA-style democracy, human rights, and so on. They’re already doing it.

The media lumps Russia and China together and churns out the Western keywords, such as “democracy” and “human rights”. Picture shows today’s South China Morning Post.


Here’s an example of the gulf between what’s reported, and what actually happened. This top editor at Politico (below) is telling the world that Putin wants to track down people who introduced democracy to Ukraine.

What Putin actually said (below) was that he wanted to track down violent criminals who burned people alive. Not the same thing at all.

Now that is something that will resonate with Hong Kong people. The attempted murderers who tried to burn a man alive in Hong Kong are safe and well in the US protectorate of Taiwan, and their movement is always described as “pro-democracy activism”. If that’s democracy, I’ll take a portion of anarchy with a side of French fries instead.

Stay detached. Read widely. Make up your own mind about things.