Rambling, nearly interminable and staggeringly one-sided screed. Victim blaming Ukraine with the "she was asking for it" by flirting with NATO defence. The usua

Rambling, nearly interminable and staggeringly one-sided screed. Victim blaming Ukraine with the "she was asking for it" by flirting with NATO defence. The usual "Only Western Imperialism Is Bad" appeasement talking points, spurious comparisons to other scenarios to 'expose' Western hypocrisy, apparently Putin is the real victim being treated unfairly and that we're here because it's the West's fault: - Mentions US interference in Ukraine, ignores Russia's - Calls the resulting protests violent while ignoring Russian demands to shoot the protesters before Yanokovic was ousted - Quotes Mearsheimer, a realist who admits he doesn't consider the moral dimension to helping Ukrainians determine their own future - Apologises for the annexation of Crimea by stating Putin's speculated fears for Sevastopol naval access - set against and ignoring Ukrainians ACTUAL fears of being invaded - Complains Corbyn et al being reprimanded by their party for falsely equivocating Russian invasion to NATO expansion, calls it a loss of their 'freedom' to criticism NATO again all in contrast to the literal loss of actual freedom of Ukrainians And on and on. This is pro-imperialist apologia. YES the West is hypocritical and self-interest too, obviously. YES Western governments have behaved despicably and should be scrutinised more. YES the media is biased toward laziness and sensationalism. YES it hasn't written this week about the few hundred nazis fighting for Ukraine. YES the public has a short memory and has forgotten Syrians on the other Polish border. Yes to all of that. NONE of that exonerates Putin as this tries to suggest. Framing it this way, at this time, is done to blunt the criticism of and excuse a brutal, corrupt, aggressive, nuclear armed dictator whose ambitions beyond Ukraine are not yet clear. That is the priority. This is the news now. Two or three actors can be simultaneously bad. Sorry it doesn't conform to your world view.