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UKRAINE
An objective take on Ukraine for anti-war activists
Courtesy Abby Martin & Brian Becker
Highly recommended: The new episode of Abby Martin’s podcast, “Empire Files.” Her guest is Brian Becker, long time antiwar activist, and host of “The Socialist Program” podcast.
I suggest starting at 51:45 if you’re already familiar with the details of the run-up to the Russian invasion, like NATO’s expansionism and the US-sponsored right-wing coup. At this point, these two respectable activists talk about how — from a leftist antiwar perspective — to oppose both NATO/USA expansionism and the Russian invasion. This was the first time I’ve heard a well-reasoned discussion of this point of view, and I’ve been wanting to hear one.
You don’t have to be a socialist to appreciate this perspective on current events. What’s especially valuable about the picture that Brian Becker presents is that it’s not in alignment with either the US or Russia, since both are capitalist oligarchies. Putin himself is anti-Communist and anti-socialist. So if you want something approximating an objective take on the Ukraine situation, free of pro-US or pro-Russia propaganda, you should totally listen to this. I personally got a lot of clarity from it.