Ignore this if you don't want to talk about politics, Russia/Ukraine, and RFK Jr. This is going to be a long post. #politics #geopolitics #USpolitics #RFKJr #RFK #Ukraine #Russia

I was listening to RFK's podcast last night (for the first time) and the episode was on Russia/Ukraine with guest David Stockman. In it they presented what I thought was the Russian propaganda position that Zelensky started the war somehow and there are Nazis in the Ukraine government, among other things. They also blamed the CIA for orchestrating the whole thing.

Lately I have been more willing to question the narratives that I have long considered to be true regarding things like this. However I'm having a particularly hard time accepting the contrarian view with this one based on what I know about Russia and what I have seen posted on Reddit about Ukraine since the war began. There seems to be strong support in the US for the military aid western nations are providing to Ukraine. I'm willing to consider that it's the result of propaganda to allow the US to continue to fund the war machine with the blessing of the American people. However just because it perpetuates the MIC, doesn't automatically make it a conspiracy. The propaganda could be true and it just happens to also align with the goal to expand military spending.

From what I know, Putin is a monster who bombed his own people to get into power. He rules Russia with an iron fist, imprisons or assassinates political opponents, rigs elections, and brainwashes the populace by only allowing Russian state propaganda in the media. He has been conscripting thousands of young Russians to fight this war, which appears to be arbitrary and cruel. Morale in the Russian army appears to be extremely low as the propaganda argument for the war isn't very convincing to the soldiers.

Ukraine for its part appears to be fighting for their independence and way of life. Since the collapse of the USSR they appear to have established their own sovereign national identity which the majority of Ukrainians wish to preserve. Morale is high because they know their cause is righteous, plus they have the support of western nations and millions of people on Reddit. This is what I have been able to surmise from the coverage of the war on Reddit, which seems to be extensive and not artificial.

For example I have seen a video of a potential Russian conscript having a friend break his leg so he doesn't have to go to war. There are hundreds of drone videos of Russian soldiers surrendering or getting grenades dropped on them while they cower in foxholes. Russia appears to be committing genocide and indiscriminately bombing cities to rubble, especially in the east where the people they are supposedly liberating mostly live.

Ostensibly the war is about preventing NATO from expanding to Russia's borders, yet the war has only accelerated the growth of NATO as Finland and Sweden have both sought to join since the war began. After almost a year and a half with no decisive progress in either direction, I would say the war is at a stalemate and that means Russia has failed in its objective to annex the border states or prevent NATO expansion. So why are they continuing to fight? Is it just Putin's pride on the line now?

This is where I get a bit hung up. Putin's reason for invading and continuing to fight is the most ambiguous part of the story, yet extremely important to understanding why this is happening. He is a very enigmatic figure, and I don't believe he would be easily susceptible to CIA manipulation, at least not directly. Could the CIA have manipulated him indirectly through manipulation of Ukraine? I think that's giving the CIA too much credit, and completely discounting Russia's own intelligence capabilities, especially given the geographic proximity of the countries and the mix of their cultures. Yet that was one of the arguments RFK and Stockman were making.

Which brings me back to the heart of the matter. By my reasoning they are parroting the Russian propaganda narrative. If unintentional, it shows a lack of reasoning ability or a failure to gather enough of the available information before spouting their mouths off about something they don't understand fully. Those are not attributes I want to see in a leader.

RFK claims to have insider knowledge on the subject, yet he is very much an outsider in Washington so that claim is suspect. I will not accept a "trust me bro" from him on this subject just because he also supports Bitcoin.

Stockman seems even more unhinged, arguing that "The" Ukraine's independence from Russia was only meant to be temporary or some such nonsense. He brought up that Ukraine means "borderlands" as if it was justification for returning to Russia. These are not credible arguments and undermine his more reasonable arguments.

If they are promoting this warped viewpoint intentionally then it's even worse. They are Russian agents and should be kept as far from positions of power as possible. As much as I'd like to see US hegemony weaken I do not want it to be at the hands of Russia and Putin, and at the cost of the freedom loving independent nation of Ukraine.

This is why I cannot in good conscience continue to support RFK Jr. I do not think the US is responsible for orchestrating the war in Ukraine, and it is the right thing to do to support Ukraine against an autocratic, fascist dictator. Weakening Russia is in the best interest of the rest of the freedom loving world, though it sucks for the innocent people if Russia. I hope they are able to fight for their own freedom someday.