It was ten days ago when Boris Bondarev -- the Special Counsellor to the Russian Mission to the U.N. in Geneva -- resigned from his position, walked out and lit a fire that is still burning through the diplomatic world.
The written statement that accompanied his resignation is stunning in every way. It honestly must be read in full to have any idea of what a bombshell it truly is.
Just one of the things that comes to mind as you read what Counsellor Bondarev had to say is that it reveals how completely clueless some of my progressive friends here in the States are when it comes to the war and why we’re where we are right now.
Tulsi Gabbard and others of her ilk have gone on at some length about how the eastward expansion of NATO since the dissolution of the Soviet Union essentially left Putin with no choice but to invade. Her tweet about how the Biden Administration and NATO could have prevented the invasion by forever barring Ukraine from membership and recognizing Russia's "legitimate security needs" received a shit-ton of push back from Twitter users who don't buy the Kremlin's talking points. And that's as it should be.
That assertion was garbage from the beginning and it’s so easy to see that such reasoning also dovetails perfectly with Putin’s dishonest and self-serving propaganda. One can draw no other conclusion after reading Mr Bondarev's candid and heartfelt assessment. He was, after all, a career diplomat and apologist for Mother Russia; Putin's bloody, unprovoked attack on Ukraine was simply a bridge too far for him.
Putin and Putin alone is responsible for the tragedy that is the Ukrainian-Russian War. It is turning out horribly for Ukrainians and the Ukrainian Nation and is and will be even worse for Russia. Comrade Vlad has truly swallowed the Porcupine here. (Not the best metaphor, actually. He’ll never get that spiny fellow all the way down.)
It’s maddening. It’s tragic. And it’s 100% Putin’s doing.
"Bulldog Ben" Basile
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