"Russia vs. The West" Trilogy (Part 3 of 3) ~ "Conclusion"

The idea of 'Russia vs the West' is a trap. It's a gimmick similar to the US War on Terror or the desire in Australia to Stop the Boats. I see these as propaganda products peddled to the masses in order to gain support for political agendas. They simplify complexity, dumb down reality and, worst of all, turn peaceful people against others whom they previously had absolutely no reason to hate or to fear.

My view of the 'Ukraine crisis' is that it is elites competing with each other to retain and expand their power, like hyenas viciously jostling for meat. By elites I mean Putin and his friends, Obama and his friends, the European elites, Poroshenko, Tymoshenko, Yatsenuk, the CEOs and business owners whose main priorities are money and influence, criminals and gangsters whose main priorities are money and influence, and anyone else involved in power struggles at the international and local levels. Selfless ideals of human rights, rule of law and democracy are, in my mind, far from this cynical reality of corruption and megalomania. 

Take a look at the phallic symbol of war above. I'm going to take Occam's razor to the causes of conflicts. I believe there is one cause, going back to when cavemen began fashioning weapons to slay other cavemen. It is about survival. It's about being the alpha male. This means territory, resources and power. It's about growing stronger and reducing external threats. I believe that things like religion, nationality, race etc are all just manufactured divisions used to justify conquest and to manipulate populations. The Rwandan genocide is a perfect example, Europeans creating an arbitrary division – Hutus and Tutsis - perhaps without sinister intent this time but with horrendous consequences. In my mind, there is only one real division in societies:

There are those who have money and power and there are those who don't.

So whenever there's a conflict between 'this group' versus 'that group', I would urge skepticism about the divisions. It may help to ask «Who is benefitting?» and how they might be influencing events, the conflict dynamics and schisms, primarily through mass media but also behind the scenes.