Russia’s actions in Ukraine have causes which necessitated its actions. Unbiased observers know what those causes are and why Russia’s special military operation was a necessary consequence.

by CHRISTOPHER BLACK, May 14, 2025

Actions have causes. That is a fundamental point of philosophy, of life, of reality, of an understanding of the way the world is. Russia’s actions in Ukraine have causes which necessitated those actions. Unbiased observers know what those causes are and why Russia’s special military operation was a necessary consequence. Russia laid the causes out clearly and what its actions in response would be a long time ago; yet living in what is termed the “West,” that is in the nations that make up the NATO alliance, the causes are hidden from the people and Russia’s actions portrayed as gratuitous and “evil.”

The road to war is a dead end for the West

This suppression of the facts, the distortions, the intense propaganda employed by the NATO governments and their handmaidens in the mass media to manipulate opinion and emotions also has causes which are not difficult to determine, the roots of which extend deep into the history of colonialism that arose in Europe as a consequence of the expansion of European technological and military power in the 16th century; enabling them to travel long distances in their ships, with their guns, in search of markets and resources to exploit, riches to steal, and slaves to command.

The European’s view of themselves as the superior beings of the world, which arose out of their ignorance of the world, the dogmatism of the Catholic Church, and the later promotion by the Protestants of the individual as all important, instead of the collective society, a bizarre ideology which denied the connection between us all and us with nature, created a society that regarded others as outside them, and so were not of them, but instead things to be used and exploited just as they have used and exploited the planet as a whole.

The History of Western Colonialism

The rapid spread of European destruction, from the conquest of Mexico and the slaughter of millions there to the subjugation and extermination of peoples all over North and Central and South America, of Africa, India, reaching to Asia, Australia and the islands of all the seas, led first by Spain and Portugal, then Britain and France, The Netherlands, and other nations, from 1500 to the 1770’s, led to a cloud of misery descending onto the peoples who were unfortunate enough to have something the Europeans wanted.

The British colonial project resulted in the creation of the United States of America, founded by British colonists who regarded the individual as paramount and riches their goal in life; who regarded human life as nothing more than a tool for enrichment or an impediment to be eliminated. Donald Trump is the exemplar of this huckster society, and other Presidents before him, a society in which crooked dealing and intimidation are considered ethical business practices. It is no wonder he became president, since he reflects perfectly the American society as a whole. A society, that, as soon as it was created, began its wars of conquest and slaughter across the continent, attempted to seize Canada in 1812, then Mexico in the 1830-40s, and which tried to exterminate the inhabitants of the lands it coveted in what is now the USA, whose subjugation continues to this day

After most of the world fell under colonial domination of Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and Belgium from Africa to Latin America, to Indo-China, and the United States had seized large parts of Mexico the United States sought to expand its colonial empire and to accomplish that turned on its rival imperialist powers, the first being Spain, whose colonies were seized by the USA in the Spanish-American War of 1898 which was begun on a pretext by the United States, a false flag operation, blowing up their own battleship in Havana harbour, killing many of their own sailors, to blame it on Spain. As is usually the case in American wars. President Trump’s threats to invade and seize Canada as he claims to seek peace with Russia, prepares for war with China while claiming he wants a deal, claims he wants to make America great again while massacring civilians in Gaza, in Yemen, prove the point.

The Great Wars, Causes and Consequences

The stresses of the competition between the USA and the European colonial powers as the 20th century dawned led to the Great War of 1914-18 in which western imperialism reached its heights at the end of which the USA emerged as the most powerful of the colonial-imperialist powers while Britain France, Germany, and Russia were bankrupted, even though Britain took over the German colonies in Africa.

In the 1930s, with most of the planet now colonised, with Japan rising as a new imperialist power in Asia, with Italy trying to gain control over parts of Africa, all of these powers had to face the new political reality of socialism with the creation of the Soviet Union which arose on the ashes of the Great War, and blocked the ability of western capital to exploit Russia and all the lands of Asia and opened a path for the liberation of all the colonised peoples. The rise of socialism reflected the growing social discontent of the masses of workers and peasants, as the western colonial nations, trying to recover from the war found themselves in an economic and financial crisis they could not escape because the crisis was a result of the capitalist system itself, just as the war had been. A world depression set in. Another great war followed, begun by the fascists acting as the armed fist of capitalism.

Markets were saturated from over-production, for workers were not paid enough to consume what was produced, so production and distribution plummeted, banks collapsed, governments came and went and communism became the defender of the working people and oppressed, threatening the rule of capital everywhere. A violent reaction of the capitalists set in. For the industrial-financial capital of the western powers, war was the only way out of their dilemma. In their twisted logic, it was necessary to destroy in order to rebuild, to murder tens of millions to save their degraded society. Fascism rose out of the capitalist reaction to the discontent of the masses, as a means to channel that discontent against the progressive forces of the people, and in support of capital, and any and all illegality, immorality and violence was acceptable to achieve their aims. Morality is something that comes from within. Actions follow character. The combined west, its entire society, revealed in the 1930s and 1940s that it has no morality and never will have. They care for no one but themselves and are capable of anything to advance their will to power. For this is capitalism and its black book has many volumes.

The vast wealth that was taken from the colonial possessions to support the ruling classes and to keep the working population from rebelling against their masters is well documented. The colonial possessions were essential to maintain their wealth and their power. Their loss proved time and again to be a disaster, as was the case when Spain lost its colonies in the war with America and when Britain lost India in 1947 and its empire collapsed shortly thereafter. France fought ruthless wars in Indo-China, in Algeria to try to maintain its empire, even after claiming to fight for liberty of the world’s peoples in the 1940s. But of course, France had its divisions in the SS when the Nazis invaded the USSR in 1941.

The ruling classes of the imperial powers in the 30s began a campaign to discredit socialism, and made plans to carve up the world among their select group, whose members would share in the spoils. The rise of fascism in Italy, then Germany, France, Spain and in the USA and Britain during the 30s was due to the decision to use any and all methods to secure their control over the world. Mussolini, Hitler, and Franco, were given support in Europe by the industrial and financial capital. Japan was encouraged to attack Russia and China. Fascism was the reaction of the pending collapse of the west to try to save itself, in a desperate and futile attempt that continues today.

The War on Russia-A Continuation of the Great Wars

This is perhaps a long way to get to my point, which is that the hatred, the bigotry, the propaganda now expressed against Russia as it defends itself against NATO aggression, and defends the peoples of the Donbass republics against the fascists placed in power in Ukraine by the NATO coup of 2014, is a continuation of the path of western history that extends back centuries; a path which has led the world to the destruction in a long list of regional wars and two world wars, and which threatens another today.

The road to war is a dead end for the West. It did not solve nor alleviate their situation in either of the world wars. And the defeat of fascist forces, mainly by the Red Army, in 1945 did not end fascism in the west. It just laid low, was unfashionable for a while, lurked in dark corners in Canada, the United States, Britain, France and Germany, in Australia and Japan and Latin America. It has now emerged from the shadows and stalks the world once again.

The west pretended for several decades that it was “democratic” but all the while undermined the sovereignty of nations, denied the right to self-determination of peoples, did all it could to maintain their former colonial possessions under their yoke, and bamboozled their own citizens to maintain control. But now, with the economic decline of the west, due to many factors, including the depletion of cheap energy sources and impoverishment of their peoples through wars and theft, the rise of new nations as economic powers who cannot and will not be reduced to colonies, the bankruptcy of the United States that took place during the Vietnam War which led it to abandon the gold standard so it could just print money to pay its debts, the result of which we see in the inflationary spiral we now face, the financial-industrial elites of the west are again desperate to save themselves and once again, true to their character, are releasing the forces of fascism and militarism openly.

Many commentators claim the war in Ukraine, which has been going on since at least 2014, is an attempt by the USA and its allies to weaken Russia. But it is really a war by the desperate to stop their collapse, but which will only accelerate it. It has not weakened Russia, just as the pressures on China have not weakened it. It is the west that has been shown to be weak, ineffectual, morally bankrupt, lacking any leadership that has intelligence.

The more that becomes clear, the more desperate they become, and so the hatred and hostility expressed becomes more intense. There is no doubt, they want to subjugate Russia for its resources and markets, and thereby control the world. Hitler had those dreams. The west supported him. They are supporting all the little Hitler’s in Ukraine and in their own countries now, but the result for them will be the same.

The New Fascists Must Be Defeated And Broken, Never To Rise Again

The new wave of fascism cannot overcome the rock of progress and moral integrity, nor the will, of the people of Russia, of China, of Cuba, of Syria, Vietnam, Venezuela, Iran, of India and South Africa, of Egypt and Algeria, of the entire Middle East and Latin America, of Africa whose peoples are tired of colonialism and imperialism who see that the time of the West has come and gone as they rise to face the common challenges of the world. The struggle to defeat the fascists who control the west will be difficult, and we face the risk of common destruction.

They cannot, must not, be allowed to succeed. They are not bleeding Russia dry in a war of attrition, as they like to claim. It is the USA and its allies that are being bled dry by their own decisions and actions. It is that which can make them dangerous, for fascists are always dangerous. They must be stopped. They are our common enemy. Russia will stop them. We must support that struggle. Our own future depends on it, for as Berthold Brecht wrote, Mac The Knife is back in town, and his knife is coloured red.
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Christopher Black is an international criminal lawyer based in Toronto. He is known for a number of high-profile war crimes cases and recently published his novel Beneath the Clouds. He writes essays on international law, politics and world events. He is a member of the World Union of Freethinkers and has been nominated for a seat on its board.