Famed film director Oliver Stone has just weighed in on the war between Russia and Ukraine in a truly headline grabbing way. During an interview with Russell Brand in which Stone expressed his fear that U.S. policy toward Ukraine was leading us on a "suicidal" course toward "World War III," Stone discussed his view on President Joe Biden.
"Biden is an old Cold Warrior, and he really hates the old Soviet Union which he confounds again with the Russian Federation, which is not communist…if we don’t stop this," Stone stressed in part, "what Biden is doing, this guy is – I voted for him – I made a mistake…I see a man who maybe is not in charge of his own administration…it seems that he’s dragging us stupidly into a confrontation with a power that is not going to give. This is their borders. This is their world. This is NATO going into Ukraine. This is a whole other story."
Also, while discussing his documentary “Ukraine on Fire,” Stone expressed his belief that the Obama administration was behind the “coup d'état of 2014” to overthrow the government of then Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. Stone further believes – as do multiple other people – that a negotiation for ethnic Russian autonomy in eastern Ukraine – as well as a ceasefire – had almost been reached in 2022 until “America squelched it.”
Next, during a past interview with David Sachs on his “All-In” podcast, rising Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. – who also has warned the Russia-Ukraine war is a trip-wire to World War III -- echoed some of the concerns of Stone.
"This is the most violent conflict since World War Two probably anywhere in the world, and the casualties are enormous. Over 300,000 Ukrainians dead. The Russians are killing Ukrainians, depending on who you believe, at a ratio of five-to-one, to eight-to-one. It was seven-to-one in the recently leaked whistleblower leaked Pentagon documents. The Russians cannot lose this war. We are being told they are losing, but they cannot afford to lose this war," Kennedy said in part.
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"This is existential for them…The answer to your question about how we got into this war goes back a long way. But I would say the real story starts in 2014, when the U.S. government and the neocons in the White House and elsewhere participated and supported the violent overthrow, a coup d’état, against the democratically elected government of the Ukraine and put in a very anti-Russian government. This prompted the Russians, who then believed that the U.S. Navy was now going to be invited into the Black Sea to have a port at Crimea, it prompted the Russians to preemptively invade Crime," Kennedy added.
Finally, on the unified theme that this war is leading us all closer and closer to World War III, we have one of multiple warnings from former President Donald J. Trump. On his Truth Social site, the former President rhetorically screamed: “This is the most dangerous time in our country's history. World War III is looming, like never before, in the very dark and murky background. “Leadership” is solely responsible for this unprecedented danger to the USA and likewise, the World. HOPELESS JOE BIDEN IS LEADING US INTO OBLIVION!!!”
Trump, Stone, and RFK, Jr are all horrifyingly correct about this but therein lies the problem. Because all three men have spoken out repeatedly against the power of entrenched elites, they are either shunned or denounced as heretics by the left, by those wishing to use Ukraine to fight a proxy war with Russia, or by those enriched by the military industrial complex.
Now, because of those powers operating behind the curtain, simply questioning U.S. policy in Ukraine is frowned upon or even labeled “Un-American” by some. Much like at the height of Covid, lockdowns, mask mandates, and vaccines, simply asking much needed and logical questions about Ukraine, corruption in the country, or where our multi-billions in tax-payer money is really going gets you accused of being “Pro Russia” and “Pro Putin.”
My counter to that nonsense is that it is our patriotic duty to our nation to ask questions about U.S. policy in Ukraine.
But, here we are.
Few want to go against the power. More and more know this strategy is potentially "suicidal" as Stone said, but choose to whistle past the graveyard rather than question flawed and dangerous policy.
Those who oppose even the questioning of unbending support for Ukraine really should go back and look at the history of World War I and the multiple, seemingly unconnected tripwires which led to that conflict. A war, which ultimately killed over 20 million men, women, and children.
The Ukraine-Russia war is littered with such tripwires. The “drip, drip, drip,” escalation of hostilities is bringing us to the edge of the unimaginable. Last week, we saw yet another escalation when Ukraine used drone strikes to attack Moscow.
Many of course may say, “Good for them. Russia deserves that.”
Say that if you will, but what then are the consequences of such an escalation?
Well, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev just offered up one such consequence by threatening to introduce nuclear weapons hours after Moscow shot down three of the Ukrainian drones.
Nuclear weapons. What if he is not...bluffing? What if a Putin General takes matters into his own hands? What if...
Said Medvedev in part: "Imagine if the.. [counter] offensive, which is backed by NATO, was a success and they tore off a part of our land then we would be forced to use a nuclear weapon according to the rules of a decree from the president of Russia…”
Drip, drip, drip. Tripwire after tripwire.
All have every right to strongly oppose Russia in this war. That said, it is imperative that the voices of those warning of World War III being at our doorstep also be heard.
Americans should be allowed -- and encouraged -- to openly debate this subject.
The “Age of Trump” has accelerated the “Age of Censorship.”
The censorship going on now regarding the war between Russia and Ukraine could be catastrophic.
Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official and author of the book: The 56 – Liberty Lessons from those who risked all to sign The Declaration of Independence.
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