There is little doubting that Russia is in the hands of a gangster mafia. The once state owned commanding heights of the old Soviet Union have been sold off to a gang of thieving oligarchs, many of whom were former Communist Party apparatchiks. Whilst this oligarchic elite has grown obscenely rich, the Russian economy has contracted, buffeted as it is by falling oil prices, endless wars around its periphery, western sanctions and criminal government ineptitude. Socially, Russia has become intolerant and repressive. And now, encircled as it is by an ever expansionist NATO, Russia under Putin, has decided the best form of defence is attack. And the Western powers, unable or unwilling to extend its own military operations, can only resort to name calling. Russia is declared the war criminal for its actions in the Crimea, Ukraine, and now Syria, but western politicians and commentators should look closer to home for those most culpable for spiralling decent into war and mayhem.

One has to admire the sheer audacity of western politicians who declare Putins government as war criminals. Since the official conclusion of hostilities that we like to refer to as the Second World War, Britain, France and the US have never not been at war. First, there was the futile but bloody attempt to prevent former colonies from gaining their independence. Although it has largely been airbrushed out of popular history, all the victorious European powers; Britain, France and Holland, had the temerity to draft in the defeated Imperial Japanese forces in an attempt to quell the rising tide of independence in East and South East Asia. When that little wheeze failed, the western powers had no compunction in bringing in their own armies. The West was at war again, albeit an undeclared war, and they have been at war ever since. And when the old colonial powers proved unequal to the task, the now dominant US of A stepped in to claim the remnants of the old European colonial empires.

Bloody colonial wars were fought across the globe. It would not be an over exaggeration to say that some five million entirely innocent citizens lost their lives in this renewed colonial onslaught. In fact, if a full body count were ever possible, ten million might be a closer estimate. Three million Vietnamese alone were slaughtered in this western led barbarism. In Korea, in Malaya, in Kenya, in Algeria, in Indonesia, in Brazil, in El Salvador, In Nicaragua, in South Africa; in every continent, including Europe itself, the old colonial powers tried desperately, either directly or through proxy dictators, to cling on to their colonial empires. And as they did so, the indigenous corpses piled ever higher.

Even today, democratic Britain retains its colonial hold over the six occupied counties of Ireland, with all the bloody turmoil that has ensued as a result.

As it became less fashionable, less acceptable to directly control the world by military force, the use of local dictatorship became the preferred method of operation. Progressive nationalist leaders were routinely overthrown and compliant regimes were installed. This was the model in Africa, Asia and South America. It is still very much the preferred modus operandi in the Middle East. The House of Saud, the Baathist hard men in Iraq and Syria, and the post Nasser military thugs in Egypt all fitted this pattern. And we should not omit to include the most compliant of all regimes; the Zionist thugs currently running the Israeli settler state.

But every so often these once compliant regimes would attempt a measure of independent action, and then all hell would break loose. Sadaam Hussein, once a great western bulwark against the Iranian Islamic clerical revolution, started to behave too erratically, too independently for his masters liking. Not one but two wars were unleashed on this upstart regime and to quote the Baathist hard man himself, this would trigger the mother of all battles. We are still embroiled in that battle, a battle that has spread beyond Iraq, to Syria, to Libya and to Yemen. It will likely spread still further.

Lets be absolutely clear on this, it is western imperialism and its insatiable military-industrial complex that is the cause of the middle eastern conflagration, not the Russians. The latter are certainly opportunistically exploiting the situation for their own geo-political purposes but their manoeuvres are relatively small fry compared to western military machinations. And to paraphrase a certain ex-US President, its all about the oil, stupid.

How many have died as a direct result of the US/British illegal war against Iraq? Probably in excess of half a million. How many have died as a consequence of that invasion across the entire Middle East and beyond? Almost certainly now in excess of one million the majority of whom are entirely non-military personnel. Men, women and children, with their own hopes and dreams, trying desperately to go about their daily lives, threatening no one. Those western corporate interests and the politicians who serve them so loyally, should be brought to account. They are surely war criminals and they should be made to pay. And if they ever were, what would be their first line of defence? Blame the Russians.
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