Speaking to the U.N. Security Council at Russia’s request, Pink Floyd’s 79-year-old founder Roger Waters dared to tell the truth about the Ukraine War. Waters admitted the Russian invasion was illegal but said it was “provoked.” From the outset of the war Feb. 24, 2022, 80-year-old President Joe Biden and all the Western allies, called the invasion “unprovoked” and “unjustified,” repeating the same mantra until they actually believed their own propaganda. No one denies that invading a sovereign nation is illegal but the idea that it was “unprovoked” or “unjustified” is a matter of subjectivity. President Vladimir Putin, 70, asked Biden for at least four months to sit down and renegotiate new security arrangement for Ukraine. Biden told Putin his ideas were all “non-starters,” prompting Putin to invoke his “special military operation,” designed to “demilitarize” and “de-Nazify” Ukraine.
Putin objected in the strongest possible terms Biden’s decision to arm Ukraine since taking office Jan. 20, 2021. Biden recalls as former President Barack Obama’s Vice President letting Putin, without resistance, seize the Crimean Peninsula March 1, 2014. Western governments don’t acknowledge a Feb. 22, 2014 CIA-backed, pro-Western Coup toppled the Kiev government of Kremlin-backed Viktor Yanukovych. Once Kiev fell to pro-Western forces, Putin seized Crimea to protect his Sevastopol naval base, home to Russia’s warm water fleet. Western powers led by the Obama State Department did nothing to mobilize military support for Ukraine in 2014. After Putin annexed Crimea, Ukrainian troops, under 57-year-old former Ukraine President Petro Poloshenko, battled Russian forces for control over Donetsk and Luhank, two Russian-speaking separatist provinces in Donbas.
Waters wanted the Security Council to know that the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion was not “unprovoked” as Western powers insist, asking for a ceasefire at the earliest possible time. “He’s lucky to be in New York, in a free country, speak his mind, say whatever he likes, including about Russian aggression and how wrong that is. If he had been in Russia, with what he said, he might have been in custody by now,” Albania’s U.N. Amb. Ferit Hoxha told the 16-member Security Council. Russia’s Deputy U.N. Amb. Dmitry Polyanky rejected Hoxha’s statements, saying Russia respected freedom of speech. Waters argued against sending more weapons to Ukraine, asking for an immediate ceasefire. Waters, like many other European diplomats, sees only more destruction and bloodshed in Ukraine from supplying Kiev more weapons. Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky shows no interest in peace talks.
Waters’ position to move the conflict from the battlefield to the peace table is the only logical plan for the Ukraine War. Every time anyone in the Biden White House says there’s no military solution in Ukraine, they’re silenced, including 64-year-old Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Miley. Miley said weeks ago that there’s no military solution to the Ukraine War, only a political one. Even 52-year-old Director of National Intelligence Avil Haines said last week that the Ukraine War was close to a stalemate. Biden and Zelensky operate under the plan that more lethal weapons can drive the Russian Federation from Ukraine’s sovereign territory. So far, whatever the weapons given to Kiev, Zelensky has lost ground, losing more sovereign territory, while Russia destroys more of Ukraine’s infrastructure. Waters has the courage to ask the Security Council to work on a ceasefire.
Deputy U.S. Amb. to the United Nations, Richard Mills, recognized Waters’ accomplishments as a “recording artist,” but questioned his credentials to speak on European security issues. Does Mills think Gen. Mark Miley, who said there’s only a political solution in Ukraine, has the experience to speak on European Security? Biden officials find any excuse to discredit anyone trying to give peace a chance in Ukraine. Waters has every right to give his opinion on the Ukraine War. White House officials have only made excuses why they should continue the proxy war using Ukrainian troops to battle the Russian Federation. Does Mills really think the current state of U.S.-Russian relations helps world peace? Waters wants to state for the record that the Ukraine war was not “unprovoked.” Even Pope Francis, soon after the war began, said the NATO most likely pushed Putin into invading Ukraine. Does Mills think Pope Francis isn’t entitled to an opinion?
Biden and Zelensky don’t like hearing anyone question their plan in Ukraine to defeat the Russian Federation. Both complain daily about Russian war atrocities but they’re unwilling to let U.N. peacekeepers end the conflict. When private citizens like Waters share opinions, the White House and Kiev find a way to discredit them. “How sad for the former fans to see him accepting the role of just a brick in the wall—the wall of Russian disinformation and propaganda,” said Ukraine’s Amb. Sergiy Kyslysaya, mocking Pink Floyd’s song “Another brick in the wall.” When the White House silences Gen. Mark Miley and Avril Haines, it shows the extreme position on the Ukraine War. U.S., European or citizens of the world have aright to ask for world peace. “The only sensible course of action today is to call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine,” Waters said, willing to take the heat.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
