Don’t be a cuck for the CIA! Support a negotiated end to the CIA-engineered war in Ukraine.

By Donald A. Smith, PhD

In 2018 Representative Ro Khanna tweeted: "Ever since the 'Orange Revolution' began under President Bush, the U.S. has been complicit in the rehabilitation and spread of Neo-Nazis in Ukraine. Enough is enough! Our government must stand up to the Azov Battalion and other fascist groups." (referenced here as well)

Chas W. Freeman, former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and a Lifetime Director of the Atlantic Council, wrote that the U.S. “engineered” the 2014 Maidan coup that replaced a Russia-friendly government with one subservient to the U.S. An intercepted phone call shows U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland choosing the leadership of Ukraine.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the USSR Matlock wrote “in denying that Russia has a ‘right’ to oppose extension of a hostile military alliance to its national borders, the United States ignores its own history of declaring and enforcing for two centuries a sphere of influence in the Western hemisphere.”

Matlock also said, in a 2024 interview, “Why don’t we understand that trying to remove Ukraine from Russian influence and put military bases there would be, in their case, absolutely unacceptable and worthy of defense?” Matlock said the U.S. backed the 2014 coup, and “Obviously, to any Russian leader, not just Vladimir Putin, that would have been an absolutely impossible, hostile act, which they had to react to. And in particular, they were not going to lose their naval base in Crimea.” Matlock said, too, that Putin is not lying when he says that the government in Ukraine is dominated by neo-Nazis.

Right before the 2022 Russian invasion, Bernie Sanders gave a speech in which he spoke of warnings by U.S. diplomats about NATO expansion. “Vladimir Putin may be a liar and a demagogue, but it is hypocritical for the United States to insist that we do not accept the principle of ‘spheres of influence.’ For the last 200 years our country has operated under the Monroe Doctrine… Does anyone really believe that the United States would not have something to say if, for example, Mexico was to form a military alliance with a U.S. adversary?”

As former House member and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich said, the U.S. government used “the good, courageous people of Ukraine as pawns in a vicious and deadly geo-political chess game which began well before the illegal Russian invasion. And it is now planning to do for the people of Taiwan what it has done for the people of Ukraine, portraying China as the aggressor while surrounding China with about 200 military bases.”

Many progressive activists and groups continue to give wholehearted support for arming Ukraine to fight Russia; continue to oppose a negotiated resolution to the conflict; and continue to turn a blind eye to the U.S. role in provoking the war — even as long-range drone attacks into Russia risk causing all-out war with NATO, and even as European countries slash social spending so they can prepare for war with Russia and meet President Trump's demand that they spend 5% of their GDPs on militarism.

Such naive, unquestioning support for the CIA-engineered war is perverse for people who consider themselves progressives. Failing to acknowledge the U.S. role in provoking the war in Ukraine gives intellectual and moral support to the military-industrial complex and its ravenous lust for money, power, land, and blood.

Republicans and some war-loving Democrats want to raise the Pentagon budget to over $1.5 trillion next year (2027) — a 40% increase over the already bloated budget, which in 2026 makes up 53% of the discretionary federal budget. If you refuse to acknowledge the ways in which the U.S. shares responsibility for the war in Ukraine, you are aiding and abetting such warmongering and waste.

The U.S. has a history of launching wars of aggression and of lying about the wars. Once you’ve acknowledged the extent of U.S. provocations in Ukraine, you will likely be ashamed of your gullibility about the official narrative. The U.S. government lies about every war. Of course they’re lying about the war in Ukraine! If you’re an antiwar progressive, how can you be so naive as to think otherwise?

The point isn’t that Vladimir Putin is innocent. One can condemn the U.S. role in bringing about the war in Ukraine without liking or exonerating Putin.

Likewise, one can condemn:

Caitlin Johnstone said something similar to what I say. Discussing Trump's war with Iran and Americans who are eager to condemn Islam and Iran (e.g., their treatment of women), Johnstone says:

I cannot stand all these western “leftists” and “anarchists” who insist on placing the western empire on equal or near-equal footing with the governments it targets. All they do is nullify anti-war sentiment and help grease the wheels for the imperial propaganda machine by legitimizing militarist narratives about how the people need rescuing from the evil regime and giving uninformed leftists the false impression that we’re watching two equally evil forces battling it out.

I’ve spoken with several leading anti-war activists who have condemned the U.S. role in provoking the war in Ukraine while at the same time condemning Putin’s invasion. I said to them: Doesn’t Russia have the right to control its borders and defend itself? The U.S. invades worldwide and, if the tables were turned and Russia had overthrown the government in Canada and were arming anti-U.S. militias, wouldn’t the U.S. have invaded? They replied: yes, the U.S. would have invaded but the U.S. would have been in the wrong too!

To be clear, my position is that the foremost obligation of Western peace advocates is to expose and oppose U.S. war-mongering. I would not go so far as to say that Putin's invasion of Ukraine was (completely) justified, but nor would I say that it wasn't partially justified. The U.S. shares guilt for causing the war. Responsibility for wars is rarely, if ever, a black-and-white matter.

Must one side be totally responsible for a war? Is there no nuance? 

Don't be a cuck for the CIA!

The U.S. failed to respect Russia’s legitimate security concerns. The U.S. pushed NATO right up to Russia’s borders; armed far-right militias; overthrew the government in Ukraine; and flooded Ukraine with weapons, knowing fully well that such actions were anathema to Russians. The U.S. cynically used the poor people of Ukraine as cannon fodder in a nasty geopolitical chess game, knowing full well that its provocations would lead to war.

The NY Times and Washington Post reported that the CIA was active in Ukraine since at least 2014.

The New Yorker reported that the CIA and NSA engaged in a coverup about U.S. actions in Ukraine.

RAND Corporation recommended arming Ukraine to weaken Russia and predicted that it would result in a war that, it said, would need to be carefully managed.

You gotta admit that, in some sense, the plan was diabolically brilliant: bait Russia into starting a war, by overthrowing the government in Ukraine and arming far-right militias; reject all attempts at negotiations; and use the Minsk accords as a chance to arm Ukraine.  Then when Russia responds militarily -- as the U.S. would do if Russia took overthrew the government in Canada -- accuse Russia of launching an unprovoked attack; blow up the Nordstream pipeline; sanction Russian energy exports; and convince Europeans to buy American energy and weapons -- sacrificing their social safety nets for the sake of American hegemony.

I am not proposing allowing Russia to destroy Ukraine. I am proposing pushing for a negotiated end to the war that acknowledges U.S. provocations as a contributing cause. 

Saying I don't support Ukraine is like saying I don't "support the troops" when I oppose U.S. overseas wars and meddling.     The U.S. used Ukraines as pawns in much the same way that neocons use the troops. Saying that the U.S. supported Ukraine is much the same as saying that neocons supported the troops when they sent them to fight and die in imperialist wars based on lies. I'm saying: stop starting and provoking wars.

For years the U.S. political establishment has been flooding the media with anti-Russian messaging (e.g., Russiagate). Since 2022, the media has portrayed Zelensky as a hero. Anyone who questions the war, points to rampant corruption in Ukraine, or points out that the U.S. provoked the war is denounced as a pro-Putin puppet.

U.S. hypocrisy is stunning. The U.S. regards the entire globe as its legitimate sphere of influence — invading, bombing, sanctioning, and launching regime change operations worldwide. But the U.S. doesn’t allow Russia or China to control even their own borderlands. Instead, the U.S. overthrows governments and amasses weaponry along its enemies’ borders — something the U.S. would never allow its enemies to do along its own borders — and then accuses them of being the aggressors.

Many people aren’t ready to hear the evidence and regard any challenges to the official narrative as pro-Russian propaganda.

The evidence about U.S. provocations is voluminous and too long to include in this essay. I refer the reader to https://theukrainepapers.org for further documentation.

No self-respecting progressive should support the CIA-engineered war in Ukraine.
Support Ukraine and negotiate a peace deal