Trib editorial on ‘Kremlin’s menace’ deletes any mention of West’s menace

 The Trib’s January 18 editorial ‘The Kremlin’s menace grows’,  focused laser like on Russia’s ongoing menace to Ukraine, and by extension Western Europe, contains this astonishing statement:  “In the years that followed the popular uprisings in Tbilisi and Kyiv (Georgia and Ukraine), NATO was far more preoccupied with the all-consuming battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan than it was with Kremlin chicanery.” 

What’s missing is that those “all-consuming battlefields” were immoral, senseless wars that left hundreds of thousands dead, millions displaced, and two failed states in their wake.  Afghanistan is on the brink of economic collapse while NATO and the U.S. exacerbate their collapse by withholding billions of Afghan treasure to punish Afghanistan’s new rulers for defeating, indeed humiliating the Western invaders. Western vengence is getting Afghans killed every day.  Compared to the West, Putin is an amateur at 'menace'. 

It’s valid to discuss the current Ukraine crisis as one urgently requiring a peaceful resolution. But over hyping the Russian menace while totally whitewashing the West’s menace which will inflict death and destruction for years to come is reprehensible and not helpful to achieving peace in the region.     

Walt Zlotow

President, West Suburban Peace Coalition

Glen Ellyn IL