Robert Brockway is the owner and publisher of A Voice for Men however he’s made it clear that he is expressing his personal opinions in this video –Ed
Text of the video
Russia has invaded Ukraine. I condemn this wanton act of aggression on the part of Russia against the, per capita, poorest country in Europe.
Some Westerners are arguing that Russia is simply responding to the advance of NATO. Eastern European states, and the Baltic States in particular, joined NATO because they are terrified of Russia.
In an interview in 2014 Mikhail Gorbachev made it clear that there was never any agreement not to move NATO eastward. He made two relevant points:
(1) There was an agreement not to place NATO infrastructure in East Germany.
He indicated that NATO had complied with this up to the time of the interview. It appears that
this is still the case.
and
(2) He felt that moving NATO eastward was a breach of the spirit of the statements and assurances
made to the USSR in 1990.
That may well be true, but breaching the spirit of statements and assurances is no basis for war.
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, has made it clear for years that he wants to bring areas with large ethnic Russian populations in to the Russian Federation. It is also likely that he aims for Russia to recover or closely dominate all of the land that the USSR lost in the early 1990s.
NATO’s expansion east is a convenient excuse but it is clear to me that he would have invaded Ukraine regardless.
While I don’t believe that comparisons of Putin to Adolf Hitler are accurate a situation in which Russia seeks to annex territory with large numbers of ethnic Russians is very similar to Europe in the period immediately before WW2.
Russia dominates many former soviet states through the Commonwealth of Independent States. Ukraine, the Baltic States and some others have so far escaped Russia’s grasp. I fear that Putin will actively try to take back each of these states hoping that NATO won’t respond. This is despite Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty requiring signatories to consider an attack against one to be an attack against all. I believe that when the chips are down Putin thinks that NATO will fold.
If Putin moves on NATO states like the Baltic Republics then we’re very likely looking at WW3. If that happens Putin will be reviled alongside Hitler by future generations. To be clear I do not believe that WW3 will mean the end of civilisation. Far from it – billions of people will survive to regret the choices of one Vladimir Putin.
Many Russians are opposing the invasion of Ukraine. Putin has responded by arresting demonstrators and restricting some social media platforms. Clearly his arguments are so weak that they cannot withstand any opposition.
The West has treated men abominably for decades. Don’t think that men are better off in Russia or Ukraine. In both of these countries the life expectancy difference between men and women is about 10 years, significantly more than in the West.
The problems facing men are bigger than the West. Gynocentrism is a widespread problem. We see this with the Ukrainian government barring men 18-60 from leaving Ukraine. If the state must be protected then it’s necessary for both men and women to share the burden equally. Some men, such as single fathers, may need to leave with their children. As we’ve seen, many Ukrainian women are willing to stay and resist the Russian invasion. Many military roles are not front line combat roles and there are a variety of ways that both men and women can serve.
When we object to men being barred from leaving we hear from feminists that it is men that are sending men to war. Historical research on Europe shows that female leaders are more likely to start and continue wars. Regardless of the gender of the leaders it is men that do the bulk of fighting and dying.
The men’s rights movement rejects violence as a tool of political change. This means you too Russia.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If there is a nuclear exchange between the US and Russia then Russian will be a dead language in 100 years. Russia has struggled to maintain its population even in good times in recent decades. The West will be hurt in such a war but it, and the English language, will go on.
At the time of publication Ukraine is doing better than most people in the outside world thought it would. Anything less than complete defeat of Ukraine is a loss for Vladimir Putin. Ukrainians remember the Holodomor, or Ukrainian famine, in which Joseph Stalin’s policies resulted in the death of around 13% of the Ukrainian population.
If Ukraine can do well enough against Russia it may well discourage further aggression and save us from a wider war.
Ukrainians have a long history of guerrilla warfare too. All I suggest is that the responsibility to defend their land be borne equally by men and women.
