War propaganda often says more about the accuser than the adversary it’s aimed at. For many years western media spun a grim and extremely specific fairy tale of Soviet warfighting; the evil communist regime rounds up its own population into padlocked cattle cars and sends them into pointless human wave attacks against the stoic “I was just doing my job” German soldiers.
As implausible as this scenario might sound, it’s fervently believed across the western world. Like the “Iraqi soldiers throwing Kuwaiti babies out of incubators” and “Libyan viagra rape squads” stories, it’s only believable to a person who, consciously or subconsciously, thinks those are reasonable tactics in a war. Hence the saying, “every accusation is a confession.”
There’s a second and equally important factor, which is simply racism, which expresses itself in different way. First, there’s the typical racism of low expectations. Nations that are viewed as primitive can’t be expected to uphold certain moral values like “not kidnapping your own people and throwing them into suicide attacks.” Like it or not, Ukrainians are simply “our” Russians. You can see this in online discussions about how NATO would easily win in a direct confrontation with Russia. When NATO defenders are asked why a NATO brigade would do better than a Ukrainian brigade with the same equipment, they say something about Ukrainians being too Soviet or not understanding combined arms. Or, in so many words, they’re just inferior. I am sure this is at least partly why US attacked Iran and stepped on the same rakes Russians and Ukrainians had stepped on and learned to avoid years earlier. How is it possible to watch the most documented war in history and learn so little? NATO countries could not even imagine that a fight between subhumans could apply to them.
Racism is also a measure of value. Nations that are inferior can be rounded up into cattle cars and spent like bullets without anyone having to feel bad about it.
One thing that has confounded me for the past four years is how Ukrainians are treated as an infinite, inexhaustible resource, when in fact population is probably the most limiting factor, not weapons or money. What makes the Soviet “two men to a rifle” myth absurd is that is that it just isn’t an effective way to fight a war. Perhaps the most accurate statement is that Ukrainians are treated as an expendable resource.
However, I would not completely rule out the possibility that the hordes of Europe are so thoroughly sold on the virtue of press gang tactics they will accept it in their own countries.
Ian Kummer
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