Jared Yates Sexton: Sleepwalking Into History

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Jared Yates Sexton
@JYSexton
It's time to face facts. The aggression and brutality we're seeing in Ukraine is only the beginning of a larger problem that won't be solved by bullets or tanks.

We're fighting a war against a worldwide, Right Wing, neofascist authoritarian movement.

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jaredyatessexton.substack.com
Sleepwalking Into History
We've reached the point in the Ukraine Crisis where attention is shifting, a false, comforting narrative is settling in, and the danger is growing by the hour
9:57 AM · Mar 31, 2022

https://jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/sleepwalking-into-history?s=w


Three weeks ago, I voiced a concern that the crisis in Ukraine might reach a point at which the established powers would more or less declare victory as the television cameras switched off. What informed that fear was the fickle nature of our culture and the profit motives that drive our narratives. Now, three days after one celebrity slapped another celebrity during a live award show broadcast, and after three days of the scandal gobbling up every free second of airtime, I’m feeling sick in my gut.

The narrative is already shifting into place. Following President Joe Biden’s trip to Europe to meet with NATO allies, during which militarization was prioritized for future defense and altercations, now social media feeds and cable news programs are touting a Russian “retreat” as supposed peace talks are starting to take place. Coverage has shifted into a congratulatory mode when there’s coverage at all. The sanctions have worked, after all. Vladimir Putin miscalculated and obviously he will learn from this, if he’s able to keep power at all. The order held and will continue to hold into perpetuity.

Meanwhile, in reality, Russian attacks have continued in areas where they promised to ease their offensive. Propaganda trafficking conspiracy theories about bioweapons labs and human trafficking have found purchase among the paranoid Right. The initial push of troops into Ukraine might not have accomplished its mission so far, but the “retreat” is looking more and more like a regrouping or, possibly, a moment before less conventional methods, including chemical weapons and other horrific assaults, might commence. As for the peace talks, multiple participants, including Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, reported being poisoned in the last round, to the point where the skin was peeling off their faces.

Hardly the stuff of a conflict winding to a close.

There are plenty of worst-case scenarios in play. The possibility that Putin might commit even more war crimes, destroy the lives of more Ukrainians, and get away with it all, is still on the table. But unfortunately so is the possibility that all of this could very well escalate in ways that our leaders, our media, and our political class seem oblivious to. We might very well look back on this colossal tragedy in Ukraine and see it as the calm before the storm.

*snip*