By Keaton Mansfield, Center for Political Innovation

Why does the liberal antiwar movement often side with NATO by default of their faux “neutrality”? The difference between antiwar and anti-imperialism may hold the answer.

With the Russian Federation’s decision to recognize the independence of the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, the Western Left has shown their true colors and loyalties.

Self-described communists, anarchists, and social democrats have flooded Twitter and other social media platforms with NATO propaganda and Ukrainian flags, claiming Russia has launched an unprovoked invasion in a desperate and psychotic land grab.

This, of course, couldn’t be farther from the truth. Since the US-supported Euromaidan coup of 2014, the Donbas region has endured indiscriminate artillery shelling and military aggression from the Kiev regime.

With these facts in mind, we must now turn to see the response from the synthetic left.

Vaush, Hbomberguy, ContraPoints, and many other Breadtube figures have spent the last several days retweeting and sharing Twitter posts from the Ukrainian government’s account. This is not, however, a recent development. These figures and their supporters have consistently pushed the NATO narrative around the world, especially in the Middle East. No different than their support for the ‘Free’ Syrian Army or YPG of Rojava, they’ve acted as tools for US dominance and media hegemony.

The American anti-war movement, which was born out of the 1960’s hippie era opposition to the Vietnam War, had, up until now, generally taken the appropriate stances against US and NATO aggression when the situation really demanded it. The anti-war hippies mostly understood that despite their dislike of the ‘authoritarian’ Soviet Union supporting Ho Chi Mihn, opposing the actions and narrative of the US was principal.

Slogans such as “one side’s right, one side’s wrong, victory to the Viet-Cong!” rang throughout cities in the US as thousands of Americans seemingly innately understood the core principles of anti-imperialism. This sentiment, which carried through to the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, has now completely betrayed their roots. It is because of this, the distinction between anti-war and anti-imperialist politics has become as clear as day.

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