Was Russia provoked into the war in Ukraine? Certainly. However, gaslighting was involved as well; not by Scott Horton’s Provoked, but—as he expertly details on page after page—by the US government and its organ—the establishment media.
Roll back 30-some years, and I—a regular consumer of NPR during my morning commute and the local paper in the evening—was aware of the narrative regarding the troubles facing Eastern European countries and regions. The dissolution of the Soviet Union brought intrigue, wars, and destruction, and interventions supporting US interests. The US government—as the story still goes—was on the champion of good, looking to fill the political void of a vile empire with democracy and liberty. Sure, eggs were cracked, but sometimes that is the only means to bring peace and stability to the world. Did the US government make the occasional mistake or misstep? Absolutely, but its heart was always in the right place.
In many ways, that was a tale pleasing to the ear. Believing I was a citizen of the shining city on the hill sounded better than the realization I was aligned with an entity fomenting disorder, disaster, and death—all while supported by my tax dollars. I cannot honestly claim I never read or heard the occasional mention of grabs for oil and other resources, or hints of strange and clandestine operations—exercises in hegemonic games for spheres of control. But those whispers never seemed loud enough or consistent enough to change my views of US foreign policy, or maybe I just didn’t listen or refused to hear.
Nevertheless, over the years, as my suspicions rose and I began to question the narrative, I researched more. I started to listen to voices not emanating from the state and slowly awakened to a different view of US foreign policy. Over time, I realized much of what I thought was true regarding US enemies and adversaries was nothing more than specters shaped by a shadowy political framework that is defined and redefined by the government. I recognized the agenda and goals of the US federal government were often not shared by me and my fellow citizens. To keep the agenda moving forward, the government has to continually propagandize its citizens with a narrative that supports both the government’s agenda and the desires of its beneficiaries.
And, as Horton shows again and again, the US government didn’t just propagandize us—it used gaslighting as well. As the armies and missiles of NATO encroached on Russian borders, as revolts and dissent were incited within Russia, as US tax dollars funded NGOs that are anything but nongovernment, we were repeatedly told it was Russia expanding its borders and threatening sovereign countries.
This was all gaslighting. For example, as the former Yugoslavia experienced its death throes, it was the US and its allies raining terror from the skies. It was not Russia coming to the defense of the Slavs and kindling the Balkan tinderbox. It was the US and NATO creating unrest and violence, as well as directly and indirectly causing vast death and destruction. It was not some resurgent evil empire swinging scythe and sickle; it was the supposed “shining city on the hill” and its Western European sycophants, the supposed defenders of liberal democracy, igniting passions that could only be resolved in blood.
Provoked is replete with other examples, most of which I knew about to some degree. But I never saw all the examples listed out, chapter by chapter. And it is this extensive recounting that gives Horton’s book such depth that I cannot deny I was gaslit for years. There is no country, political entity, or ethnic group in Eastern Europe that either didn’t receive money for nefarious reasons or experience its results. And we call this aid money—or it is seen as aid money when people succumb to the effects of the gas.
I cannot recommend Provoked highly enough. Horton ties together the history that resulted in the war in Ukraine—a war 25 years in the making. His extensive footnoting bolsters his case. In the end, his book proves beyond a doubt that the war could have been prevented if the warmongers guiding US foreign policy would have exited political life and taken up a different pursuit—one where the suffering of millions is not an inevitable consequence.
The Cold War ended. Let the world and humanity reap the dividends.
