Toshihiko Shiobara

 

 

This book will argue that the war in Ukraine is unfolding under the interplay of three vendettas: the vendetta against Russia by the “neocons” in the United States, the vendetta against Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the vendetta against Russia by Ukraine’s President Vlodimir Zelensky. This sentiment of vengeance is the basis of the Ukrainian war. This sentiment of revenge will also help to show how difficult it is to end the war in Ukraine. I hope that foreign publishers will read this English text and publish the content written in Japanese in English. I am proud to say that I have given enough consideration to the world.

 

To understand the Ukrainian issue, one must know the history of the U.S. government’s long-standing interference in Ukraine’s political and economic affairs. Since the existence of the Soviet Union (USSR), the U.S. government, as part of its foreign policy strategy, has paid attention to the republics that make up the USSR, and has continually sought to sway the internal order of the USSR by inflaming the nationalism of the various countries. This strategy has had concrete results in the “Ukraine Crisis” that surfaced in 2014.

Behind the crisis was a Jewish woman, Victoria Nuland, who was then Assistant Secretary of State at the U.S. Department of State. She is the representative of the “neocons” (neoconservatives) in the United States. As I explained in my book “Putin 3.0,” they (1) view the world in terms of a binary opposition between good and evil and seek moral clarity in foreign policy, (2) believe that the U.S. should actively use its power to achieve what they consider “moral good,” including the liberalization and democratization of the Middle East and other parts of the world, and (3) believe that the U.S. should not be afraid to use its own power to achieve this “moral good,” and that the U.S. should not be afraid to use its own tyranny if necessary. (4) The U.S. negatively regards international treaties, agreements, and international organizations such as the United Nations as binding the freedom of action of the U.S., and is extremely skeptical of international cooperation. In addition, many of them are Jewish intellectuals, and many of them have actual ties to the Israeli government.

Some of these neocons have deep grudges against the Soviet Union and its successor, the Russian Federation, due to the loss of their property and misery caused by the Russian Revolution and the murder of their relatives in the Stalinist genocide. Therefore, they are not afraid to thoroughly hurt Russia in order to avenge their losses.

These neocons led the February 21, 2014 coup behind the scenes (see my books “Ukraine-Gate” and “Ukraine 2.0” for more details). It was the ouster by force of Viktor Yanukovych, who had been elected president by democratic elections. The neocons had won a victory up to the point that Yanukovych, whom the neocons had taken the liberty of deeming pro-Russian, was forced into exile in Russia. However, the ultra-radical nationalist groups (the Light Sector) that the neocons had encouraged repeatedly committed violence against the Russian population that had oppressed them. This led to Putin’s intervention under the guise of protecting the Russian population, and the Crimean Peninsula was annexed by Russia after a referendum. This is a major blunder for the neocons, which leads to resentment toward Putin and a new vow of revenge.

Nuland now holds the key position of Under Secretary of State under the Biden administration and is on the front lines of a possible vendetta. More on the “neocon vendetta” in Chapter 1.

 

Although it may seem abrupt, Putin officially listed revenge as one of the objectives of launching the “Special Military Operation. On the morning of February 24, 2022, the day he launched his invasion of Ukraine, he gave a speech in which he cited the “demilitarization” and “de-Nazification” of Ukraine as the purpose of launching the “special military operation. Many in the Western and Japanese mass media have ignored (neglected) the “de-Nazification” of Ukraine. The focus tends to be on the demilitarization of Ukraine in order to prevent it from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). But in truth, the mysterious goal of de-Nazification is what has been at the heart of Putin’s war against Ukraine.

What we translate here as de-Nazification is a Russianization of the German word Entnazifizierung. It refers to a series of measures aimed at eliminating Nazi (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) influence from postwar German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, education, law, and politics.

Putin’s perception is that there are nationalists in Ukraine who are so infatuated with Nazism that they are not only ostracizing the Russian population, but are even trying to abolish the Russian language. Despite this, Putin notes, “major NATO countries are supporting extreme nationalists and neo-Nazis in Ukraine in order to achieve their own ends. Catching and bringing to justice these nationalists and “neo-Nazis” who are oppressing the Russian population is considered an important objective alongside “demilitarization.”

Putin’s vengeance against the neo-Nazis is clearly evident here: on June 19, 2022, he made an interesting statement at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, explaining that the decision to launch the “special military operation” begun on February 24 was “a decision to protect our people who have been subjected to genocide for eight years by the Kiev regime with the full support of the West and the neo-Nazis. The decision to launch the “special military operation” on February 24 was taken “to protect our people, the inhabitants of the Donbass People’s Republic, who have been subjected to genocide for eight years by the Kiev regime and neo-Nazis with full Western support,” he explained. Apparently, Putin is bent on revenge against Ukrainian neo-Nazis for the slaughter of the Russian population.

In particular, Putin must have in mind revenge for the May 2, 2014 incident in Odesa, where an officially reported 42 people were killed in a labor union hall (six others were shot dead in the street). The case is unsolved, and that is why Putin’s vengeance is being driven. This “Putin’s revenge” will be discussed in Chapter 2.

 

It may be easy to understand the composition of Zelensky’s vengeance against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which was attacked. However, Zelensky’s vengeance against Russia must have been simmering long before that. Zelensky’s vengeance against Russia, however, must have been simmering long before the spring 2014 Ukrainian crisis, when the Crimean Peninsula was annexed by Russia and the eastern Donbass region subsequently fell into a state of war.

In September 2020, Zelensky will approve the New Ukrainian National Security Strategy (NSS), which will replace the May 2015 National Security Strategy. The new strategy poses an updated security policy for Ukraine based on three pillars. The first pillar is to improve defense capabilities; the second pillar is to strengthen the ability of society and the state to adapt quickly to changes in the security environment. The third pillar is cooperation with foreign partners with the strategic goal of joining the European Union (EU) and NATO.

As a step toward concretizing the NSS, on March 25, 2021, Zelensky will issue a presidential decree approving a “Military Security Strategy.” The approval of the strategy, in which “Ukraine’s full membership in NATO” is singled out as a high priority item, will lead to a decisive confrontation with Russia.

Furthermore, on August 23 of the same year, the first summit of the Crimean Platform, a consultative body to retake Crimea, was held in Kiev. Zelensky told the 46 delegates, “I myself will do everything possible to retake Crimea and make it part of Europe along with Ukraine. To do so, I will use all possible political, legal, and, above all, diplomatic means. He was indeed bent on revenge against Russia for its annexation of Crimea. This “Zelensky’s revenge” will be discussed in Chapter 3.

Chapters 1, 2, and 3 constitute the first part of the book as “Burning Vengeance.” Up to this point, this is only a surface analysis of the war in Ukraine. A more in-depth discussion will follow in Part II, “Revenge in the Form of Sanctions.” Exploring the Political Philosophy of War.

 

If the war in Ukraine is a revenge war, how should we understand the situation of revenge? In this book, Chapter 4 and following provide a thorough analysis of revenge itself.

Chapter 4 will focus on Friedrich Nietzsche’s ressentiment (vengeful spirit or vengeful emotion). It considers the historical transformation of the ancient people from the primordial stage of sacrifice to substitution to atonement.

Chapter 5 examines the shift from revenge to punishment in the Christian world. By examining the problem of the position of crime and punishment according to Christian theology and various issues up to the institutionalization of punishment by sovereign states, the chapter clarifies the historical changes that revenge has undergone.

Chapter 6 analyzes international law. The view of war as a crime subject to punishment is deeply related to the evolution of international law. Therefore, the relationship between international law and war crimes will be clarified by focusing on (1) the period up to the birth of “European public law,” (2) after the birth of European public law, and (3) the current stage in which “global international law” has displaced European public law.

Chapter 7 carefully discusses “revenge, retaliation, and sanctions. In particular, by learning about the relationship between revenge, retaliation, and sanctions in the theory of just war (just war theory), we hope that the reader will understand that retaliation and sanctions that have nothing to do with revenge are not being carried out at the present time. In other words, what is now being led by the West is revenge using the word “sanction,” and it seems to be violence by the ruling power that has been concealed by Western Christian civilization.

 

Finally, in “Part III: Challenges for the 21st Century,” Chapter 8 presents “The Question of the Western/Christian World. The Christian world seems to have become civilized by confining vengeance to retaliation and sanctions, but this does not mean that vengeance itself has been eliminated for all time to come. Rather, this concealment of vengeance is sometimes repeated historically in the form of wars and the use of force. Western civilization, which is based on Christian theology, may be forced to repeat violence in the form of revenge. I would like to develop such an argument.

 

 

 

Table of Contents

 

 

Part 1: Burning Vengeance

Chapter 1: Neocon Revenge

　　(1) Ukraine is the “Latest Neocon Disaster

　　(2) Neocon Origins and “Pogroms

　　(3) Nationalism as a Detonator

　　(4) Incitement by mass media

 

Chapter 2 Putin’s Revenge

　　(1) Mass media’s failure to see that “de-Nazification” is concealed

　　(2) Revenge for the coup d’état to 2014

　　(3) Putin’s exaltation of nationalism

　　(4) The setback of the Putin scenario

 

Chapter 3: Zelensky’s Revenge

　　(1) Revenge stirred by rage

　　(2) Jewish Zelensky

　　(3) Vengeance of Ukrainian immigrants

　　(4) Russia’s move to “cancel

 

Part 2: Revenge of Sanctions

Chapter 4: On the Spirit of Revenge (Ressentiment)

　　(1) Nietzsche’s teachings

　　(2) The Justice of Reciprocity

　　(3) The primordial stage of sacrifice to God

　　(4) From Substitution to Atonement

 

Chapter 5: From Revenge to Punishment

　　(1) Crime and Punishment in Christianity

　　(2) Religions that deflect the spirit of revenge

　　(3) The court system

　　(4) Punishment by the State

 

Chapter 6: War in the Perspective of International Law

　　(1) The Birth of European Public Law (International Law)

　　(2) The Birth and Fluctuation of European Public Law

　　(3) The Erosion of European Public Law by the United Kingdom and the United States

　　(4) Just War Theory Today

 

Chapter 7 Revenge, Retaliation, and Sanctions

　　(1) Revenge and Retaliation

　　(2) Retaliation under international law

　　(3) Retaliation and sanctions

　　(4) Criticism of secondary sanctions

　　(5) The West’s inclination toward consequentialism

　　(6) Doubts about the cause of sanctions

　　(7) The perspective of “transitional justice

　　(8) “Impunity” Preventing Revenge

 

Part 3: Challenges for the 21st Century

Chapter 8: Questioning the West and the Christian World

　　(1) Questioning Western Civilization

　　(2) “Blame” of Western Civilization