In these increasingly polarised times, there seems to be less and less room for nuance or subtlety in political debate. Too often, disputes are framed as a contest between good and evil, with all the angels on one side of the argument and all the devils on the other.
For an example of this phenomenon, one need look no further than the war in Ukraine.
Let me say immediately that I utterly condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukrainian sovereign territory in 2022. It was an appalling and illegal act. And with a litany of other crimes to his name, Vladimir Putin is without question a tyrant.
But there is a whole backstory to this conflict which has barely seen the light of day in all the media coverage and commentary devoted to it.
This backstory includes actions undertaken by “our side” – the West – over many years that were always likely to infuriate the Russians and increase the prospects of war.
What, for instance, did we think would be the reaction of Russia to the decision by the US, UK and EU to condone a coup in Ukraine in 2014, which saw the overthrow of the democratically-elected – and Moscow-friendly – President by thuggish ultra-nationalists (the type of people Western liberals usually despise)?
Likewise, how did we imagine the continued eastwards expansion of Nato – which, let us remember, was set up after the Second World War as an explicitly anti-Soviet coalition – would be viewed by the Kremlin? A
And did we believe that exercises involving Nato troops just 100 miles from their border would not raise the hackles of the Russians?
Turn things around. How do we imagine the Americans might react if they learned one day that Russia had entered into a military alliance with, say, Mexico and would deploy troops near the Texas border?
In fact, something of that kind did happen once involving Cuba, and the White House didn’t much like it. It seems that the principle of nations being at liberty to form their own alliances goes only one way.
Yet whenever someone, as I did, tried to place the Ukraine war into some sort of context by highlighting these things, they were instantly denounced as a Putin sympathiser or Kremlin mouthpiece.
This is what they are not telling you about the West's hand in Ukraine's slaughter - Paul Embery | Getty Images
Similarly, anyone who called for negotiations and an end to the war was liable to be branded a lily-livered peacenik. As someone who protested on the streets over the invasion of Iraq and saw the strength of anti-war sentiment in our country during that period, I was staggered at the lack of prominent voices calling for an end to hostilities, or at least for peace talks to begin, in Ukraine.
Barring a few usual suspects, Britain’s anti-war movement seemed to just melt away.
With the exception of the Pope and one or two others, barely any person of significance urged an end to the fighting. It was as though senior public figures were petrified of being seen as quislings.
So instead they banged the war drums and sat back and watched as thousands of young men were sent into the meat grinder and whole districts of Ukraine were turned into wastelands.
Even when British sovereign territory in the shape of the Falkland Islands was invaded, a number of Labour MPs called for a ceasefire and peace talks. Yet, over Ukraine, Parliament was virtually united in pressing for more war.
Well, now look where we are. Ukraine appears on a path to signing a peace deal, brokered by the White House, which amounts to nothing better – and probably something a good deal worse – than what it might have secured three years ago. The deal may still be revised, but I suspect any final document won’t be that far removed from what’s currently on the table.
With Ukraine having burnt through much of its manpower and equipment, it has been obvious for a long time that this day would come.
And the predicament in which the country now finds itself should force those Western leaders who egged Ukrainians to fight to the bitter end, giving them much false hope along the way, to look themselves in the mirror.
This includes the British Prime Minister, who, as recently as February, was telling Ukrainians that their path to Nato membership was “irreversible” – an assertion that now looks decidedly shaky.
A whole lot of lives have been lost and families broken apart for little reason. It will take years for Ukraine to recover from the slaughter and bombardment.
The war and its root causes were always more complex than we were ever allowed to believe. Now it looks as though those who from the outset made the case for de-escalation, ceasefire and talks, not because they were puppets of Moscow but out of concern for innocents on all sides, will be vindicated.
On this occasion, the peaceniks had a point. Remember this the next time Western leaders try to sell us a war.
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