I NEED TO GET SOME SLEEP
Ukraine: A Short Story
This story is fictional, so don’t start pissing ya pants, okay?
Last night, I was sitting in the library writing when a pale, old goat of a gentleman came up to me.
‘What ya writing about Kid?’ he asked in a croaky Australian voice
I told him I had begun writing about the war in Ukraine. Then I’d had a break and watched the Emilio Estevez/Martin Sheen film called The Way.
By the end of the film I was in tears and I realised there is fuck all point in writing about war and politics since there are more urgent matters to consider in this brief lifetime.
The old man nodded in agreement and then sat down next to me, wincing in pain as he used his walking stick to lower himself.
He looked into my eyes and told me,
‘Don’t underestimate the importance of writing about these things. The mainstream media has people so hypnotised that they are drunk on emotion, so they fail to see the key points of what is happening.’
I was surprised to hear those words from an old man in a library. I agreed with him but how could I write anything contrary to the narrative without being branded a traitor?
‘They don’t call em traitors anymore’, he said. ‘They did back in my day.’
Greyface, as I called him, told me he was an Intelligence Officer during the Korean war.
‘These days, they call ‘em lefties. And they’ve burned the image into people’s brains so deeply that you are dismissed by people the moment you question anything.
Course, these days, it’s much worse. I thought people were getting better at challenging the government and media for a while there. But since all this virus lark, it seems to have swung back the other way.
Now people are more under the spell of governments than ever, which is ironic since this whole Ukraine thing is meant to be about some so-called crazy dictator controlling the people.’
‘What do you mean so-called?’ I asked. ‘Don’t you think the Russian president is crazy?’
A fellow quiet library goer spun around and gave me an evil look and shushed me.
‘Sorry’ I mouthed at her.
‘Look, Kid. Im not saying he isn’t crazy.’ whispered the old man.
‘From my vantage point, if you are in politics, you’re either crazy or a fucking psychopath or both. But what I’m saying is this Cowboys and Indians mentality — this John Wayne chasing the mad dictator bullshit — is a fucking joke.’
I had very little knowledge of the Ukraine conflict and a willingness to shut my mouth and turn off the news. I had watched The Way. I was in the flow. I wasn’t going there anymore.
‘Look, I’m anti-war’ I said. ‘I don’t take a side. I think the whol….’
He laughed very loudly for someone in a library. The two or three people in there reading quietly turned and gave us more evil stares.
‘What are you, a fucking pussy?’ he asked.
I had to consider the question. This was a serious man with some serious knowledge. Or was he? It was late and I had a headache. For all I knew he could be some crazy fucking cooch off the streets of Footscray.
‘Look,’ he said without waiting for my response. ‘Im just saying that there’s a background story here. And whenever you try and educate people, they’ll say you are getting sucked in by the propaganda and all that because people don't like the idea that there isn’t stability in the world.
If people found out 9–11 was an inside job, what do you think would happen?
What would happen if it came out that the Capitol building thing was a setup?
America is a country full of people with private armies — militia. They have basements full of weapons. You can walk into a supermarket and buy a fucking grenade launcher. The last thing America wants is a god damn civil war.’
I raised my eyebrows.
‘Are you saying 9–11 was an inside job?’ I asked him.
He leaned in closer, widening his eyes.
‘It doesn’t matter. And besides, I can see you looking at me with that look, Kid.’
‘What look?’
‘That look that says you think Im a fucking tin foil whackjob.’
We paused for a minute. I didn’t deny it.
‘Okay, so fine, what’s the background story to Ukraine?’
He sat up now looking disinterested as if trying to lure me in deeper. He knew he had me. I wanted to hear this.
‘You wouldn’t fucking believe me if I told you, Kid’
‘Well, that’s fine, let’s just say you’re a whackjob tin foil old man telling me a fictional story.’
It was the first time I saw him vaguely smile. He leaned forward again.
‘It goes back a long way Kid — even further back than World War II, but that’s cause and effect, isn’t it? You can trace everything back to the damn dinosaurs if you think hard enough. But, do you know a lot of people don’t even know that Russia and America were allies during World War II?’
‘They were?’
He gave me a look.
‘Just kidding. Please carry on.’
He leaned his walking stick against the table and lowered his voice.
‘The passing of time allows for the editing of history. That Winston Churchill, he was a sinister character. Not surprising. He was a politician and a conservative one at that. That bastard championed the use of chemical weapons on what he called ‘uncivilised tribes’. He starved three million people to death in India to support the war effort. He was also a white supremacist. Look it up. It’s all there.’
Nothing sounded too far fetched so far. But what the fuck did Winston Churchill have to do with all this?
‘The point is you can’t trust a politician, and as time goes by, we let things go that shouldn’t be let go. Certain facts get watered down throughout history, like the US helping rig various Russian elections.’
I was sceptical.
‘I know. Funny, isn’t it given all the hoo haa about Russian interference?
‘Yes, but how does this all relate to Ukraine?
He took a deep breath.
‘Okay, fine, Kid. It’s like this.
When the Berlin Wall came down, NATO made a promise to Russia not to expand. But like I said, you can’t trust politicians. NATO continued to grow with new members Poland, Albania, Croatia. Man, the list is long. The whole time they edged closer to the border of Russia.
Ukraine was like a crown jewel for NATO. Despite years of talks, Ukraine and Russia were best buddies. No chance they were joining NATO.
So, if you’re the Americans, how do you get Ukraine on board? You do what you do best right? You fucking meddle. They orchestrated a coup. They kicked the government to the kerb and installed a hard-line right-wing government that the US knew would stir trouble for Russia. This was in 2014.
I know what you’re thinking. Why install a crazy right-wing government if the plan is to get Ukraine to join NATO, right?
‘I suppose.’
Well, that wasn’t the main plan you see. The actual goal went much deeper.
The breakaway states of the Donbas voted unanimously for their independence from Ukraine. Still, this new nationalist government didn’t like that, so they started the fight to reunite the territories.
People are flipping out about the war in Ukraine, Kid. Most people have no idea that that war has been going on for eight years. The Ukraine military has been shelling the Russian separatists trying to reunite these territories this whole time. And this all played into the US long term plan.
‘What was that plan?’
‘I’ll get to it, Kid.’
‘So now you’ve got this Ukraine government shelling Russian backed separatists, no longer trading with Mother Russia and on the verge of joining NATO. And someone has said to the US President. ‘Act surprised when Putin starts to fight back. Cos, we need to make it look like he is invading the country cos he is a god damn lunatic’.’
I know I should be making notes here like a good journalist, but Im still not sure if this guy is even legit.
‘Yeah, but why would the US want Putin to fight back?’ I ask. ‘Surely you’re not going to say the tremendous secret reason is the military-industrial complex?’
‘Nah, don’t be stupid, Kid. If only it was that simple.
Sure, they are benefiting from it. Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, the geniuses who made that Javelin missile. But all their shares are skyrocketing because there is a war. That’s all it takes. The six billion in ‘military aid’ for Ukraine aint all free. It’s not charity. It’s the damn taxpayer that’s paying for it.
So that system benefits whenever there is fighting of any kind. It’s not more complicated than that.’
Then why? Russia is a significant threat to the US, why would they want to ‘poke the bear’ as they say?
‘That’s precisely the point, Kid. What happens when there is Russian aggression? The whole world turns against them and imposes crippling sanctions that destroy the Russian economy and systematically fuck the Russian people.
And look, the US cant get at Putin since the guy has more nukes than they do.
So, their only hope is to get the people to rise up and kick him out.’
‘A coup?’
‘Exactly Kid. Once the Russian people have had enough, they’ll rise up and kick Putin out. And what then? Navalny?’
I knew very little about Putin's opposition Alexy Navalny and showed it by shrugging my shoulders.
‘The point is that the US installs the leader that they want just like they did with Putin, and then they rebuild Russia as a key ally of the United States and turn their attention to the real enemy.’
I felt the blood drain from my face.
‘China?’
He nodded slowly. I was speechless. I still questioned his mental stability and his stories, but it seemed to fit. Either way, it was a great story.
‘So why put Putin there in the first place?’ I asked him.
‘Everyone has their purpose at some point, Kid’, he said.
‘The Taliban, Al Qaeda were both allies of the US at one point and got massive Christmas gifts courtesy of the military-industrial complex.
Putin served his purpose as they all did. Now the strategy has moved on. They need someone else.
And as for the right-wing Ukraine government, well they’re just another US asset, right? How about we bet a fifty on a US-Russia joint invasion of Ukraine sometime this decade?’
I sniffed a half laugh and looked down at my computer. There was a half-written piece on death or love or some shit.
I looked back up to ask a final question but no one was there.
On the wall in front, there was a poster of an old man with grey hair reading a book. I really needed to get some sleep.
I sniffed one more half-laugh then deleted the first story and began typing,
I was sitting in the library trying to write last night when a pale, old goat of a gentleman came up to me…
