Noam Chomsky on the War in Ukraine

NOAM CHOMSKY ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE -
TWO QUOTATIONS
(For a full list of sources used in the video and copyright references please see below the commentary)

OTHER CHOMSKY QUOTATIONS ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE

"They (referring to politicians and media commentators in Sweden and Finland) have two positions. One position is gloating over the fact that the Russians are a paper tiger. Their military is so totally incompetent that they can't conquer cities 20 km from their border, defended by mostly citizens militia. The (Russian) army is just a pretence. A wreck. It can't do anything. That's one view. Let's gloat and be happy about that. The other view is this monstrous military regime is just about to attack the world's most enormous military system and overwhelm Europe. Those two views are held simultaneously. That's an example of what George Orwell called double speak. .... To have two completely contrary ideas in mind and to believe both of them."
Interview with Owen Jones, 11 May 2022.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFFlANZ7dA8

"I have never once “rationalized” the invasion [of Ukraine] or hinted at any such thing. In fact, I’ve condemned it... and I’ve emphasize[d] the truism -- repeat TRUISM -- that presenting background is not justification."
Counterpunch, June 3, 2022.

When asked how do you assess the risk of nuclear war or world war III.

"Nobody can assess the risks. We just know that it's possible. And that's too much of a risk. You have to not only calculate the risk but consider the consequences. If there's a nuclear war, we are finished. The end of the human experiment. That is what the risk is. It's not a risk worth taking." Interview with Geopolitics Joe - 13 April 2022

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdCuW66pOQ8

"The United States Department [sic] acknowledged that they had not taken Russian security concerns into consideration in any discussions with Russia. The question of NATO, they would not discuss. Well, all of that is provocation. Not a justification, but a provocation. And it's quite interesting that in American discourse, it is almost obligatory to refer to the invasion as the 'unprovoked invasion of Ukraine'. Look it up on Google. You will find hundreds of thousands of hits. Of course, it was provoked. Otherwise, they wouldn't refer to it all the time as an unprovoked invasion." Interview with Ramzy Baroud. 27 June 2022 Eurasia Review.
‘Rationality Is Not Permitted’: Chomsky On Russia, Ukraine And The Price Of Media Censorship – OpEd – Eurasia Review
https://www.eurasiareview.com/27062022-rationality-is-not-permitted-chomsky-on-russia-ukraine-and-the-price-of-media-censorship-oped/

"Take the United States today, it is living under a kind of totalitarian culture which has never existed in my lifetime and is much worse in many ways than the Soviet Union before Gorbachev. Go back to the 1970s. People in Soviet Russia could access BBC, Voice of America, German Television, if they wanted to find out the news. If today, in the United States, you want to find out what Prime Minister Lavrov of Russia is saying, can't do it. It's barred. Americans are not permitted to hear what Russians are saying. Can’t get Russian television, can’t access Russian sources. That means also that fine American journalists like Chris Hedges, one of the best, is cut out, barred from Americans, because he happens to have a program running on RT…. the United States has imposed constraints on freedom of access to information which are astonishing and, which in fact, go beyond what was the case in post-Stalin Soviet Russia. That’s just a remarkable fact…. Anyone who dares to break the party line on the dominant issue of today, Ukraine, is simply demonized, vilified. Can’t be sent to the gulag— free country, still— but you can barely talk…"
Interview with Russel Brand 22 July 2022.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTn5tqSJC30
We Are F*cked

One of Chomsky's earlier remarks on the Ukraine crisis dates back to an interview in 2015 with Global Conversation, EuroNews.

"The idea that Ukraine might join a Western military alliance would be quite unacceptable to any Russian leader. This goes back to 1990 when the Soviet Union collapsed. There was a question as to what would happen with NATO. Gorbachev agreed to allow Germany to be unified and to join NATO. It's a pretty remarkable concession with a quid pro quo that "NATO would not expand one inch to the east." That was the phrase that was used. What happened? Well NATO instantly moved to (incorporated) East Germany. Then Clinton came along and expanded NATO right to the borders of Russia. Now the new Ukrainian government, the government after the (2014) overthrow of the preceding one - the parliament voted 300 to 8 or something like that to move to join NATO.... Interviewer: But you can see why Petro Poroshenko's government would probably see that it is protecting his country ? No, no, it's not protection. Crimea was taken away (annexed) after the overthrow of the government. He is not protecting Ukraine. He is threatening Ukraine with a major war. That's not protection. The point is this is a serious strategic threat to Russia which any Russian leader would have to react to.

Sources and references
Short audio extracts (fair use/educational and placing in context with commentary) from Noam Chomsky's interviews on the war in Ukraine with some additional commentary I've made in the video and below. Chomsky was interviewed by the Intercept on 14 April 2022. You can link to the full interview here-

Noam Chomsky and Jeremy Scahill on the Russia-Ukraine War, the Media, Propaganda, and Accountability - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jr0PCU4m7M

Video of Borodynka licensed download from Envato Elements.
Music - Cinematic Ascension Ident - licensed download from Envato Elements.
Animation - Doodly fully licensed. Also creative commons and public domain images from FreeSVG.org and a creative commons photo of Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov at File:Ministro de Asuntos Exteriores de la Federación Rusa cumplió importante agenda en el Perú (14098149423).jpg - Wikimedia Commons.
Thumbnail fully licensed download from Canva.