An open letter to the brilliant British journalist, Simon Jenkins, concerning his writings concerning the Ukraine war.
Thomas Palley is an American economist who has served as the chief economist for the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission
Photo: Azov/Twitter
Dear Simon,
Thank you for your intellectually outstanding and brave commentaries over the last several years. Your columns have challenged the mainstream media’s (and The Guardian’s) embrace of jingoistic militarism and ideologically rooted antipathy to Russia.
That said, your commentary (August 13, 2026) on wars “erasing human history” is deeply flawed owing to its inaccurate characterization of the destruction in Ukraine, and inappropriate comparison to the destruction in Gaza and Iran.
First, much civilian damage in Ukraine may have been caused by Ukraine’s success in shooting down Russian drones and missiles. Rather than Russia targeting civilian and cultural sites (like Kyiv’s Pechersk Lavra complex and the Dormition cathedral), such sites may have been hit by missiles and drones intercepted by Ukraine’s air defenses. In that regard, Ukraine is completely different from what has happened in Gaza and Iran. Mainstream Western media has almost completely failed to report that explanation of civilian infrastructure damage in Ukraine.
Second, your claim that Mariupol’s theater was destroyed by Russia as part of erasing Ukrainian culture, is totally false. Russia has painstakingly re-built and restored the theater, which makes no sense if it was trying to erase it. That is a very important piece of evidence as it goes to the heart of the issue.
Your mistaken claim is likely the product of broader misinformation about Mariupol, which is a thoroughly Russian city. To see that, look at the election results of 2010 which was the last peacetime democratic election in Ukraine. Mariupol voted over eighty (80) percent in favor of the Russia-friendly candidate, Viktor Yanukovych. The 2022 destruction in Mariupol was so extensive because it was occupied by the extreme nationalist neo-Nazi Azov Brigade, which was committed to fighting to the death in a manner akin to Hitler’s Waffen-SS. As part of that, the Azov Brigade occupied Mariupol’s high-rise buildings and used the civilian population as a human shield.
Third, as evidenced in Mariupol, Ukraine has persistently and extensively used civilian sites as a human shield, both for launching attacks and for storing munitions. Weapons manufacturing may also have been situated amidst civilian centers. That “human shield” tactic likely also explains much Russian-inflicted civilian damage, perhaps including some cultural sites.
Fourth, you make no mention of Ukraine’s cultural cleansing, which long predates Russia’s 2022 invasion and has accelerated since then. That cleansing includes banning the Russian language, banning Russian books, street renaming, and destruction of statues and monuments to the likes of Chekhov, Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky, and Catherine the Great who founded Odessa. It is Ukraine rather than Russia which is engaged in cultural cleansing and reengineering Ukraine’s cultural identity. In Western eyes, that does not count because the West approves of the Ukrainian nationalist project.
You have a brilliant mind and are a brilliant journalist. Unfortunately, in my view, you have succumbed to the misinformation put out by Britain’s media, including The Guardian. If you can become a victim of such misinformation, think what must be happening in society at large.
Best wishes,
Tom Palley
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Be the first to comment