Peter Hitchens accuses Western governments of disseminating propaganda about the Ukraine conflict, alleging that the narrative ignores Russia's concerns about NATO expansion and portrays an inaccurate picture of the conflict's origins.
The article details the history of NATO expansion eastward, citing Putin's 2007 Munich speech as a demonstration of Russian concerns and the 2008 Bush declaration about Ukraine's potential NATO membership as a key provocation. Hitchens argues that the West failed to heed these warnings.
Hitchens questions the West's commitment to democracy and freedom, pointing to the West's response to the 2014 Ukrainian coup, the silencing of Romanian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu, and the inaction regarding Turkey's President Erdogan's authoritarian actions.
He highlights these events as contradictions to the West's purported commitment to democracy.
The article also briefly touches upon the annual gathering of marijuana users in Hyde Park, criticizing the perceived lack of enforcement of drug laws by the police.