The news about Ukraine is selective, biased, emotive and rigorously censored. No alternative views are permitted not even the slightest criticism or questioning can be heard on the airwaves. The combination of the media onslaught, the lack of alternative views and being placed on the defensive by the unexpected Russian intervention has disarmed the left and the peace movement. There is a danger that, unchallenged, the West’s narrative on the Ukraine crisis becomes the template by which future such conflicts are understood, at least in the West. We need to keep our eye on the ball of what the US is up to as it tries to ensure its hegemony. The line it is pursuing, with China now explicitly in its sights, is highly destabilising and contains the seeds of future wars.