I am pleased to share the link to yesterday’s live broadcast of Press TV dedicated to the ongoing NATO meeting in Madrid and to the new NATO doctrine identifying Russia as the main strategic threat to the Alliance.
Regrettably some technical problems with Skype interfered with the recording at times and cut short my concluding answer to the question about the prospects for world peace which I had hoped would end the program on an upbeat note. My point was that that if the United States never came close to attacking North Korea under Trump, fearing its couple of nuclear armed missiles, it is most unlikely that the US and NATO will enter into direct military action against Russia, with its several thousand latest generation missiles and nuclear triad. In the announcement of the 300,000 troops to be kept on high alert, NATO leaders are just engaging in more posturing and self-congratulations that someone, meaning taxpayers, will have to pay for.
I call attention to the calm and highly professional direction of the panel discussion by the Press TV team. In other dimensions, the country’s leadership is presently heavily engaged in diplomacy directed at raising Iran’s international profile. Iran’s president Raisi is now in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, participating in a Caspian Summit with other regional leaders including Vladimir Putin. And Iran, alongside Argentina, has just publicly announced its application to join the BRICS group.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2022
www.urmedium.com/c/presstv/112012
Post Script, 30 June 2022: My misjudgment of the likelihood of Sweden and Finland overcoming Turkish objections to their accession to NATO may be forgiven in light of the apparent concessions made to Erdogan at the Summit that were unthinkable till now. Latest reports suggest that the Swedes have agreed to turn over to Turkey 73 Kurdish ‘terrorists’ now living in Sweden. Previously it was said that such an about face on the longstanding Swedish policy of welcoming Kurdish refugees would bring down the government. Moreover, the United States did its part with respect to carrots: Biden has promised to remove all obstacles to Ankara’s purchase of F16s. Meanwhile, Russian talk show experts are saying that the horse trading with Erdogan may not be over, and that he may yet extract further concessions as the ratification process of the new candidate members proceeds to the parliaments of the Member States. In the Turkish parliament new objections to the deal may emerge which must be overcome by further actions of the Scandinavians.
Gilbert Doctorow 
Yes, an excellent presentation. Thanks! (Yes, some audio glitches.)
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“Steps to expand NATO, I hope, will especially contribute to the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. I hope diplomacy will open the gates for grain exports from Ukraine,” Erdogan said at the beginning of the meeting, which takes place behind closed doors to the press.
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Erdogan is a mercurial mystery-cum-wild card to me. I liked his predecessor — Davotoglu? — much better.
Can’t figure the man Erdogan out…but who am I?
(“diplomacy” (or anything related to “active listening”) = a non-starter in US/EU/NATO terms vis-a-vis Russia…no ‘hope’ there for me….)
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It would appear that Sweden and Finland have surrendered to Turkish objections to their accession to the alliance, but one should wait and see. The Turkish parliament still has to approve the deal, and so does US Congress.
For your information, I just launched a new op-ed: “The war in Ukraine, and the future of Europe”. The key message is that the EU faces a dilemma. The choice is to break with Washington and join Eurasia, or perish. See:
and hit the Google translate box in the right upper corner. Welcome to post a reaction under the article.
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I read and admired your op-ed! Thank you.
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So, 73 political refugees (Sweden’s definition not mine) will face torture imprisonment and death so that Sweden can join NATO.
Here I believe is the correct perspective. If we stipulate that there are no street demonstrations in Stockholm demanding this action, I believe we have eliminated the impossible.
What the West is witnessing is the final paroxysm of the Biden Administration. And what an insanely costly paroxysm it is. I have started to believe the West will not survive. Where is the evidence that it will.
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Put another way, Europe has elected to make the United States its government. How utterly corrupt and lordotic Europe’s “leaders” must be and pathetically credulous their people.
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