I returned to Brussels on Sunday after a month of travels in exotic and warm lands south of the equator. The re-entry shock upon arrival in Belgium was a lot greater than the 27 degree Centigrade drop in outdoor air temperature. After a month of only very limited reception of Russian news, due to satellite issues and hotel service issues, last night I switched on Russian state television’s news and talk show “Sixty Minutes” on www.smotrim.ru and got a full blast of the current state of relations with the US, which are very close to Doomsday.
Allow me to share with you the key point, namely the soon to be announced changes to the Russian doctrine on first use of nuclear weapons and their new more precise red lines that have come about from the plans for Russia’s partition and destruction that seem to be aired daily on US television.
As usual, Yevgeny Popov, State Duma member and host of “Sixty Minutes,” put a lot of video segments from Western television up on the screen, including a lengthy statement by Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, former commander of all U.S. forces in Europe from 2014 to 2017, on how the Ukrainians must be given long range precision missiles for them to attack Russian Crimea and also further into the Russian heartland. The interview from which this declaration was made does not yet appear in Google search, but from interviews posted in 2022 it is clear that Hodges is no madman, and his statements must, as Popov said, be taken with utmost seriousness.
The context, of course, for the radical escalation now being discussed in the United States is the expectation of a massive Russian offensive to begin shortly as the anniversary of the Special Military Operation approaches. The imminent defeat of Ukrainian forces has focused minds in Washington.
One of the regular panelists on “Sixty Minutes” then faced the cameras directly and said that Russia’s nuclear doctrine is under revision in light of these aggressive plans being aired in the United States, so that Russia is headed towards a policy of ‘preventive’ tactical nuclear strikes, similar to what the United States has. Moreover, if Ukraine targets Crimea and heartland Russia, then Russia will respond according to plans now being laid down. These plans foresee counter strikes against U.S military installations in Europe and in the Continental United States using hypersonic missiles. The panelist calls for this threat of counter strikes in Europe and the US to be made public and explicit, so that no one is in doubt about what to expect from the Kremlin.
So here we are. The Russians are stripping away the fiction of a proxy war and revealing the co-belligerent status of the US and its NATO allies in preparation for a kinetic war with NATO. As our illustrious former President, a man of few words, would say: “Not good!”
Allow me also to share with my readership the bitter medicine that I just shared with our daughter: look for an escape hatch!
Either, as I fervently hope, there will be an anti-war movement in the USA, in Europe arising from the shock therapy news now developing with respect to the coming kinetic war between NATO and Russia, OR failing that, it will be every man for himself.
Back in 1937 there were Jews in Berlin who decided they could ride out the storm and stay put. There were others who took the first boats out, to England, to the US, to South America. All of us in the Northern Hemisphere now may be facing the same existential choice.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2023
Translations below into German (Andreas Mylaeus), French (Youri) and Brazilian Portuguese (Evandro Menezes)
Die kommende existenzielle Bedrohung: Handeln wir gemeinsam oder ist jeder auf sich allein gestellt?
Nach einem Monat in exotischen und warmen Ländern südlich des Äquators bin ich am Sonntag nach Brüssel zurückgekehrt. Der Schock bei der Ankunft in Belgien war weitaus größer als die um 27 Grad Celsius niedrigere Außentemperatur. Nachdem ich einen Monat lang aufgrund von Satellitenproblemen und Problemen mit dem Hotelservice nur sehr eingeschränkt russische Nachrichten empfangen konnte, schaltete ich gestern Abend die Nachrichten- und Talkshow “Sixty Minutes” des russischen Staatsfernsehens auf http://www.smotrim.ru ein und bekam einen umfassenden Überblick über den aktuellen Stand der Beziehungen zu den USA, die kurz vor dem Jüngsten Tag stehen.
Erlauben Sie mir, Ihnen den wichtigsten Punkt mitzuteilen, nämlich die bald angekündigten Änderungen der russischen Doktrin über den Ersteinsatz von Atomwaffen und ihre neuen, präziseren roten Linien, die sich aus den Plänen zur Teilung und Zerstörung Russlands ergeben haben, die anscheinend täglich im US-Fernsehen ausgestrahlt werden.
Wie üblich brachte Jewgeni Popow, Mitglied der Staatsduma und Moderator von “Sixty Minutes”, eine Reihe von Videoausschnitten aus dem westlichen Fernsehen auf den Bildschirm, darunter eine längere Erklärung von Generalleutnant Ben Hodges, dem ehemaligen Befehlshaber aller US-Streitkräfte in Europa von 2014 bis 2017, wie die Ukrainer mit Langstrecken-Präzisionsraketen ausgestattet werden müssen, damit sie die russische Krim und auch weiter ins russische Kernland hinein angreifen können. Das Interview, aus dem diese Erklärung stammt, ist in der Google-Suche noch nicht aufgetaucht, aber aus den Interviews, die 2022 veröffentlicht wurden, geht hervor, dass Hodges kein Verrückter ist und seine Aussagen, wie Popov sagte, mit größter Ernsthaftigkeit zu betrachten sind.
Der Hintergrund für die radikale Eskalation, die jetzt in den Vereinigten Staaten diskutiert wird, ist natürlich die Erwartung einer massiven russischen Offensive, die in Kürze beginnen soll, wenn der Jahrestag der militärischen Sonderoperation näher rückt. Die bevorstehende Niederlage der ukrainischen Streitkräfte hat die Gemüter in Washington erregt.
Einer der regelmäßigen Podiumsteilnehmer von “Sixty Minutes” wandte sich dann direkt an die Kameras und sagte, dass die russische Nukleardoktrin angesichts dieser aggressiven Pläne, die in den Vereinigten Staaten verbreitet werden, überarbeitet wird, so dass Russland auf eine Politik der “präventiven” taktischen Nuklearschläge zusteuert, ähnlich wie die Vereinigten Staaten es tun. Wenn die Ukraine die Krim und das russische Kernland angreift, wird Russland nach den jetzt ausgearbeiteten Plänen reagieren. Diese Pläne sehen Gegenschläge gegen militärische Einrichtungen der USA in Europa und auf dem amerikanischen Festland mit Hyperschallraketen vor. Der Podiumsteilnehmer fordert, dass diese Drohung mit Gegenschlägen in Europa und den USA öffentlich und ausdrücklich gemacht wird, damit niemand im Zweifel darüber ist, was vom Kreml zu erwarten ist.
So sieht es also aus. Die Russen räumen mit der Fiktion eines Stellvertreterkriegs auf und enthüllen den Status der USA und ihrer NATO-Verbündeten als Mitkriegspartei, um einen kinetischen Krieg mit der NATO vorzubereiten. Wie unser berühmter ehemaliger Präsident, ein Mann der wenigen Worte, sagen würde: “Nicht gut!”
Erlauben Sie mir, meinen Lesern die bittere Medizin mitzuteilen, die ich gerade mit unserer Tochter besprochen habe: Suchen Sie nach einer Ausstiegsluke!
Entweder wird es, wie ich inständig hoffe, eine Antikriegsbewegung in den USA und in Europa geben, die sich aus den schockierenden Nachrichten über den bevorstehenden kinetischen Krieg zwischen der NATO und Russland entwickelt, ODER, wenn das nicht der Fall ist, wird jeder für sich selbst kämpfen.
Damals, 1937, gab es Juden in Berlin, die beschlossen, den Sturm zu überstehen und hier zu bleiben. Andere nahmen die ersten Boote nach England, in die USA und nach Südamerika. Wir alle in der nördlichen Hemisphäre stehen jetzt vielleicht vor der gleichen existenziellen Entscheidung.
La menace existentielle à venir : agissons-nous en commun ou est-ce que ça va être chacun pour soi ?
Je suis rentré à Bruxelles dimanche dernier après un mois de voyages dans des contrées exotiques et chaudes au sud de l’équateur. Le choc de rentrée à l’arrivée en Belgique a été bien plus important que la chute de 27 degrés centigrades de la température extérieure. Après un mois de réception très limitée des nouvelles russes, en raison de problèmes de satellite et de services hôteliers, j’ai allumé hier soir l’émission d’information et de débat « Sixty Minutes » de la télévision d’État russe sur http://www.smotrim.ru et j’ai eu droit à une explosion de l’état actuel des relations avec les États-Unis, qui sont très proches de l’apocalypse.
Permettez-moi de partager avec vous le point essentiel, à savoir les changements qui seront bientôt annoncés dans la doctrine russe sur le premier usage des armes nucléaires et leurs nouvelles lignes rouges plus précises, qui découlent des plans de partition et de destruction de la Russie qui semblent être diffusés quotidiennement à la télévision américaine.
Comme d’habitude, Evgueni Popov, membre de la Douma d’État et animateur de l’émission « Sixty Minutes », a mis à l’écran de nombreuses séquences vidéo de la télévision occidentale, dont une longue déclaration du général de corps d’armée Ben Hodges, ancien commandant de toutes les forces américaines en Europe de 2014 à 2017, sur la façon dont il faut donner aux Ukrainiens des missiles de précision à longue portée pour qu’ils puissent attaquer la Crimée russe et aussi plus loin dans le cœur de la Russie. L’interview à partir de laquelle cette déclaration a été faite n’apparaît pas encore dans la recherche Google, mais d’après les interviews postées en 2022, il est clair que Hodges n’est pas un fou, et ses déclarations doivent, comme l’a dit Popov, être prises avec le plus grand sérieux.
Le contexte, bien sûr, de l’escalade radicale dont on discute actuellement aux États-Unis est l’attente d’une offensive russe massive qui débutera sous peu à l’approche de l’anniversaire de l’opération militaire spéciale. La défaite imminente des forces ukrainiennes a focalisé les esprits à Washington.
L’un des intervenants réguliers de l’émission « Sixty Minutes » a ensuite fait face aux caméras et a déclaré que la doctrine nucléaire russe était en cours de révision à la lumière de ces plans agressifs diffusés aux États-Unis, de sorte que la Russie se dirige vers une politique de frappes nucléaires tactiques « préventives », similaire à celle des États-Unis. En outre, si l’Ukraine prend pour cible la Crimée et le cœur de la Russie, celle-ci répondra selon les plans en cours d’élaboration. Ces plans prévoient des contre-attaques contre les installations militaires américaines en Europe et dans la partie continentale des États-Unis à l’aide de missiles hypersoniques. Le participant demande que cette menace de contre-attaque en Europe et aux États-Unis soit rendue publique et explicite, afin que personne ne doute de ce qu’il faut attendre du Kremlin.
Nous y voilà donc. Les Russes sont en train de dévoiler la fiction d’une guerre par procuration et de révéler le statut de co-belligérant des États-Unis et de leurs alliés de l’OTAN en vue d’une guerre cinétique avec l’OTAN. Comme notre illustre ancien président, un homme de peu de mots, dirait : « Pas bon ! »
Permettez-moi également de partager avec mon lectorat le remède amer que je viens de partager avec notre fille : cherchez une issue de secours !
Soit, comme je l’espère ardemment, il y aura un mouvement anti-guerre aux Etats-Unis, en Europe, suite à la thérapie de choc qui se développe actuellement concernant la guerre cinétique à venir entre l’OTAN et la Russie, OU à défaut, ce sera chacun pour soi.
En 1937, certains Juifs de Berlin ont décidé de ne pas quitter la ville pendant la tempête. D’autres ont pris les premiers bateaux, vers l’Angleterre, les États-Unis, l’Amérique du Sud. Nous tous, dans l’hémisphère nord, sommes peut-être confrontés au même choix existentiel.
A próxima ameaça existencial: agimos juntos ou vai ser cada um por si?
Voltei a Bruxelas no domingo, depois de um mês de viagens em terras exóticas e quentes ao sul do equador. O choque do retorno ao chegar à Bélgica foi muito maior do que a queda de 27 graus centígrados na temperatura ao ar livre. Depois de um mês de recepção muito limitada de notícias russas, devido a problemas de satélite e do serviço hoteleiro, ontem à noite eu assisti as notícias e o programa de entrevistas da televisão estatal russa “Sessenta Minutos” em http://www.smotrim.ru e tive uma enorme surpresa com o estado atual das relações com os EUA, que estão muito próximas do Dia do Juízo Final.
Permita-me compartilhar a questão mais importante, a saber, as mudanças que serão anunciadas em breve na doutrina russa sobre o primeiro uso de armas nucleares e suas novas linhas vermelhas mais precisas, decorrentes dos planos para a partição e destruição da Rússia que aparecem diariamente na televisão dos EUA.
Como de costume, Yevgeny Popov, membro da Duma e apresentador de “Sessenta Minutos”, colocou vários trechos de vídeo da televisão ocidental no ar, incluindo uma longa declaração do tenente-general Ben Hodges, ex-comandante de todas as forças dos EUA na Europa de 2014 a 2017, sobre como os ucranianos devem receber mísseis de longo alcance de precisão, para que eles ataquem a Criméia e até o coração da Rússia. A entrevista a partir da qual esta declaração foi feita ainda não aparece em procuras na internet, mas, das entrevistas publicadas em 2022, fica claro que Hodges não é um louco, e suas declarações devem, como disse Popov, ser tomadas com a máxima seriedade.
O contexto, é claro, para a escalada radical que está sendo discutida nos Estados Unidos é a expectativa de que uma ofensiva russa maciça comece em breve, à medida que o aniversário da Operação Militar Especial se aproxima. A derrota iminente das forças ucranianas aguçou as mentes em Washington.
Um dos entrevistados frequentes em “Sessenta Minutos” então encarou as câmeras diretamente e disse que a doutrina nuclear da Rússia está sob revisão à luz desses planos agressivos sendo exibidos nos Estados Unidos, de modo que a Rússia está caminhando para uma política de ataques nucleares táticos ‘preventivos’, semelhante ao que os Estados Unidos têm. Além disso, se a Ucrânia tiver como alvo a Criméia e o coração da Rússia, esta responderá de acordo com os planos que estão sendo estabelecidos. Estes planos prevêem contra-ataques a instalações militares dos EUA, na Europa e nos próprios Estados Unidos, usando-se mísseis hipersônicos. O entrevistado pede que esta ameaça de contra-ataques na Europa e nos EUA seja tornada pública e explícita, para que ninguém fique em dúvida sobre o que se esperar do Kremlin.
Então, cá estamos. Os russos estão acabando com a ficção de uma guerra por procuração e revelando a condição de co-beligerente dos EUA e de seus aliados da OTAN, em preparação para uma guerra cinética com ela. Como nosso ilustre ex-presidente, um homem de poucas palavras, diria: “Não é bom”!
Permita-me também compartilhar com meus leitores o remédio amargo que acabei de compartilhar com nossa filha: procure uma rota de fuga!
Ou, como espero fervorosamente, haverá um movimento anti-guerra nos EUA e na Europa, decorrente das notícias de terapia de choque agora em andamento, em relação à próxima guerra cinética entre a OTAN e a Rússia, ou, se não se conseguir isto, será cada um por si.
Em 1937, havia judeus em Berlim que decidiram que poderiam sobreviver a tempestade ficando parados. Houve outros que embarcaram nos primeiros barcos, para a Inglaterra, para os EUA, para a América do Sul. Todos nós no Hemisfério Norte agora podemos estar enfrentando a mesma escolha existencial.
Gilbert Doctorow 
I fear you are right. It does resonate of how one reads the history of 1914. Even the latest reported EU ultimatum to Serbia seems form for the course.
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Thank you (again) for updating us on the latest Russian news from 60 minutes. (I’m improving but my Russian still isn’t good enough to follow it.) And thank you for explaining the unpleasant news in such a succinct manner. The U.S. powers-that-be have staked so much in claiming a Ukrainian victory, then can’t just let it end.
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Our leaders here in us are nuts. I really believe they are demon possessed!
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The difference between WW3 and previous versions is that there is no getting away from it. The doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction – even in the age of hypersonic/unstoppable missiles spells out the consequences of a ‘nuclear winter’ from so much gas and debris released into the earth’s upper atmospheres. The whole planet dies from lack of light/heat after a few years. There are sceptics that want to test whether an all-out nuclear war is winnable, but frankly the stakes are too high. The Kremlin knows this – as Putin said, right back at the start of the SMO, a world without Russia is a world they are prepared to sacrifice.
Mainland America has never experienced an invasion or all-out war and are deluded in their sense of technological and military superiority. I think the CIA and Pentagon realise this (the MIC basically) but they have been unable to persuade the State Department’s ideologues, sold on an unsustainable empire. For the moment I think Russia is content to inch toward victory, avoiding any grand thrust that might spook Washington into a nuclear pre-emptive strike, hoping at some point Washington realises it has other options.
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The ‘nuclear winter’ is a hypothesis like many others. There is no reason to assume that the kinetic war between NATO and Russia will turn nuclear at the tactical level not to mention at the strategic level. Even if only conventional weapons are used in Europe and against military installations in the US, life in Europe and North America will become nightmarish, while the southern hemisphere may retain some normality. that is only a guess, but overall we are headed now into uncharted territory.
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Putin is fully in his rights to send nukes. It would be like Mexico sending missiles into the United States. If ‘they’ want food shortages, I have to think they will surely get them if Ukrainian farmland is poisoned with radiation.
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“The rope-a-dope is most famously associated with Muhammad Ali in his October 1974 Rumble in the Jungle match against world heavyweight champion George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire.”
I doubt there will be a major Russian offensive.
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I forgot to say, “Thank you.” You are the only source of news about Russia that I have found on the Internet.
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Try also: Moon of Alabama, Indian Punchline, Antiwar.com, ScheerPost, and Consortium News.
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Where will the Chinese go?
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It seems words are not given proper gravity in the West. Insanely bellicose statements are continuously made without apparent consideration of their consequences. Everything appears to be done as a media performance rather than a potential communication to Russia that they will take seriously and react to.
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“it is clear that Hodges is no madman,”
on the other hand he is the man who repeatedly stated in 2014 that 10,000 Russians were active fighting alongside the rebels in Donbas. Satellites were available, and journalists were admitted into Donbas (ask a taxi-driver where the prostitutes are and you’ll find soldiers easily).
And yet I am still waiting for evidence of 10 Russian soldiers.
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“There were others who took the first boats out, to England, to the US, to South America. All of us in the Northern Hemisphere now may be facing the same existential choice.”
In today’s world are there really any places to escape to — i.e., ones that would not be affected by the use of nuclear weapons even if limited to the northern hemisphere?
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I had not seen Mr. Doctorow’s reply to Gerry Bell before posting (see above).
In my post I was responding to the article’s reference to the remarks of the “Sixty Minutes” panelist who had claimed that “Russia’s nuclear [!] doctrine is under revision in light of the aggressive plans being aired in the United States, so that Russia is headed towards a policy of ‘preventive’ tactical nuclear strikes, similar to what the United States has.”
Perhaps Mr. Doctorow would comment further as to why he finds it improbable that nuclear weapons would be used, given both the Russian ‘revision’ cited in the article, America’s unwavering belligerence, and the fact that in the current standoff ‘regular’ attrition warfare could conceivably go on forever.
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I believe that Western estimates of Russia’s arsenal of conventional weapons are outdated. Accordingly they assume that Moscow will resort to nuclear weapons at the drop of a hat. Russia’s hypersonic missiles have been discussed strictly in terms of their invulnerability to all known air defense systems. What is not talked about is the destructive power of these missles given the laws of physics, governing mass and velocity of a projectile. If the Russians can destroy US missile silos using hypersonic missiles that are non-nuclear then there is not much reason to see them opening the pandora’s box of nuclear armaments. A conventional war in Europe, and Russian attacks on military installations in the USA would make life a nightmare in North America and Europe. The impact on the Rest of the World would be minimal. Argentina anyone? However, my interntion in presenting this article was to wake people up to the need for collective action to stop the war machine now, not to prompt airline reservations to Argentina.
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I very much respect your acumen as an observer and analyst of Russia. Still, it seems to me that the use of a conventional warhead to destroy a nuclear silo might be viewed in the frame of nuclear conflict, as it would reduce the nuclear weapons power of the opponent. In that case, the opponent might adopt a “use it or lose it” attitude toward its remaining nuclear weapons. However, I don’t mean to argue, as my deepest hope is for a negotiated end to this war, whatever can bring that forward.
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Thanks but it’s the perception of Russian readiness for nuclear war, even if mistaken, that might underly a first strike by Western powers. If so, it’s not clear to me that it would not include nuclear weapons. Either Western politicians are bluffing in their discussion of the use of nuclear weapons (including so-called “limited nuclear war”) or they are delusional enough to think the U.S., NATO and others joining them in a coalition of the willing can pull it off. The final word on that seems to lie with a President who’s pretty delusional already, and likely to become more so. That’s what I see as the core of the problem, not Russia initiating a nuclear conflict.
> “the need for collective action to stop the war machine now”
I don’t see that this is happening currently at all in the U.S. There are many capable opposition analysts and commenters, but they seem to limit themselves to social media platforms (e.g., tweets), YouTube (and other alternative video options) and publishing articles, the latter either in known publications or in personal blogs (e.g., substack).
If there were no Internet, perhaps — as in the 1960s when there was no Internet — these people would actually be organizing wide-scale civil disobedience, the best solution I can think of, and possibly the only one still available that can stop the war machine.
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Already at the beginning of the war I had referred in my letters to the editor to the Battle of Kulikowo Pole in 1380. At that time the Russian principalities under the command of Dmitri Donskoi had decisively defeated the Mongols. To be or not to be? is again the decisive question today. Yes, the war will escalate. Where is there a possibility of escape? Answer: South of the Danube. The Bavarian well digger and visionary Alois Irlmaier made some amazing prophecies after the Second World War. So he said: England will be totally flooded (let’s think of the Russian Poseidon torpedoes). By the way, Irlmaier found water in the 1920s on the farmland of my grandparents only with the help of a divining rod to build a well there for the farm. Book: “Alois Irlmaier. A man says what he sees”. Very interesting to read.
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I think a lot of Irlmeier’s predictions are coming true. Even that Chinese balloon – he said that the Chinese would invade through Canada, but would only come a little way before their invasion petered out. I think that Chinese balloon was scoping out the future invasion path – north to Alaska, then southward down the west coast of Canada.
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I did a French translation, could send it to you so you could also append it here, but I couldn’t find the exact broadcast of 60 Min that you’re mentioning. Is there an URL?
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🔥🔥 Discussions are underway in the Kremlin on the possible recognition of the illegitimacy of the Ukrainian political regime.
Our sources report that consultations were held at the level of the Presidential Administration and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, during which a decision was discussed not to recognize the legitimacy of the current Ukrainian government (and, hence, President Vladimir Zelensky) . Based on the results of the first discussions on this topic, it was concluded that such a scenario has both obvious advantages and obvious disadvantages, so the final decision will in any case be taken personally by President Vladimir Putin – no one knows when this will happen.
“On the one hand, it makes it possible to establish any new legal regime instead of the ‘special military operation’ – either an ‘anti-terrorist operation’ or directly declare war on Ukraine. It will also be possible to quickly create and recognize any “Ukrainian government in exile” headed by Yanukovych or Medvedchuk. This is one of the pluses. But then it will no longer allow to conduct peace negotiations with Kyiv, and the scenarios can be very different,” say knowledgeable sources.
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Jesse Ventura, “When the government lies, the truth becomes a traitor.”
The Doomsday Clock (https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/current-time/) is set at 90 seconds, a vast over estimate of the time we have left. The Bulletin, through the ignorance of Bulletin Editor, John Mecklin, led their decision by blaming Russia for everything.
“And worst of all, Russia’s thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons remind the world that escalation of the conflict—by accident, intention, or miscalculation—is a terrible risk.”
This is a monstrous lie as no such Russian threats have been made. US nuclear war doctrine allows ‘First Use’ of nukes on the slackest criterion. Russian nuclear doctrine denies any first use of nukes, and only allows nuclear weapons use when Russia has been attacked. In fact, it was Zelenskiy’s stupid boast nuclear weapons would be acquired that made Biden’s War inevitable. AFU artillery strikes on Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant spent fuel storage cells threatened widespread dispersal of spent nuclear fuel. This would have polluted the lower Dnieper River watershed, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea Oblasts, plus Azov, Black, and Mediterranean
Seas.
Henry Kissinger (Washington Post): “For the West, the demonization of Vladimir Putin is not a policy; it is an alibi for the absence of one.”
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has increased the risk of nuclear weapons use, raised the specter of biological and chemical weapons use, hamstrung the world’s response to climate change, and hampered international efforts to deal with other global concerns. The invasion and annexation of Ukrainian territory have also violated international norms….”
Even US scientists forget the facts when confronted with ‘evil Rooskis’. There is no ‘rules based international order’. There’s only the United Nations and international treaties. US-NAYOYO has systematically abrogated and ignored every arms control treaty, and every chance of avoiding this war. US-NAYOYO repudiated the ‘Open Skies Treaty’ allowing recon photo overflights to confirm treaty terms were being honoured. NAYOYO sneered at SALT II, ABM, and INF treaties that reduced and removed nuclear weapons, that made the world a much safer place. After the peaceful reunification of Germany, NAYOYO expanded eastwards despite being warned by every respectable US Russian expert that their plans would lead to confrontation. Western pundits complain evil Rooskis threaten nuclear warfare, to disguise their complicity in catastrophe. To threaten Russia, US leadership turned their backs on decades of nuclear weapons treaties, putting the world at risk.
GFW Hegel, The Philosophy of History, “What experience and history teaches us is that people and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.”
Describing Russia’s actions as aggressive crime is contemptible. Westerners should get the facts correct: by 988 Kiev was the founding source of Russian Orthodox Christianity, and a seminal root of Russian identity. Catherine the Great added Crimea and everything else north and east from Odessa to Kiev, to the Russian Empire in 1784. Since then, Crimea has been a critical, strategic military asset of the Russian nation. As we are going back to 1784, let’s see America give everything west of the Appalachians back to the First Nations, and pay reparations for slavery.
Homer: “Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.”
“Finding a path to serious peace negotiations could go a long way toward reducing the risk of escalation. In this time of unprecedented global danger, concerted action is required, and every second counts.”
After the Warsaw Pact collapse, Russia and NATO negotiated the Budapest Memorandum to remove nuclear weapons within the newly independent Ukraine. The later Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership, and, Partition Treaty on the Status and Conditions of the Black Sea Fleet, and Kharkiv Pact, secured uninterrupted Russian access and control of Sevastopol, and the ancient Russian language and cultural rights of the large Russian majority in the eastern provinces. The Minsk treaties would have been a great start to peaceful coexistence if Ukraine had ever intended to implement them. Both Minsk Treaties are now acknowledged by Merkel, Hollande, and Poroshenko to be lies designed to give Bandera Nazis time to plan further genocidal, racist murders. Successive Ukraine governments feared Banderite Nazis more. Not least because they were trained, armed, and politically supported by several US-NATO governments.
Simon Bolivar: “The United States appears to be destined by Providence to plague America [and the world] with misery in the name of liberty.”
Saladin: “I warn you against shedding blood, indulging in it and making a habit of it, for blood never sleeps.”
The US, now and always, makes allies of the most corrupt, violent collaborators. Recently, US trained military yahoos have committed 8 coups in West Africa. Of course, military coups are cheaper than honestly negotiating Oil & Gas rights with responsible, democratically elected, popularly supported leadership. ‘Los Zetas’, Mexico’s worst narco gang were trained and armed by US ‘special forces’. Honduras, where democracy was recently restored after a US-OAS coup installed a president and family now facing decades in US prisons for drug trafficking. El Salvador, where ex-President Cristiani is facing murder charges for the executions of 6 Catholic priests, housekeeper and young daughter, that advocated for negotiations and peace. NAYOYO welcomes military coups and death squads everywhere so long as it favours corporate greed and human rights violations that terrify popular dissent. Only the most savage, racist, drug-dealing monsters are embraced as worthy NAYOYO allies because they have NO LOCAL support. These collaborators know their lives and future depend on following CIA instructions.
John Stuart Mill (1806 – 1873): “I did not mean that Conservatives are generally stupid; I meant, that stupid persons are generally conservative.”
Winston Churchill (1944): ”I have left the obvious, essential fact to this point, namely, that it is the Russian Armies who have done the main work in tearing the guts out of the [Nazi] army.”
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I am reminded of the Twilight Zone episode in the link below. When nuclear war appears imminent, a scientist and his family make plans to escape the planet. For older people, it must feel as if the height of the Cold War has suddenly returned, and they are having to live it a second time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT6oj2dYS7Q
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Ahh, I believe I see what is going to happen.
A Gedanken experiment. Let us imagine that WWII is being fought entirely within the borders of Ukraine. WWII. Let us imagine in fact that the current war is, in fact, a recapitulation of WWII fought in Ukraine. Let us imagine that the antagonists are Russia versus Germany, the UK, France, as well as most other European countries, and the United States. Repeat, Germany. In this simulacrum of WWII, the United States, UK, etc. have taken the side of Germany against Russia. And note again, this war is and will be fought entirely within the borders of Ukraine.
What then would Russia want? Obviously, they would want to win WWII again. Would they want American troops in Ukraine? Of course, they would. Would they want F-16 jets piloted by Americans participating in the war? Of course, they would. Abrams tanks driven by Americans? Of course, they would. Would they even want American nuclear tipped missiles fired at their troops? Of course, they would. Anything less makes their victory irrelevant. Russia wants the full power of the Allies of WWII plus Germany to fight as hard as they can to win.
We are not then talking about the collapse of the Ukrainian Army, we are talking about American troops finally making their appearance on the battle field and their collapse.
What makes Russia confident about this scenario? Two things. First, they know that maximal escalation by the U.S. etc. is inevitable. Second, they know that they can defeat whatever the U.S throws at them.
This is the reality, the future the U.S. has wrought. Defeat and humiliation. On the battlefield. It is a pity that a tiny clique of individuals are directing the U.S. down this execrable path. But Walter Lippman would be proud.
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Ohhhh goodness . . . me ohh my . . .
The possibility of a nuclear exchange has been alive and well for fifty years plus. It is a fact of life. but before you start off calling the US belligerent, i would remind that it is Russia that is doing the invading.
It is Russia that is crossing boundaries to make war. It is Russia that started out with threats of nuclear exchange. Ukraine, the US, EU or NATO nor the world should be held hostage to Russian threats because things did not go their way.
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@EliteCommInc.… You are terrifically uninformed. And/or misinformed.
Keep reading Doctorow’s columns and you may still be able to salvage yourself.
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“What makes Russia confident about this scenario? Two things. First, they know that maximal escalation by the U.S. etc. is inevitable. Second, they know that they can defeat whatever the U.S throws at them.”
Then why not attack the US directly. Why mamby pamby about in Ukraine. Nonsense. They aren’t sure of a thing which is why they started out threatening nuclear exchange as a threat to give others pause. fear mongering.
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