Written by Karlheinz W. Gernholz on 02 March 2022
On Friday, Feb. 26, 2022, NATO announced that it will send its combat-ready intervention forces to support Ukraine’s.
„No matter who stands in our way…they need to know that Russia will respond immediately, and that will have consequences the likes of which you have not seen in all your history…. I hope that my words will be heard.“
Vladimir Putin warned any country that tries to stop Russia’s „preventive security measures in Ukraine, let’s call the operation that.
According to NATO officials and politicians, the „intervention forces“ will be positioned exclusively in surrounding NATO member states. With the deployment of soldiers, weapons and costs, one can’t help but wonder how long the heavily armed ladies and gentlemen will remain on the sidelines? There are enough mercenary troops operating undetected in crisis areas all over the world, steering the development of warfare in the desired direction, as was possible on the Maidan. I assume that is exactly what will happen and NATO will attack Putin’s troops in Ukraine.
NATO, if it were serious about settling the conflict, could propose to the EU to neutralize Ukraine and send a signal to Putin by offering to withdraw its nuclear missiles from NATO member states on the eastern border. NATO and the EU must take the Russians‘ security concerns seriously, otherwise there will be real thunder.
Selensky, the Klitschko brothers and the oligarch staff around them are not exactly bedfellows. That is underworld milieu, one should not forget. Also forgotten are always the pretty good contacts in the Arab, opaque world there.
I would say that at the moment NATO and the EU are controlled more from Kiev than vice versa. The great hero Selensky dominates the political stages. His determined likeness can be seen at every opportunity. His eyes are closed to the solution of the problem. He wants the fight. From all western points of the compass, he gets standing ovations for his bloodthirsty manner. As was the case again today in the European Parliament and during Biden’s „State of the Nation“ speech to the House of Representatives.
Here is a report from the newspaper
„NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday that the alliance would deploy parts of its combat-ready force and continue to send weapons to Ukraine, including anti-aircraft weapons, and that Russia was trying to overthrow the Ukrainian government.
„We see the rhetoric, the messages that strongly suggest that the goal is to overthrow the democratically elected government in Kiev,“ he said at a news conference following a virtual meeting of NATO leaders.
Stoltenberg’s decision leaves Russian President Vladimir Putin no choice but to locate and destroy any weapons or troops that might enter the country and be used to kill or injure Russian soldiers. Of course, the killing of NATO personnel could be used to further escalate the conflict and plunge the region into an even larger and more violent conflagration.
Stoltenberg Friday press conference:
„Yesterday, NATO allies activated our defense plans…on land, at sea and in the air…. The United States, Canada and the European allies have moved thousands more troops to the eastern part of the alliance…We now have over 100 aircraft on high alert operating in over 30 different locations…and over 120 ships from the far north to the Mediterranean…including three aircraft carrier groups….
We have many aircraft deployed in the eastern part of the Alliance several Allies have already contributed troops and forces to the NATO Response Force in some cases.“ Weapons support also includes „air defense systems…“ This is the most serious security crisis we have faced in Europe in decades……. It is about how Russia is challenging core security values and demanding that NATO withdraw all forces and infrastructure from nearly half of our members. And they have stated that there will be “military-technical consequences“ if we do not comply with their demands. So we have to take this seriously. And that is exactly why we are now deploying the NATO Response Force, for the first time in a collective defense context. (NATO Virtual Summit, Feb. 25, 2022)
What Stoltenberg fails to mention is that NATO enlargement poses an existential threat to Russia by placing missile sites, military bases, and combat troops on Russia’s border. He also fails to mention that NATO enlargement violates agreements (signed by all NATO members) that all parties to the agreement refrain from any action that could harm the security interests of other members. In Istanbul (1999) and Astana (2010), the U.S. and the other 56 countries of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) signed documents „containing interlinked principles to ensure the indivisibility of security.“
In practice, this means that states may not establish military bases and missile sites in locations that pose a threat to other members. It means that parties must refrain from using their respective territories to conduct or support armed attacks against other members. It means that the parties are prohibited from acting in a manner contrary to the principles set forth in the treaty. It means that Ukraine cannot become a member of NATO if its membership poses a threat to Russian security.
So Russia is challenging NATO’s concept of security, largely because NATO’s concept is built on the rubble of treaties that member states have already signed and approved, but now refuse to honor because they do not serve their geopolitical goals.
Stoltenberg would have us all believe that joining NATO should simply be a matter of personal choice („Every nation has the right to make its own security arrangements“), like deciding what kind of ice cream to eat. But that is not how heads of state protect their countries from potential threats. Those threats can only be mitigated if other nations agree that they „will NOT strengthen their own security at the expense of the security of others.“ That is the bottom line, and it will not change. National security is the highest priority for any head of state, and it always will be. Stoltenberg rejects this fundamental principle of global security, and his rejection has paved the way for war. If you want to know who is responsible for the war in Ukraine: blame NATO.
This is how Putin put it in a nutshell:
„Over the past 30 years, we have patiently tried to reach agreement with the leading NATO countries on the principles of equal and indivisible security in Europe. In response to our proposals, we have always been confronted either with cynical deceptions and lies or with attempts at pressure and blackmail, while the North Atlantic Alliance has continued to expand despite our protests and concerns. Its military machine is on the move and, as I said earlier, approaching our own border.
Why is this so? Where does this brazen way of talking down from the heights of its exceptionalism, infallibility, and omnipotence come from? What is the explanation for this contemptuous and disdainful attitude toward our interests and absolutely legitimate demands?“
„For the United States and its allies, it is a matter of a policy of containment of Russia, with obvious geopolitical advantages. For our country, it’s a matter of life and death, a matter of our historic future as a nation. That is not an exaggeration, that is a fact. It is not only a very real threat to our interests, it is a threat to the very existence of our state and its sovereignty. This is the red line that we have talked about on numerous occasions. They have crossed it.“
(„Address by the President of the Russian Federation,“ Kremlin, RU).
It is worth noting that Stoltenberg was elected as the next head of Norway’s central bank, illustrating the cozy relationship between big money and geopolitical machinations that inevitably end in war. We can only wonder if this risky move in Ukraine is actually an attempt to preserve a Western financial system so steeped in corruption that its markets require monthly infusions of billions of dollars in digital cash to prevent a system-wide collapse, followed by a precipitous decline in the value of the dollar. By keeping Russia down, Stoltenberg’s intermediaries may hope to breathe new life into the rotting corpse of the imperial system. But whatever the reason, the deployment of the NATO Combat-Ready Response Force greatly increases the likelihood of a miscalculation that could lead to disaster.
Check out this short excerpt from an article by Ulrich Kühn that points out the risks of the current strategy:
„President Biden and other Western leaders have repeatedly made it clear that they would not send forces into Ukraine. ….That does not mean, however, that unintended actions by Russia … or individual NATO member states could not trigger a major conflict that no one planned. In the hours, days, and weeks ahead, the risk of what strategists call „unintended escalation“ will increase….
Another possible scenario for an unintended escalation is related to Western demands for an upgrade of Ukraine’s armed forces. A day before the Russian attack, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that „the UK will shortly provide a further package of military assistance to Ukraine. This will include lethal assistance in the form of defensive weapons and non-lethal assistance.“ As morally justified as such demands may sound in the current environment, the question remains: How would the weapons be brought into Ukraine after Russia gains air sovereignty over the country? They almost certainly would not be flown in, but would have to be provided by land or sea. Thus, it would be in the Russian military’s interest to quickly gain control of Ukraine’s western borders with NATO allies. Possible efforts by individual NATO member states to send additional military equipment across Ukraine’s land borders could meet fierce Russian resistance and lead to skirmishes between Russian and NATO personnel.“ (The Paths of Unintended Escalation: Is War Between NATO and Russia (Now) Possible?“ Bulletin of Atomic Scientists)
What does this tell us?
It tells us that the foreign policy establishment has already „played out“ the developments we are seeing now. NATO wants to entice Putin to attack their supply lines so that this action can serve as justification for greater involvement in the conflict. In other words: What we are seeing here is a calculated attempt to (incrementally) increase the likelihood of war between Russia and NATO. Nothing would please Uncle Sam more than to see Russia mired in a bloody quagmire that further isolates Moscow from Europe and prevents the kind of economic integration that would be necessary to bring the continents together to form the world’s largest free trade area.
Washington wants to avoid this scenario at all costs. Read this quote from Russian economist Sergie Glaziev:
„To maintain its world domination, the U.S. is provoking another war in Europe. A war is always good for America. They even call World War II, which killed 50 million people in Europe and Russia, a good war. It was good for America because the U.S. emerged from that war as the leading world power. The Cold War, which ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union, was also good for them. Now the U.S. wants to reassert its leadership role at the expense of Europe. U.S. leadership is threatened by a rapidly emerging China. The world today is in another cycle, this time a political one. This cycle lasts for centuries and is linked to the global institutions of the regulating economies.
We are now moving from the American cycle of capital accumulation to an Asian cycle. This is another crisis that challenges U.S. hegemony. To maintain their leadership position in competition with a rising China and other Asian countries, the Americans are starting a war in Europe. They want to weaken Europe, break up Russia and subjugate the entire Eurasian continent. That is, instead of the development zone from Lisbon to Vladivostok proposed by President Putin, the U.S. wants to start a chaotic war in this area, involve all of Europe in a war, devalue European capital, write off its national debt, under the burden of which the U.S. is already collapsing, write off what it owes to Europe and Russia, subjugate our economic space, and gain control of the resources of the vast Eurasian continent. They believe this is the only way to maintain their hegemony and beat China….
Russia and Ukraine are the victims of this war instigated by the Americans. But Europe is also a victim, because the war is aimed at European prosperity and destabilization. The Americans assume that the exodus of European capital and skilled workers to America will continue. That is why they are setting all of Europe on fire. It’s very strange that European leaders are going along with this.“
(Check out this extraordinary 2014 interview with Russian intellectual Sergei Glaziev, published nearly 10 years ago on The Saker website: https://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2014/08/interview-with-sergei-glaziev-must-see.html )
The deployment of NATO’s combat-ready force is further proof that the alliance is an aggressive and warmongering organization that undermines European security and endangers the entire world. As America’s cat’s paw on the continent, NATO always acts in Washington’s interest. Against this backdrop, we can expect a steady intensification of hostilities directed against Russia, all aimed at further dividing the continents while tightening Washington’s grip on power.
a-bigger-bang 
Oh.no war.all issues can be solved by conversation and giving pressure on attacker.
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