Ukraine
Ukraine: A Platform for US War with Russia
by Stephen Lendman
Lunatics in Washington want regime change. They want Putin ousted. Pro-Western stooge governance replacing him.
They want control over Russia's vast land mass. They want it balkanized like Yugoslavia. Its resources plundered.
Its people transformed into serfs. Cold War political and economic tactics head toward turning hot.
Throughout Putin's tenure, Washington goaded Russia irresponsibly. Carpet-bombing it with Big Lies.
Putin doesn't believe Ukrainian crisis conditions sparked Western anti-Russian policies. "If all this had never happened, any other excuse would have been created," he said last December.
America's "policy of contain(ing) (Russia wasn't) invented yesterday, but has been held against our country for decades, if not centuries," he explained.
US-led Western policies reflect war by other means. Heading recklessly toward turning hot.
Moscow State University's Alexey Fenenko calls Ukraine's conflict a "geopolitical battleground to resolve (post-Cold War) issues left unsettled…"
"(I)f allowed to deteriorate further," things could head toward "push(ing) Russia and (US-dominated) NATO into the unchartered waters of a dangerous new rivalry" already apparent from what's ongoing.
Russian and US world views reflect polar opposite positions. Washington wants unchallenged global dominance. Moscow supports multi-world polarity. It opposes America's imperial objectives.
Fenenko believes "limited" US/Russia war looms. Both sides are preparing, he says.
US-led NATO war on Russia "is no longer being viewed as a means of last resort for achieving (its) geopolitical goals."
How Fenenko defines "limited" he didn't explain. Wars have a life of their own. Once started, odds favor escalation, not restraint.
The possibility of the world's preeminent nuclear powers in open conflict with each other should scare everyone.
Wars are waged to be won. Adversaries use whatever weapons are needed to do so. US v. Russia risks potential nuclear war mass annihilation.
Conditions today show Washington plays a dangerous "game without rules," said Fenenko. US-Soviet Russia confrontation was unthinkable during Cold War years.
Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) held both sides back. That was then. This is now. Previous articles explained.
Neocons infest Washington. Lunatics make policy. Apparently willing to risk all for global dominance.
Wanting all rivals and independent governments eliminated. Mainly Russia and China.
For the first time in world history, humanity destroying nuclear war is possible. Russia is the only nation able to match America's destructive power blow for blow.
Fenenko believes "the objective of US policy on Russia (is) to cripple its strategic potential and ensure it (cannot) recover quickly."
Kremlin officials believe Russia is America's "ultimate target." No fundamental differences between Washington and EU countries exist.
Moscow wants Western nations recognizing its "right to govern a sphere of 'special interests' on its borders," said Fenenko.
US policies are polar opposite. Aiming "to force Moscow to recognize anti-Russian regimes and derail Russia's integration projects."
Crises in Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine followed. The latter by far most serious. Potentially a platform for US war on Russia.
France's far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen accused Washington of heading toward "war in Europe." EU countries act as "American lackeys," she said.
NATO encroaching on Russia's borders risks open confrontation. Washington "aim(s) to start a war in Europe to push NATO to the Russian border," she added.
She accused European leaders of ignoring Kiev's "bombing of civilians." Last September, she blamed Brussels for Ukrainian crisis conditions. Saying it "blackmailed the country to choose between Europe and Russia."
Last June, she told RT International "no independent states (remain) in Europe." Serious foreign policy mistakes were made "under Washington's influence."
EU nations surrendered their sovereignty to America, she said. European diplomacy is "catastrophic." Its policies "create problems." It mindlessly partners with America's rage to dominate.
On Sunday, former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Washington heads toward "unleash(ing) a war in Europe, which would end in catastrophe."
"Total war caused (by the) Ukrainian conflict is absolutely unacceptable. And really there is no reason for it."
Fillon accused Washington of "blindness." Wanting to "solve all problems by force." Demanding other countries do things its way - or else.
"The Americans have made one mistake after another, and today they have simply been discredited," Fillon stressed.
Punishing Russia economically, financially and politically is like intimidating a bear with a pin prick, he explained.
"The West is trying to imagine today Russia as a threat to the whole world, while deliberately forgetting that Russia is a large and truly a great country, not to mention a nuclear power."
"Humiliating Russia is simply unacceptable." At risk is open warfare. Madness if launched.
On February 9, Brussels announced new sanctions on Russian officials and Donbas freedom fighters.
Enforcement depends on how upcoming four-party Minsk talks go. In other words, whether Russia capitulates to US demands. What, of course, won't happen.
John Kerry is Obama's anti-Russian point man. In Munich, he unsuccessfully tried mimicking Winston Churchill's 1940 House of Commons address saying "we shall not flag or fail."
"We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans."
"We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be."
"We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets."
"We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender."
Britain was at war with Nazi Germany at the height of Hitler's power. Kerry is no Churchill. America is today's scourge.
Kerry sounded pathetic saying "the fight (won't just) be fought on the battlefield."
"It's going to be fought and won in classrooms, in workplaces, houses of worship, community centers, urban street corners and halls of government."
At the same time, he and likeminded lunatics want Kiev supplied with greater amounts of heavy weapons than already.
Washington wants escalated war, not peace. Michael Kofman is a Wilson Center Russia/Eurasia defense expert.
On February 5, his The National Interest article headlined "How to Start a Proxy War with Russia."
Saying US policymakers and so-called think tank experts urge making a bad situation in Ukraine worse by supplying Kiev with more heavy weapons than already.
Calling it "a litmus test for supporting Ukraine in its hour of need." Kofman disagrees. He opposes flooding "a volatile conflict region" with more weapons.
Arming Ukraine more than already "would do little to help (it) militarily and might actually worsen the situation," he believes.
Ukraine's economy deteriorates toward collapse. Millions of dollars spent daily for war makes it more likely.
It throws fuel on a raging fire…"consuming the country's chances of emerging as a new nation on a European path."
Ukraine needs economic aid and political reform. It needs peace, not war. Supplying weapons "is not a strategy, either for Ukraine, or for settling the conflict."
"The United States must focus on achieving a durable political settlement…"
"The only thing clear in this conflict is that Ukraine stands no chance of defeating Russian forces, or the separatists, and that military escalation is a disproportionately losing proposition for Kyiv."
All NATO and Kiev can agree on is saying "the overwhelming majority of (rebel) forces are locals and likely Ukrainian citizens, which completely undermines the premise…that Russian forces are the key participants…"
Kofman describes Kiev's military as sort of a slapdash Keystone cops bunch unable to shoot straight.
It's problem isn't weapons. It can produce plenty of its own. It's inept on tactics, coordination, communication, and execution.
Policy initiatives head things close to US/Russian confrontation. Political compromise alone can resolve things.
At the same time, Kofman lied claiming "Russia's leadership has wagered a colossal amount of political capital on its invasion of Ukraine."
Like Western officials and regurgitating media scoundrels, he offers no proof supporting his claim.
Of course, none exists. Russia didn't invade Ukraine. Or has any intention to do so. It wants war on its border threatening its security resolved diplomatically.
It wants America's imperial objective to make another US colony prevented. It wants democrats running Ukraine, not illegitimate fascist putschists.
Kofman's analysis left unaddressed what matters most. Including last February's US-planned and implemented coup.
Ousting Ukraine's government. Replacing it with mob rule. Illegitimate fascists thugs masquerading as democrats.
Waging war on their own people as US proxies. Risking direct confrontation with Russia.
Potential nuclear war. Mindless of what could be mass annihilation madness.
Flooding Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Ukraine with weapons caused one US foreign policy disaster after another.
Throwing more fuel on these fires threatens worse outcomes than already.
Risking war with Russia gives madness new meaning. Washington keeps heading in this direction. Preventing WW III depends on stopping lunatic policy makers in charge.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.
It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.