January 21, 2022
American Secretary of State Antony Blinken is shuttling across Europe this week vowing that Washington “desperately wants peace not war” with Russia. This touchy-feely sentiment comes amid reports of additional American and British weapons supplies heading to the NATO-backed Kiev regime.
Ukraine has already been massively weaponized by the United States since the CIA-backed coup d’état in Kiev in 2014 brought to power a Neo-Nazi regime obsessed with antagonizing Russia. The Biden administration has boosted inventories for anti-tank missiles and other lethal weaponry with plans for further increases. Now it emerges that additional supplies are on the way from both the U.S. and Britain. Britain is to send anti-tank weapons to Ukraine along with “military advisors”.
Moscow this week condemned the increased flow of weapons to Ukraine, saying it is recklessly stoking already fraught tensions. The new supply of anti-armor missiles from the U.S. and Britain – reported only days after high-level talks on regional security between Russian and NATO officials were conducted last week – would seem to be one more proof that the Western powers are secretly pushing for war with Russia despite rhetoric appealing for a diplomatic solution.
The frenzy for warmongering seems to have taken over any reasoned dialogue or obligation to diplomacy and international law. Washington and its European allies are whipping up the hysteria of alleged Russian invasion plans for Ukraine. Blinken flew to Kiev on Wednesday claiming that Russia was ready to invade Ukraine “imminently”. The American foreign minister then flew to Berlin to meet with German, British and French counterparts to discuss ratcheting up further economic pain on Russia over its alleged “aggression”. The German government announced this week it was prepared to halt the Nord Stream 2 gas project “if Russia invaded Ukraine”.
The New York Times reported claims that Russia was closing down its embassy staff in Kiev and speculated that the move was a portent of Moscow’s anticipation of war. Russia dismissed the report as groundless and said its consular staff was working as normal in Ukraine. The Ukrainian foreign ministry also appeared to corroborate Russia’s claims.
Russia has repeatedly rejected allegations of an invasion plan. It says that troop movements within its borders are its internal business that requires no explanation. Even the New York Times which has been pushing the invasion narrative admitted this week that American intelligence claims of Russian troop build-up on the border with Ukraine have not materialized.
Moscow says that the military build-up is actually by the Ukrainian armed forces supported by U.S., British, Canadian and other NATO military advisors. Russia maintains that the allegations of a Russian invasion are a cover for the NATO-backed Kiev regime to launch an offensive against the ethnic Russian population of Southeast Ukraine, who have been fighting a civil war with Kiev forces since 2014 when the CIA fomented a coup d’état.
Blinken is due to meet with Russia’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Friday. The Kremlin has said that it expects a legal, written response from the United States regarding the security proposals that Moscow presented last week to American and NATO officials. Those proposals included a commitment from the U.S. and NATO to desist from further eastward expansion and for withdrawal of existing offensive weaponry from Eastern Europe.
American and European NATO allies have already verbally dismissed Russia’s security proposals as “non-starters”. They stated that Russia does not have a veto on NATO deployments. This is a high-handed and provocative rebuff to Russia’s concerns over the threatening encroachment of offensive military forces on its borders.
The United States and its partners seem to be deliberately kicking Russia’s existential concerns into the long grass. Not reciprocating promptly to the security guarantees that Moscow explicitly delineated last week shows that the U.S.-led NATO bloc is menacingly playing for time to wear down Russia’s resolve.
Antony Blinken has made lame excuses for not responding to Russia’s strategic security proposals by saying that the United States needs to first consult with other NATO allies and partners. Washington is making out that it is constrained by an obligation to seek consensus and consultation. Moscow is being told that it will have to put its security concerns on hold while the U.S. confers with its European counterparts. Who knows when that nebulous process will end?
Curiously, there was no such need for “consultation” by Washington when it decided to dramatically pull out of Afghanistan last year. After 20 years of grinding, futile war, the Biden administration did not bother to inform other NATO members about the sudden military withdrawal. Indeed, European appeals for a slower withdrawal were pointedly ignored by Washington which had decided unilaterally to close down operations in Afghanistan.
The notion that the United States indulges consensus and consultation among NATO members is an absurd delusion. Washington, as the presumed hegemonic power, decides alone when and when not to go to war, and its NATO subordinates fall into line like the good little flunkeys that they are.
The militarization in Ukraine is being led by the United States, along with its trusty British bulldog. The conclusion is that Washington has decided to ramp up the push for war against Russia using Ukraine as a proxy – and using a twisted narrative about Russian aggression and invasion. The rebuffing of a historic security detente with Moscow is being disguised by the facade of Washington appearing to be chivalrous and courteous to purportedly find a consensus with allies.
No comments:
Post a Comment