With a new Great Wall between Russia and the West, Graham E. Fuller wonders what kind of role lies ahead for either the U.S. or Europe on the international scene.
China’s embassy in Berlin, January 2010. (Jochen Teufel, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons)
By Graham E. Fuller
grahamfuller.com
The disturbing and detailed reportage by a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh on Washington’s sabotage of the Russian Nordstream 2 gas pipeline to Germany now provides new perspective on the momentous series of geopolitical trends that began with the war in Ukraine.
My own assessment of the Russian invasion written one year ago offered an analysis that was, and still is, markedly at variance with the Washington-dominated narrative of the course of Ukraine events.
A few thoughts from then:
—I condemned the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, and indeed of any government that launches a war (President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq included).
—My belief that the Russian invasion was nonetheless far from “unprovoked” but rather quite clearly provoked by Washington in its longstanding willful insistence on pushing NATO’s armed alliance ultimately right up to the very borders of Russia, where ancient Kievan/Russian cultural roots are deeply linked with early Russian/Orthodox Slavic civilization.
Yet Washington denies the validity of any Russian “sphere of influence” in Ukraine while the U.S. itself still maintains its own strong sphere of influence throughout Latin America — witness the Cuban missile crisis. (And can you imagine a Chinese military base in Mexico to bolster Mexican sovereignty?)
NATO’S April 2008 summit in Bucharest, Romania, where Ukraine’s “aspirations to join NATO” were formally welcomed. (Archive of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, Wikimedia Commons)
—Russia repeatedly warned over the years that implacable NATO expansion into Ukraine was a real red line; knowledgeable American scholars and many former American ambassadors to Moscow consistently warned of those dangers. Yet their voices were ignored; even today calls for U.S. strategic caution are outside of any discussion in Washington.
—In short, this was a war that never had to be.
—But whatever the pros and cons of NATO expansion , there is little doubt that Washington has triumphed in the information and “spin” battle in the Western media, hands down. All mainstream media parrot the same Washington narrative — an extraordinary media unanimity in a supposedly “independent” Western press.
(It might be nice to believe that the near total unanimity of voices in the Western media is simply the result of ringing support for “democracy” in Ukraine. But might it be amiss to consider all this unanimity as part of the growing power of government-influenced corporate media to dominate the public agenda?)
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—I stated my belief last year that Russia would prevail in the war. I still believe that. But I did not foresee the degree to which the war would morph into a massive and growing confrontation between Western and Russian arms.
—The unprecedented sweeping vilification of Russia, of Russian President Vladimir Putin personally, and Russian culture and arts in general had no parallel even during my long years at C.I.A. during the Cold War — making peaceful resolution of this now “civilizational war” ever more distant.
– I even speculated that once the fighting settled on the Ukraine battlefront that NATO would emerge, not strengthened, but weakened and more divided reflecting deepening European doubts about the wisdom for Europe in following Washington into dangerous and costly wars in pursuit of American self-perceived strategic interests.
I believe Europe will come to experience deep buyers’ regret over Washington’s risky policies, but I am far less confident now, for reasons below.
The Nordstream Sabotage Watershed
NATO defense ministers meet at the military alliance’s headquarters in Brussels on Feb. 15. (DoD, Chad J. McNeeley)
The stunning recent and detailed reportage of direct American sabotage of the Nordstream 2 gas pipeline represents a major geostrategic watershed in two senses:
First, the implications of Washington’s act of war with disastrous economic impact upon Europe will not subside easily. But more importantly this event has demonstrated America’s successful cowing of any public commentary on the event — across U.S. media but more so across all European media itself, including in the most economically victimized state —Germany. We observe stunning, nearly inexplicable silence over this major international event.
And Russia has gotten the message — American policies and statements have deeply reinforced Russia’s long-standing belief that the West is implacably hostile to any Russian role in the West — going back to the bitter and irrevocable split of Christendom between Rome and the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1054. That was later followed up by two devastating European invasions of Russia (Napoleon and Hitler).
Growing European trade ties — especially Germany — with Russia since the end of the Cold War have been thrown on the trash heap by NATO expansion east. The hostility of East-West relations has been reinforced and deepened.
Washington has no desire to work out a new common-European security policy that includes Russian interests as well. And these U.S. policies have helped ensure that Russia’s future now firmly lies in the East–Vladivostok and with China in a shared rejection of U.S. global hegemony.
The New East-West Great Wall
Moscow’s business center. (Mos.ru, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons)
The rise of a new Great Wall that blocks off Russia from Western Europe is one of the most striking outcomes of this war: European officialdom seems to have cast in its lot, perhaps reluctantly but irrevocably, with the American strategic goals in the world.
Those goals now even speak of creating a new “NATO Pacific” designed to challenge Chinese power economically and strategically in China’s own backyard — at great potential economic cost to Europe.
But for all this demonstration of Washington’s hold over Europe, it is also striking to note how the great majority of the world has indeed not gone along with U.S. strategic ambitions to weaken and humble Russia or to impose Washington’s own geopolitical architecture on most of the rest of the world.
Broadly speaking Latin America, the Middle East and Africa do not perceive their strategic interests as aligning with Washington’s. Apart from some lip service criticism of Russia, few states including large segments of Asia and India itself have imposed any meaningful sanctions against Russia.
More vividly, we see the emergence of new non-Western alliances such as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) with many other major states lining up to include Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia. These states of the Global South are also developing plans for new international reserve currency designed to undercut the ability of Washington to dictate international policy through U.S. dollar-based sanctions.
Redefining Eurasia
Eurasia, orthographic projection. (Keepscases, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons)
A new Eurasia is rising, driven by the bold and geopolitically visionary Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. But just what is this new Eurasia now?
With a new Great Wall between Russia and the West, where now is the “Euro” in Eur-asia? Europe ceases to be even at the tail end of “Eurasia,” potentially cut off physically from the Belt and Road that runs through Russia and much of the Global South.
Europe may have to find its way strategically and economically elsewhere in the world. For Washington that’s just fine; the U.S. will consistently seek to constrain ties of other countries with Russia or China.
The stunning silence of U.S. and European media reportage on the sabotage of the Nordstream pipeline sadly represents a clear sign that Europe frankly lacks the courage or vision to pursue a policy independent of Washington’s strategic game plan.
Washington’s power so far has heavily constrained Europe’s global ties, and intensified Washington’s dominance over Europe politically, economically and above all psychologically. It is hard to see how Europe will be able to extract itself from this restrictive American embrace to become a constructive and needed independent player on the international scene.
Indeed America itself seems sadly to have lost any kind of positive vision in how to deal with the rest of the world. The essence of American foreign policy now is almost entirely negative: block Russia, block China, and prevent their development and expansion of their international reach.
This does not present a very inviting menu of positive policy options for most of the rest of the world — a world that seeks to avoid costly involvement in Western wars and to pursue their own economic development. They show signs now of visceral negative reactions to the perpetuation of Western ex-colonial powers seeking to impose their own stale geopolitical and economic agendas on the rest of the world.
This is the reality of the outcome of the war in Ukraine. Washington seems determined to pursue its increasingly illusory goal of maintaining international hegemony, now packaged in spurious claims of supporting “democracy versus authoritarianism.” Not many buyers there.
How long will the U.S. continue to flail in endless foreign wars to desperately prove to itself and the world that it is still No. 1?
Graham E. Fuller is a fluent Russian speaker, former C.I.A. operations officer and former vice-chair of the National Intelligence Council at C.I.A. for long term forecasting.
This article is from grahamfuller.com
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
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As I have been claiming since this fiasco began this all could and should have been handled much differently. Not such a bad take on the situation in retrospect.
A couple of things are obvious for instance the wavering position of the U.S. on Russia, Ukraine and NATO, your in , your out – of NATO, Russia. GHW Bush and his disingenuous statements on the topic, and NATO at the behest of the U.S. constantly behaving in a manner consistent with Russian protestations of encroachment on their boundaries. All behavior that never would have tolerated by the GHW Bush and his beloved CIA.
The neocon mindset has been on public display since before the reports by the Church and Pike committee hearing of the middle to late 1970’s. This is all confirmed by the length of time CIA and it’s ilk were engaged in drug dealing with some of our less wholesome southern neighbors. See the Bill Barr advised pardons GHW handed out in mass before charge could be filed by Lawrence Walsh.
One must dig a little deeper to learn of the “deep” involvement of all things DeepState, CIA and those who carried water for both entities, the neocons representing so called “American National Security Interests” world wide.
Those mentioned above were out of control then and brought the nation to this.
As I said earlier, in a different comment here, for the U.S. to be in anyway connected to the sabotage of the NORD STREAM pipeline was an enormous mistake by those involved. This act committed during historically held military exercises goes beyond the pale acceptable behavior at the international level.
Seems over-reach by U.S. intelligence agencies has reached another outrageous milestone in their not so illustrious history.
Besides the POTUS has more than willingly has placed himself in lock step with along line of predecessors working as useful idiots to facilitate an authoritarian agenda for the evil doers of the DeepState.
One disgusting failure of leadership after another.
Now there is some perspective for ya’ll!
Thanks CN
The US is a collapsing empire in desperate throes of trying to regain global domination. That makes it the most dangerous entity in the world; there is no telling how/when/where it’ll unleash its savage fury. Not withstanding the way folks in the US are totally propagandized/indoctrinated, most of the world’s population sees clearly what’s happening. ………… The US/NATO started war ON Russia in 2014 – that Russia ‘fired the first shot’ in 2022 is neither here nor there. Antecedents of the war’s origin in US/NATO provocations actually go back much further.
THE question——–> will the people of Germany (and the rest of Europe) ever rise up wityh massive civil action/general strikes to topple their war-loving-US-sycophant regimes???? ……….,., I’d ask the same about the people in the US, but, the fever grip of propaganda is too tight. Information lockdown relegates alternative analysis to a handful of websites/journos. It does appear the flow of info/media control in Europe is approaching that of the US.
You can bet your ass the sociopaths running the Pentagon/CIA have gamed out nuclear contingencies and its ramifications. Estimates of how many tens or hundreds of thousands would die in various nuclear scenarios certainly are kept top secret. Our lives are worth NOTHING in the empire’s quest to dominate the world. …….,. Then again, capitalism itself is organized around the principle of “profits over people” . Bomb trains with life-killing toxins……… less pay for more work………. no $$ for medical bills? – just die!…………climate change? – eh, maybe someday……. and much more…….. No, my friends, our lives do NOT matter to our ruling elite.
It is very hard to verify facts in wars, and the associated propaganda campaigns. That has to be left to history. The danger there is that people pick and choose what historic facts suit them. Some historic facts can be established: those that are not in contention, allowing a debate to take place. From these facts pattern can be discerned. If the pattern is not seen, or is denied, the consequences will be WW III.
Even today very few informed people worldwide would deny that the U.S. is still number one. But they differ in only in WHAT the U.S. is number one in. Most would agree that the U.S. is indeed number one in GREED, ARROGANCE, OBDURANCE, ATHEISTIC-SECULARISM, IMMORALITIES, GEO-STRATEGIC MYOPIA and the HUBRIS all these breed. But what tactically-flippant Europe need to soberly reflect is : is the U.S. still number one in ECONOMY, MILITARY, SOCIAL DYNAMISM, LOGISTICS, DIPLOMATICS and the GEO-STRATEGICS all these may add up to ? Even the US’ tenous hold on foreigner-linked high-technologies and high-capital are fast diminishing under challenge by the emerging multi-polarity at the evolving global arena.
“GEO-STRATEGIC MYOPIA”
So now i know why Biden always appears to be squinting.
(Agree with all you said)
Close, but slightly incorrect.
America, specifically, the crowd around Dick Cheney, in the early 1990’s, formulated a national strategy that declared with the insanity of a James Bond Super Villain, that now that the USSR was no more, America was on top, and that America would not tolerate the rise of anyone else to such a level, nor even the rise of anyone else to the level of a regional power that could challenge the Imperial Eagle even in its own region. IIRC, the initials PNAC will lead you back down the trail of this insanity.
This insane plan is what has led the USA to see a China that has succeeded in lifting an abused peasant population out of poverty in some 75 years as an “existential threat”. Its not like China has been invading America’s neighbors and pushing missiles and tanks right up to America’s borders, or anything like that.
Along the way of this Insane Plan, America’s leaders have committed an entire series of war crimes, and thus have reached the point of the gang boss who knows they must either stay on top, or face their own starring role at the next Nuremberg Trials. Their body count is at least 7 figures, and possibly up to 8 figures during this long run. Blowing up key European energy infrastructure is only going to be one indictment of a list.
Don’t confuse the puppet for the puppet master.
For decades now, the results of the elections and the occupants of offices have no change or effect on the course of America. America keeps telling pollsters that it is on the wrong course. America keeps voting the bums out of office. America’s course has remained quite constant since Reagan and the Iran-Contra story that Mr. Perry helped to reveal.
As every American worker has heard ….”What do you think this is? A Democracy?”
Great article great comments!
As Europe is a casualty of this war so too is Canada. As the American empire diminishes the remaindered countries will be in full lock down.
Another daunting question is how long can the US sustain perpetual war on the world?
NOT AS LONG AS THEY THINK THEY CAN…look at the problems they have at home. And these appear to be growing.
This is a report from the UK. The reporter describes the scenario as “the fundamental failure of America”. It takes place in Philadelphia:
hxxps://news.sky.com/story/tranq-dope-a-new-drug-is-rotting-peoples-skin-and-causing-horror-on-us-streets-12810916
It appears that the US has been chosen as the one specific monotheist empire of now for it’s world culture war of conquest for conversion therapy. The US is now a tool and Asia has grown to be a existential threat to be contained or else they will have rights to cultural relevant we seem to fear above all else. All other institutional profit motives follow that. It has had considerable covert and overt ability to manipulate empires ever since it was a tool weaponized for control in the Middle East beginning our year zero.
Excellent if terribly sad geopolitical analysis. I am glad to live in Latin America but said for my sons and many friends now trapped on a sinking ship.
I share your sorrow….and it doubles as I witness how many progressives seem to have lined up to drink the usual kool-aid.
I have to wonder what the working class population in Germany is thinking about all of this. Surely they can’t be so entirely brainwashed as to think nothing of it. One would think they’re waking up to what it is that’s been done to them. I sure as hell hope so, at any rate. The ruling class gets so caught up in playing the video game of life on “God” mode they forget that, at the end of the day, that’s not the way it works. Reality asserts itself one way or another. Who knows what the blowback will entail, for all of us, including them.
The majority seem to be unaware of the truth because brainwashing = re-education has been in more or less ´full swing´ in what used to be West Germany since the end of WWII, and after the Fall of the Wall in the so-called re-united Germany. The MSM are very good at not informing and not reporting the “things” the government and e.g. Brussels don´t want the population to know. Udo Ulfkotte: “journalists on hire” – “Gekaufte Journlisten”
The implications are that it’s one of the first shots across the bow of the emerging multi-polar world. Good riddance to Washington’s Dean Wormer double-secret probation “rules based order” nonsense.
An absolute yes to what you say well and authority. I had immediately preceding this by reading an article in the WAPO that pointed out one thing in vivid addition to what you say. It took a look at the possible Democrat candidates if Biden should not run and concluded that the most likely were two: Harris and Buttigeig. That is almost as powerful a demonstration of where America is as the Nord Stream affair.
The control of the media does not come from Joe Biden nor does the decision on the pipelines. He is certainly a war vulture and he defends the origins of many of our losing ventures that were under his control since 2008, however he, like many of his predecessors can only act on the advice of “specialists” he trusts. Therefore it is necessary to elect someone who will listen to those who whisper into his ear and follow the advice of those who feed a President information and present it well. So it was no surprise that the two most mentioned to follow Biden in ’24 or ’28. They are hollow shell who are being groomed to do what they are told to do and presenting it well.
How the Democrats have failed to find real leaders since the Kennedys were murdered and turned the job of representing the public over to the whisperers who have taken charge is a mystery. But we have yet to feel the real cost of that failure.
the democratic party is now undistinguishable from the republican party. they are both owned by corporate america and enthusiastically endorse u.s. imperialism. alas, the only solution to this madness is from a source completely independent of our two party charade of democracy.
No mystery. The murder of the Kennedys warned any aspiring Democrat would-be leader that there would be no difficulty about blocking or murdering them. The casual murders of less-influential leaders in Latin America, if simple covert organising of military coups and populist leaders doesn’t do the trick, is legion. So, no questionas to why after the murder of Kennedies (and Martin Luther King) as to “how the Democrats have failed to find…..”).
See the ruthless struggle of Nancy Pelosi and the military-industrial-media complex against Bernie Sanders….. and, in the UK, the danger of a Corbyn coming to power (quick replacement by an obedient stooge for global capital who only threatens, ruthlessly struggles, and purges the left in the Labour Party.
So, no mystery “how do the Democrats fail to find..”
This quote from Seymour Hersh made in an interview a couple of days ago kind of provides a clue hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLpGH0BpOnk:
“[Europe had] a mild fall no snow on the you saw those stories. It’s cold now and I don’t know that much about the rest of Germany but I talked to people in Berlin — yeah they’re mad. One of my best friends just came back from a sabbatical there, an academic, and he got back um he got back and he was saying you cannot believe how angry everybody is. How cold they are. How the gas prices have gone up so high a big part of the budget.
“We know that’s going on in the UK, yeah, which has all sorts of other problems. The UK is you know, what can you say about a country that voted to commit suicide with Brexit. You can’t have too much you can’t have much sympathy.”
Joe Biden committed an act of war against a reliable ally. He needs to be impeached, arrested and delivered to the German people to do with what they will.
“The UK is you know, what can you say about a country that voted to commit suicide with Brexit. You can’t have too much you can’t have much sympathy.”
Only half of Britain : the pro-leave vote was just 51.89%.
And when we say Britain, we really mean England. Scotland and Northern Ireland both voted to remain.
Obviously the result was so close that the whole thing should have been shelved for the time being, on the grounds that there was no appreciable majority in favour of leaving. But that wasn’t allowed to be an option.
But the real suicide was in electing Boris Johnson and his bunch of pirates to oversee Brexit. Although again, only 43% of the electorate voted for the Tories.
The (Corbyn) Labour party stance on Brexit – as enshrined in their 2019 election manifesto – was basically :
1. Continue with leaving negotiations, and get the best deal possible (and I’m sure Corbyn would have got a far better deal from the EU).
2. Put it to the electorate in another referendum : remain, or leave on these terms – this is what you’ll get.
Which seems sensible. But of course the MSM spun it as an attack on the democratic rights of the 51.89%, and the public (or 43% of them) duly elected the pirates with no plan beyond plundering what they could.
Yeah, it certainly is hard to have much sympathy for us, on the whole. Not for the first time, I can’t help thinking our national emblem should be the lemming.
Excellent essay. Unfortunately for the US, our economic power no longer exists except for the almighty dollar. Unfortunately, the dollar is just a fiat currency that has nothing to back it up, certainly now now with a $31T debt and a GDP in the low $20T range. We are unfortunately a dead man walking.
The USA is impoverishing Europe, in the end, there will be no NATO left to form a Pacific alliance and without Europe’s economy and culture the US will be nothing either. They will end up being a rundown has been country like Rome at the end of the Roman empire.
“All we do is export our crap.” (Norman Mailer) It’s debatable whether America ever had a “positive vision in how to deal with the rest of the world.” Since the end of WWII the U.S. has acted like an empire because it’s been an empire. But most of the world has had quite enough. Europe’s acquiescence to The United States’ calamitous sanctions and industrial sabotage against Russia is shockingly self destructive. But the world beyond America and Europe will continue strengthening economic bonds and ultimately break free from the constrictions of U.S. reserve currency dominance. At which point The United States’ only major remaining exports – unilateral war and coups – will no longer be feasible. Dear America, Its a new world and your not invited.
The military action in “ukraine” is lawful under the UN Charter Art 51, and the Ruskies invoked this at the beginning.
There will be no “new wall”, rather there will be denazification of “west”.
This implies the reformation of “west”, a process which we see as “collapse”…but collapse is only the beginning of revolution. Not that I approve…I’d much prefer rural California circa 1950…
Red Army has never been defeated….
In reading of WW 2—–reading of what the US and the UK did to Dresden—-was horrible enough , but then finding that Truman decided to nuke non military cities was another horror. I suppose that as America was the only nation truly left standing—–America decided to lead the world——and beginning with Nuking Japan — a horrible decision—But now here we are , America trying to relive the end of WW 2—really seems to be an attempt to rule the world with WW 3.
People like Bush 2 and Biden—and of course Trump, all escaped going to war. How sad it is to know that those 3 found glee in bombing and killing so many.
Apparently Biden—, Blinken and Nuland want to rule the world —–and even worse, as Israel wants to take over Palestinian land——-another endless war? America—you make me sad, as we all are watching wars of no use create horror upon our environment and disappearing water sources———–I am sorry to say that it seems that America has become less and less of a democracy—and more and more a kingdom of snakes—deadly ones like the Black Momba. : (
Dresden, the Florence on the Elb river was a hospital city filled with refugees, mainly women and children and old people, and the war was over, just as the war was over when they dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We will never know how many people really perished for no military reason at all.
To implement sanctions against Afghanistan and confiscate their money is just as vile as the bombing of the three cities filled with civilians and the refusal to lift sanctions on Syria to make help for the quake victims possible, and all the other sanctions and freezing of nations money in Venezuela, Cuba, and other countries. Is it just pure vicious revenge, or sadism? War is terrible why extend it for no good reason?
I guess that’s what you get when you subscribe to A City on a Hill and all that crap of divine exceptionalism. After awhile, you forget that you too are human and frail and vulnerable.
Americans can justify anything…starving the people of Cuba, substituting a paper president for one that has been elected with bigger majorities than any American politician could get, etc. etc. The countries of Latin America know more about the nature of American foreign policy than do most Americans………..what that mighty nation does to the people of the world doesn’t for the most part enter the consciousness of the average American………..who never saw a foreign war that he wasn’t prepared to cheer for.
I appreciate the long historical explanation of this conflict, more should be aware 0f it.
If Russia asks the UN to investigate the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines, then what might we consider will happen?
Whatever happens, it will be a measure of the UN’s worth to humanity.
Will it pursue truth, or defer to the thundering silence?
That silence is not just among the western media, but also savagely so among western institutions of Higher Learning.
Beyond the roaring silence, western “education” has revealed itself as massively failing to encourage critical thought for the past half century.
When media and academia demonstrate a lock-step closed mindedness and abject cowardice, the cost to civil society, to collective conscience, and social courage, in the oligarchies of the west, it cannot any longer be doubted that Age of the Divine Right of Money, call it financialized capitalism, is coming to a brutal and flailing end, as the U$ empire lashes out desperately to reverse the course of change.
Some claim that it is easy to say that things will not change, yet the west, led by the U$, clearly intends to make the change difficult, and fraught, even to the extent of nuclear war.
It is the U$ which seeks world domination, that all of us shall become merely servants to those whose behavior is pathologically dangerous to everyone and everything.
Let it be understood and remembered, things do not have to be this way, and there are many more of us than there are of the pathologically dangerous.
Change will not be easy, fear and hatred will be stoked among those yet in thrall to fairytales, myths, and unexamined assumptions.
Interesting times …
Did what Biden together with other NATO members did to Germany, an ally, ever happen before in history?
I can’t get my arms around so much evil deception. After so much evil, ruthlessness, and brutality committed over many decades, Hitler appears not so unusual, from a moral point of view he has lots of company. Killing is killing, it is the same as being a little pregnant.
The USA has arrived, it has become a pariah state, and they can’t hide it anymore.
Renate, when the Biden Gang decided to push this particular button, they revealed the U$ for what it is, a narcissistic hegemony whose claim of benevolence, of pursuing “truth, justice …”, and “freedom and Democracy is simply to distract from the truth, which is that the U$ (and this goes all the way back to our Calvinist forebears, the Puritans, the Huguenot, and many of the Dutch who inhabited a quaint little place known as New Amsterdam. It goes by a different name, now.
The Calvinists believed that they had a covenant with the Almighty, and thus the right to do as they pleased on this continent so generously given them from On High.
They, by the Deity’s Will, were setting about to do His “work”.
The Calvinists were also, as they believed it to be, a persecuted people. Some, indeed had been.
This sense of being oppressed meant that they had no problem oppressing or even killing others.
We see a similar “sensibility” operating today, in Israel.
By the time the Founding Fathers penned the Declaration of Independence, the fledgling nation (which it assumed it would become) had clearly come to see itself as beset by tyrants and savages.
George was the tyrant and the indigenous people, the savages.
While U$ “Benevolence” is now, clearly, a sham, the notion of a “Rules Based Order” will soon be understood to simply be the brutal assertion that the U$ cares nothing for justice, its aim is power and world domination because it (representing the pathological 1%, NOT “the people”, ever) knows best and will not tolerate simply being a nation among nations.
That will change.
However, the people must understand that when the dollar hegemony collapses, an inflationary spiral will begin because those abroad holding dollars will only be able to collect ANY value from those dollars by spending those dollars here.
Unfairly and unjustly, the people will bear the burden of official criminality.
However, the sooner the people stop believing the nonsense which they have been spoon-fed their entire lives, and DEMAND accountability, realizing that structurally, if the Constitution is moot, cannot happen because all three branches of government are complicit, resulting from dereliction of responsibility, both in the Legislative branch and the Judicial branch.
Biden’s behavior has been that of a king or an emperor, the people everywhere be damned.
Thus his claims of a war between Democracy and Authoritarian regimes, is also now, metaphorically a rusting hulk at the bottom of the sea.
America keeps punching the “tar baby” and losing our soul. The same old loser generals and politicians. Not one winner since 1945! If one would call nuking Japan or the ravaging of Germany a win.
The most significant amount of credit for the “1945 win” must go to Russia. Our western textbooks never acknowledge Russia’s enormous contribution. From the West’s perspective, Russia’s presence in the war was little more than a footnote.
The role will be a familiar one ….
“Yankees Go Home!”
At this point, I do not see why anyone even talks to them? They are mean and nasty, so talking with them is not enjoyable. And, if you should manage to reach some sort of deal with them, you know they will not keep and honor the deal. The cheating on the deal begins as soon as the lying part of the negotiations is ended, and before they just decide to outright steal what they want.
Yankees Go Home.
Yea, just ask the Native Americans!
Solid analysis – with one exception. Fuller’s pro forma condemnation of Russia’s invasion at the opening of his article is utterly contradicted by the implications of his later points. It is not just that there were “provocations.” It is that the provocations were not going to stop, even at the borders. The decision that there was going to be a war had been made long before in Washington. Russia’s only choice was a strategic one. Recommended reading: Daniel Kovalik’s piece on RT: “Why Russia’s Invasion is Legal Under international Law.”
“America itself seems sadly to have lost any kind of positive vision in how to deal with the rest of the world. The essence of American foreign policy now is almost entirely negative: block Russia, block China, and prevent their development and expansion of their international reach.”
This is one of the most important observations in the article. The scope of negativity is immense and so unjustified that the collective West (as it cooperates with USA) barely tries. What is the justification of the economic blockade of Venezuela? That it is not democratic after the opposition, egged by USA, refused to participate in fair elections? What is the justification of blocking one-person-one vote election in Somalia (most recent story in The Grayzone)? Most examples are barely visible, but sinister and hurting countries and people around the globe.
There were always going to be acute problems for attempting to conquer such a huge country as Russia, as the would be invaders learnt to their ultimate cost.
”Such invasions tend to focus on the early invasions which were followed up by the two most devastating European invasions of Russia. ( Those of Napoleon and Hitler).” See Jackson below.
In point of fact Russia has been invaded no less than 7 times; the first started with Rurik’s Vikings who were the only successful invasion force in 862 to 1228. This was the only successful invasion in Russia’s history. The next invasion came with the Tatars and the birth of Moscow – 1228-1462. The expansion of Muscovy 1452-1584 with its expansionist policy. The Polish Road 1584-1607. The Poles still hold a grievance to this day. The Swedish Road to Poltava 1707-1709. King Charles embarked in a futile attempt to subjugate Russia and failed miserable in the battle of Poltava. And then two further invasions and defeat of the invaders with Napoleon 1812. Next came the German Road of campaigns from 1914-17 and the second German road of 1941-45,
This ought to be a salutary to all and serve as a reminder of the difficulties and the attempted conquest of conquering this huge country and determined defenders.
”Seven Roads to Moscow” Was First published in London 1957. By Eyre & Spottiswoode, and was author of the book below.
Lieutenant-Colonel, W.G.F. Jackson, MC, BA, RE, Instructor, Staff College, Camberley UK, 1948-50, Instructor, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, 1950-03.
Excellent essay. This provides a succinct summary of where we are at today. There seems no end in sight to the Ukraine war. Russia will keep grinding down the Ukraine military as long as Ukraine continues to funnel its soldiers eastward into the “meatgrinder”, thinking to maintain the pretense that it is “winning” so long as fighting of a kind goes on in the Donbas. Until the West runs out of weapons, and/or the desire to fuel this war, we are on a slow escalator to nuclear conflict. A question which must be asked, in light of the sociopathic behavior of Blinken, Nuland, Sullivan, and Biden, in provoking this war and then blowing up Nordstream2–by any definition an act of state-sponsored terrorism–is how far will they go to avoid acknowledging defeat and failure? Left unchecked by any other element in the US government, will they, in their madness, escalate to tactical nukes in the belief that this will enable them to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat? It’s a slender reed indeed if the world is relying on the Pentagon’s supposed “saner” heads to prevail if it comes to this. The stupidity of these four in creating this catastrophe seems unbelievable when we step back. But here we are.
An excellent article. I have been amazed at the utter and complete servility of the German and French (especially, though also the rest of “old Europe”) leaders here. The long effort grooming leaders (the Scholtzes, Macrons, Melonis, etc.) through such organizations at the Atlantic Council and WEF as well as the incredibly successful narrative development and capture of the mainstream media has been fruitful beyond all expectation.
But what about the business people? Do they not realize that 1) the future lies east and 2) cheap energy is their only hope to stay relevant? Are they really going to allow themselves to be beggared for the interests of financial orgs and foreigners?
This act of war is going to bite us (US) in the keester.
How low have we fallen, that the well earned credibility of one reporter exceeds that of the entire US Gov’t and that of its “independent” press …
And yet, “we the people” continue to return to power the 2 parties that run that Gov’t, and have for decades – wassa matta wid us?
What puzzles me is why and how the neocon movement, begun in the 90’s with project for a new American century (PNAC), has taken such a hold of The American Establishment in subsequent years. Control is evidently now entirely in the grip of the NEOs (conservative and liberal) who seem totally deluded by their own “hubris,” a fancy word for arrogance, and their belief that “the rules based international order” belongs only to them to define. Obviously, as the author points out here, this ideology is not working well for much of the globe, and there is a growing sector of opposition. The current fiasco over the pipelines suggests a foolish mentality is at last catching up with them, but this may lead on to even more stupid responses and danger upcoming.
This article features a typical response from a year ago, condemning Russia’s response without clarification of an alternative:
“A few thoughts from then:
I condemned the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, and indeed of any government that launches a war (President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq included).”
It would be good to see Graham Fuller’s alternative.
Related: CN’s February 10 discussion: “the legal question of Russia’s intervention”
xttps://consortiumnews.com/2023/02/10/on-the-legal-question-of-russias-military-intervention/
Whatever happened to capitalism? I guess Capitalism works until it works against you!
“The stunning silence of U.S. and European media reportage on the sabotage of the Nordstream pipeline sadly represents a clear sign that Europe frankly lacks the courage or vision to pursue a policy independent of Washington’s strategic game plan.”
I respectfully submit, Mr. Fuller, that to break that silence, to admit this blatant act of war, would signal that it is “GAME OVER.”
No longer could Biden and the entire US political class deny that the US is indeed directly at war with the Russian Federation. Now that Russia has launched a new offensive and the losses are mounting for the “Ukraine” forces we are already seeing a tacit acknowledgement that the US-led Ukraine proxy gambit is failing, and is going to fail spectacularly and catastrophically. Fewer tanks and other war material will be sent to Ukraine, and all those poor Ukrainian souls who had smoke blown up their ass about taking on the Russian Bear, will be left to die in the killing fields of eastern Ukraine.
“—I stated my belief last year that Russia would prevail in the war. I still believe that. But I did not foresee the degree to which the war would morph into a massive and growing confrontation between Western and Russian arms.”
Again, respectfully sir, how could you – a former CIA analyst – not understand that was one of the driving motives of this ill-begotten conflict (the giant windfall – again- to the US and other western merchants of death and destruction – aka – “the defense industry)? You correctly understand that what is at stake is ECOMONIC hegemony but failed to see that those at the head of the line at the feeding trough were the soulless ghouls of the euphemism known as “the defense industry.”
What is it about being in the CIA that makes all you guys so blind to the true intentions of the US?
Russia and the Russian Federation will not “prevail” in this conflict. No-one prevails or wins in a scenario of such senseless and unnecessary death and destruction. Least of all do I believe that Russian leaders including the “Evil Putin” believe they will prevail in any way when all the bodies are finally buried. It will just be another black mark on the evolution of humanity and a step backwards in that effort – the circle of hate and grievance will be renewed and unbroken. That is what they, the Ukrainians, and all Europeans have to look forward to.
Thank you, Uncle Sugar.
The most remarkable aspect of this article is the fact that it was written by Graham Fuller. That suggests that the beliefs expressed are shared by at least some powerful elements of the US government. The fact that the Rand Corporation, which promoted the idea of baiting Russia into a military response in Ukraine as an effective means to weaken it, is now warning against a prolonged US engagement, also indicates that there is resistance to current US policy in places that matter.
How exactly does one go about unlighting a fuse once it has already detonated?
The international mischief caused by the Biden Administration’s US State Department, CIA, and Pentagon in blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines are going to be with us for many years to come. Get ready for the payback when it arrives. It would seem that we are now led by a Diverse, Inclusive, & Equitable (DIE) team of career nitwits, Nimrods, and ne’er do wells.
Everyone, just remember to duck when “what goes around, eventually comes around” when this James Bond like fiasco returns to our own shores and our own infrastructure. D*MN!
The problem with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is that it doesn’t appear to know where the North Atlantic is.
Geographically located between two vast oceans it would be impossible for America’s rich to compete commercially with a bonded, mutually friendly trading infra-structure in the vast land mass of Eurasia. With road&belt there would be no shipping transport required – leaving the maritime nations high and dry, unable to block strategic hubs like Gibraltar or Suez.
The UK /US ruled the high seas – so what? No one needs to pass their ports any more.
That’s why they for the umpteenth time they have tried to destroy any Russia/ Germany/ China commercial relationships.
Poor, unaware Germany- third assault on its prosperity and leadership under the disguise of a world war.
We are living through the last stage of Western settler colonialism. Something for the rest of the world to celebrate. Let us hope this dying empire doesn’t take the whole world down with it out of vengeance.
Fuller is a product of his occupational upbringing; he writes that Europe can only turn to usa, while also writing that usa damages Europe.
He live by his wilful ignorance, continuing to proffer usa hegemony.
Hersh & others point out this power-hunger/madness to a small audience, and are excluded from mass readership by the fearful forces of usa govt.
Stop War!
Protest Loudly!
A concerted effort methinks; if not in deed, then certainly in agreement:
“Liz Truss urges Nato allies to block Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline”
This article is more than 1 year old
“Britain’s foreign secretary raises fears of Europe becoming reliant on Moscow for energy”
Patrick Wintour
Tue 30 Nov 2021 17.21 GMT (the Guardian)
“Britain’s foreign secretary has joined a last-minute push to urge Nato allies to block the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, warning that Moscow would exploit its position if European nations became reliant on it for energy.
Liz Truss, at her first Nato foreign ministers meeting in Riga, also warned that Russia would be making a strategic mistake if it invaded Ukraine, promising an economic and diplomatic response by Nato.”
“..this event has demonstrated America’s successful cowing of any public commentary on the event — across U.S. media but more so across all European media itself, including in the most economically victimized state —Germany. We observe stunning, nearly inexplicable silence over this major international event.
The stunning silence of U.S. and European media reportage on the sabotage of the Nordstream pipeline sadly represents a clear sign that Europe frankly lacks the courage or vision to pursue a policy independent of Washington’s strategic game plan.”
As a former CIA officer Mr. Fuller must be familiar with Udo Ulfkotte’s expose ‘Gekaufte Journalisten’ (Bought Journalists), which revealed the extent of CIA control of German/European journalism.
Ulfkotte, a former Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reporter, described German journalism as essentialy prostitution in print, and said the Washington Post is essentially a CIA front publishing disinformation against Russia which is often written by intelligence agencies.
In an interview with RT in October 2014, Ulfkotte explained the CIA’s practice of manipulation and bribery:
“I’ve been a journalist for about 25 years, and I was educated to lie, to betray, and not to tell the truth to the public. But seeing right now within the last months how the German and American media tries to bring war to the people in Europe, to bring war to Russia — this is a point of no return and I’m going to stand up and say it is not right what I have done in the past, to manipulate people, to make propaganda against Russia, and it is not right what my colleagues do and have done in the past because they are bribed to betray the people, not only in Germany, all over Europe.”
Ulfkotte died of a heart attack in 2017 at age 56.
hxxps://newspunch.com/german-newspaper-editor-exposed-cia-dead/
hxxps://off-guardian.org/2018/01/08/english-translation-of-udo-ulfkottes-bought-journalists-suppressed/
The U.S. continue to flail as long as the all-mighty dollar’s power persists. When that game is up, so shall be the “great best hope.” Americans will then face a real reckoning of their hubris–finally. This war and the pipeline sabotage has certainly reinforced how pathetic and complacent Western Europe truly is. It’s a very sad thing to witness.
That it is, but it needs to happen…the sheer hypocrisy of Western “leaders” ought not go unpunished…trouble is how many decent people will have to suffer for their mistakes?
Europe needs to cut the ties with their ‘white’ relatives in America.
When someone proves to be a liar, you should never believe them again.