by MK Bhadrakumar

An observation, the rupture.

The decisive moment of press conference of US President Joe Biden at the White House last Wednesday, during the visit of President Zelensky, was his virtual admission that he is being forced into the proxy war in Ukraine because the European allies do not want a war with Russia. 

To quote Biden, “ Now you say, 'Why don't we give Ukraine everything there is to give?' Well, for two reasons. First, there is a whole alliance which is essential to stay with Ukraine. And the idea that we would give Ukraine material that is fundamentally different from what is already going there would have the prospect of breaking NATO and breaking the European Union and the rest of the world… I spent several hundred of hours face to face with our European allies and the heads of state of these countries, and explaining why it was extremely in their interest that they continue to support Ukraine… They understand this perfectly, but they are not looking not to go to war with Russia. They are not looking for a Third World War. » 

Biden realized at that time that " I've probably already said too much and abruptly ended the press conference. He probably realized he was dwelling on the fragility of Western unity. 

The fact is that Western commentators largely forget that Russia's central agenda is not territorial conquest – just as Ukraine is vital to Russian interests – but NATO expansion. And that hasn't changed. 

From time to time, President Putin returns to the fundamental theme that the United States constantly sought to weaken and dismember Russia.  

Just last Wednesday, Putin invoked the Chechnya war in the 1990s — “ the use of international terrorists in the Caucasus, to finish off Russia and divide the Russian Federation… They [the United States] claimed to condemn al-Qaeda and other criminals, yet they considered their use in the territory of Russia as acceptable and provided them with all kinds of assistance, including material, informational, political and all other support, including military, to encourage them to continue to fight against Russia. »

Putin has a phenomenal memory and is said to have hinted at Biden's cautious choice of William Burns as head of the CIA. Burns was the Moscow embassy contact person for Chechnya in the 1990s! Putin has now ordered a nationwide campaign to root out the vast tentacles that US intelligence has planted on Russian soil for internal subversion. Carnegie, once headed by Burns, has since closed its Moscow office, and Russian staff have fled west! 

The leitmotif of the extended meeting of the Council of the Ministry of Defense in Moscow on Wednesday, at which Putin addressed, was the profound reality that Russia's confrontation with the United States will not end with the war in Ukraine. Putin urged senior Russian brass to "carefully analyze" the lessons of the Ukrainian and Syrian conflicts. 

Above all, Putin said: We will continue to maintain and improve the combat readiness of the nuclear triad. This is the main guarantee that our sovereignty and territorial integrity, strategic parity and the general balance of forces in the world are preserved.. "

This year, the level of modern armaments in the strategic nuclear forces has already exceeded 91%. We continue to rearm the regiments of our strategic missile forces with modern missile systems with Avangard hypersonic warheads.

Likewise, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu offers during Wednesday's meeting a military reinforcement " to strengthen Russia's security ", especially : 

• Creation of a corresponding group of forces in northwestern Russia to counter the enthronement of Finland and Sweden as NATO members; 
• Creation of two new motorized infantry divisions in the regions of Kherson and Zaporozhya, as well as an army corps in Karelia, facing the Finnish border; 
• Modernization of 7 motorized infantry brigades into motorized infantry divisions in the Western, Central and Eastern military districts and in the Northern Fleet; 
• Added two more Air Assault Divisions to the Airborne Forces;
• Provision of a composite aviation division and an army aviation brigade with 80 to 100 helicopter gunships within each combined arms army (tanks); 
• Creation of 3 additional air division commands, eight bomber aviation regiments, one fighter aviation regiment and six army aviation brigades; 
• Creation of 5 district artillery divisions, as well as super heavy artillery brigades for the constitution of artillery reserves along the so-called strategic axis; 
• Creation of 5 naval infantry brigades for the coastal troops of the Navy on the basis of the existing naval infantry brigades; 
• Increase in the size of the armed forces to 1,5 million servicemen, including 695,000 people under contract.

Putin summed up: We won't repeat the mistakes of the past… We won't militarize our country or militarize the economy… and we won't do things we don't really need, to the detriment of our people and the economy, the social sphere. We will improve the Russian Armed Forces and the entire military component. We will do this calmly, steadily and consistently, without haste ». 

If the neoconservatives in control of the Beltway wanted an arms race, they have it now. The paradox, however, is that this is going to be different from the bipolar arms race of the Cold War era. 

If the American intention was to weaken Russia before confronting China, things don't work that way. Instead, the United States locks itself into a confrontation with Russia and the Ties between the two great powers are at a breaking point. 

Russia expects the United States to reverse NATO expansion, as promised to Soviet leaders in 1989. 

The neoconservatives expected a “win-win” in Ukraine: Russian defeat and a shameful end to Putin's presidency. 

A weakened Russia, as in the 1990s, in search of a new beginning; consolidation of Western unity under a triumphant America; a massive boost in the coming struggle with China for supremacy in the world order; and a new American century under " rules-based world order ». 

But instead it turns out to be a zugzwang classic in the end game – to borrow from German chess literature – where the United States is forced to make a move on Ukraine, but whatever move it makes will only make it worse for their geopolitical position. 

Biden understood that Russia cannot be defeated in Ukraine; he also understood the Russian people are not in the mood for an uprising either. 

Putin's popularity skyrockets as Russian goals in Ukraine are gradually realized. So Biden may have a vague sense that Russia doesn't exactly see things in Ukraine as a binary of win and lose, but is preparing for the long haul to sort out NATO once and for all.. 

The transformation of Belarus into a “nuclear-capable” state carries a profound message from Moscow to Brussels and Washington. Biden can't miss it. (See my blog “ NATO's nuclear compass rendered unusable » Indian Punchline, December 21, 2022)

Logically, the option open to the United States at this stage would be to disengage. 

But this becomes an abject admission of defeat and will spell the end of NATO, and Washington's transatlantic leadership will be kaput. And, even worse, the great powers of Western Europe – Germany, France and Italy – could start looking for a modus vivendi with Russia. Above all, how can NATO survive without an “enemy”?

Obviously, neither the United States nor its allies are capable of waging a continental war. But even if they are, what about the emerging scenario in Asia-Pacific, where the “limitless” partnership between China and Russia added an intriguing layer to geopolitics?

The Beltway neocons bit off more than they could chew. Their latest card will be to push for direct US military intervention in the Ukrainian war under the banner of a “coalition of the willing”. 

MK Bhadrakumar

source: Indian Punchline via Bruno Bertez

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A EUROPEAN WAR AGAINST RUSSIA WOULD BE THE ERADICATION OF EUROPE.... APART FROM A FEW IMBECILES IN BRUSSELS AND AN IGNORANT PUBLIC, MOST CLEVER PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THIS.... 

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The EU’s sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine conflict have been a complete failure, Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt said on Monday. He added that the EU was only “rewarding” Russia by increasing imports from the country.

Writing on Twitter, Verhofstadt, who served as Belgian prime minister from 1999 to 2008 and has been an MEP since 2009, claimed that the effect of the EU’s nine sanctions packages on Moscow “is less than 0.”

The former PM said that the bloc’s attempts to punish Russia have achieved the opposite result. “We are rewarding Russia for its war against us!” 

Verhofstadt also posted a chart titled ‘Still Filling Putin’s Coffers’, showing Russia-EU trade from February to August 2022. The graphic, which cites Eurostat data, shows that most EU member states, including Germany, France, Italy, and Poland, significantly increased imports from Russia. In total, only seven EU members have bought less from the country.

Following the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the EU imposed unprecedented sanctions on Moscow, targeting entire sectors of the economy. In December, the bloc, along with the G7 countries and Australia, introduced a price cap on Russian seaborne oil, set at $60 per barrel. In response, last week, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree banning the supply of oil and petroleum products from Russia to countries which apply these restrictions.

The sanctions on Russia have exacerbated the bloc’s energy crisis, causing fuel prices and the cost of living to soar. This has prompted protests against the sanctions policy in several EU countries. In December, a demonstration organized by the right-wing Patriots party took place in Paris against the government’s stance on Russia and France’s membership in NATO.

In his New Year’s address, Putin claimed that the West’s “full-blown sanctions war” against Moscow has largely failed to undermine the Russian economy.

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https://www.rt.com/news/569373-russia-sanctions-zero-effect/

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GUSNOTE: THE ATTITUDE OF EUROPE VERSUS RUSSIA HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MORALITY, BUT EVERYTHING TO DO WITH DEMANDS FROM THE CORRUPT AMERICAN EMPIRE.

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