NP: NATO expansion (was: putin)

[Thomas Eckhardt]

Am 26.09.2014 23:29, schrieb alice malice:>

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/09/russia-west-united-states-past-future-conflict/380533/

A sensible and balanced article, well worth reading:

'(...) in modern history, no U.S. administration has proved more inept 
at dealing with Russia. This ineptitude, combined with the relative 
weakness of Russia’s conventional armed forces, a still-lethal nuclear 
arsenal, a military doctrine that foresees the use of battlefield 
nuclear weapons to de-escalate conflicts, to say nothing of a wounded 
psyche, make this a perilous moment in history. We are being marched off 
to a new war—a cold one for now—with no idea of what the outcome will 
be. We need to demand of the Obama administration: “Tell us how this ends.”'


Also of interest (although the author of the piece does let the EU and 
Germany off the hook far too lightly in my view and I do certainly not 
agree with all of his conclusions):

http://www.salon.com/2014/09/09/a_steady_flow_of_stupidity_reality_in_ukraine_and_obama_and_the_new_york_times_bizarro_parallel_universe/ 


"The reality composed over the past six months opens onto a new era of 
miserable animosity in our relations with Russia. Pointless, fruitless, 
expensive, diminishing us and ennobling no one."

and

"Putin’s record on other matters is beside the point; if you bought into 
these past months of juvenile ad hominem smear, you had better study up 
on the powers of propaganda and psychological manipulation and think of 
yourself as a victim."

Yep.


Our politicians and media are acting like they're suffering from 
amnesia. All of this was predicted. As mentioned in the article in "The 
Atlantic", George Kennan, one of the architects of U.S. Cold War policy 
towards the Soviet Union, and not a foreign policy dove by any stretch 
of the lexicon, saw it coming in 1998 and didn't like it one bit:

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/02/opinion/foreign-affairs-now-a-word-from-x.html

This is highly recommended reading, despite coming from the unsufferable 
Thomas Friedman.


Here is a cable from the U.S. embassy in Moscow to the Joint Chiefs of 
Staff from February 2008:

NYET MEANS NYET: RUSSIA'S NATO ENLARGEMENT REDLINES

"Ukraine and Georgia's NATO aspirations not only touch a raw nerve in 
Russia, they engender serious concerns about the consequences for 
stability in the region. Not only does Russia perceive encirclement, and 
efforts to undermine Russia's influence in the region, but it also fears 
unpredictable and uncontrolled consequences which would seriously affect 
Russian security interests. Experts tell us that Russia is particularly 
worried that the strong divisions in Ukraine over NATO membership, with 
much of the ethnic-Russian community against membership, could lead to a 
major split, involving violence or at worst, civil war. In that 
eventuality, Russia would have to decide whether to intervene; a 
decision Russia does not want to have to face. "

https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08MOSCOW265_a.html


The West (I'll continue to use this broad brush for the time being) knew 
this. It went ahead with destabilising Ukraine anyway, assisted by the 
well-meaning protestors on Maidan catered for by Nuland, McCain, 
Steinmeier and so on (in itself a breach of international law, namely 
that one shouldn't meddle in another nation's internal affairs) and the 
neo-Nazis who hijacked the movement and provided the muscle that was -- 
combined with the sniper attacks on peaceful protestors and police alike 
that were attributed to Yanukovich's forces but actually came from the 
headquarters of the Maidanists, and that no one wants to have seriously 
investigated except Russia, same as the massacre in Odessa or the 
downing of MH 17 -- necessary to oust democratically elected, if 
certainly corrupt, Yanukovich.


The coup/revolution in Ukraine went against vital Russian interests and, 
of course, Russia reacted. Again: This was not only entirely 
predictable, it had been predicted. The Russians had told it to everyone 
who would listen.


Now the West is shocked -- shocked, I say! -- that Russia took Crimea 
(without bloodshed and with the support of a huge majority of the 
population, I add) and that it quite probably lends a hand to the 
separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Now thousands, if not ten thousands, of people are dead, the future of 
Ukraine is looking grimmer by the minute and nuclear war has once again 
become a possibility.

Well done, I say.

Thomas

P.S. Obama listing the greatest threats to the world today as Ebola, 
Russia, ISIS in his U.N. speech does not bode well.
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l