Posted on 01/29/2022 6:44:02 AM PST by Enlightened1
A remarkable failure of meaningful reporting about the massive military buildup in and around Ukraine in recent weeks results in most Americans having no idea how close we have been brought to armed conflict with the Russian Federation.
Even those Americans who have sought out news about Ukraine can do little more than watch from the sidelines as those currently leading our nation inch us toward a potential catastrophe.
Although going to war is the most consequential decision that a nation can make, the people are rarely consulted by the elites, who are largely immunized from the consequences of their actions. If the people were actually consulted, wars would be rare events indeed.
The rhetoric about the Ukraine conflict is out of control. President Joe Biden threatens that Russia would “pay a heavy price” for any incursion into Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warns of “massive consequences” for Russia. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, “We don’t rule out first-use nuclear action.” First-use nuclear action rhetoric is not only extremely dangerous, but these types of nonsensical remarks also threaten the stability of the entire world.
Policy wonks throw around the phrase “failure of imagination” when it comes to intelligence community failures. The entire Biden administration, along with the neocon defense and foreign policy thinks tanks in Washington, are failing to imagine the consequences of the dangers lurking in Eastern Europe currently.
War is not fair and is not meant to be. In fact, harking back to the failures in Afghanistan, during a recent State Department call, the following was stated: “Given that the President has said military action by Russia could come at any time. The US Government will not be in a position to evacuate US Citizens. So, US citizens, currently present in Ukraine should plan accordingly.” A stunning statement of failure!
We are again living out the maxim that “truth is the first casualty of war.” If the people are to have a chance to stop a conflagration, the first step is to resist the propaganda barrage from the establishment media and learn the truth. Only then we can demand our government stop beating the drums of war.
The Biden administration wants us to believe that Russia is seeking to regain its former greatness by overthrowing the government of Volodymyr Zelensky and replacing it with a puppet government that it would control. The neocon-dominated establishment in both of our political parties wants us to believe that the Soviet Union still exists and is inherently expansionary.
Just as the nation was sold a hoax about Russia having elected President Donald Trump in 2016, another illusion now is being sold. Do not believe a word of it!
Russia has explained repeatedly it has one core concern — Ukraine being admitted into the NATO military alliance.
Responding to the buildup, a Russian official explained in a Tass article: “We are alarmed by reports some member-countries of NATO have stepped up the deployment of lethal weapons and military personnel to Ukraine.”
And if Ukraine were admitted into NATO, with its strategic location, Russian knows that NATO and the U.S. could place missiles literally on its border, creating an existential threat to Russia.
While Russia’s concern is obvious, the Biden administration has never even tried to explain the existence of any vital national interest of the United States in Ukraine that could justify hostilities. For his part, Blinken has asserted the principle that Ukraine must have the right to join NATO and claimed that principle could never be compromised. The Russians understand that would likely result in nuclear weapons being placed at its doorstep — closer to Russia than Cuba is to the United States.
It should be obvious that there is no equivalency of interest here. None. NATO was established to preserve the peace, and it would be a tragedy of immense proportions if its threatened Eastern expansion would become the principal cause of a devastating war.
Let’s put the current conflict into a historical context. If President John Kennedy was justified in risking war to prevent nuclear missiles from being installed in Cuba in 1961, then why exactly is Russian President Vladimir Putin being reckless in risking war to prevent NATO weapons from being installed in Ukraine in 2022? Would any great nation allow the development of such a threat on its border?
The world could have been thrown into war in October 1962 if Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev had not been willing to take into consideration the non-negotiable position that Kennedy was taking. Kennedy promised not to invade Cuba, and he later reciprocated Khrushchev’s action by removing U.S. Jupiter missiles from Turkey. Both great nations acted responsibly, and the Cuban Missile Crisis ended peacefully.
The events of October 1962 remind us that there are great principles that govern how great nations must treat each other to preserve the peace.
Part of my training as an Army officer was to study The Law of Nations by Emer de Vattel. This historic work was instrumental in guiding the Founders of our nation as it declared independence from England and charted our own course in the world. It takes principles of natural law and applies those principles to nations. It is a remarkable book.
Two of the principles set out in that book are of critical importance right now, and our foreign policy masters need reminding from time to time of these principles.
First, “Every nation … has … a right to prevent other nations from obstructing her preservation … that is, to preserve herself from all injuries … called the right to security … It is safest to prevent the evil, when it can be prevented.” This principle is the basis for the Monroe Doctrine and was exactly Kennedy’s response to the threat of Russian missiles in Cuba.
Second, “Every nation is obliged to cultivate the friendship of other nations, and carefully to avoid whatever might kindle their enmity against her.” De Vattel then added: “Wise and prudent nations often pursue this line of conduct from views of direct and present interest; a more noble, more general, and less direct interest, is too rarely the motive of politicians.”
All parties involved must seek to re-identify and apply those natural law principles to the current crisis before the world slips off into the abyss. While politicians generally double down on overblown rhetoric, there is still hope statesmen will arise, act responsibly and preserve the peace.
The United States and the Russian Federation are great nations. However, these great nations each have thousands of nuclear weapons that could kill hundreds of millions.
With those as the stakes, it would be wise for Biden and Blinken to listen to what Putin is saying and consider why Russia believes its vital national interests are at risk. If the United States has no comparable national interest to that of Russia, that should be the basis for de-escalation.
My strongest recommendation for consideration by those deciding the potential fate of humanity is to listen again to something George Washington, our first president, said about politics and war: “[B]e honest and just ourselves and to exact it from others, meddling as little as possible in their affairs where our own are not involved. If this maxim was generally adopted, wars would cease …”
I am not pollyannish that war will forever cease; I am by nature a warrior. I do believe, however, from time to time, to be a nation at peace, we must return to our faith and our forefathers to remind ourselves what the real consequences of wars cause.
War is not fair — it is not meant to be — and a looming war with Russia would be anything but fair. Take that to the bank, if you can find one after a nuclear exchange.
Let the Europeans handle it......we have no dog in this fight!
Yes that’s what Gen. Flynn says. It’s a European issue.
Wow!! Hundreds of millions. That’s a lot.
We have a SecDef who was a director of a merchant of death company. "We" lost Afghanistan, but he personally made millions in the "private" sector off of it. That is just one example.
The US military exists as a money maker for defense contractors, as well as being a globalist colonial police force. They have not fought for anybody's freedom since the end of the Cold War. That is to say within the lifetime of all currently depolyed.
Problem is nobody in Europe wants Ukraine nursing off Nato privileges....it was and is basically a welfare state the IMF and a host of others have to continuously prop up....and when they start backing off doing that then of course they cry Russia Russia and the cash flow starts again.
“Biden Might Get Hundreds Of Millions Killed Over Ukraine”
This is the whole idea...
When Russia was communist and hence outlawed all the freedoms most of us take for granted, Western Leftists swooned. Now that they’re unabashedly Christian and anti-woke, the Left is ready to launch total war against them.
The vile goal of the neocon globalists is to destroy nationalism. They are attempting and some say succeeding in dismantling the American nation. The Russian Federation and parts of eastern Europe remain stubbornly nationalistic. Terrible destructive wars are a means of demoralizing people and allowing like minded globalist people to seize power in devastated, formerly nationalistic countries in the name of “peace”. The globalist realize that their worldwide goals cannot be achieved quickly. Their first goal is to denationalize Europe, including Russia and North America. If it cannot be done with persuasion, stealing elections then war becomes very necessary. Once the most productive countries are under globalist control, the rest of the task will be much easier.
If Ukraine wanted to be a NATO member, why hasn’t it already happened?
Bill Clinton once lamented that he never had the chance to be a “war president”. His thinking was that if you want to be a great president, you’ve got a run a major war.
This kind of sick thinking infects Democrat and Republican presidents alike. Trump was a notable exception.
Now, is Biden more like Clinton, or more like Trump? The answer is obvious.
You're five countries too late. Five NATO members are "literally" on Russia's border - Norway, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. And a sixth one has sneaked an island to within three miles of Russia.
“Let the Europeans handle it......we have no dog in this fight!”
Agreed and partially done.
Germany has told Russia that if they invade Ukraine, the Nord Streamn 2 pipeline will not be used.
I love it. If Trump were President, we would get nearly 90% of all the Liquid Natural Gas shipments. With Biden they can probably get 65%.
The US wins, more jobs, and the Russia gambit backfires.
Move most of the State Department to the Ukraine border for quick diplomacy.
Let the Europeans handle it.
Unfortunately the Europeans do not vote in our elections. Those elections have consequences like having the dope
looking into his imagined history and seeing the image he conjured up as Corn Pop. My guess is during the Zalensky call, he had a flash back to his alleged discussion about firing the prosecutor or they get no aid. I’d love to see that transcript, unedited.
A great leader has the ability to assess the info he is getting and disagreeing with his advisors if he believes something is not as it is being presented. This clown is content to let those who stole the election run the country as long as he can cite being president.
It might not be such a bad thing that patriots in the military who refused the clot shot are being discharged before the Vegetable starts a war.
You’re right; this is not our problem. When the USSR broke up the former republics and Warsaw Pact satellites faced a future where they had to undo their centrally-planned socialist economies and move to market economies; most just bit the bullet, endured some rough years, and today are better off for it. Ukraine, on the other hand, simply raised foreign cash reserves to cover their spending by selling weapons.
In hindsight, that wasn’t very smart.
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