By D J Halake
The US has picked the wrong fight with Russia.
Kievan Rus (aka Ukraine) is as Russian as Wessex is English.
The Western press and media have to toe the editorial and government line peddled by the US and UK, just as with Iraq and those non-existent weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). It is the US drive to expand eastwards into the former Soviet Union – and grab the wealth that Ukraine and Russia itself possess – that lies at the root of the crisis in the former Soviet Union.
After the recent CiA-assisted coup, the Ukraine is now being governed by an un-elected, un-accountable junta that was put into power through acts of violence with the help of America and Europe. So much for “democracy”. America has no wish to come to an agreement with Russia to create a federal and democratic Ukraine – because it has cost American tax-payers billions of dollars and ten years planning to get to the point where they were able to have a coup against the pro-Russian elected president. They want their billions back with a huge profit – from the industrial wealth of the Pro-Russian Eastern Ukraine. Federalism will prise Eastern Ukranie’s industrial wealth from America’s grasp.
America desperately wants to succeed in Ukraine. But all they are going to do is create chaos and civil war in Ukraine. You only have to look back at the last twenty years of the failed American foreign policy to see how this is going to turn out. Remember Libya, Egypt, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria? But this is what happens when Empires are in decline. Like a family head who is unable to accept that he is old and frail and his family has grown-up and it is time to relinquish responsibility, the Empire lashes left, right and centre at all perceived threats. But the threats and ensuing violence are not backed by real strength and the result is destruction and chaos – as America’s actions over the past two decades show. In Ukraine all we have seen is an effective annexation of Crimea by Russia overnight – and now a desperate attempt by the US and Europe to save the rest of Ukraine, while Putin sits there with a smug smile on his face playing the long game (“Putin is playing marbles while we are playing marbles”, said the exasperated US Senator on Fox News)
America has as much interest in the welfare of the Ukrainian people as they have in the welfare of those million starving Syrian refugees. Just as in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, American policy is driven by a much bigger picture – not mere pictures of bombed and starving populations.
The US economy is in decline. The US is $50,000,000,000,000 in debt (yes, that is a 5 followed by 13 zeros – which reads Fifty Trillion!). Now Russia and china have reached an agreement to sell goods in their own currencies which would lead to the downgrading of the dollar as the reserve currency on a massive scale. Boy, things are going to get very ugly indeed. Make no mistake, this is all about saving the mighty dollar. We in UK and Europe have a mutual defence agreement which ties us into all of America’s strategies, no matter how crazy they are.
I recall watching the changing of leadership in a Lion Pride in the Serengeti – that is when the old Lion King is deposed and a new head of the pride imposes himself (yes, it is always a coup amongst the lions too – no elections, just one-lion one-roar!). The two young bucks determined to take over the Lion Pride (and all the ladies and daily free buffets that come with being Pride President!) saunter purposely out of the Savanna Bush towards the peaceful Pride. The old Lion King gets up to face his challengers – while his ladies take no part in the fight. He is alone. But he has no option other than to fight the two young bucks. His dinner and his ladies and his kids lives depend on it – the bucks will take his ladies and kill his kids if they win.
Similarly, it is the weakness of a declining US Empire that is making the world such a dangerous place. The US is now faced by two hostile young bucks, Russia and China. Both are nuclear powers who cannot be threatened with an invasion. Both are also members of the UN Security Council who cannot be threatened with a hostile motion. Russia sits on the world’s biggest resources – and China sits on the world’s biggest economy (US owes much of that 5 trillion debt to China). And the USA’s “ladies”, UK and EU, do not really feel like taking on a resurgent Russia for the sake of their aging Lion King – they want new blood and new genes and are looking to Eastern Europe. And so the US fights alone everywhere, misguided and unguided, while the poor family members look on in despair, unable to say to their mad Uncle Sam what they really think.
Staying a winner means, Uncle Sam, choosing your fights carefully, but, paradoxically, too many winnings make one less able to choose one’s fight carefully – a kind of Catch-22.
It is Easter, so let us pray.
D J Halake,
London, UK.
PS: The late Thomas Sankara could tell the US what to do with that $50,000,000,000,000 debt – just say “Can’t Pay Won’t Pay”. But Uncle Sam can’t say that, because he lives on the debt-interest repayments into which he has enslaved the “Free World” through the World Bank and the IMF. If Uncle Sam were to say “Can’t Pay Won’t Pay”, that would be the end of Uncle Sam’s “World” Bank and IMF because the rest of the world would also say “Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay”. So, Uncle Sam, China has you by the gooly – so keep on paying! And they have you by the other gooly too – they have nuclear weapons and so are un-invade-able too: just as Russia is un-invade-able too.
A beautiful piece indeed.
It is sad to see how Russia is continuously and unjustifiably being demonized by most of the major western media houses. I had said it on my Facebook page during the height of the maidan demos that Russia will never allow Ukraine to join the EU in whole….these are two Countries that have too much in common, not to talk about uncomfortable encroaching into Russia’s backyard.
Let nobody be in doubt, the crowning of these ‘clowns’ as the new rulers in Kiev serves as a big mockery to democracy. This action by the EU and US (who are themselves suspicious of each other following the wire-tapping revelations and US Diplomats’ f-word insults at the EU) was nothing more than geo-political maneuvering to gain military dominance over Russia and the well calculated plan of raping Ukraine’s natural resources.
Russia is not docile and is well positioned to see this through! That Putin guy is a master ‘game planner’.
Should EU even decide to do away with Russian Gas now, it will result into additional ‘continental financial self-harm’ of USD5bn!!!! It is no rocket science to see how weak most economies within the EU are, more so if they had to fall on this sharp financial sword!!!
For far too long the West had played the same game with two different sets of rules (e.g. clowns in Kiev who came to power through demos are called heroes/patriots while those currently demonstrating in the East/Southeast are labelled traitors/criminals and even fascists. This blatant hypocrisy had played well into the hands of resurgent Russia and China.
The world is treading on dangerous lines, i don’t want to be around to witness an Armageddon.
I sincerely hope that lame duck Obama comes to his senses.