Links in bold.
About Counterpunch: I’m not a fan of that site but I get my information where I find it, whether it’s from the World Socialist Website, or The American Conservative. I go by writers, not websites, or ideology.
Susan Taylor, daughter of Nuremberg prosecutor Telford Taylor, has written several impassioned, superb articles about Ukraine for Counterpunch.
In March 2022 (that is, a world ago), Ms. Taylor refers to the horrific wave of Russophobia that swept the Cultural-Industrial Complex back in March. (Note: must rant about this; it’s been on my list since, well, March.)
There is the United States, powerful and calculating, with its strategy for world domination formulated in the 90s, the malevolent and infamous PNAC, the Plan for a New American Century.
This is a comprehensive summary of the run-up to Russian encirclement, which I’ve tried to express, although not as eloquently, here and here.
The spectacle of military installations bristling with missiles in an ominously strengthening cordon surrounding Russia, and the tramp of thousands of boots, as NATO conducted military exercises on its borders (estimated at about four simulated battles a month, with Russia in the role of enemy force) finally woke up Russia’s historical memory of invasion.
Americans: I ask you how in God’s name would you feel if nukes were pointed at the “Homeland” from Canada and Mexico?
A list of all the treaties we’ve broken:
Over the years, in preparation for furthering this dominance, in spite of entreaties from the UN, allies, and Russia and China themselves, the US has withdrawn from multiple treaties: ABM(2002),Iran Nuclear Deal (2018), UN Human Rights Council(2018), INF (2019), the Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty (2020), and the Open Skies Treaty (2020).
What’s the point of signing a contract when one of the parties just breaks it?
And this, presciently written in July 2020:
The messy, scrappy, unsatisfying, asymmetrical wars in the devastated Middle East have lost the interest of our warriors, as two worthier adversaries, China and Russia, have been conjured up, and now grip their attention. Although our budget comprises over 40% of the world’s military spending, and China and Russia spend respectively one-sixth and one-tenth of ours, the Pentagon refers to them generously as “near-peers”.
China and Russia are not eager for these roles. We have had to torment them, like reluctant bulls in a bullfight. We sail our warships within twelve miles of their shores, conducting vast military exercises in the South China Sea, the Black Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Japan Sea.
One slight disagreement. I may be misunderstanding Ms. Taylor but “near-peers” isn’t generous, it’s self-deluding ad-speak, the only language our generals are capable of. The stuffing, churning, and vomiting of scarce resources into our Military Industrial Complex is epic, but I believe that China and Russia could hand us our asses in a conventional war. They are probably ahead of us in weapons development, they have the motivation, and our military leadership is trash.
The point is: we were itching for a war with Russia. We provoked it. We wanted it. We want “regime change” (our reflex when anyone dares to differ from us), break the Russian Federation into malleable pieces, and steal its resources. That this is insane is beside the point. Crazy people do crazy things. Look at this face.
I enjoy your writing 👍