OMNI
Ukraine War ANTHOLOGIES #35
June 1, 2025
Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and
Ecology
What’s at stake in all of OMNI’s anthologies?
"It is the fundamental duty of
the citizen to resist and restrain the violence of the state. It is cheap and
easy to deplore the crimes of others, while dismissing or justifying our own.
An honest person will choose a different course." Noam Chomsky
Beginning in 2014, with the intention to follow the Motto of the University of
Arkansas—To advance the truth--, I began gathering into anthologies (at first labeled
newsletters) correctives to the official justifications for the Ukraine
War.
OMNI RUSSIA NEWSLETTER #1 (RUSSIA AND
UKRAINE). March 23, 2014. http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2014/03/russia-ukraine-newsletter-1.html
OMNI RUSSIA NEWSLETTER #2 (AND UKRAINE).
April 10, 2014. http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2014/04/russiaukraine-newsletter-2.html
That is, a decade
of conflict between Russian-speaking eastern and western Ukraine led to civil war
in 2014 following a coup overthrowing the elected president. Russia invaded Ukraine eight years later in
February 24, 2022. This is the date that
Ukraine, the US, and NATO use to date the beginning of the war to justify blaming
Russia, and their combined propaganda machine so far has been able to convince
many people of the falsehoods.
If you ask, but
what can I do? If you believe that knowledge is essential to rational
decision-making thenforward my anthologies not just to friends but to
organizations that ought to be well-informed, and ask them to try to influence
national policy to follow truth and peace.
Or select one of the best essays to forward (I usually place the more
comprehensive essays near the beginning of each anthology). As the UN Charter teaches, war is an
unimaginable horror, the worst atrocity, but we must try to imagine it if we
are to leave our copium sandboxes.
CONTENTS Ukraine
War Anthology #35 (Fifty articles and books demonstrate the copiousness of opposition to US
empire, over 500 in the 35 anthologies, in reality a small sample )
WAR
Gordon Hahn. Ukraine Over the Edge. 2018.
Chris Hedges.
“Chris
Hedges Report.” March 11, 2023.
VIDEO. “
Professor Stephen F. Cohen. “Ukraine vs.
Russia – History & Causes.” 2024.
Martin Sieff: “How the US and Its Allies Created the
Ukraine Crisis…” 2024.
Wolfgang Munchau. “Europe’s
reckless bid for victory.” 2025.
Gordon hahn. “A River
Runs Through the End of the NATO-Russia Ukrainian War.”
Gordon Hahn. “The Empty Tank: Is Demise of the Ukrainian
Army Near?”
PEACE
Paul Robinson. “
Ending the War in Ukraine: Analysis and Recommendations.”
Sachs and Ritter. “Peace
Negotiations, What We Need to Know.”
Jeffrey
Sachs. “Negotiating Lasting Peace in Ukraine.”
Scott Ritter. “The Odessa
Moment.”
Prabir Purkayastha. “Biggest threat from Ukraine war: Last
Nuclear Agreement suspended.”
Joe Lauria. “Trump
Says No To ‘Foolish’ US Missile Attacks On Russia”
Gordon Hahn. “First
steps toward ending the war in Ukraine.
Axios. “Trump
says he wants to meet Putin soon to discuss a Ukraine peace deal.”
Ed Lozansky.
“Trump’s Mixed Feelings Team.”
Insider: “Trump’s advisors are laying out plans on how
to end the war in Ukraine.”
VIDEO. Col. Douglas Macgregor. “We Have No Leverage.”
Vijay Prashad. “All
wars end in negotiations. So will the war in Ukraine.”
Ted Galen Carpenter.
“Ending the Second Cold War.”
Joe Lauria. “On
Neo-Nazi Influence In Ukraine.”
Ilya Tsukanov. “Odessa
Massacre 10 Years On: Neo-Nazis Drowned The City In Blood.”
Tara
Copp. “US to Send Near-$1B in Arms
for Long-term Use to Ukraine.”
James W. Carden. “How the Neocons Won the Transition.”
Anatol Lieven. “Trump’s
threat to walk away leaves Ukraine exposed.”
Robert Skidelsky.
“Why Is the UK So Invested in the Russia–Ukraine War?”
VIDEO: Nicolai N. Petro. “The future of Russia and Ukraine as the war
draws to a close…”
James W. Carden.
“A Question of Incitement? “
Ron Ridenour. “Journalist Randy Credico
has been placed on Ukrainian terrorist ‘kill-list’ via CIA project website.”
Atilio Borón. “Habermas and the war in Ukraine.”
Uriel
Araujo. “Popular
Revolt Looming in Ukraine? Zelensky’s Battle Over Death Numbers Speaks for
Itself.”
Joe Lauria. “US
Bill Would Reverse ATACMS Order.”
Moon of Alabama.
“To
The Last Ukrainian.”
VIDEO. “State
Department Asked About Any Potential Talks To End War In Ukraine Before Biden
Leaves Office.”
Andrew Napolitano. “A
Brief History of Free Speech in America.”
Christopher Caldwell.
“The Imminent Russia-US War.”
Robert Hackett. “The Economist and the War in Ukraine.”
Ted Snider. “The
Cost of Kursk.”
George Beebe. “The
Hazards of Ukraine’s Incursion into Russia.”
Yuri Pushchaev: The Philosophy of the Ones Who Left: An
Experiment in Intellectual Autism.
“CHRIS HEDGES INTERVIEWS SEYMOUR HERSH ON NORD STREAM
PIPELINES AND US PRESS FAILURE.”
Max Blumenthal.
“New evidence from Nord Stream underwater expedition
refutes official claims.”
David Starr. “ Profiting Off of Death and Suffering
is the American Way.”
Moon of Alabama. “'Western'
Media
Spread Copium To Prolong The War In Ukraine”
The
Chris Hedges Report . "They
Lied About Afghanistan. They Lied About Iraq. And They Are Lying About
Ukraine."
Ambrose Sylvan. “Western media
has falsely presented the Donbas’ ‘Drive For Autonomy’ as being instigated by
Moscow.”
Jessica Corbett.
“Tensions in Ukraine Show Why 'Nuclear Power Is the
Most Dangerous Way to Boil Water'.”
Reuters. “Putin
wants to restart nuclear arms cuts talks, Kremlin says after Trump
comment.”
TEXTS
HISTORY
THE WAR CONTINUES: When,
Where, and Why Did It Begin?
Gordon Hahn. Ukraine Over the Edge. McFarland, 2018. 368.
Publisher’s
description: The Ukrainian crisis that
dominated headlines in fall 2013 was decades in the making. Two great
schisms shaped events: one within Ukraine, its western and southeastern
parts divided along cultural and political lines; the other was driven by
geopolitical factors. Competition between Russia and the West exacerbated
Ukraine’s divisions. This study focuses on the historical background and
complex causality of the crisis, from the rise of mass demonstrations on
Kiev’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) to the making of the
post-revolt regime. In the context of a “new cold war,” the author sheds light
on the role of radical Ukrainian nationalists and neofascists in the February
2014 snipers’ massacre, the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych, and Russia’s
seizure of Crimea and involvement in the civil war in the eastern region of
Donbass.
“Ukraine’s 2013-2014 revolution, its civil war, and
Russia’s annexation of the Crimea have been succeeded by newer crises, but
political analyst Hahn uses detailed reportage and geopolitical theory to argue
for their long-term significance, presenting Ukraine as a troubling turning
point in Russo-American relations and a case study of how democratization
efforts can go awry…. with Russia atop American headlines to an extent not seen
since the end of the Cold War, [this book] will be a strong addition to global
studies collections”—Booklist
“It was not only Ukraine that went over the edge in 2014,
but the whole European security system disintegrated, while a ‘new cold war’
chills relations between the great powers. In this masterful study, Gordon Hahn
examines how Ukraine’s internal divisions combined with external lines of
fragmentation to create an explosive mix, which in turn intensified domestic
conflicts. The result is an internationalized civil conflict, with catastrophic
consequences for Ukraine and the world. Hahn is one of the few scholars with
the knowledge and discernment to make sense of it all. His impressively
well-researched and well-written book is essential reading.”—Richard Sakwa,
University of Kent
“This impressively researched and strongly argued book is
an essential corrective to the myths that have been generated concerning the
crisis in Ukraine, and an essential warning against a continuation of the
frivolous and dangerous policies of regime change adopted by the West after the
end of the Cold War.”—Anatol Lieven, Professor, Georgetown University in Qatar
and author of Ukraine and Russia, A Fraternal Rivalry
“Ukraine Over the Edge is a rigorous analysis
of the cultural, historical, and intellectual origins of the Ukrainian crisis.
While stressing that blame for the latest phase of this crisis is shared all
around, Hahn traces its domestic origins to the militancy of the opposition to
president Yanukovych, and its international origins to NATO expansion, which he
regards as militarized democracy-promotion. The result is both a sophisticated,
multilevel analysis of how and why Ukraine emerged as the key hotspot in
East-West relations, and an indispensable guide for those wishing to understand
the origins of the New Cold War.”—Nicolai N. Petro, Silvia-Chandley Professor
of Peace Studies and Nonviolence, University of Rhode Island
[High praise for this apparently reliable
history, which I am late to anthologize.
-Dick]
“Chris
Hedges Report.” March 11, 2023.
Ukraine is a pawn for
militarists intent on degrading Russia and ultimately China in a self-defeating
quest to ensure U.S. global hegemony. The end of this war, like most proxy
wars, will be ugly.
There
are many ways for a state to project power and weaken adversaries, but proxy
wars are one of the most cynical. Proxy wars devour the countries they purport
to defend. They entice nations or insurgents to fight for geopolitical goals
that are ultimately not in their interest. The war in Ukraine has little to do
with Ukrainian freedom and a lot to do with degrading the Russian military and
weakening Vladimir Putin’s grip on power. And when Ukraine looks headed for
defeat, or the war reaches a stalemate, Ukraine will be sacrificed like many
other states, in what one of the founding members of the CIA, Miles Copeland
Jr., referred to
as the “Game of Nations” and “the amorality of power politics.”. . . . For
Hedges’ full analysis of proxy wars click on the title.
The
arming of Ukraine is not missionary work. It has nothing to do with liberty or
freedom. It is about weakening Russia. Take Russia out of the equation and
there would be little tangible support for Ukraine. There are other occupied
peoples, including the Palestinians, who have suffered as brutally and far
longer than Ukranians. But NATO is not arming Palestinians to fight against
their Israeli occupiers or holding them up as heroic freedom fighters. Our love
of freedom does not extend to Palestinians or the people of Yemen currently
being bombed with
British and American weapons, or the Kurds, Yazidis and Arabs resisting Turkey,
a longtime NATO member, in its occupation and drone war throughout
the north and east of Syria. Our love of freedom only extends to people who
serve our “national interest.”
There
will come a time when the Ukrainians, like the Kurds, will become expendable.
They will disappear, as many others before them have, from our national
discourse and our consciousness. They will nurse for generations their betrayal
and suffering. The American empire will move on to use others, perhaps the
“heroic” people of Taiwan, to further its futile quest for
global hegemony. China is the big prize for our Dr. Strangeloves. They will
pile up even more corpses and flirt with nuclear war to curtail China’s growing
economic and military power. This is an old and predictable game. It leaves in
its wake nations in ruins and millions of people dead and displaced. It fuels
the hubris and self-delusion of the mandarins in Washington who refuse to
accept the emergence of a multipolar world. If left unchecked, this “game of
nations” may get us all killed.
VIDEO. Professor Stephen F. Cohen. “Ukraine vs. Russia – History & Causes.” ACURA (Aug 30, 2024).
Professor Cohen’s thoughts on the early years of the Russia, Ukraine conflict.
Read in browser »
Martin Sieff: “How the US and Its
Allies Created the Ukraine Crisis…” Oct 31, 2024. ACURA
(11-1-24). ACURA’s mailing address
is: The American Committee
for US-Russia Accord, PO Box 2134, New York, NY 10025.
The culpability of the West in general and the
United States in particular for provoking and preserving the Ukraine war,
Europe’s most destructive conflict since the end of World War II, is clear,
documented, obvious and public. It is even admitted by several of the Western
leaders who actively collaborated in it.
Read in browser »
Wolfgang Munchau. “Europe’s reckless bid for victory.”
ACURA (Mar 06, 2025).
The absurdity of the European position was
perhaps best captured in its full hubris last year by the historian and writer
Anne Applebaum when she won a prestigious German peace prize. During her
acceptance speech, she maintained that victory was more important than peace,
asserting that the West’s ultimate goal should be regime change in […]
Read in
browser »
“A River Runs Through the End of the NATO-Russia Ukrainian War,” Parts 1
and 2 (Complete) by Gordon hahn. October 28, 2024. ACURA (11-1-24). A river runs through
Russian and, more recently, Ukrainian history. Ironically enough, the Dnieper
River that unites Russia and Ukraine in this and other ways – the river rises
in the Valdai Hills of Smolensk, Russia and runs through Belarus and Ukraine –
is now the focus of the greatest schism in the history of Russian-Ukrainian
relations. Russian forces appear impossible to stop and will arrive at the
Dnieper at some point along its snaking length no later than next year, with
Russian troops perhaps controlling the river’s and the country’s Left Bank by
then. Russia – as well as the West and whatever remains of Ukraine‘s Maidan
regime will then face some serious
decisions.
Gordon Hahn. “The
Empty Tank: Is Demise of the Ukrainian Army Near?” ACURA (Feb 03, 2025).
The collapse of Ukraine’s defense fronts along
all or nearly the entire line of combat – which stretches from Kherson just
north of Crimea to the east, then north through Donetsk to Kharkiv and Sumy –
appears imminent. Read in
browser »
PEACE
ENDING WARS: A Theory Applied to the Ukraine War
Paul Robinson. “ Ending the War in Ukraine: Analysis and
Recommendations.” ACURA (12-12-24).
Originally
published: Landmarks: A Journal of International Dialogue. Reaching a peace deal in Ukraine is not impossible, but it
will require many Western leaders to recalibrate their expectations.
The
war in Ukraine is nearing the end of its third year, but as yet there is no
indication of imminent peace. For the past three years, Western powers, led by
the United States of America, have sought a solution to the war by means of a
single strategy: supporting Ukraine and pressuring Russia. The aim has been peace
through victory. This strategy has failed. Probably over 200,000 Russian
and Ukrainian soldiers have been killed; possibly tens of thousands of
civilians have been killed also; and property worth tens of billions of dollars
has been destroyed. The time has come when the policy of peace through victory
needs to be replaced by a policy of peace, pure and simple.
The
return of Donald Trump to the US presidency in January 2025 offers an
opportunity to pursue such a policy. President Joe Biden has shown no interest
in mediating a peace process. Neither have any European leaders. Trump,
however, has indicated that he wishes to do so, and as a first step has
appointed General Keith Kellogg as his Special Envoy for Russia and Ukraine,
tasked specifically with finding a way to end the war.
In
this context, proposals for how to end the war in Ukraine have acquired
a new importance. Unfortunately, to date, many such proposals have been
divorced from any understanding of how in practice wars actually end. This
paper thus seeks to ground policy recommendations in studies of war
termination. To that purpose, it first analyzes war termination theories
and then applies those theories to the war in Ukraine.
The
paper examines the topic from the standpoint of what is most likely to produce
a lasting peace settlement. The rights and wrongs of the Ukrainian and
Russian causes are not the subject of concern. While it has been said that
“there is no peace without justice,” it might be more correct to say that
“there is no justice without peace.” The aim of the analysis is peace in the
negative sense of an absence of war, not peace in the positive sense, as the
achievement of justice. Some may object to this approach, but any peace plan
that fails to place the ending of war at the top of its agenda is liable to
fail.
How Wars End. . . . MORE
click on title
“Peace Negotiations, What We Need to Know” : Sachs and Ritter.
The
complaints by Trump and Zelensky during the past few days over Putin’s
non-appearance to discuss the end of the war (May 14 -17) did not include a
statement from Putin or his representative.
The televised statements by Trump and Zelensky, devoid of historical
context, made it seem that Putin was opposed to peace. This breakdown of negotiations could have been prevented had Zelensky and his
Western supporters followed through with March and April agreements described
by Prof. Sachs, and perhaps is why Scott Ritter wrote his article
“The Odessa Moment,” dated May 16, 2025,
Scott Ritter Extra (https://scottritter.substack.com/p/the-odessa-moment).
Unfortunately peace negotiations are not
being led by peacemakers like them. -Dick
Jeffrey Sachs. “Negotiating Lasting Peace in Ukraine.” Consortium News (March
11, 2025).
Ukraine will have to cede more territory than it would have
in April 2022 — when the U.S. and U.K. talked it out of a peace deal — but it
will gain sovereignty and international security arrangements. Read here...
This article is originally
from Common Dreams. Biden Administration, Commentary, NATO, Russia, Turkey, U.S., Ukraine, United Nations, Until This Day--Historical Perspectives on the News
By Jeffrey D.
Sachs.
Common Dreams. Volume 30, Number 71
—Tuesday, March 6, 2025.
There
should be little doubt about how a lasting peace can be established in Ukraine.
In April 2022, Russia and Ukraine were on the verge of signing a peace
agreement in Istanbul, with the Turkish government acting as mediator. The U.S. and U.K. talked Ukraine out of
signing the agreement, and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have since died
or been seriously injured. Yet the framework of the Istanbul Process
still provides the basis of peace today.
The draft peace agreement (dated
April 15, 2022) and the Istanbul Communique (dated
March 29, 2022) on which it was based, offered a sensible and
straightforward way to end the conflict. It’s true that three years after
Ukraine broke off the negotiations, during which time Ukraine has incurred
major losses, Ukraine will eventually cede more territory than it would have in
April 2022 — yet it will gain the essentials: sovereignty, international
security arrangements, and peace.
In the 2022 negotiations,
the agreed issues were Ukraine’s permanent neutrality and international
security guarantees for Ukraine. The final disposition of the contested
territories was to be decided over time, based on negotiations between the
parties, during which both sides committed to refrain from using force to
change boundaries.
Given the current
realities, Ukraine will cede Crimea and parts of southern and eastern Ukraine,
reflecting the battlefield outcomes of the past three years.
Such an agreement can be
signed almost immediately and in fact is likely to be signed in the coming
months. As the U.S. is no longer going to underwrite the war, in which Ukraine
would suffer yet more casualties, destruction and loss of territory, Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelensky is recognizing that it’s time to negotiate.
In his address to
Congress, President Donald Trump quoted Zelensky as
saying, “Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible
to bring lasting peace closer.” MORE [essential
reading for understanding the full contexts for Prof. Sachs’s proposals. -D]
Jeffrey D. Sachs is a
university professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at
Columbia University, where he directed The Earth Institute from 2002 until
2016. He is also president of the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network
and a commissioner of the U.N. Broadband Commission for Development.
|
Scott Ritter. “The
Odessa Moment.” May 16, 2025. |
|
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Russia has informed Ukraine of its baseline condition for
conflict termination—the withdrawal of all Ukrainian troops from the territory
of lands which, from the perspective of the Russian Constitution, constitute
part of Mother Russia. These include Kherson, Zaporozhia, Donetsk and Lugansk.
Russia has also made it clear that if Ukraine not accept these terms, the next
time Russia is willing to sit down and negotiate with Ukraine their demands
will include four additional Ukrainian oblasts, or administrative
regions—presumably Odessa, Nikolaev, Dnepropetrovsk, and Kharkov. We have
reached the Odessa Moment.
Back
in January 2023, while appearing on “The Gaggle” with George Szamuely and Peter
Lavelle, I postulated that Russia was approaching what I called “the Odessa
Moment,” that confluence of military and political circumstances which, once
reached, would trigger a strategic decision by Russia to expand the Special
Military Operation (SMO) beyond the geography defined by the
territories absorbed by Russia following a controversial referenda held in
September 2022 on the territory of Kherson, Zaporozhia, Donetsk and Lugansk,
in which the question of self-determination was answered by a vote on whether
these territories should be incorporated into the Russian Federation or not.
As
originally conceived, the SMO was not about territorial acquisition but
rather defending the rights of the Russian-speaking population of Ukraine. In
negotiations which began less than a week after the SMO began—first in Gomel,
Belarus, and later in Turkey—Russia simply sought to achieve that which had
been promised as part of the Minsk Accords entered into with Ukraine,
Germany and France in 2014-2015, in which Ukraine promised to make the
appropriate changes to its Constitution guaranteeing that the rights and status
of Russian-speaking Ukrainians would be protected.
Ukraine,
backed by both Germany and France (and the United States as well) opted to
treat the Minsk Accords as an opportunity to build up military power sufficient
to reclaim parts of the Donbas region (comprised of the oblasts of Donetsk and
Lugansk) as well as Crimea which were lost in the aftermath of the CIA-backed
Maidan coup of February 2014 which saw the Russian-speaking lawfully
elected President, Victor Yanukovych, ousted and replaced by US-backed
Ukrainian nationalists. Between 2015 and 2022, the US and its NATO
allies trained and equipped hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers for the
sole purpose of reclaiming by force the territories of Donetsk, Lugansk and
Crimea.
Zelensky
meets with Macron, Merkle and Vladimir Putin, December 2019
In April
2019 Volodymyr Zelensky, the former comedian-turned politician, won the election
for the office of President of Ukraine, ousting the incumbent, Petro
Poroshenko. Zelensky ran on a platform of peace, winning over the
Russian-speaking population on the promise that he would “crawl on his knees”
if necessary to work out a peace plan with Russia. Instead, within months Zelensky
was convening a war council where he promised to use the Ukrainian military to
reclaim the parts of Donetsk and Lugansk that had freed themselves from Ukrainian
rule.
This
was Zelensky’s first mistake.
Scott
will discuss this article and answer audience questions on Ep. 264 of Ask the Inspector.
The
path he chose led to Russia, in the days before the initiation of the
SMO and after Ukraine began mobilizing its forces to attack the Donbas,
recognizing the independence of both Donetsk and Lugansk and entering into a
collective security agreement, actions which guaranteed that the Donbas would
never again be part of Ukraine.
This
was Zelensky’s Donbas moment.
Russian
troops in Ukraine
Zelensky’s second mistake came in April 2022, when
he walked away from the negotiations that Russia had initiated immediately
after the start of the SMO which culminated in a finalized signature-ready
peace agreement which has become known as the Istanbul communique. This
agreement would have recognized the independence of the Donbas republics, but
returned all other Ukrainian territory that had been occupied by Russian troops
during the SMO.
Zelensky,
pressured by his US and NATO supporters, rejected this agreement, and instead
took tens of billions of dollars in military aid from the US and NATO which he
used to rebuild his depleted military force, which he then used to launch a
counterattack against Russian forces which had already began their withdrawal
from Ukraine as a good faith measure in keeping with the terms of the Istanbul
communique.
Russia
responded by organizing referenda in both the Donbas and the two oblasts,
Kherson and Zaporozhia, that constituted the land bridge connecting Crimea
with Russia proper. These referenda were on the question of these territories
becoming part of the Russian Federation; all four voted yes, and after
the appropriate legal action was taken by the Russian parliament, President
Putin signed a decree which made all four oblasts part of the Russian
Federation.
This
was Zelensky’s Little Russia moment.
A
Kherson citizen votes in the September 2022 referendum on joining Russia
And
now Zelensky finds himself at a new crossroads.
His Odessa
Moment. . . . MORE https://scottritter.substack.com/p/the-odessa-moment
“Biggest threat from
Ukraine war: Last Nuclear Agreement suspended.”
Prabir Purkayastha. Mronline.org
(3-8-23).
War rarely stays within the boundaries
set or desired for it. That makes returning to
arms control crucial for the survival of humanity.
Originally published: NewsClick.in on March 5, 2023 (more
by NewsClick.in). WarAmericas, Europe, Russia, Ukraine, United StatesNewswireAnti-Ballistic Missile (ABM)
Treaty, Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces
(INF) Treaty, Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD),
New START or New Strategic Arms
Reduction Treaty, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO), Russia-Ukraine War
OTHER PEACE ADOCATES
President
Trump as Peacemaker (5 articles).
TRUMP Constraining the War
“Trump
Says No To ‘Foolish’ US Missile Attacks On Russia”
By Joe Lauria, Consortium News. (12-14-24). President-elect
Donald Trump accused the Biden administration of “escalating this war” in
Ukraine and “making it worse” by allowing U.S. long-range ATACMS missiles to be
fired from Ukraine deep into Russia. “I disagree very vehemently with sending
missiles hundreds of miles into Russia,” Trump told Time magazine in an
interview published on Thursday. He said: “Why are we doing that? We’re just
escalating this war and making it worse. That should not have been allowed to
be done. Now they’re doing not only missiles, but they’re doing other types of
weapons. And I think that’s a very big mistake.” -more-
Trump as Peacemaker
Gordon Hahn. “First
steps toward ending the war in Ukraine.” ACURA (Mar 06, 2025).
Despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s clumsy rhetoric, he has taken the first
courageous steps to ending the needless, all too avoidable NATO-Russia Ukrainian
War. Read in browser » [But read Scott Ritter’s article cited
above.]
Axios. “Trump says
he wants to meet Putin soon to discuss a Ukraine peace deal.” ACURA (Jan 27, 2025).
“Our effort
to reach a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine are now hopefully underway. It
is so important to get that done. Millions of soldiers are getting killed.
Millions of Russians and millions of Ukrainians. It has to end,” Trump said in
his video address to Davos attendees. Read in browser »
Ed
Lozansky. “Trump’s Mixed Feelings Team.” ACURA (Dec 10, 2024).
During his presidential campaign, Trump pledged that if he won, he would end
the war within 24 hours, even before moving into the White House. This didn’t
happen, and moreover, the fighting kept escalating. So, one would assume the real
action would start after January 20, 2025, but the team he chooses to fulfill
this […]
Read in browser »
“Insider: Trump’s advisors are laying out plans on how to
end the war in Ukraine.” ACURA (Nov 11, 2024).
The proposals all depart from President Joe Biden’s approach of letting Kyiv
decide when peace talks should begin. They also all recommend freezing the war
where it stands, geographically. Read in browser »
VIDEO. Col. Douglas Macgregor. “We Have No Leverage.” ACURA (May 20, 2025). Acura mailing address is: The
American Committee for US-Russia Accord
PO Box 2134, New York, NY 10025
Doug Macgregor talks with the Deep Dive podcast
on Trump’s delusions of leverage over Russia.
Read in
browser »
Prashad: Opposition to NATO’s advocacy of the war in
the Global South and Europe.
Vijay
Prashad. “All wars end in negotiations. So will the war in Ukraine,”
The Third Newsletter (2025). Mronline.org (1-18-25).
By Vijay Prashad (Posted Jan 17, 2025).
Originally published: Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research on January 16, 2025 (more by Tricontinental: Institute
for Social Research).
Imperialism, Inequality, Strategy, WarGlobalNewswireNorth Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO), President Elect Donald
Trump, Russia-Ukraine War, Tricontinental Newsletter
Dear friends,
Greetings from the desk of Tricontinental: Institute for Social
Research. Mark Rutte, the
current secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). . .
.on 12 December 2024, Rutte gave a speech. . . . published on NATO’s website in
a very curious form, as a poem rather than the typical bureaucratic prose. [Four
stanzas I shortened to one. –D]:
And, finally, to the citizens of NATO countries, especially in Europe, I say:
Tell your banks and pension funds it is simply unacceptable that they refuse to
invest in the defence industry.
Defence is not in the same category as illicit drugs and pornography.
Investing in defence is an investment in our security.
It’s a must!
Rutte wrote no such poem for Palestine or for Sudan, where
the devastation has been much greater. Only Ukraine, with several evasions and
errors of fact, at a time when there is no appetite within Europe to prolong
this conflict. Rutte’s poem asks the already austerity-struck NATO states to
increase their defence spending to at least 2% of their GDP.
Donald Trump has already called to raise the threshold to 5%.
From No Cold War comes
briefing no. 16, which provides a clear analysis of the overwhelming opposition
to the Ukraine war within the Global South and Europe alike. Please read it
carefully, download it, and share it. The clarity of this text speaks directly
to Rutte’s doggerel. . . . MORE https://nocoldwar.org/
Ted Galen Carpenter.
“Ending the Second Cold War.” ACURA (Apr
18, 2024). We
should not want another period of multiple decades marked by hostility and a
lack of normal economic relations. Let’s see if the current generation of
policymakers can be wiser than their predecessors.
Read in browser »
SUPPORT
FOR THE WAR AND OTHER COMPLICATIONS TO PEACEMAKING
Ukraine’s Nazi History
Joe Lauria. “On
Neo-Nazi Influence In Ukraine.”
Consortium News. Popular
Resistance.org (4-21-25). The U.S.
relationship with Ukrainian fascists began after the Second World War.
During the war, units of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-B)
took part in the Holocaust, killing at least 100,000 Jews and Poles.
Mykola Lebed, a top aide to Stepan Bandera, the leader of the fascist
OUN-B, was recruited by the C.I.A. after the war, according to a 2010 study by
the U.S. National Archives. The government study said, “Bandera’s wing (OUN/B)
was a militant fascist organization.” Bandera’s closest deputy, Yaroslav
Stetsko, said: ““I…fully appreciate the undeniably harmful and
hostile….” -more-
Odessa Massacre v. revolutionaries.
“Odessa
Massacre 10 Years On: Neo-Nazis Drowned The City In Blood” by
Ilya Tsukanov. Orinoco Tribune. Popular Resistance.org (5-5-24). This Thursday marked the 10th anniversary of
the May 2, 2014 Odessa Trade Unions Building massacre, in which 48
anti-Maidan activists were burned alive by neo-Nazi thugs. The violence, coming
soon after Kiev kicked off its ‘anti-terrorist operation’ in the Donbass,
demonstrated the new regime’s readiness to drown Ukraine in blood to cling to
power. The warm weather of the spring of 2014 was accompanied by the winds of
revolutionary fervor across southeastern Ukraine, with activists from across
Kharkov, the Donbass, Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, Kherson, Nikolayev and Odessa
rising up in opposition to... -more-
US SUSTAINING THE WAR
Tara Copp. “US to Send Near-$1B in Arms for Long-term
Use to Ukraine.” Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette (December 8, 2024).
Defense
Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Biden Admin. is spending the remaining
congressionally approved $8 billion for Ukrainian drones and munitions programs
of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket systems.
This is in addition to the $725 million for weapons recently drawn
directly from Pentagon stockpiles. “The
U.S. has provided Ukraine with more than 62 billion in military aid” since Feb.
2022. Austin and Republican Sen. Mitch
McConnell were honored for their lifetime service [as leaders of the US War
Party] at the annual gathering of national security officials, weapons
manufacturers, and lawmakers. Lloyd presented
the US line: “Ukraine, American security, and human freedom.” [Typically, Russia as a threat is mentioned
several times as the motive for all this money and weapons, typically without
any questioning of whether such preparation for war is needed, since the Cold
War ended with the end of the USSR, which had also disbanded the Warsaw Pact. See my anthologies on
NATO, US Soviet/Russophobia, and the many US wars. OMNI NATO ANTHOLOGY
#2, JUNE 18, 2023,
jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com
James W. Carden. “How
the Neocons Won the Transition.” ACURA (Dec 10, 20247).
Trump’s campaign rhetoric led many to believe that
foreign policy realists and restrainers might have had a shot at some of the
top national security and diplomatic posts. Whatever the reason, Trump’s
nominee s for secretary of state, secretary of defense, deputy secretary
of defense, national security adviser, and UN ambassador—as well as those
heading the […]
Read in browser »
Anatol Lieven. “Trump’s threat to walk away leaves Ukraine
exposed.” ACURA (Apr
20, 2025).
The Trump administration has warned that if
there is not an early agreement on an end to the war in Ukraine, the US will
“walk away” from the peace process. In Trump’s words: “Now if, for some reason,
one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say,
‘You’re foolish, you’re […] Read in
browser »
Robert Skidelsky. “Why Is the UK So Invested in the
Russia–Ukraine War?” ACURA (Jan. 07, 2025).
Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential
election of November 2024 has shredded the liberal script about the Ukraine
war. That script was to offer unconditional moral and material support for a
Ukrainian victory, defined minimally as recovery of the invaded territories of
Crimea and Donbass. In Britain, it was considered almost treasonable to suggest […] Read in
browser »
VIDEO: Nicolai N. Petro.
“The future of Russia and Ukraine as the war draws to a close…” ACURA Mar 18, 2025.
Part 2 of Professor Petro’s conversation with
Pascal Lottaz. There is a serious risk that even if the political establishment
of Ukraine (Parliament and Government) came to the conclusion that only a
surrender could save the country from complete annihilation, the ultra-right
wing with its willingness to kill their own people, might be able to […] Read in browser »
James W. Carden.
“A Question of Incitement? “ ACURA (Mar 18, 2025).
Last week came news of a Ukrainian “intelligence gathering”
service called MOLFAR with an “enemies list” that includes, among other
notables, the current vice president, JD Vance. What makes this all the more
galling is that it was ( is?) being funded by the US government though USAID.
Whatever sympathy we may (and do) feel […]
Read in browser »
Ron Ridenour. “Journalist Randy Credico
has been placed on Ukrainian terrorist ‘kill-list’ via CIA project website.” Editor. Mronline.org (6-28-23).
Friends are urging Credico to go
underground.
Originally published: CovertAction Magazine on June 23, 2023 (more by CovertAction Magazine) | (Posted Jun
27, 2023). Human Rights, Inequality, Strategy, WarAmericas, Europe, Russia, Ukraine, United StatesNewswire'Hit-List', Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),
Julian Assange, Kill List, Randy Credico
“Habermas and the
war in Ukraine.” Atilio Borón. Mronline.org (6-28-23).
The prevailing
rarefied ideological climate that Germany and most European countries are
suffering from today makes a very cautious call for prudence and negotiation a
criminal offense that deserves to be punished with ostracism.
Western Support for the War
from Western Media.
A friend sent me a list of a
dozen reasons why Trump won in 2024, one of which, #8, applies perfectly to Western support for the
Ukraine and against Russia: “Eight, more people than I wish to think about get their news from a
single source or like sources.” See SCOTT RITTER: “Why I Support Consortium
News” (12-7-24). https://consortiumnews.com/2024/12/06/scott-ritter-why-i-support-consortium-news/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=c3b17198-0544-4e41-9881-ac7061530d08
Uriel Araujo. “Popular
Revolt Looming in Ukraine? Zelensky’s Battle Over Death Numbers Speaks for
Itself.”
BRICS
Portal - TRANSCEND Media Service. 12 Dec 2024. [Here
are some passages from the ending of this significant article. –D] Making a peace deal is of course
something the radical nationalists and their armed militias would never allow
and things escalated instead. It would
not be an exaggeration at all to describe today’s Ukraine as a kind of corrupt
oligarchic dictatorship – with an acute far-right problemt. . . . Regardless of one’s own political sympathies,
any honest discussion on the roots of the current confrontation should include
such ethnopolitical issues as well as the geopolitics of NATO enlargement – or
else one fails to grasp some of the key points.
Joe
Lauria. “US Bill Would Reverse ATACMS
Order.” Consortium
News (12-7-24). A
bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, if it were law, would reduce the
danger of nuclear war over Ukraine by stopping U.S. ATACMS attacks on Russia,
reports Joe Lauria. Read here...
JOE BIDEN AND THE DEMOCRATS
“To The Last Ukrainian” By Moon of Alabama. Popular Resistance.org
(11-30-24).
The U.S. is willing to (proxy-)fight Russia down to the last Ukrainian.
White House presses Ukraine to lower draft age to meet manpower needs against
Russia WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's administration is urging Ukraine
to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops and
revamping its mobilization laws to allow for the conscription of those as young
as 18. A senior Biden administration official, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity to discuss the private consultations, said Wednesday that the
outgoing Democratic administration wants Ukraine to lower the mobilization
age... -more-
VIDEO. “State
Department Asked About Any Potential Talks To End War In Ukraine Before Biden
Leaves Office.” ACURA (Nov 11, 2024).
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller reiterates Biden Administration’s
unconscionable lack of interest in pursuing negotiations to end the war in
Ukraine.
Read in browser »
Andrew P. Napolitano.
“A Brief History of Free Speech in America.” Consortium News
(9-27-24).
When the feds claim that
articulating views of the war in Ukraine from a Russian perspective is somehow
criminal they ignore the core purpose of the First Amendment, writes Andrew P.
Napolitano. Read
here...
Christopher Caldwell: “The Imminent
Russia-US War.”
ACURA (Sept.
13, 2024).
What makes ATACMS lethal isn’t just their payload and speed, but their
GPS targeting. The weapon uses a dedicated system that the United States
controls, drawing on a constellation of satellites run by the US military that
operate together in real time. The Biden administration has sought to reassure
the public that Ukrainians will have […]
Read
in browser » Christopher Caldwell
All week long, the Biden
administration has been hinting that it would authorize Ukraine to strike deep
inside Russian territory with US-made Army Tactical Missiles
Systems, or ATACMS. These are computer-guided supersonic missiles with a
range of up to 190 miles. They can’t reach Moscow, but they could hit the
Russian cities of Kursk, Voronezh, and Rostov. Britain has already authorized
Ukraine to use British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles to attack Russia.
Secretary of State Tony Blinken traveled to Kiev in the company of British
Foreign Secretary David Lammy to discuss the matter with Ukrainian leader
Volodymyr Zelensky. Some kind of escalatory announcement was expected to
accompany British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Friday visit to
Washington.
This development prompted Vladimir
Putin to make a carefully worded statement to a TV interviewer Thursday:
“If this decision is made, it will mean nothing less than the direct
participation of NATO countries, the United States, the European countries, in
the war in Ukraine. This changes the very nature of the conflict.” Starmer dismissed
the remark. Putin, he said,
can stop his war with Ukraine any time he wants. One could just as easily say
that, any time they wanted, Starmer and Biden could stop risking
Armageddon to meddle in the affairs of sovereign countries halfway around
the world.
The more troubling thing is that
Starmer doesn’t seem to understand what Putin is saying. Because, although the
point is somewhat complex and the reporting on the West’s intentions has been
cloudy, Putin is right.
Right about what? What is Putin
complaining about? This ATACMS business seems like familiar ground. We have
already armed the Ukrainians to the teeth. In Russian eyes, the
American-initiated militarization of what had been a de facto buffer zone is
what started the war in the first place. Although the Ukrainians have been
doing a great deal of dying in this war, at several important junctures, they
have seemed immaterial to a conflict that is really being fought
by the United States. . . . MORE
click on title
Christopher Caldwell is
a Compact columnist, a contributing editor of
the Claremont Review of Books, and the author of The Age of Entitlement:
America Since the Sixties.
Robert Hackett. “The Economist and the War in Ukraine.” ACURA (Aug 30, 2024).
A retiring foreign editor, to nervous laughter from his colleagues, joked that
“The Economist never met a war it didn’t like.” Read in browser »
KURSK
Ted Snider. “The Cost of Kursk.” ACURA (Aug 28, 2024).
The bold and surprising incursion across the
border into the Kursk region of Russia has won Ukraine the temporary possession
of several Russian villages and a few hundred square miles of Russian
territory. But the strategically cheap Russian land may have been bought at a
very costly price. […]
Read in browser »
George Beebe. “The Hazards
of Ukraine’s Incursion into Russia.” Acura (Aug 20, 2024).
Should Americans regard Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region
as a turning point in the war, one that could bring Kyiv important new leverage
in bargaining over a settlement, if not outright victory? As tempting as it is
to believe that the Ukrainian military can aspire to more than stalemate and
compromise, there is […]
Read in browser »
Yuri Pushchaev: The Philosophy of the Ones Who Left: An
Experiment in Intellectual Autism. ACURA (April 18, 2024).
In the
following essay, which first appeared in Russkaya
Istina (Jan. 8, 2024), Russian philosopher Yuri Pushchaev takes issue
with a group of émigré Russian writers who have written a book sharply
condemning their home country for the war in Ukraine. According
to Pushchaev, these émigré authors have shut their eyes to history. They
write as if the war in Ukraine […] Read
in browser »
“CHRIS HEDGES INTERVIEWS SEYMOUR HERSH ON NORD STREAM PIPELINES AND US PRESS FAILURE.” Chris Hedges Report (
March 14, 2023).
The
Chris Hedges Report Podcast with Seymour Hersh on how the U.S. blew up the Nord
Stream pipelines and why the press has ignored what is arguably an act of war
against Russia. [Hedges’ Introduction and the Interview are
essential reading in understanding Cold War II, US hatred of Russia, NATO, and several
other important subjects. Here is the
Intro. -D]
On
Monday, September 26, 2022, a series of underwater explosions blew huge holes
into the Nord Stream 1 and 2, two pairs of pipelines, constructed to carry
Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea. These four pipelines,
steel-reinforced concrete cables built to withstand the direct impact of the
anchor of an aircraft carrier, were destroyed in a clandestine act of sabotage,
according to an investigation by Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Seymour
Hersh. The pair of Nord Stream 1 pipelines carried Russian gas to Germany until
Moscow cut off supplies at the end of August 2022. The pair of Nord Stream 2
pipelines, which would have doubled the amount of gas that would be available
to Germany and Western Europe, were never operational as Germany suspended its
certification process shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
White
House spokesperson Adrienne Watson called Hersh’s report “false and complete
fiction.” CIA spokesperson Tammy Thorp said: “This claim is completely and
utterly false.”
Denials
by U.S. officials of covert operations, of course, are routine. Secretary of
State Dean Rusk, for example, denied any U.S. involvement in the Bay of Pigs
invasion in Cuba, assuring the American people that the invasion was not
“staged from American soil.” When Seymour Hersh in 2004 published the
first stories about the torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, a Pentagon
spokes called his reporting “a tapestry of nonsense,” adding that Hersh was a
guy who “threw a lot of crap against the wall” and “expects someone to peel off
what’s real.”
Despite
the denials, the United States has long expressed hostility to the pipelines.
It worked to prevent the completion of the pipelines and imposed illegal
sanctions on enterprises engaged in its construction. President Biden on
February 7, 2022, prior to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, stated: “If
Russia invades … there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2 …We will bring an
end to it.”
During
a Senate hearing, Victoria Nuland, undersecretary of state for political
affairs, was asked by Senator Ted Cruz whether his legislation aimed at
sanctioning the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which was voted down in January
2022, could have stopped the war.
“Like
you, I am, and I think the administration is, very gratified to know that Nord
Stream 2 is now, as you like to say, a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea,”
Nuland said.
U.S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the destruction of the pipelines as
a “tremendous opportunity,” which would enable EU countries to become less
dependent on Russian energy.
The New York Times reported in
December that Russia had begun expensive repairs on the pipelines, raising
questions about Washington’s claim that Russia had bombed its own pipelines.
These explosions
are not insignificant acts. They are acts of war. They expose not only
the collapse of the rule of law, but the lack of oversight by Congress. I
covered the mining of Nicaragua’s harbors in 1983 by the Reagan administration
as a reporter in Central America. The mining was designed cripple the economy
in Nicaragua and boost the fortunes of the US-backed contra rebels seeking to
overthrow the Sandinista government. The mining backfired. It sparked outrage
around the globe and saw Congress cut off funding for the Contras a year later.
The International Court of Justice in 1986 ruled against the United States over
its mining of the harbors.
Hersh’s
revelations should have led to a similar condemnation by Congress and an
internal investigation into illegal activities by the CIA and Pentagon. It
should have prompted news organizations to dig deeper into a scandal, a
flagrant violation of the U.N. Charter and international treaties. It should
have prompted a national debate about the war in Ukraine and the steady
escalation of our involvement, one that could lead to a direct confrontation
with Russia and nuclear war. Joining me to discuss his latest investigative
piece is Seymour Hersh, one of our most important and fearless investigative
reporters who, among many ground-breaking stories, exposed the U.S. Army’s 1969
My Lai massacre and cover-up, the Watergate scandal, the secret bombing of Cambodia,
the torture by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib of Iraqi prisoners and the false
narrative told by the U.S. government about the events surrounding the killing
of Osama bin Laden. . . .MORE
“New evidence from Nord
Stream underwater expedition refutes official claims.” Max Blumenthal. Mronline.org (6-30-23).
Observers
have drawn a number of conclusions based on a recent series of visits to the
site of the Nord Stream pipeline rupture via drone.
Originally published: The Grayzone on June 27, 2023 by Wyatt Reed (more
by The Grayzone). Inequality, State
Repression, Strategy, WarAmericas,
Europe,
Germany,
Russia,
Ukraine,
United StatesNewswireNord
Stream pipelines
After a recent underwater expedition, The Grayzone can now
reveal…what the real blast sites tell us about the worst act of eco-terrorism
in history. [But this detailed,
technical investigation does not reveal who was behind the explosion. –D]
Arms to Ukraine
“Arms imports to Europe surge despite global
decline.”
Mronline.org
(3-16-23).
By teleSUR Desk (Posted Mar
15, 2023). Originally published: teleSUR English on March 13, 2023 (more by teleSUR English).
Financialization, Movements, Strategy, WarAmericas, Asia, Australia, China, Europe, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Ukraine, United StatesNewswire
As a result of military aid from the U.S. and many European
states, Ukraine became the 3rd biggest importer of major arms during 2022.
War
Profiteering
David Starr. “ Profiting
Off of Death and Suffering is the American Way.” CovertAction Magazine Mar 03,
2023.
Arms Industry and U.S. Government Have Now Practically
Merged
The United States’s imperial foreign
policy has been evident since day one, but especially starting with the Gilded
Age and the arrogant doctrine of Manifest Destiny of the mid-19th century.
The imperial “cause” continued through the decades leading up to today.
And today, the U.S. arms industry and
the U.S. Congress have a reciprocal relationship. Because of this relationship,
many members of Congress have grown rich off of war and death.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has
presented the latest opportunity for profiteering off of war. The arms industry
is certainly making big bucks, with policies that fuel the conflict with the
selling of an array of weaponry. There are politicians who have bought stock in
the arms industry just before Russia invaded Ukraine. Nothing like perfect
timing to secure one’s profits.
Never to turn down a “good” military
intervention, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) invested in Lockheed
Martin shares the day before the invasion. The amount was small, between $1,001 and $15,000,
compared to some investors. But Greene could not resist. […]
WESTERN MEDIA
“'Western' Media Spread Copium To Prolong The War In Ukraine” By Moon of Alabama. Popular
Resistance.org (7-6-22).
Above
photo: People wave Russian national flags celebrating the recognition of
independence in the centre of Donetsk, the territory controlled by pro-Russian
rebels, in eastern Ukraine, on Monday, February 21. Alexei Alexandrov/AP Photo.
The war in Ukraine is clearly progressing in Russia’s favor. That is why I am appalled by the incompetent
descriptions in ‘western’ media of past and current operations in that war. What
did Russia just do? It had made an ambitious attempt to encircle a large are in
Donbas and succeeded with the effort in just a few days.. -more-
"They Lied About Afghanistan.
They Lied About Iraq. And They Are Lying About Ukraine." The
Chris Hedges Report . Wed,
Jul 5,
Listen to This
Article: "They Lied About Afghanistan. They Lied About Iraq. And They Are
Lying About Ukraine."
The U.S. public has been conned, once again, into pouring billions into
another endless war. Listen · 13M
Ambrose Sylvan. “Western media has
falsely presented the Donbas’ ‘Drive For Autonomy’ as being instigated by
Moscow.” Editor. mronline.org (7-16-23). In Reality It Resulted Largely from
Kyiv’s Destruction of Eastern Ukraine’s Economy Under Neo-Liberal Economic
Policies Pushed by Washington Since the 1990s.
Originally
published: CovertAction Magazine on July 13, 2023 by
Ambrose Sylvan (more by CovertAction Magazine). Media, Movements, State Repression, StrategyAmericas, Europe, Russia, Ukraine, United StatesNewswire
The war in Ukraine is commonly seen through one of two
lenses. The vision presented by Western, NATO-aligned powers is one of an
astro-turfed Donbas separatism created by Moscow to justify the division of
Ukraine.
The view of NATO’s critics is that the Donbas republics
rebelled against the Euromaidan revolution and the country’s
nationalistic, Euro-centric tilt. The reality is that this conflict started
much earlier and was merely frozen until the overthrow of the Ukrainian
government in 2013. . . . MORE
Conor
Gallagher. “Underestimate Russia at your own
risk: A comparison of Hubris by Germany during WWII and today’s collective West.” Editor. mronline.org
(7-13-23). In
honor of the NATO summit July 11 and 12, this is a comparison of how the Nazi
leadership in World War Two and today’s collective West similarly
underestimated Russia and overestimated their capabilities.
Originally published: Naked Capitalism on July 10, 2023 by
Conor Gallagher (more by Naked Capitalism) (Posted Jul
12, 2023). Empire, History, Strategy, WarAmericas, Europe, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, United StatesNewswire
In honor of the NATO summit July 11 and 12, this is a
comparison of how the Nazi leadership in World War Two and today’s collective
West similarly underestimated Russia and overestimated their capabilities.
Despite Russia’s overwhelming upper hand in Ukraine,
Western officials and media continue to largely pump sunshine and weave stories
of Russian collapse.
There are increasing breaks in the fever,
and it looks like maybe, hopefully the acceptance of the loss is gaining
traction in Washington.
Meanwhile, the unwillingness or inability for hardliners to
objectively assess efforts against Russia occurs today just as it did during
Operation Barbarossa. As Seymour Hersh writes:
There is an enormous gap between the way the professionals
in the American intelligence community assess the situation and what the White
House and the supine Washington press project to the public by uncritically
reproducing the statements of Blinken and his hawkish cohorts.
This too is reminiscent of the Nazi offensive against the
Soviet Union when the failure was hidden from the German public. Adding to the
similarities is the fact that both the Third Reich command and today’s
officials in the West simultaneously downplay Russia’s military capabilities
while endlessly hyping the threat from Moscow.
Hitler, similar to so many Western “experts” and officials
today, mocked Russia’s supposed backwardness while also hyping the threat
“Slavic Bolshevism” posed to the West. The progression of his comments show him
seesawing between a reluctant acceptance and desperate hope as his
miscalculations of Russia slowly dawn on him. It’s a path today’s governments
in the West are still discovering. . . .
MORE
NUCLEAR DANGER AT Zaporizhzhia
Jessica Corbett.
“Tensions in Ukraine Show Why 'Nuclear
Power Is the Most Dangerous Way to Boil Water'.” Common
Dreams (7-6-23). "Calling for a no-fire zone around Zaporizhzhia is
not enough," said Beyond Nuclear. "We must call for no nuclear power
at all." Jessica Corbett
RELATED ISSUE
Nuclear Weapons
Reuters. “Putin wants to restart nuclear arms cuts
talks, Kremlin says after Trump comment.” ACURA (Jan 26, 2025).
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear
he wants to restart nuclear arms cuts talks as soon as possible, the Kremlin
said on Friday in response to comments by U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump
said on Thursday he wanted to work towards cutting nuclear arms, adding that he
thought Russia and China might support reducing […] Read in
browser »
CONTENTS Ukraine War
Anthology #34 (25 articles and books)
Trump’s Call to Putin: [VFP-all]
Is peace at hand in the long Cold War with Russia?
AGAIN A TIME FOR
REFLECTION FOR PEACE
Walter Hixson. “Imperialism and War: The
History Americans Need to Own.”
Consortium News.
Benjamin
and Davies. War in Ukraine. (Dick’s rev. with Baud’s Operation Z).
Benjamin
Abelow. How the West
Brought War to Ukraine.
Melvin
Goodman. “A Personal Discussion
of Russian National Security.”
THE WAR
Eva
Bartlett. “Maligned in Western Media, Donbass
Forces are Defending their Future from Ukrainian Shelling and Fascism.”
Big Serge. “Total Kievan Debellation:
The Russo-Ukrainian War: Year 3.”
John Helmer.
“The War Came to Pokrovsk.”
Lord Robert Skidelsky: “Speech in the House of Lords on
Ukraine.”
Scott Ritter. “Life, preempted.”
Chris Bambery. “NATO’s spiralling commitments to
Ukraine risk catastrophe.”
RELATED ARTICLES AND INTERVIEWS
Lederer and Peltz. “Russian foreign
minister invokes nuclear capacity in UN speech…”
Lee
Fang. “New York Times’ . . .War Escalation Journalism.”
World Socialist Web
Site. “. . .long range NATO missiles against
Russia….”
Ted Snider. “The
Damage Victoria Nuland Has Done.”
Anatol
Lieven. “Biden team blows off deadline
for Ukraine war strategy.”
Unintended Consequences Interviews Benjamin Abelow.
Donald A. Smith. “The US Provoked Russia
over Ukraine.”
Jonathan McCormick.
“An Interview
with Professor Nicolai N. Petro: On Ukraine’s prospects.”
James W.
Carden. “Why Does American Folly March
on in Ukraine?”
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation: “Ukraine War,
The Third Year, featuring Grigory Yavlinsky.”
Saheli Chowdhury. “Ukraine … a private mercenary company of NATO. . . . ”
(Interv.).
Larry Johnson. “Star CIA Analysts Are Out of Touch
With. . . Russia”.
Sonja Van den Ende.
“Media [and] Russian Retreat From
Kherson….”
Aidan
Jonah. “Canadian Professor attacked by mainstream media for opposing NATO
narrative on Ukraine.”
Ukraine War Anthologyy #33
END
UKRAINE WAR ANTHOLOGY #35
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