Critically Linking NATO'S War (45) June 15 2022
Discussion
The War is Dead! Long Live the War ( = US/NATO Military Doctrine)
Alexander Mercouris, one of the soundest commentators on the war, raises the question in his podcast of June 14, as to why it is that Ukrainian military seem to persist not only in holding on to indefensible positions (as they are currently at the Azov chemical factory outside of Severodonetsk) but even send in reinforcements and at the cost of sacrificing positions they have recently acquired (as they are now in and around Kharkiv which a few weeks ago Ukrainian forces famously “recovered” from Russia, only now to lose them again for the benefit of a few more days of holding out in Severodonetsk and one or two other places).
For explanation, I think it is because Zelenskiy’s military advisors, instructed by NATO, mainly know about fighting theatrical rather than actual ground wars (which is why Kiev’s leader is an actor, a comedian to boot), that is, fighting wars that have appealing optics to the know-nothing Western mainstream media, so that their hapless readers and viewers may be further duped into consenting to the use of taxpayer money for hopeless causes (hopeless, that is, for everyone except the arms manufacturers, MICIMATT, and for Russia). And now Kiev really, really needs the money ($5 billion a month more needed from the West just to pay the immediate bills, in addition to every other assistance it has had from the West). There is nothing better than an Alamo scenario to ram home the deception in the USA, so that silver coins vomit out of the one-arm bandits at the US Treasury.
Not only that, but Kiev is currently losing (killed and casualties) up to an astonishing 1,000 men a day, has infinitely fewer artillery shells than Russia, has lost upwards of 25% of its territory, is bringing home a harvest this summer that is barely half of last year’s,and whose GDP have been shaved by about half, year-on-year.
This is why, over the past few days, western mainstream media have had only one story to tell about Ukraine, which is the story of the (mainly non-existent?) “battle for Severodonetsk,” in which valiant Ukrainian soldiers fight inch by urban inch for their homeland under desperate circumstances. Would you not be moved to throw a few more dollars to Zelenskiy?
Not if you have any sense. The battle, although it is hardly the right term, centers on a chemical factory (Kolomoisky”s?) outside of the city, wherein I anticipate we have an Azovstal-like collection of Ukrainian fighting forces, foreign advisers and mercenaries, Ukrainian citizens who are prevented from running for the safety corridors allowed by Russia, but kept in place as human shields and as negotiating chattel, and even, perhaps, more remnants of the 45 Pentagon-funded Ukrainian Biolabs (at least those that the Pentagon has admitted to), perhaps sufficient cause in itself for Russia to have invaded.
In the meantime, almost unnoticed by the western mainstream media, Kiev has ordered long-range artillery fire against the civilian population of the Donetsk, very likely an actual war crime, but making some pitiful use of all the weapons supplied by the West for which Ukraine barely has the expertise to switch the “on” button. Because the range is so far, the chances of precision hits are slight. The predictable result of this attempted slaughter will be to make it even less likely that a victorious Russia will feel inclined to negotiate anything in Kiev’s (or Washington’s) favor for quite some time to come, if ever.
Meanwhile the Russian ruble grows stronger, its economy seems fairly robust in the circumstances, while that of Ukraine is down to half its former GDP, running the risk of runway inflation by the end of the year and is already effectively bankrupt. Europe and the US are headed in much the same direction, under a leadership so stunningly incompetent that one must at least wonder about the play of alternative agendas such as that of the “Great Reset,” although I myself find there is a little too much hyperbole and speculation on this front and not enough attention to the empirically provable, suicidal hubris and incompetence of a western leadership. As Lippmann once said: when everyone is thinking alike, no one is thinking.
And what are they not thinking about? They are certainly not thinking that Russia has all but won the war, or that Russia cannot be seeing much evidence, given NATO “let’s weaken Russia” logic, that it should not further secure its national interests by taking Western Ukraine, Moldova, Poland and Finland while it is at it or that, if the West finds all this too unpalatable, that Russia will resort to strategic nuclear force.
The West is not thinking about the Mediterranean where maverick NATO member, Turkey, will not be finding much assurance from Brussels to manage its rage against its arch-enemy, US-weaponized Greece, over the fate of a collection of Aegean islands that Greece is arming in protection of (non-existent?) sea-shelf rights, and over Greek positioning to secure oil and gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean that Turkey would like for both itself and its partner, the UN-endorsed half of Libya in the context of still battling mini-regimes left behind in the wake of NATO’s 2011 wanton destruction of black Africa’s wealthiest nation.
Turkey and Libya agreed in 2019 to formalize their maritime border, creating an exclusive economic zone that spans the Mediterranean. Since Turkey will not be making overtures of peace to Greece any time in the foreseeable future, it seems increasingly unlikely that it will prove all that bribe-able by NATO’s efforts to get Turkey to agree to Sweden and Finland’s unnecessary, expensive and ill-thought through bid for NATO membership, or that Turkey will feel particularly cooperative in allowing Western warships through Bosphorus, or removing Ukraine’s mines around its port of Odessa, or helping Ukraine export its much diminished grain for export. Indeed, Turkey may now take another look at Russia’s even more extensive Black Sea coast and its control of the Sea of Azov. Looking forward to the development of the Istanbul Kanal, which may dwarf the significance of the Bosporus, and is Erdogan’s potentially most lucrative project, Turkey may consider that sharing the policing of the Black Sea with Russia might be a lot more meaningful than cozying up to a bankrupt Ukraine. And as China sizes up the enormity of Western stupidity it will seize its advantages in expansion of its Belt&Road campaign, fortification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, consolidation of its gains in Hong Kong, and a fiercer bid on behalf of its historical claim on Taiwan and, of course, consolidation (with much less to fear from Western sanctions and other such blowhard imperial pomposity) of its shared interests with Russia.
(To be redrafted, with additional links, later)
China
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Australia and Japan against China
Czech State President on China
China’s Pacific Push
China rejects competition with U.S. in bilateral talks
Donbass
Campaign of Terror: Zelensky Increases Shelling of Civilians in Donbass
Ukrainian Massacre in the Donbass
War in Ukraine reaches pivotal moment that could determine long-term outcome, intelligence officials say
‘Simply terrifying’ human cost
A Link to Besieged Ukrainians Is Cut, as Allies Question Strategy
Economic Dimension
Ukraine Says It Needs $5 Billion in Monthly External Aid To Avoid Budget Cut
ECB to design new bond-buying plan to tackle market turmoil
The sanctions against Russia are causing inflation and dislocation almost everywhere in the world … except Russia.
Kazakhstan
Is There Room in ‘New Kazakhstan’ For New Political Parties?
Making Sense of the War
The West Completely at Sea
Russia Breaks through Donbass, Biden Criticises Oil Companies, Germany Complains Russia Reducing Gas
Mercouris on Severodonetsk and Ukraine’s Losses
James W. Carden: Ukraine, NATO and the Politics of War: A conversation with the CATO Institute’s Ted Galen Carpenter
Media, Censorship and Propaganda
TOP GUN MAVERICK – A COUNTER-NARRATIVE
NATO
NATO-Russia war inflames conflict between Turkey and Greece
Conflict Between Turkey and Greece
TURKEY RAINS ON NATO’S PARADE
Venezuela to Host Anti-NATO Summit Amid Rising Tensions with Colombia
Venezuela to Host Anti-NATO Summit
JUNE 13, 2022