What In the Hell Was Washington Thinking?

[PAF]

written by david stockman
friday september 23, 2022




What in the hell were those bloody-minded Washington/NATO neocons thinking? At any time in the last nine months they could have had a diplomatic settlement with Russia that would have:

* Avoided/ended the war in Ukraine, thereby saving tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives and hundreds of billion of economic cost and destruction;

* Allowed the Russian speaking population of the Donbas a substantial degree of self-governance and autonomy from the hostile government in Kiev;

* Permitted the historic Russian territory of Crimea to remain under Russian control per the wishes of the overwhelming share of its Russian-speaking population;

*Kept NATO out of Ukraine and its missiles away from Russia’s doorstep;

* Removed NATO missile bases from the old Warsaw Pact countries, where NATO had expanded in breach of Washington’s solemn promise made at the time of the German reunification to not extend NATO "one inch to the east".


Would this have furthered the national security of the US and Europe, permitted Europe’s then flourishing peaceful commerce with Russia to continue and avoided the current global plague of soaring energy and food prices caused by the Sanctions War?


Yes, it would have. In spades!


So the question recurs. What alternative path did Washington/NATO envision and how could the likely consequences have improved upon either the above summarized settlement, which has been possible all along or, far worse still, the disastrous end game which is now unfolding?

The fact is, after Putin’s speech of yesterday the phrase "disastrous end game" is barely adequate to describe the scenario ahead. That’s because it signaled that the relative restraint of Russia’s "Special Military Operation" (SMO) is now over, and what lies ahead is full scale political and military warfare that can only end in calamity for Ukraine, NATO and indeed the world:

The heart of the matter is that Putin is now :

* Mobilizing Russia’s entire GDP, which is at least 15X greater than what’s left of Ukraine’s;

* Mustering 300,000 fresh reserves or double the number of Russian forces now deployed in the SMO;

* Abandoning the policy of not attacking Ukraine’s civilian electric power grid and railroad system, which has been crucial to Ukraine’s survival to date and the West’s massive supply of weapons across the western border and through the interior rail network;

* Preparing to annex the two breakaway Donbas republics in the east and the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the south after hurriedly called referendums, which will transform the war into an explicit NATO-enabled attack on Russia proper.


Continue to full article:

http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives...gton-thinking/

[showpan]

Not only is he going to expand Russia, I predict a major offensive to take Odessa which would land lock Kiev. Putin would be stupid not to.

[AngryCanadian]

Not only is he going to expand Russia, I predict a major offensive to take Odessa which would land lock Kiev. Putin would be stupid not to.

I doubt about the further expansion. The fact that congress had this as a private meeting discussing about how to break Russia and controlling the other regions within Russia.

Is this where the tax payer's billions is being spend at?
Decolonizing Russia: A Moral and Strategic Imperative

[helenpaul]

Lets hope the war ends soon.

[69360]

Lets hope the war ends soon.

It won't while the US is propping up the Ukrainian government.

This meddling has gone way too far. They are pushing Russia into actions that Russia never intended to take. Russia is going to start taking out infrastructure and leadership soon.

[Anti Globalist]

Washington doesn't think, they act on their neocon tendencies.

[showpan]

I doubt about the further expansion. The fact that congress had this as a private meeting discussing about how to break Russia and controlling the other regions within Russia.

Is this where the tax payer's billions is being spend at?
Decolonizing Russia: A Moral and Strategic Imperative

I only meant the territories under referendum in regards to expansion and most likely Odessa because it would be stupid not to land lock them...lol. This would expand Russia and reduce Ukraine to the 3rd largest nation moving France to 2nd. Only western media and their brainwashed sheep claim Putin is after more.

[Pauls' Revere]

The US should initiate compulsory service and start drafting people. Watch how quickly the support for Ukraine ends then. Americans have no skin in the game other than printed fiat dollars and inflation in prices.

[69360]

The US should initiate compulsory service and start drafting people. Watch how quickly the support for Ukraine ends then. Americans have no skin in the game other than printed fiat dollars and inflation in prices.

and the threat of getting nuked if they push Russia too hard.

[acptulsa]

and the threat of getting nuked if they push Russia too hard.

They're probably thinking, some member or members of our armed forces might have been ready to protect and defend the Constitution by sending a nuke to Washington. But now they'd have to think twice, because the media would blame it on Russia and the Pentagon would "retaliate".

[Pauls' Revere]

They're probably thinking, some member or members of our armed forces might have been ready to protect and defend the Constitution by sending a nuke to Washington. But now they'd have to think twice, because the media would blame it on Russia and the Pentagon would "retaliate".

You play chess 3D good comrade.

[AngryCanadian]

It won't while the US is propping up the Ukrainian government.

This meddling has gone way too far. They are pushing Russia into actions that Russia never intended to take. Russia is going to start taking out infrastructure and leadership soon.

I will just say watch the markets...

[vita3]

They sold $$$billions of weapons, getting to war on Russkies border & I’m sure they are aiming for regime change

#good to have a puppet as “commander in chief”

#Neocons winning