It's astonishing that Russian security concerns require think tank elucidation. Aren't we simply seeing yet another rerun of "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy"? If there's a fog of diplomacy that needs to be penetrated, it's a creation of the US-dominated NATO coalition.
I'd suggest that posts on this topic avoid war nerd openers such as today's, with shots of scrupulously identified Russian armaments moving west. It detracts from your very helpful core ideas regarding the avoidable nature of this crisis. It might be useful to talk more pointedly about just what makes it seem unavoidable to US policy planners. To refer to Kennan's thin theory from his Mr. X memo, doesn't it appear that the US, not Russia, is the wind-up toy, always pressing forward? Does it require containment? We're certainly hearing as much from Russia's Mr. X.
The US, EU and NATO made grave mistakes when they let Putin conquer and start war in Georgia in 2008 and declare independence of the two Georgian regions in Abkhazia and Samachablo. What did the US, EU and NATO do? Absolutely nothing! Merkel and Obama expressed concerns and closed the case. Therefore, Georgia’s 2008 invasion was Putin’s test run for bigger wars and military adventures. 100% Obama’s and Merkel’s fault! The US, EU and NATO leadership completely failed. Then what did Putin do? In 2014 Russia attacked and took over Crimea at first and then Eastern Ukraine, where the Russian forces directly and indirectly engaged in warfare against the Ukrainian state. What did the US, EU and NATO do? Absolutely nothing! They forced (Germany & France) Poroshenko to accept horrible Minsk treaties and the EU/US did hit Russia with the bare minimum of sanctions that did not amount to anything… This further motivated Putin to solve his political goals of restoring the Russian Empire through military means and bloodshed. Therefore, now we have this global disaster! That’s why Putin did dare to start another war of conquest of the free Ukraine to enslave its people and change their future, their destiny & limit their freedoms and turn Ukraine into the Russian subservient state. Now we have this bloodshed, war crimes and terror… Whose fault is it? It is Putin’s fault as much as it is the US, EU and NATO leadership’s fault who kept ignoring the international bully and turned blind eye on the atrocities committed in Georgia and Ukraine for the past 15 years! US, EU & NATO need to impose the No Fly Zone immediately! At least above the humanitarian corridors so that Putin won’t be able to continue killing the civilians and children.
We see a lot of stories about China's bullying behaviour, so this bit from Barkin's article struck me:
"I was told that senior members of the National Security Council had recently conveyed the message to German officials that they would see a return of bare-knuckles US unilateralism if they did not send clear signals about their readiness to work with Washington on China by the US midterm elections in November."
It's astonishing that Russian security concerns require think tank elucidation. Aren't we simply seeing yet another rerun of "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy"? If there's a fog of diplomacy that needs to be penetrated, it's a creation of the US-dominated NATO coalition.
I'd suggest that posts on this topic avoid war nerd openers such as today's, with shots of scrupulously identified Russian armaments moving west. It detracts from your very helpful core ideas regarding the avoidable nature of this crisis. It might be useful to talk more pointedly about just what makes it seem unavoidable to US policy planners. To refer to Kennan's thin theory from his Mr. X memo, doesn't it appear that the US, not Russia, is the wind-up toy, always pressing forward? Does it require containment? We're certainly hearing as much from Russia's Mr. X.
The US, EU and NATO made grave mistakes when they let Putin conquer and start war in Georgia in 2008 and declare independence of the two Georgian regions in Abkhazia and Samachablo. What did the US, EU and NATO do? Absolutely nothing! Merkel and Obama expressed concerns and closed the case. Therefore, Georgia’s 2008 invasion was Putin’s test run for bigger wars and military adventures. 100% Obama’s and Merkel’s fault! The US, EU and NATO leadership completely failed. Then what did Putin do? In 2014 Russia attacked and took over Crimea at first and then Eastern Ukraine, where the Russian forces directly and indirectly engaged in warfare against the Ukrainian state. What did the US, EU and NATO do? Absolutely nothing! They forced (Germany & France) Poroshenko to accept horrible Minsk treaties and the EU/US did hit Russia with the bare minimum of sanctions that did not amount to anything… This further motivated Putin to solve his political goals of restoring the Russian Empire through military means and bloodshed. Therefore, now we have this global disaster! That’s why Putin did dare to start another war of conquest of the free Ukraine to enslave its people and change their future, their destiny & limit their freedoms and turn Ukraine into the Russian subservient state. Now we have this bloodshed, war crimes and terror… Whose fault is it? It is Putin’s fault as much as it is the US, EU and NATO leadership’s fault who kept ignoring the international bully and turned blind eye on the atrocities committed in Georgia and Ukraine for the past 15 years! US, EU & NATO need to impose the No Fly Zone immediately! At least above the humanitarian corridors so that Putin won’t be able to continue killing the civilians and children.
We see a lot of stories about China's bullying behaviour, so this bit from Barkin's article struck me:
"I was told that senior members of the National Security Council had recently conveyed the message to German officials that they would see a return of bare-knuckles US unilateralism if they did not send clear signals about their readiness to work with Washington on China by the US midterm elections in November."