Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Today's Editorial 12 August 2014

                         Itching for a war?

Source: By Colin Todhunter: Deccan Herald
Do not expect to live for much longer. The US is pushing the world towards nuclear war. These are not statements built on unfounded speculations. These conclusions have been reached by Paul Craig Roberts, a former secretary to the US treasury during the Reagan era.

Roberts states that over the past couple of decades or so, the neocons have turned the US into the world’s number one terror state. It has become a failed state too. It has failed its own people by helping to bankrupt its own economy at the behest of financial-corporate interests and has stripped US citizens’ of fundamental constitutional rights. The US also supports terror and uses it to help bring about outcomes that are desirable to its global geopolitical interests.

US leaders cling to the idea that the US is somehow exceptional because of its supposed adherence to the ideals of freedom and democracy. In their view, this gives the US the right to intervene in global conflicts and situations as and when it (not the UN) deems necessary. This ideology gives it carte blanche to militarily intervene across the globe in the guise of acting as the ‘world’s policeman’. Just like any empire that came before it, the US leans on a myth that seeks to legitimate its barbarism.

The US ploughed some five billion dollars into Ukraine to bring about a coup on Russia’s doorstep. The toppling of a democratically elected government in Kiev was always ultimately aimed at destabilising Russia. If Putin cannot be removed and a subservient leader (to US interests) put in his place by peaceful means, the US is gambling that Russia under Putin can be defeated militarily.

Putin’s Russia, along with China, is one of a few countries on the planet than is able to stand up to Washington. It has supported Syria and Iran, two countries the US has targeted for ‘regime change, and is rejecting US giant biotech’s genetically modified food and crops, which certain officials have termed bio-terrorism. What’s more, Russia is a major player in the global energy market, which gives it leverage over other countries, and is also spearheading the drive towards de-dollarisation, thus undermining Washington’s basis for power - the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Russia stands in the way of the US in its push for global hegemony.

History is littered with major conflicts and struggles for supremacy. But what is currently in play overshadows anything that has gone before because the main protagonists have nuclear weapons. Worst still, the US actually thinks it can win a nuclear war with Russia. The belief is that anti ballistic missile systems will be able to take down any response by Russia to a first strike nuclear attack by the US. Although Russia has a similar size nuclear arsenal, The US believes its technological capabilities are run-down.

The fact is that any such nuclear engagement would spell the end of life on Earth. Nuclear fallout knows no national boundaries. Scientists long ago documented the impacts of even a limited nuclear war involving the US and Russia. The planet would become uninhabitable.

Legitimising sanctions

By portraying Russia as the aggressor in Ukraine, the Obama administration seeks to legitimise further economic sanctions on Russia and the push towards war. Moreover, trade ties between the EU and Russia are strong. Russia purchases manufactured goods from Germany, for example, and the euros are then recycled back to Russia through the purchasing of Russian gas and oil. The US would like to break this relationship and have Europe rely on US fossil fuels. It wants to exert more leverage over Europe while at the same time weakening Russia, whose economy is oil and gas dependent.

Sanctions are meant to undermine the Russian economy and to cause tensions within Russia. Ultimately, the US is trying desperately to provoke Russia to militarily intervene in Ukraine. Putin knows what is at stake - the cohesion and integrity of Russia as a nation state. He is aware of the dangerous game being played by the US.

Confronted by US provocations and its control of the puppet regime it installed in Kiev, apart from moving to protect its naval base in Ukraine, Russia has resisted all temptations to use military intervention in Ukraine. However, the US hope is that within Russia Putin will be regarded as weak and as not supporting ethnic Russians who are being attacked in Ukraine. With many US funded NGOs within Russia, instigating a‘colour revolution’ is also a possibility. By fuelling the flames of nationalism and portraying Putin as weak, Washington would hope to destabilise Putin’s position from within.

The Pentagon and the mainstream media in the West are doing everything to portray Putin as an aggressor. Imagine the US response if Russia had moved to topple the government of Mexico. Imagine what the response would be if Putin had moved missile systems into Mexico and Canada. Imagine the response if Russia were financing NGOs and terror groups within the US or on its borders? Change Mexico and Canada for Poland, Chechnya or Ukraine, for example, and you will find the US has done this and much more to Russia.

The Project for a New American Century (PNAC) is a neo-con devised document that stresses the need for US global dominance this century. No nation would be allowed to challenge US supremacy. The document envisaged ‘taking out’ certain countries, including Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, Iran and Iraq, as part of the strategy. Under the guise of a bogus ‘war on terror’, the US has attacked or destabilised these and many more countries beside. Through Ukraine, the US has now found a path to Moscow.


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