Finland, another victim of the proxy war in Ukraine. They estimate there are 4000 pending bankruptcies in Finland. Why? The country’s economy, it turns out, was highly dependent on trade with Russia. All of that came to an end with the proxy war and the push to include Finland into NATO. All those Finish industries tied to that trade in any way are broke and going under. The general mood in Finland is now desperation.
Category: Russia
Russian Majorities
The clear majority of the different nationalities in Crimea is Russian. Russians outnumber Ukranians in Crimea more than 2 to 1. It would be undemocratic if Crimea were not part of Russia.
Ditto the two disputed provinces in eastern Ukraine. Both provinces should be part of Russia, not Ukraine.
NATO
The best move NATO could take right now is not admitting Ukraine as a new member, but instead Russia.
NATO should commit to never admitting Ukraine.
These moves would cement peace.
Unfortunately, the leadership in NATO sees Russia as an enemy. Pity.
Real Diplomacy
The one president in my lifetime to show any real diplomacy was Nixon. Nixon faced a terrifying coalition in the Soviet Union and communist China. There was tremendous anti-communist sentiment in the country, but, despite this, Nixon came up with a strategy to weaken this dangerous coalition vis-a-vis the US.
To everyone’s surprise, he made a personal trip to China to assuage the communist Chinese leadership. This was real diplomacy because it was eminently in US interest to weaken that dangerous coalition, even to the point of making peace with your ideological enemy — here the Chinese communist party.
Fast forward to the situation today: surprisingly, Trump faces the exact same dangerous coalition. The proxy war in Ukraine, waged by the US/Nato, has driven the Russians into the arms of the Chinese, even though Russia is no longer a communist country, but in fact one that holds elections and is predominantly Christian.
Trump should take a page from Nixon’s playbook in order to weaken this same dangerous coalition. That would be real diplomacy a second time by a president in my lifetime. But instead of rapprochement with China, it should be with Russia.
There are many reasons why such a rapprochement with Russia makes total sense in terms of real US interest. For one, Russia is chock full of nuclear missiles aimed at us. Such a rapprochement would vastly reduce this risk. Secondly, Russia is a country rich in natural resources, so there would be enormous opportunities for US companies to mutually benefit from economic development in this country. Finally, as mentioned, Russia does hold elections and is predominantly Christian, so this country is ideologically compatible with our political regime.
Will Trump have the stones to do what Nixon did and do some real diplomacy here? It obvious what he should do. Cut off all military and political support for Ukraine, forcing a settlement of the proxy war on Russian terms. Dropping all sanctions, particularly with regard to Russian oil. Perhaps a minerals deal with Russia, like the one with Ukraine, and discussion concerning American assistance in developing Russia’s oil and natural gas resources. A personal trip to Moscow, just like Nixon did with China.
Drop Them
US should end further military aid to Ukraine completely as well as intelligence gathering. Force Kiev to capitulate to Russian demands to end the bloodshed in this ill-considered proxy war against Russia.
Ukraine Election
There should be a presidential election in Ukraine to see if the country still supports this proxy war against Russia.
During the American Civil War, in 1864 there was still a presidential election with Lincoln pitted against the peace candidate McClelland. Lincoln won and the war continued, but I don’t think that would be the case in Ukraine.
I think the Ukranian people have a right to say whether they want the proxy war against Russia to continue. Americans were given that right in 1864, even at the height of our civil war. That’s called democracy.
Putin’s Restraint
Putin’s restraint in dealing with the proxy war in Ukraine is keeping us all safe.
But what concerns me is Poland doing something irrational. The Poles hate Russia. Poland sending a missile into Russia could be catastrophic, starting something that would snowball and wouldn’t be controlled.
Aggressor
The aggressor with regard to the Ukraine proxy war isn’t Russia, but US/NATO. Russia is just defending itself against this stealth invasion by Europe.
If anything, we owe Putin a debt of gratitude for the restraint he has shown. Otherwise, we would all be in basements waiting for the missiles to fall.
This proxy war is just more insane and counterproductive US foreign policy. After Iraq and Vietnam, I guess we should expect this — foreign policy that makes no sense and that is not in our interest.
Complacency
Remarkable, that the market seems to be totally ignoring the threat of escalation in the Ukraine situation with the firing of missiles into Russia. You would think the market would be plunging, but instead it is going back to the previous high — completely ignoring the situation. I don’t get it. I really don’t understand such complacency.
Must be the notion, which is very false in my opinion, that nuclear war can’t happen because it is too catastrophic.
Russia/Ukraine
Russia is the country that defeated Nazi Germany. Do you really think they will have a problem defeating an incredibly corrupt Ukraine?
Henry's Views 