Finally, an American politician — Rand Paul — stands up to the Russia-haters, and adds some sanity to American policy in regard to the Ukraine situation, which clearly has been caused by US/NATO-promoted NATO expansion, not by Russia.
Category: Russia
Lunatics in Charge
The anti-Russia politicians in Washington are the lunatics in charge of our foreign policy with regard to the Ukraine war.
US has gone off the rails. This will not end well.
Liberators
The Russian military are considered to be liberators in areas of Ukraine where ethnic Russians are the majority. You don’t get this story told by the Western press.
The ethnic Russians in Ukraine have been discriminated against for years, and they are afraid of the Ukrainian hit squads sent out to eradicate dissent.
Russian Losses in WW2
Russia lost 27 million in WW2. That is the basis of their fear of NATO and of Europe. That is the reason why this war in Ukraine happened. Europe has invaded Russia twice in history, and it isn’t an abstract thought that there could be a third invasion. In fact, Russia considers NATO’s reckless expansion eastward as the third — stealth — invasion.
Roubles, Not Dollars
Since Russia demanded to be paid in roubles for their natural gas and oil, the rouble has rebounded from its US-sanctions low and gotten all the way back to even. So one might say that the sanctions have proven to be a failure. And perhaps, worse than a failure, in that they have caused huge inflation in the West — because of the absence of Russian commodties — and even called into question the continued support for the petrodollar regime of the last 50 years.
The Russian also pegged their rouble to gold. So are we seeing the re-emergence of a gold standard and the demise of the all-powerful dollar?
Neocons in Foreign Policy and Nuclear War
The neocons in foreign policy in the State Department won’t stop their endorsement of the unlimited expansion of NATO until we have a nuclear confrontation with Russia. Their obvious objective — a holdover from the Cold War — is to destroy Russia and break it up into small parts. But the ultimate result will instead be nuclear war.
What we really need in the US is a type of diplomacy that can see both points of view in any dispute, and that can see the greater gains to be had in peace and prosperity in the spirit of seeking compromise with our supposed adversaries. That sort of diplomacy has been sadly missing now for decades. It is seen as weakness, even though it should be seen as strength.
Nuclear Confrontation
Is the US planting false flags — like the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which never happened, or supposed weapons of mass destruction, which didn’t exist — as an excuse to send troops into Ukraine or use tactical nuclear weapons against the Russians? Lots of specious and suspicious social-media comments that the Russians are losing and getting desperate, and so will try to use unacceptable weapons to even the score — false flags because the Russians are clearly winning the war.
Such false flags would mean that you and I are now at risk because of this confrontation between the West and Russia in Ukraine because now we are talking the potential of using nuclear weapons. Don’t think that Russia would not response to the use of tactical nuclear weapons against them.
US Sanctions Against Russia
They should drop the sanctions against Russia. The sanctions are going to hurt the West a lot more than they hurt Russia. Europe needs natural gas and foodstuffs from Russia. Europe needs Russia a lot more than Russia needs Europe because Russia can sell to China and India what they don’t sell to Europe. And Putin just declared that from now on, all sales in oil and natural gas will be in the ruble, not the dollar. So are we seeing the end of the petrodollar regime because of these sanctions? And I’m not even mentioning the gigantic inflationary impact that the sanctions have caused on oil and natural gas, which has a ripple effect on so many other products — so runaway inflation. And guess what, these sanctions antagonize the Russian population and so make them anti-American and even more supportive of Putin.
So, bottom line, these sanctions represent more stupid diplomacy by the US. How to shoot yourself in both feet with a single bullet — that’s US diplomacy.
Propaganda
Americans are brainwashed about Russia. It’s both the government’s constant propaganda and the anti-Russia bias of the press. Americans don’t hear a balanced view about all things Russia. It’s a steady diet of very negative commentary, so it’s understandable that Americans are brainwashed.
But what’s dangerous about this brainwashing is that it allows the government to do whatever it pleases with regard to Russia. How dangerous can this be? One only has to remember Vietnam and the second Iraq war — countries destroyed and millions killed pointlessly. Yet conflict with Russia involves nuclear weapons. It’s an entirely different level of potential devastation.
American Hatred of Russia
The hatred of Russia by the US government and the American press has just had the effect of driving Russia into the arms of China. It is the polar opposite, diplomatically, of what Nixon did with his trip to communist China, which was a ploy to separate communist China from the Soviet Union or at least create a small fissure in that relationship.
And so, to any rational person, this virulent hatred is immensely counterproductive, and yet it dominates our State Department and American foreign policy. And Americans, having been drummed into their heads that Putin is this veritable anti-Christ by both our government and the press, never entertain anything that doesn’t fit this narrative — they are brainwashed.
This will not end well for the United States.
Henry's Views 