Gave An Inch – Took 600 Miles

In 1990, Secretary of State James Baker assured Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not expand one inch east of Germany. In thirty years, Russia has acquiesced 600 miles. Since the Baker promise NATO has wandered through Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, and Poland.

Today NATO is knocking at the border of Ukraine, a neighboring country to Russia, once part of the Soviet satellite states with a 1,500-mile border. Vladimir Putin has demanded a new promise from NATO not to expand into Ukraine. He has made it clear that he regarded the presence of any NATO troops or weapons in Ukraine as intolerable.

Post-2014 Maidan Coup
In 2014, a majority voted for independence from Kyiv. Putin asked to annex two provinces in the Donbas region. (areas high in ethnic Russians) Putin declined the offer and did not recognize their independence. When Ukraine deployed troops to this region, Putin sent a limited number of Russian special operation troops into the Donbas region.

The 2014-2015 Minsk agreements called for Ukraine to reabsorb two separatist-controlled regions while affording them special status. Instead, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky essentially declared a hot war on the predominant Russian-speaking populations in the Donbas.

Putin has been frustrated with the Ukrainian reluctance to implement the results of the Minsk agreement. He has been vocal about the treatment and attacks from the increasing Ukrainian military troops. Ukrainian troops being largely financed and equipped with US-NATO support has provoked Putin to respond. His response has brought what the U.S. described as a large and unusual troop movement near the Russian/Ukraine border.

Tuff Guy Bluster
The Biden administration’s handling of the Ukraine policies has been unclear and inconsistent. In September, President Biden pledged his support for Ukrainian Euro-Atlantic aspirations and American support for complete integration in Europe. Biden has announced a $60 million security assistance package in addition to the $400 million in security assistance the U.S. has already provided Ukraine this year.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has insisted that Washington is committed to Ukrainian territorial integrity. He warned Moscow against continuing the buildup of Russian military forces near the border with its neighbor. He has threatened to invoke Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. Article 5 states that the United States has an explicit obligation to assist another member if attacked; there is no obligation to non-members.

Even NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, has been bellicose in addressing the Putin concerns about potential NATO missiles in Ukraine aimed at Russia. He recently informed Russia that what happens on the Ukraine border is none of their business, “only Ukraine and 30 NATO allies decide when Ukraine is ready to join NATO.” He continued, “Russia has no veto, Russia has no say, and Russia has no right to establish a sphere of influence trying to control their neighbors.”

Whoa, Nelly – Not so fast!
Biden recently took a 180-degree turn on his Ukraine position. He said, “the idea the United States is going to unilaterally use force to confront Russia invading Ukraine is not in the cards right now.” “We have a moral obligation and a legal obligation to our NATO allies under Article 5 [a collective defense provision]. It’s a sacred obligation. That obligation does not extend to Ukraine,” he added.

In early December, the Biden administration was busy rallying European allies with warnings about Russian tanks rolling across Ukraine. Then, Biden abruptly says the U.S. will not be sending troops to help Ukraine in its desperate hour of need. Was his Russian invasion warnings just hyped-up propaganda, as Moscow has been saying? Why?

Unbiased Journalism?
The American corporate news media has been peddling stories disguised as news reports to ratchet up tensions with Russia. The media frenzy omits the buildup of military forces in the region by the NATO-backed Kyiv regime. Ukraine has half of its total troop numbers now positioned near the contact line against pro-Russian separatists in southeastern Ukraine. Nor is there mention of the U.S. and NATO powers having embarked on rapid deployment of warships, nuclear-capable bombers, and reconnaissance planes in the Black Sea region.

Follow The Money
Is it coincidental that the U.S. Congress just passed a new annual military budget that includes $300 million in weaponry and other support to the Ukrainian armed forces? Since the Kyiv regime was installed in 2014 by a CIA-backed coup d’état, Washington has supplied it with $2.5 billion of military aid. Close to $3 billion total in less than eight years. New weaponry includes helicopters, warplanes, warships, artillery, and Javelin anti-tank missiles. Sending massive shipments of offensive weapons to a rabidly Russophobic regime is akin to dousing a fire with gasoline.

The Ghost Of Zbigniew Brzezinski

Russian Commander General Valery Gerasimov noted that funneling the United States and NATO war material to Ukraine is the driving force behind Kyiv’s repudiation of the 2015 Minsk peace accord. Washington has emboldened Ukrainian authorities to believe they can resolve the civil war against the Donbas region through force. If the Kyiv regime launches a new offensive against the ethnic Russian people of the Donbas, Russia will be under moral pressure to intervene. It seems that the United States is trying its best to lure Russia into a quagmire of a conflict.

In this production, the Kyiv regime is playing a supporting role. Washington is playing the lead role. They are seducing Ukraine into a proxy war against Russia. If the final scene has Russian troops invading Ukraine, the Western media will blame Russia for violating Ukrainian territorial integrity, and Putin becomes the new Hitler. Then economic sanctions are imposed on Russia and the Nord Stream 2 gas project. These sanctions would benefit U.S. gas exports.

The biggest prize for Washington would be luring Russia into combat with U.S.-backed Ukrainian military battalions and Neo-Nazi splinter groups like the Azov Battalion. A page is taken from the Zbigniew Brzezinski playbook that the Carter administration employed in Afghanistan in 1979. A plan that Washington considers its finest moment. Over 15,000 Soviet troops killed, 562,000 and 2,000,000 million Afghans dead, and millions of refugees. What a moment!