Guest Post by Paul Craig Roberts
The Kremlin emanates confusion. The Kremlin is doing its best to appease the West, and the West won’t let them. Just consider the matter of Russia servicing its foreign debt. The West has done everything possible to prevent Russia from servicing her debt, and Russia has done everything possible to turn its money over to the same West that has stolen $300 billion of Russia’s foreign reserves and is pummeling Russia with sanctions, blockades of one part of Russia to another, of massive insults, designating the Russian President Putin as a war criminal that must be tried in an international tribunal, and now a Finnish mayor on Russia’s border is advocating a NATO military base in his town even though NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that nuclear weapons might be deployed in Finland and Sweden. https://sputniknews.com/20220703/finland-mayor-mulls-placing-nato-base-directly-on-russian-border-1096913804.html
One would think that if the Kremlin insisted on servicing Russia’s small foreign debt, the Kremlin would at least pay the interest out of its stolen foreign reserves, thus setting its creditors against the sanctions.
A clued-in government would simply say to the West, “thank you very much for repudiating our debt for us.”
Europe has made it publicly clear that it intends to be 100% independent of Russian oil and gas within 3 years, and in the meantime intends to cap the price of Russian oil at half its current price. So why is the Kremlin continuing to supply Europe with energy, without which European industry simply must close down, when Europe intends to punish Russia by spurning her energy while cutting its price? Has it not yet occurred to the Kremlin that it is the energy that the Kremlin is supplying to Europe that is making it possible for Europe to flood Ukraine with weapons? The Kremlin’s policy seems designed to demoralize Russia’s armed forces.
Why hasn’t the Kremlin terminated all energy flows to Europe? Why does the Kremlin sell the West the energy with which to carry on its war with Russia? JPMorganChase says if Russia cut its oil exports by five million barrels, the oil price would rise to $380 per barrel. https://www.rt.com/business/558256-jp-morgan-alarm-oil-prices/
Why doesn’t Russia do it? Europe would immediately and totally collapse. The conflict in Ukraine would instantly end. The Kremlin could tell the Europeans that energy would reappear when Europe exits NATO. As I have previously written, the Kremlin holds all the cards but is not competent to play them.
What explains this stupidity? Russian soldiers are dying and the Kremlin is supplying the enemy with energy. I believe that the problem is that the Kremlin has a mystical belief in legalism. The Kremlin, playing goody two shoes, is trying to impress the West by showing how Russia, unlike the West, respects contracts and agreements with her enemies even when she is at war with them. It is extraordinary that the Kremlin thinks this makes any impression on the West other than a demonstration of Russian stupidity and weakness.
Consider Lithuania’s blockade of Kaliningrad, a part of Russia separated from the main geographical part of Russia. Russia complained but has done nothing. The governor of Kaliningrad said that Moscow could collapse the Lithuanian economy by counter sanctions on goods coming in and out of Baltic states. “Russia could make half of the Lithuanian economy disappear,” he said. Instead, the Kremlin emanates more confusion and hesitancy which invites more provocations.
The Kremlin back-peddles so much that the West simply does not take Russia seriously. How many times have we heard Foreign Minister Lavrov and other high ranking members of the Russian government, including Putin, say that the West is seeking to destroy Russia, that Russia will never again trust the West, that the West keeps no agreements that it makes with Russia? So why is Kremlin spokesman Peskov publicly moaning that western leaders are not interested in achieving peace in Ukraine through dialogue and negotiations. https://www.rt.com/russia/558301-west-prevent-kiev-think-peace/ Does the Kremlin really want another worthless Minsk Agreement, another agreement not to move NATO to Russia’s border? Has the Kremlin already abandoned the reason it sent military forces into Donbass–to deNazify, demilitarize, and neutralize Ukraine? Is what Russia was going to do by force now to be negotiated?
Maybe the Western whore media is correct. Ukraine is winning.
My patriotic readers are probably wondering why I am chastising the Kremlin for setting Russia up for defeat, not of course in Donbass but on the wider scene. Whose side is Roberts on? I am on the side of avoiding a wider war that will end in nuclear war. Both Washington and the Kremlin are making mistakes that will result in nuclear war. Washington pushed by neoconservative ideology is intent on hegemony and in pursuit of hegemony crosses Russian red lines. By not enforcing her red lines, Russia encourages more provocations. In effect, as I have explained, Russia’s tolerance of provocations results in more provocations. Washington no longer believes that there are any Russian red lines. This is a mistaken belief, but it is an operative one, and it is the Kremlin’s fault.
There was never any prospect of Russia’s intervention in Donbass being limited. Washington forced Russia’s intervention for the purpose of a widening war. Now both Washington and NATO are combatants in the war and are subject to the military retaliation that the Kremlin announced would be the fate of those who intervened. But there is no retaliation, not even a shut-off of energy supplies to Europe. Consequently, the West again stuck its fingers into the Kremlin’s eyes by putting Finland and Sweden in NATO. The inclusion of two historically neutral countries in the alliance formed against Russia increased NATO’s presence on Russia’s border by 832 miles. One of the reasons Russia intervened in Donbass was to neutralize Ukraine so that there would not be NATO bases on Ukraine’s border with Russia. So now the situation for Russia is there will be NATO bases along 832 miles of the Finnish-Russian border.
The Kremlin’s low-key, almost nonexistent, response to extreme provocations has encouraged all sorts of provocations from countries that Russia, if it had the will, could destroy in a wink of an eye. Turkey has seized, allegedly, a Russian flag ship with Ukrainian grain. Turkey has decided that the intended recipients can go hungry while Turkey sells the ship’s release to Russia or reestablishes its damaged relations with the West. NATO announces that other former parts of the Russian empire, such as Georgia, are being prepped for NATO membership. Washington is undermining the Russian/Kazakhstan alliance. There are new US sponsored disturbances in Uzbekistan, and so on.
The Kremlin has overlooked that the breakup of the Soviet/Russian empire created new countries whose leaders Washington can purchase to cause difficulties for Russia. The gullible, trusting Russians fell for this, and now Washington can come at them on many fronts in proxy combat. Russia, having been brainwashed by American neoliberal economists, does not know how to fight in the economic arena. All Russia has is her military, and so far the Kremlin only permits its use in a limited and constrained way. The consequence will be a demoralized Russian military.
To the West this seems like a lack of Kremlin nerve and determination, and so the West thinks it can break Russia’s will by piling on provocations. I think that the West is mistaken, but the West is encouraged to push harder by Russia’s unwillingness to put down a hard foot that would make the West realize that there really are Russian red lines.
At this time Russian red lines appear to Washington as mythical creatures like the legalisms in which the Kremlin foolishly believes.
Is the Kremlin Deaf?
U.S.-LED HOLY WAR TO CONQUER RUSSIA AND CHINA DECLARED BY POMPEO
https://southfront.org/u-s-led-holy-war-to-conquer-russia-and-china-declared-by-pompeo/
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We are killing ourselves, why should Putin or China interfere?
Deaths by the not-a-vaxx, now giving it to kids, are skyrocketing, fentanyl deaths, Chicago is a shooting gallery, Philly is zombie land. Food production is way down. Domestic manufacturing, give me a break, who is working now-a-days?
China has stopped shipping to the USSA, check out https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=monkeyworks+youtube for the latest flow of ships in the world, they ain’t coming here.
They are watching us commit suicide and we are doing a damn good job of it. Why risk that one of the nukes rotting in the silos might get through and just might detonate?
Wake up and smell the roses.
Supposedly the Russians believe they can outlast the United States because they know it is in the process of imperial collapse. The only problem with that is, it may last long enough to initiate a thermonuclear war. America doesn’t respect Russia because they haven’t been made to tow the line in its activities and actions against them. NATO knows they don’t have the manpower or resources to fight them right now, but given enough time they will have a big enough buildup to get uppity. I suspect no good will come out of either sides actions.
You must be kidding.
“NATO knows they don’t have the manpower or resources to fight them right now, but given enough time they will have a big enough buildup to get uppity.”
NATO don’t have shit.
They had 8 years to prepare Ukraine and in a few months Russia destroyed the 650K military and all of NATO’s vaunted weapons.
There is no NATO world manufacturing base and worse no manufacturing culture, no men to staff the factories, no rare earth metals, etc..
Rourke’s Drift, groogle it up, America are the Zulus? We have no skills anymore.
Perhaps Russia’s decisions on all these matters is an exercise of restraint so things don’t escalate to a nuclear exchange? Destroying Europe economically would almost certainly accelerate an escalation. Ultimately that may be unavoidable, but cooler heads should appreciate an effort to forestall that.
Think you are right about that. All the while slowly taking more and more land, Russia is also showing Europe, especially Germany, that they are still willing to deal with energy resources, food, and fertilizer. Sort of like as kids making someone say ‘uncle’. They do not want a nuclear exchange, who in their right mind does?
The author of the above article, Paul Roberts, is foolish in his thinking.
Good assessment.
The mere fact that Neocons are still directing the entire US foreign policy while everything they have ever touched has caused massive failure, death, societal collapse and financial loss tells you one thing for certain – the profiteering uniparty are not amenable to reason.
Putin is a Judo Blackbelt, and a principle of Judo is to use your opponents momentum against them.
Within 3 months, the Democrats are likely to (no thanks to the Republican leadership) become entirely focused on the near-future loss of control, and this midterm will leave Biden vulnerable to impeachment on multiple fronts.
While the Republicans are as bad as the Democrats in dragging the US (and the average Ukrainian citizens, who got no vote on any of this) into funding warfare that was brought about by the Biden and Obama appointees themselves, the average Anti-Dem voter at this point is going to be hostile to funding anything other than DOMESTIC PRIORITIES, from that point, no matter how much Stefanik or McConnell would like to make it rain unaudited cash for Ukraine.
Putin has the long game, and is winning territory to boot, while Biden is running out of time, and no matter how much cash he took from the Ukes via Hunter, he cant pay them back by himself, once he loses congressional control. It seems to me that it is in Russia’s interest to roll-up military wins at a steady pace, and wait for the midterms to play out.
The only salvation for Democrats is that the Republicans are also puppets of the same Neocon schemers, who have already betrayed the voting base by funding this conflict instead of offering an actual alternative.
Maybe the Kremlin is being so patient because they know they are winning both the kinetic war, and the economic (sanction ) war. They are not worried about defeating the west in a manner Paul Craig Roberts desires but rather in a way that best suites the interests of Russia, and her people.
Agree 100% with PCR.
In other words, Mr. Shit For Brains, PCR …… “GODDAMMIT, WHY DOESN’T PUTIN JUST START WORLD WAR III AND NUKE EVERYTHING IN SIGHT!!!!”
PCR is a worthless fuck and absolutely definitely sucks massively Diseased Donkey Dick!! PCR is just pissed that Putin won’t let him suck his cock dry.
5…4…3 …. here come the handful of down voters who slurp the shitballs from PCR’s asshole …. you’re as ignorant as he is.
Such colorful language. Your mom must be proud.
“Why are you wearing your fucking shoes in the house?!!”
Momma Stucky yelled EXACTLY that at me yesterday. Not kidding, no joke.
Yup, we are BOTH proud of each other.
We also both think you’re a fucken snowflake pussy.
Your rudeness and ignorance is exactly what is wrong with our country today. No ethics, no morals, and you slaughter our language and honor. You need to be flushed down the toilet. Again, your momma must be proud…
Not feral niggers. Not millions of rapacious illegals. Not massive inflation. Not corrupt leaders. Not crushing debt. Not Covid tyranny. Not wholesale loss of freedoms. Not endless wars. Not a broken medical system. Not the pure hatred libfuks have for Normies. Not the rampant violence breaking out everywhere.
Nooooooo! It’s my rudeness and ignorance ruining America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You ignorant slut! Take your butt-hurt snowflake faggotry and take a fucken hike. You’re gonna be a real goddamned asset when the shit hits the fan.
What are ya gonna do when 300 pound Bubba Nigga tell you he’s gonna fuck you up, cracka? Put your hands on your hips, jut out your quivering lower lip, and lisp in your high-pitched voice (cuz I KNOW you’re an actual faggot), “Your mother wouldn’t like that language, and I don’t either! Waaaa!”. I’d pay a thousand dollars to watch Bubba smash your face into the ground, and another thousand to shit in your mouth.
Get lost and don’t come back ya momma’s boy pussy. Oh, in case you’re female —> You just need to suck some good black dick. Straighten you right out.
Hey, you basically wrote down my thoughts verbatim in your first paragraph!
Maybe this melodrama has something or everything to do with the greater israel chatter. Time, as usual, will tell.
Here’s an idea, maybe Russia is playing its role as it is being instructed to by the ones behind the curtain.
Western Europe has delusions of adequacy. A region that wants to stop growing its own food so that they can “save the planet” deserves nothing but scorn. So I’d to see Putin humiliate them as soon as possible. I’ll trust that the Russians have their own reasons and their own timetable, though. Europe won’t be able to replace Russian oil and gas with American liquified natural gas for at least a year – probably two. So, there’ll be plenty of time to make those smarmy little Euro faggots in their Pee Wee Herman suits beg for mercy.
4d chess. Trust the plan
Nonsense article from start to end. Putin is in this to win, so why should he cut oil and gas supplies to his ‘enemies’ if they are foolish (and desperate) enough to pay him top dollar… rubble… Ruble and boost the Russian economy? No, the Kremlin isn’t deaf, but the author is blind to the facts.
Come on PCR, have you also gone Putin wobblily? Khazars run the Kremlin.