NATO does not act as a unity, and it is next to impossible to understand what they are after, and how they want to achieve their goals if you listen to them talk in interviews and public statements. It is a hodgepodge of opinions, and attempts to ‘spin’ inconvenient facts for their own voters. It is like this well known statement about opinions: ‘They are like assholes. Everyone has one’. So how to anticipate on NATO’s ‘next move’?
In recent contributions I proposed taking a good look at ‘products’ from the ‘RAND Corporation’, which is no real corporation, but a ‘Policy ThinkTank’ set up with profits from the Second World War by the ‘Douglas Aircraft Corporation’, searching for a way to extend that generous source of income. In other words, it is an integral part of what Eisenhower famously called the ‘Military Industrial Complex’, which he labeled as a danger, since it tended to drag the country into wars-for-profit. Though the ‘Douglas Aircraft Corporation’ ceased to exist when it was absorbed by Boeing, the ‘RAND Corporation’ is still there, alive and doing great, producing ‘papers’ setting policy objectives for the ‘Warparty’, this mishmash of opposing politicians in Washington with one common denominator, which is that war is good for the United States.
Like I wrote recently on the ‘Turcopolier’ website, it never ceases to amaze me that ‘conservative’ Americans, and other ‘conservatives’ in NATO-countries, are cheering for Joe Biden’s war in Ukraine. Biden’s ‘signature’ is all over the project from the ‘get-go’ in 2014, when his underlings removed the elected president and his government, and replaced them with Victoria ‘Fuck the EU’ Nuland’s hand-picked team. Both Biden’s present government, and his European partners, are united behind the ‘Rainbow-colored’ flag, replacing various national colors all over the world, and a ‘Build Back Better’-agenda, which is calling for the annihilation of the ‘Old’ economy, and destruction of the Chinese/Russian 'BRI'. How ‘conservatives’ in the US, in Europe, Australia and Canada got themselves trapped in an obligation to promote these concepts, is beyond me. In fact, just like this retired German general who recently warned that we were being trapped, since we couldn’t afford war with Russia on these current terms, I’m alarmed to see former ‘Peacenicks’ taking the lead. What on earth…….!
This 2019 ‘Policy Paper’ of the ‘RAND Corporation’ describing, in minute detail, how using Ukraine to ‘Overextend’ Russia would lead to ‘Regime Change’ in Russia, and victory for NATO, although Ukraine would suffer, has been implemented. But it didn’t work. I do not care what various commentators and politicians are saying. I simply look at what this ‘Policy Paper’ prescribed, and the ‘facts on the ground’, and from that I draw my own conclusions. All those commentators and politicians may be aware of this ‘Policy Paper’, and how it reads as a blueprint for what NATO did to arrive at this station, or they may have never even heard of it. But I refuse to accept that this ‘henhouse’ of yapping ‘opinion leaders’ have a say in anything. They are being used to sell ‘Policy’, not to decide on anything. And they may tell their audience, or voters, anything, as long as they make sure that the herd will swallow the consequences whole, without complaining. Which is why we’re left with the widest possible array of ‘explanations’ and truckloads of ‘alternative facts’, which are simply lies.
Now then, even the IMF is predicting economic growth in 2023 for Russia, while almost the entire ‘west’ is facing a recession, or worse. The predicted growth is modest, but since the country contracted only by less than two and a half percent last year, where it was expected to collapse entirely, losing at least twenty-five percent of its GDP, this growth could well be a lot bigger. In Holland they managed to reduce inflation somewhat, by subsidizing energy, but those subsidies put even more pressure on the budget. The Finance minister, asked to provide an estimate of disappointing revenues which are predictable, since businesses which were suffering during the covid pandemic were provided life-support, but will not be able to pay any of it back, and since the sanctions against Russia will kill even more companies, plus various other foreseeable write-downs, came up empty. But there is a lot of pain coming our way! Like the governments elsewhere she is reluctant to be transparant about the costs of this war effort, but it is going to be huge!
Again, why generally conservative (careful) people allowed themselves to become unhinged cheerleaders for war with Russia, which we are losing, is beyond me. It has to be a lurking ‘Cold War’ sentiment killing their intellect. Some kind of clot in their brain blocking acces to the domain of their logic capabilities, or something like that. Some Russian company issued a reward for a ‘Leopard’, ‘Challenger’ or ‘Abrams’ tank, so as to be able to reverse-engineer certain key components. As a result, the British are now negotiating with Ukraine about salvage operations should one of their tanks blow a fuse, while the Americans are postponing delivery to next year, because they need to strip the tanks they are using themselves of anything the Russians might be interested in. Eventually they may deliver a couple of ‘Mickey Mouse Toys’, if Ukraine still exists in one year from now. If not, too bad for Ukraine, and too bad for Europe, which will be left with even fewer tanks, artillery, and maybe aircraft by then, to defend itself. And personally I do not expect the Russians to be interested in the remnants of Europe by that time, but ‘Rainbow’-countries may well go to war amongst themselves, over the pieces of what will be left of Ukraine, or ‘shell-shocked’ people in various European countries may be tempted to bash in the heads of people in their own country which they hold responsible for yet another lost war, and economic disaster. I’m eagerly awaiting the ‘Policy Recommendation’ from the ‘RAND Corporation’ dealing with that situation.