by Victoria Nikiforova
[RIA] The capture of Soledar by Russian troops and a series of small but important victories in the western direction put our strategic opponents in front of an existential choice: either to surrender or get involved in a war against Russia to the point of complete destruction in earnest, without hiding behind excuses like "we are fighting here, we are not fighting here, Ukraine is here we help, and here we wrap the fish." The choice is yours, of course.
Individual humanitarians still allow themselves to whimper. “By sending tanks to Ukraine, we can turn Europe into one big radioactive grave,” mourns Peter Hitchens in the British Daily Mail . “Why did Britain sign up for this at all?” However, it is the voice of one crying in the wilderness.
Britain sends tanks to Ukraine. The Czech Republic sends tanks to Ukraine. The US is loudly saying that it is about to send tanks to Ukraine. And only Germany is still trying to resist. “As for the Leopard tanks, we cannot yet say when the decision will be made and what it will be,” Boris Pistorius, the newly appointed Minister of Defense of the country, has just mumbled on the sidelines of the meeting in Ramstein.
For this conciliatory position, the alliance allies gave Olaf Scholz a demonstrative flogging. The Baltic limitrophes spoke out in the sense that Germany should not hide behind other NATO members . American General Wesley Clark , who killed the Vietnamese and Yugoslavs , said that Ukraine should immediately be given all possible heavy weapons: "Putin <...> is planning a new offensive. <...> Ten tanks? Ukraine needs three hundred, five hundred tanks."
Finally, the wounds of the German chancellor were sprinkled with salt by the British partners. "Insecure, unimaginative leaders like Olaf Scholz are being swept away by a wave of general disgust," said Guardian columnist Simon Tisdall. Members of the alliance demonstrate high relations to us, of course.
What caused the hysteria in the ranks of our opponents? Firstly, the fear of the steady advance of Russian troops and the inevitable defeat of the Armed Forces of Ukraine . Secondly, by the realization of the sad fact that they are running out of not only 155mm shells, but also fighting Ukrainians, and a new one is unlikely to help here - the sixth or seventh already in a row? - mobilization in Ukraine.
This means that NATO countries must either capitulate or get involved in the Ukrainian conflict in an adult way. The same Simon Tisdall suggests that Europe "fight with everything it has, even with the risk that the national armies of European countries will be directly involved in the conflict."
Notice that there is not a single mention of the NATO bloc here - only national armies. The fact is that in the United States today they are doing everything to blur and blurt out the fifth article of the Charter of the alliance, if only to ensure themselves the opportunity to avoid direct confrontation with Russia and steer the conflict from across the ocean, drinking mojitos by the pool, while European cannon fodder will die where something near Kupyansk.
The British Guardian tells Washington how to elegantly evade responsibility. Let the “national armies” of European countries invade Ukraine, then the White House will not have to save NATO allies.
Translated into Russian, this means that the Anglo-Saxons have already fought to the last Ukrainian and are now planning to fight to the last European. Indeed, why feel sorry for them?
However, it is difficult to imagine a German burgher or a French bourgeois who suddenly, for some reason, goes to the Eastern Front to defend Ukrainian independence. The population there, of course, is pretty fooled by propaganda, but still shedding blood for Zelensky is a completely unconventional way of suicide. Europe is not yet ready for this.
Therefore, the Anglo-Saxon elites are pushing away the annoying mantras about helping the Ukrainians, and openly saying that the Europeans should do away with Russia. "The Russian Empire must die," Ann Applebaum, a well-known American journalist and prominent expert on the Gulag, recently formulated .
Thank you for your frankness, we already, in general, understand everything. The bottom line here is that Ukrainian independence as a trophy of Europeans, of course, is not of interest. But if you convince them that we are talking about the defeat and plunder of Russia, then it will be a completely different matter. On the ruins of the Soviet Union, the EU elites feasted for a decade. The crumbs from the geopolitical pie that Brussels shared with Washington were also given to ordinary people.
Up until 1991, the European Union was not a very wealthy and not very confident entity on the map. Since the 90s, he has gone up. Old Europe ruthlessly milked the post-Soviet borderlands and squeezed all the juice out of the countries of the former Warsaw Pact. They relied on a shock economy, degradation, depopulation, and for their own there was a strong euro, strong economic growth, cheap loans and all the delights of consumerism.
Now this feast of the winners has ended - abruptly and mercilessly. The only hope to renew it is the robbery of Russia. To do this, she must be defeated on the battlefield. This is the carrot that their Anglo-Saxon friends hang in front of the Europeans. For themselves, they have chosen the role of managing the conflict, but the citizens of the EU will have to experience this conflict in their own skin.
A separate carrot is reserved for Poland , Washington's favorite wife in the European harem. Citizens there are invited to die in order to return the Eastern Kresy, the western regions of Ukraine, to the country.
However, with the open intervention of the European military in the conflict in Ukraine, the risk of a nuclear strike immediately arises. How to deal with it? The population of both the US and Europe is not alien to the natural human fear of nuclear war. Jeremy Corbyn in Britain, Elon Musk and Donald Trump in the States even risk voicing this fear publicly. It is he who slows down the flywheel of the conflict.
Simon Tisdall suggests European cannon fodder not to be afraid. All the same, they say, "military escalation is inevitable." Why is it inevitable? But because the West supplies weapons to Ukraine and plans to supply even more advanced ones: tanks, air defense systems, aircraft. The idea of "closing the sky over Ukraine" constantly pops up. That is, Washington itself stirs up the conflict, and then, as if mocking its allies, shrugged it off: you see, they say, escalation is inevitable, go to the front. And as for the fifth article - as they say, "we'll see."
Striking, of course, is the cynicism of these figures, who, sitting in their comfortable offices, program the Europeans for war and make no secret of the fact that they are leaving them to certain death. "Let's not let fear influence our decisions," Ann Applebaum tries . "The less we show our fear, the more we will scare Putin."
So far, however, the opposite has been observed. Trying to confront Russia, NATO allies do their best to hide behind each other's backs, pushing the poorest and most stupid to the front lines. First pushed out to fight the Ukrainians. Now they are running out, and Poles are being pushed to replace them. The Poles are resisting and trying to recruit those Ukrainians who fled to Europe to the front.
The Baltic limitrophes are hiding behind the backs of the Poles. The Germans are sitting behind the backs of the Baltic states. In the rear, the French are waiting for the Germans, followed by the Italians, Spaniards and tutti quanti. Cowardly vassals are generously rewarded with kicks from the boots of Uncle Sam, who is freely spread out in a deck chair on the other side of the Atlantic.
And what caused all this fuss? Yes, fear, of course. Our strategic opponents in horror are pushing each other under a possible response from Russia and are frantically trying to participate in the conflict without running into retribution.
For the Europeans, even two deterrent factors work here: not only Russian nuclear weapons, but also an impressive historical memory. Do not count how many of their ancestors, who went to conquer and plunder Russia, rest today in our vast expanses. As Pushkin noted, there will be enough space for new conquerors - "among coffins that are not alien to them," so to speak.
