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| Seven console one. What will Kyiv get instead of NATO prospects |
| 2023-07-13 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Oleg Krivoshapov [REGNUM] The main result of the Vilnius NATO summit for Ukraine and for its President Volodymyr Zelensky (obviously, who considered himself a special guest of the rally of Western leaders) was, in fact, the absence of the main result. The leaders of the North Atlantic Alliance did not decide on the timing of inviting Kyiv to the alliance and bypassed the Ukrainian topic in the final communiqué. This caused undisguised irritation of Zelensky - the Western "partners" clearly and obviously did not agree with his assurances that "Ukraine will make NATO stronger." Other members of the Kyiv delegation did not hide their disappointment either. When NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (in his opening remarks on the occasion of the start of the Ukraine-NATO Council) promised to increase military support on July 12, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov remarked that unsupported security promises would not inspire confidence in Kiev. “After the Budapest Memorandum, we will not believe or simply trust the papers without any cost,” the head of the military department emphasized with obvious irritation. However, Zelensky, having not received a guarantee from NATO, is carrying something like a consolation prize from Vilnius to Kyiv. On July 12, within the framework of the NATO summit, the G7 countries (and this, we recall, the six leading countries of the alliance plus Japan) agreed on the general principles of long-term security guarantees for Ukraine. In a joint declaration, they committed themselves to increasing the supply of military equipment and ammunition to the Kiev regime, TASS reports. The G7 commitments are aimed at “Russian aggression” and include the supply of “modern military equipment in land, air and sea environments,” intelligence sharing, assistance in cybersecurity and training of the military. It is specified that "in the event of a future armed attack by Russia," Ukraine will be able to count, among other things, on economic support from the countries of the "club of seven" and on new anti-Russian sanctions. Kyiv, for its part, undertakes to reform the judicial system and the system of civilian control over the armed forces. In addition, the G7 leaders promised that Russia's assets in their jurisdictions would remain frozen until Russia "pays for the damage caused to Ukraine." No obligations and profitable business NATO, led by the United States, is not going to assume any obligations to Ukraine, political scientist-Americanist Malek Dudakov comments to IA Regnum . First of all, the leaders of the alliance intend to avoid the effect of Article 5 of the NATO Charter, which, we recall, states that if one of the countries of the bloc is attacked, everyone else will have to be drawn into the conflict. Military observer Viktor Litovkin notes that the very raising of the issue of certain security guarantees for Ukraine in the G7 format is absolutely cynical. After all, we are not really talking about guarantees, but about the supply of weapons to Ukraine. “Moreover, weapons for which Ukraine will have to pay or what remains of it,” Litovkin explained to IA Regnum “And this will be a debt for many decades, the West is now working on a program of many years of “support” for Ukraine.” That is, on the one hand, NATO refuses to accept Ukraine without a "victory over Russia", on the other hand, they make it clear to Kiev that hostilities can continue for many years in order to "contain" Russia, Litovkin notes. “Guarantees through the G7 do not mean anything other than the further pumping of Ukraine with weapons,” Dudakov agrees. Moreover, the intensity of this pumping will largely depend on the success of the APU, he adds. “Ukrainians are forced to go on a counteroffensive, despite all the losses, and they threaten to block their military tranches if they do not implement this strategy. If the “counterattack” finally fails, then, of course, funding for the Ukrainian project will be reduced ,” the international expert argues. — But this is the prospect of the end of this - the beginning of next year. At the same time, one should not exaggerate public fatigue in the United States - a key member of NATO and the G7 - from the country's involvement in the conflict in Ukraine, Dudakov notes. In any case, he believes, this factor is unlikely to “shoot” before the presidential elections in November 2024. The processes within the “Ukrainian dossier”, in which Washington is involved in one role or another, will continue, even if the scale becomes different. Litovkin also sees in the G7 declaration the desire of the West to stimulate the offensive impulse of the Kyiv regime. “This is an attempt to force Ukraine to go on the attack, to lose its people, not to reduce the intensity of hostilities, ” the expert says. - They will continue to support, send weapons, because the United States is in charge. What is their interest? American military corporations are cashing in on supplies to Europe and Ukraine.” Indeed, over the past year , the total capitalization of the 25 leading companies in the Western military-industrial complex (primarily the American Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics and the British BAE Systems) grew by 22%, jumping from $579 billion to $703 billion. with reference to Defense News and Tradingview estimates. “Europe, sending its weapons to Ukraine, will need to replenish stocks through orders from the United States. And where will the Europeans get money for armaments? They will take loans from American banks, pay loans and interest,” Litovkin argues. As The New York Times noted on July 11 , the growing demand of Europeans for American military equipment against the backdrop of the Ukrainian conflict is exacerbating the dependence of the countries of the continent on the United States. Although the Pentagon spends only 6% of its budget on the needs of NATO and strengthening security in Europe, the arms dependence of the countries of the alliance on the United States in itself provides American influence on Europeans “for a pittance”, the authors of the NYT stated. Such a mechanism makes the conflict in Ukraine an extremely profitable business for the US ruling circles, which is combined with Washington's desire to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. “Ukrainians are dying, Ukrainians are paying, Europe is paying, and the United States is only counting the profits,” Litovkin argues. Eastern Perspectives on the Ukrainian Adventure It is also important to note that the United States has pulled Japan, in addition to the five NATO partners, to the role of "guarantor" for Ukraine, says Alexei Maslov, director of the Institute of Asian and African Countries at Moscow State University . Tokyo has recently become increasingly involved in the global "defense initiatives" of the United States, the expert recalled. “Japan is now present at the NATO summit as an observer ,” Maslov told IA Regnum . - And there are also observers from Australia and New Zealand. It is planned to open a representative office of the alliance in Japan, and this is one of the first steps of its involvement in the militarized agenda, although the main stimulus for Tokyo is not the Ukrainian conflict, but the Taiwan problem.” The United States, according to the expert, is diligently linking the situation around Ukraine with the situation around Taiwan. “The United States is trying to show that the world is unstable, and NATO, led by the United States, is one of the guarantors of stability, ” Maslov notes. “ And Japan is seen in the United States as a country that NATO structures in Asia will need to rely on.” At the same time, the financial elites of Japan, according to the expert, are not interested in aggravating the political confrontation with Russia, in which it has become involved due to the anti-Russian measures of the collective West. “Japan lost a lot as a result of this conflict, it had dozens of times more interest in Russia than in Ukraine ,” the expert explains. “ Plus, Japan had very ambitious plans related to expanding cooperation with Russia.” However, the Japanese economy today is extremely dependent on decisions made in the United States, and Tokyo, according to Maslov, will be involved in absolutely all anti-Russian projects, even if the motive is not the conflict over Ukraine, but contradictions with China . And within the framework of these ties, some support for Ukraine from Japan is quite likely in the context of general support for Washington’s line on creating a global security system subordinate to it. In the dry matter "Replacement" of real security guarantees for Ukraine, which NATO membership theoretically promises, with declared guarantees from the G7 countries allow the collective West (led by the United States) to avoid real obligations to the Kiev regime, experts conclude. "Guarantees" will make it possible to aggravate Ukraine's dependence on arms supplies and loans. This format of interaction opens up grandiose prospects for the Americans to increase profits from the armed conflict in Ukraine and strengthen their leading role in the security system in Europe in the face of general instability. Europe, on the other hand, is becoming even more dependent on cooperation with the United States, although it avoids the burden of obligations to Ukraine through NATO. Japan's involvement in the Ukraine-G7 format does not entail a direct strengthening of Tokyo's role in the "Ukrainian dossier". But this draws Tokyo deeper into US global projects aimed at the emergence of "NATO+". This, among other things, means an increasing involvement in the military bloc led by the United States, which indirectly can, to a certain extent, contribute to the growth of Western military supplies to Ukraine. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #14 Photoshop pic. I stand by his..height. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2023-07-13 23:34 |
| #13 While I like the Mean Girls interpretation of the picture, it kinda looks like he is waiting for someone. However, he does appear a bit photoshoppy when you zoom in on the image, in which case all bets are off. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2023-07-13 21:16 |
| #12 The powers that be haven't decided just yet to spit Zelenskyy out and groom a new corrupt Ukrainian puppet. I still maintain that Zelenskyy should avoid hot tubs and tall buildings, but that might not be enough as they seem to enjoy the poison method in them thar hills. |
| Posted by: DooDahMan 2023-07-13 18:56 |
| #11 Fotoshopped, but the Euro-Community attitude toward 'Z' is spot on. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2023-07-13 17:16 |
| #10 Somebody is missing a life-sized GI Joe. What is he, like 5'2"? "Best money we ever spent" /Graham |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2023-07-13 15:02 |
| #9 From Murcek's link at #2: MofA then highlights the inevitable negative impact (to say the least) on Ukrainian morale: "Now lets wait and see what NATO's climb down will do to the morale and motivations of the Ukrainian army and people." IMHO, if Zelensky had the least bit of integrity, intelligence or sympathy for his needlessly suffering people he would seek an immediate cease fire and negotiations to end this bloody stupid war. Why would he even want to join NATO and the European Union when this is what they think of him? |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2023-07-13 14:37 |
| #8 Keeping the lines of sight clear. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2023-07-13 14:23 |
| #7 One take on the picture at #2 is his 15 minutes are up. Or the game is up. Or the new "current thing" will be announced tomorrow. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2023-07-13 14:20 |
| #6 War is heck when you are of the ruling caste... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2023-07-13 14:18 |
| #5 Somebody is missing a life-sized GI Joe. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2023-07-13 14:16 |
| #4 NATO leaders are too chickenshit to commit their own people to an armed conflict with Russia but they are all too happy to sit back and watch Ukrainians die for them. They are absolutely ecstatic at the deaths of Russians. The war is not over and I won't risk a prediction about the final outcome. But looking at those people in Murcek's picture at #2, laughing and partying while people are dying, makes me sick to the stomach. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2023-07-13 14:15 |
| #3 "War Effort In Shambles As Hawks Turn On Each Other" At NATO Summit |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2023-07-13 13:30 |
| #2 Everyone has their backs to him |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2023-07-13 13:29 |
| #1 You would think by now Zelensky and his henchmen would realize that they have been played in a most cynical manner. Vilnius makes it clear that NATO will fight Russia to the last Ukrainian. What can Zelensky and his boys do about it? Are they still hoping that F-16s and cluster bombs will turn the tide for them? Just like HIMARS and Leopards? |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2023-07-13 13:09 |