[AmericanThinker] NATO’s war against Russia is progressing through three distinct phases: euphoria, apprehension, and despair.
Phase I. Euphoria
The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, caused a sense of euphoria in Washington and at NATO headquarters. The tactic of escalating Moscow’s anxiety about Ukraine’s impending NATO membership had proven successful. As NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a European Parliament joint committee meeting: "So he (Putin) went to war to prevent NATO, more NATO, close to his borders...."
Stoltenberg inadvertently unveiled the truth. The conflict did not begin because Putin sought to resurrect the Soviet Union or out of fear of Ukrainian democracy. Stoltenberg and the leadership of NATO were fully aware that Russia would eventually be compelled to act according to its security imperatives and invade Ukraine to alleviate the NATO threat at its borders.
The cunning aspect of this plan was a deception. NATO never had any intention of granting membership to Ukraine. Therefore, even the most fervent supporters of NATO cannot deny that it was NATO's deliberate provocation that ignited the war.
The next steps appeared pretty straightforward.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, informed lawmakers during closed-door briefings before the invasion on February 2 and 3, 2022, that an anticipated full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine might lead to Kyiv’s capture in just 72 hours.
The strategy entailed deliberately allowing Ukraine to collapse, which would prompt the West to impose devastating economic sanctions. The objectives were the destruction of the Russian economy, the resignation of Putin, and, ultimately, the elimination of Russia as a European power
After Russia’s unsuccessful attempt to capture Kiev, there was a surge of wild optimism within NATO circles. There was a prevailing notion that Russia’s military strength was not as formidable as previously believed. Thus, NATO saw an opportunity not only to destroy the Russian economy but also to defeat Russia militarily.
The US and its NATO allies decided to set aside any pretenses and fully engage in the conflict, providing Ukraine with modern weaponry, intelligence, training, financing, and all necessary resources to bolster NATO’s chances of prevailing, all while upholding a facade of plausible deniability. Ukraine was supposed to bear the brunt of battle and pay the cost in blood and destruction.
The plan held considerable plausibility, and the data supported it. In 2022, NATO’s defense budget exceeded Russia’s by 13-fold (NATO’s one trillion dollars versus Russia’s $75 billion). The combined GDP of all 31 members amounted to a staggering $46 trillion. In comparison, Russia’s GDP was a mere two trillion dollars. The population of NATO countries was 1.2 billion, while Russia had 145 million. Judging by the numbers, Russia appeared to be an easy target.
Phase II. Apprehension
Despite the numbers, the multibillion-dollar investment, the massive supply of modern weaponry, the hundreds of thousands dead and wounded, and the massive destruction of Ukraine’s infrastructure, none of the NATO objectives have been achieved two and a half years later. Putin’s grip on power remains unshaken, and the sanctions have failed to significantly affect the Russian economy. Moreover, Russia is successfully building a formidable military-industrial complex, engineering and producing weapons that often surpass Western designs in capability and innovation.
This sobering reality forced NATO to reshape the conflict and develop a new strategy. The new approach revolved around a protracted war of attrition aimed at debilitating Russia both economically and militarily.
It is becoming exceedingly evident that America and its Western allies became a hostage of sanctions and found themselves trapped between the continuation of war and economic and military realities. From this untenable situation, they could see no exit and continued doing the same things, expecting different results. The European Union has now enforced its 14th set of sanctions, prompting one to question what this latest round can achieve that the previous 13 could not. Meanwhile, NATO is in the process of organizing the provision of F-16s and other advanced weaponry to Ukraine.
Phase III. Despair
The conflict has now escalated to its most critical stage when desperate people do desperate things. As the tables turned in favor of Russia, NATO is running out of options. The situation led to a series of reckless and incendiary remarks from Western officials and NATO leaders advocating for a significant escalation of the conflict beyond Ukraine’s borders by launching attacks on Russia territory using long-range missiles supplied by NATO countries.
The US and its NATO partners are delusional and fail to realize that they are facing an unwinnable situation. It is the immutable fact that a nuclear-armed state cannot be defeated. If Ukraine loses, it will be perceived as NATO’s defeat. Conversely, if Russia falters, it will inevitably result in a nuclear war. Two and half years ago, NATO leaders provoked the Russian invasion, leading to a tragic outcome. Now, as to validate their lack of sanity, they are frantically escalating the conflict, which may lead to a catastrophe. Clearly, regardless of how we analyze the situation, it is becoming increasingly dire for the US and its allies militarily and geopolitically.
Posted by: Grom the Reflective ||
07/11/2024 10:38 ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Rusvesna] The author of the popular Telegram channel Fighterbomber, a military pilot, summed up the Kiev regime’s attempt to stage a second “Bucha”.
“Yesterday the whole world became a spectator of a grandiose performance called “they killed our children.”
Thousands of extras, absurd and senseless actions of the crowd (passing bottles of water is something), beautiful and highly artistic staged photos and videos from the ruins of one of the dozens of precision-struck targets, personally, caused only one desire in me.
To make this show become a real life for the s*** who took part in it. So that the saying "nakakali" would turn to these clowns in paint-stained robes running around red-spattered rooms with their best side.
Not a single Ukrainian child died in the hospital, which stood next to a huge military factory.
Moreover, they hit with precision, despite the work of electronic warfare in Kyiv, which was directly intended to ensure that, as a result of interference, missiles did not hit the protected military facility, but hit nearby, for example, a children's hospital.
As a result of our attack with dozens of missiles that flew hundreds of kilometers and hit military targets in the center of a once multi-million, densely populated city, no children died. The crests killed 15 civilians in Konstantinovka at once. With one blow. The whole world didn't give a shit about them. The mantra about "we are like that" is burned out with a hot iron in war. We are like that.
AN EYE FOR AN EYE, BLOOD FOR BLOOD.
At the beginning of the SVO, it was normal for the d*** (Ukrainians – ed. RV) to torture, cut and kill our prisoners in the most brutal ways.
Why do you think these cases have been reduced to a minimum? Because we are like that. And this game can be played by two people, and if necessary, we can play much better.
I'm glad the kids didn't die, and really, if they didn't die, it doesn't matter whose rocket it was. There should be more of these rockets flying.
It is necessary for the f*** (Ukrainians – ed. RV) to firmly know that for every one of our killed civilians and children they will answer tenfold.
This is the only way it has worked reliably for the last millennia."
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Evgeniy Konovalov
[REGNUM] In August 2023, a few hours after the battle, a wounded Russian soldier managed to crawl across a destroyed trench and ask for help from his opponents - a detachment of "international volunteers led by an American." Realizing that they were Americans, the soldier addressed them in a mixture of broken English and Russian. Then one of the mercenaries approached the fighter and shot him - first in the torso, the man fell, but was still breathing. Seeing this, another mercenary shot the soldier in the head, German medic Kaspar Grosse told the American publication The New York Times.
Commentary by Russian military blogger Andrey Chervonets “God is patient, but there is a limit to everything,” Pugalkina wrote on Instagram.
I’ll comment:
1) It is a great pity that children were injured (several children were caught by fragments from a fallen Ukrainian air defense missile). Children should never suffer.
2) It is a great pity that Pugachikha did not mention (and clearly not by accident, but on purpose) that it was a Ukrainian air defense missile.
I repeat once again, thank God there were no killed children and only the corner of a two-story administrative building collapsed.
Despite the attempts of Western media and Ukrainian authorities to blame Russia, the facts that it was a Ukrainian air defense missile speak for themselves. The screenshots taken from the video clearly show that the missile has fins typical of an AIM-120 (launched by the Norwegian Nasams mobile air defense system), and not an X-101.
This is evidenced not only by the scale of destruction (the Kh-101 has a warhead of 400-800 kg, while the AIM-120 has only 18-23 kg, which roughly corresponds to the scale of the defeat - the collapse of only a small part of the building and shrapnel damage to adjacent buildings), not only by the silhouette, but also by the ratio of the linear dimensions of the missile (diameter and length), and the nature of the damage.
The length of the AIM-120 missile is 366 cm, the diameter is 17.8 cm, and the ratio of length to diameter is 1/20.6. For the Kh-101, these parameters are 745 cm, 74.2 cm, the ratio is 1/10, for the Kh-55 588 cm, 51.4 cm, the ratio is 1/11.4, respectively. The screenshot from the video of the arrival clearly shows that even despite the shooting at an angle, not exactly in the side projection, the length of the missile exceeds its diameter by more than 15 times.
3) It is a great pity that the two-faced Pugakina NEVER commented on the outright genocide that her native country Israel is committing against the Palestinians. It is a great pity that she did not comment on the death of 17,000 Palestinian children at the hands of the Israeli military in a short period of several months. This is more than all the child victims in military conflicts ALL OVER THE WORLD in four years! Although why am I criticizing Alla? She probably has her own, separate God in Israel.
4) Don't be like Pugachikha - a cynical and two-faced old woman.
The initiative to recognize singer Alla Pugacheva as a foreign agent is already overdue. This opinion was expressed to a Regnum News Agency correspondent on July 10 by public figure Vadim Manukyan, commenting on the call by State Duma deputy, First Deputy Chairman of the Defense Committee Alexei Zhuravlev to recognize Pugacheva as a foreign agent and deprive her of her property in Russia for discrediting the Armed Forces.
Earlier, the singer published a post on social media about the shelling of a children's hospital in Kiev, signing it with the words that even God's patience has its limits.
Manukyan noted that over the past two and a half years, Pugacheva has repeatedly made statements that cannot be called pro-Russian.
"During this time, Pugacheva has demonstrated that she is not on Russia's side, and now she has shown what point of view she adheres to. Therefore, statements about the need to recognize her as a foreign agent are entirely justified. This initiative is long overdue. In addition, the singer herself previously asked to be included in the register of foreign agents, and now she will probably receive this status," the public figure emphasized.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, after the start of the special operation in Ukraine, Pugacheva and her husband Maxim Galkin (an individual recognized in the Russian Federation as a foreign agent) left Russia. They lived in Israel, but left after the Palestinian-Israeli conflict worsened. The singer has repeatedly spoken harshly about her native country and its residents. Thus, in March, Pugacheva posted a video message on social media in which she stated that "normal people are not going to return to Russia."
After the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, Pugacheva did not react to the tragedy for six days, and then posted that grief should supposedly be in the soul, not on social media pages. This caused a wave of indignation on the Internet.
According to political scientist and dean of the media communications department at the Moscow State Institute of Culture Yuri Kot, it is high time to recognize Pugacheva and others like her as foreign agents. He emphasized that Pugacheva is truly an enemy who has been working against Russia for a long time.
On July 8, the Kiev military administration reported that the Okhmatdet children's hospital in the Shevchenkivskyi district was allegedly damaged as a result of a missile strike on Kiev. The Russian Defense Ministry denied the accusations of a strike on civilian objects in Ukraine, adding that photographs and video footage from the destruction sites indicate that a Ukrainian air defense missile fell.
The Kremlin emphasized that the Russian Armed Forces do not, as a matter of principle, strike civilian targets during military operations, and called for reference to the statement of the defense department.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the Kiev regime's attempts to use the tragedy with the children's hospital in Kiev for propaganda inhumane. The official representative of the department, Maria Zakharova, recalled that numerous witnesses confirmed that one of the missiles of the Western NASAMS air defense system hit a building on the territory of the children's hospital.
[FoxNews] We are stretching our nation’s finances and creditworthiness so thin that we may find ourselves unable to afford to defend our vital interests
#4
I think Ace is right, that there is a lot of cover your ass going on, the story being, "oh he was fine 3 months ago?" I bet they even invent something like Sudden Onset Dementia Syndrome (SODS)
What I think is 3 months ago there was a Go/No Go meeting, and the Go took the vote, thinking they could make the line. Maybe the last three months were particularly deteriorating, but everyone who knows stuff knew this was at least 2 years in the making.
Its funny to see people like Clooney and Snuffleuppagus' ego think they have a right to have an opinion and get jerked back in line. "Cabinet member mentioned to me a problem 2 years ago" You don't say. So what did people know and when did they know it, because if some nobody reported knew, everybody knew.
They knew so hard, that when Biden went down to that Organization of American States meeting and had dinner, there were explicit instructions not to talk to even make social contact with Biden, because right before the conference he had a real no-clothes wild moment. That was 2022.
But I think the pivot will be, yes we had concerns three months ago, so we should be able to precede any of the state candidate deadlines which have expired. Because fair, and poor Uncle Joe.
I bet there is some real Game of Derps going on right now.
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[REGNUM] In August 2023, a few hours after the battle, a wounded Russian soldier managed to crawl across a destroyed trench and ask for help from his opponents - a detachment of "international volunteers led by an American." Realizing that they were Americans, the soldier addressed them in a mixture of broken English and Russian. Then one of the mercenaries approached the fighter and shot him - first in the torso, the man fell, but was still breathing. Seeing this, another mercenary shot the soldier in the head, German medic Kaspar Grosse told the American publication The New York Times.
