The NATOstan Clown Show by Pepe Escobar!
(2021-11-29 at 22:43:21 )

The NATOstan Clown Show by Pepe Escobar!

The charade has come to a point that - diplomatically - is quite unprecedented: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov lost his Taoist patience.

United States of American hysteria over the "imminent" Russian invasion of Ukraine has exploded every geopolitical Stupid-o-Meter in sight - and that is quite an accomplishment.

What a mess. Sections of the United States Deep State are in open revolt against the combo that remote controls Crash Test Dummy, who impersonates POTUS. The neocon-neoliberal axis is itching for a war - but has no idea how to sell it to an immensely fractured public opinion.

UKUS, which de facto controls the Five Eyes spy scam, excels only in propaganda. So in the end it is up to the CIA-MI6 intel axis and their vast network of media chihuahuas to accelerate Fear and Loathing ad infinitum.

Russophobic United States Think Tankland would very much cherish a Russian "invasion", out of the blue, and could not give a damn about the inevitable trouncing of Ukraine. The problem is the White House - and the Pentagon - must "intervene", forcefully; otherwise that will represent a catastrophic loss of "credibility" for the Empire.

So what do these people want??

They want to provoke Moscow by all means available to exercise "Russian aggression", resulting in a lightning fast war that will be a highway to hell for Ukraine, but with zero casualties for NATO and the Pentagon.

Then the Empire of Chaos will blame Russia; unleash a tsunami of fresh sanctions, especially financial; and try to shut off all economic links between Russia and NATOstan.

Reality dictates that none of the above is going to happen.

All exponents of Russian leadership, starting with President Putin, have already made it clear, over and over again, what happens if the Ukro-dementials start a blitzkrieg over Donbass: Ukraine will be mercilessly smashed - and that applies not only to the ethno-fascist gang in Kiev. Ukraine will cease to exist as a state.

Defense Minister Shoigu, for his part, has staged all manner of not exactly soft persuasion, featuring Tu-22M3 bombers or Tu-160 White Swan bombers.

The inestimable Andrei Martyanov has conclusively explained, over and over again, that "NATO does not have forces not only to "counter-act" anything Russia does but even if it wanted to it still has no means to fight a war with Russia."

Martyanov notes, "there is nothing in the United States arsenal now and in the foreseeable future which can intercept Mach=9-10+, let alone M=20-27, targets.

That is the issue. Same analytical method applies to a situation in 404. The only thing United States (NATO) can hope for is to somehow provoke Russia into the invasion of this shithole of a country and then get all SIGINT it can once Russias C4ISR gets into full combat mode."

Translation: anything the Empire of Chaos and its NATO subsidiary try in Donbass, directly or indirectly, the humiliation will make the Afghanistan "withdrawal" look like a House of Gucci dinner party.

No one should expect clueless NATO puppets - starting with secretary-general Stoltenberg - to understand the military stakes. After all, these are the same puppets who have been building up a situation which might ultimately leave Moscow with a single, stark choice: be ready to fight a full scale hot war in Europe - which could become nuclear in a flash. And ready they are.

It is all about Minsk

In a parallel reality, "meddling in 404" - a delightful Martyanov reference to a hellhole that is little more than a computer error - is a totally different story. That perfectly fits American juvenilia ethos.

At least some of the adults in selected rooms are talking. The CIAs Burns went to Moscow to try to extract some assurance that in the event NATO Special Forces were caught in the cauldrons - Debaltsevo 2015-style - that the Peoples Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, with Russian help, will concoct, they would be allowed to escape.

His interlocutor, Patrushev, told Burns - diplomatically - to get lost.

Chief of the General Staff, Gen Valery Gerasimov, had a phone call with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen Mark Milley, ostensibly to ensure, in Pentagonese, "risk-reduction and operational de-confliction". No substantial details were leaked.

It remains to be seen how this "de-confliction" will happen in practice when Defense Minister Shoigu revealed United States nuclear-capable bombers have been practicing, in their sorties across Eastern Europe, "their ability to use nuclear weapons against Russia". Shoigu discussed that in detail with Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe: after all the Americans will certainly pull the same stunt against China.

The root cause of all this drama is stark: Kiev simply refuses to respect the February 2015 Minsk Agreement.

In a nutshell, the deal stipulated that Kiev should grant autonomy to Donbass via a constitutional amendment, referred to as "special status"; issue a general amnesty; and start a dialogue with the peoples republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.

Over the years, Kiev fulfilled exactly zero commitments - while the proverbial NATOstan media machine incessantly pounded global opinion with fake news, spinning that Russia was violating Minsk. Russia is not even mentioned in the agreement.

Moscow in fact always respected the Minsk Agreement - which translates as regarding Donbass as an integral, autonomous part of Ukraine. Moscow has zero interest in promoting regime change in Kiev.

This charade has come to a point that - diplomatically - is quite unprecedented: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov lost his Taoist patience.

Lavrov was forced, under the circumstances, to publish 28 pages of correspondence between Moscow on one hand, and Berlin and Paris on the other, evolving around the preparation of a high-level meeting on Ukraine.

Moscow was in fact calling for one of the central points of the agreement to be implemented: a direct dialogue between Kiev and Donbass. Berlin and Paris said this was unacceptable. So yes: both, for all practical purposes, destroyed the Minsk Agreement. Public opinion across NATOstan has no idea whatsoever this actually happened.

Lavrov did not mince his words: "I am sure that you understand the necessity of this unconventional step, because it is a matter of conveying to the world community the truth about who is fulfilling, and how, the obligations under international law that have been agreed at the highest level."

So it is no wonder that the leadership in Moscow concluded it is an absolute waste of time to talk to Berlin and Paris about Ukraine: they lied, cheated - and then blamed Russia. This "decision" at the EU level faithfully mirrors NATOs campaign of stoking the flames of imminent "Russian aggression" against Ukraine.

Armchair warriors, unite!

Across NATOstan, the trademark stupidity of United States Think Tankland rules unabated, congregating countless acolytes spewing out the talking points of choice: "relentless Russian subversion", "thug" Putin "intimidation" of Ukraine, Russians as "predators", and everything now coupled with "power-hungry Chinas war on Western values."

Some Brit hack, in a twisted way, actually managed to sum up the overall impotence - and insignificance - by painting Europe as a victim, "a beleaguered democratic island in an anarchic world, which a rising tide of authoritarianism, impunity and international rule-breaking threatens to inundate".

The answer by NATOstan Defense Ministers is to come up with a Strategic Compass - essentially an anti-Russia-China scam - complete with "rapid deployment forces". Led by who, General Macron???

As it stands, poor NATOstan is uncontrollably sobbing, accusing those Russian hooligans - scary monsters, to quote David Bowie - of staging an anti-satellite missile test and thus "scorning European safety concerns".

Something must have got lost in translation. So here is what happened:

Russia conclusively demonstrated it is capable of obliterating each and every one of NATOs satellites and blind "all their missiles, planes and ships, not to mention ground forces" in case they decide to materialize their warmongering ideas.

Obviously those deaf, dumb and blind NATOstan armchair warrior clowns - fresh from their Afghan "performance" - will not get the message. But NATOstan anyway was never accused of being partial to reality.

"This relevant article, its pictures, and its links are here:"

Reprinted here from the "Strategic Culture Foundation" provides a platform for exclusive analysis, research and policy comment on Eurasian and global affairs. We are covering political, economic, social and security issues worldwide. Since 2005 our journal has published thousands of analytical briefs and commentaries with the unique perspective of independent contributors. SCF works to broaden and diversify expert discussion by focusing on hidden aspects of international politics and unconventional thinking. Benefiting from the expanding power of the Internet, we work to spread reliable information, critical thought and progressive ideas.