by Oui
Thu Nov 4th, 2021 at 08:06:47 PM EST
I have voiced strong views about the choice of NATO to set a policy of division. Former US Ambassador Ivo Daalder to Brussels stated as such: make Russia a pariah state. The process followed a step-by-step procedure to boot Russia out of all channels of diplomacy and communication. Angering the Russian Bear, the expected and calculated push-back followed in response.
The so-called social revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia were prime examples of forcing regime change to get these nations into the sphere of NATO in opposition to Russia. The last NATO Summit in Bucharest under George Bush stated a clear goal to boot Russia out of NATO. What did not succeed in revolutions 2004 and 2008, succeeded in 2014 under Joe Biden and right-hand Cheney hold-out Victoria Nuland. Lots have been opinioned and written about that chapter. What followed was extensive lobbyists and utter propaganda to discipline media to write unfavorably about Russia.
This media chapter has all the hallmarks of Operation Mockingbird by US Intelligence during the hot Cold War.
Close-by on blogs and in Dutch media, there were ferocious attacks. A big effort was made to undermine relations of Old Europe with Russia. The exiled Russian billionaires living in London, Tel Aviv and New York play a role in funding NGOs and reporters.
The impact of September 11 on US-Russian relations
I'm glad to read another analysis and opinion in The Guardian today ... a worthwhile read.
Pre-dated to the 9/11 attacks on America ...
Afghanistan: A View from Moscow | Carnegie Endowment |
INTRODUCTION
In 2009, Russians somberly marked two anniversaries: that of the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and of their withdrawal in 1989. The ten-year-long war, which resulted in 14,300 soviet soldiers' deaths, remains one of the most traumatic experiences in recent Russian history. when the soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, it was at the height of its power. The United States, its rival, looked like a "pitiful and helpless giant" after seeing its ally, the Shah of Iran, toppled and its embassy in Tehran occupied, with U.S. diplomats held hostage. When the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan, their empire was entering its terminal phase. After 1989, Russians preferred not to think about Afghanistan or, indeed, the Muslim world; this became known as the "Afghan syndrome." when the Soviet Union finally collapsed in 1991, the new central Asian states were deliberately left out of the post-Soviet Commonwealth.
However, the Muslim world soon caught up with Moscow. in the 1990s Chechnya, Tajikistan, Dagestan, and Ingushetia became battlefields where Russian soldiers took on Muslim fighters who looked much like the mujahideen the Soviets had met in Afghanistan.
What the Russians discovered in the mountains of the Hindu Kush was, above all, the power of militant Islam. They also saw the limits of reforming a traditional society and the impossibility of imposed modernization. They came to appreciate the intricacies of tribal society. They had to discount the power of military force relative to the power of the purse, and the power of the purse relative to the power of religious beliefs and tribal customs. They understood that all relationships with their Afghan counterparts were essentially reversible:
An enemy would suddenly turn into an ally, and allies would easily betray them. They saw that the enemies and the allies of the moment deeply resented foreigners, even as they sought to exploit them to their own advantage. Finally, they regretted that they had not studied the British experience of a century before as they were preparing to engage themselves in the same area.
Ex-NATO SG Robertson says Putin wanted to join alliance early on in his rule | The Guardian |
Vladimir Putin wanted Russia to join NATO but did not want his country to have to go through the usual application process and stand in line "with a lot of countries that don't matter", according to a former secretary general of the transatlantic alliance.
George Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary who led NATO between 1999 and 2003, said Putin made it clear at their first meeting that he wanted Russia to be part of western Europe. "They wanted to be part of that secure, stable prosperous west that Russia was out of at the time," he said.
The Labour peer recalled an early meeting with Putin, who became Russian president in 2000. "Putin said: `When are you going to invite us to join NATO?' And [Robertson] said: `Well, we don't invite people to join NATO, they apply to join NATO.' And he said: `Well, we're not standing in line with a lot of countries that don't matter.'"
....
The account chimes with what Putin told the late David Frost in a BBC interview shortly before he was first inaugurated as Russian president more than 21 years ago. Putin told Frost he would not rule out joining NATO "if and when Russia's views are taken into account as those of an equal partner".
He told Frost it was hard for him to visualize NATO as an enemy. "Russia is part of the European culture. And I cannot imagine my own country in isolation from Europe and what we often call the civilized world."
Lord Robertson's comments on the One Decision podcast, which is presented by Michelle Kosinski, a former CNN journalist, and Sir Richard Dearlove, a former head of M16, underscore how Putin's worldview has evolved during his 21 years of unbroken rule of Russia.
NGOs and think tanks as brain trust of color revolutions
Washington Post Disgracefully Promotes a McCarthyite Blacklist From a New, Hidden, and Very Shady Group | The Intercept - Nov. 26, 2016 |
The Washington Post on Thursday night promoted the claims of a new, shadowy organization that smears dozens of U.S. news sites that are critical of U.S. foreign policy as being "routine peddlers of Russian propaganda." The article by reporter Craig Timberg -- headlined "Russian propaganda effort helped spread `fake news' during election, experts say" -- cites a report by an anonymous website calling itself PropOrNot, which claims that millions of Americans have been deceived this year in a massive Russian "misinformation campaign."
Role of NATO under Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
Op-Ed Jaap de Hoop Scheffer: "The West should respect the red lines of Russia"
NeoLibs use Gazprom as tool to break French & German energy companies by Jerome a Paris on Fri Nov 27th, 2009
President Donald Tusk on EU-NATO cooperation
We have just signed a joint EU-NATO declaration, which brings the cooperation between the European Union and NATO to the next level. The aim is clear. We want to protect European citizens with all possible means available, and there is no better partner than NATO. That is why we have agreed today to strengthen EU-NATO ties in crucially important areas. They include improving the military mobility of troops and equipment, common preparedness for cyber and hybrid attacks, fighting terrorism and stopping migrant smugglers in the Mediterranean.
Shut Down Nord Stream, Buy US Shale Gas
US President Trump opens NATO Summit breakfast with a frontal attack on Angela Merkel and German economic ties to Russia. US foreign policy is all about self-interest and fossil fuel: Middle East allies Israel and GCC states, Iraq War, Libya oil contracts and Syrian corridor for Qatar gas. Ukraine in 2014 ... undercutting Russia supplying gas to Europe, offering shale gas contracts. A long term "vision", worth going to war for? At least NATO gets emboldened with an aggressive stance from New Europe towards old Cold War foe, the Russian Federation. Just keep voicing fake news and misinformation ... the Americans living the new virtual reality of the digital age.
