The invasion has not worked out as Moscow seems to have planned, but its troops can continue to target civilian areas in Ukraine.
By David Baron, ISRAEL HAYOM 03-10-2022 16:50
Two weeks into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, one thing is clear: President Vladimir Putin and the Russian military have failed in their goals abysmally.
Not only have Kyiv and Kharkiv not fallen into the hands of Russian troops “within two days,” but no large Ukrainian city has. This great failure is also reflected in the Kremlin’s draconian censorship of the country’s media, banning any criticism of the “special operation.”
Even in the radio show hosted by one of the Kremlin’s main campaigners, the question has come up. “If we haven’t conquered any city, then why launch this operation?” It seems that the penny is beginning to drop.
As of now, we can pinpoint three cardinal errors Putin has made.
Number one: With the launch of the operation, Putin spoke of “liberating the Ukrainian people from the Nazi leadership that seized control in Kyiv.” It seems that the entire military operation was planned based on this fantasy.
Moscow must have truly believed that as soon as its troops invaded, the Ukrainian military would flee the battlefield and Ukrainians would greet the Russian soldiers with flowers.
This directly led to mistake number two, which relates to the Russian soldiers’ morale: Almost all of the Russian POWs either gave themselves up or were deceived, having been told they were conducting an exercise but were instead told to cross the border into Ukraine.
The reality on the ground was a rude awakening for them: It became clear that they had been sent to conquer a land not theirs, a land that was neither Nazi nor welcoming.
The Kremlin failed to understand that for the Ukrainian people, the invasion was a unifying historic moment, a war reminiscent of the USSR’s Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany.
Mistake number three was disregarding the unity of the West and being confident in the ability to fragment it. Already before the war, US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and European leaders stood firm against Russia’s demands to undermine the independence of countries that were once part of the Soviet Union. And when the incursion began, they imposed unparalleled sanctions on the federation.
Within two weeks, not only has Putin’s policy exposed his regime’s criminal nature but also turned Russia into a pariah.
What is next? Although the failure of the Russian military is clear, the operation is not over and Moscow can continue to target civilian areas. Neither has Moscow given up on trying to conquer Kyiv.
Russia and Ukraine’s foreign ministers met for talks in Turkey on Thursday, but it is highly unlikely the sides will reach a ceasefire. Why? Because there is too great a gap between the actual situation the Russian military has found itself in and the image the Kremlin seeks to maintain.
Meanwhile, Ukraine will continue to deal with the bombings, and the West must realize: It might need to step up aid to the besieged country. International law, national sovereignty, and the security of democracies are on the line.
@Reader
It is economic warfare. It is brutal, useful to a point, but taken too far, as is being currently exercised, it undermines the usefulness of the dollar as the international currency – a stated required step towards Schwabb’s utopian nightmare. Perhaps this is a coincidence, but I suspect that it is a feature, not a bug, to the actions being currently taken.
You see it as Russia against the world, but in reality, Putin assured this when he invaded Ukraine. The first victims of any war are the moderates. When Putin invaded Ukraine, regardless of the provocation, he drew a line in the sand. The Western Democracies – most of whom are NATO members themselves while those European states that are not NATO members are are even less comfortable with Putin’s invasion due to their own vulnerability – were never going to side with Putin, even those who might have been inclined to do so, such as Hungary.
Regarding Putin being Hitler, I can not find any corollary to this supposition. Historical references to Hitler are pejorative and require substantiation, without which I ignore such silly name games. Putin is an authoritarian. He is shrewd, proactive and methodical in his actions. His regime is brutal at times, but that is a Russian issue, just as the Neo Nazi’s in the Ukrainian govt is a Ukrainian issue. It is no reason for any rational person to suggest going to war against either of these two regimes.
I have stated many times that Putin was clearly provoked and gave notice of the existential threat that NATO involvement in Ukraine posed to the Russians. Most of the escalation between Putin and NATO was enacted by the intentional threats uttered by Zelensky, whose motives can only be guessed at. Whatever the motivation, his political incitement and the West’s refusal to consider Russian security concerns did nothing to reduce the risk of Russian invasion, rather it escalated the threat quite precipitously.
@Felix
You misunderstand my comments and mischaracterize my statement by describing them as attacks on Reader, they are NOT an attack on Reader. I do not attack people. Not you, not Reader, Not Bear, not anyone. It is low sport to attack people for comments they make, and I dissent from such low born tactics while also requesting others to do the same. I share my ideas and contrast my view on ideas with those of others, to the best of my ability and to the best of my understanding.
Some statements are opinions, and others are facts. Reader wrote two posts regarding the sanctions on Poland and Hungary which were factually incorrect, and the first one was doubly erred. I did not, however, attack him for his inaccurate statements. I simply corrected him, as I would do with you or anyone else and anyone might do with me. The title of many articles mischaracterized the sanctions on Poland and Hungary, and this was no doubt intended by the propagandists acting as authors of this sort of shotty journalism. You or Reader or anyone can confirm my corrections or I can offer you some sources if you need them, but it would take but an easy search to confirm my statement. Reader is a good researcher and if he found my corrections false, he would have responded as such, as he should have. I have no interest in being left to think something is right when it is wrong, and neither should anyone else. If Reader took my words as an assault or attack, he shouldn’t have, and neither should you, Felix.
As far as your suggestion that Reader
I am uncertain of your words, if you could restate it, I might be able to better understand your reference or meaning.
Hitler did hate Russia, but no one is disputing this, to my knowledge, nor is it meaningfully relevant to anything I have stated. So if this is what you are referencing, yeah, Hitler hated Russia. I have never disputed this easy fact of history.
Hitler, however, has no role in this fight. The contestants are NATO and Russia. There are NeoNazi’s in Ukraine, but Ukraine is either a pawn of NATO in this crisis or it is a suicidal regime determined to force a war between NATO and Russia, the only winner of which will be China.
Regarding your statement that
I would not agree.
Any nation can wage a war of defense against a perceived existential threat, yes, but there is no need or relevance of the threat to come from a Fascist entity. The threat is real or it is not, but that has nothing to do with the state religion, political philosophy or really anything else. Again, I might have misunderstood your wording, but this is the best answer I can offer you for your question.
@peloni
I wasn’t talking about the US $, I was talking about the whole slew of sanctions applied in unison by both the US, Great Britain, and the EU without precedent, with premeditation, while drawing significant financial and political benefits for themselves (by “themselves” I don’t mean the common people), especially for the US and Great Britain, setting just about the whole world against Russia.
The “Russian invasion” was not “unprovoked and unexpected” as they now claim while comparing it to June 22, 1941 and Putin – to Hitler.
And I am not so sure that it is legal under international law “to use the power of the US dollar by the US” either, the $ being the world currency.
It looks like the US wants to cause more and more countries to move away from the $.
I am not into finance but I am starting to wonder whether there is a method to this particular madness, the method having something to do with the 30 trillion $ US debt which the US was never going to repay (Shhh! it’s a secret! ).
Peloni
What do you disagree with
Russia and any nation can wage war against a Fascist state which placed it in peril
This is the case here
In that Russia is the defensor
Peloni so why these constant attacks on Reader who has done much to illuminate Russia hatred as a key component to Hitler while you have NEVER.
Where has Phillips ever explained Russia hatred in Fascism?
One word is enough
Never!
@Reader
Actually, if it is illegal to use the power of the US dollar by the US, it is you who will have to show me what international law forbids it.
I think Ted described it best:
The US owns their currency. They can do as they please. It would of course be wise not to motivate too many nations towards finding another currency to use, just as it would be wise to use this tool in such a way that it does not completely impair their own economy. That is, of course, unless the underlying purpose is to destabilize the dollar while further escalating prices and cracking supply chains. Russia has been under repressive sanctions for many years now, not any so severe as they are currently, but they will no doubt find a way to endure this current onslaught against them as they perceive the cause of this crisis to be an existential threat to their security. It will place them even more squarely under the control of their historic enemy, China.
Beyond this, I found your long thread quite an interesting read. I do not find it to be acceptable that the Russians should be treated as the latest target of a generalized public scorn, and I believe such vile actions should be scorned by all. They have done nothing to deserve such beatings nor is there any cause in preventing their free access to healthcare(which you failed to mention) or other social activities.
That is it. Many thanks. I was entering ALMUIDA. One letter out. I think this is important article for us all.
@FelixQuigley
OK. I think this is it:
https://www.israpundit.org/the-pot-is-calling-the-kettle-black/comment-page-1/#comment-63356000246854
Reader
February 25, 2022 at 8:32 pm
Understanding Ukrainian Nazism
By Lucas Leiroz de Almeida
Global Research, February 25, 2022
https://www.globalresearch.ca/understanding-ukrainian-nazism/5772088
@FelixQuigley
I have no idea what you mean.
What was it about?
Can you give a couple of keywords?
Do you remember the source?
Globalresearch, RT, JPOST, ???
No. I posted Kevin. Before that you posted…he had a Spanish name…this terrificic piece his middle name may be Lopez
@FelixQuigley
Is this the article you meant?
Thanks, Felix.
Is it starting already?
Reader following still this Zelensky theme I’ve been pursuing
I entered into Google
“ukraine fascists did not hate Jews but Russians”
Which is not true but I was trying to.locate that first article you posted.the author had a Spanish name. It’s a valuable article.
Reader great analysis on sanctions.
You have said it all there.
To sum up MIGHT IS RIGHT AND OUR EMPIRE IS ALWAYS RIGHT!
The mistake of Peloni in that uncharacteristic piece is to remove the context.
Which is
No empire. No emperor either. Russia has now a GDP less than Texas.
Russia is victim as is Israel.
You are correct in your criticism of Peloni.
Michael thanks.
Also on this
“I just watched a very interesting video at
https://youtu.be/8X7Ng75e5gQ
— a former reporter in the Soviet Union, speaking at Yale U. He mentioned the depth of hatred nowadays against Russia, generated by the Western media, noting that it is worse now than even during the Cold War. The Russian media, of course, is doing tit for tat.”
Sebastien must be given huge credit as he already posted this video and others of this man which are vital.
Americans financed Hitler also.
@Sebastien Zorn
They didn’t do it free of charge.
There was severe unemployment in the US but the USSR had a lot of need for building of its industry.
@peloni
Quote the international law which allows this.
I don’t mean the American law or the British law which is presumed to take the place of the international law these days.
These sanctions are illegal because they are imposed at the whim of only 2 countries (the US and Great Britain) who force their “allies” (in reality their vassals or modern colonies) to join them.
These sanctions have no limit in either scope or severity, they confiscate (rob, steal) the property, businesses, and charities of another country and its citizens purely on the accusation (without due process) that in their opinion what this country or its citizens are doing or THINKING or WHO THEY ARE ALLEGEDLY BEING CLOSE TO is immoral, totalitarian, ignoble, vicious, etc., etc.
These sanctions have no limit – at this point, a famous Russian opera singer and a famous Russian conductor ave lost their jobs in Europe for not condemning Russia strongly enough (Stalin’s purges anyone?), Russian athletes (including in the Paralympics) were sanctioned (it should make it easier for the Americans and the Europeans to collect more medals, shouldn’t it?), even the Russian bred cats (?!) cannot be exhibited in the international competitions anymore!
Facebook is now allowed to publish hate speech against the “Russian soldiers” in the former Slavic countries of the Eastern Bloc.
I hope someone keeps and a list of all the sanctions if they are quick enough to update it.
The Russians who reside abroad (including the children) are beaten in broad daylight and their property destroyed, and churches defaced.
Moreover, these sanctions were discussed and planned as far back as 2019, they were designed to bring economic and political advantage to the two initiators of the sanctions, i.e.. stopping the Nord Stream 2 project in Europe in order to substitute much more expensive American liquefied gas for it, pirating hundreds of billions of $$ of Russian property (which was naively entrusted to these and the European countries for safekeeping), setting Europe and as many other countries against Russia, making sure that even though every country is impoverished, the two Anglo ones keep their ruling position on top of the heap.
Furthermore, these are the most hypocritical sanctions to date.
These unprecedented sanctions are imposed on Russia (who, BTW, decisively defeated the Nazi Germany in WWII) by the countries who joyfully participated in Hitler’s Olympics, whose elite and much of the population were on the side (and still are) of the Nazi Germany, who consciously and willingly locked the Jews in Europe so that they could be more easily slaughtered by the Germans and their local collaborators, and who consciously and actively prevented their rescue***, whose companies worked for the Germans throughout the war, who brought almost a million German POWs to the US on the returning Lend Lease ships while claiming there was no transportation for the Jewish victims, who brought in the untold numbers of Nazis and their collaborators after the war, even though it was illegal, and who after the war sought to destroy the fledgling state of Israel by employing their Arab allies (1948) or imposing arms embargoes, and who murdered millions of Untermenschen since then by carpet bombing (or nuclear bombing – Japanese) them into freedom and democracy without the consent of the UN and ignoring the international law, and who in the last two years enslaved virtually whole world by the use of the pandemic requiring unquestioning obedience from the free people and digital QR codes (which, BTW, were defeated in the “totalitarian” Russia).
Every word printed in this post IS TRUE.
THE BEHAVIOR OF THE FREE WORLD IS AKIN TO THAT OF A LYNCH MOB.
These events are especially dangerous because they establish a precedent.
Would anyone here like it if the “free world” lynch mob dicided to lynch the “Zionist entity” for whatever reason they might think up?
*** Herbert Druks The Failure to Rescue
David S. Wyman The Abandonment of the Jews
John Loftus the Secret War Agaist the Jews
@Ted
I think this is very well stated. The US has targeted Russia as the enemy and this choice long precedes this current manufactured crisis, just as it preceded the 2014 crisis as well as the 2008 crisis. This tendentious choice to v
@MICHAEL S.- Credit given when due. He’s one of a kind…T.G.
By the way have you been Vaccinated. In case not, there may be a vax in the US similar to Novavax, (or Medicago). Just arrived in Canada from India, for which I was waiting. By far the best, safest.. All proper trials done, with no side effects except maybe a red swelling for 1-2 days. NOT mRNA. based..,95% effective. Already used in India and some EU countries. I finally put my name on a waiting list.
Edgar, thanks for the kind remarks. I don’t know what Reader’s back story is. He certainly provides a “diversity” of opinions here, which is probably good for Israpundit.
Felix, you said,
I just watched a very interesting video at
https://youtu.be/8X7Ng75e5gQ
— a former reporter in the Soviet Union, speaking at Yale U. He mentioned the depth of hatred nowadays against Russia, generated by the Western media, noting that it is worse now than even during the Cold War. The Russian media, of course, is doing tit for tat.
You mentioned the germ labs — a good description because, whether they are meant for good purposes or bad, they are all about germs. They remind me of the Iraq War, which we started because we had intelligence that Sadaam was developing weapons of mass destruction. The significant difference, of course, is that the US couldn’t prove Sadaam was making WMDs, whereas the Russians today seem to have found a paper trail that the Ukrainians were doing germ research.
Only three things matter to me at the moment. The first, is that so many lies have been filling the air, I can hardly breathe. The second is that thousands are dying, on both sides, and that tremendous economic and property damage is happening. The third, of course, is that World War III, which we now seem to be in, could turn nuclear at the drop of a hat. Other than that, it’s all pretty much life as usual.
@Sebastien
Thanks for sharing that article. It was a fascinating read. I had no idea.
There’s an absolute groundswell now of hatred against Russia. Bbc is end to end coverage.
The hatred for Russia is mental…The germ labs WHAT GERM LABS???!!!
The frenzy has sucked in nearly all but not I…
You see … Being Irish I do study Holocaust. A lot.
@Peloni
“How America Helped Build The Soviet Machine” ‘Dec. ’88
https://www.americanheritage.com/how-america-helped-build-soviet-machine#2
@MICHAEL S-
As very often, you are right. It is a puzzle, Only once in my life have I met and, finally had to ignore, such a quarrelsome, denigrating, obsessively antagonistic, person, of such innate disgruntlement, who at the same time, believes that he is showing scholarship and superiority.
Makes the most outrageous claims of no validity, and not above lying and obfuscating to “prove” a point. Must roll- over all “opposition”. Like a Russian tank, in fact.
Perhaps has a theme song…”Another one bit the dust”…
I+f the sun is shining and the weather forecast is good, grumbles that it only looks that way, that it’s fake news.
A solution.,…a speedy aliyah …..to Russia.
Edgar, you said,
I assume you mean Reader (and the shoe seems to fit). Tell me if I’m mistaken.
Wikipedia:
The first question that comes to my mind is what laws, rules and regulations. The second question is should not an independent body decide what they are and whether they have been disobeyed? It seems to me that when one party to the disputes acts unilaterally to impose sanction it is denying due process.. Furthermore even if the the same have been disobeyed are there not exceptions to the rule such as self defense.
So I think that one shouldn’t be so quick to say they are legal or illegal. They are what they are, namely a tool to apply to your enemy.
Finally, on what basis are the oligarchs being sanctions? I have no idea what makes them culpable.
@Reader
Illegal sanctions? How are these sanctions illegal? Putin was goaded into acting, provoked and ignored when he warned of his serious concerns, but he acted and invaded a sovereign nation. His tanks are rolling on foreign soil. Zelensky acted with complete unsupportable arrogance threatening Putin and daring Putin to take the bait and, unfortunately for the Ukrainians and the Russians and the rest of us, he took it – hook, line and sinker. It was a mistake, a gross over step of any defensible norm . Regardless of the outcome and regardless of the incitement, however, Putin invaded a sister nation in the 21st Centry. The sanctions are not illegal and not unwarranted. They are overly severe and consequently self-harming in the extreme, but not illegal.
So you are suggesting the Americans were there to steal the country from Lenin after he successfully stole it from the Czar? LOLOL What a good idea. Perhaps they could have imported some of their successful productivity and ingenuity to help the locals along, given their severe history 🙂 (couldn’t resist that)
You could conjecture that it was actually their own disregard for their starving public, or the obscenely large losses at the front, or their history of constant invasions and Muslim wars. Doesn’t matter, though, what you would like to conjecture, the truth is that the Reds signed the death warrant, stood them up and shot them dead in cold blood. You say the British are heartless and cold, but I don’t think the British would have served up such a ruthless judgement upon their captives as the Communists dealt out to their surrendered Czar and his helpless family.
Regarding my previous comment, it was quite responsive to your own. I did not “scan” your words but read them carefully. It is a certainty that we have different perspectives on these matters and it should not surprise either of us that this is so. I read your commnet and shared my critique, which I believe was not irresponsive to your words as you suggest.
@ IGNORANCE
There is a real, America Hater, of toxic virulence on this site. NO credit even for their most wonderful achievements.
Seems to be a Russia lover, whatever denigrates the US is “manna”……
Possibly even a Chinese spy; certainly not Caucasian. Main object in life; .regard everybody and everything, pejoratively.
HILARIOUS. “Potash & Perlmutter” isn’t in it. Even Florian Slappey is outdone.
Remarkable, and NO ulcers. No nothing…….disputes with, and Instructs everybody on their lack of knowledge, seemingly universal on this site
There are ostensible (fake/convenient) reasons and real reasons.
The fake reasons were myriad and they all were very noble.
There was only one real reason – to defeat the country and to steal its land – the US especially wanted Siberia (BTW, the Americans were known to commit atrocities there).
“The brutal slaughter of the Russian Royal Family”
Their dear British royal relatives were the ones that betrayed them.
The revolutionaries had an agreement with the British that they would take the czar and his family to a northern Russian port of Murmansk (if I remember the name correctly) and put them on a ship going to England.
However, when they stopped in a town about halfway there, they received a cable from the British that they cannot accept the family because “the political situation has changed” (whatever that was supposed to mean).
The family was taken care of until the town was threatened by an attack by the “White” forces (likely most of them royalists), and they had to ask the leaders (wherever they were n the country at the time) for instructions.
The decision was made by the leaders to execute the family since it was felt that there was too much danger of them falling in the hands of the “Whites”.
So, as you can see, it was their dear British relatives who signed their death sentence.
Reposting my disappeared comment
Reader
March 11, 2022 at 2:19 am
@peloni
It is a myth that “capitalism has flourished across Europe”.
Relative prosperity as we know it only came to the working masses after WWII.
Before that, most Europeans were poor, had zillions of children, with child mortality not much different from some third world tribes who know no medical care.
Capitalism, as such, was fully developed in England and possibly France, and later in the US.
Capitalism does NOT automatically equal prosperity for most of the population.
By capitalism I mean a stage of development as defined by Marx and not as simply the absence of socialism or communism as defined by Uncle Joe Stalin in 1934.
You have to reread what I wrote.
I think you just scan it and then write whatever you think I thought when I wrote it.
I repeat, if England or the US were attacked as often and as ruinously as Russia was, or happened to be stuck for centuries under the heel of Islam (what if they had lost to the Muslims?), they would never rise to the prominence they have reached, and they themselves knew it and consciously avoided it by fomenting wars and conflicts among their competitors and colonial subjects (you have to look only at the 20th and the 21st centuries for proof.)
They also make sure that their citizens remain divided and attack each other instead of the elite and the politicians who play them like a violin.
The British rulers and politicians, in my opinion, happen to be especially clever, ruthless, calculating, and unemotional when they pursue their goals.
Addition:
I am not “suggesting that Western Capitalism is mainly comprised of the US and Great Britain”. however, they got there first and they have been playing the leading role in the world affairs ever since – just look at how almost the whole Europe toes the line with the massive and illegal sanctions imposed on Russia even if it hurts them badly.
David Baron’s article is excellent. Except that I don’t think Putin ever really expected that the Ukrainians to welcome the Russians with open arms. He is too much of a realist for that. He did expect that his soldiers would perform better and win the war more quickly than they have.
@ Edgar. Edgar, your recollection of why Germany surrendered at the end of World War I completely agrees without my own readings in the history of the period. Also, your recollection of the Allied military intervention on the side of the “Whites” in the Russian civil war and against the “Reds” is also consistent with what I have read.
In addition, though, there was deadly fear throughout Western and Central Europe, and even in the United States, of the Bolsheviks. The bolsheviks appealed to “the workers of the world” to rise up and overthrow their governments, and join them in creating an international workers” paradise. Since all of the major industrialized countries of the world did have serious labor-management conflicts, communist revolts seemed like a realistic prospect. And a communist revolution actually did break out in Bavaria. This helped convince several Western governments that they should intervene in the Russian civil war to overthrow the Bolsheviks. However, they did not send nearly enough troops into Russia to accomplish this goal. The only result was to create a lasting Russian paramnoia about th Western democracies. It is possible that is playing some role in Putin’s behavior in Ukraine.
@SEBASTIEN-
i understood that the WW1 Armistice was arranged at the behest of the German High Command, not a hurried arrangement so as to get into Russia. There was a massive strike at the beginning of 1918, then just around the beginning of November, the Kiel Naval mutiny. The Army massive counteroffensive had run out of steam, The German High Command had no option but to ask for an Armistice, which occurred about a week after Kiel…
The 1918 Russian incursions were a sort of Knee-Jerk reaction from the Allied Powers, for a myriad of reasons, some of which were, The brutal slaughter of the Russian Royal Family, which ruled for centuries. Also .they were intimately connected to every Royal House in Europe and had been also for centuries, For instance, The Russian Tsarina was Queen Victoria’s granddaughter.( “Villy” was a first cousin of the British KIng George 5th). And much more.
Rayalty held sway all throughout Europe as always. Suddenly one of the bulwarks of the “System” had collapsed and a few thousand unwashed anarchic peasants were overrunning the country, with a variety of suddenly appearing governments which rose and fell, equally armies and generals.
Royalty was suddenly on very shaky grounds with cracks appearing allover Europe , Abdications abounded. This is as far as I can recall from my reading.
I remember listening to a 90 minutes interview of Alexander Kerensky, as a very old man , many years ago. A gentle man, he impressed me very much , but I thought, not suited for the cut and thrust developments of that time.
@peloni
It is a myth that “capitalism has flourished across Europe”.
Relative prosperity as we know it only came to the working masses after WWII.
Before that, most Europeans were poor, had zillions of children, with child mortality not much different from some third world tribes who know no medical care.
Capitalism, as such, was fully developed in England and possibly France, and later in the US.
Capitalism does NOT automatically equal prosperity for most of the population.
By capitalism I mean a stage of development as defined by Marx and not as simply the absence of socialism or communism as defined by Uncle Joe Stalin in 1934.
You have to reread what I wrote.
I think you just scan it and then write whatever you think I thought when I wrote it.
I repeat, if England or the US were attacked as often and as ruinously as Russia was, or happened to be stuck for centuries under the heel of Islam (what if they had lost to the Muslims?), they would never rise to the prominence they have reached, and they themselves knew it and consciously avoided it by fomenting wars and conflicts among their competitors and colonial subjects (you have to look only at the 20th and the 21st centuries for proof.)
They also make sure that their citizens remain divided and attack each other instead of the elite and the politicians who play them like a violin.
The British rulers and politicians, in my opinion, happen to be especially clever, ruthless, calculating, and unemotional when they pursue their goals.
@Reader
By this you are suggesting that Western Capitalism is mainly comprised of the US and Great Britain? That is a bit short of the truth, don’t you think? A good bit short actually. Capitalism has flourished across Europe.
It is true that the West had less dealings with the Muslims, but the Muslims invaded as far as Vienna in western Europe, southern Italy in central Europe and midway thru France in eastern Europe. The west did not leave them there to fester and control them, they forced them out of Europe on all sides, largely. The East was not successful in fighting off this menace and, well, that is what you conjecture makes the East to be less productive or to exhibit less ingenuity? I think this is not a very sound thesis. Also, the west did not need to be constantly embroiled with the occupation or wars with the followers of Islam. They had themselves to betray, butcher and invade, and they did so with a consistent routine.
Western capitalism had two huge advantages:
1) it wasn’t overrun by the Muslims for centuries which (being overrun) effectively stopped any development of the countries conquered byIslam;
2) the British figured out early that in order for their small island to control the rest of the world, they need to make sure that:
a) their island will never gets invaded by enemy forces;
b) there is no revolution at home.
3) in order to accomplish (2) the British and later the Americans developed the divide-and-rule technique into an art form, and have been using it very successfully (adding a complete lack of scruples, excellent marketing and mind manipulation skills to the method – the end justifies the means thing) both at home and abroad.
Does anyone truly think that Western capitalism (mainly in the US and Great Britain) would ever exhibit its “productivity and inventiveness” if these countries were invaded and ruined as often as Russia was, and without being able to plunder the various lands’ riches, often by violent means?
@Sebastien
Good point
@Frank The Allied and Central Powers, including Japan, also invaded Russia in 1918, after hastily concluding WWI in an armistice to do so. I wonder why nobody mentions this in the history of interventions that might contribute to Russian “paranoia.”
Keep to analyses and stay off the insults – though this war will be for this generation what the Spanish Civil War was for those who lived the thirties and what Viet Nam was for those who lived the 60’s and 70’s.
This incursion is now for Ukraine what the shooting of the Easter Rebels was for Ireland in 1916 and what the Dos de Mayo was for Spain in the 1800’s. It has turned an entire population – inclusive the otherwise politically indifferent into nationalists.
Cleaning up must however calm Russian paranoia about the Westen invasions of the Poles in the opening 1600’s, the Swedes in the Gt Northern War in early 1700’s and Napoleon in 1812. Then in human memory the two German invasions of the late century.
This might have been avoided had Ukraine “Finlandised” before by agreeing not to join NATO or the EU. Now it will have to do so and lose the Donbas and Crimea with it – if the actual war is to stop soon and the Russians withdraw. If not the whole will grumble on badly with increasing hostilities and volatility that will do nobody any good – including the PA living on charity as oil and wheat prices rise.
For those who resent the USA the only way to do better is to relax the “thought police” and surpass the productivity and inventiveness of Western capitalism.