Special Edition | Clarification

"When a dove flaps its wings in China,
the wind currents shift for thousands of miles across mountains and seas …
everything we do has a ripple effect … we're all interconnected and have
a responsibility to look out for one another in future generations."

Stories from the Zhuangzi

I Apologize

Please accept my heartfelt apologies for stating: "Ukraine is expendable." No! Not one country, not one person, is expendable.

               "When a dove flaps its wings in China, the wind currents shift thousands of miles across mountains and seas …

               Everything we do has a ripple effect …

               We're all interconnected and are responsible for looking out for one another in future generations."

This is What I Wrote (Our Friday News Analysis, 2 December 2022, Paragraphs 5 and 7)

"The Kremlin knows that countries like the Netherlands, Germany, France, and others in the European Union do not want nuclear craters in their backyards. Sooner than later, the EU leadership will cave into Russian demands. Another world war is unacceptable, reprehensible, and unpardonable. Ukraine is expendable. And now, with 20-20 hindsight, the people of Europe are beginning to realize that the EU-US/NATO could have prevented Russia's response to the EU-US/NATO aggression. (Read John Mearsheimer on Putin's Ambitions After Nine Months of War – The realist American political scientist explains why Russia's move to annex four Ukrainian provinces isn't imperialism, by Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker Magazine, 17 November 2022)."

…

"Does it make sense that the EU-US/NATO Axis risk the lives of 800 million people to save one of the poorest and most corrupt countries on earth? The US-EU/NATO Axis should never have persisted in tormenting Ukraine to become its vassal state and proxy between East and West."

This is What I Meant

The EU-US/NATO Axis should NEVER have persisted in tormenting Ukraine to become its proxy serving its EU-US/NATO masters as cannon fodder and human shields at the frontlines of the EU-US/NATO war against Russia. The clowns in Brussels and the bozos in Strasbourg, still parading as world leaders, must sue for peace. Unless the EU amputates NATO from usurping its authority, the EU political elite will soon be held accountable for negligence by their electorate. The people of Europe want their elected officials to explain WHY.

Why did they opt for war when they could have diplomatically resolved the impasse between the Russian Federation and Ukraine?

1. Why did the EU allow NATO to arm Ukraine to the hilt with state-of-the-art NATO conventional weaponry since 2014?
2. Why did the EU allow NATO to expand its sphere of influence from the original 14 NATO countries to the present 30, each fortified with a proportional share of the NATO nuclear arsenal?
3. Why did the EU allow NATO to intimidate and provoke the Russian Federation by targeting the NATO atomic arsenal from 30 NATO members, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, since 2014, risking thermonuclear annihilation?

Why didn't the EU choose a live-let-live route instead of the irreversible kill-get-killed option? How could the EU even fathom that surrendering its leadership to NATO could save the day? Could the EU still make a difference? Can the clowns in Brussels and the bozos in Strasbourg now drop Ukraine and its people like a hot potato and rewrite the script? If any leadership is left among those fools and buffoons, they can still posture themselves to reach a win-win resolution.

The EU can still embolden Ukraine to become an economical conduit between the Russian Federation and the European Union. Ukraine could earn new capital from both East and West as their respective trading partners. Instead of perpetrating war against the Russian Federation and bolstering the Ukrainian civil war against the Nationalists in the West of Ukraine against the Separatists in the East, the EU could have and still can mitigate the Russian-Ukraine conflicts:

1. The EU could have and still can guarantee the safety of all Ukrainians, including Ukrainians of Russian descent.
2. The EU could have and still can guarantee Russia's access to the seaports on the Black Sea, including Odesa.
3. The EU could have and still can secure the pipelines, Europe's lifelines, flowing with oil and gas.

I've often asked myself, what have these suckers in Brussels and Strasbourg been smoking, notwithstanding the jokers in the European capitals – The Hague, Berlin, Paris, Madrid, etc.? Do they think Russia will capitulate? The blame game has begun. How will they justify their negligence, their abandonment of fundamental tasks and duties to keep Europe safe from a nuclear holocaust? Despite the €93.8 billion – €52.3 billion came from the United States, €29.2 billion came from the European Union, and €12.3 billion came from other countries, mainly the United Kingdom) – sunk into Ukraine from 24 January to 3 October 2022, derived from 40 countries in financial, humanitarian, and military aid to Ukraine, Ukraine (and the EU- US/NATO) is losing the war against the Russian Federation. And why did Brussels and Strasbourg allow NATO to send €billions of military support to Ukraine between 2014 and 2023 with the sole intent of provoking Russia, an offensive strategy under the guise of defense? Could these pranksters not imagine that the Russian Federation would counter with a preemptive strike? It’s a fight to the death. Russia will neither cave in nor give up. Russians will not compromise their national soul.

So, what has Ukraine gained?

1. Ukraine has ‘gained’ a brain drain of millions of Ukrainians who have sought refuge in the EU or Russia.
2. Ukraine has ‘gained’ a new neighbor in East Ukraine, a new territory voted by 86 percent of its inhabitants to become part of the Russian Federation.
3. In want of warmth inside their homes, Ukraine has ‘gained’ increased power blackouts with freezing temperatures outside.
4. For every 10 Ukrainians killed, Ukraine has ‘gained’ one dead Russian.
5. Finally, Ukraine has ‘gained’ growing resistance from its people against their government. They no longer want to serve NATO as cannon fodder and human shields, especially under harsh winter conditions.

Thank you, EU-US/NATO, for all your assistance. The more military aid, the more Ukrainians dead. Worse, if left with no choice, Russia will retaliate and opt for nuclear defense. For the moment, the Russian Federation will continue to turn off the lights to obstruct Ukrainians from heating their homes and from driving their cars. Russia’s strategy is to signal the Ukrainians to revolt against the present NATO puppets in Kyiv. It should not go unnoticed that the Kremlin could quickly decimate Ukraine. By eliminating Ukraine, NATO won’t have a vassal state to fight its war against Russia. For the moment, Russia is counting on the Ukrainian people's needs, wants, and interests – their collective intelligence – to end the nightmare in Kyiv. The present Junta in Kyiv cannot survive. The will of the Ukrainian people will eventually prevail.

As I stated in Our Friday News Analysis, Paragraphs 5 and 7, 2 December 2022,

               “With 20-20 hindsight, the people of Europe are beginning to realize that the EU-US/NATO could have prevented Russia's response to the EU-US/NATO aggression.”

               "The Kremlin knows that countries like the Netherlands, Germany, France, and others in the European Union do not want nuclear craters in their backyards.”

In previous editions, I asked, “who will come to Ukraine’s rescue if Russia decimates Ukraine to ashes?” Will Article 5 prevail? Will all NATO members retaliate in kind? No! Who wants a nuclear crater in their backyards?

               "Does it make sense that the EU-US/NATO Axis risk the lives of 800 million people to save one of the poorest and most corrupt countries on earth? The US-EU/NATO Axis should never have persisted in tormenting Ukraine to become its vassal state and proxy between East and West."

If the EU continues to surrender its leadership to NATO, the EU will disintegrate. On 9 October 2015, I stated in my article, ‘A European Agenda to the World’s Stage:’

               “We Europeans now know more than ever before about walking the tightrope, forging consensus among dozens of nations, and balancing the need to regulate and supervise cross-border interactions.

               Concurrently we must recognize the interests and culture of each country.

               These skills are needed to get us all out of the dilemma.”

“… from Europe, we see the leadership style necessary to bring the world together over its many challenges rather than watching nations divide into warring camps over finite resources while the planet’s atmosphere overheats. Truly we are all in the same boat now, and the European Way comes closest to manifesting that awareness”.

Steven Hill
Europe’s Promise …
Why the European Way is the Best Hope in an Insecure Age

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Read more: New York Times Guest Essay, ‘World War II Begins with Forgetting,’ by Stephen Wertheim, New York Times, 2 December 2022

Dear Abraham,

President Biden has warned that sending U.S. forces into Ukraine would mean “World War III.” But how many Americans appreciate what such a conflict would entail? Just as the United States now faces the real and regular prospect of war with a major rival, the generation of Americans who experienced the Second World War is disappearing. Meanwhile, most citizens and leaders alive today are unused to enduring almost any hardship for foreign policy choices.

In a new article for the New York Times, I write that the United States must prepare by undertaking a national effort of historical recovery and imagination — first and foremost, to enable policymakers and the public to decide how far to go to risk calamity. With so much at stake, our leaders must raise public awareness to avoid bringing about the worst-case outcome.

Sincerely,
CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE

Stephen Wertheim
Senior Fellow
American Statecraft Program

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The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of the Building the Bridge Foundation, The Hague.