Remember what was called the Cuban Missile Crisis? After the U.S. had deployed nuclear missiles against the Soviet Union in Europe and Turkey, that country decided to deploy nuclear missiles to Cuba. The CIA at the time was super busy trying to assassinate Castro and upend the Cuban government. The Pentagon was seriously war-gaming first strike scenarios against the Soviet Union. The Americans pushed the world toward nuclear war demanding the Soviet missiles be removed from Cuba. Has it not been for a very sophisticated President, namely JFK, nuclear war could well have resulted.
Flash forward now to the current let’s call it Ukraine Missile Crisis. After repeatedly assuring the diminished Russia that emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union (fomented by none other than the USA) that NATO would not expand eastward, that’s precisely what the U.S. did big time. Now it is the Russians drawing the line when it comes to Ukraine, a region with long and deep historical ties to Russia and which geostrategically is critical.
The overall aggression in Europe in today’s world is not Russia threatening to invade westward, but rather the U.S. using NATO actually invading — politically, economically, and militarily — eastward and using all kinds of economic and covert means to weaken, threaten, badger, and bully Russia.
The way out of this crisis is actually not that difficult in concept. But a weak President Biden and a totally out of control American nationalist militarist right wing society make what should be done difficult to impossible for Biden and his party.
Russia is right to be demanding security guarantees for itself, to be demanding that the march of NATO to Russia’s border and the still escalating military armament of the former Warsaw Pact and Soviet countries be halted, including guarantees that Ukraine will not become part of NATO now or in the future.
Mark Bruzonsky 