Ukraine, her allies and Russia: An accidental slide into global war

If the US, UK or their allied media publish it, its undeniable fact; if Russia and their allied media publish it, its exaggerated propaganda. If NATO and the US expand their military presence eastward, they are defending Ukraine, US troops thousands of miles from US shores risking war, that's ok! if Russia holds large military exercises on its own soil or in neighboring Belarus, its an aggressive mobilization of forces and encirclement of Ukraine ahead of an invasion. The much vaunted Western media is unashamedly biased and slanted in its coverage. But what else can they be, their countries are on a war footing and they, like all citizens, must fall in line behind their countries' military agendas.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Since the 1990s, NATO has done what any aggressive military alliance would do upon the internal collapse of its main adversary, the Soviet Union. It stepped in to fill the vacuum and hoovered up new members from among the detritus of the defunct Warsaw Pact, inching eastward, ever closer to the Russian border. Now Russia is telling them in no uncertain terms, enough is enough, Ukraine is our inviolable red line, cross it at your peril. 

The Russian Federation feels threatened, it's only natural, its not paranoia, it's simply because NATO is a real and not imagined threat and enemy force marching toward Russia's western border. 

But let us be fair: anti-Russian/Soviet feeling is still very high in Eastern Europe, especially in countries that elected far right candidates to their highest political office. It is only understandable since the Soviet occupation of these countries during the Cold War has left a very bad taste in their peoples' mouthes. 

Here at least, the US isn't taking the lead, it defers to the UK whose anti-Russia agenda, both that of its Foreign Office and that of the current prime minister, is well known, and there is a great deal of anger and bitterness on the British side regarding "Russia's behavior". But to be fair, Britain always had an anti-Russia stance, as it saw any powerful Russian state as a direct challenge to its longstanding policy in Europe, which essentially involves dividing the continent into camps and factions that they can easily control. 

Cheap Russian gas, Russian trade, and future security pacts with Russia must have seemed tempting for many European countries, and probably remain tempting. This competitive edge Russia has threatens Britain’s ability to politically control Europe as it once did. Once the UK found it could no longer be in control in Europe via the EU, it pulled out and decided to focus on activating NATO’s anti-Russia role. Why? You may well ask. It's simple: Russian gas and trade is vital for the major European powers: Germany and France. Cutting off Russian gas and piling on sanctions on Russia will actually weaken the major EU economies and reduce the competitiveness of their heavy industries that rely on cheap fuel. 

Weakening the main founder members of the EU, France and Germany, strengthens NATO which is the UK's way along with the US of controlling Europe. The current US President is a hard core conservative in Democrat clothing who is trying to please and appease the Russo-phobes in the US Congress from both parties, so he is in complete agreement with the UK's aggressive stance. No cooler heads shall prevail here!

The really big losers in this untenable and farcical situation that is teetering on the edge of war, will ironically be the Ukrainian people. Their territory will be where this war will be fought. Their country is awash with weapons today thanks to the West and its military industrial complex, and their right wing anti-Russia militias funded by the West are chomping at the bit to be unleashed on the Donbas region where a majority ethnic Russian population seeks Russian support to repel any attacks. The stage is set for a savage war and probably many, many massacres and counter massacres that would make Rwanda and Bosnia appear tamer conflicts by far by comparison.

Other Eastern European states and even former Soviet republics will also be sucked into the conflict in all likelihood. Even if nuclear weapons are not used, the cost of this war would be high on all states involved and will likely impact the poorer states of the world that are no where near the epicenter of the conflict. For one thing, the disruption of trade will see prices of basic food staples and medicines go up. Already, my own country Lebanon is trying to figure out ways to secure wheat supplies for the coming months and years should war in Ukraine break out. Ukraine not only supplies Lebanon with wheat, it is a major global supplier. 

This war will not be limited to Russia or Europe, and therefore the whole world should be concerned and deeply invested in ensuring it never breaks out.

Another reason the US and UK are pushing and provoking Russia into committing to a wider war with Ukraine and NATO, is that both western allies want Russia bogged down in a long drawn out land war that absorbs both lives and treasure, depleting Russian reserves of both and making it incapable of maintaining a military presence in Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. 

The prize for both these conniving countries, the US and UK, is the emergence of a weaker Russia that is subservient to western whims and dictates. But something the Russians learned a while back, and something the Iranians and Chinese already know very well, no matter how strong you are, never allow anyone to provoke you into a large military enterprise that could become an open ended conflict that sucks away all your wealth along with your population’s patience.

The Americans were stupid twice in the span of 100 years when they allowed ideology and shortsightedness to push them into the wealth-depleting vortexes of Vietnam and Afghanistan. The Iranians know not to do anything so stupid, rather they support, train, and supply allies and proxies, but never commit to full out total war. The Russians I suspect are equally smart and know not to be sucked into the Ukraine vortex.