Sunday, July 20, 2014

Leo Kolivakis — On the Brink of Another World War?


The fact that we are asking this question is worrisome, and actions of supposedly responsible people in the West rushing to judgment is a bad sign of hubris.

Might be premature to project WWIII, but "the situation is fluid." Western grandstanding could backfire. Fortunately, Vladimir Putin is remaining cool —so far. But if he is driven into a corner, he will react. Washington is pretty sure of this and the neocons are fixed on driving him into a corner. Will President Obama be stupid enough to get sucked into this? Let's hope not.

Best not to go around poking bears in the eye.

Pension Plus
On the Brink of Another World War?
Leo Kolivakis

Shortly after we first reported about the MH-17 tragedy, we said that the key variable would be proving who the shooter was, as the grand fingerpointing theater was about to begin. We also noted that the actual answer to "who did it" was irrelevant, for the great propaganda machine had already made up its mind and was on overdrive. It promptly led to such ridiculous comments from non other than the Pentagon which said that, on one hand: 

'STRAINS CREDULITY' SA-11 FIRED WITHOUT RUSSIAN AID: KIRBY
 and yet:
'WE JUST DON'T KNOW' WHO FIRED SA-11 MISSILE AT PLANE: KIRBY
So, "we don't know who did it" as long as Putin did it.…
As expected, the narrative that the jet was shot down over Ukraine by Putin promptly became the go to version of the western media, and in the absence of actual facts, the appeal to emotions took over and quickly hit a fever pitch. Below is a sampling of some UK newspaper front pages. Clearly, facts be damned, the media knows all already.
Once again the answer is simple: Western military intervention, this time in the conflict zone, under the guise of public anger against Putin, to reinforce the dwindling Ukraine army forces and to repel the separatists, in the process regaining the critical industrial regions of Ukraine which also are the location of vast natural gas deposits. Certainly showing to Gazprom just who was in charge of this key natural gas nexus wouldn't hurt either. After all the west has already invested so much in the current Ukraine government, it can't all be for nothing. 
And we know that because a few hours ago, the biggest Dutch newspaper, Telegraaf, openly asked for military intervention by NATO to protect MH 17 and calls Putin a "KGB liar."

6 comments:

Magpie said...

Australian PM Tony Abbott's readiness to point fingers while the situation remains unclear is not only troubling, it's deeply suspicious.

Call me cynical, but I don't put it past him to take advantage of this tragedy for his gain.

"Malaysia Airlines flight MH17: Furious Tony Abbott demands Vladimir Putin account for ‘crime’"
PUBLISHED: 19 JUL 2014 02:59:00 | UPDATED: 20 JUL 2014 11:06:15
http://www.afr.com/p/world/malaysia_airlines_flight_account_UY1zgiovsJuTsIcbF02WCM

Putin is no saint, but neither are the Ukrainians... or Abbott.

Peter Pan said...

If only Putin had intervened to protect Russians in the war zone, as we might have expected him to. Are continued gas sales to Europe that important?

NATO is in no position to intervene militarily. And surely Washington realizes that a nuclear war with Russia is not winnable??

mike norman said...

Putin is remaining "cool" because of outrage by the oligarchs, who are seeing their precious wealth impacted by sanctions. Putin is as much under the control of the oligarchs as everyone else.

Tom Hickey said...

I am now pretty convinced that the US is already at war with Russia and the Russian military almost certainly realizes it.

This is a very dangerous situation since the Russians are very wary of the US doctrine of a preemptive strike, whereas that was pretty much ruled out during the Cold War. Russia will accordingly have its nuclear arsenal targeted at annihilating the US and the NATO countries and on standby as a countermeasure.

What could go wrong here? It's all failsafe, right?

Tom Hickey said...

Putin is remaining "cool" because of outrage by the oligarchs, who are seeing their precious wealth impacted by sanctions. Putin is as much under the control of the oligarchs as everyone else.

Much less so than elsewhere in that he has already demonstrated the power to take them out selectively and to let some go into exile abroad selectively as he chooses. Russia is traditionally an authoritarian state and the majority of Russians seems to like it that way. His approval is way high for a national leader.

Roger Erickson said...

Well, the sterling history of the F35 certainly proves that the DoD is more than READY for another world war. :(