Patrick L. Smith — The U.S.-Russia “phony war”: How Washington warmongers could bring us from stalemate to catastrophe

Lots of background info.

“Kerry is now sidelined on Ukraine, it seems, since his four hours with Putin last May,” a prominent Russianist wrote in a personal note 10 days ago. “Another escalation by the war party—headed, I think, by [Vice President] Biden, [Senator] McCain, et al.”

There are actually three war parties in the US or three factions of the same war party, depending on how one looks at it — the Straussian neocons like Robert Kagan, the Scoop Jackson war hawks like John McCain, and in the background but perhaps most influential, the deep state including the clandestine services, some of the military general staff, and the military-industrial complex that profits from hostilities and has an interest in keeping them going.

Salon
The U.S.-Russia “phony war”: How Washington warmongers could bring us from stalemate to catastrophe

Patrick L. Smith, Salon’s foreign affairs columnist