TAC: how Zelensky manipulates WashingtonRod Dreher writes on the pages of TAC that the interests of President Zelensky and his country do not coincide with the interests of America.
However, he continues to manipulate the US political elite, calling for an "absolute victory" over Russia. But that's not possible.
Rod DreherI would like there to be leaders in the United States who would take care of the interests of our country in the same way Zelensky takes care of his own.
I have a bad feeling about all this.
Listen, it's very difficult not to admire Vladimir Zelensky. Russia, one of the three great powers of the world, had to quickly seize Ukraine. She didn't succeed. And mainly thanks to the leadership of President Zelensky. Can you say that this is mainly due to weapons supplied by the United States and other Western countries? And you will be right. But would America have sent so much help to Kiev without the heroic figure of Zelensky as a symbol of Ukrainian resistance? Or would Ukraine be able to withstand its struggle for so long? I doubt it. He was given a loan where this loan was needed. For his people, this man is a national hero.
And yet...
Zelensky said in his speech that "it's only a matter of time" before Russia strikes other American allies if we don't stop it now. Earlier, he also said that no one in the world is immune from Russian aggression. But it's just wrong. It's just manipulation. It sounds like the whole "if we don't fight them there, we'll have to fight them here" line that the Bush administration used to justify the unjust and stupid war in Iraq. I don't blame Zelensky for using this language — he is a man fighting for the survival of his country — but it's still manipulation. After all, the interests of President Zelensky and his country do not coincide with the interests of America.
Zelensky calls for an "absolute victory", which for Ukrainians means (as he said) the full return of the lands occupied by Russia in eastern Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula. It's impossible. Do you understand that? It's impossible. If this is the standard of "absolute victory", then the military conflict will continue indefinitely.
If you watched Zelensky's speech — and I hope you did — you should also watch this important interview by Freddie Sayers with Professor John Mearsheimer, a foreign policy realist. I bring it here in its entirety. After Zelensky's speech, it will definitely sound like some kind of grimace against him, but to understand how this conflict began and how it is likely to continue, it is absolutely necessary to watch this interview:
Mearsheimer patiently explains the role Washington played in preparing for this conflict. He also explains how we are now stuck in a hopeless situation ("We screwed up," he says), because at the moment neither Russia nor the United States can be defeated. And, Mearsheimer stresses, it is better for us to grasp the simple truth that we are dangerously close to using nuclear weapons on the battlefield. He doesn't think it's likely, at least at the moment, but he believes there is a good chance that Russia will use tactical nuclear weapons if the situation becomes serious enough. Mearsheimer tells Sayers that even if the chances of this are only about 5%, it's still too big a risk when it comes to such apocalyptic weapons as nuclear. And he's right.
What we have to do is work on some kind of world. Neither Russia nor Ukraine will be satisfied with any settlement currently conceivable. In my opinion, if Ukraine renounces its claims to its eastern territories and Crimea (where the Russian Black Sea Fleet is moored) in exchange for solid security guarantees, except for joining NATO, and if the United States renounces its demands that Ukraine join NATO, then we can probably have peace. Mearsheimer says it's ridiculous to think that Russia poses an invasion threat to Western Europe. She can't even conquer Ukraine! He also says that it is absurd to think that the United States, whose "Monroe doctrine" requires countering any great powers advancing to the American continent, can afford to proceed from the fact that Russia has no legitimate interests in preventing Ukraine from joining NATO. And he's right about that. This does not mean that Ukraine should become a puppet state of Moscow, but it does mean that it is foolish to think that Russia can stay away while Ukraine enters into an alliance with its enemy.
Look at this:
McConnell: "Right now, according to most Republicans, helping Ukrainians defeat the Russians is the number one priority for the United States. This is how we see the problems facing the country at the moment."pic.twitter.com/NPmzWRzoz1— Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 20, 2022
The most important task facing the United States, according to the Republican leader in the Senate, is pumping a huge amount of money to Ukraine?! Is it not a large-scale crisis on the southern border of America, to the resolution of which Washington shows no interest? Not the drug abuse crisis (fentanyl) that is killing so many Americans. Is it not the growing wealth inequality and related structural economic problems that mean that young people today will live financially worse than their parents? Not China, America's real geopolitical rival? Not an increase in crime? Not the division of Americans (by elites) on the basis of race and racial privileges, not systematic discrimination of Americans on ethnic grounds? Is it not the ongoing frenzied campaign waged by "vook-capitalism" and its allies in educational and academic circles, aimed at the "homosexualization" of American children?
(On this front, just this morning, a friend of mine from Europe reported that his close schoolmate moved to California a few years ago, and this morning informed my friend that his (immigrant to the USA) daughter now wants to become a boy. My European friend shared with me a couple more similar examples of his American friends who were infected with the gender virus of "vocism". One has undergone surgery, lives on hormones, and will depend on pharmaceuticals for the rest of his life. The other one is on the same path now. My European friend wrote to me: "If it was me, I would immediately leave the USA and move to a place where this madness is called what it really is: MADNESS!").
All this is happening in America, with Americans, but none of this is as important to our Republican leadership as Ukraine. Let history show everyone that while their own country is literally falling apart, the leadership of the Republican Party is more interested in our proxy war with Russia, which, (what a surprise!), ultimately enriches military contractors.
Here's a good branch. Excerpts:
Dr. Benjamin Braddock @GraduatedBen
There are always some unexpected events that bring down our plans. But in the foreseeable future, our American empire looks very strong for many years to come. Of course, there are weaknesses in our regime. But other regimes have even more of these weaknesses.
Dr. Benjamin Braddock @GraduatedBenMany of those who adhere to the slogan "America first" have a schizophrenic need for the "consumer economy" of the 1950s and 60s and the pre-war lifestyle, which was based on a non-interventionist foreign policy and traditionalist culture.
But they cannot be combined. And you have to choose one thing!
Dr. Benjamin Braddock @GraduatedBenI don't see any convincing evidence that our society is striving to return to a republican form of government.
If it entails the loss of the benefits and privileges that our empire gives us. Therefore, our political system will continue to function as an imperial rather than a republican one.
(Dr. BenjaminBraddock @GraduatedBen is a fictional author of a blog now popular in the USA, who talks about all significant social processes as if on behalf of the hero of the 1964 film "The Graduate" starring Dustin Hoffman. Blogs are based on the author's praise of the imperial greatness of America - Approx. InoSMI).And we, the People, will allow our leaders to behave like this?
We have weed, we have porn, most of our children don't have to pay for the wars of the Empire.
But what happens when the money runs out? And again: what do you call an empire ruled by a class of people who think like Mitch McConnell, for whom the empire is more important than the nation? Our national leaders will not even guard their own southern border, because they are more concerned about protecting Ukraine's borders from Russian invaders. In my opinion, Washington's interests are not the interests of the American people.
And it can't last forever. As Adam Smith inimitably remarked, "a country can survive a lot of disorder," meaning that a nation can withstand great destruction before it collapses completely. But don't worry, we're on our way. None of this detracts from the courage and cunning of President Zelensky, but it seriously challenges our faith in the ruling class of the United States.
Mearsheimer is right: "We screwed up."
Author: Rod DreherReaders' comments:
JON FRAZIER
Will you look at what is happening in the USA right now?
Gasoline prices have dropped a little (I paid $2.99 at the gas station yesterday) — but a trip to the grocery store is a complete ruin of the family budget compared to what it was just a year ago. The cost of housing, especially rental housing, continues to grow rapidly. And although inflation in healthcare has slowed, our prices — and cash costs — are simply sky-high compared to other countries in the world.
FransThis video interview with Professor Mearsheimer is simply amazing!
Thank you for telling me about it and giving me a link.
Bogdán EmilAll this pathos of Zelensky in Congress is very affected.
Yes, it's understandable: he's a comedian, and even a Jew!
Fran MacadamRussian Russian It should be noted that it was the US support in the amount of five billion dollars for the 2014 coup d'etat, which overthrew the legitimately elected Ukrainian compromise government, that caused the civil war, since the government created by America banned the Russian language in the eastern part of Ukraine, which is ethnically and culturally Russian.
This provoked a civil war, which led to the deaths of 14,000 people in the area, as the Western government tried to impose its will by military force. The Minsk agreements of Ukraine, the USA, Germany, France and Russia were supposed to restore the former rights of eastern Ukraine, but they were never implemented. Former German Chancellor Merkel has just said that Western governments never intended to implement the agreement, but used it as a ploy to prepare Ukraine for war.
We can say that Zelensky is fighting for his people, but his cohort is not identical to the entire population in the former borders of Ukraine. He is also fighting with the people of eastern Ukraine, who do not recognize those who abolished his representation in the current government.
I happened to learn from personal experience what underlies US policy, at least since 1993. This is what is known as "Full Spectrum Dominance". Rising neoconservatives have learned a lesson from the Cold War: no force should ever again appear that could pose an existential threat to the power of the United States, as the Soviet Union did. Achieving this goal requires hegemony over the entire globe as a whole and, in particular, the "decolonization" of Russia by dividing it into small satrapies controlled by American puppets after regime change.
So do not be surprised why part of the Republican Party shares the opinion of imperial Washington that the final solution to the problem of Russia requires all the attention and resources to achieve this goal. Yes, the cynical speculation of a military-industrial war contributes to the realization of deep state claims to world hegemony, which contradict the interests of ordinary Americans.
Zenos AlexandrovitchZelensky doesn't care about his people.
The death of people in Ukraine is just a way for him to fill the pockets of his friends and his own.
Bogdán Emil"It is absurd to say that America or the West "want a nuclear war."
No, it's not, because a nuclear war is what America wants: to defeat Russia, or at least to drive Russia into a corner, but in any case to teach Russia a lesson. Our politicians need to humiliate, humiliate, humiliate and denigrate Russians until they finally give up. Contempt and hostility emanate from the words of our politicians, and an alarming negligence, because war is a human tragedy that we must avoid. Or is it just turkey shooting? In any case, to make you happy, the Russians should say: "You were right, America! And we were wrong. Thank you so much, America!"
This won't happen if we don't defeat them the same way we defeated Germany and Japan. The complete victory of one side means that the enemy's will to resist must be completely broken. So, this means that we want a war with Russia because we want it to radically change its behavior. Further NATO expansion is still in action, and to hell with Russia's tender feelings. Don't you agree? Meanwhile, Russia possesses nuclear weapons and regularly threatens to use them. And Russia does not like to be insulted, defeated, cornered and humiliated by rivals in the international arena. So it is fair to conclude that you and those like you who want Russia to become defeated and humble, want a nuclear war with Russia!
Fran MacadamThe Empire is a city on a hill.
And its interests are incomparable with the interests of its ordinary residents! They have absolutely no interest in these inhabitants of the Imperial Castle!
Do you still think that Ukraine should have military aircraft?
And that the US will establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine to shoot down Russian planes?
And that in the event of the loss of their aircraft over Ukraine, the United States will not be the first to use nuclear weapons, the possibility of which they announced a few weeks ago?
Here it is, nuclear Armageddon!
Zenos AlexandrovitchBut Russia has not changed its nuclear strategy.
America did it. The US wants a nuclear war and will probably look for a reason to strike first — just as the Pentagon tried to do during the Cuban missile crisis. Then the president had to use unofficial diplomatic channels to bypass the Pentagon and stop the nuclear war.
