Ray interviewed on The Critical Hour July 11, 2022, 13 minutes
The questions posed led me to comment candidly on the regrettable state of Western statesmen like EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Yes, the same Blinken who, in one breath excoriates China and the “systemic challenge” it supposedly represents, and in the next makes a pathetically quixotic attempt to cajole his Chinese counterpart to abandon Beijing’s lockstep with Russia on Ukraine. (It’s a bipolar world again: the lily-white West pitted against pretty much everyone else – most of whom are people of color.)
Blinken
Since Blinken and President Joe Biden will spend two days in Israel later this week, I called to mind the key role Blinken played in greasing the skids for the attack on Iraq in March 2003, in large part to eliminate what Israel argued was an existential threat from armed-to-the-teeth-with-WMD Saddam Hussein.
The Israelis loudly rejoiced when Biden nominated Blinken to head the State Department, The Times of Israel noting:
Tony Blinken, US President-elect Joe Biden’s choice for secretary of state, is the stepson of a Holocaust survivor whose stories shaped his worldview and subsequently his policy decisions, including in the Middle East.
I have a feeling this Middle East trip will yield as much success as Blinken and Biden were able to achieve during their recent trip to the Far East – that is, zero success.
Borrell
Josep Borrell, for his part, recently lamented that the West had failed to win a “battle of narratives” (sic) on Ukraine and – worse still – that countries of the “Global South” won’t join in punishing Russia because [get this!] they are more concerned about their own national interests. In Borrell’s dismissive words, they worry more about “the consequences of the war for themselves” than in going after the supposed culprit. Wow.
Among the other issues discussed was Lithuania’s restrictions on the passage of sanctioned material through Lithuania to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. In response, the governor of Kaliningrad has just proposed a total ban on the movement of goods between Russia and the Baltic states.
I suggested that Russia had all kinds of levers to press in these circumstances and that its response to the Lithuanians is likely to be low key and proportionate. But who knows? I’ve guessed wrong before. And the Lithuanians are not above jabbing the bear in its other eye with a more lethal stick. And, just on general principle, it’s best to avoid provoking the kind of bear not likely to be deterred by bear-spray.
This originally appeared at RayMcGovern.com.
Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. His 27-year career as a CIA analyst includes serving as Chief of the Soviet Foreign Policy Branch and preparer/briefer of the President’s Daily Brief. He is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).
July 8, 2022 Nato: By making China the enemy, the alliance is threatening world peace
As the saying goes, if you only have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. The West has the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato), a self-declared “defensive” military alliance – so any country that refuses its dictates must, by definition, be an offensive military threat.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/nato-making-china-enemy-threatening-world-peace
Yes, NATO threatens world peace by making China and Russia the enemies. NATO likes to dictate foreign policy and pick and choose the leaders of developing nations. NATO should have been hammered out when the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact were hammered out.
Blinken is the stepson of a Holocaust survivor and that shapes his worldview including that of the Mideast. If he came from an Arab Nation or Iran, he would not defend Israel’s mistreatment of Arabs or favor a war with Iran.
You get it friend and here is another good read on this topic.
JULY 12TH, 2022 CHRIS HEDGES: NATO — THE MOST DANGEROUS MILITARY ALLIANCE ON THE PLANET
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the arms industry that depends on it for billions in profits, has become the most aggressive and dangerous military alliance on the planet. Created in 1949 to thwart Soviet expansion into Eastern and Central Europe, it has evolved into a global war machine in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and Asia.
https://www.mintpressnews.com/chris-hedges-nato-most-dangerous-military-alliance/281304/
https://www.globalresearch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/us-nato.jpg
Russia may well decide on such a total ban on trade with the Baltics. Russia usually adopts low-key and proportionate responses, but these days ratcheting up the pain on the West is necessary due to the “total war” the West is conducting against it. The West wants to cut off Russia from the rest of humanity, well, two can play that game – and Russia can play it better, with the backing of most of the rest of the world.
Russia can play it better with or without “the backing of most of the rest of the world.”
The west needs Russia’s oil (or at least needs it to be on the market somewhere) more than Russia needs the west’s (or anyone else’s) trade goods.
For pretty much any given product, the Russians may or may not be able to make it as well domestically as it’s made elsewhere for export, but the Russians can make it. During the Soviet era, they often had to, and that seems to have remained a political/cultural value with them.
Amazing. For once we agree. Don’t let it go to your head.
Based on your record, I should probably reconsider my opinion on the matter. But I suspect it’s more a case of you being a broken watch that runs just enough off-kilter to be right once a month, max.
Better than only being right once a century, which appears to be your record.
Was I wrong in 2015 when I predicted that The Obama administration in general and Biden in particular were cruisin’ for a bruisin’ if they didn’t stop antagonizing Russia over Ukraine?
Was I wrong in January when I warned in that in all the “Munich” comparisons, the west was Hitler and was trying to cast Putin as Neville Chamberlain, a role he was unlikely to accept?
Was I wrong three days before the war started when I blamed fake US “diplomacy” for bringing the situation to the brink?
Was I wrong in April when I raised the bullshit flag on the “Russians are using chemical weapons in Mariupol” propaganda?
Or am I only wrong when I don’t turn into a crazed schoolgirl, throwing my panties on the stage and screaming “I love you, Lavrov!” at the top of my lungs every time the Russian Ministry of Defense holds a “briefing,” like you do?
Now you’re just trolling for applause. Give it up.
Blinken and Biden are ZIONISTS and will always obey the commands of their little Brother ISRAHELL
Not only Lithuania, the entire Europe’s NATO countries seem devoid of intellectuals or even Europeans who care about Europe. No wonder how the British were able to get them to kill each other and not learn from their WWI and WWII mistakes.