Inside the Washington Blob There Is No Strategic Vision

At a recent seminar sponsored by the two primary Washington think tanks, one American and another European, the subject of the war in Ukraine was discussed, as was how two upcoming significant elections in the European Parliament in June and the U.S. President in November might affect Western support for Ukraine and thus the course of the war.

The questions proposed for discussion were: What is public opinion on both sides of the Atlantic during these critical elections? Are Americans souring on the war? Are Europeans prepared to take the slack if the United States leaves the field? What will it take for both European and American leaders to continue supporting Ukraine?

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Macron Plans a Crusade

According to many French, both ordinary folks and politicians, their president Macron could think of nothing crazier to divert attention away from farmers’ problems and increase his low 24% rating. The leader of the extreme left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, said so explicitly: “Pitting one nuclear power against another nuclear power is madness.” In turn, Marine Le Pen, who represents extreme right-wing forces, said that Macron is playing with “the lives of our children.”

More influential forces, such as the Socialist Party and conservative Republicans, also condemned “the French president’s muscle play.” Notably, in the run-up to June’s European elections, Macron’s centrist liberal party is significantly behind the left and right parties in the polls.

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War in Ukraine, Neo-Nazis, and the American Jewish Committee

For the record, I knew Simon Wiesenthal well, he was an honorary member of the Board of my non-profit Andrei Sakharov Institute, and I am a contributor to his anti-Nazi Simon Wiesenthal Center. Occasionally, I contribute to some other charities, including the Holocaust memorial in DC.

The reason I mentioned the American Jewish Committee in the headline is that I keep getting numerous Dear Edward letters from AJC about their activities and requests for contributions.

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How Bill Clinton Looted Russia and Started NATO Expansion

During the Cold War there were similar dangerous moments, but John Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, as well as Ronald Reagan and Michael Gorbachev, managed to avoid the worst-case scenario. George H.W. Bush talked in 1990 about a “Europe whole and free” and a new “security architecture from Vancouver to Vladivostok,” while Boris Yeltsin, during his 1992 address to the joint chambers of Congress, exclaimed, “God bless America.”

So, what went wrong? Why are we talking about nuclear war again? According to Washington, Putin and his desire to restore the Soviet empire are to blame. Moscow points the finger back at Washington for its vision of a unipolar world order under the U.S. hegemony.

Below is my brief take, which I would be happy to debate with those who see it differently. Perhaps during such exchanges, we could come up with some ideas for avoiding our mutual extinction.

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Edward Lozansky on The Other America

The phrase “The Emperor has no clothes” belongs to the folktale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, but variations of it have been adopted for use in many countries around the world. I’d leave it to economic, financial, and military experts to analyze what is going on in their respective fields, but when it comes to democracy and values, I have a feeling that this fairytale has become reality right here in the US.

These two words – “democracy” and “values” — which have been repeated non-stop by politicians and the media, are practically devalued. Politics in general is a cynical enterprise but nowadays when we have a deeply polarized society, when the majority on both sides believes that the government is taking the country in the wrong direction, hearing the repetitive messaging of the superiority of US democracy and values is pretty pathetic.

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10 Steps to the Edge of the Abyss

At this moment, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Doomsday Clock now stands at only 90 seconds before midnight. Thus, as we move closer and closer to a nuclear World War 3, why not identify the major steps that took us to this dangerously slippery road? Who knows, perhaps this exercise could help to bring some perspective to those who are pushing us into oblivion. They have families and children too. Sometimes even the greatest villains have the moment of repentance.

Here is my take of the ten such major events in the chronological order and those responsible for them: 

1. 1998 – Beginning of NATO expansion – Bill Clinton

Many prominent former US government officials, members of Congress, diplomats, and foreign policy experts have objected to this expansion. “We’ll be back on a hair-trigger,” said Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a New York Democrat, during the debates in the Senate. Moynihan continued: “We’re talking about nuclear war. It is a curiously ironic outcome that at the end of the Cold War we might face a nuclear Armageddon.”

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