Ho hum, the US has just committed itself to another ‘forever war.’ Its faithful obedient Western allies, like puppies wagging their tails, have fallen in behind. One would think they would tire, or at least learn lessons from, the game. Seemingly not.
The just concluded, annual G7 meeting in Italy, witnessed US President Joe Biden make a commitment to enter into a 10 year agreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to bolster Ukraine’s defences against Russia’s invasion. I would guess Joe won’t be around to see how that commitment concludes, if ever.
The part of the G7 statement where it gets really scary however, is where it states, ‘In the event of an armed attack or threat of such against Ukraine, top US and Ukrainian officials will meet within 24 hours to consult on a response and determine what additional defence needs are required for Ukraine.’
That’s pretty open-ended as they say. No US or Western NATO troops are yet to be committed but such wording certainly doesn’t rule them out in the future. Remember, ‘we are only committing advisors to South Vietnam?’ Well that ended up with a peak of 500,000 US troops with feet on the, often muddy, ground.
Taking his cue from an old western, Biden promises concerning Russia, we will ‘collectively show Putin he cannot wait us out. He cannot divide us.’ There’s a commitment to a forever war! Just like the Vietcong and the Taliban couldn’t wait them out? Or maybe Joe expects to be announcing victory after just a month like George W in 2003 on an aircraft carrier festooned with ‘Mission accomplished’. That one went on for just a bit longer.
Biden and his allies seemingly don’t understand that a side waging an existential war of self existence will always out-wait the side bent on military adventurism.
And this is adventurism, and has been since 2014 when the US, with a long declared goal of taking NATO to the Russian border, fermented the Ukrainian Maidan Revolution, and subsequent coup, one straight out of the CIA playbook, ‘c for colour.’
‘To ensure Ukraine’s security, both sides recognise Ukraine needs a significant military force, robust capabilities, and sustained investments in its defence industrial base that are consistent with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) standards,’ the text says.
Of course such Western weaponry can reach far into Russia wreaking destruction. I guess Joe and his allies are gambling on Putin bluffing when he says such will dramatically ‘up’ the Russian response if such happens. If you are playing with one the West likes to simplistically portray as a ‘madman’ shouldn’t some caution be in play?
To facilitate this madness the G7 leaders cleared the way for a $US50 billion loan for Kyiv. Good money after bad one could say, except it isn’t even good money, but rather stolen goods.
The funds will come from the interest and income generated by the more than $US260 billion in seized Russian assets held by Western financial institutions. Never-mind that such seizure is illegal. Why worry about legal scruples when you have the means to by-pass them? Part reason for such seizure is for the reconstruction of Ukraine after this war is over. One would think Israel therefore may need also be worried, but no ‘they’re our boys’ and we’d never do that to friends, no matter what damage they wreak.
One wonders, or rather doesn’t need to too much, how do such actions effect confidence in the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Seemingly the US believes its ‘green-back’ is inviolable as the world’s currency. For their sake they best be right for if it loses that status, given the incredible debt they have, one which dwarfs other nations, they are really in, you know what creek.
The G7 also directed an admonition to China regards its ‘militarisation,’ including its, completely unverified, supposed provision of arms to Russia. Fancy supplying arms to a conflict! Now who would do that? What was it my mother used to say? ‘The pot calling the kettle black.’
The US led G7 clearly still believes it can throw its weight around, and the world will obediently comply to its dictates. Those days however are past, not that you would know it from perusing propaganda these days passing for mainstream Western media.
Interestingly at the same time as the gathering of the G7, the Foreign Ministers from the BRICS+ group were meeting at Novgorod (you guessed it, Russia!). As the G7 remains a narrow grouping of exclusively Western nations of declining importance, countries are lining up to join BRICS+, the ten BRICS+ members being joined by 12 ministers from other countries jostling to join, including such previously Western stalwarts as Turkey and Thailand.
One of that meeting’s conclusions. ‘A certain country, in order to maintain its unipolar hegemony, is rallying allies for unilateral sanctions, erecting protectionist barriers, and using economic and financial measures as tools or even weapons.’ Hmm..who could they mean?
John Queripel is a Newcastle-based historian, theologian, social commentator and published author of four books. His latest book, ‘In Wisdom and in Passion: Comparing and Contrasting Buddha and Christ’ has just been released. His blog may be found at www.johnqueripelblog.com.Substack / https://johnqueripel.substack.com