Putin’s
State of the Union
By Paul
Craig Roberts
March
01, 2018 "Information
Clearing House"
-
Putin has
given a remarkable address to the Federal
Assembly, the Russian People, and the peoples of
the world.
In his
speech Putin revealed the existence of new
Russian nuclear weapons that make it
undisputably clear that Russia has vast nuclear
superiority over the United States and its
pathic NATO vassal states.
In view of the Russian capabilities, it is not
clear that the US any longer qualifies as a
superpower.
There
is little doubt in my mind that if the crazed
neoconservatives and military/security complex
in Washington had these weapons and Russia did
not, Washington would launch an attack on
Russia.
Putin,
however, declared that Russia has no territorial
ambitions, no hegemonic ambitions, and no
intention to attack any other country. Putin
described the weapons as the necessary response
to the West’s firm refusal year after year to
accept peace and cooperation with Russia,
instead surrounding Russia with military bases
and ABM systems.
Putin
said: “We are interested in normal constructive
interaction with the United States and the
European Union and are expecting that common
sense will prevail and our partners will choose
fair and equal cooperation. . . . Our policy
will never be based on aspirations for
exceptionalism, we are defending our interests
and respect the interests of other countries.”
Putin
told Washington that its efforts to isolate
Russia with sanctions and propaganda and to
prevent Russian capability to respond to the
growing military encirclement from the West has
failed. Russia’s new weapons have made the
entire US/NATO approach “ineffective from a
military point of view.” “The sanctions to
constrain Russia’s development, including in the
military sphere… they did not work out.” They
have not been been able to contain Russia. They
need to realize this… Stop rocking the boat in
which we all sit.”
So,
what is to be done? Will the West come to its
senses? Or will the West, drowning in debt and
loaded to the gills with bloated and ineffective
military industries, intensify the Cold War that
Washington has resurrected?
I do
not think the West has any senses to come to.
Washington is totally absorbed in “American
exceptionalism.” The extreme hubris of the
“indispensable country” afflicts all. The
Europeans are bought and paid for by Washington.
I am confident that Putin was hopeful that
European leaders would understand the futility
of trying to intimidate Russia and cease to
endorse Washington’s Russiaphobia that is
leading to nuclear war. No doubt Putin was
disappointed in the idiotic response of the UK
defense minister Gavin Williamson who accused
Russia of “choosing a path of escalation and
provocation.”
My
guess is that the neoconservatives will play
down Russia’s capability, because the
neoconservatives do not want to accept that
there are any constraints on Washington’s
unilateralism. On the other hand, the
military/security complex will hype the Russian
superiority in order to demand a larger budget
to protect us from “the Russian threat.”
The
Russian government concluded from years of
frustrating experience with Washington’s refusal
to consider Russia’s interests and to work
together in a cooperative manner that the reason
was Washington’s belief that American power
could compell Russia to accept American
leadership. To shatter this Washington illusion
is the reason for Putin’s forceful announcement
of the new Russian capabilities.
In his
address, he says, “no one wanted to speak with
us. No one wanted to listen to us. Listen to us
now.” Putin stressed that Russia’s nuclear
weapons are reserved for retaliation, not for
offense, but that any attack on Russia or
Russia’s allies will receive an immediate
response “with all that it implies.”
Having
made it clear that the Western policy of
hegemony and intimidation is dead in the water,
Putin again held out the olive branch: let us
work together to solve the world’s problems.
I hope
that Russian diplomacy succeeds in bringing an
end to the rising tensions fomented by
Washington. However, Russian diplomacy faces two
perhaps insurmoutable obstacles. One is the need
for the bloated US military/security complex to
have a major enemy as a justification for its
$1,000 billion annual budget and the power that
goes with it. The other obstacle is the
neoconservative ideology of US world hegemony.
The
military/security complex is institutionalized
in every US state. It is an employer and a
source of major political campaign
contributions, which makes it almost impossible
for a senator or representative to go against
its interests. In US foreign policy circles
there is yet to appear countervailing power to
the crazed neoconservatives. The Russiaphobia
that the neoconservatives have created now
affects ordinary Americans. These two obstacles
have proved sufficiently powerful to prevent
President Trump from normalizing relations with
Russia.
Perhaps
in his next speech, Putin should address the
Europeans directly and ask them how European
interests are served by enabling Washington’s
hostilities toward Russia. If push comes to
shove, how can any country hosting US ABMs, US
nuclear weapons, and US military bases expect to
escape destruction?
Without
NATO and the forward bases it provides,
Washington cannot drive the world to war. The
basic fact of the matter is that NATO is an
obstacle to peace.
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of
the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate
editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was
columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News
Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many
university appointments. His internet columns
have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts'
latest books are
The Failure of Laissez Faire
Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West,
How America Was Lost,
and
The Neoconservative Threat to
World Order.
The
views expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Information Clearing House.
