George Orwell wrote in 1984 that "He who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present, controls the past." Governments are tirelessly working to distort public perception of the past. Regarding the war in Ukraine, Biden's administration repeatedly and falsely claimed that the war in Ukraine began with Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine on 24 February 2022. In fact, the war was provoked by the United States in a way that the leading American diplomats predicted for decades in the run-up to the war, meaning that wars could have been avoided and should now be stopped by negotiation.
Recognising that the war has been provoked helps us realize how to halt it. That doesn't justify Russia's invasion. A much better approach for Russia could be to intensify diplomacy with Europe and the non-Western planet in order to clarify and argue the militarism and uniteraryism of the United States. In fact, the continued force of the United States to grow NATO is met with widespread opposition worldwide, so Russian diplomacy alternatively than war would be effective.
Biden's squad has been constantly utilizing the word "unprovoked", late in Biden's crucial speech on the first anniversary of the war, in a fresh NATO message and in the last G7 statement. Biden-friendly mainstream media simply parrot the White House. The fresh York Times is the main culprit, describing the invasion as “unprovoked” not little than 26 times, in 5 introductory articles, 14 opinions of NET writers and 7 guest articles!
In fact, there were 2 major U.S. provocations. The first was the US's intention to extend NATO to Ukraine and Georgia in order to environment Russia in the Black Sea region by NATO states (Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and Georgia, in the other order to clockwise). The second was the function of the US in the installation of a rusophobic government in Ukraine through the brutal overthrow of pro-Russian Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014. The shooting in Ukraine began with Yanukovych's overthrow 9 years ago, not in February 2022, as the U.S. Government, NATO and G7 leaders want us to believe.
The key to peace in Ukraine is negotiations based on the neutrality of Ukraine and the non-extension of NATO.
Biden and his abroad policy squad refuse to discuss the roots of the war. Their designation would weaken the administration in 3 ways. Firstly, this would uncover the fact that wars could have been avoided or ended earlier, saving Ukraine its current devastation, and the United States more than $100 billion of its existing spending. Secondly, it would uncover the individual function of president Biden in the war as a associate in the overthrow of Yanukovych, and earlier as a staunch supporter of the military-industrial complex and a very early advocate of NATO enlargement. Thirdly, it would push Biden to the negotiating table, undermining the continuing efforts of the administration to grow NATO.
The archives clearly show that the U.S. and German governments have repeatedly promised russian president Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO will not shift "in an inch to the east" erstwhile the russian Union will dissolve the Warsaw Pact's military alliance. However, the American planning for NATO enlargement began in the early 1990s, long before Vladimir Putin became president of Russia. In 1997, national safety expert Zbigniew Brzeziński presented the NATO enlargement agenda with remarkable precision.
U.S. diplomats and Ukrainian leaders knew well that expanding NATO could lead to war. The large American student and statesman, George Kennan, called NATO's enlargement a "fatal mistake", writing in the fresh York Times that "it can be expected that specified a decision will ignite nationalist, anti-Western and militaristic tendencies in Russian opinion; have a negative impact on the improvement of Russian democracy; reconstruct the atmosphere of the Cold War in East-West relations and direct Russian abroad policy in directions that we powerfully dislike".
Secretary of defence for president Bill Clinton William Perry considered giving his resignation in protest of NATO's expansion. Remembering this landmark minute in the mid-1990s, Perry said in 2016: “Our first action, which truly turned us in the incorrect direction, took place erstwhile NATO began to expand, including the east European nations, any bordering Russia. . At that time, we worked closely with Russia and began to get utilized to the thought that NATO could be a friend alternatively than an enemy... a strong appeal not to do so.”
In 2008, the then U.S. Ambassador to Russia, and now CIA manager William Burns, sent a dispatch to Washington, D.C., informing extensively of the serious threats associated with NATO enlargement: “The NATO aspirations of Ukraine and Georgia not only contact the nerve in Russia, but origin serious concerns about the consequences of stableness in the region. Russia not only recognises the lap and attempts to weaken Russian influence in the region, but besides fears the unpredictable and uncontrolled consequences that would seriously undermine Russian safety interests. Experts tell us that Russia is peculiarly afraid about the fact that strong divisions in Ukraine on NATO membership, where most of the Russian community opposes membership, can lead to a serious break-up that involves force or, in worst case, civilian war. In specified a situation, Russia would gotta decide whether to intervene; a decision that Russia does not want to face."
Ukrainian leaders knew that pushing NATO to grow to Ukraine would mean war. erstwhile advisor to Zelenski Alexi Arestowycz stated in a 2019 interview that "our price for joining NATO is simply a large war with Russia".
From 2010 to 2013, Yanukovych exerted neutrality, according to Ukrainian public opinion. The United States secretly worked on the overthrow of Yanukovych, which was clearly captured on tape of the then assistant US Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt planning a government after Yanukovych a fewer weeks before Yanukovych's brutal overthrow. Nuland explains during the interview that she worked closely with then Vice president Biden.
After the overthrow of Yanukovych in Donbasa, the war broke out and Russia occupied Crimea. The fresh Ukrainian government called for NATO membership, and the United States armed and helped restructure the Ukrainian army to be interoperable with NATO. In 2021, NATO and the Biden administration powerfully re-engaged Ukraine's future in NATO.
In the immediate period preceding the Russian invasion, NATO's enlargement took central place. Putin's draft US-Russia Treaty (17 December 2021) called for a halt to NATO's enlargement. Russia's leaders stated NATO's enlargement as the origin of the war at the Russian National safety Council gathering on 21 February 2022. In his speech to the nation that day, Putin declared that NATO's enlargement was the main reason for the invasion.
Historian Geoffrey Roberts late wrote: “Was the war to be prevented by the Russian-Western Agreement, which stopped NATO's expansion and neutralized Ukraine in exchange for solid guarantees of independency and sovereignty of Ukraine? rather possible.” In March 2022 Russia and Ukraine reported advancement towards a fast negotiation of the end of the war based on the neutrality of Ukraine. According to Naftali Bennett, the erstwhile Israeli Prime Minister, who was a mediator, the agreement was close to accomplishment before the US, the United Kingdom and France blocked it.
While Biden's administration declares that the Russian invasion was not provoked, Russia in 2021 pursued diplomatic options to avoid war, while Biden rejected diplomacy, claiming that Russia had nothing to say about NATO's enlargement. And Russia pressed for diplomacy in March 2022 while Biden's squad again blocked the diplomatic end of the war.
Recognising that NATO's enlargement is at the heart of this war, we realize why American weapons will not end this war. Russia will escalate if essential to prevent NATO from expanding to Ukraine. The key to peace in Ukraine is negotiations based on the neutrality of Ukraine and the non-extension of NATO. The insistence of Biden's administration on extending NATO to Ukraine has made Ukraine a victim of sick understood and unattainable U.S. military aspirations. It is time to end the provocations and start negotiations on the restoration of peace in Ukraine.
Jeffrey D. Sachs
Text for https://www.commondreams.org/
