Putin’s State of the Union
By:
3|01 March,
2018|
Putin’s State of the Union
Paul Craig Roberts
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 indisputably clear that Russia has vast nuclear
superiority over the United States and its pathetic 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 compel 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 insurmountable 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.
