Ukrainian Leaders Denounce Western War Hysteria, as NATO Pursues Confrontation
For the past two months, mainstream Western media have reported day in, day out, that Russia has amassed 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine, who are prepared to invade at any moment. But over the past week, those reports have been vigorously denied by the leaders of Ukraine themselves, including the President, the Defense Minister and the Foreign Minister, as we document below, with President Zelensky calling on the West to stop spreading panic. The endless propaganda about imminent war has already taken a toll of the Ukrainian economy, and is creating a psychosis among the population (cf. the following item).
Meanwhile, the crucial issue, as the Russian leadership has repeatedly insisted, is the security guarantees that Moscow demands from NATO and from Washington, and which were presented in mid-December in the form of two separate written draft treaties (cf. SAS 1-4/22). On Jan. 26, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that answers had finally been received from both parties. While the content has not been made public, he said that they offered “no positive response” to the Kremlin’s core demands, namely no further NATO expansion to the East and no deployment of “highly-destructive weapons that could threaten the territory of the Russian Federation”.
However, he described Washington’s response as “a model of diplomatic decency” and welcomed the willingness to address Moscow’s concerns. By contrast, the memo sent by NATO “is so ideologized, it breathes the exclusivity of the Alliance, its special mission, its special purpose.” He said he almost felt embarrassed for those who had drafted such a document.
It is certainly the case that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the British government in particular have been issuing wild threats, while massive amounts of military hardware is flown into Ukraine. This has caused the disunity among member countries to grow. In addition to our reports from last week on opposition in France and Germany, we should mention the case of Spain: after socialist Prime Minister Sanchez announced last week that more military equipment would be provided to NATO, the main partner in the government coalition, Podemos, denounced the decision and called for an anti-war mobilization. From Croatia, President Milanovic announced that the country would not become involved in any way in the Ukraine crisis, nor send troops, stressing the need to “reach a deal that will take account of the security interests of Russia”. Hungary, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria are all reticent to participate in any military action.
As for Washington, while President Biden may favor a de-escalation of the tensions, many in his Administration do not, and the Congress is preparing what is called “the mother of all sanctions” against Russia (cf. the following item). But the infamous “war party” together with the “military-financial complex” apparently remain under the illusion that they can still force Russia – and China as well – into submission to their unipolar world. Their hysteria is driven by the inevitable collapse of the trans-Atlantic financial system at the heart of their would-be empire.
