"CrossTalk on Ukraine: Failing state"
RT.com (March 11, 2022)
https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/551648-ukraine-crisis-fragile-global-security/

The crisis in Ukraine has demonstrated just how fragile and off-balance global security has become. Instead of calling for a ceasefire and de-escalation, NATO countries are doing everything in their power to prolong the conflict. This approach is turning Ukraine into a failed state.

CrossTalking, with Michael Maloof, Caleb Maupin, and Adriel Kasonta.

Peter Lavelle: "... I'm watching hysterical media here. They want to escalate. The people who know nothing about a no-fly zone are promoting it. This is absolute insanity. Instead of de-escalating, trying to find solutions, they are escalating it to where NATO is essentially going to be dragged into this. And unfortunately there seem to be a lot of people who agree with that."

[01:44] Michael Maloof: "Yeah, it's unfortunate. In spite of the crisis and the humanitarian devastation that has occurred, it seems as though the West, and particularly the Biden administration -- and most especially the neo-conservatives within it, like Victoria Nuland -- are pushing this to the brink. And I don't know why, except that they are trying to contain Russia and overthrow the government in Russia. I think that is their ultimate goal. They want the people in Russia [to do the job for them]. Russia is the ultimate target."

"Ukraine has always been the bait, if you will. And you saw this in the lead-up to the opening of hostilities when Stoltenberg and the others were so adamant about NATO expansion, notwithstanding that it is in violation of almost 30 years worth of agreements that were signed between the West and the East. Yet these agreements, like all agreements, are made to be broken. And that is precisely what has occurred. And I think that Ukraine is just being used for their purposes. They don't want an attack on the West, but they want to do what they can to cast Russia in the worst possible light and to ultimately result in a disruption within Russia itself."

Peter Lavelle: "... the more NATO countries 'help' Ukraine, the smaller it gets, more unstable, and actually poorer. Nobody likes to point that out."

[3:51] Caleb Maupin: "If you listen to American media you have no idea that this has been going on for eight years. The way American media is talking about this, it just started. CNN reporters say that Ukraine was a 'peaceful country' until now. It's just laughable. The fact that there have been so many deaths -- 14,000 in Donetsk and Lugansk -- the fact that NATO expansion has taken place, they've been piling weapons into Kiev and threatening Russia, the food blockade. I've made this analogy many times: We have many Spanish speaking people in the United States. Can you imagine if there was a judge in some state where a governor was writing them tickets and taking them to court for speaking their own language, this would be rightly opposed and the number of deaths that have taken place in Donbass, and the shelling, the use of Turkish drones to attack civilians. You know, Russia has shown quite a bit of restraint. They waited eight years. They wanted Donetsk and Lugansk to re-integrate back into Ukraine. They wanted the Minsk Accords to be recognized and to be carried through. And so, the way the American media is representing this is particularly outrageous. But what's scary is like it's not only an attempt to demonize Russia, they want to escalate this. They don't want this conflict to end any time soon."

Adriel Kasonta: " "

Peter Lavelle: "I don't think the Europeans understand what they are supporting here. I mean, mass migration. You don't know who these people are. The prisons have been opened up. Convicts have been armed. It's complete chaos. Im titling this program 'Failing State.' And this is what the West is doing: promoting the failure of the Ukrainian state. "

[9:10] Michael Maloof: "You can see it. It has been evolving since the Biden administration came in to reassert 'leadership' of NATO. They've overextended themselves. They've acutally pushed the NATO countries into doing this. Germany, France, and the others who live right next door were much more cautious about having any kind of confrontation with Russia. And as far as Ukraine is concerned, Ukraine has actually violated its own basis for sovereignty from 1990 in which they pledged, even then, to be non-aligned. And it was only in 2017 that they modified their constitution to join NATO. Again, pressure from the United Statess. And the same with Georgia. And they knew, full well, they were very wide-eyed about this that it was going to cause a problem and it was a red line for Moscow because of the insecurity, the lack of indivisiblity that has been talked about since the founding of the OSCE in which they talked about not increasing the security of the West at the expense of the east. And that is exactly what happened after 1997 when NATO expanded into the East: through central and eastern Europe."

[10:55] "And this is all at the behest of the United States. Not the countries neighboring Ukraine and Russia."

[11:04] Peter Lavelle: "The U.S. political elite and NATO want Russia as an enemy. It's a handy enemy to have. They've actually got what they designed."

[11:16] Caleb Maupin: "If you look at this in light of the U.S. and its domestic events, with the economy crumbling, inflation, Biden is very much following Jimmy Carter's and Zbigniew Brzezinski's script. And when you talk about Afghanistan, yes, they're forcing a situation where Russia basically has to intervene, Russia has to have a red-line in Ukraine and intervene and now they're whipping up hysteria against Russia, scapegoat Russia, blame Russia for the economic problems that started long before this escalation that we've recently seen. And they can play up the idea that Russia is the aggressor. And that seems to be the idea here...."

Adriel Kasonta: "..."

[16:32] Peter Lavelle: "... at the end of the day, it's building a world beyond the West. And this hegemony is not going to be worth much."

[16:55] Michael Maloof: " "

[18:19] Peter Lavelle: "This is the great separation...."

[18:32] Caleb Maupin: "... It's about holding back economic development. ... And this appliese to the United States, too. I mean, look across America right now. The roads are crumbling. Our education system is in shambles. The population is suffering. Life expectancy is dropping. There was a time when they needed this prosperous middle class, the American dream. The American dream is being cancelled right now. They're trying to lower the American working class to lower conditions and driving down living standards. And a lot of people around the world and a lot of people in the United States don't want to stand for it. They look at Russia ... and they see hope coming. Whereas there is a lot of pessimism coming out of U.S. society."

[20:20] Peter Lavelle: " ... a very broad brush to silence people ... "

[20:43] Adriel Kasonta: "... regular people aren't buying this ..."

[21:50] Peter Lavelle: " ... Constant tension. Always making people afraid. ... "

[22:35] Michael Maloof: " "

[24:05] Peter Lavelle: " ... Let me give the last word to Caleb ..."

[24:33] Caleb Maupin: "Multipolarity is emerging and it is emerging in terms of information as well. And Silicon Valley is not going to be able to dominate infomation for much longer. There are going to be alternatives to Twitter and Facebook that are emerging. And this crisis is escalating the need for that. The more they tighten their grip and shut down dissenting views, the more people are going to turn elsewhere and they're going to lose their monopoly on spreading information through social media."