"Now comes the final countdown to either peace or war"
The Saker
The Vineyard of the Saker December 4, 2021)
https://thesaker.is/now-comes-the-final-countdown-to-either-peace-or-war/

So it is confirmed. Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden will have what is announced as a “long” direct conversation (not face to face, but by a secure video link) this coming Tuesday. Considering the extreme tensions taking place between the US/NATO/EU and Russia, this event will be, by definition, a watershed moment, irrespective of its outcome. The two basic options are a) some kind of deal with be made b) nothing will come out of this meeting.

Personally, I am “cautiously pessimistic”, and I will explain why next.

Let’s look at what the two sides have been doing in preparation for this meeting:

The Empire has basically ratcheted up the tensions as high as possible, both by an avalanche of bellicose statements and by engaging in “petty harassment” exercises near the Russian border. The main (and sole) advantage of this pre-negotiations strategy is that it costs very little money while having a major PR effect. The two main disadvantages of this pre-negotiations strategy are that 1) they tend to paint you into a corner from which any concession, no matter how reasonable, can be turned into an “abject surrender to Putin” by your political enemies and 2) that the Russians know that all this sabre-rattling is only hot air and, if anything, a sign of weakness [emphasis added].

Russia has made some comparatively “stronger” verbal protests and mentioned “red lines” which the Empire which the latter has completely ignored. However, Russia has also made some actual military moves which have truly frightened the Empire, including the sudden flushing out into the Pacific or all the strategic submarines of the Pacific Fleet [emphasis added].

Here is the problem as I see it: “Biden” has allowed all sorts of russophobic nutcases to paint the Biden Administration into the exact same corner where the same russophobic nutcases stuck Trump: a place where no meaningful negotiations (i.e. negotiations which imply the willingness to make mutual concessions) are possible. All that Kabuki theater about “talking to Russia from a position of strength/force” kind of implies that the Russians will get scared and cave in to the Empire. The problem is that in the real world (as opposed the political Hollywood of the western propaganda machine), it is Russia which is in a very strong position while the US/NATO/EU are all in a position of extreme vulnerability. In other words, it is extremely unlikely that the Russians will make major concessions on anything (if only because Russia’s “great retreat” of endless concession to win time for preparations has now left Russia pretty much with her own back also against the wall). Of course, Russia does not want/need a war anywhere, so she is probably willing to make relatively minor concessions, but only political ones. In military terms, Russia is now “ready to go” and she will not stand down unless the Empire gives legally binding and verifiable concessions to guarantee Russia’s security on her western border (Putin has specifically said so).

Frankly, none of that is very complex: de-escalation and mutual confidence building measures have been developed by all sides for many decades now and there is no need to reinvent the wheel here. How to do that is easy and straightforward. But politically, I don’t know how “Biden” would respond to the MAGA nutcases in Congress who will accuse him of weakness, or even treason, if he does anything but continue to escalate towards an inevitable war: escalations can only be stopped by two means: negotiations or war. If the former is made impossible, the latter becomes inevitable.

Worse, there are pretty good signs that “Biden” is not fully controlling the Executive branch and that there are characters at the CIA, Pentagon and Foggy Bottom (lead by the totally rabid US Neocons) which actually want a war involving Russia and who believe that such a war would not imply a very high probability of going nuclear. Blinken, for example, strikes me as a kind of person which would make a great tailor or maybe an insurance salesman, but as a diplomat he is clearly clueless and “loser” written all over his face (ditto for that imbecile Stoltenberg or most EU politicians). Worst of all, these losers believe in their own superiority and think that they can talk to Putin like, say, Commodore Matthew Perry “talked” to the Japanese or how Reagan showed Grenada “who is boss”.

Finally, the upcoming planned “show of unity and force” (aka Summit for Democracy) will be seen by the Kremlin as a desperate attempt at hide the Empire’s real weakness (death, really) and to make it look as if the West still had the means to rule the planet. In reality, just Russia and China together are already much more powerful than all the colonies which Uncle Shmuel has summoned to this Summit, even if it is only two against 109 countries on the US side and that is the reality which this summit is designed to conceal from the public eye.

So no hope at all?

Well, not much. But, in theory, here is what could happen.

The US could agree to give Russia legal binding and verifiable security guarantees on her east, including a pull-back of Ukie forces in exchange for which, Russia could pull back some of her own forces. Deconfliction measures in the air and the seas could be agreed upon. Observer missions could be agreed upon and then deployed by both sides to verify the implementation of any agreements. On the political level, the US could order a dramatic reduction of western military involvement in the Ukraine in exchange for a Russian re-affirmation of the recognition of the Ukraine in her current borders, that is without Crimea and but the Donbass (in other words, the Kremlin would promise not to recognize the LDNR republics sovereign states). In theory, an international peacekeeping force could be set up in the “grey zone” between the LDNR and the Ukraine (that would require the Ukies to pull out from their current, and totally illegal, occupation of some locations in that zone). The nationality of these peacekeepers would have to be agreed by both sides.

[Sidebar: about the LDNR – please keep in mind that even if de jure the Kremlin does not recognize these republics, it has already basically done so de facto (especially with the latest change to the Russian laws on the economy). Also, remember that Taiwan is a country that is largely unrecognized, but which is clearly independent, at least for the time being. Finally, keeping the LDNR inside the Ukraine creates an anti-Ukraine which prevents the Nazi-run Ukraine from fully becoming an anti-Russia. So no, flag-wavers notwithstanding, agreeing not to recognize the LDNR would not be a “betrayal”, but only a card which must be played later in the game [emphasis added].]

Furthermore, Russia and the USA should establish a standing bilateral (yes, I agree with Nuland on the EU!) discussions mechanism to replace the useless and basically dead NATO-Russia Council. Other areas of discussion could include such self-evident issues as space, terrorism, immigration, energy, cybersecurity, the Arctic etc. and a full restoration of civilized diplomatic relations (which were totally sabotaged by both the Obama and Trump Administration). A deal could also be made about mutual non-interference or, at least, improve the current deconfliction between the USA and Russia in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. And, of course, Russia could agree to a long term gas contract through the Ukraine in exchange for a full US acceptance of NS2.

Does that sound a little pollyannish to you?

It sure sounds pollyannish to me!

But I am not quite willing to declare it as absolutely impossible. Instead, I would simply say that such an outcome is unlikely but still possible.

The alternative is war with, at the low end, could be limited to some silly Ukie provocation (of the kind they have been regularly pulling off, and failing, for many years now) or, at the high end, to quickly escalate a full-scale (inter)continental war, probably one involving nukes.

Hope dies last, right?

The one thing which makes it possible for me to believe that a war can still be avoided is that besides the real hardcore nutcases, there are still some sober-minded officials in the USA (maybe Gen. Milley?) who understand not only that war is an unspeakable horror, but who ALSO understand that a US attack on Russia will result in a Russian counter-attack on the US itself. Specifically, it is now an official Russian position that if weapon X is fired at Russia or Russian forces, Russia will not only destroy that weapon and the system which delivered, but will also strike at the command headquarters from which the order to strike Russia was given, and that could be Kiev, Warsaw, Brussels or even Washington DC. I am quite sure that General Gerasimov explained that to General Milley in exquisite detail and I strongly suspect that Milley got the message. Let’s just hope that Milley can prevail over Lloyd Austin (who is clearly an incompetent imbecile used by the “war party” only as a disposable figurehead).

If not, then God help us all, because then war is inevitable.

I consider the current situation as the most dangerous the world has ever faced, this is even worse than the Cuban Missile Crisis or the US attacks against Iran (the murder of General Soleimani) or Syria. By nature, nurture, experience, and training I am an unrepentant pessimist. But, in this case, I still want to force myself into a stance of “cautious pessimism” meaning that, yes, the situation is terrible and seems unfixable, but I choose to believe that there still are enough sane people in the US to avoid the worst.

Still, I am acutely aware that the UK+3B+PU gang want war at all and any cost and that they are now setting the agenda in both the EU and NATO. The only actor which still could order them to stand down and shut the hell up would be the USA, but only one ruled by an Administration in real and actual command, not the senile aquarium fish collectively known as “Biden” which is in power (at least officially) right now.

We can also count on the MAGA-crazies to oppose any and all deals with Russia, no matter how urgently needed and self-evidently logical. The GOP has now become the united party for war doing exactly what the Dems did during the Trump years. In a way, the US political scene reminds me of the Soviet Union during and after Brezhnev – a political system which simply cannot produce a real leader, so all you see is terminal mediocrities trying as best they can to hide their own mediocrity and total lack of vision [emphasis added]. A Ronald Reagan or a George H. W. Bush would have what it takes to talk to the Russians and get some results. Alas, none of the presidents since have had enough brains or spine to do anything constructive at all: all they did was to preside over first the destruction of the Empire followed by the destruction of the USA (at least as we knew it before Jan 6th) [emphasis added].

The fact that our best (or, should I say, only) hope lies with Biden and “Biden” is a sad and very frightening reality. All we can do now is wait for Tuesday and pray that both Biden and “Biden” muster enough courage and (real) patriotism to bring the world back from the brink. It ain’t much, but that’s all we got.

So, what do you think will happen next?

Andrei

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COMMENT

The Saker on December 04, 2021  ·  at 5:05 pm EST/EDT

This is rather offtopic, but I will reply.

First, the single most important thing: Russian soldiers fight in defense of their Motherland, friends and families. Hence their MOTIVATION is QUALITATIVELY different from western soldiers, especially US soldiers who only fight imperial wars of choice. Irrespective of whether they understand that or not, US soldiers are all paid murderers who, sooner or later, will be called to either commit atrocities or, at least, support those who will commit them [emphasis added].

That is simply a problem Russia does not have, even with her contract (professional) soldiers because of the Russian history and culture which is instilled since birth to ever Russian boy (and, often, girls): that there is no higher honor or duty than to defend the Motherland.

Still, it just so happens that I look into that issue as it applies to the Soviet veterans of the war in Afghanistan (which was not a war in defense of the Motherland, but an “international duty”!). Here there is one salient element: cases of PTSD (and all the comorbidity which comes with it) is inversely proportional to the degree of training received by the soldiers/units in question. The higher the level of training, the lower the cases of PTSD. Something else: soldiers in elite units are also LESS likely to be killed in action.

I am not sure if that also applies to the US, but I strongly suspect that it might.

Next, remember that Russia was a socialist country and is now a “social” country, that means that the Russian society accepts the fact that the taxpayer has to take care of the weak, poor, destitute, sick, etc. But on top of that, Russian military medicine is very advanced and Russian veterans are not routinely dumped into homelessness or to commit suicide.

The COVID pandemic has also shown that both the civilian and the military healthcare system in Russia are superb and very powerful (27 extra full-scale hospitals built by the military in 12 months if I recall correctly). Russia was also the country with the best AND earliest COVID vaccine. That tells you a lot.

The Soviet military had a major hazing problem and while immense progress has been made, it was mostly made in elite (combat) units. From what I hear, there are still units in the Russian military were hazing occurs, including deaths and suicide. I have to assume that PTSD also happens to those exposed to such mistreatment.

Still, at the end of the day, war is absolutely horrific and PTSD is a natural reaction to one (or many) totally un-natural event(s). The Russians are, in that respect, much better off than their western counterparts, but they are still only humans and I am sure that there are plenty of soldiers who eventually “snap”.

Nothing is worse than war, we should never forget that [emphasis added].