Paul Craig Roberts:
Two factors are driving the world towards nuclear war. One of them is the constant stream of insults, false accusations and violated agreements that the West throws at Russia from year to year. The second is the response from Russia, or, perhaps it would be more correct to say, no response.
Articles describing Washington's betrayal and provocations against Russia are available on the Internet and on my website. There is no point in repeating them here.
I have already noted that the diplomatic and legal responses of the Russian government actually cause more provocations and insults. See for example, https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2018/03/17/war-is… Stephen Landman agrees (https://stephenlendman.org/2018/03/russia-expelling…) and Peter Koenig (protocol https://thesaker. is/Russia- the reaction to insults-the-West-is-political suicide /).
Russia has two alternatives to the self-destructive behavior chosen by the government. According to one recommended by Peter Koenig and me, Russia should turn its back on the West, cleanse itself of all Western representatives, businesses, media and NGOs, and stop relying on Western communication systems and banking system mechanisms. The West no longer has anything that Russia needs. The West is exhausted and corrupt. The future lies in the East, of which Russia is a part. Russia should focus on partnership with China and relations in the East, and simply stop responding to blatantly false accusations and provocative insults.
Russia can become part of the West only if Russia surrenders to Washington's hegemony. One would think that by now the Russian government has realized that Washington is committed to marginalizing and isolating Russia, discrediting the Russian government, ousting Putin, and planting puppets like May, Macron and Merkel. And Russia has only one alternative - to surrender or go to war.
Did diplomat Lavrov and restrained Putin talk about the fact that the Russian president would be called an assassin by the British foreign minister based on a falsification created by the British government?
Have Lavrov and Putin finally realized that it is doomed to fail to appeal to facts and the law when the West does not respect either one or the other and believes that turning to facts and the law is a sign of weakness and fear?
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What is Russia going to do when Lavrov or Putin travels abroad on some diplomatic or state mission, and one or the other, or both, will be arrested and charged with war crimes or some other fabricated crime? You say this can't happen? Yes, it can happen. Preparation for such an event is one of the reasons that Washington demonizes and creates a portrait of the Russian president as a "new Hitler". Proactive arrest and execution is US policy.
For years, Washington has abducted Russians in other countries outside of US jurisdiction (Israel is the only other country that has avoided imposing extraterritoriality of illegal decrees). Roman Seleznev, the son of a member of the Russian Duma, was kidnapped in the Maldives in the US Indian Ocean and was sued in the US for hacking credit cards. Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko was kidnapped by Washington in Liberia and accused of smuggling cocaine, which is the main activity of the CIA. Evgeny Buryakov was sentenced for collecting economic information, routine activities of economists and diplomats. Victor Bout was captured by Washington in Thailand and sentenced for selling weapons to rebels, a "crime" that the United States has committed around the world and which is now being committed on a large scale in the Middle East. Given the high level of “fairness” in the United States, we cannot understand whether these examples are more than revealing punishments to teach Russia a lesson and show that Russian citizens are nowhere protected.
Another alternative for Russia is a tough response. Landman says that when American or Israeli attacks on Syria result in the death of Russians, Russia should destroy the bases from which the attacks originated and simply stop worrying about whether killing Americans and Israelis is necessary retaliation. Why are Americans and Israelis more important than Russians and Syrians? Does the Russian government still believe in the propaganda that the Americans are "exceptional and irreplaceable" and that the Israelis are the "people chosen by God"?
Perhaps the best way to demonstrate strength would be for Russia to convene a meeting of the UN Security Council, at which Russia could make a statement in this direction:
Confront the US and its vassals with a long list of treaties and agreements unfulfilled and ignored by the US and now Britain.
Confront the United States and its vassals with a long list of hostile and unsubstantiated accusations against Russia and the West's refusal to resolve issues on a factual basis.
Confront the United States and its vassals by the fact that neither Russia nor the United States and its allies believe in a single word of accusations that are intended to serve Washington's hegemony by demonizing and isolating Russia.
Confront the United States and its vassals by the fact that similar demonizations of Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi and Assad have led to military incursions into their countries. Ask if the US and its vassals are preparing their populations for a military attack on Russia.
Confront the US and its vassals by the fact that tensions between the nuclear superpowers are much higher than they were during the Cold War of the 20th century, and that the lies and deceit of the US government have completely destroyed Russia's trust in Washington.
Confront the US and its vassals by the fact that there were many false warnings about incoming enemy ICBMs during the Cold War, but that as the two governments worked to reduce tensions, neither side trusted these warnings, whereas today the situation is very different … Given the extreme hostility towards Russia by the United States and its vassals, Russia cannot take the risk of mistaking these warnings as false. With the United States and its vassals under the gun of Russian nuclear forces, the West has put the world on a path of destruction. Is this what Washington and its vassals want? Washington's Choice - Hegemony or Death? Ask the vassals of Washington why they support this crazy choice.
Americans have laughed for so long at the cartoon picture of a bearded man holding a "The End is Near" sign that Americans probably cannot intelligently respond to a warning, no matter who gives it.
Although, Western politicians are so insane, and prostitutes-media are so corrupt, that the response to the Russian appeal to the UN, as indicated above, will be used as evidence of the West's anti-Russian propaganda. The headlines will read: "Russia Threatens the World with Nuclear War."
Therefore, it seems that the only alternative for Russia is that Russia should turn its back on the West - but watch it wary - and find its future in the East.
But everything indicates that Russia does not want to do this. For the Russian government, being part of the West is more important than life itself.