On Friday, the US and NATO rejected a Russian call for the military alliance to halt its eastward expansion.
Amid tensions around Ukraine, Russia submitted a series of security proposals to the US, and chief among the Russian requests is a guarantee that Ukraine won’t join NATO.
“NATO never promised not to admit new members; it could not and would not,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after a virtual meeting of NATO’s foreign ministers.
NATO Secretary-General made similar comments earlier in the day. “We will not compromise on core principles, including the right for every nation to decide its own path, including what kind of security arrangements it wants to be a part of,” he said.
US and Russian officials are due to meet in Geneva on January 10th to discuss Ukraine and other issues, and NATO will hold talks with Moscow on January 12th. Blinken accused Russia of making unreasonable demands in an attempt to sabotage diplomacy.
“Certainly part of [Putin’s] playbook is to put out a list of absolutely non-starter demands and then to claim that the other side is not engaging and then use that as somehow justification for aggressive action,” Blinken said.
Ukraine has been a prospective NATO member since 2008 and cooperates with the alliance on military exercises. Ukraine’s ascent into NATO was never a concern when Viktor Yanukovych was president from 2010 to 2014. But after he was ousted in a US-backed coup, US and NATO cooperation with Ukraine has increased significantly.
Since the 2014 coup, the US has provided Ukraine with over $2 billion in military aid. US and NATO now regularly patrol the Black Sea, and Western warplanes are constantly flying in the area.
Russia should place whatever it wants in Kalingrad and Serbia if these talks fail and they will.
It will be interesting to see what Russia will do now. It could install missiles in Cuba, Venezuela. Putin surely must have foreseen a negative response and how to react to that. He could also list a number of targets in Europe and US, that will make people in those countries a bit nervous. ODemonstrate one of his new allegedly invincible hypersonic weapons or destroy one of the US spy satellites. There are several options. Putin can not now take no for an answer anymore. There will be consequences!!
Yes, they may think better of this this morning when sobered up; and, we could well hear from the good cop today.
The Super Lady Hawk along with the faker-generals, and Henry Luce epigonoi may think they’re ready for the big steel-cage death-match with the combined Russia-Iran-China; but, I doubt their plutocrat sponsors have the bowels for it.
Putin will not and should not allow NATO into Ukraine.
More than that-it needs to stop any expansion of NATO eg Georgia.
Wouldn’t surprise me if Putin announces Russia has already placed nuclear missiles in Cuba. First Cuban Missile Crisis was all about getting Jupiter IRBMs out of Italy and Turkey and now Washington is planning to put new IRBMs even closer.
BTW, with First Cuban Missile Crisis, United States only saw what Soviet Union wanted it to see,
Our leaders are insane. Just like those who started WW1 and WW2.
Just remember J1943:
Sanity has no place in WAR, especially in World Wars…
NO, they are evil!
insane, evil . . . criminally insane – it makes no difference they have the power to destroy whoever and wherever – and the reason is because people choose to live on their knees to tyrants whose only power is that which we give them –
I wonder what us would think if Russia takes Cuba into csto. They probably will very soon
“NATO Secretary-General made similar comments earlier in the day. “We will not compromise on core principles, including the right for every nation to decide its own path, including what kind of security arrangements it wants to be a part of,” he said.”
Was this part of a stand-up comedy act? The “including every nation to decide it’s own path” made my morning smoothie exit though my nose. And the equally hilarious “including what kind of security arrangements it wants to be part of” was equally smoothie exit through nose material. For some strange reason places like Iran, Syria and Venezuela, just to name a few, come to mind but apparently not to that moron.
WRU:
You omitted some details… What color was the smoothie?
Your points are well made.
Green. Dominated by pure Spirulina.
I laughed so hard when I read your description, my coffee almost came out of my nose!
Fortunately I only drink water. 🙂
Actually, I was serious. Everyone should add some Spirulina. It’s one of the most nutrient dense foods that there is. Just don’t read crazy shit, while drinking it, that makes it run out of your nose. 😉
NATO says what we tell them to say and only after it’s further cleared in the Pentagon/CIA.
They are such outrageous liars it is incomprehensible, if you a moral compass.
Also Russia is assumed to be an enemy and has no rights at all.
NATO was supposed to deter the evil commies, but after 1990 had no function except giving power to the USA to invade anywhere it chose. The shameful destruction of Serbia in 1999 (no UN backing, removal of Kosovo from Serbia-“territorial integrity”, anyone???) was an attempt to claim NATO still had a function.
Well, there you go – a straight-up lie right from the start.
I expect these talks to collapse within a few hours. I expect Russia to actually walk out on the talks and cancel any further talks immediately after the first session. The US and NATO have absolutely no intention to negotiate.
Also note that the US has already said in advance that anything Russia says about the tenor of the talks in their media should be considered bogus.
Russia faces ‘massive consequences’ if it escalates aggression against Ukraine, Antony Blinken warns
https://www.scmp.com/news/c…
Note this pre-signal about how the talks will be covered in the US media:
These talks are utterly doomed. I wonder what Ray McGovern thinks now that he’s predicted “diplomacy” and not war this month and this is the US response. One wonders why the US is even bothering to go to the talks. One wonders why Russia is even bothering to go to the talks.
Update: Make that three straight-up lies from Blinken:
“In 2014, the Ukrainian people chose a democratic and European future for themselves. Russia responded by manufacturing a crisis and invading…”
“It’s Russia that has failed to implement any of its Minsk commitments, indeed is actively violating many of them, and refuses to acknowledge it’s a party to the conflict…”
“It’s also worth noting that Moscow is simultaneously driving the false narrative that NATO is threatening Russia – that NATO plans to station military infrastructure in Ukraine to stir conflict with Russia, that NATO swore after the Cold War not to admit countries in Eastern Europe, and that NATO has broken those promises. Each of those claims is false… NATO never promised not to admit new members. It could not and would not – the “open door policy” was a core provision of the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty that founded NATO. The Russian president at the end of the Cold War, Mikhail Gorbachev, was asked directly about this in an interview in 2014, and said very clearly that the topic of NATO expansion was not discussed at all in negotiations about German reunification that led to the end of the Cold War. There was no promise that NATO wouldn’t expand.”
https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-at-a-press-availability-11/
The US is stalling for time. Possible reasons:
1. You never know, their next assassination attempt on Putin may not fail like all the others. At this point, they are so desperate they would blow up an entire city Putin was visiting to get him. Remember US has been warning everyone they believe in a first strike nuclear policy now.
2. More time to trick Turkey into attacking Russia the same time as Ukraine attacks Donbass and Crimea.
3. More time to destabilize Belarus and Kazakhstan and possibly even launch successful coups next time.
There are probably many others also.
Now, the Russians always allow time for diplomacy to work if at all possible but have already stated the talks will be concluded quickly. Russia’s response will be based entirely on what the US DOES during the talks, not promises to do in the future.
In short, Putin has explicitly stated there is nothing to negotiate. Either the US complies fully with Russia’s demands, or Russia forces NATO to evacuate the desired buffer zones.
The ground is almost frozen enough for Russia’s campaign into Ukraine to dislodge NATO forces there.
Nicely broken down and I don’t want to sound redundant but all of this is terribly frightening. It has been some time since we have seen this kind of posturing and virtually an ‘end of the road’ type of scenario, which puts us at direct odds with each other. peace-donna/peace chic
I doubt the Putin assassination or Turkey vs Russia scenarios (I don’t Erdogan is that stupid.) However, your last sentence is spot on, whether it is Russia invading Ukraine or Ukraine attacking Donbass to which Russia responds. I expect the latter scenario.
So, yes, both sides are trying to buy time. But if the talks go as badly as I expect, it won’t be much time.
Russia has said all along that it will NOT invade Ukraine unless Ukraine invades Donbass. I cannot believe anyone would try to take Crimea! All this is completely unnecessary if Kiev tried at all (after 7 years on the table) to have real talks with Donbass and offer special status and ceasefire as the Minsk agreement,accepted by all parties in 2015, requires.
Well Russia was explicitly clear about this, either U.S/Nato remove their offensive capabilities and the infrastructure around them themselves from Europe or Russia will do it for them. There’s absolutely no way to miss understand what that message/warning means, and the Russians are not bluffing that you can take to the bank.
Excellent! If only the US∕NATO spokespeople would ever try the truth.
“Certainly part of [Putin’s] playbook ” is another of Top Diplomat Blinken’s boorish statements. Russia does NOT bluff and has had enough.
The US and NATO did to promise not to expand eastwards. They just didn’t make it a legally binding promise.
https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2017-12-12/nato-expansion-what-gorbachev-heard-western-leaders-early
The fact the Western powers didn’t plan on dissolving after Cold War I was the subtle knife Gorbachev may have missed.
Gorbachev never got those promises in writing and signed. From that moment on, the rise of Eurasia became an inevitability.
As if the USA cares about international law or agreements.
Then why do they make them?
There is no such thing as “Legally binding”.
A contract has to have some means of enforcing the contract. As the US – NATO are military forces, the only means of enforcement is to militarily beat them
Russia does not expect them to keep any promises, what it is looking for is some form of monitoring to give Russia time and warning of such actions so that it can respond before the missiles start flying.
There is and there isn’t. A nation’s word in writing and signed has weight.
The Russians know the US is not agreement capable, but still wants an agreement in writing and signed.
Russians under Putin are neither naive or stupid.
Two commentaries worth reading and viewing, one from Patrick Armstrong which is referenced by the video by Alexander Mercouris:
First, Mercouris who analyzes how the US negotiating position going in to the talks this week is disorganized and weak as my previous post said:
West Alarmed as US Prepares for Key Talks with Russia With No Negotiating Strategy & Divided Allies
And the referenced Armstrong piece:
SOMETHING HOPEFUL FOR THE NEW YEAR – SORT OF
https://patrickarmstrong.ca/2022/01/04/something-hopeful-for-the-new-year-sort-of/
“NATO never promised not to admit new members …,” Blinken said.
But the UNITED STATES promised that NATO would not extend “one inch” east of a united Germany.
A predecessor of Blinken’s made the pledge to Gorbachev. The Russian leader had been reluctant to approve reunification of the nation that took 27 million Soviet lives.
See Viewpoints: “US Must Tale Russia’s Security Concerns Seriously” by Natylie Baldwin, where that documented historical event is summarized.
NATO does what we tell it to do. Despite the North Atlantic Treaty’s homage paid to the peaceful principles of the UN Charter, the treaty organization has long been little more than Washington’s war-making stooge.
It is a hard choice after Pompass, but Blinken may the worst “top diplomat” the USA has produced.
I think it’s a tie amongst many. What list can’t have Hillary or Albright or Kissinger or,,,,
I can’t wait for the MSM to spin a 21st century Dunkirk into a great victory.
US is playing cat and mouse with Russia. A plan of limited war in Europe could be one is the sick mind of the US Admin. Reminds me more of Don Quixote turning round and round on the Wind Mill.
The USA is the mouse. It just thinks it is still the cat.
Both Russia and China have made it clear that there will be no “limited’ war. If any attack is made then the US homeland is an immediate target.
Copyright © Ted Snider, Antiwar.com, 2022
The NATO Promise –
Putin’s demands are only bold if it is bold to ask NATO to keep its
promises; his demands are only impossible if it is impossible for NATO
to keep its promises.
On February 9, 1990, Secretary of State James Baker assured Gorbachev
that if NATO got Germany – a huge concession – NATO would not expand
one inch east of Germany. The next day, West German Foreign Minister
Hans-Dietrich Genscher made the same promise to his Soviet counterpart,
Eduard Shevardnadz. Earlier, on January 31, 1990, Genscher had already
publicly declared in a major speech that there would not be “an
expansion of NATO territory to the east, in other words, closer to the
borders of the Soviet Union.”
Recently declassified documents make it clear that all the western powers, including not only the US and Germany but also the UK and France, repeatedly made Russia the same promise.
Seven years later, when the US had already broken that promise,
Clinton made Russia a second promise. Having expanded NATO far east of
Germany, at least they would not permanently station substantial combat
forces. That was the promise the US signed in the NATO-Russia Founding Act on Mutual Relations.
It was a reiteration of the earlier February 1990 promise that, not
only NATO membership, but NATO troops would not extend east.
So, far from being bold or asking the ridiculous, what the media will
not tell you is that Putin is not asking for any new Western
concessions. He is asking only that the West honor the commitments it
has already made.
So how do we help Russia and China resist US warmongers?
As the best way to maintain its control of U$ policy, the Military/Security/Industrial Complex prefers that Russia invades Ukraine.
America using NGO’s has overthrown one country after another. As a nation we have no credibility left. By the way, NATO is staffed at the upper levels by us military personnel. So yeah, it’s a us plaything.
http://thesaker.is/kazakhastan-new-open-thread/
The malefactors behind the recent US-NATO-induced chaos may not have taken into account how the upcoming meetings may affect interest rates, specifically the US 10-year.
I’m not expecting any major shifts or agreements from NATO amid what could be a short meeting. Last week’s nearly 20 bps rise may or may not have been indicative of general investor sentiment preceding these meetings.
In short, I could see the US 10-year at 2.20 at this week’s end with nary a whiff of optimism from either side after nothing is effectively accomplished. What Russia, Iran, and China do in their strategic interests the following week could be one for all-time–interest rates and otherwise. What about UK and German interest rates?
Your life and economic security are in Joe Biden’s hands, and to a lesser extent, Jay Powell and Janet Yellen.
The process and techniques being utilised in this farce are quite easy to discern; The victim, Russia, makes a statement in support of it’s “rights”, requesting their aggressor, USA/NATO, to cease and desist. USA/NATO claim innocence, and instead, create lies about the victims aggression, and place all the blame on the the victim. This is a well worn strategy, it follows the USA and Israeli occupiers around like a bad stink, and is best exemplified by their prosecution of Palestine and Palestinians. The whole World stands back and even pats the USA/Israeli occupier on the head; their joint cruelties and crimes notwithstanding. Thus making the whole World complicit, but wait, there’s more, because they have plans to destroy other Nations, particularly in the Middle East.