Paul Craig
For more than two decades, US presidential administrations have been increasing the likelihood of nuclear war with Russia. It began with Bill Clinton violating the word of the US government not to move NATO to Russia’s border. Successive US presidents since have undone all the trust-building agreements achieved during the 20th century Cold War. The provocations of Russia since the US overthrow of the Ukrainian government in 2014 have completely destroyed Russia’s trust in Washington. Atomic scientists say it is 90 seconds before midnight. I think it is one nano-second. We have reached the point where all it takes is one false alarm of incoming missiles.
You can see the triumph of evil in the deployment of weapons that, if used, will destroy life on Earth. The prospect of their use has risen dramatically in the 21st century. Democrat Hillary Clinton declared the president of Russia to be “the new Hitler.” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham called for president Putin’s assassination.
Instead of keeping to president Putin’s Minsk Agreement to maintain peace in Ukraine, Washington used it to deceive president Putin while building a Ukrainian army with which to attack the Donbass republics. Instead of working with president Putin to create a mutual security pact, Washington provoked and widened the conflict in Ukraine in order to further enlarge NATO by bringing in Finland and Sweden, thus multiplying NATO’s presence on Russia’s border. The US and NATO are now so heavily involved in the Ukraine conflict that the question is what does Washington do when the reinforced Russians overrun Ukraine’s defences? Do US and NATO soldiers rush to Ukraine’s rescue?
Only incompetent, irresponsible, and totally stupid, indeed, totally evil, US and European governments would think their prestige in Ukraine justifies nuclear war. If the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, CIA, and US politicians had the least bit of intelligence they would understand that in today’s climate of pre-emptive nuclear strikes, nuclear weapons jeopardize America’s existence. They do not protect us.
The notion that Russia or China want to rule us is insane. It is the US that has the expansionist ideology and agenda of world hegemony. The Russian and Chinese governments have their own problems and do not want those of a morally bankrupt country like the US where men marry men and women marry women and “doctors” mutilate the genitals of youngsters in order to transgender them.
During the 20th century Cold War warning times were longer and the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction could be regarded as deterring nuclear attack. Today, the hypersonic speeds of the Russian missiles and the ability to unpredictably change trajectory in flight have changed the emphasis to a pre-emptive strike. It only takes one false warning to initiate nuclear Armageddon as there is no time to determine if the warning is false.
Everyone needs to understand that once Washington followed by Russia changed their war doctrines from no first use of nuclear weapons to pre-emptive attack, nuclear weapons ceased to be a deterrent. The doctrine of pre-emptive attack guarantees their use if there is a single false alarm. The American war planners responsible for this change should be immediately arrested, tried for crimes against humanity, and the doctrine repudiated. What we should be witnessing throughout the West is a campaign to destroy all nuclear weapons. The weapons do not protect us. Their weapons endanger us. To have weapons deployed that can only achieve your own total destruction is insane.
During the Cold War, there were those who thought “better Red than dead.”
Today the expansionist Communist ideology is dead. It is the American neoconservatives who control US foreign policy and have the expansionist agenda of US hegemony. It is insanity for the neoconservatives to believe that the US can exercise hegemony over Russia and China.
If we want to survive, we must immediately stop being insane. Steven Starr explains that nuclear war means planetary death.
*Paul Craig is a United States ex-assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy, economist and author. He formerly held a sub-cabinet office in the United States federal government as well as teaching positions at several US universities.