The Demise of NATO

The following conversation appeared in a Comments section of a newspaper this morning and, as I was one of the antagonists (loosely speaking), I feel that it is acceptable to publish a slightly edited version here to permit, and extend, an anonymous Internet conversation.

Anonym A:  ”...over the past few decades, NATO’s primary focus was on peacekeeping operations in distant places, rather than on its core function of territorial defence...But this attitude changed in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and launched secretive military incursions into Eastern Ukraine."

Excuse me? What's changed? Annexation of Crimea was a local, albeit unexpected move by Russia - ask the Crimean population how they feel about finally being a part of Russia and it will be a 87% approval rate. Yes, a crime is a crime, but weren't Kyev's actions towards the Crimean population since Ukraine's independence totally unacceptable? So, this "reason" may be dismissed.

Eastern Ukraine had been suffering the same attitude from the Ukrainian state as Crimea, including the constantly diminishing status of the Russian language in this practically Russian part of Ukraine.And then Maidan (in 2014) declared a total ban on use of the Russian language as the second official language in the country. That was way too much!

Again, this conflict has nothing [to do] with the safety of other European states.

So, as it appears, all this drum beat is about money. Russia's actions are just a convenient excuse!

          Anonym B:  It goes without saying that the slow, measured, and deliberate invasion by the USSR into the region of Slav, Turkic, Greek Crimea, makes the 87% vote by the Russian population unsurprising.

Anonym C:  NATO is functionally dead. The U.S. is detaching itself from Europe, so Europe needs to learn to defend itself. As a start, it must (a) learn more about how Russian troll farms have infected European political discourse so that this menace can be effectively fought; (b) wean itself as quickly as possible from all Russian energy sources, so as to deprive Russia of valuable foreign exchange; and (c) separate itself from unhelpful U.S. influence as much as possible. The U.S. has become an enemy, not a friend.

          Anonym B:  (a) Goes without saying. (b) To "wean" is ungrammatical, but to reduce the influence of Russian energy sources is a sound idea, not withstanding the possibility that Russia could discover an alternate solution. (c) To describe the U.S. as an "enemy" based on the policies of the present President is another Liberalization ... simply put.

          Anonym C:  If by “functionally dead” you mean no longer dependable, you are spot on. Your 3-part plan, moving forward, I think is good, assuming that as Europe distances itself from the US, they likewise re-arm to fill that void. This is all unfortunately true. Putin has somehow (through illegal political funding - at a minimum) decapitated the GOP president and congressional leadership. Will the truth ever come out

          Anonym B:  It would be lacking foresight to "re-arm [sic] to fill that void". Russia's obvious tenacity regarding its desire to regain previous territory will make it quite possible to eventually cherry-pick the smaller nations regardless of their weaponization. The increasing Communism of Europe thus becomes a future threat to North America and ... the wheel turns once more.

Anonym B:  The Plan (if you have not realized it) is for our great-grandchildren to experience a North America with a brutal Red Bear on the Atlantic side, and an inhumane Red Dragon on the Pacific side.

World Domination - An Essay

It’s the month of June already ... and I’ve got the classic writer’s ‘block’.

How do I avoid the quintessential rants about politics or religion when they loom darkly over our very existence.  Greece, Iraq, Ukraine, Islam, and the South China Sea (and Canadian politics continues its’ attempt to dumbfound us).  The Solar Impulse 2 is grounded in Japan after an exhausting, but record-breaking, 40-hour flight from China, where it had been resting for a lazy month of “commercial reasons” after a 7-hour flight from Chongqing to Nanjing.  Will it take more than the balloon-inspired 80-days for it to circumnavigate the Earth?

The hard drive on my computer has developed signs of Alzheimer’s disease, and my symptoms of acid indigestion, probably due to the half-chicken that I ate yesterday, would only interest my doctor during his 5-minute annual checkup next week.

Which leaves me to come to grips with my monstrously thought-provoking subject of World Domination.  Ideally, one should obtain a large globe of the Earth (No, Google isn’t good enough) ... I’ll wait.

Since the amazing breakup of the USSR, and the coming into power of the Putin dictatorship, the great Russian bear has demonstrated its’ determination to regain control of those ex-Soviet states by any means it considers necessary.  Thus, although the annexation of Georgia and Crimea will not cause sleepless nights in the ‘West’ as it should, perhaps drawing attention to the alarming increase in military activity on the borders (including international sea and airspace) will. Certainly, ex-soviet states that are not members of NATO, are increasing their defense spending.  It is just a matter of time for acknowledgement that eastern Ukraine has been annexed.  What could they do?  One defensive shot and Russia could take over in a matter of weeks, resulting in feeble diplomatic protests at the UN.  How many people noticed the visits recently by the prime minister of Greece to Moscow regarding financial assistance.  What could Mr. Putin ask for in return, probably, air and naval bases in Greece.  After all, Russians are already the largest tourist groups in Greece.  Thus, that could influence Russia’s southwards strength into the Mediterranean.

Now, spin the globe to bring the Chinese dragon into view.  Inner Mongolia has been taken, perhaps Mongolia itself could be taken in association with Russia.  With Islamic problems as an excuse, the province of Xinjiang would be next, and Tibet is already taken, as is Hong Kong and Macau.  Taiwan will, initially, become another Hong Kong.  There are continuing border disputes with Pakistan and Tajikistan (and India), thus, all the so-called ‘istans could be shared with Russia also.  It is said that Mr. Xi is returning to the strong-arm policies of Chairman Mao and this is quite evident in the so-called South China Sea annexation of the Spratly Islands just 200 km off the coast of the Philippines (but more than 1,000 km from the nearest Chinese land mass) including similar disputes with Viet Nam and other Asian countries.  Soon, China’s strength in the area will be such that the US will be unable to defend a further annexation of Korea.

If we take a large red paint brush and highlight the countries that I have described, the future of our Earth looks quite uncomfortable, and if we imagine the red paint spreading in all directions, then, I‘ll definitely want to get off.

Your comment would be appreciated by clicking below.

Politics 12 - Vladimir Putin, A Question

Ukraine, An Answer

If I could ask Vladimir Putin a question, it would be, why is it important to invade Ukraine, when Russia has so much more land in the East to develop.  Of course, you know that’s a rhetorical question (He is terrible at returning my calls).

While Crimea has been annexed by Russia with, apparently, little opposition by the Crimean people, most of the world still considers it part of Ukraine.  But the country, as a whole, has little wish to rejoin Russia and become part of Putin’s obvious desire to reconstruct the union of socialist republics, in a way that Napoleon Buonaparte would admire.  Nevertheless, we must be cautious about his egotistical czarist ambitions.

It is worth mentioning here that Ukraine is made up of 78% ethnic Ukrainians, and 17% of ethnic Russian immigrants.  According to the Constitution the Ukrainian language is the official language, although the Russian language is spoken by most people, due, in my opinion, to the past dominance of the USSR.  In February 2014, the Ukrainian Parliament voted to repeal the law on regional languages, making Ukrainian the sole state language at all levels; however, this was vetoed (for the moment) by the acting President in March.

In my view, the weak standoff between the government in Kiev and a few Eastern provinces has only one answer, with many parts, the main two are:  1.  Repeal the language law, after all, it was fine for Nikita Khrushchev (Russian President) to speak Ukrainian for most of his life.  2.  Remove dual citizenship.  Those who choose not to be Ukrainian shall be given short-term (but renewal) resident visas and, if possible, encouraged to return to their country of origin (This should include those born in [the] Ukraine who refuse to take Ukraine citizenship).  The country will not develop, in my opinion, as a harmonious entity while there is a destructive ‘underground’ ethnic opposition.

By the way, I have studied the complicated history, and you may too.

I am sure (and hope) that this subject is controversial, and welcome your views.

Click 'Comments'