{"id":205403,"date":"2022-02-21T12:00:51","date_gmt":"2022-02-21T12:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=205403"},"modified":"2022-02-18T04:27:02","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T04:27:02","slug":"the-western-allied-nations-bully-the-world-while-warning-of-threats-from-china-and-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/02\/the-western-allied-nations-bully-the-world-while-warning-of-threats-from-china-and-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"The Western Allied Nations Bully the World While Warning of Threats from China and Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>17 Feb 2022 &#8211; <\/em>On January 21, 2022, Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Sch\u00f6nbach <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.idsa.in\/pressrelease\/german-navy-chief-says-india-an-important-strategic-partner\" >attended<\/a> a talk in New Delhi, India, organized by the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.idsa.in\/\" >Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses<\/a>. Sch\u00f6nbach was speaking as the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bundeswehr.de\/en\/529330-529330\" >chief<\/a> of Germany\u2019s navy during his visit to the institute.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201c<em>What he really wants is respect<\/em>,\u201d Sch\u00f6nbach <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ODmkoGQw1TU\" >said<\/a>, referring to Russia\u2019s President Vladimir Putin<em>. \u201cAnd my god, giving someone respect is low cost; even no cost.\u201d<\/em> Furthermore, Sch\u00f6nbach said that in his opinion, <em>\u201cIt is easy to even give him the respect he really demands and probably also deserves.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The next day, on January 22, Ukraine\u2019s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ria.ru\/20220122\/ukraina-1769080963.html\" >summoned<\/a> Germany\u2019s ambassador to Ukraine, Anka Feldhusen, to Kyiv and \u201cexpressed deep disappointment\u201d regarding the lack of German weapons provided to Ukraine and also about Sch\u00f6nbach\u2019s comments in New Delhi. Vice Admiral Sch\u00f6nbach released a statement soon after, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tagesschau.de\/inland\/innenpolitik\/admiral-schoenbach-ruecktritt-103.html\" >saying<\/a><em>, <\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cI have just asked the Federal Minister of Defense [Christine Lambrecht] to release me from my duties and responsibilities as inspector of the navy with immediate effect.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Lambrecht did not wait long to accept the resignation.<\/p>\n<p>Why was Vice Admiral Sch\u00f6nbach sacked? Because he said two things that are <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ria.ru\/20220122\/germaniya-1769079837.html?in=t\" >unacceptable<\/a> in the West:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>First<\/em>, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ODmkoGQw1TU\" >that<\/a> \u201cthe Crimean Peninsula is gone and never [coming] back\u201d to Ukraine and,<\/li>\n<li><em>Second<\/em>, that Putin should be treated with respect.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Sch\u00f6nbach affair is a vivid illustration of the problem that confronts the West currently, where Russian behavior is routinely described as \u201caggression\u201d and where the idea of giving \u201crespect\u201d to Russia is disparaged.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Aggression<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>U.S. President Joe Biden\u2019s administration began to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/press-briefings\/2022\/01\/25\/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-january-25-2022\/\" >use<\/a> the word \u201cimminent\u201d to describe a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine toward the end of January. On January 18, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki did not use the word \u201cimminent,\u201d but implied it with her <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/press-briefings\/2022\/01\/18\/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-and-infrastructure-implementation-coordinator-mitch-landrieu-january-18-2022\/\" >comment<\/a>: \u201cOur view is this is an extremely dangerous situation. We\u2019re now at a stage where Russia could at any point launch an attack in Ukraine.\u201d On January 25, Psaki, while referring to the possible timeline for a Russian invasion, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/press-briefings\/2022\/01\/25\/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-january-25-2022\/\" >said<\/a>, \u201cI think when we said it was imminent, it remains imminent.\u201d Two days later, on January 27, when she was asked about her use of the word \u201cimminent\u201d with regard to the invasion, Psaki <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/press-briefings\/2022\/01\/27\/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-january-27-2022\/\" >said<\/a>, \u201cOur assessment has not changed since that point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On January 17, as the idea of an \u201cimminent\u201d Russian \u201cinvasion\u201d escalated in Washington, Russia\u2019s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/tass.com\/world\/1389175\" >rebuked<\/a> the suggestion of \u201cthe so-called Russian invasion of Ukraine.\u201d Three days later, on January 20, spokeswoman for Russia\u2019s Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova denied that Russia would invade Ukraine, but <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/tass.com\/world\/1390797\" >said<\/a> that the talk of such an invasion allowed the West to intervene militarily in Ukraine and threaten Russia.<\/p>\n<p>Even a modicum of historical memory could have improved the debate about Russian military intervention in Ukraine. In the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2018\/08\/07\/europe-s-forgotten-war-the-georgia-russia-conflict-explained-a-decade-on\" >aftermath<\/a> of the Georgian-Russian conflict in 2008, the European Union\u2019s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia, headed by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini, found that the information war in the lead-up to the conflict was inaccurate and inflammatory. Contrary to Georgian-Western statements, Tagliavini <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/uk-georgia-russia-impact-analysis-sb\/georgia-the-main-loser-from-eu-war-report-idUKTRE58T45X20090930\" >said<\/a>, \u201c[T]here was no massive Russian military invasion underway, which had to be stopped by Georgian military forces shelling Tskhinvali.\u201d The idea of Russian \u201caggression\u201d that has been mentioned in recent months, while referring to the possibility of Russia invading Ukraine, replicates the tone that preceded the conflict between Georgia and Russia, which was another dispute about old Soviet borders that should have been handled diplomatically.<\/p>\n<p>Western politicians and media outlets have <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2022\/01\/07\/world\/europe\/ukraine-maps.html\" >used<\/a> the fact that 100,000 Russian troops have been stationed on Ukraine\u2019s border as a sign of \u201caggression.\u201d The number\u2014100,000\u2014sounds threatening, but it has been taken out of context. To invade Iraq in 1991, the United States and its allies <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1992\/04\/24\/world\/study-lists-lower-tally-of-iraqi-troops-in-gulf-war.html\" >amassed<\/a> more than 700,000 troops as well as the entire ensemble of U.S. war technology located in its nearby bases and on its ships. Iraq had no allies and a military force depleted by the decade-long war of attrition against Iran. Ukraine\u2019s army\u2014regular and reserve\u2014<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2022\/jan\/15\/well-fight-to-the-end-ukraine-defiant-in-face-of-vladimir-putins-phoney-war\" >number<\/a> about 500,000 troops (backed by the 1.5 million troops in NATO countries). With more than a million soldiers in uniform, Russia could have deployed many more troops at the Ukrainian border and would need to have done so for a full-scale invasion of a NATO partner country.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Respect<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The word \u201crespect\u201d used by Vice Admiral Sch\u00f6nbach is key to the discussion regarding the emergence of both Russia and China as world powers. The conflict is not merely about Ukraine, just as the conflict in the South China Sea is not merely about Taiwan. The real conflict is about whether the West will allow both Russia and China to define policies that extend beyond their borders.<\/p>\n<p>Russia, for instance, was not seen as a threat or as aggressive when it was in a less powerful position in comparison to the West after the collapse of the USSR. During the tenure of Russian President Boris Yeltsin (1991-1999), the Russian government encouraged the looting of the country by oligarchs\u2014many of whom now reside in the West\u2014and defined its own foreign policy based on the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nsarchive.gwu.edu\/briefing-book\/russia-programs\/2018-10-02\/clinton-yeltsin-relationship-their-own-words\" >objectives<\/a> of the United States. In 1994, \u201cRussia became the first country to join NATO\u2019s <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nato.int\/nato_static_fl2014\/assets\/pdf\/2020\/4\/pdf\/2003-NATO-Russia_en.pdf\" >Partnership for Peace<\/a>,\u201d and that same year, Russia began a three-year process of joining the Group of Seven, which in 1997 <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3Bqf9St\" >expanded<\/a> into the Group of Eight. Putin became president of Russia in 2000, inheriting a vastly depleted country, and promised to build it up so that Russia could realize its full potential.<\/p>\n<p>In the aftermath of the collapse of the Western credit markets in 2007-2008, Putin began to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/russian\/russia\/2012\/04\/120411_putin_duma_constitution\" >speak<\/a> about the new buoyancy in Russia. In 2015, I met a Russian diplomat in Beirut, who explained to me that Russia worried that various Western-backed maneuvers threatened Russia\u2019s access to its two warm-water ports\u2014in Sevastopol, Crimea, and in Tartus, Syria; it was in reaction to these provocations, he said, that Russia acted in both Crimea (2014) and Syria (2015).<\/p>\n<p>The United States made it clear during the administration of President Barack Obama that both Russia and China must <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalinterest.org\/feature\/how-obama-driving-russia-china-together-10735\" >stay<\/a> within their borders and know their place in the world order. An aggressive <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spiegel.de\/international\/world\/nato-s-eastward-expansion-is-vladimir-putin-right-a-bf318d2c-7aeb-4b59-8d5f-1d8c94e1964d\" >policy<\/a> of NATO expansion into Eastern Europe and of the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/peoplesdispatch.org\/2021\/03\/15\/biden-continues-the-us-conflict-with-china-through-the-quad\/\" >creation<\/a> of the Quad (Australia, India, Japan and the United States) drew Russia and China into a security alliance that has only <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/global.chinadaily.com.cn\/a\/202107\/13\/WS60eccc9aa310efa1bd66154a.html\" >strengthened<\/a> over time. Both Putin and China\u2019s President Xi Jinping recently <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/diplomacy\/article\/3165833\/vladimir-putin-salutes-russias-unprecedented-close-ties-china\" >agreed<\/a> that NATO\u2019s expansion eastward and Taiwan\u2019s independence were not acceptable to them. China and Russia see the West\u2019s actions in both Eastern Europe and Taiwan as provocations by the West against the ambitions of these Eurasian powers.<\/p>\n<p>That same Russian diplomat to whom I spoke in Beirut in 2015 said something to me that remains pertinent:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cWhen the U.S. illegally invaded Iraq, none of the Western press called it \u2018aggression.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>_______________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Vijay-Prashad-e1515066127357.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-104534\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Vijay-Prashad-e1515066127357.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"50\" \/><\/a> <\/em><em>Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, editor and journalist. He is a writing fellow and chief correspondent at<\/em> Globetrotter. <em>He is the director of <\/em><em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thetricontinental.org\" >Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research<\/a><\/em><em> and a senior non-resident fellow at <\/em><em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/y2hdjcpo\" >Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies<\/a><\/em><em>, Renmin University of China. He has written more than 20 books, including <\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/smile.amazon.com\/Darker-Nations-Peoples-History-Third\/dp\/1595583424\/?tag=alternorg08-20\" >The Darker Nations<\/a><em> and <\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/smile.amazon.com\/Poorer-Nations-Possible-History-Global\/dp\/1781681589\/?tag=alternorg08-20\" >The Poorer Nations<\/a><em>. His latest book is <\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/mayday.leftword.com\/catalog\/product\/view\/id\/21820\" >Washington Bullets<\/a><em>, with an introduction by Evo Morales Ayma.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This article was produced by <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/go.ind.media\/e\/546932\/globetrotter-\/hp112p\/756016046?h=K4NbVYOC-rGKNIov-zSMPoO1lbUGyFoV5yaJTsiZGKM\" >Globetrotter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>17 Feb 2022 &#8211; Why the chief of Germany\u2019s navy, Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Sch\u00f6nbach, was sacked? Because while in India he said two things that are unacceptable in the West:<br \/>\n\u2022\tThat \u201cthe Crimean Peninsula is gone and never [coming] back\u201d to Ukraine.<br \/>\n\u2022\tThat Putin should be treated with respect. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":104534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[1741,433,739,950,741,234,253,278,961,70],"class_list":["post-205403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus","tag-crimea","tag-europe","tag-germany","tag-invasion","tag-iraq","tag-media","tag-putin","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}