{"id":222425,"date":"2022-10-24T12:00:40","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T11:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=222425"},"modified":"2022-10-22T04:03:54","modified_gmt":"2022-10-22T03:03:54","slug":"the-europeans-have-been-nicely-played-by-the-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/10\/the-europeans-have-been-nicely-played-by-the-americans\/","title":{"rendered":"The Europeans Have Been Nicely Played by the Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Breached: With the attack on the Crimean Bridge, Ukrainian President Zelensky has crossed a red line that Moscow had warned him against. Reuters<\/p><\/div>\n

22 Oct 2022 – <\/em>Two massive terrorist strikes misfired spectacularly and a terrible beauty is born in the Ukraine war. These two carefully planned attacks in quick succession \u2014 on Nord Stream gas pipelines and Crimean Bridge \u2014 were intended as a knockout blow to Russia. According to President Vladimir Putin, people \u2018who want to finally sever ties between Russia and the EU, weaken Europe\u2019 are behind the Nord Stream blasts. He named the US, Ukraine and Poland as \u2018beneficiaries\u2019.<\/p>\n

India should expect the defeat of the US and NATO, which completes the transition to a multipolar world order.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Last Wednesday [19 Oct], Russia\u2019s domestic intelligence service FSB identified Ukraine\u2019s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, as the mastermind behind the Crimean attack. The New York Times and Washington Post also pointed fingers at Kiev, quoting \u2018sources\u2019. While Nord Stream-1 has been crippled, one of the strings of Nord Stream-2 remains intact. Putin said last week that the pipeline could be restored and Russia could deliver about 27 billion cubic metres of gas. \u2018The ball is on the side of the European Union, if they want \u2014 let\u2019s turn on the tap,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

But mum\u2019s the word from Brussels. It is a profoundly embarrassing moment for the EU. The triumphalism has vanished as Europe is threatened by years of recession caused by the blowback from sanctions against Russia, where the US insisted on the cut off of energy ties with Moscow. The EU has now become a captive market for Big Oil and is left to buy LNG from the US at the asking price, which is six to seven times higher than the domestic price in the US. (Contracted price for long-term Russian supply for Germany used to be about $280 per 1,000 cubic metres as against the current market price hovering around $2,000.)<\/p>\n

Plainly put, the Europeans have been nicely played by the Americans. India should take note of the US\u2019 sense of entitlement. Basically, the Biden administration created a contrived energy crisis whose real aim is war profiteering.<\/p>\n

The Crimean Bridge attack of October 8 is much more serious. Zelensky has crossed a red line that Moscow had repeatedly warned him against. Putin has disclosed that there have also been three terrorist attacks against the Kursk NPP. Russians will settle for nothing less than the ouster of the Zelensky regime.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s retaliation against Ukraine\u2019s \u2018critical infrastructure\u2019, something Moscow refrained from so far, has serious implications. Since October 9, Russia has begun systematically targeting Ukraine\u2019s power system and railways. Noted Russian military expert Vladislav Shurygin told Izvestia that if this tempo was kept up for a week or so, it \u2018will disrupt the entire logistics of the Ukrainian military \u2014 system for transporting personnel, military equipment, ammunition, related cargo, as well as the functioning of military and repair plants.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Americans are cocooned in a surreal world of their self-serving narrative that Russia \u2018lost\u2019 the war. In the real world, though, Ivan Tertel, KGB chief in Belarus, who has an insider view of Moscow, said last Tuesday that with Russia boosting its troop strength in the war zone \u2014 3 lakh troops who have been mobilised plus 70,000 volunteers \u2014 and the deployment of advanced weaponry, \u2018the military operation will enter a key phase. According to our estimates, a turning point will come in the period from November of this year to February of next year.\u2019<\/p>\n

Policy-makers and strategists in Delhi should make a careful note of the timeline. The bottom line is, Russia is looking for an all-out victory and will not settle for anything less than a friendly government in Kiev. Western politicians, including Biden, understand that there is nothing stopping the Russians now. The US\u2019 weapon kitty is running dry as Kiev keeps asking for more.<\/p>\n

When asked whether he\u2019d meet Biden at the G20 in Bali, Putin derisively remarked on Friday, \u2018He (Biden) should be asked whether he is ready to hold such negotiations with me or not. To be honest, I don\u2019t see any need, by and large. There is no platform for any negotiations for the time being.\u2019<\/p>\n

However, Washington has not yet thrown in the towel and the Biden administration remains obsessed with exhausting the Russian military \u2014 even at the cost of Ukraine\u2019s destruction. And, for the Russians too, there is still much to be worked out on the battlefield: the oppressed Russian populations in Odessa (which suffered unspeakable atrocities from the neo-Nazis), Mykolaiv, Zaporizhya, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkov are expecting \u2018liberation\u2019. It\u2019s a highly emotive issue for Russia. Again, the overarching agenda of \u2018demilitarisation\u2019 and \u2018denazification\u2019 of Ukraine must be taken to its logical conclusion.<\/p>\n

When all that is over, Putin knows Biden will not even want to meet him. Hungarian PM Viktor Orban said last week, \u2018Anyone who seriously believes that the war can be ended through Russian-Ukrainian negotiations lives in another world. Reality looks different. In reality, such issues can only be discussed between Washington and Moscow. Today, Ukraine is able to fight only because it receives military assistance from the United States\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2018At the same time, I do not see President Biden as the person who would really be suitable for such serious negotiations. President Biden has gone too far. Suffice it to recall his statements to Russian President Putin.\u2019<\/p>\n

India should expect the defeat of the US and NATO, which completes the transition to a multipolar world order. Sadly, Indian elites are yet to purge their \u2018unipolar predicament\u2019. Europe, including Britain, is devastated and there is palpable discontent over the US\u2019s \u2018transatlantic leadership\u2019. Indo-Pacific strategy is hopelessly adrift. New power centres are emerging in India\u2019s extended neighbourhood, as the OPEC\u2019s rebuff to Washington shows. A profound adjustment is needed in the Indian strategic calculus.<\/p>\n

_______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>MK Bhadrakumar is a f<\/em>ormer Ambassador.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Go to Original – tribuneindia.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

22 Oct 2022 – Two massive terrorist strikes in quick succession misfired spectacularly in the Ukraine war: on Nord Stream gas pipelines and on the Crimean Bridge. Basically, the Biden administration created a contrived energy crisis whose real aim is war profiteering. The Crimean Bridge attack of 8 Oct is much more serious.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":222429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[1035,1268,1126,1050,2462,91,1301,112,818,278,961,2200,95,70,1594,481,172],"class_list":["post-222425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus","tag-eastern-europe","tag-european-union","tag-hegemony","tag-imperialism","tag-military-industrial-media-complex","tag-nato","tag-nuclear-war","tag-pentagon","tag-proxy-war","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-us-empire","tag-us-military","tag-usa","tag-war-economy","tag-warfare","tag-west"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222425","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=222425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}