{"id":228977,"date":"2023-02-13T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T12:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=228977"},"modified":"2023-02-07T06:19:02","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T06:19:02","slug":"us-laid-trap-for-russia-has-trapped-west-instead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/02\/us-laid-trap-for-russia-has-trapped-west-instead\/","title":{"rendered":"US-Laid Trap for Russia Has Trapped West Instead"},"content":{"rendered":"

A month before the Feb. 24, 2022 Russian invasion,<\/em> CN wrote that the U.S. was laying a trap to lure Russia into an economic, information and proxy war. All three have failed for the U.S. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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U.S. President Joe Biden after delivering remarks on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Feb. 24, 2022. (White House, Adam Schultz)<\/p><\/div>\n

6 Feb 2023 – The U.S.-led West could not launch its economic, information <\/strong>and proxy<\/strong> war against Russia without cause. That cause would be Russia invading Ukraine to defend ethnic Russians in a civil war that had raged since 2014. <\/em><\/p>\n

The economic war<\/strong>, intended to spur Russians to overthrow their government, has failed spectacularly. The ruble did not collapse despite sanctions on the Russian central bank. Nor has the economy. <\/em><\/p>\n

Instead an alternative economic, commercial and financial system that excludes the West is rising with China, India and Russia in the lead, and most of Asia, Africa and Latin America taking part. It is the final collapse of Western colonialism. The sanctions instead backfired on the West, especially in Europe.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The information war<\/strong> has failed across the world. Only the United States and Europe, which consider itself \u201cthe world,\u201d believe their own \u201cinformation.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The proxy war<\/strong> is being lost on the ground, though more than $100 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine has created a bloodbath. There will either be a negotiated settlement in which Ukraine loses territory; a total Russian victory; or a third world war, potentially the final war.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The U.S. pushed Russia to the brink to provoke its intervention. It began with a 30-year <\/em>NATO expansion eastward with NATO exercises<\/a> on Russia\u2019s borders. In December 2021 the West rejected Russian treaty proposals to roll back NATO troop deployments and missile installations in Eastern Europe. <\/em><\/p>\n

A peace deal to end the 8-year Ukrainian civil war, sparked by the unconstitutional ouster of an elected president in 2014, was endorsed by the U.N. Security Council and was to be implemented under German and French auspices. <\/em><\/p>\n

But the German and French leaders at the time recently admitted<\/a> they had no intention of implementing the deal that would have given the ethnic Russian Donbass autonomy, while remaining part of Ukraine. <\/em><\/p>\n

Instead Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande said Russia was deceived to give NATO time to build up Ukraine\u2019s military to supposedly defend against a Russian invasion. Russia had eight years to invade, but instead pinned its hopes on the Minsk Accords to avoid a larger conflict. When a Western-backed offensive on Donbass began last February, Russia acted.<\/em><\/p>\n

The West got its larger conflict.\u00a0 On Feb. 4, 2022, 20 days before the Russian invasion, <\/em>Consortium News<\/strong> laid out the trap being set for Russia, which one year later has trapped the West instead. The quicker it understand this, the better.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The U.S. and NATO are pouring weapons into Ukraine. Kiev says it plans no offensive against Donbass, but if Washington forced one, Moscow would have a major decision to make, writes Joe Lauria. <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Ukrainian government tanks in eastern Ukraine, 2015. (OSCE)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

By Joe Lauria<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Special to Consortium News
\n<\/em>Feb. 4, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n

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U<\/strong>nited States plans to weaken Russia by imposing punishing sanctions and bringing world condemnation on Moscow depend on Washington\u2019s hysteria about a Russian invasion of Ukraine actually coming true.<\/p>\n

At his press conference on Tuesday, Vladimir Putin said,<\/p>\n

\u201cI still believe the United States is not that concerned about Ukraine\u2019s security, though they may think about it on the sidelines. Its main goal is to contain Russia\u2019s development. This is the whole point. In this sense, Ukraine is simply a tool to reach this goal. This can be done in different ways: by drawing us into some armed conflict,<\/em> or compelling its allies in Europe to impose tough sanctions on us like the US is talking about today.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At the U.N. Security Council on Monday, Russia\u2019s U.N. envoy Vassily Nebenzia said: \u201cOur Western colleagues say that de-escalation is needed, but they are the first to build up tension, enhance rhetoric and escalate the situation. Talks about an imminent war are provocative per se. It might seem you call for it, want it and wait for it to come, as if you wanted your allegations to come true.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

The war mania being drummed up in U.S. and British media recalls even Zbigniew Brzezinski\u2018s warning<\/a> that \u201cwhipping up anti-Russian hysteria \u2026 could eventually become a self-fulfilling prophecy.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Without an invasion the U.S. seems lost. No sanctions, no world opprobrium, no weakening of Russia.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the U.S. is trying to lure Russia into a trap in Ukraine, what might it look like?<\/p>\n

Offensive on Donbass<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ukraine says it is not planning an offensive against the breakaway provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk, which border Russia in the east.\u00a0 But just ten days ago Ukrainian President Zelensky said:<\/p>\n

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\u2757\ufe0fPresident Zelensky speaking to the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine: <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have learned to contain external threats. It is time we begin offensive actions aimed at securing our national interests. Our citizens are united in wanting their territory returned\u201d pic.twitter.com\/iumwOKNEZ5<\/a><\/p>\n

— Murad Gazdiev (@MuradGazdiev) January 24, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n