19 September 2016

How to Start a War With the Russians

By Ronald L. Ray

In one of the most dumbfounding displays of militaristic insanity and sophistic stupidity we have ever read, a former NATO general and a Polish arms consultant have co-authored a highly subjective July 2016 foreign policy “analysis,” which, if it is implemented, will make a world war with Russia a near certainty.

Far from being a sober policy review, “Arming for Deterrence: How Poland and NATO Should Counter a Resurgent Russia,” published by the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at the Atlantic Council, is a dangerous recipe for confrontation. The 25-page document lacks any bibliography and contains only 14 footnotes, of which only a few list information sources. Two of those, Bloomberg and The New York Times, are hardly scholarly.

The authors of “Arming for Deterrence” (AD) are Gen. Sir Richard Shirreff and Maciej Olex-Szczytowski. Shirreff’s official biography notes he was “NATO’s deputy supreme allied commander Europe from 2011 to 2014. He is a partner at Strategia World-wide Ltd.” Ominously, “He recently published ‘2017: War with Russia.’ ”

Olex-Szczytowski was formerly an economic advisor in the Polish Foreign Ministry and is now an “independent” advisor “specializing in defense.”

The policy paper is founded upon base—and baseless—propaganda, calling Russia “a kleptocratic, authoritarian regime” that seeks “to deflect attention from [the country’s] ongoing economic meltdown and the regime’s growing repressiveness.” Since when did bald-faced lying become a firm footing for foreign policy?

AFP long has documented the opposing reality of modern, nationalist, religious Russia, which acts as a responsible great power in world affairs, amid the adolescent bullying and destructive warfare perpetrated by the U.S. and its allies.

But the real danger is the authors’ effort to make Poland the “point of the spear” in the ceaseless U.S. and Zionist effort to subjugate Russia. By repeating the false narrative of Russian regional “aggression,” AD seeks to provide cover for a highly belligerent and dangerous policy of NATO “defense,” designed to preserve the illusion of the U.S. as “lone superpower” and restore the genuinely “kleptocratic, authoritarian regime” of the Jewish oligarchs and mafiosi that Russian President Vladimir Putin imprisoned and expelled.

More than just typical military build-up, AD calls for Poland to act more independently and aggressively toward Russia, playing on traditional Polish antipathies. The parallels to the West’s 1939 provocation of Poland to instigate World War II against Germany are obvious—and extremely disturbing.

Disingenuously glossing over the blatant violation of the NATO/Russia Founding Act by NATO’s increasingly aggressive encirclement of Russia, AD demands that “Poland should publish a potential list of [attack] targets, for example in the Kaliningrad Oblast.” It pushes Poland to violate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by requesting U.S. nuclear missiles on its soil.

In one of the worst recommendations, “Poland should announce that it reserves the right to deploy offensive cyber operations (and not necessarily in response just to cyberattacks). The authorities could also suggest potential targets, which could include the Moscow metro, the St. Petersburg power network, and Russian state-run media outlets such as RT.” Aside from the policy’s outright lunacy, the only reason to announce such things is to provoke a response, because announcing military plans in advance is bad strategy.

The call for “offensive cyb

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