The U.S.-Russia “phony war”: How Washington warmongers could bring us from stalemate to catastrophe

[inanna]

From Salon
Patrick L. Smith
Saturday, Aug 8, 2015 07:30 PM EST


One of two outcomes is likely: Another long Cold War, or a great power conflict

The Ukraine crisis and the attendant confrontation with Russia assume a “phony war” feel these days. As in the perversely calm months between the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 and the Blitzkrieg into the Low Countries the following spring, nothing much seems to be happening.

No one took comfort then—a fog of anxiety suffused everything—and no one should now. One almost prefers it when Washington politicians and other temporarily important people are out there grandstanding and warmongering. At least part of what is occurring is visible, even as the whole never is. Now one sees almost nothing, and we get an idea of what the historians mean when they describe the queasiness abroad during the phony war period.

A formidable file of political, diplomatic and military reports has accumulated by drips and drops of late, and it strongly suggests one of two things: Either we are on the near side of open conflict between two great powers, accidental or purposeful and probably but not necessarily on Ukrainian soil, or we are in for a re-rendering of the Cold War that will endure as long as the original.

One cannot look forward to either, the former being dangerous and the latter dreary. But it has to be one or the other, barring the unlikely possibility that Washington is forced to accept a settlement that federalizes Ukraine, as Europe and Moscow assert is sensible.

cont'd...
Link: http://www.salon.com/2015/08/08/the_u_s_russia_phony_war_how_washington_warmongers_could_bring_us_from_stalemate_to_catastrophe/

[Igel]

1. Recently I heard a politician say how great diplomacy was.

And, yes, it certainly can be. But it's not the end-all of existence, however it may be the only tool he has in his toolkit.

We had peace during the Cold War, thanks to diplomacy, he said. Without it, people would have died, he said.

You'd think the Cold War had no violence. No suppression of uprisings in Poland, in Hungary, in Czechoslovakia. No Mozambique or Angola, no SWAPO in Namibia, no Nicaragua or the consequences of the Cold War in Argentina or Chile or Indonesia.

No post-Cold-War thaw of suppressed and frozen conflicts in Yugoslavia. To some extent Syria and Iraq and Libya are Cold-War era messes just now getting cleaned up.

The politician who said this, IMHO, was just thick.

I guess his conception of the world is that it's either run by diplomacy and all is peace and floating bunnies or nuclear bombs are cascading from the sky like hail during a severe thunderstorm. If those are your pigeonholes then the Cold War truly was peace with no loss of life.

[swilton]

2. Great article!

Thanks for posting!

[Meggulliver]

3. This article from the Daily Mail is an example of what is going on in Ukraine today.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3205754/Blood-oozed-soil-grave-sites-pits-alive-secrets-Ukraine-s-shameful-Holocaust-Bullets-killing-centre-1-6million-Jews-executed.html#reader-comments