Monday, April 5, 2021

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https://www.globalresearch.ca/kissinger-warns-washington-accept-new-global-system-face-pre-wwi-geopolitical-situation/5741911

Kissinger Warns Washington to Accept New Global System or Face a Pre-WWI Geopolitical Situation

With the White House continually provoking tensions against Russia and China, the doyen of American foreign policy, Henry Kissinger, dramatically warned Washington last week to either agree to a new international system or continue pushing tensions that are leading to a situation similar to the eve of World War One.

In a Chatham House webinar with former British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt last Thursday, 97-year-old Kissinger called on the U.S. to create a balance with existing global forces, adding

    “if you imagine that the world commits itself to an endless competition based on the dominance of whoever is superior at the moment, then a breakdown of the order is inevitable. And the consequences of a breakdown would be catastrophic.”

The veteran diplomat urged the U.S. to understand that not every issue has “final solutions” and warned

    “if we don’t get to an understanding with China on that point, then we will be in a pre-World War One-type situation in which there are perennial conflicts that get solved on an immediate basis but one of them gets out of control at some point.”

However, the idea that the U.S. should stop imposing its will on everyone else will not be easily accepted in Washington. This is attested by the sharp rhetoric and personal insults that U.S. President Joe Biden continually levels against his Russian and Chinese counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. 

High-ranking Chinese official Yang Jiechi told U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on March 18 in Alaska that “the United States does not have the qualification to say that it wants to speak to China from a position of strength.” Then, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi boldly said days later on March 22 during their meeting in Beijing that they “jointly safeguard multilateralism, maintain the international system with the UN at its core and the international order based on international law, while firmly opposing unilateral sanctions as well as interference in other countries’ internal affairs.”

Kissinger’s career is washed in blood when we remember his backing of Pakistan during Bangladesh’s War of Independence despite the massacre of hundreds of thousands of people and mass rape; orchestrated a military coup in Chile to remove democratically elected Allende in favor of the Pinochet dictatorship; tacitly supported Indonesia’s mass killing of hundreds of thousands of East Timorese; and, blessed Turkey’s invasion of northern Cyprus that led to 200,000 Greek refugees without a right of return – among many other things.

However, his most recent statement about the U.S. and the international system is actually a mature proposal that would be beneficial for world peace if the Biden administration accepts his advice that the global order is changing. It is unlikely that Washington is ready to unilaterally end its hard and soft power aggression as it falsely believes it can maintain a unipolar order.

It is always difficult for Great Powers to accept that the world has changed, especially when it is to their detriment. The behavior of the Biden administration, which deliberately uses threatening and inappropriate rhetoric, demonstrates that it will not rationally accept a multipolar world system, especially since Russophobia and Sinophobia are on the rise.

Personal insults against Putin and Xi are an expression of American impotence, especially when we consider that the U.S. historically did not engage in this kind of rhetoric when it was at the zenith of its power. The U.S. is no longer the world’s sole superpower and its rivals are no longer accepting such aggression, which is exactly why the Chinese delegation that went to Alaska last month clearly stated that it does not accept any language of force.

An additional problem for the U.S. is whether its allies will strain their relations with China and Russia, and whether they will accept being pushed into conflicts with them. There are indications that the most important European countries will resist U.S. demands. This is evidenced by the Nord Stream 2 issue where American attempts to prevent its construction are being met with resistance from important European Union countries despite the endless complaints from minnows like Lithuania and Poland.

Robert Gates, former director of the CIA and U.S. Secretary of Defense, admitted in a recent interview with the Washington Post that sanctions against Russia do not any good for the U.S. In The National Interest, Robert Kaplan describes Russia as a “problem from hell” because it cannot be subdued. Kaplan offered reasons why it is necessary for Russia to “move away from its one-sided alliance with China” and find balance with the U.S.

Washington’s misguided policy of aggression to maintain a unipolar world order worked in the favor of China and Russia, especially in accelerating their cooperation. The West can no longer suppress China’s economic power or Russia’s military power. Military strategists in the West are aware that the Russo-Sino cooperation cannot be compensated by anything. In the end, Washington will have to resort to a strategy resembling Kissinger’s suggestion of finding equilibrium, whilst also accepting the multipolar reality that has been established.

....

https://stephenlendman.org/2021/04/nord-stream-2-putins-pipeline-of-aggression/

Nord Stream 2 Putin’s Pipeline of Aggression?

US dark forces are hellbent to undermine Russia politically, economically, technologically and militarily — a failed agenda that continues relentlessly anyway on multiple fronts.

Press agent media propaganda is one of many tactics used.

According to Defense News, “Putin’s (Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany and Europe) threatens the West (sic),” adding:

It’s not “a purely economic project (sic). (It’s a) horrendous deal for Europe (sic).”

If completed, it’ll “pose an intelligence threat to the West (by) allow(ing) the Kremlin to deploy surveillance devices (sic).”

According to an unnamed former US official, the pipeline “would permit new technologies to be placed along the pipeline route, and that is a threat (sic).”

“Russia may…deploy its naval forces along the pipelines’ routes on a national security pretext, leaving much of the Baltic Sea unnavigable, including for LNG carriers, cargo ships, the navies of the countries surrounding this body of water and NATO maritime forces (sic).” 

“In such a scenario, the potential for escalation is clear (sic).”

All of the above is reinvention of reality rubbish by US dark forces.

No Russian security threat exists to the US, Europe or elsewhere.

What going on is all about wanting Russian interests undermined along with maximizing exports of expensive US LNG by minimizing the supply of low-cost Russian natural gas to Germany and other European countries.

Russian natural gas is around 30% cheaper than US liquified natural gas (LNG), why Germany and other European countries highly value it.

Dominant US Russophobes want completion of the pipeline blocked.

According to Nord Stream 2 AG, the project’s operator, the pipeline is 95% completed — as of April 1.

“About 121 km (5%) of the total length of the pipeline is yet to be laid.”

Russian vessel Fortuna involved in completing its construction was joined by the Akademik Cherskiy pipe-laying vessel on March 31.

According to Russia’s Institute of National Energy director Sergey Pravosudov in late March: 

The US “continue(s) to make performative announcements.” 

“Maybe (the Biden regime and/or Congress) will impose (more) performative sanctions, but (Russia) will finish building the pipeline anyway.” 

“This is inevitable.”

Russian National Energy Security Fund director Konstantin Simonov said the following:

“The US cannot block the accounts of Nord Stream 2 AG.” It cannot block completion of the project.

It practically exhausted its tactics to block it.

“The only decisions left are the ones that are on the verge of a complete collapse of relations not even with us, but with Germany and a number of other European countries.” 

“For example, if the United States demands a refusal from purchasing Russian gas.” 

“This requirement is feasible only if Europeans in the literal sense of the words will begin to freeze and remain without electricity.” 

“This is no exaggeration. It is simply physically impossible to close the (European) energy balance today without Russian gas.” 

Energy Sector Research Division deputy head at the Institute for Natural Monopolies Research (IPEM) Evgeny Rudakov said the following:

“Until recently, arguments about the need for Nord Stream 2 for the stability of supplies from Russia to Europe were countered by the talk about the surplus of existing gas transmission capacities.” 

“Last winter showed that the Nord Stream 2 is necessary for Europe not only in the longterm, but even in the short term.” 

Pipelaying continues “in full swing,” Tass reported.

Fitch director Dmitry Marinchenko said the US can only “complicate and slow down” completion of the pipeline, not halt its construction, adding:

As long as Berlin wants it completed and becoming operational, it’s highly unlikely that the US will be able to block it.

Univer Capital’s managing director Aretem Lyutik shares this view, saying:

“The construction of Nord Stream 2 is practically completed, and even in the case of new measures, the Russian side will still be able to freely finish laying pipes and launch the gas pipeline.”

On April 1, Nord Stream 2 AG’s branch director Andrey Minin explained the following:

After the resumption of Nord Stream 2’s construction in January 2021, “there has been an increase in activity of military ships, planes, and helicopters, as well as civilian ships of foreign countries, whose actions are often provocative in nature.”

As a last resort, do they intend damaging or blowing up the pipeline?

“We are talking about clearly planned and prepared provocations, both with the use of fishing vessels and warships, submarines and aircraft in order to obstruct the economic project,” Minin added: 

“This is perhaps the first and unprecedented case of its kind in history.”

In late March, US installed NATO secretary general Stoltenberg said there’s no consensus among alliance members on the pipeline.

Economic powerhouse Germany very much wants the project completed.

Stoltenberg admitted that the alliances faces no Sino/Russian military threat.

Indeed not. Beijing and Moscow prioritize peace, stability, cooperative relations with other nations and observance of international law — polar opposite how the US and its imperial partners operate.

At this time, Nord Stream 2 is on track for completion in the coming months — as long as Biden regime hardliners don’t risk WW III to block it.

A Final Comment

Weeks earlier, Putin said Washington’s aim to block Nord Stream 2’s completion is economic.

“They are securing a market for their products, exclusively in their own selfish interests, and at the expense of European consumers,” he stressed.

Germany believes the same thing, saying the US “want(s) to sell us their fracking gas.”

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