Pushback with Aaron Maté Stephen F. Cohen argues that cracks are emerging within the NATO-led consensus that has pushed Moscow from the West. Guest: Stephen F. Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies at New York University and Princeton University, contributing editor at The Nation, and author of several “War with Russia: From Putin & Ukraine to Trump & Russiagate.”
MoA—Clown prince Mohamed bin Salman may have removed his father’s bodyguard to make it easier for himself to take the throne. The recent Yemeni attack on Saudi oil installation and the defeat of at lest two brigades of Saudi troops must put a lot of pressure of him. MbS is the Defense Minister. He started the war on Yemen. He must fear for his job and position. With the king removed he would become unassailable.
SPENGLER—
If the American military is deficient, Germany’s is prostrate. During part of 2019 Germany could not put a single military helicopter in the air, and no more than four of its Tornado fighters at any given time. Only 18% of Germans told a 2017 Gallup poll that they were willing to fight to defend their country. Merkel will give lip service to human rights in Hong Kong, and complain about predatory Chinese acquisitions of German businesses, but her mission in Beijing is to expand German trade with China and to give German companies more access to the Chinese market.
The United States encouraged and aided the breakup of the Soviet Union and the socialist bloc in an effort to weaken its main political and economic rival. An important ideological weapon in this effort was the demonization of the Soviet Union generally and especially of the Stalin era. Since then the United States and NATO have engaged in wars and killed civilians on a scale that no one could blame the Soviet Union for – a million civilians, mostly children, by the war and then boycott on Iraq from 1991-2003, and another several hundred thousand at least since then. This boycott and these invasions would have been impossible if the USSR and Soviet bloc had still been in existence.
THE SAKER—There are two phenomena which explain this gradual dissolution of meanings into meaningless and insipid categories: first, the correct meaning of many terms has been covered by a thick layer of ideological imperatives and, second, most 21st century politicians couldn’t care less what any word really means. All they care about is framing the discussion in a way which makes it easy for them to obfuscate their numerous crimes.