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Massive lies, hypocrisy and cynicism characterise the Anglo-American history of dealings with Russia, and their way of doing foreign policy in general. Now as their plots unravel in Eastern Europe, it will be hard for the hardliners in Washington and London to keep the warmongering hysteria going. The Ukraine itself, says Mercouris, is denying the imminence of a Russian attack. And France’s Macron, with Germany’s support, is looking for a way to defuse the crisis. Meanwhile, the sheer brutishness and arrogance of US and UK maneuvers in Europe are clearly pushing Germany and France into an open break with London and Washington. 

While China is building ports, rails, roads, and power plants across the continent, its Russian ally continues to dominate Europe’s energy market and is now just months away from opening its controversial Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline beneath the Baltic Sea, guaranteed to increase Moscow’s economic influence. As the massive pipeline project moved to completion last December, Russian President Putin intensified pressures on NATO with a roster of “extravagant” demands, including a formal guarantee that Ukraine not be admitted to the alliance, removal of all the military infrastructure installed in Eastern Europe since 1997, and a prohibition against future military activity in Central Asia.

In a power play not seen since Stalin and Mao joined forces in the 1950s, the alliance between Putin’s raw military force and Xi’s relentless economic pressure may indeed slowly be pulling Europe away from America. Complicating the U.S. position, Britain’s exit from the European Union cost Washington its most forceful advocate inside Brussels’ labyrinthine corridors of power.

This idea appeared in the Ukrainian Newspapers over a week ago, and how they were going to start training citizens to fight a Partisan War against Russia. This idea is a nonstarter considering over half the population there speaks Russian and has ties with Russia. And over a million of them actually have jobs and relatives in Russian. If the Ukrainian army is incapable of winning a war against Russia, I don’t think the population has much of a chance. And if the Americans bring in their beheading terrorists, I don’t think that will go over well with the Ukrainian population either. Or the other Baltic countries for that matter. And certainly, Germany and France would have nothing to do with that kind of scheme.

Max Blumenthal and geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar discuss the violent coup attempt in Kazakhstan, and its crucial importance as an ally of Russia and the center of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Pepe addresses US and Turkish meddling, and why this massive and misunderstood country is suddenly at the heart of the new cold war. They also talk about the failure of the US-Russia talks in Geneva and if war could be on the horizon.

MICHAEL T. KLARE—The word “encirclement” does not appear in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), signed into law by President Joe Biden on December 27th, or in other recent administration statements about its foreign and military policies. Nor does that classic Cold War era term “containment” ever come up. Still, America’s top leaders have reached a consensus on a strategy to encircle and contain the latest great power, China, with hostile military alliances, thereby thwarting its rise to full superpower status.

The gigantic 2022 defense bill — passed with overwhelming support from both parties — provides a detailed blueprint for surrounding China with a potentially suffocating network of U.S. bases, military forces, and increasingly militarized partner states. The goal is to enable Washington to barricade that country’s military inside its own territory and potentially cripple its economy in any future crisis.