NATO, is holding its summit meeting this week in Washington, DC and in addition to celbrating its 75th anniversary, it is making plans to further strengthen their collective support to Ukraine.
As reported by the White House1,
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- the Allies will announce their intention to provide a minimum baseline funding of €40 billion within the next year, and to provide sustainable levels of security assistance for Ukraine to prevail.
- NSATU2 will coordinate equipment, training and force development work to support Ukraine on its path to full interoperability with NATO and will help Ukraine to defend against Russian aggression today and deter aggression in the future.
- the Alliance is spending more than ever on critical new defense procurement
On top of that, NATO member country leaders (including Joe Biden) are committed to making Ukraine a NATO member. In so doing, they are committing themselves to war with Russia as
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- Ukrainian membership in NATO is crossing Russia’s red line
- NATO policy is that an attack on any member is an attack on all
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Thus, bringing Ukraine into NATO prior to the end of the present conflict would commit NATO forces to enter the war directly.
Russia has no designs on the west and every NATO official knows it. Russia has neither the money, weapons nor manpower to invade the west3 and anyone who thinks Vladymir Putin is stupid or crazy needs to change his meds. Russia’s only ace is 5,000+ nuclear warheads which Putin has warned that Russia is prepared and will use nuclear weapons in the event of attack on Russian soil. NATO is clearly playing the game of “chicken”4 betting Putin will “chicken out”.
The bet that Putin will “chicken out” is based on Krushchev’s withdrawal of intermediate range ballistic missiles from Cuba in 1962. In that situation, Kruscheve blinked first, and NATO commanders are betting that Putin will do the same. However, there is a huge difference in the situation that they are totally ignoring. Cuba is very close to the U.S. and a long way from Russia. Russia was in no way able to defend a military installation in Cuba and removing it posed no threat to Russian security. An attack on Russian soil is an entirely different matter and anyone not recognizing the difference is too stupid to be in charge of anything much less NATO forces.
Finally, what do we gain from this game of “chicken” that the U.S. and NATO are so eager to play? While the game poses a risk as great or greater than the risk we took in 1962, I cannot even imagine a single positive gain for the average American citizen. But wait! There must be some potential gain for someone. What could it possibly be? Well, let’s look at Ukraine’s natural resources. In addition to a moderate climate and lots of arable land, Ukraine has mineral5 of coal, iron ore, natural gas, manganese, salt, oil, graphite, sulfur, kaolin, titanium, nickel, magnesium, timber, mercury and more recently discovered lithium6. Now it wouldn’t be the first time the U.S. has been willing to go to war to exploit the natural resources of another country. And it wouldn’t be the first time our “leaders” were willing to sacrifice the lives of its citizens for the benefit of those who offer large gratuities7 to the leaders for their services.
So, the leaders of the NATO countries are willing (and some are eager) to play the game of “chicken” with Vladymir Putin and risk the destruction of civilization as we know it, just so a small minority of people can exploit the natural resources of another country and get rich(er). As said in the title, “the inmates are clearly running the asylum”.
1 The 2024 NATO Summit in Washington
2 NSATU: NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine
3 Russia’s economy is 1/10th that of the U.S. and 1/5th that of the E.U. Russia’s population is less than half that of the U.S. and less than 1/5th that of Europe. Russia’s military budget is less than 1/10 that of the U.S. and less than 1/15th that of the U.S. and NATO combined.
4 I’m not sure how many readers are familiar with the game of “chicken”, but it was played by two drivers (idiiots) each racing his automobile toward the other with the driver’s side wheels on the yellow dividing line. The first driver to swerve away from the impending collision was labeled “chicken”. Needless to say, the game resulted in a number of fatalities (not unlike the present game).
6 Lithium has many uses. It is used in ceramics, computers, medicine, glass and even nuclear weapons. Its primary use today is in batteries. In particular, as the world switches over to electric vehicles, the demand for lithium soared, raising its price (and profits).
7 According to the U.S. Supreme Court decision, a gift given after a service is provided is a gratuity whereas a gift given prior to a service provided is a bribe. Bribes are illegal, but gratuities are legal.