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Channel / Source:
Caitlin Johnstone
Published: 2022-10-05
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IljwuEOlttA
we survived the last nuclear standoff through compromise and de-escalation Vladimir Putin has signed documents finalizing the Russian annexation of four regions in eastern Ukraine meaning there's now a western-backed Ukrainian counter-offensive underway to recapture what Russia officially considers parts of its Homeland Moscow has made it clear that it will use all weapon systems at its disposal to defend against attacks on territories it claims as its own
which could include nuclear weapons depending on if and how that happens and what kind of day all the relevant decision makers are having when it does there is a distinct possibility that a chain of events could follow which leads to the end of the world this happens as Ukraine's president zielinski signs a decree officially ruling out the possibility of any peace talks with Putin who recently
publicly requested such talks the US Empire which has been driving this proxy war from the beginning is also not currently engaged in peace talks with Moscow things are accelerating faster and faster toward the absolute worst thing that could possibly happen and as far as we know nobody's got a foot anywhere near the brake pedal meanwhile everyone has gone insane the propaganda blanket has been laid on
so thick since this war started that it has become the mainstream position that only continual escalation is acceptable public calls for de-escalation and de taunt are met with accusation of Kremlin loyalty as we just saw with the vitriolic responses to Elon musk's online proposal of possible terms to end the war there's a popular post going around Twitter right now by a pro Kiev pundit named Thomas
Tyner which sums up the delusional sentiments we've been seeing on this front I grew up during the Cold War I studied the Cold War Tyner writes when the Russians and Soviets say we will use nuclear weapons the only answer must be try and die all else is seen as weakness by the Kremlin and will lead to the Russians using nukes Tyner is wrong and has made
no serious study of the Cold War or to be more precise the last Cold War since we're in another one now the only reason we survived the most dangerous part of that era was because of compromise and a sincere commitment to de-escalation not because anyone was yelling try and die at Moscow back in 2013 the Atlantic published a solid article titled the real Cuban Missile Crisis
subtitled everything you think you know about those 13 days is wrong its author Benjamin Schwartz details how the crisis was peacefully resolved not because JFK was on the phone yelling try and die at Nikita Khrushchev but because he secretly cut a deal to remove the Jupiter missiles the U.S had stationed in Italy and turkey which provoked the 1962 incident in the first place Moscow perceived that
the only reason why that type of mid-range weapon would be placed in such a way would be if the U.S was planning a nuclear First Strike to disarm Russia and Schwartz write that that suspicion was entirely well founded the Kennedy administration had indeed strongly contemplated such a strike during the Berlin crisis of 1961. in response to this threat as well as the 1961 Bay of Pigs
invasion Khrushchev moved ballistic missiles to Cuba whose Discovery led to the tense standoff which brought us far closer to nuclear Annihilation than most of us care to contemplate a secret deal was struck whose nature wouldn't become public knowledge until decades later resulting in both sides removing their offending missile placements you and I are alive today because Kennedy backed down from the brink and struck a compromise
as well as our sheer dumb luck at having one cool-headed Soviet officer on a nuclear-armed submarine refused to deploy the weapon while being bombarded by the U.S Navy during the standoff between JFK and Khrushchev Kennedy conditioned his acquiescence to moscow's demands on assurances that his doing so would be kept secret because then as now there were tremendous political pressures not to be seen as backing down
and looking weak before the enemy but as history tells us it's not caveman chest thumping that has allowed us to remain alive on a planet full of stockpiled Armageddon weapons it's the sensibility to know when to compromise and relent rather than pushing continuously toward the edge de taunt used to be a household term it was a redeemed subject of mainstream political discourse mainstream politicians were expected
to have a clear and articulate position on the Diplomatic easing of tensions with the USSR now people don't even know daytont is a thing I say that word and people look at me like it's the first time they've ever encountered it and the concept itself is completely alien to them people I talk to tend to believe the only options on the table are either a continuing
to escalate this insane game of nuclear chicken with Russia or B giving Putin everything he wants they're completely unaware that a third option of negotiation compromise and de-escalation exists much less that it has historically been viable and successful this is entirely by Design people don't know that détant is an option because the political media class virtually never mentions it anymore the news media are supposedly responsible
for helping to create an informed populace but because their real job is propaganda they generally end up doing the exact opposite if the public were permitted to become widely aware that these games of nuclear brinkmanship are not a necessity but a choice that is being made on their behalf and that their leaders are rolling the dice on their lives and the lives of everyone they know
and love for no other reason than to work towards securing unipolar planetary hegemony they would no longer consent to this madness If people really understood how much is being risked here and how little it benefits them Washington DC would be on fire right now that's why their understanding is continually manipulated and obscured by the managers of Empire
