Paul Craig Roberts
In his latest Dances with Bears, John Helmer reports Putin’s commitment to Israel, genocide notwithstanding:
President Vladimir Putin declared that Russia and Israel make “a true common family; I can say this without exaggeration. Almost 2 million Russian speakers live in Israel. We consider Israel a Russian-speaking country…Without any exaggeration, I can say with pride that probably there has never been such a high level of relations between Russia and Israel, if, of course, we don’t go back to the very first months or maybe the first couple of years of the state of Israel. The positions of Russia and Israel, the peoples of our countries coincide….”
As Helmer makes clear in his discussion with Rasheed https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Video Link ,
there is no reciprocity in Israel’s attitude toward Russia, which is hostile. Just the other day Israel, at Zelensky’s request, placed an embargo on Russian delivery of grain to Israel on the suspicion that some of the grain may have been grown on Russian conquered Ukrainian land in Donbas.
Putin did absolutely nothing to deter the Israeli-American attack on Iran. He asked only that Israel not attack the Iranian nuclear reactor where Russians were working. Clearly, Putin did not want any Russian deaths that could force him into supporting Iran’s ability to withstand the Israeli-American attack.
Putin, like Trump, seems to be more under the thumb of the Zionist state of Israel than under the thumb of domestic citizens. Everything is for Israel. Nothing for Americans or Russians.
Trump’s “Israel First” policy means for Americans and for the world, rising prices of energy and a shortage of fertilizer, which together bring higher rates of world inflation. As inflation is rising faster than incomes and employment, American citizens are paying the price of their president being the two-bit punk puppet of Israel.
Putin has accepted the same role for himself, further erasing Russia’s influence in world affairs. No one any longer pays any attention to anything Putin says. None of Putin’s red lines meant anything. Therefore, nothing the Kremlin says means anything. No one even listens.
Gilbert Doctorow identifies Russia’s lost of prestige when he points out that Putin, fearful of a US/MI6/Ukrainian attack on yesterday’s victory celebration of the surrender of the Third Reich cut the parade to 45 minutes with no exposure of Russian weapon systems, as protection against a smashing attack on Russia’s annual Victory Day. Do note that Russia was for the first time in history unable to celebrate their victory over Nazi Germany because Putin refuses to win the war in Ukraine.
Why does Putin refuse to win the war?
Helmer and Doctorow have given us insights. Within the Kremlin, Russian nationalists have a weaker voice than Kirill Dmitriev, a powerful representative of the Russian Oligarchs along with the Putin-protected Russian central bank chairwoman. Dmitriev, who grew up and was educated in the US, and the Russian central bank director are pro-American, not pro-Russian. In effect, they serve as American agents inside Kremlin decision-making, and they are using war and negotiations over war to negotiate business arrangements between the US and Russia that give American interests sufficient advantage that the American pursuit of war will, they hope, give way to the pursuit of money. In other words, Putin is selling out Russia for an end of sanctions.
Helmer and Doctorow are far more competent and better informed that the CIA and MI6. They note that Putin’s failure to defend Russia and Russia’s allies has established Russia as a very weak country whose weakness invites attack. As I have cautioned for several years, Putin’s strategic blunder to understand the situation is leading to nuclear war.
