Escobar: Washington Plays Russian Roulette

[Karmadillo]

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/11/21/washington-plays-russian-roulette/

Washington Plays Russian Roulette
by PEPE ESCOBAR
NOVEMBER 21-23, 2014

These are bleak times. I’ve been in serious conversation with some deep sources and interlocutors – those who know but don’t need to show off, privileging discretion. They are all deeply worried. This is what one of them, a New York strategic planner, sent me:

The propaganda attack against Putin equating him with Hitler is so extreme that you have to think that the Russians cannot believe their ears and cannot trust the United States anymore under any circumstances.

I cannot believe how we could have gotten ourselves into this situation to protect the looters in the Ukraine that Putin would have rid the Ukraine of, and even had the gall to place in a leadership role one of the worst of the thieves. But that is history. What is certain is that MAD [mutually assured destruction] is not a deterrent today when both sides believe the other will use nuclear weapons once they have the advantage and that the side that gains a decisive advantage will use them. MAD is now over.

That may sound somewhat extreme – but it’s a perfectly logical extension, further on down the road, of what the Russian president intimated in his already legendary interview with Germany’s ARD in Vladivostok last week: the West is provoking Russia into a new Cold War. [1]

more...

[Odin2005]

1. How much is Putin paying you to post this shit?

[Karmadillo]

3. "How much is Putin paying you to post this shit?" Putin repeated

with that laugh of his. "That's simply brilliant." He shook his head. "Why can't you guys write like that?" He aimed a karate kick at my head like he always does when he wants to intimidate someone and then sat down at his desk. "What if we could turn him to our side? Think how quickly we could achieve our objective of world domination! Democratic Underground and Daily Kos would be ours! The dominoes would begin to tumble and all would fall into our hands." He stood and picked up his lucky skull. "Go, Karmadillo. Bring this Odin2005 in at all costs!" I bowed and walked to the door. "And Karmadillo." I turned around. "Yes, Mr. President?" He broke the five cinder blocks he keeps on his desk clean in two with a single blow of his hand. "Do not fail me. I imagine you understand the consequences." Did I. Very much so. I had seen more than once what happened to those who failed to advance the interests of the internet empire of the Mother Country. There's nothing like the bodies hanging from the meat locker at RT to focus one's mind on one's work.

So here we are, Odin2005. The President really is very impressed with your eloquence and insight and is very much hoping you'll join the team. I'm authorized to say there's a 100 acre farm in Crimea waiting for you just for starting out and if you live up to your potential and the new USSR expands as planned, you will probably be ensconced in a chalet in Switzerland or an apartment in Paris no later than next summer. Give it a thought and let me know. It's hard work posting against the neocon tide, but it's rewarding work. And if you decide you don't want to use me as a go-between, I'm sure the President would love to hear from you directly. You can tweet him here.

[malaise]

2. The gullible will learn

Western tentacles have no end.

[Karmadillo]

4. More discussion of this article can be found

here:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/CEN-01-211114.html