With
Ukraine rolling out a murderous ethnic cleansing campaign in its
Donbass region on the Russian border, the Russian government has
responded with restraint. The new provision of arms to Ukraine by the
U.S. will likely change that — and start a proxy war more dangerous
than Syria’.
by
Whitney Webb
Part
3 - Syria to Ukraine: trading a botched proxy war for a “better”
one
The
Pentagon’s decision to arm the Ukrainian government is well-timed,
given that it coincides with the Trump administration’s decision to
stop arming the radical Wahhabists that comprise the “moderate
opposition” in Syria seeking to oust its democratically-elected
president, Bashar al-Assad.
Given the
Syrian government’s ability to make major gains against these
“rebels” and Daesh (ISIS), as well as the West’s repeated
failures to justify a foreign military intervention, the U.S. has
been all but forced to give up its dreams of provoking Russia via the
six-year-long proxy war fought in Syria over regional oil and gas
interests. High-ranking officials in the Syrian government have
recently declared the war in Syria “effectively over.”
With the
curtain closing in Syria, Washington needs a new proxy war. Given
that containing Russia is the ultimate goal – as it is with China –
what better way to step up the pressure than by sending lethal arms
to a rabidly anti-Russian, U.S.-backed government in Kiev that is
determined to ethnically cleanse Russians? Ukraine, after all, is
right on Russia’s border; and the Crimea region, which Poroshenko
is determined to return to his control, is now a part of Russia.
However,
choosing Ukraine for a new proxy war is more than just convenient.
The Washington establishment knows exactly what they are getting into
as this has nearly happened once before. In 2015, several U.S.
senators — led by John McCain — along with then-Secretary of
Defense Ashton Carter, pushed to arm the Ukrainian government with
lethal weapons.
Russia’s
response at the time paints a very clear picture of what could be
expected if the U.S. plan to give Ukraine lethal weapons comes to
pass. Following the push for sending weapons to Ukraine, Russia’s
Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, told Interfax news agency
that U.S. arms supplies to Ukraine would result in a “dramatic
outcome” that Russia “will not ignore.” He also stated that
Russia would not be able to “stay aside” in the conflict if the
U.S. followed through with its promise of providing lethal aid to
Kiev.
In terms of
what this “dramatic outcome” could entail, the events of 2015
offered two possibilities. Western analysts asserted that the U.S.’
arming of the Ukrainian government would be ”matched by Russian
arms to rebels,” creating the pretext for another long-running
proxy war with opposing sides armed by either the U.S. or Russia.
However,
Russian legislators struck a different tone, with one MP arguing that
a move to arm Kiev by the U.S. should be met with Russia sending
troops or “using military force” to keep the situation from
becoming “too dangerous” to Russia. In addition, The Moscow Times
cited Russian defense analysts, including current members of the
Ministry of Defense, who asserted that Washington’s attempts to arm
Ukraine would be seen as a “declaration of war.”
Having
failed in Syria, the elements of the U.S. political establishment
hell-bent on provoking Russia by any means necessary have decided to
take their proxy war straight to Russia’s doorstep. Unfortunately,
a proxy-war conflict in Ukraine will likely garner greater support
for U.S. intervention than Syria ever did. Years of fear-mongering by
NATO and the Western media about a “Russia invasion” of Ukraine,
the “annexation” of Crimea, and the current Russiagate
election-meddling “scandal” have certainly greased the wheels for
a new proxy war theater — one significantly easier to sell to the
U.S. public than was the effort to oust Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad.
***
Source,
links:
http://www.mintpressnews.com/frustrated-syria-us-turns-ukraine-next-russian-proxy-war-gambit/231181/
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