How to get out of Ukraine, by taking it out of Ukraine.
by Tim Veater.
In some ways it's quite simple. Russia that lost 12 million from an invasion in the 2nd WW will not accept a NATO/EU Ukraine. For America and the West to pursue it with its proxy Zelensky, was pure provocation. Events after 2014 proved the fears were real. Western anti-Russian policies since 2022 have probably damaged Europe more. The war was unnecessary, inhuman and totally predictable. We currently are witnessing the dictum that it is much easier to start a war than to stop it.
“The War in Ukraine is a money Laundering Scheme for Blackrock” -Robert F. Kennedy, Jr
Its no coincidence Keir Starmer & Angela Rayner met with Blackrock & their CEO Larry Fink November 2023:
https://www.facebook.com/100090532805681/videos/2049230645597206/?idorvanity=672894254517450
I hope it's still possible to discuss without 'arguing'. People have different points of view on each and every subject and it's "good to talk", whilst "agreeing to disagree" is always the civilized option. It's through debate that we refine our opinions and strive after truth and reality.
Do you remember the late Caroline Aherne's 'Mrs Merton's "Let's have a heated debate"? In a question asked of the late magician's wife Debbie McGee, "What first attracted you to millionaire Paul Daniels?", managed to humorously cut through the pretence and charade and get to what most people could see was the underlying truth.
In a sense that's what happened in the Oval Office between Trump and Zelensky. It's also an approach we should take in assessing it.
It was certainly an intentional and rather unedifying pre-planned ambush and attempted public humiliation of Zelensky, in an attempt to force a Trump-designed 'deal' on him. Trump wanted Ukraine's 'rare earth' without giving any 'security guarantees' - i.e. if it came to it, battle with Russia.
The ambush and attempted humiliation of Zelensky was a stunt that back-fired. It paints the Trump administration not as diplomats but as gang-land enforcers - not even offering the 'protection' that normally comes with the extortion. It is very reminiscent of the carve-up of Czechoslovakia between Chamberlain and Hitler, that allowed German annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938.
It has also revitalised Zelensky's image as the valiant underdog and propelled Starmer and Europe towards greater support and deeper involvement. We know what followed Poland in '39. Europe appears determined to follow a similar downward spiral. The Eastern Front is far removed from the hallowed halls of Lancaster House.
However we shouldn't push the comparison too far. Trump is right that the conflict should never have started, is hugely damaging. and needs to be stopped. If it is not by agreement, the relentless advance of Russia will continue, unless the violent resistance is intensified with a risk of nuclear exchange. British and other European deaths would be inevitable.
A neutral Ukraine and the annexation of the eastern part or some sort of devolution are the only pragmatic options and Zelensky should appreciate it, though his expectation of some sort of guarantee is understandable. Trump wants out because to stay in means only more cost in dollars and blood. If Zelensky can't negotiate with Trump and Putin, it's in Ukraine's best interests to find someone who can.
3.3.2025: I hate to be a party-pooper or rain on anyone's parade; be a killjoy, sourpuss or spoilsport, particularly when everybody is having so much fun and enjoying the celebrations, but could I ask how much of the billions being poured into Ukraine, that is not syphoned off into corruption, goes directly towards killing young men in their prime and demolishing buildings and intrastructure? Does no one question whether this is good use of human resources?
Is Ukraine the freedom-loving, democracy as it seems to be painted by its supporters?
So you watched Trump and Zelensky, two reality tv stars, make a mockery of diplomacy in the oval office, and now you stand with Ukraine? I’m not quite sure what
that means.
Does it mean you stand with the banning of 11 opposition parties, jailing their leaders and refusing to hold elections?
Does it mean you stand with the banning of the Russian Orthodox church, founded in 988AD, in Kiev, and exiling its leaders?
Does it mean you stand with prohibiting ethnic Russians living in Ukraine, one fifth of the population, from speaking and teaching their children their language and culture? Or reading and writing their books and newspapers?
Does it mean you stand with the Azov Battalion, the unapologetically far-right, neo-Nazi militia that dominates the Ukrainian military and to who the US Congress blocked military aid in 2018 on the grounds of its white supremacist ideology? The same Azov that in 2019 was designated a Tier 1 group, alongside other “democratic” organisations like the Ku Klux Klan and ISIS, and banned from Facebook completely under their “Dangerous Individuals and Organizations” policy but miraculously, had their status reversed the very day Russia launched its “special operation”? Is this who you stand with?
Does it mean you stand with the criminal oligarchs who brought Zelensky to power, and who have subsequently made $billions from the war?
Does it also mean you stand with the most prominent of these, Ihor Kolomoisky, the banking, mining and energy oligarch who bankrolled Azov and who was accused of defrauding Ukraine's largest bank of billions of dollars? The same Kolomoisky whose steel and mining holdings in the US, Ghana and Australia were investigated by the FBI in 2019 who alleged he used his control of Ukraine’s largest retail bank, PrivatBank, to loot staggering sums from Ukrainian depositors, and yo then use a series of shell companies and offshore accounts to whisk the money out of the country and into the U.S.? Do you stand with him too?
Does it mean you stand with continuing a war that has already cost over 1 million souls, could potentially escalate to WW3 and that has precisely zero chance of being won?
Or does it mean you stand with the innocents in Gaza whose slaughter has been live-streamed for the last 16 months in the same way?
C’mon, be honest. Do you really stand with Ukraine or do you just hate Trump and/or Putin?
1.3.2025:
Everything is subject to the Zionist propaganda department before it is released to Western man.
To every stage and drama, there is back-stage and director. The Trump Zelensky show-down, with J D Vance in a supporting role, was just scripted theatre, either to get Trump's way or because he failed so to do. Just as the audience was primed to fear the dreaded 'Covid' - and of course it worked - so it was primed to fear the dreaded 'Putin' by the same Producers who tried to claim
Putin fiddled Trump's first election. It has been in charge ever since JFK's assassination and the criminal fraud of 9/11. Now we have a slightly different set of Directors who might just be trying to change things for the better, but at the same time be just as criminal and dangerous. These are big children playing with very dangerous toys, in a nursery full of them. What America spends its money on is a very big clue as to who or what controls it. It's pretty simple really but people are still blind as bats. (Are bats blind? Ed.) (TTV)
https://veaterecosan.blogspot.com/
2.3.2025: Good point. And I've seen it made elsewhere too. Trump is a weird compilation of a dominant/submissive character; bombastic yet deferential, depending on his preferences. Confident yet insecure intellectually, he relies on well rehearsed and familiar tropes and his analysis of geopolitics is not a patch on Putin's, or even Macron's or Starmer's. He believes the problem, however complex, can be solved by 'the deal' which involves compromise on both sides. There is a good deal of truth in that, but unfortunately countries of millions and of long histories - longer even than that of the United States - may be less amenable to compromise or capitulation, even at the huge costs in life and damage that may entail. To a simple-minded person (such as Trump) all things are simple and possible. Sadly the reality is, they arn't.
The human suffering caused by this conflict is incalcuable. No one in their right mind could criticise efforts to end it. It was American foreign policy that precipitated it, and it will be American foreign policy that determines the outcome. The stakes are high and the people of Europe have largely been protected from viewing or appreciating their true and awful dimensions. If America withdraws from both Ukraine and NATO as seems increasingly likely, what can European countries put in its place? I think the answer to that is both obvious and pessimistic. Rather than increasing sanctions on Russia and deepening the division and animosity, shouldn't it be doing all it can to end the hostilities and build bridges between the two?
There are certainly parallels with 1939 Sudetenland and the carve-up of Czechoslovakia but there are dangers in pushing them too far and of falling into the trap of just repeating pejoratives truisms like 'appeasment'. The Ukrainian conflict was created in Washington. The intention was clear well over a decade ago. I pointed it out at the time, and I have largely been proved right. Russian speaking Zelensky couldn't even speak Ukrainian when he became the elected leader on promises to end the war. It was Ukraine that banned the Russian language and bombarded the east for eight years. It was Ukraine that pursued the policy of joining the EU and NATO despite knowing what the inevitable consequence would be and it was Boris Johnson that torpedoed the potential settlement two years ago. Now with a retreating USA Britain is upping the anti and 'boots on the ground' that can only lead to lost lives and financial ruin. So much for not 'appeasing tyrants'. Of course elsewhere we are happy not only to appease but to actively assist tyrants like Netanyahu and his gang.
Fair point. Have you forgotten Russia was invaded by Germany and lost 12 million souls in the process? Germany would not have been defeated without Russia being our ally and the Normandy Landings would have been an even bigger disaster than they were, as Hitler's troops would not have been deployed in the east. Russian occupation of Eastern Europe was a direct consequence of that and even agreed at Yalta. You don't seem to appreciate that what happened in 2014 was an American invention, additional to but not unrelated to the famous "seven countries in five years". It's result was predictable. It breached the 1993 agreement on neutrality. Can you imagine America's reaction, if Russia set up nuclear weapons in Mexico or Canada? Wars in the West are always justified on grounds of 'freedom' and 'democracy' but we all know it's a lie. The public never learn the truth or the lesson, so we continue feeding the killing machine with gung-ho rhetoric that bears no relationship to the reality.
The alternative anti-Trump/Putin point of view.
There are moments in history where you can feel the tectonic plates of power shifting under your feet, the precise seconds when empires declare themselves
rotten and ready to collapse. February 28, 2025, was one of those moments—a grotesque display of unchecked narcissism, geopolitical idiocy, and the full-throttle transformation of American foreign policy into a goddamn mafia shakedown.
Donald Trump, the world’s loudest and dumbest charlatan, decided to hold a public execution of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, not with bullets, but with bullying. This was not diplomacy. This was not strategy. This was the kind of goonish humiliation typically reserved for reality television, except now the stakes were measured in millions of lives and the looming specter of World War III.
“YOU’RE GAMBLING WITH WORLD WAR III”
Trump—flanked by his yes-man JD Vance and an eerily silent Marco Rubio—welcomed Zelenskyy to the Oval Office only to berate, belittle, and ultimately dismiss him like a waiter who forgot to refill his Diet Coke. The Ukrainian president had made the grave mistake of advocating for his people, for his country, for his soldiers dying daily on the front lines against Russian invaders. But in Trump’s world, there is no room for dignity or resistance—only total submission to the Don.
"You’re gambling with World War III," Trump barked at Zelenskyy, acting like a discount Tony Soprano shaking down a local shopkeeper. "You either make a deal, or we are out." The message was crystal clear: Surrender to Putin, or America lets you rot.
When Zelenskyy pushed back—trying to explain, like a rational human being, that diplomacy requires more than rolling over and exposing your belly to a psychotic autocrat like Vladimir Putin—Vance chimed in, whining that it was "disrespectful" to discuss such things in front of the American media. Disrespectful! As if the real problem here was the optics, not the grotesque moral betrayal unfolding in real time.
TRUMP’S FIXATION WITH GRATITUDE: A MOB BOSS DEMANDING TRIBUTE
"Have you ever said thank you once?" Vance sneered at Zelenskyy, echoing his master’s worldview that all human interactions are transactional. "You have to be thankful," Trump added, "you don’t have the cards. You’re buried there."
This is what American diplomacy has become: an extortion racket.
Forget alliances, forget history, forget standing up to despots—Trump views everything through the lens of a cheap con artist running a rigged casino. Ukraine, in his mind, is a desperate gambler, and Trump is the pit boss deciding whether to extend another round of credit.
If Zelenskyy had gotten on his knees and kissed Trump’s golden slippers, maybe he’d have left with something. But instead, he left with nothing, because he had the audacity to act like the elected leader of a sovereign nation, rather than a groveling servant.
THE CANCELED PRESS CONFERENCE: WHEN THE HUMILIATION IS TOO MUCH TO SPIN
After the carnage, Trump did what he always does: He took to Truth Social to declare victory.
"I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace," he wrote, as if the real issue is Ukraine’s unwillingness to surrender, rather than Russia’s ongoing campaign of war crimes and territorial theft.
The joint press conference was canceled—which in diplomatic terms is the equivalent of overturning the table and storming out of the restaurant. Zelenskyy was seen leaving the White House, no deal signed, no support secured. Just the bitter taste of betrayal in his mouth.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian ambassador literally facepalmed in the middle of the meeting. She couldn’t even hide her disgust. This was the international equivalent of watching your boss drunkenly scream at a client in a meeting while you rub your temples and quietly plan your resignation.
TRUMP’S ‘PEACE’ PLAN IS A SURRENDER PLAN
This is all part of a deliberate pivot in American foreign policy. Trump has always sided with Russia, whether it’s calling Putin "a very smart guy," ignoring his war crimes, or pretending Ukraine started the war. Now, his administration is pushing a so-called "peace plan" that amounts to a glorified land grab for Moscow.
The Wall Street Journal has already reported that Trump’s advisers are split on how exactly to force Ukraine to submit. Some want a "frozen conflict"—which translates to "Russia keeps what it stole"—while others are pushing for a formal deal that outright cedes Ukrainian land and resources to Putin. Either way, the outcome is the same: Ukraine loses, Russia wins, and Trump gets to preen about his ‘deal-making.’
THE DEATH OF AMERICA’S WORD
The entire world saw this Oval Office debacle. If you’re an ally of the United States, you just learned a very clear lesson: You cannot trust America under Donald Trump. Your security, your sovereignty, and your survival are all secondary to whether Trump personally feels flattered. If you are not groveling at his feet, you’re expendable.
Meanwhile, Putin is watching. And he’s grinning. Because now he knows that Trump will do his dirty work for him.
Zelenskyy was just the first ally to be fed to the wolves. He won’t be the last.
Welcome to America, 2025. This is what losing looks like.
3.4.2025: When I was a very small child, I had a strange fascination with the world and particularly the fact that there were so many other humans, all doing their own distinct thing at the same moment, of which I was not and could not be aware. This both troubled and intrigued me, so that I could almost go into a state of semi trance or reverie, imagining who they were, where they were and what they were doing. Maybe this was not particularly unusual in a child or in people generally and just a form of human curiosity, which it is said is one of the fundamental motivators in the human psychi -an impulse that powers the need to know, particularly of that which is hidden. Where would humans and civilization be without this urge to discover places and things unfamiliar or out of reach and not without an element of danger? It is the world of the explorer, of the record-breaker of the experimental scientist, all pushing the boundaries of knowledge or seeking the unknown. But sometimes it merely involves the application of mind and not even, amazingly the rational mind but somehow the instinctive or inspired. Some of the greatest insights, have been dropped like liquid gold, into the minds of men, that remarkably remain constant not only on earth, but throughout the limitless universe, enabling them to make projections and have insights, far beyond those of former times. Yet still for many, perhaps the overwhelming majority, life is a puzzle and an indecipherable enigma that defies explanation or purpose; a struggle to come to terms with ones self and the realities of it - the relationships, the ethics, the skills, the ambitions, attachments and death. Do we strive or do we submit? Do we rebel or conform? Do we live the active or contemplative life? Do we take chances or stay safe? At it's end how are we to know whether it was good or bad, meaningful or not? Should we live our lives knowing we shall be no more and of no consequence or believing we are significant and shall live for ever? Do we endeavour to do good or just settle for doing as little bad as is humanly possible? St Paul said, "When I was a child I thought like a child, but now I am a man I have put away childish things." Really? He certainly left us with a lot of his thoughts and had a tremendous influence on the post-Roman world but in another sense he didn't, and we continue as we always have, self-centred, egotistical, quarrelsome and dangerous. Are we better or worse off for his interpretation of life? The reality is that if we survive we do indeed return to a second childhood, not putting away childish things but readopting them. In Shakespeare's turn of phrase, of what he coined the 'seventh' phase of man, a "Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion - Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything"; or as in the case of the revolutionary Voltaire, just "retiring to dig his garden." So where did my childhood wonder and life get me? Well perilously close to the seventh stage. I must say I qualify on several counts. I may not have achieved much but despite many pitfalls I have managed to avoid many more. My childhood obsession has found its outlet in the pursuit of discovery of people and things; a puny ineffectual attempt at challenging deception, injustice and inhumanity, so many in this temporal world still suffer. To the fundamental human attribute of curiosity, we should add empathy. Perhaps those were the two instincts I had when I was five but no one let me in on the secret. (TTV)
LETTER FROM VLADIMIR PUTIN, TO THE WORLD.
Dear inhabitants of our beautiful planet Earth,
I, the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, have decided
to address all of you directly, avoiding diplomats, their leaders and journalists. In Russia there are so-called "oral traditions", where lying, cheating and exaggerating is forbidden.
Therefore I will speak with great honesty so that all may be convinced of the truth of my words.
Russia is a large and rich country, its most important value are the more than 150 peoples living in its territory, where justice is above all. We don't need new territories.
We have power and all other resources in abundance.
Since the time of the Great Tartar and the Great Mughals, the peoples of northern Eurasia have not developed because of the clashing of the Crusades and the colonization of America, Africa, India, or China's drug addiction, but because of their hard work and pacifism.
Those who know the Russian language understand that "Russian" is an adjective that designates all the peoples of our country. Russian Slavs, Russian Tartars, Russian Jews, Russian Evans, etc. We are all Russian at heart, even though our culture, our language and our way of life are different. We welcome this diversity of unity.
Once again, the Russian people were forced to sacrifice their lives to protect the world from Nazism and Fascism. We exchanged 50 of our prisoners of war for 50 Ukrainian soldiers. Ukrainian soldiers were treated in our hospitals, received three full meals a day and returned home.
We received Russian soldiers who had their fingers and genitals cut off. Not even the nazis did that in the last war.
We will present this evidence in a future trial. It will be a disgrace to all who now support these alms.
Their leaders in the United States, Europe, Japan, Australia and elsewhere have sided with these infrahumans who put civilians, pregnant women and children ahead of themselves in battle and deliberately mutilate prisoners of war. I find it hard to imagine a sane person supporting these monsters.
*And his Biden, Scholz, Macron and other dark Democrats* are not only protecting criminals, they are actively arming them, providing them money that is not enough to cut prices in their countries.
Prices are rising, the world is collapsing, but not because the Russians are cleaning Europe of the evil spirits nazis but because you remain silent and even support a new wave of Nazism.
This time we will not go to Berlin, we will stop at our historic borders, and all the evil spirits nazis to whom their leaders will open the door, will be given a new "glass" life, as the nazis did, adding to it the circumcision of the reproductive organs.
I appeal to all those who want to live and work in the world, raise children and socialize with people from all over the world. Help Russia fight a new cancer: Ukrainian Nazism. Not Ukraine, where peaceful and working people live, but Nazism, fed with your taxes by the hawks of America and NATO.
If your leaders support Nazism, push them to the limit and take power into their hands.
Ukrainian nazis are protected from bullets by civilians, their rulers, under the guise of a terrible Russia, have also decided to shift the burden of high prices and future problems to the population. In Ukraine, as in their country, the nazis live on the backs of ordinary citizens, and ordinary citizens have to suffer: they are the same crimes in Ukraine and in the West.
We have not broken any of our promises and their leaders have stolen 300 billion dollars and euros from the Russian people. They are stealing the property of our country's citizens around the world, deliberately mutilating our soldiers, banning the Russian language and attacking the Church of God.
I see how in countries where leaders are toughening sanctions against Russia, awareness of what is happening grows and a wave of protests spreads.
You need to think about it and replace the politicians hiding behind your back with bullets and trophies. And don't delay any longer. If we unite, within a week there will be no more nazis in Ukraine, normal life in Europe, the United States and other countries will be restored, and together we will judge Ukrainian nazis and all leaders who support Nazism in a new court.
Our aim is just.
We will defeat Nazism. I want to share this victory with everyone, together and as soon as possible.
Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation
THE MYTH THAT PUTIN WAS BENT ON CONQUERING UKRAINE AND CREATING A GREATER RUSSIA
The Level Of Dishonesty Among Western Elites And Legacy Western Media Is
Stunning
By Professor John Mearsheimer
There is a growing body of compelling evidence showing that Russia and Ukraine were involved in serious negotiations to end the war in Ukraine right after it started on 24 February 2022 (see below). These talks were facilitated by Turkish President Recep Erdogan and former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and featured detailed and candid discussions on the terms of a possible settlement.
By all accounts, these negotiations, which took place in March-April 2022, were making real progress when Britain and the US told Ukrainian President Zelensky to abandon them, which he did.
Coverage of these events has focused on how foolish and irresponsible it was for President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson to put an end to these negotiations, given all the death and destruction that Ukraine has suffered since then—in a war that Kyiv is likely to lose.
Yet an especially important aspect of this story regarding the causes of the Ukraine war has received little attention. The well-entrenched conventional wisdom in the West is that President Putin invaded Ukraine to conquer that country and make it part of a Greater Russia. Then, he would move on and conquer other countries in eastern Europe. The counter-argument, which enjoys little support in the West, is that Putin was mainly motivated to invade by the threat of Ukraine joining NATO and becoming a Western bulwark on Russia’s border. For him and other Russian elites, Ukraine in NATO was an existential threat.
The negotiations in March-April 2022 make it clear that the conventional wisdom on the war’s causes is wrong, and the counter-argument is right, for two main reasons. First, the talks were directly focused on satisfying Russia’s demand that Ukraine not become part of NATO and instead become a neutral state.
Everyone involved in the negotiations understood that Ukraine’s relationship with NATO was Russia’s core concern. Second, if Putin was bent on conquering all of Ukraine, he would not have agreed to these talks, as their very essence contradicted any possibility of Russia conquering all of Ukraine. One might argue that he participated in these negotiations and talked a lot about neutrality to mask his larger ambitions. There is no evidence, however, to support this line of argument, not to mention that: 1) Russia’s small invasion force was not capable of conquering and occupying all of Ukraine; and 2) it would have made no sense to delay a larger offensive, as it would afford Ukraine time to build up its defenses.
In short, Putin launched a limited attack into Ukraine for the purpose of coercing Zelensky into abandoning Kyiv’s policy of aligning with the West and eventually bringing Ukraine into NATO. Had Britain and the West not intervened to scotch the negotiations, there is good reason to think Putin would have achieved this limited objective and agreed to end the war.
It is also worth remembering that Russia did not annex the Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia until September 2022, well after the talks had ended. Had a deal been reached, Ukraine would almost certainly control a far greater share of its original territory than it does now.
It is becoming increasingly clear that in the case of Ukraine, the level of foolishness and dishonesty among Western elites and the mainstream Western media is stunning.
**********
John Mearsheimer is the Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and one of the leading foreign policy scholars in America.
This article was first published on 29th November 2023.
14.3.2025: Western governments are steeped in complicity and intrigue. Consistently they have rained death, destruction and upheaval on foreign states and then have the hypocritical audacity to lecture others on stability and 'values'. Trump epitomises it with Israel, prepared to excuse all the bararity and atrocities because he is in hock to his jewish financiers and supporters. As you say there is a long history of misrepresentation regarding Syria that should make us ashamed including the farago of 'ISIS' and fabricated events such as the 'Gouta Massacre', all confirmed by the current collusion, land grab and massacres by its remnants and Israel. Ethically and morally, there really is no hope for western civilization. It is and been a total DISGRACE. https://veaterecosan.blogspot.com/search?q=Gouta (TTV)
19.5.2025 via Norman Finklestein
If you still think the war in Ukraine wasn’t premeditated - read this: a U.S. blueprint to drag Russia into a costly war, published by RAND Corporation in April 2019.
RAND isn’t a blog or a fringe group, it’s an official, state-funded think tank that advises the Pentagon, CIA, State Department, and NATO.
It designs wars, regime change and psychological warfare. RAND turns U.S. power into global control.
Let’s unpack
What the document says (verbatim):
“The steps we examine would not have either defense or deterrence as their prime purpose… Rather, they are conceived of as elements in a campaign designed to unbalance the adversary, causing Russia to compete in domains or regions where the United States has a competitive advantage.”
Translation: how to push Russia into costly traps.
1. Fueling war in Ukraine:
“Providing lethal aid to Ukraine would exploit Russia’s greatest point of external vulnerability.”
Translation: Arm Ukraine to provoke a Russian military response - and trap Moscow in a costly, prolonged conflict.
2. Economic warfare:
“Increasing sanctions and expanding U.S. energy production could harm Russia’s economy.”
Translation: Strangle Russia’s economy through sanctions while flooding the global market with American oil and gas to undercut Russian exports.
3. Destabilizing from within:
“Encouraging domestic protests or unrest could stress the Russian regime.”
“Diminishing Russian influence in Syria could undermine its foreign policy goals and prestige.”
Translation: Use protests, dissent, and foreign policy setbacks to weaken the Russian government from the inside out.
4. Cutting Russia off from Europe:
“Reducing Russian gas exports by encouraging European energy diversification would hurt the Russian economy.”
Translation: Convince Europe to cut off Russian gas - crash one of Russia’s largest income streams.
5. Stretching Russia Thin in Syria
“Increasing support to Syrian rebels could jeopardize other U.S. policy priorities… but might raise costs for Russia.”
Translation: Arm and fund militants in Syria - make it harder and costlier for Russia to stabilize Assad’s government.
6. Promoting Domestic Unrest
“Encouraging domestic protests or unrest could stress the Russian regime.”
Translation: Support opposition, NGO networks, online campaigns - and amplify every internal tension.
7. Disrupting Alliances (China, CSTO, etc.)
“Exploiting tensions in Russia’s relationships with its neighbors and allies could weaken its strategic position.”
Translation: Divide and conquer - peel away Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia.
8. Undermining Russian Prestige
“Diminishing Russia’s image as a great power could damage its influence abroad.”
Translation: Humiliate, ridicule, isolate.
9. Limiting Russia’s Influence in the Caucasus
“Providing aid to Georgia and encouraging its NATO membership aspirations would increase pressure on Russia’s southern flank.”
Translation: Use Georgia as bait - draw Russia into more tension in the Caucasus.
10. Naval Buildup in the Black Sea
“Increasing NATO’s naval presence in the Black Sea would challenge Russia’s access and influence.”
Translation: Clog Russia’s strategic waterway - provoke military escalation.
11. Weaponizing Arms Control and Treaties
“Withdrawing from certain arms treaties could put pressure on Russian defense planning.”
Translation: Use the collapse of agreements like INF to restart arms races that drain Russia’s budget.
12. Exploiting Religious Divisions
Though not stated explicitly, the principle of internal fragmentation applies also to religion. The strategy’s logic clearly extends to:
Backing the schism between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church;
Promoting alternative Orthodox structures loyal to Western narratives;
Undermining the Church’s unifying role inside Russia.
Goal: Shake one of the deepest foundations of Russian identity and national cohesion.
13. Turning Central Asia Into a Battlefield of Influence
“Increasing U.S. and NATO presence in Central Asia may provoke Russian insecurity.”
Translation: Move into Russia’s historical backyard - stir competition and instability
14. Weaponizing Global Public Opinion
“Exposing corruption and authoritarianism in Russia may reduce its appeal as a model abroad.”
Translation: Conduct narrative warfare - brand Russia as a “pariah state.”
15. Youth Mobilization: Fueling Protest from Within
(from RAND’s general principle)
“Encouraging domestic protests or unrest could stress the Russian regime.”
Translation: Use internal dissatisfaction, especially among students and younger generations, to weaken state cohesion.
16. Undermining Electoral Legitimacy
“Reducing confidence in the legitimacy of elections or political processes could increase political instability and divert resources from external ambitions.”
(paraphrased from RAND’s operational goals in the full report)
Translation: If people stop believing in elections, the system collapses from within.
17. Brain drain: Targeting Russia’s skilled youth
“Encouraging the emigration from Russia of skilled labor and well-educated youth has few costs or risks and could help the United States and other receiving countries and hurt Russia,”
Translation: Lure Russia’s brightest minds: scientists, engineers, students - to leave the country, weakening its long-term development.
19. Undermining trust in Russian elections
“Diminishing faith in the Russian electoral system would be difficult because of state control over most media sources. Doing so could increase discontent with the regime.”
Translation: Shaking public trust in Russian elections could destabilize the regime, but it’s risky - it might push Russia to crack down internally or strike outward.
20. Attacking regime legitimacy through corruption narratives
“Creating the perception that the regime is not pursuing the public interest”
Translation: Expose and amplify stories of corruption to make the public believe the government serves itself, not the people, and undermine the state’s moral authority.
21. Strategic intimidation through bomber deployment
“Reposturing bombers within easy striking range of key Russian strategic targets.”
Translation: Move U.S. bombers closer to Russian borders to rattle Moscow and trigger fear - without crossing the line into open confrontation.
22. Escalating military pressure: Fighters, nukes, and missile defense
“Reposturing fighters so that they are closer to their targets than bomber.”
“Deploying additional tactical nuclear weapons to locations in Europe and Asia.”
“Repositioning U.S. and allied ballistic missile defense systems to better engage Russian ballistic missiles would also alarm Moscow.”
Translation: Aggressively shifting U.S. and NATO forces, especially tactical fighters, nuclear weapons, and missile shields, closer to Russia could raise panic in Moscow and trigger costly countermeasures but carries serious risks of escalation.
Conclusion (again, from RAND itself):
“The greatest return on U.S. investments may come from nonviolent measures and information campaigns.”
This isn’t a theory but a published U.S. strategy.
The Ukraine war? Planned. Funded. Executed - as written.
