Medtem ko novinarski papagaji neumorno ponavljajo za Bidenom, da je bila ruska agresija na Ukrajino neizzvana, so dejstva neizpodbitna. Jeffrey Sachs je, podobno kot nekaj drugih vodilnih akademikov na tem področju (Mearscheimer, Kennan, Roberts itd.), povzel kronologijo dogajanja. Iz nje neizpodbitno izhaja, da je rusko agresijo je izzval ameriški pritisk na širitev Nata v Ukrajino. Pristisk se je okrepil po vrhu Nata v Bukarešti leta 2008, ko je bila Ukrajina skupaj z Gruzijo dana na listo potencialnih novih članic, in po ameriško orkestriranem puču leta 2014 v Kijevu (glejte spodaj in dokumentarec Igorja Lopatonoka). Dejstvo je, da je Rusija poskušala na diplomatske načine preprečiti vojno (leto 2021 je polno ruskih opozoril ZDA) in da je Rusija poskušala na diplomatski način v zgodnji fazi vojne to vojno tudi končati, vendar so dosežen mirovni dogovor iz marca 2022 ameriška, britanska in francoska administracija preprečili.

Kot pravi Sachs, samo s priznavanjem, da je vprašanje širitve Nata v središču te vojne, lahko razumemo, zakaj ameriško orožje ne bo končalo te vojne. Samo s priznavanjem, da je vprašanje širitve Nata v središču te vojne, lahko razumemo, zakaj bo Rusija eskalirala v tej vojni, kolikor bo potrebno, da prepreči širitev Nata na Ukrajino. Ključ do miru v Ukrajini so lahko samo pogajanja, ki temeljijo na nevtralnosti Ukrajine in neširitvi Nata. Zaradi vztrajanja Bidnove administracije pri širitvi Nata na Ukrajino je Ukrajina postala žrtev napačno zasnovanih in neuresničljivih vojaških teženj ZDA. Čas je, da se ameriške provokacije ustavijo in da se s pogajanji vzpostavi mir v Ukrajini.

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Tak je odgovor afriških držav na ameriško izsiljevanje, naj obsodijo ruski napad na Ukrajino.

Počivaj v miru, kraljica

The Biden Administration is engulfed in a staggeringly expensive folly in Ukraine with no forseeable good outcomes. John Mearsheimer will argue twin themes: First, we are in a war where both sides – Ukraine and the West versus Russia – see the other as an existential threat. That makes a workable peace agreement beyond reach. The best possible outcome is a frozen conflict that is likely to have a variety of terrible consequences. The worst possible outcome is a nuclear war, which is unlikely but cannot be ruled out.

Second, Russia is going to win the war, although it is not going to decisively defeat Ukraine. It will end up, however, conquering a large swath of Ukrainian territory and making it part of Russia, while at the same time turning Ukraine into a dysfunctional rump state.

The Committee would not be holding this salon over Ukraine if we had been faithful to constitutional processes. The systematic provision of $113 billion in military assistance to Ukraine in its war with Russia makes the United States a co-belligerent requiring a congressional declaration. But no co-belligerency declaration has been initiated by Congress nor sought by President Joe Biden. If Congress were required to vote, it would balk at co-belligerency as it balked in 2013 when President Barack Obama asked for a declaration of war against Syria and as it balked in 1999 when President Bill Clinton asked for a declaration of war against Serbia.

Martin Wolf, glavni ekonomski komentator v Financial Timesu:

Moreover, both the “unipolar” moment of the US and the economic dominance of the G7 are history. True, the latter is still the most powerful and cohesive economic bloc in the world. It continues, for example, to produce all the world’s leading reserve currencies. Yet, between 2000 and 2023, its share in global output (at purchasing power) will have fallen from 44 to 30 per cent, while that of all high-income countries will have fallen from 57 to 41 per cent. Meanwhile, China’s share will have risen from 7 to 19 per cent. China is now an economic superpower. Via its Belt and Road Initiative it has become a huge investor in (and creditor of) developing countries, though, predictably, it is having to deal with the consequent bad debts so familiar to G7 countries. For some emerging and developing countries, China is a more important economic partner than the G7: Brazil is one example. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva may have attended the G7, but he cannot sensibly ignore China’s heft.

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Pričakovati čudeže od nekaj zastarelih in inferiornih letal z doletom 500 km, brez ukrajinskih vzletišč in brez zračnih tankerjev bi bilo precej naivno. Ampak tukaj gre za PR učinke. …dokler jih Rusi ne sklatijo, kot so v staro železje spremenili čudežne Himarse in Patriote. Eden izmed dobrih zapisov o specifiki F-16 je spodaj.

Je morda kdo pomislil na začetek mirovnih pogovorov? Ali pa mora za ameriške interese prej umreti še zadnjih nekaj deset tisoč ukrajinskih vojakov, ki so še ostali od začetnih +300 tisoč vojakov?

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A few days ago U.S. President Joe Biden announced the training of Ukrainian pilots for the F-16 multirole fighter aircraft:

President Joe Biden told G7 leaders on Friday that the US would join in efforts to train Ukraine’s pilots on fourth generation fighter jets including the F-16s, a senior administration official told CNN on Friday.

This has obviously been in the planning for some time. The timing of the announcement at the G7 summit was simply chosen to maximize the propaganda value for Biden.

The process we have seen has repeated itself again and again. As pro-Ukrainian blogger (with no military knowledge) describes it:

This has clearly become a proxy war between Russia and NATO, supercharging the political considerations inherent to any war. Ukraine’s goal is to wheedle as much military aid as humanly possibly out of NATO, especially the United States. The United States’ goal is more complex: give enough aid to push Russia back, but not so much that its proxy war with Russia escalates into an actual one.This dynamic has created a Hunger Games scenario where Ukraine is constantly playing to the cameras to cajole extra gifts from the wealthy sponsors who watch its every move over the internet in real time. I had decided against using this analogy until I saw Ukrainians themselves using it. There is something grotesque and sobering about finding yourself in this position, and writing about it. But it is what it is.

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Zabavno

South Africa reported that applications for joining the BRICS are received almost weekly. According to Anil Suklal, Ambassador-at-Large for Asia and BRICS at the South African Foreign Ministry, we are talking about 30 countries. At the moment, BRICS consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. News portal NewZimbabwe reported last week, citing internal BRICS documents, that joining the group is now sought by:

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Kitajska je je bila leta 2015 na 3-krat nižji ravni kot ZDA glede prispevka k “high quality” znanosti (po metriki najbolj ugledne znanstvene revije Nature), leta 2022 avtorji iz kitajskih raziskovalnih inštitucij po prispevku k znanosti prehitele kolege iz ameriških raziskovalnih inštitucij.

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