Will Putin Fight or Surrender?

In his meeting the other day with the Russian Defense Ministry Board, Putin discussed the accomplishments of the past year and measures needed to ensure Russia’s security from Washington’s aspirations for world dominance. “We see the US administration and the collective West relentlessly trying to preserve their dominance, pushing their rules on the global community and manipulating them as they see fit.”  Washington, Putin said, is engaged “in an effort to weaken our country and inflict a strategic defeat.”  

That is true, but why is Putin helping Washington succeed?  Putin complains about the growing instability and violence in the Middle East.  Does he realize that he contributed to it by withdrawing Russia’s defense of Syria?  Did Putin forget “seven countries in five years”?  Did Putin forget “Greater Israel”? Did Putin forget Turkey’s ambition against the Kurds?

Putin complains about the West’s participation with Ukraine in the conflict with Russia.  Why did Putin make this possible by dragging out a limited military operation for 3 years?  How could Putin fail to understand that Washington would test the intervention waters step by step to see if there are any real red lines.  The absence of red lines has reached the point of Washington and NATO firing missiles into Russia, and Putin, despite his warnings to the West, retaliates only against Ukraine.  Indeed, Putin’s retaliations are measures that should have been conducted on the first day of Russia’s intervention in Donbas.  Putin has prevented Russian military action that would have made it impossible for Kiev to continue the conflict. What purpose is served by dragging out the conflict? Certainly not the preservation of lives.

The Russian population is hurting not so much from the West’s sanctions as from Putin’s central bank director’s 21 percent interest rates.  Sooner or later the population is going to blame the war for the economic deprivation, and support for a war without end will decline.  The same central bank director left Russia’s central bank reserves where they could be stolen by Washington.  I suspect the central bank director’s warnings that Russia cannot afford war is the reason the Russian military remains too small for effective deployment, thus forcing Russian reliance on nuclear weapons.  

The West has just imposed more sanctions on Russia, and Russia continues to supply energy to Poland and Romania, NATO members hosting US missile bases on their borders with Russia.  It is extraordinary how the Russian government helps Russia’s enemies to work against Russia.

It is not only Putin who seems unable to get his mind around reality. The leader of the terrorist group HTS used by Turkey, Washington, and Israel fo overthrow Assad, Hayat Tahrir al-Sharaa, complains that Israel has no excuse for continuing military strikes on Syria. Apparently, al-Sharaa has never heard of “Greater Israel.” Israel is clearing the way for Syria’s absorption into “Greater Israel,” just as Turkey intends the absorption of the Kurdish area of Syria to become incorporated into Turkey.

As Israeli strategist Oded Yinon wrote, the Muslim world is too disunited to stand as an obstacle to “Greater Israel.” https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2024/12/16/israels-strategic-vision-has-prevailed/   Perhaps that is the reason Putin abandoned his ally. But by sacrificing Syria Putin has left the road open to Iran and Lebanon.  If Iran becomes the mess that Washington has created elsewhere in the Muslim world, the Russian Federation will be open to infiltration by jihadists to cause disruption in Russia’s Muslim areas.  

Meanwhile Washington continues to operate against Russia in the former Russian provinces of Georgia and Armenia.  How long before there are American missile bases in Georgia and Armenia?

It is unclear why US missile bases on Russia’s border with Ukraine are a reason for Russian military action, but not US missile bases on Russia’s borders with Poland and Romania.  

It was impossible for Putin to stand aside while the US created a Ukrainian army to destroy the Russian populations of Donbas. The world should appreciate  that Putin has not attacked Russia’s tormenters outside of Ukraine.  Putin has also accepted sanctions without adequate response.  The question is whether Putin’s determination to avoid a larger war presents as weakness and indecision that encourages the West to further provocations that eventually lead to a wider war.  The big question in the coming year is whether Putin surrenders or fights.

https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2024/12/17/will-putin-fight-or-surrender/

One thought on “Will Putin Fight or Surrender?

  • PT

    The right questions are asked but not in Russia.

    Did Putin forget “Greater Israel”?

    I doubt it, Putin likes Israel, he likes Jews (who allegedly helped him during his childhood). He let down Syria while he should have fought.

    Did he do it to help Israel who was on its knees and losing?

    The question must be asked.

    What purpose is served by dragging out the (Ukraine) conflict?

    Certainly not the preservation of life, that’s obvious. It seems that both Russia and the west are intent on having as many young Europeans killed as possible while escalating the conflict, the fear porn and the impoverishment of Europe and Europeans.

    Whose agenda is that?

    The question must be asked

    Putin’s central bank director is an ultra globalist stooge. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was a WEF ‘young global leader’ or member of the CFR or other globalist crime syndicate, serving the exclusive interests of the global elite.

    Next on the agenda are CDBC and digital ID’s, the same exact control grid agenda as in the west. ‘The great reset’, ‘agenda 2030’, ‘SDG’…

    Putin and the BRICS never challenge the anthropogenic climate change scam, the globalist criminal organizations like the WHO, IMF, BIS, they even demand them to keep doing what they do.

    Many questions must be asked about that too.

    The last attack from the US/NATO/EU through their proxy Ukraine is the murder of general Kirilov in Moscow. They do exactly what israel was doing with Syria and Iran: murdering officials in sovereign countries in complete impunity.

    FSB detains Uzbek national for carrying out terrorist attack that killed Russian general
    tass.com/society/1888991

    MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. The suspect behind the terrorist attack that killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection Troops, has been arrested. The detainee is a 29-year-old Uzbek citizen who was recruited by Ukraine’s intelligence services and promised a $100,000 reward and a trip to an EU country, according to the press office of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).

    “Employees of the Ukrainian intelligence services involved in organizing the terrorist attack will also be located and punished,” the press office concluded.

    What will Putin do? Less than killing the head of the Ukrainian intelligence services or Zelensky himself would be seen again as weakness.

    Is he going to kill Mark Rutte the former Dutch PM who has been rewarded for being a traitor to his country, a criminal and a good obedient bitch by getting the top criminal post at NATO?

    Or will he bomb some electric power station which punishes nobody except civilians?

    The problem as stated in Paul Craig Roberts’ article is that Putin never respected his own ‘red lines’, so the bully keeps pushing because he sees Russia as being weak. That’s what bullies do.

    We know that from school, the bully stops only when he is beaten badly enough to stop.

    We have seen Putin really fighting in the past, for example in Chechnya 20 years ago and in Syria 10 years ago.

    What we see of Putin since 2022 is a shadow of his former self.

    Is that really because Putin refuses confrontation (that will come anyway) or is it because he’s following an agenda decided elsewhere?

    The question must be asked.

    Reply

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