The caption under a photograph of a familiar public figure on a boat somewhere reads, “Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the modernization of Russia’s navy.” In my ever more cynical geopolicy brain I hear echoing, “Good God people, stop him before he manages to do his job!” I mean, just what the hell else should Russia’s president be doing in the face of a trillion dollar menacing hegemony hell bent on world domination? You realize, of course, that this is what the people who control my country are after, I hope.
The photo I mention is the feature image in a letter to the editors and readers of The Scotsman. The author, a guy named John Birkett, says that Russia, China and Iran are “the new Axis” powers, that must be stopped at all costs if we are to avoid World War III. After you stew over this logic for a second, I know you’ll shake your head as I am. He goes on to suggest that tens or hundreds of thousands of “pseudo-religious fanatics” are now roaming the streets of Scotland (I guess). Birket, who contributes to The Scotsman from time to time, is not along in his phobias.
As many foes as Russian and Putin have in government houses and the media, I am surprised none of them have keyed on recent developnents between Putin and India’s Modi. I mean, if we want to create a truly horrific anti-west boogeman, India, with China, Russia, and Iran would be something like The Empire in the Star Wars epochs. Hell, I am truly surprised The Wall Street Journal has not come out with the breaking story of Vladimir building a Death Star in space. Nobody, and I mean nobody ever refers back to what started the current arms race.
Sometimes after the Ukraine Euromaidan coup, NATO started moving forward to press Russia on every front. The most critical point, the one Putin was forced to respond to, was the installation of Aegis systems in Romania. When this on shore version of the US Navy’s most advanced ballistic missile defense system went online in 2016, President Putin asked the question, “Who will this system be used against?” Of course, the western strategist knew all along what Russia’s response must be. The story at the US Naval Institute betrays this fact with:
“…the Kremlin leaked plans late last year of the proposed Status-6 (or Kanyon) nuclear-tipped torpedo that would side-step US BMD networks with a warhead capable of wiping out coastal cities.”
So, what are “experts” like this John Birkett, and other “fifes” talking about? Who is acting more like the Axis powers at the onset of World War 2? The answer is obvious. Putin went on to describe what Aegis in Romania and Poland really is, an offensive first-strike tool, a satellite killer system for controlling an eastern European battleground. This is how the Russian president framed it back in 2016.
“This is not a defense system. This is part of US nuclear strategic potential brought onto a periphery. In this case, Eastern Europe is such periphery.”
So, some desperation operation mirroring what happened in 1940 during Barbarossa is the fear the Russians have. Looking at the situation from a Russian perspective, since we have long since understood the west’s position, what else could Vladimir Putin do when confronted with the full pressure of the western industrialists? The script for all of this was prewritten, rest assured. Now, Russia’s Defense Ministry has signed a deal with a contractor to deliver Tsirkon hypersonic missiles to Russian troops by 2025. These are missiles that the Mark 41 Vertical Launching System (Mk 41 VLS) Aegis is built around cannot shoot down. So, the development and deployment of Mr. Putin’s new weapons effectively resets missile detente to where it was before Romanian got Aegis installed. Tsirkon is not a glide weapon, so current US developments to stop missiles like the Avangard are useless against it.
Returning to the subject of who the aggressors are these days, all the western analyst say Cold War 2 began the moment Vladimir Putin took over from Yeltsin. The aforementioned “Scotsman” blurb framed it this way:
“The Cold War is not over. It merely paused in the 1990s, resumed almost immediately from 2001 under Putin, and is now worse than ever with the democracies facing at least three adversaries…”
Understand, this is not the genius geopolicy analysis of an expert, but a reverberation of the western alliance narrative against Russia since the privateers were thrown bodily from the country by Putin. To be clear, the Yeltsin era was about Russian mafiosos like Mikhail Khodorkovsky wheeling and dealing with the Rothschilds and other western elites to carve up Russia. The instant Putin and his colleagues put an end to this takeover, that’s the moment the current Russophobia nonsense kicked off. I hope this is abundantly clear from the dozens of reports I’ve already published.
The massive asset grab that gave rise to names like Khodorkovsky, Boris Berezovsky, Bill Browder, and the so-called “Magician” Christopher Samuelson stopped abruptly, once Putin stomped a boot down on the Russia selloff. It was Samuelson, the shady financier whose words turned prophetic from the early 2000s:
“[President Vladimir] Putin appears to be trying to rebuild the Russian empire. That’s where the danger is because it will inevitably lead to clashes with the US.”
Imagine that, a Yukos mafioso adviser, a man who allegedly helped launder millions on millions, slithering out of the noose that should be around his crooked neck while Russian patriots are blasphemed. Even the anti-Putin Moscow Times reported what I am saying back in 2005, in case my adversaries cry foul. We’ve no need to rehash the aptly named Yeltsin “Family” who reaped a sort of amnesty when Putin took the reins. The point here is, Vladimir Putin has, and always shall, work to maintain the legacy of the Russian people. The westerners tirelessly undermine this idea for the average citizen of New York, London, Paris, or Berlin. But, it’s the fact of the matter.
From my perspective, TASS could announce tomorrow that Putin’s armed forces have possession of a world killing weapon right out of The Empire Strikes Back, and I would feel no apprehension whatsoever. Russia, as always, simply defends Russia. Everything we see happening is a function of this. As is the case with America, only the goal of the United States has never been isolationism, not since Theodore Roosevelt began battleship diplomacy. The sooner everyone admits who the real imperialists are, the sooner the world can come to enjoy a lasting peace. Until then, I would advise Mr. Putin to build the hell out of deterrent weapons systems our of duty. For rest assured, his counterparts in the deep state in America are doing their darndest to prevail.
Phil Butler, is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, he’s an author of the recent bestseller “Putin’s Praetorians” and other books. He writes exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
