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Rachel's avatar

Hey Matthew- I appreciate your critique- as always I appreciate your voice. I do however disagree with a couple major points. First, I would not put any qualifiers on the strengthening of Russia since 2022. Russia is far stronger now, full stop. Its alliance with China is firm. Russia has also shown the West what a real industrial economy looks like- here we are in the US with empty factories, while Russia pumps out new weapons and military supplies consistently. The Russian people have grown MORE supportive of the special military operation. And honestly, put yourself in their shoes. Imagine you're Russian. For years you've lived with nuclear armed weapons on your border. For years you've been next door to a failed state with literal Nazis in government. Imagine you lived in Russia and felt the effects of Ukraine's attacks on your land. Remember when Ukraine sent drones to hit apartment complexes in Russia? (I'm not sure in which city.) Those attacks inside Russia only increased Russian support for the SMP.

Also, I don't see your prediction of increased industrial output for Europe in the realm of possibility. Russia was provoked in 2014 by the Ukraine coup and the US bet (correctly) on western European leaders' backing of NATO. The US manipulated Germany into shutting down Nordstream. That wasn't good enough for the US, so the US blew it up.

A major reason the ruling elite stoked the Ukraine conflict was to force European (and particularly German) countries to be dependent on US natural gas. Europe can't possibly industrialize more now. German factories are closing because fuel is way too expensive to warrant continuing production. While the ruling elite miscalculated the effect of sanctions on the Russian economy, they gamed western Europe very well. The wealth created by jacked up LNG prices to Europe will surely make more American billionaires. But it spells doom for European industry.

Finally, I completely disagree that NATO is stronger now as an alliance. I understand that the mainstream media probably says that nonstop, but the mainstream media ignores the existence of the people. (This is particularly annoying in the US, as most people suffer devastating economic hardship without a word of validation of their struggle from the mainstream media.)

The Europeans don't seem to be particularly thrilled with their governments. And rightly so. Their governments have thrown their own people under the bus by cowtowing to US imperialism. We've seen major protests in France and Germany. Of course our media try to describe any popular uprising as "far right" in order to poison the well of those who consider joining a resistance movement. It's kind of like "trigger words"- there are certain words and phrases that turn off liberal brains, and "far right" is at the top of the list.

The ruling elite is losing control of the narrative, and the European people are rightfully irate that their money is being sent to the most corrupt government in Europe. The American people are more tuned into foreign policy than they've been in my 43-year lifespan. There is a loud vibration humming across the working class in Europe and the US. Europeans know that NATO is destroying their social democracies. And more and more Americans understand that US foreign policy is a grift. That is very bad news for NATO.

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TomG's avatar

So, where is the peace ticket option--Kucinich/Hoh '24? Bernie did the small grass roots funding. Let's get the ticket going and kick in $24 for '24. What are you and Dennis waiting on!? :-)

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