Image by Felton Davis via Flickr
with Chris Hedges
TheRealNews on May 13, 2022
In this episode Chris Hedges speaks with historian, retired Army Colonel and Vietnam veteran Andrew Bacevich about the proxy war in Ukraine and the danger of American militarism.
The war in Ukraine, stoked in part by NATO expansion beyond the borders of a unified German, violating promises made to Moscow at the end of the Cold War, now looks set to become a lengthy war of attrition, one funded and backed by an increasingly bellicose United States. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, after a visit to Kyiv, declared that “we want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things” it has done in Ukraine.
Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, during her own trip to Kyiv, said that America “will stand with Ukraine until victory is won.” The Biden administration has requested another $33 billion in “emergency” military and economic aid (half of what Russia spent on its military in 2021) for Ukraine, a package congressional Democrats plan to increase by $7 billion dollars. And this is on top of the $13.6 billion already allocated for Ukraine.
The total U.S. troops numbers in Central and Eastern Europe has been increased to more than 100,000. Biden has signed into law a modern-day Lend-Lease Act waiving time-consuming requirements to fast track weapons shipments to Ukraine.
What will be the consequences of the US fueling this proxy war? How will Russia respond to the US targeting a dozen Russian generals for assassination and providing the intelligence to sink the Moskva, the guided missile cruiser that was the flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet? What will the war mean for the United States, Europe, and Russia? Could it escalate into an open confrontation between the United States and Russia?
Why is the same cabal of generals and politicians that drained the state of trillions of dollars in the debacles in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Somalia and learned nothing from the nightmare of Vietnam, once again able to push the United States closer and closer towards another conflict?
Joining me to discuss the war in Ukraine and the consequences of a resurgent American militarism is Andrew Bacevich, West Point graduate, retired Army Colonel, and Vietnam war veteran. He is also an emeritus professor of history and international relations at Boston University and the co-founder and president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
He is as well the author of numerous books, including The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism and his latest, After the Apocalypse: America’s Role in a World Transformed.
From the archives:
Larry Wilkerson and Paul Jay: Ukraine and the Doomsday Machine
The Poor People’s Campaign Pushes War Propaganda, by David Swanson
Vijay Prashad: Any Critic of US Imperialism is Accused of Being a Stooge for Somebody, Part 2
Vijay Prashad: Ukraine a Pawn in a Larger Struggle (Part 1)
Chris Hedges and Paul Jay: The Profits Of The Arms Industry Are What Drives These Conflicts
Dandelion Salad 
The MIC is an insatiable beast.
On war and suffering it loves to feast.
The MIC is an insatiable beast.
The greed of a few has made it obese.
The MIC is an insatiable beast.
The last thing it wants is a world at peace.
It is interesting that Russian soldiers have a legal right not to fight in another country unless Russia has declared war against that country. Untold numbers of Russian troops are refusing to fight in the Ukraine. They are not punished but are stationed in Russia until their term of service ends. The U.S. claims to be a free country but sends huge numbers of soldiers abroad without declaring war against anyone. American soldiers don’t have the rights that Russian soldiers do. If they refuse to serve, they will be courtmartialed.
Thanks, Bill, I didn’t know that.
I will look to hear more about this.
See https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/12/they-were-furious-the-russian-soldiers-refusing-to-fight-in-ukraine
Thanks for the link, Bill.