Ukraine, Gaza and Nuclear Proliferation

 

" Both countries have displayed a willingness to include in their present-day geopolitical agendas huge swathes of territory which belonged to them in the past. In many respects, their expansionist plans are similar to the Trump administration’s stated intentions to include within the borders of the United States countries like Canada or territories like Greenland. "

 https://florianpantazi.substack.com/p/ukraine-gaza-and-nuclear-proliferation

The Geopolitical Stakes of the 2024 Romanian Presidential Elections

 The unexpected results of the first round of the Romanian presidential elections have greatly alarmed Washington, Brussels and Bucharest woke elites, who demanded and obtained the cancellation of the election process just before the second round on December 6.

https://florianpantazi.substack.com/p/the-geopolitical-stakes-of-the-2024

Civic vs Ethnic Nations

 "  In fact the differences between the two models of nationalism have been grossly exaggerated and are simply not real. Western nations were also based on a dominant national group that until very recently did not provide places for minorities in public life. We tend to forget today that in the 1930s an immigration country like the US had extremely restrictive immigration policies meant to retain “Anglo-Saxon” ethnic dominance, and that with very few exceptions, “over the last three centuries the building of all modern nation states required one ethnic group dominating and assimilating others”. " 

https://florianpantazi.substack.com/p/civic-v-ethnic-nations

The Danubian Democracies

 Accordingly, there is an obvious need for a more accurate geopolitical concept covering former Soviet satellite-states, subsequently lumped together into “New” Europe. The latter has proved to be an inadequate reflection of realities on the ground. 

Taking  commonalities and shared political agendas into account, one such grouping could be called  the Danubian democracies.

https://florianpantazi.substack.com/p/the-danubian-democracies

The US and the Polish Honey Trap

 " Following the law of unintended consequences, the pursuit of America’s global hegemony agenda has given rise in Warsaw to hopes that Poland could somehow benefit from NATO’s expansion in order to resurrect the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a confederation that at its zenith in the 17th century covered a million square kilometres and encompassed the territories of today’s Poland, Belarus and Ukraine. 

https://florianpantazi.substack.com/p/the-us-and-the-polish-honey-trap

IT'S TIME FOR AN AMERICAN GORBACHEV ?

 This at least is the opinion shared by the foreign news editor of Cotidianul daily from Romania

I think however that a much more appropriate analogy for the current situation the US finds itself in is not with the USSR in its last decade, but with Yeltsin's Russia.

Consider  this . By 1999, Boris Yeltsin was to ill to fulfill his duties as president, same as Biden is now. Both Yeltsin and  Biden  worked for decades as high-ranking officials in their parties, Yeltsin for the CPSU, Biden for the Democratic party. They were both elected presidents at the end of their careers, when they proved unable to adapt to a rapidly changing international environment. 

Moreover, the two were accused of allowing their children to profit from their positions in the state by taking bribes from foreign business people. And finally, given their medical condition , they were both unable in the end  to work for more than a few hours daily and we're eased out of their positions by their political allies and / or family.

Women as Political Leaders

 

[…]

What are the reasons for putting a woman in charge at the very top ?

More often than not, the choice of a women as heads of government in the West is a clear indication of the dysfunctional political system or of a party, one that is experiencing great difficulty in managing the state’s affairs or its internal dynamics.   This  political innovation was imported by Western democracies from the Third World :

This  post is on Substack, to continue reading click here. 

https://substack.com/@florianpantazi?utm_source=about-page

What's at stake for the EU in Ukraine ?

 

The recent NATO summit failed to address the crucial problem of the European Union’s eastern borders.

https://florianpantazi.substack.com/p/whats-at-stake-for-the-eu-in-ukraine

A Recipe for Losing Elections

 

To be sure, nationalist parties have constantly increased their share of the votes Europe-wide, from Austria, Hungary and Slovakia in Central Europe, to Germany and Italy, Spain , France and the UK in the West. 

https://florianpantazi.substack.com/p/a-recipe-for-losing-elections

Is the US Blameless for the War in Ukraine ?

 “Russia and the United States tend to view Ukraine as a key battleground in a cosmic proxy war between East and West. Both have a bad habit of trying to pick winners in Ukrainian politics. These interventions, naive in their own ways, tend to backfire, often at Ukraine’s expense.” (“The Difficulty of Being Ukraine” IHT, 2009 )

https://florianpantazi.substack.com/p/is-the-us-blameless-for-the-war-in

NATIONALISM AND POST-NATIONALISM

 Since the June 9 elections in the EU, the enemies of nation-states and of their supporters, nationalist political parties, have been put on notice. Long under attack from EU officials, the nation-states are fighting back and are here to stay, irrespective of plans to undermine them, which originate in Brussels or in the minds of ideologues advocating the so-called “post-national formations”(Juergen Habermas).

https://florianpantazi.substack.com/p/nationalism-and-post-nationalism

A TALE OF TWO PRESIDENTS

 

“I didn’t want mothers to lose their children and wives [ to lose] their husbands. I didn’t want their bodies to flow down the Dnipro from Kiev. I didn’t want to assume power through bloodshed.” ( Ianukovici in the aftermath of the Orange Revolution from 2004 )

https://florianpantazi.substack.com/p/a-tale-of-two-presidents

A Demented Alliance Serving A Gerontocratic Elite

 

“NATO will stand up for the rights of LGBTQ people.” (source: Chronicles Magazine)

“On the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia, and every day: all love is equal. LGBTQ+ people deserve respect & dignity, and I am proud to call myself your ally.”(source: X 2024 @jensstoltenberg)

[…] we always need to do more [for LGBTQ+ people]. To push forward with ambition.” (May 17, 2023 speech of NATO Secretary General)

https://florianpantazi.substack.com/p/a-demented-alliance-serving-a-gerontocratic 

HOW US. HEGEMONY SHOULD END

In a world dominated by democracies, American hegemonism should not be decided by its military might, but submitted to a vote in the UN General Assembly.

https://florianpantazi.substack.com/p/how-us-hegemony-should-end

FROM ATLANTIC WAVE TO REVOLUTIONARY CONTAGION

 

"  Palmer and Godechot presented the challenge of an Atlantic history at the Tenth International History Congress in 1955. It fell flat, dismissed by revolutionary historians as a poorly cloaked Cold War attempt to bolster NATO " 

Click here to read the full post:

Https://florianpantazi.substack.com/p/from-atlantic-wave-to-revolutionary. 

NATO Inc AT 75 : MORE GUNS, LESS BUTTER

 Excerpt:

" Joel Johnson, former Vice President for International Affairs at the Aerospace Industry Association, argued that “the stakes are high. Whoever gets in first will have a lock for the next quarter century for a possible $10 billion market for fighter jets, transport aircraft, utility helicopters, attack helicopters, communications and avionics. Add them together and we’re talking real money”. 

Read the full article here:

https://florianpantazi.substack.com/p/nato-inc-at-75-more-guns-less-butter

THE AMERICAN WORLD DOMINATION AGENDA

 From the article:

Unfortunately for all concerned, the framing of US foreign policy for the post-1989 world had been hijacked instead by the Defence Department, the Pentagon and the military-industrial complex, which collectively entrusted the elaboration of America’s new foreign policy doctrine to a small bunch of neoconservatives having Paul Wolfowitz as their chief representative.

Access the full article:

https://florianpantazi.substack.com/p/the-american-world-domination-agenda

THERE IS LIFE AFTER LIBERAL DEMOCRACY

 Read my latest post by accessing the link below 

There is life after liberal democracy link 

US IS PLAYING WITH ( NUCLEAR) FIRE

 

The US and NATO are fighting the wrong war in Ukraine. WWII nostalgia is evident in the preference of the CIA and Ukrainian services for clandestine operations, for sabotage missions inside Russia and for assassinating Vladimir Putin.  Unfortunately for the American strategists, Russia is not Nazi Germany, Putin is not Hitler and such tactics have the potential to ignite a nuclear war. Two things are clear, however : Putin is not bluffing and the Russian elite is very angry with the US and NATO.

 Stephen Bryen has recently published an article in Asia Times ,  describing how Western spy agencies led by the CIA,  present in large numbers in Ukraine, are hoping to provoke  regime change in Moscow by assassinating Vladimir Putin and other Russian political and military leaders.

According to Bryen ,  NATO cannot start a fully fledged conventional war with Russia due to the fact that after 2 years of war in Ukraine, the allies have emptied their weapons and ammunition depots. This , however, is no excuse for resorting to acts of state terrorism such as the assassination of leaders of the Russian military , a practice that will not solve the conflict, but make it exponentially worse. 

In doing this, the US's  international reputation as a superpower is reduced to that of the Islamic terrorist networks it fought with for the last two decades. In other words, the terrorist actions of American agencies may find a positive echo in the West, but not outside of it. The situation is not much different indeed from the actions of Islamic terrorist organizations  like Al Qaeda or ISIS,  which are appreciated only in the Islamic world, not outside of it.

If the CIA wants to have as dubious a reputation as Islamic terrorist networks, that's their business. For those in the know, however, the fact that the US and its allies resort to such terrorist actions is a clear indication - as in the case of Islamic terrorism - of their inability to wage a conventional war with Russia, having to resort to  asymmetric war strategies. To be sure, this is a sign of the alliance's weakness, not of its strength .

" Americans are impatient by nature. We want quick solutions, even to complex problems. That makes killing a foreign leader seem like a good way to end a war. Every time we have tried it, though, we’ve failed — whether or not the target falls. Morality and legality aside, it doesn’t work. Castro thrived on his ability to survive American plots. In the Congo, almost everything that has happened since Lumumba’s murder has been awful."  (  Stephen Kinder, Politico, 2022 )

 Theoretically speaking, the purpose of any foreign intelligence service is to protect abroad the interests of the state that finances it. It isn't to help launch missiles aimed at Putin's office or to attack his car, as it already happened in 2018 . Such reckless actions reminiscent of WWII - which did not work then and will not work now- have the potential to endanger the lives of millions. It is not clear how the CIA will be able to protect the inhabitants of New York or Washington from a nuclear attack by the Russians, in case the assassination of Russian leaders is successful. What will happen this time around to the buildings of the Pentagon, the White House or the financial center of New York if or when the Russians retaliate ? 

These  are questions that  should be answered by those responsible in an inquiry into the CIA's operations in Ukraine, which should be initiated by the US Congress. Anything less could lead to a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions in history .

A North Korean Blueprint for Romania's Future

 

If Romania's former dictator Ceaușescu wanted to emulate North Korea's dynastic communism, it now seems that his former secret police generals and their descendants wish to transform Romania into a North Korean-style militarised society. All this with NATO'S backing.

***

For more than a year now, the second-in-command of NATO, Mircea Geoană, is being pushed forward by some circles in the American foreign policy establishment and in the affiliated Romanian media, as the best placed candidate to become president of Romania in the 2024 elections.

Mircea Geoană was a presidential candidate before. In 2009 he ran against incumbent president Băsescu and lost. His main qualification for being appointed ambassador to Washington, the boss of the Romanian Social Democrats or subsequently deputy Secretary-general of NATO was the fact that he is the son of Ceaușescu-era Securitate general Ioan Geoană. 

His ex- political boss Ion Iliescu, former president of Romania, said he considered Mircea Geoană as a "dimwit".

One can say many things about Ion Iliescu, but not that he isn't a shrewd judge of character. To illustrate this, here is the enlightening substance of an interview given by Geoană recently about his vision for Romania's future: 

"The only public institution that enjoys the respect and trust of Romanians is the Romanian Army. This is where we must start to rebuild(...) Investing in the army, in the military career, in modern equipment, represents more than a requirement of national security or obligations towards NATO, for which Romania acquits itself impeccably. It represents the support point for the historic Leap, which only a modern state can achieve", (Mircea Geoană.) 

Geoană sees Romania's future as a country full of army barracks, ammunition and weapons plants, manned by people thoroughly trained into military warfare or industrial arts. If during the 1980's Ceausescu wanted to inaugurate a local version of North Korean dynastic communism, Geoană -with his American and presumably with former secret police apparatchiks in Romania - now envisions the transformation of his country into a militarized society, similar, if not identical, to North Korea. 

Never mind that Romania has never been a military power before, or indeed ever wanted to become one. These development priorities, however, reflect the sad reality that in Romanian politics the American military-industrial complex and NATO are calling the shots.

Unfortunately, these "reconstruction plans" for Romania, drafted somewhere else, can succumb to the law of unintended consequences. The most obvious of such consequences that comes to mind is a militarised Romania that could easily turn back into a totalitarian state in the decades ahead and become a security threat to the entire region which surrounds it. This potential outcome of the 2024 presidential elections is not as far-fetched as it sounds. Last century, NATO was for decades known to support the dictatorial regime of general Franco in Spain. A fully militarised Romania would also complement nicely Zelensky's de facto dictatorship in Ukraine.