IS THE U.S. PLAN NOW TO BUILD STRENGTH, ENTICE MOSCOW AWAY FROM CHINA & ISOLATE BEIJING’S STRENGTH & INFLUENCE?

The Biden administration has had a difficult decision to make.

As China becomes an ever-greater economic power, overcoming the pandemic, the USA heads into an economic black hole.

If Washington continues to attack Moscow, Russia will grow ever closer to China and China’s defenses will be strengthened Just when the USA needs to weaken them.

If Washington makes somewhat friendlier overtures to Moscow it may not feel the need to connect quite so wholeheartedly with Beijing... though the hour is late for such a change of heart.

The economic damage caused by the pandemic and the continued rise of China has put the USA between a rock and a hard place.  

There is now a need to retrench, to bring troops home and reduce expenses, to find ways to regroup all forces of power and tighten up the relationship with all allies worldwide.

It is a last-gasp strategy at best, quite possibly already too late with Russia fully committed and having no trust left whatsoever concerning Washington, its promises of talks or proposed agreements.

Biden has proposed a personal meeting with Putin very shortly after issuing mortal insults against him. Officials between the two countries are having talks. The no-brainer plan is clearly to split Russia from China if at all possible.

Is it possible that we have are reaching the end of Washington’s stream of invective and accusation against Vladimir Putin and the Russian state?

China will soon be totally invulnerable to North America. It is already virtually impermeable. The door is closing fast and Russia is almost inside.

Can the USA grab Russia and pull her back at the last moment?

It is extremely unlikely but this appears to be the desperate strategy we may be starting to play itself out now.

Russia playing along will have to be offered something big, something very tangible, rock solid and nothing easily subject to a break of trust and betrayal. The USA has proven to be totally untrustworthy for decades now. Why should Russia trust it now? What could possibly be offered to make her stand outside the welcome door to China rather than slam it shut on Washington?

 

ARE AMERICANS CAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING THE REACTION OF RUSSIANS TO THEIR SNEERING DISDAIN?

Russia was fair game in North America from 2016 till now.

Even before then her president was pilloried relentlessly. The president that a majority of Russians not only respect, but an enormous number revere.

Hardly a day went by without his image appearing with whatever the most insulting look the graphics department could conjure up. Will it be red eyes today or horns? At least a sneering glare... at least that.

There seemed nothing Putin or Russia was not capable of.

Murder, robbery, invasion, poisoning, spying, subversion. Every possible type of interference in U.S. affairs. Every possible malign act of a tireless, genetically sub-human enemy, completely beyond the pale, soulless and evil. Killers.

All provided as raw facts, not the allegations they were. No justice involved where the accused has a chance to make their case. No other side of the story. Simply pronounced guilty and sentence delivered.

How many deigned to point out the extreme injustice? None who were not named ‘Putin’s Puppet’ or ‘Russian Agent’. To offer a plea for hearing a defense was to be cancelled and treated as a traitor. The jingoism of that time outranked even the days after the ninth of September 2001. Outranked in many ways also the verbiage offered during the Cold War. A world leader was shunned in a court room where no evidence of any meaningful kind was brought presided over only by a hanging judge.

And what now... now that all the possible expletives of accusation have been irresponsibly thrown in the face of Russians everywhere with no right of reply? Guided to their target for purely political reasons largely by a political party that had lost its mind. Four years of unreason on all sides has created an unfathomable rift between two nations that must now find some way to live with each other again.

Or... are we to have world irrevocably broken into two. Does this remain the goal of a Biden administration that can contemplate only one future for the world, that where a single nation dominates and stands judgement over all others? A world permanently divided until it accepts that there can be only one ultimate and all-powerful aggressor with the overwhelming might and reach to demand complete obedience?  

If the above is the case then the insults to be hurled at Russians (and Chinese) will continue until humiliation or hubris destroys one side or the other in a new world war. A war of hatred unleashed via semantic weapons designed to intimidate, denigrate and unify allied mobs to reduce ‘the other side’ to as close to penury as possible.

If this is the case then Americans and Brits and any others within the coalition of killers that fragmented the Middle East with the deaths of hundreds of thousands based on lies will truly have a fight on their hands. Hearts have hardened in Russia in recent times toward not only the U.S. government but the people as a whole. During the Cold War it was not so, the U.S. government was correctly seen as the aggressor, the warmongering entity that constantly threatened to reawaken the dread loss Russians had suffered during WWII.

The die is largely cast. Though it is not too late for apologies.

But then the conditioning brought about by incessant, politically convenient lies about the Russian president and the Russian people has no doubt brought about a residual reluctance to admit any slight was wrong, any accusation anything but just, any sanction correctly applied.

Until the American people hear the other side of the story in each case, until true justice has been done with evidence presented by the already condemned then the ignorance that motivates spite will remain.

If this condition remains it will continue to fester in the Russian mind against all Americans not calling for justice for Russia and her president.

 Is there even the slightest hope? Right now it appears not. We can only hope some future Americans have the insight, courage and humility to look again at the injustice that has been done.

Can we hope? Is it possible?

ARE AMERICANS CAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING THE REACTION OF RUSSIANS TO THEIR SNEERING DISDAIN?

 

BIDEN, BLINKEN & BULLSHIT: HOW MANY DO WESTERN ELITES THINK THEY’RE KIDDING AFTER ALL THEIR LIES TO JUSTIFY MASS MURDER?

Are western political elites talking to themselves when spewing obvious lies as Anthony Blinken did on ‘Sixty Minutes’ recently? Do they even care if anyone believes them any more? Is it all just a ritual?

Naturally the presenters of such shows are good at appearing to show respect and nod politely on cue... but how does the obvious theater of TV talking head obsequiousness go down at the other end of the line, in the homes of America.

Is anyone falling for this same old shtick any more. How many are sitting watching, believing all the usual jingoistic crap about ‘enemies over there’ now? Can there be that many?

We’ve just come through four years of time-wasting, money-burning crapola about Russia. Now we can look forward to four years of a similar bullshit harmonic about China?

Poor USA... always the victim of somebody. Somehow an enemy is always in sight doing the dirty. Well, how convenient. It’s their fault, those lesser human beings over there. Those who can’t see how superior we are and bow before us as they should. Help! They are even competing with us and exceeding us in this way and that. That’s can’t be right, can it? We’re God’s chosen ones, the best in everything. Isn’t that what he promised us?

Poor North America, bristling with weapons and men at arms, thrusting a mighty fist at those with only a tenth of its power. Look! Those weaker nations over there are such horrific aggressors... we only outgun them by fifty times. To feel safe we better make it 100!

Someone’s got a complex. Not a superiority complex, surely? Seen a shrink recently?

The self-confessed richest country in the world feels vulnerable to the nasty characters ‘way over there’... perhaps a few hundred thousand need to die so they feel better huh?

The USA with its pals have slaughtered hundreds of thousands in recent years based on lies... but them over there, THEY’RE the aggressors.

Yeah, right.

Maybe Blinken ought to commission a survey to see who believes the shit he’s peddling now.

Perhaps he ought to stop speaking into a mirror frightening himself with Chinese bogey men.

Perhaps he ought to wise up and realize that the reputation of American politicians has now been shot more times than Iraqi journos by Blackhawks.

How many more lies that no one believes will he tell before someone taps his shoulder and tells him?

Blinken and Bullshit. To mix farmyard metaphors, it’s just more of the same from the same stable that the last horseshit came from.

 

CHINESE PROPAGANDA & DISINFORMATION IS NOW COMBINING WITH THE DELUGE FROM RUSSIA!!!

You surely can’t have missed it.

I'm talking of the Chinese propaganda and disinformation that now permeates the western world. In almost every newspaper article and television news channel you will have recognized it right away. It is now all-pervasive and beginning to infect every western mind.

Across the internet you can hardly click on a link, even totally at random, without being confronted by Chinese Communist Party talking points. There’s simply no getting away from the deluge of Chinese disinformation.

This hardly needs saying, right? Don’t you find it totally obvious?

At least this is what Anthony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State has just intimated. According to him China is deluging the West with its propaganda and disinformation… as if it's acting as our enemy, out to undermine our values with the intent to drive us bat-shit crazy!

What? You tell me you can’t say you’ve noticed?

But it is clearly a major threat, permeating the lives of Americans and Europeans on a daily basis. Tony Blinken wouldn’t say such a thing unless it was very real and ever-present, soaking continually into open minds and brains everywhere... would he?

After all, you saw the complete barrage of Russian propaganda and disinformation, didn’t you? All those Facebook ads, remember? And the constant articles by Russians you read online or in your daily paper? There was such a flood, wasn’t there? The entire western world was awash with pro-Russian sentiment, don’t you recall?

You don’t?

What’s that you say...? You were told it was happening but though you searched you couldn’t find anything that looked like what they said?

How can that be?

Now that Chinese propaganda and disinformation has joined the Russian variety it just has to be in your face constantly, no? There can hardly be any room for the western side of the story now it's so ubiquitous. The New York Times will only have a few footnotes from the Biden administration angle... all of the front page and next ten pages are all Chinese and Russian propaganda. Surely you can see that?

Are you blind? It’s all around you, affecting your brain and turning you into a mix of Russian and Chinese. Look in the mirror, isn’t it obvious?

But wait...

You are REALLY telling me you didn’t vote for Trump because of a Facebook ad? That you didn’t find any Russian propaganda even though you searched night and day for it. They said was right there under your nose, didn't they?

Then... how... why... can't we find any?

The Chinese stuff... you know, that’s supposed to be as all-surrounding as the air we breathe... It can’t be found either?? What, nothing? Nada? Niente? Ничего? 没有什么?

(((Stunned silence)))

Then... Then....

It’s Tony BLINKEN that’s using propaganda and disinformation to make us believe something is real when it’s clearly NOT??

Unbelievable!

No. No. No...

But yes!

There he is on 'Sixty Minutes' being sincere. At last SOMETHING real! Some ACTUAL propaganda and disinformation that I can at last be certain of!

What a relief! I’m not going mad after all! At least I know there is indeed SOME of the devious stuff SOMEWHERE... very real WESTERN propaganda and disinformation!

*************************************************************************

A PLEA FROM THE AUTHOR:

Please, if you can find just one piece of Chinese propaganda somewhere please get in touch in a comment below. By searching the net, or on any site you visit regularly, in any newspaper article you read or hear of, any radio station you listen to, maybe you heard a rumor of some item someone once saw that might be Chinese propaganda or disinformation... or Russian for that matter. It's clearly ever-present. But where is it? I’d love to see some. It’s SO FRUSTRATING to hear about these blatant activities by our SWORN ENEMIES but never to ever get to see any proof of them!

 

 

IS IT THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF WHAT WAS AN EXCEPTIONALLY USEFUL PHONY WAR AGAINST RUSSIA?

The hyping up of what was essentially a fake war against Russia was quite clearly perceived as a vital necessity.

There can be no doubt either that it was vital for more than one powerful element within the U.S. elite hierarchy, not to mention that of the EU and Ukraine.

Like all such fabrications, as many major elements of truth as possible were necessary to give the facade being constructed as convincing a face as possible.

Brick One of the “Evil Russia” Construct:

The people of Crimea were facing increasing numbers of agitators from western Ukraine in Sevastopol. Immense crowds had gathered there of locals plus many Bandera loyalists of inhabitants of towns and villages in western Ukraine along with those fresh from the successful overthrow of the government in Kiev. They were a mixture of ultra-nationalists, ex-IDF soldiers and various thugs along for the ride. Some of them had in the last few days waylaid a convoy of buses returning from am autonomy demo in Eastern Ukraine on their way back to Crimea. The windows each bus was smashed, the travelers hauled out and made to crawl on all fourse before being to eat pieces of window glass, then beaten and given the choice of delivering a forced dedication to Ukraine or be shot. Many managed to make a run for it into the nearby woods. Seven died that day. In the square there were shouts of Crimea remaining part of Ukraine or being eliminated of any human presence at all. It was in these hours that the call went out to Moscow appealing to Vladimir Putin to help them. Crimea’s long history has been predominantly a Russian history. Sevastopol is rightly named a ‘Hero City’ for the indefatigable resolution of the people there to fight to the last man and woman for Russia. A referendum was held and the choice of the people was clear. Crimea, only part of Ukraine since its gifting by Nikita Khrushchev, himself a Ukrainian, in 1956, was now again part of Russia.

However, as part of the constructed fable of the ‘Evil Russia’ narrative the assistance given by Russia via Russian troops was framed ‘an invasion’ and their task, to guard against provocateurs during the referendum framed as forcing the vote to go Russia’s way ‘at the barrel of a gun’.

This constituted the first brick in the construct, and western mass media at the highest level for reasons of their own, went along with it.

Brick Two of the “Evil Russia” Construct:

The next stage and second brick was the predictable upheaval in eastern Ukraine. Any electoral map would have told those who assisted in the events in Kiev that winter would have known what was coming. The map would almost have a line right down the center. On the western side the votes went to the west-oriented political parties (not necessarily western Europe, merely oriented to the benefit of western Ukraine). To the east the parties elected were at the very least neutral towards Russia (not necessarily pro-Russian as stated so baldly by some in the West later). As with those in Crimea the majority of those in eastern Ukraine had seen the writing on the wall for their cultural, historical and family ties with Russia and Russians (the border with Russia was essentially open and mixed marriages between Ukrainians and Russians were common... in fact the ethnicity was not a factor, they were Slavs and that was all that they needed to know and they of course knew this without even thinking). There was no way they could simply sit awaiting their fate. The Banderas were arriving by bus there too just as they had done in Crimea. Street fights were occurring, intimidation of the local population was growing by the night. In the days ahead large groups of mainly men would take all the major administrative offices across eastern Ukraine. They knew that maintaining and preserving their way of life there would not happen by asking the new government nicely, not after what they had witnessed on Maidan Square in Kiev with seventeen police dead, buildings burned down and both president and government brought down by a Molotov Cocktail throwing mob. Militants with mortars and shells arrived, along with a motley crew of drunk Ukrainian soldiers and proceeded to fire random shells into apartment blocks, as well as hitting hitting hospitals, schools, village homes and town centers. Local men fought back, their numbers bolstered by old soldiers who traveled across from Russia to help. Many of these selfless old Russian fighters, convinced this was a return of the threat of fascism, met their deaths in eastern Ukraine. The word in the West was relentlessly that they were simply regular Russian troops and part of an invasion force.

Thus the second brick in the 'Evil Russia’ construct was laid, this along with events in Ukraine would constitute the “Russian invasion of Ukraine”.

The full story of what had occurred, including the obvious unconstitutional usurping of a fully democratically elected president and government and the predictable reactions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine would play no part in the construct.

The new leaders of Ukraine (as predicted in a leaked phone call between U.S. officials Victoria Nuland and Geoff Pyatt) would be greeted with a very warm welcome in Berlin and elsewhere. The required framing constructed at that time would remain from those initial days until today. “Russian aggression” had taken place. Ukraine had been “invaded”. End of story.

The entire western world as composed of its leaders announced themselves totally disgusted at how Russia had infringed in such a horrendous and brutal fashion on Ukraine’s sovereignty and demanded it hand back Crimea and eastern Ukraine to its rightful leaders immediately. There has been no let up in this rendering of the truncated version which starts well after the riots in Kiev of which only ever more glory was to be heaped and references to evil Russian influence whenever and wherever possible.

For many people in the USA and clearly within the EU too the “Evil Russia” was immensely important. The mix of course included NATO, desperately seeking a new reason to be kept in business after the end of the Cold War. The Russian interventions that had taken place, humanitarian as they may have been were also strategic to some extent. The Russian Black Sea Fleet was based at Sevastopol and the thought of NATO coming right into eastern Ukraine and right up to the open border with Russia was anathema to Russian high command and of course to Putin himself.

It all worked well within the very near “Evil Russia” construct. Ukraine needed the construct. (The first president of Ukraine, Poroshenko first conjectured about 5,000 Russian regulars in eastern Ukraine. It would evolve to 10,000 and I think, to 50,000... though somehow they were never seen or heard from. Besides, the money required to keep Ukraine afloat now must be predicated upon some form of threat as its best guarantee. The EU needed the construct as Ukraine was now de facto their fiefdom and the need to be seen as ultra-loyal was clear to them. It was too bad, Russia had many contracts with EU farmers and various others companies and concerns... but they would all have to go. The USA needed the construct too. Europe was to be kept in line and besides, this had been a joint geopolitical op from the start. There was no backing out now. The focus if there was to be one was not to be the economic and social disaster Ukraine would inevitably now become or who had played a big part in causing it. That couldn’t be allowed to be the focus at all. I think you can guess by now who and what was to be the focus. That evil Putin and an equally evil regime and army.

A Few More Bricks in the Wall:

This was working tolerably well for quite a number of years. The death toll rose and rose eventually reaching 13,000 but the way it was reported you would think the deaths were being caused by “The Russians!” but in fact these were civilians who were dying and they were dying not because of “rebels” but because of the Ukrainian troops and militias who had laid siege to two regions, Donetsk and Lugansk and were firing blindly into them almost the whole time. But of course... even though this was the case... it was still spun as “Russian aggression”. Naturally it was.

The slant was clearly totally skewed of course but everyone across the political and media elites of the West acted as if they hadn’t noticed this “slight” anomaly. It was “The Russians” that were to blame, and that’s that.

Seven years have passed almost to the day since the killing began over there. Not that there were any deaths when Crimea returned to Russia or when the local people of eastern Ukraine took over their administrative offices. All those 13,000 deaths occurred only from the day Kiev sent its ragbag army and a horde of ultra-nationalists, Hitler’s memory devotees and assorted criminals east to teach the ‘Moskals’ there a lesson.

The seven years of the “Evil Russia” construct in Ukraine is no longer bearing much fruit for any of those who benefited from it now. The present president, Zelensky gave it one last fling but purely for electoral reasons it seems. His approval ratings have plummeted since he was elected and looking tough against Russia no doubt seemed a winning ploy as a last gasp attempt to curry favor. So far it doesn’t appear to be working.

Over in the USA and in her closest ally the UK there have been new reasons to stir the “Evil Russia” pot. The intelligence agencies of both nations got to work when a sociopath talking up better relations with Russia won the U.S. presidency. They and the Democratic Party were both aghast, horrified and felt a mix of shame, humiliation and total disgust. A con-artist had pulled off the semantic scam of the century, of many centuries in fact. Backed by equally megalomaniac advisers he had the gift of the serial liar ability to push every button and make every necessary promise to a despondent and hopeless America and had won. It couldn’t be allowed to stand.

It didn’t matter that Trump had merely mouthed the pro-Russia stuff to put clear water between him and Clinton (who had become an avid Russia hater). It interfered with the whole “Evil Russia” construct. So... it was decided that as it had already been created with some very believable contexts behind it that it was a no-brainer to expand it further to get Trump.

Thus we had “evil Russian” electoral interference by way of $90 of wild and wonderful Facebook ads created by those “evil Russians” that had unerringly beaten $100 million of Democratic Party ads to win the 2016 presidential election for The Donald. Then for good measure there was the Skripals affair and more recently Navalny and now a very strange bit of jiggery-pokery in the Czech Republic as perhaps the very last hurrah of the “Evil Russia” construct.

I say perhaps with some hope as I see little for the various actors involved to continue gaining from the construct that has been played to death till now. What more can be hoped for? Crimea isn’t coming back to Ukraine, Donetsk and Lugansk are not going to give up and let their pro-Russian culture slide down to permanent oblivion. All that’s going to happen from here on out if the “Evil Russia” construct is continued is more and more damage to Europe and through Europe to Britain and the USA. To Russia too? Not so much. Russia has meanwhile turned east. And, if the Nordstream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany becomes operational the present pipeline through Ukraine will be totally sidelined and Russia will gain a constant income stream (no pun intended) from Europe and ever-better relations there as a result.

Russia has survived the economic hardships of the sanctions unwarrantedly brought against her. She will rise steadily now and those sanctions will have ever less effect. The net effect has been to wean Russia off her oil export dependency to good effect, strengthened up the necessity to find new markets, new partners (chief among them China) and develop a defense industry second to none and has an incredibly effective vaccine against the novel coronavirus Covid-19. Russia is on the up.

And in the States the Democrats gained power (only just) and must surely be wondering by this time at least if its wise to keep pushing “Evil Russia” when every analyst, foreign policy wonk and national security strategist is creaming “It’s China Dummy!”  

Not that this is at all crucial to how geopolitical decisions are made Biden must surely have also been filled in during his intelligence briefings... “And by the way, basically the entire “Evil Russia” thing was a construct, you may want to consider dropping it now and concentrating on China?”

“Evil Russia” served the purpose of a great many players and each part of their not insignificant empires coordinated each episode along the way to near perfection. But it has become so yesterday... time to move on to the “Evil China” construct, right? The Uyghurs, Tibet, Hong Kong... these and more areas of “concern” will need all heads concentrated in THAT direction now. China is taking off... so, for these designer subversives... it must be taken DOWN.

So...

IS IT THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF WHAT WAS AN EXCEPTIONALLY USEFUL PHONY WAR AGAINST RUSSIA?

 

BOTH COMMUNISTS & CONSERVATIVES ARE WORTHY OF RESPECT

Reds and rednecks together? No, these pejorative labels don’t apply to those I’m talking of here.

I’m talking of the ideal form of both, not the figures of loathing held in contempt by those on the lower levels of mental insight.

In both the true communist and conservative viewpoints I believe there is common ground.

Both care deeply about values that are beneficial to people and not simply to those within their gene pool. They share the goal of a stable, decent society of consistent value and integrity where each individual nurtures the foundations they stand on and preserve them for the generations to come. They are not at all inclined to embrace chaos, aware that only when a sustainable and predictable platform for society exists can it lead to the dignity, integrity and mutual respect needed for future growth.

The templates of both communism and conservatism share the values of good order and preservation of a solid heritage as the building bricks of character and mutual respect combined with that generated by mutual solidarity, work and family.

The truest form of each, communist and conservative alike, desires no harm to anyone but will certainly protect the standards they know most vitally require preservation for the good of all.

Both mindsets are largely known quantities with generally fixed belief systems where there can be little doubt of outcomes if applied in their most idealistic form. All problems arise from those who may be misidentified as one or the other but whose mindset is far from ideal.

Each society has those posing as the wise. They claim to be this or that and unless recognized as false prophets may well be incorrectly given either the communist or conservative label and so degrade those belief systems. These will generally show themselves as the prejudiced, the haters, the intolerant, the know-it-all boasters and narrow minded bigots of either left or right. In addition to these are the greedily ambitious who will use any road to power available, the amoral, the criminal, the sociopathic, system climbers without conscience or integrity.

In a world where the supposed left and right endlessly battle each other for the souls of the endlessly confused there is a unity of certain principles regarding human dignity among the very best of us. That this so seldom evidences itself to lasting effect is perhaps the most tragic aspect of our common human existence. In the long timeline of humanity it has seldom been the case that such men and women of integrity as I am speaking of have held any semblance of power for long. In fact a case can hardly be pointed to with complete accuracy. Kennedy could be mentioned in this respect to some degree, Krushchev also. Gorbachev too. But these cases were only glimpses of what could be.

Such people do exist but rarely gain power. Power tends always to be gained by those who deserve it least, those who use the various underhand means referred to above. These are those with the ability to leverage groups of the greedily and egotistically ambitious like them, desirous of power itself rather than to enable the creation of societies of dignity and well being.

At its heart my message here is simply one of hope. It is also an appeal to recognize one particular individual as a combination of both categories mentioned and more. In my opinion he is that rare occurrence in the world of politics and geopolitics, an individual who by some quirk of fate has risen to power while being outside the usual political arena altogether. He has been a communist and I believe still is in the deepest, most ideal and truest form in which they come. He is also highly conservative and dedicated to the traditional values of his society, devoted to the values of work, family, nation and personal integrity.

That man is Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. The perfect example of how both communists and conservatives are worthy of your respect.

 

WILL THE U.S. NOW BYPASS ITS RUSSIA MYTH TO FOCUS DIRECTLY ON CHINA?

The all-pervasive neocon majority in Washington have now wrung about as much as they can from the ‘Aggressive Russia’ myth. It worked tolerably well for the Democrats though they only just squeaked in at the recent presidential elections.

The era of Russia hating and baiting may just possibly be nearing its end.

Expect no great change in rhetoric towards Russia however, but just possibly there will be a softening of America’s stance behind the scenes. Even as I write this U.S. and Russian officials are having meetings where largely unknown issues are being discussed. At long last some tentative willingness to establish a dialogue is evident. Not before time.

In public pronouncements we can probably expect even tougher words spoken than before. The geopolitical tactics involved are well rehearsed. The recent State Department pronouncement that Ukraine can move forward toward NATO membership is just such a political chess move. While doing one thing over here you must signal another over there. You keep certain actors  assuaged via statements with little real substance to them while pushing your most vital agenda hard behind closed doors.

What might be the reasons behind this apparent thawing of relations between the USA and Russia?

In my view it is all about China. Specifically (as Biden has more than hinted about) the rise and rise of the Chinese economy. But China has of course been seen as an economic adversary of the USA for many years now. Why the change to up the ante now?

In a word, Covid.

As China surmounted the worst effects of the pandemic and re-engineered its economy to once again exponentially expand as before... the USA has been hit hard, and the negative economic effects of the pandemic there appear certain to have much greater impact still.

What additional gains can the USA expect to extract from the ‘Aggressive Russia’ myth now? Very few I would say. And the latest engineered scandals in eastern Europe may signal the last hurrah with its multiple round of diplomatic red cards to Russians.

I suspect that, along with protestations of unlimited support for Ukraine and all NATO members as a pat on the head assurance, we may see U.S. eyes lifted far from the borders of Europe. Not that certain individuals will not raise a few bolstering but essentially meaningless verbal fists toward Russia now and then. But Moscow will naturally recognize the theater of it all, especially as the behind closed doors discussions taking place will give the appropriate winks and nods necessary.

Biden’s broadside at Putin recently was no doubt part of the geopolitical public relations fig leaf that presented the “right” image to protect the underlying ambition to engage with and improve relations. It may all seem quite perverse and on the surface of it unlikely but I suspect it may just be so.

As I have said previously, the timeline to undermine China was quite a bit longer prior to the pandemic hitting. It has in my view been necessary due to the surge in the Chinese economy now occurring and the expected decline in the U.S. The previous timeline was in no way a sure thing but I suspect it was felt necessary then to keep the end goal and the methods to achieve it camouflaged somewhat. This can no longer be afforded. China is leaping from the post-covid starting gate while the USA has a severe time penalty. It’s time to take the gloves off, dispense with all distractions (Russia) and focus like a laser on speeding the process.

The ultimate target for the USA was always China. That surely has been clear to everyone for decades now. However, the messy aftermath of the U.S./EU support for the 2014 coup in Kiev created the perceived necessity for a seven year response to keep Europe firmly aligned.
With the U.S. wishing to see the impasse ended and the distraction of Russia for them ended Blinken’s visit to Kiev in the coming days is more likely to push Zelensky toward making peace than war. Against the expectations of many.

I believe the Biden administration no longer sees much leverage in attacking Russia or using Ukraine or NATO to do so. The far larger adversary (as they see it) is quite obviously China, a China soaring onward destined to pass them by, across a range of economical and increasingly geopolitical categories sooner and sooner with each passing day.

Russia may well become so yesterday as time goes by.

Russia, which has largely sat still and taken it for all these years, will no doubt shrug for a moment then get back to building her own economy and defending her own interests, as usual.

The whole sham theatre of Russiagate will disappear like the mirage it always was.

Not that anything will be admitted to. That of course is not the geopolitical way of things. Now and then a sham missive will be fired. Allies will remain there to be reassured like the little beaks begging mama bird for a morsel or two to keep them reassured.

To continue the metaphor, when the gimlet eyes of Mama America look up from her chicks and peer in an easterly direction they will be set diamond-hard, undistracted by certain onion domes in the mid-distance.