What will force the US decision makers to come to their senses?

Current decision makers in Washington and Brussels cannot be counted on to reach solutions independently of each other. They need each other to survive.

Europe will tank with political unrest before European heads of state will dare go against current Washington policy makers. We need to know from Snowden what do NSA and Washington neocons have on Merkel and other European heads of state that they continue to go against their own business-people’s needs and interests. These sanctions could easily be political suicide for them.

My overarching concern is the “Invincibility” factor with current Washington policy makers which could easily move into action and make the decision to go nuclear. Their behaviors are being driven consciously and unconsciously by envy/jealousy, fear, revenge and hatred. This is obvious from their continuous vicious commentaries, repeated character assassinations and deadly actions. Countries, like human beings, get caught up in psychotic behaviors and then drive their masses into herd mentality to carry out their bidding. The 20th century was full of such cases. And here it is cropping up again in the 21st century.

So what are the neocons, Republicans and Democrats, most fearful of? Loss of American hegemony, first and foremost …. not being the #1 hegemon in the world. They see that we are a nation in decline and it most likely will continue. They don’t know what to do about it. This has to be frightening. What have other nations throughout history done as they began sinking into decline? Most over-extended themselves, created wars, and attempted unsuccessfully to recover their past glory. What are we doing?

Washington policy makers fear Russia will take America’s place as the world’s next hegemon, though this is not an intention of Putin or the Russian population. Regardless of how many times Putin and his team discuss the need for a multipolar world and “every nation being sovereign,” this notion has been totally rejected by Washington. They see an exceptionally bright leader in his prime in Russia, and a country rapidly coming out of its dark night and assume they intend to become the next hegemon. They envy and covet Russia’s subsoil riches and sufficient oil and gas to keep Russia running for decades. What do human beings and countries do in such cases? They project their “shadow,” (the unacceptable behaviors they have done and are still doing) on their target. In later stages, they will do anything to destroy the perceived villain. So it is, we are seeing these well-documented behaviors being played out in the highest offices of our land.

Part of me understands why Washington is fearful and consumed by ill will. America is mired in national debt and much of the world no longer trusts us. Policy makers know if America becomes “one of several nations” making major decisions in the world, America’s life style will in time become quite different. This will eventually have considerable impact on America’s economy, unemployment levels and our financial institutions. We will have to develop values other than constant consumerism.

We are fragile as it is now. Can you imagine what would happen if the military industrial complex wasn’t getting contracts, and workers were being laid off by the thousands in the 45 states where the production has been carried out for decades? Further, if a lot of the world trade goes off of the dollar, as Russia and China are now planning (in order to deal with the sanctions), our American financial systems could go through a grave shaking. The world system itself is unstable today due in part to our 2008 financial crisis which quickly traveled abroad and countries haven’t recovered.

This means that Putin and Russia, the pushers of the multipolar world (that hopes to solve problems rather than fight wars), are a gargantuan threat to current Washington policy makers. No wonder they are demonizing them both, applying increased sanctions to strangle them economically, tampering with world oil prices to destabilize their chief export which supports their national budget, and lastly trying to find ways to push Russia into a war in Ukraine to then have an all-out war with them. This in itself is insanity. The two countries have essentially the same numbers of nuclear weapons and air power.

The question is where will it end?

Will Washington policy-makers gamble on a first-strike nuclear war to prevent personal and collective loss of power and halt U.S.’ decline? If so, Russia will respond in kind …. which could leave the earth as a cinder traveling in space with no living thing on it. This could happen at any time. It’s well known that today both nations have long-range bombers with nuclear weapons on high alert in the air at all times, in addition to submarines loaded with nuclear missiles in the waters all over the planet, plus ICBMs in silos. We need to be praying there will be no accidents, let alone intentional firings.

I assume the reason that Putin has been so forthright in flexing Russia’s military muscle in the past couple of weeks is that he wants Washington to see clearly that Russia will meet them head on if they gamble on a first strike. He is acting with foreboding and logic.

I formerly saw hope on the horizon. Today I do not see hope absent some totally out-of-the box event forces decision makers to come to their senses.

Something at a totally different level needs to be done quickly. For instance, Kissinger might convene a first-ever “World Elders Speak to the Nations of the World” and promote speak-ins on “The Future of the World” across America in strategic cities and in Europe, carried by the latest technologies. Or another out-of-the-box possibility lies with Gorbachev, for whom Americans still have a soft spot in their hearts. Invite him to come to America to speak with Americans, to give joint presentations with Kissinger, Ambassadors Matlock, Pickering and Collins to the American people in strategic areas outside of Washington. This type of diplomacy could be carried out in numerous venues. It is critical to break out of the normal channels which will not change.

Sharon Tennison is the founder and President of the Center for Citizen Initiatives (USA).

Source: US-Russia.org