Does an East/West Showdown Loom?

by Stephen Lendman

The prospect for improved relations between Russia and the US-dominated West is virtually nil.

The same goes for all nations free from US control.

The best to hope for is keeping things from escalating past a point of no return toward possible war between nations able turn each other's cities to smoldering rubble if enough WMDs are unleashed with this aim in mind.

Russia's toughened outreach to the US in the form of demanded security guarantees is highly unlikely to be accepted as proposed.

For over 100 years, normalization by the US with Russia was off the table.

Since the Biden regime usurped power by brazen election fraud, US relations with Moscow sank to a low in modern memory.

Nothing in prospect suggests a way for Russia to achieve normalization with a nation bent on transforming it into a vassal state by whatever it'll take to achieve its diabolical aim.

On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said about Ukraine what applies to hegemon USA.

Kiev is lost as a Russian partner and ally, he explained because of its "authorities' (implacable) hostility toward" Moscow.

They "cut the cord linking it to Russia in any way." 

"They are simply cutting everything, from the capillary vessels to the central arteries of our bilateral relations." 

"They have already cut them, to be more precise. That is why we have no relations as such."

Much the same applies to the US under both right wings of its war party.

It's nearly the same on all things related to Russian relations with European nations subservient to US interests.

Sharing a near-1,500 mile land and sea border with Russia, Ukraine is used by hegemon USA as a dagger aimed at its heartland.

According to Peskov, the US-dominated West keeps pouring heavy weapons into Ukraine for offense on the phony pretext of defense.

Pentagon, CIA and their Western counterparts are on the ground in Ukraine directing how weapons systems are used.

"NATO's creeping intrusion into Ukraine is already taking place and Russia cannot stay indifferent to it," Peskov stressed, adding: 

"That is why Putin's position is quite tough on the one hand and coherent and peaceful on the other."

"His initiative to agree to some binding security guarantees is a very constructive proposal, which can fence us off from the tension which has emerged on the European continent over the Ukrainian problem."

Last week, Biden regime national security advisor Jake Sullivan responded as follows to Russia's security proposals, saying:

The White House will discuss Moscow's concerns according to the "principle of nothing about you without you" in shaping policy that impacts European allies, adding:

"We're approaching the broader question of diplomacy with Russia from the point of view that…meaningful progress at the negotiating table, of course, will have to take place in a context of de-escalation rather than escalation (sic)."

"(I)t's very difficult to see agreements getting consummated if we're continuing to see an escalatory cycle (sic)."

Ignored by Sullivan, other Biden regime officials and their Western counterparts is that "escalation," aggression and related actions are how the US-dominated West operates, not nonbelligerent/nonthreatening Russia against any nations.

Addressing JCPOA Vienna talks, Sullivan said they're "not going well in the sense that we do not yet have a pathway back to the" landmark agreement (sic).

No ambiguity why is because the Biden regime and subservient E3 states have had no intention of complying with their SC Res. 2231 obligations all along.

No matter how long talks drag on, whatever comes out of them will be far short of US/E3 compliance with international law.

Their obstructionism has nothing to do with Iranian regional threats that don't exist.

It all about Tehran's freedom from US control. The same reality applies to Russia, China and other sovereign independent countries.

If the Biden regime spurns security guarantees justifiably demanded by Moscow — what's highly likely — Putin "will switch to the mode of creating counter-threats," Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko warned, adding:

"(T)hen it will be too late to ask why we have made such decisions, why we have deployed such systems."

"A moment of truth is upon us."

"(W)e have reached a dangerous line."

"(O)ur proposals are aimed precisely at moving away from this dangerous line and toward some kind of normal dialogue, at the forefront of which will be security interests."

Associate research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Yang Jin, said Grushko's remarks indicate Moscow's seriousness on this vital issue.

Yang believes that the Biden regime will reject Russian security demands.

In response, Moscow will act defensively — short of provoking confrontation.

At the same time, if the Biden regime deploys anti-missile systems and/or other strategic weapons in Ukraine for offense, not defense, "Moscow would launch a surgical strike to destroy them," Yang believes, adding:

"This is how Russia will deal with provocations when red lines have been crossed."

If things play out this way, US/NATO or Ukraine counter-strikes on Russian targets would be highly unlikely.

Hegemon USA likes picking on states it can roll over, not ones able to hit back hard against aggressors.

According to an unnamed expert on Russian and Eastern Europe:

US-dominated "NATO was born to be hostile toward the Soviet Union and Russia."

"It serves US hegemony and not regional peace." 

"The organization doesn't care about Ukraine's security."

"Maybe the more dangerous the situation is, the more interests the US can receive from the tension."

"Creating tension could bring Russian retaliation and NATO members will need US protection." 

"Then US leadership…will be strengthened." 

"This is how Washington plays the game but many small states don't understand, or they have no choice but to be played and used by the US."

Heightened tensions along Russia's borders created by US-dominated NATO are more likely to further harden ahead than ease.

Even if the Biden regime and Russia discuss its sought security guarantees, there's virtually no chance that hegemon USA will go where it never went before since the Soviet Union dissolved three decades ago.

A state of endless made-in-the-USA Cold War is highly to continue ahead.

No matter that US toughness risks turning hot because time and again its ruling regimes push things too far.

The above risk may be lessened if the Russian Federation shifts from waste-of-time diplomacy with hegemon USA to toughness in bilateral relations for the first time.

It's because bullies like the USA shun confrontations with nations able to give as much as they take.