Alber

Machiavelli recommends in his book "The Prince" that when the monarch has a problem within his borders that is very annoying, he should look for a serious problem abroad to establish tight control inside. In this way he will be able to accuse those who are against him of being traitors; saying they support the enemy. Enemy, which of course, he himself has created.
An example was the case of General Galtieri in Argentina, when in 1982 he decided to take the Falkland Islands or Malvinas from the British, to resolve the serious internal problems that could put an end to the military dictatorship.
In the case of Ukraine, there is an interest on the part of Putin to create a situation that serves to control the problems he has with those who oppose him in Russia; but there is also interest in this matter here in the United States, because of the situation created by the policy followed by those who manipulate Biden, who have seen written on the wall the biblical prediction that says: Mene Tekel Fares, regarding the possibilities of future of the Democratic Party.
It will be necessary to find a solution so that the confrontation in Ukraine does not turn into a total war, since it is something dangerous because it can lead to a nuclear war, where there would be no winners, we would all lose.
We can turn the tables on the Russians and do what Khrushchev did (when they were the owners of the USSR) in the case of Cuba, forcing Kennedy to accept a commitment not to invade that island for the next 25 years, in the days of the Crisis of the Missiles in October 1962.
In the current case, the Russians should agree not to invade Ukraine, returning Crimea (going to the status quo); while NATO would agree not to plant weapons in that country or accept Ukraine as part of that organization, lifting all sanctions against Russia.
On the other hand, the US must define and determine to remove from the side of the American hemisphere the poisoned thorn that Cuba and Venezuela represent, countries that could serve the interests of China; in which Putin has threatened to play the same role that the Soviet Union (which has not existed for more than 30 years) played in Cuba, having expired in 1987 the commitment not to invade that country.
I think that the true enemy of America is not Russia, but China; and Putin knows it.
The problem of Taiwan is more important than the problem of Ukraine and the wrong policy followed in the past in which allies were given to the enemy (Cuba, Taiwan and South Vietnam) to solve a momentary problem, without a vision of the future, must be rectified.
In Cuba in 1961 it was allowed the capture of the Cuban invaders in the Bay of Pigs and subsequently the Soviets installed the missiles with which they threatened the United States a year later.
Taiwan, where those who were the US allies during World War II took refuge (who were not Mao's communists), and South Vietnam, were unprotected and the last one handed to the communists, to attract communist China, recognizing it in the UN, giving it the power of the veto, which we may regret, also helping it to emerge economically, which allowed it to have converted to fascism.
Vietnam has turned against China and has now made friends with the US, which shows how inconvenient the war was in that country.
It is necessary to force China to accept the independence of Taiwan, where its inhabitants are against integration with continental China, since that island has turned into a republic with a democratic government.
Here it is worth mentioning the UN's decolonization policy, which is similar to what is happening in Taiwan, and that this body hold a referendum on that island, to determine peacefully on this matter.
As for the problems of the American hemisphere, it is time for the US to address the problems of America in their entirety and re-introduce the Monroe Doctrine: "America for Americans", bearing in mind that all who live in both Americas are Americans.
It would be ideal to change the name of "Organization" to "Confederation" of American States with a Constitution similar to that of the United States and promote a single currency that could be called “Amero” to replace the dollar and all other currencies, forcing all investors who have put their money in China, one way or another, to invest it in countries like Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and others, where there is cheap labor; as well as to combat government corruption, crime and narco-terrorism, which would be the end of illegal immigration, since no one would have the need to flee from the place where they were born; and without going to autarky, we would not depend in any way on Europe, Asia or Africa, turning America into an impregnable fortress.

Jimmy Boy

Alber, very well done!! War in Ukraine is nuts ! I guess. If we do have one it is to destroy all the hidden money laundering that’s been going on for years. All the best.

saltwind 78 Loc: Murrells Inlet, South Carolina

Alber, You make excellent points. We have no right to interfere in the independence of other countries. The world is full of dangerous regimes. China and Russia are the two most powerful, but there are lots more.
I think that Russia is more dangerous than China. China and the US do an amazing amount of trade. I don't think it makes any sense for China to attack its best customer. China's history has been one of foreign dominance. Traditionally, it seeks to have protective borders. Formosa is a recognized part of China whether we like it or not.
Trade with Russia is important to Europe which needs Russian oil.Trade with this country is not really important, except for some rare minerals. Russia wants to control Europe, and end US presence there. It seeks to reinvent the Soviet empire. Its leader, like China's is a dangerous dictator. He got his training in the Soviet KGB. He cares nothing about the treaties he signed, or the freedom and independence of the former Soviet republics. He has murdered political opponents and journalists, some while on foreign soil. He is one dangerous MF.

LogicallyRight Loc: Chicago

We agree in many points and what I have been advocating for weeks. Well put together analysis. If NATO takes in Ukraine, what reason would we have for Russia not taking in Venezuela and Cuba and installing missiles there.

Logically Right

LogicallyRight Loc: Chicago

You start out all right and then you go into your, "We good Russia all bad mode." Actually biden is turning into a very bad wanna be dictator himself.

Logically Right

Alber

You are right when you say that we should not intervene in the independence (or in the affairs of other countries); but this depends on how that independence or those affairs harm us.
As you have ever written, you taught history for 30 years and were in the Vietnam War, so you must be in your seventies.
As a history teacher, you must know the phrase of Confucius: "The people who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it." ... Put more simply: "Man is the only animal that stumbles twice on the same stone."
At this time we are in the same position as in 1939; when Russia and China have an understanding, just as the Nazis and the Soviets had, on August 23 of that year, with the Ribbentrop - Molotov treaty, which contained a secret protocol establishing the division of Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe in spheres of Soviet and German interest.
Eight days later, Wehrmacht troops, applying blitzkrieg, crossed the borders of Poland and, two weeks later, Red Army tanks joined the eastern flank. But as the phrase goes: "There is no honor among thieves" and Adolf Hitler had always considered the German-Soviet non-aggression pact as a tactical and temporary maneuver. Thus, codenamed "Operation Barbarossa", Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, in what was the largest German military operation of World War II. The Nazis needed more 'Lebensraum' (living space); and now China needs more living space.
In a previous comment a few weeks ago, I wrote that Xi Jingpin was the new Führer, which follows what Deng Xiaoping established about the color of the cat. China is no longer communist, nor is it capitalist, now it is fascist. Just look at the Chinese military parades and compare them to those of the Nazis.
Putin has an authoritarian regime in Russia with the appearance of democracy, but it is not convenient for him to look like Lenin or Stalin. I heard him say that Lenin was a great revolutionary, but he was not a great statesman, so he distances himself from the communists. He dreams of the empire of the tsars of what was later the Soviet Union.
As you say, he got his training in the Soviet KGB; he therefore knows the history and he knows that China's approach is a tactical move.
Russia has weapons and a vast territory, but it lacks an economy and a population. China has weapons, economy and excessive population, but it needs territory.