Yet that does not exclude Washington doing the unthinkable the next time the Pentagon thinks of itself to be in the position Russia is now in.
SWIFT changesThe whole game used to be about who ruled the waves -- the geopolitical gift the US inherited from Great Britain. Control of the seas meant the US inheriting five empires; Japan, Germany, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands. All those massive US carrier task forces patrolling the oceans to guarantee "free trade" -- as the hegemonic propaganda machine goes -- could be turned against China in a flash. It's a mechanism similar to the carefully choreographed "leading from behind" financial op to simultaneously crash the ruble/launch an oil war and thus smash Russia into submission.
Washington's master plan remains deceptively simple; to "neutralize" China by Japan, and Russia by Germany, with the US backing its two anchors, Germany and Japan. Russia is the de facto only BRICS nation blocking the master plan.
This was the case until Beijing launched the New Silk Road(s), which essentially mean the linking of all Eurasia into a "win-win" trade/commerce bonanza on high-speed rail, and in the process diverting freight tonnage overland and away from the seas.
So NATO's non-stop Russia demonizing is in fact quaint. Think about NATO picking a fight against the constantly evolving, complex Russia-China strategic partnership. And in a not so remote future, as I indicated here, Germany, Russia and China have what it takes to be the essential pillars of a fully integrated Eurasia.
As it stands, the key shadow play is Moscow and Beijing silently preparing their own SWIFT system while Russia prepares to seal its air space with S-500s. Western Ukraine is doomed; leave it to the austerity-ravaged EU -- which, by the way, doesn't want it. And all this while the same EU tries to handicap the US commercially with a rigged euro that still doesn't allow it to penetrate more US markets.
As for an irrelevant NATO, all it can do is cry, cry, cry.
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