It's All About NATO: Pentagon Seeks Further NATO Expansion Toward Russia

While relations between Moscow and Washington are steadily deteriorating, US decision makers are adding fuel to the fire by pushing ahead the plan of further NATO's military buildup near Russia's borders: Pentagon chief Ashton Carter announced Monday that NATO would place additional heavy weapons in the Baltic states, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria.

"What is happening now is what a group within NATO have wanted for fifteen years," Stephen Cohen, a prominent American historian and professor of Russian studies at Princeton University and New York University, elaborated, adding that "Carter is literally flirting with war with Russia."

This is the first time in history when the United States and NATO have moved heavy arms and American troops towards Russia's own defense perimeter, the historian emphasized.

And in its turn, the Kremlin has to do something, it does not have the option of just shrugging its shoulders and turning a blind eye to NATO's military deployment in close proximity to Russia's borders, he stressed. Most probably, Washington will make its own move in response. So far, this "tit for tat game" may result in further military escalation and transforming the ongoing tensions into a "Cuban missile crisis-type of confrontation."

"What has happened with this [the Pentagon's] decision is an escalation of the new Cold War in the direction of a hot war with Russia. And it's being done under entirely false pretexts. Just read the massive anti-Russian propaganda campaign and I use the word 'propaganda' in the sense not of information but of false information," the professor highlighted.

Professor Cohen pointed out that the West has recently increased the flood of propaganda, trying to convince the international community that somehow Russia is "on the move again in an aggressive way" and that it poses an imminent threat to the three tiny Baltic states.

"This is a lie, this is false. There is not a word of truth in this. This is being done and manipulated by people in the West who wanted to do this for decades — to make a move on Russia," the historian underscored.

The Pentagon's decision has obviously marked another victory of the "party of war" in Washington and the defeat of the "diplomatic party." Still the question remains open whether these people actually "want" and "seek" a military showdown with Putin's Russia, the professor asked, adding that if they do not, "there is no rational explanation of what they are doing." And another question is why the American political elite is silent, the professor emphasized.

Referring to Ashton Carter's speech, Professor Cohen underscored that NATO's agenda has extended far beyond the Ukrainian issue.

"It's no longer Ukraine that's being defended here. This is about NATO, expanding NATO," Stephen Cohen stressed.

"Let's be clear again: never before has American military might been planted physically on Russia's borders. Never before," he emphasized.

The situation is getting worse, and European countries are at risk of finding themselves amidst a new military conflict. They should not forget that Washington cannot save the euro, or bolster the EU fading economy or supply cheap energy resources to the European Union. Remarkably, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum has clearly indicated that despite all the efforts by Washington to isolate Moscow, Russia remains integrated into European economic and political life, according to the professor.