https://sputnikglobe.com/20230921/listen-more-lecture-less-nato-must-accept-global-failure-of-anti-russia-diplomacy-1113563673.html
‘Listen More, Lecture Less’: NATO Must Accept Global Failure of Anti-Russia Diplomacy
‘Listen More, Lecture Less’: NATO Must Accept Global Failure of Anti-Russia Diplomacy
Sputnik International
In forming their foreign policy, Western leaders have acted like Russia is the Soviet Union - a catastrophic mistake that has fueled both strategic errors like the conflict in Ukraine and driven Russophobia at home.
2023-09-21T16:45+0000
2023-09-21T16:45+0000
2023-09-21T16:45+0000
analysis
russia
ukraine
nato
russophobia
arms sales
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In Poland, popular resentment against arming Ukraine and prolonging the conflict with Russia have manifested in political pressure from the country’s right parties, causing Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to announce a halt in arms shipments ahead of elections next month.In the United States, continuing weapons shipments and financing for Kiev have become a major factor in the complex political jockeying of the US Congress. Even the strongly pro-Ukraine Biden administration, which has pledged its undying support for Kiev, has backed off plans to integrate the former Soviet republic into the NATO alliance, instead suggesting an Israel-like arrangement with preferential sales of new weapons.Matthew Gordon-Banks, a former British Conservative Member of Parliament and Senior Research Fellow at the UK Defense Academy, told Sputnik on Thursday that NATO’s gamble on pressing its strategy to weaken Russia was based on false premises and as a result has totally failed, alienating much of the world.“The refusal of Western leaders, especially the US, to entertain an alternative narrative regarding Ukraine has created more risk with each passing day. False or mistaken assumptions about why Russia is doing what it is doing carries an enormous risk of miscalculation on the part of the United States and its NATO allies. All too often, there is a failure to seek to understand and take on board how Russia and Russians see things.”He noted that despite Western sanctions, the Russian economy remains “robust,” and that its “seemingly unlimited access” to natural resources, including energy resources and rare earth metals, will keep its global military position strong. As a consequence, the Russian defense industry has ramped up production to levels “the West cannot match,” he said.By contrast, “Ukraine is totally dependent on the West to provide money and weapons,” Gordon-Banks said, noting that the Russian Armed Forces were “inflicting enormous casualties on Ukraine’s military and decimating infrastructure critical to the Ukrainian military campaign.”“Too many so-called ‘key opinion-formers’ have never even met a Russian or Chinese citizen, let alone have a real understanding of how they see things,” the academic said. “This includes many so-called ‘experts.’”“Ukraine has been a spectacular failure of US foreign policy. To some extent it is having an impact, especially with the rise of BRICS, which may cut America off at the knees. Even on the military side, the type of ground in Ukraine was always going to lead to an artillery-based war, with much equipment unable to move in that terrain for many months of the year. Right from the start, the US ought to have known it had neither the shells required to supply Ukraine or the military-industrial complex to manufacture them in sufficient quantity.“Each time British or NATO missiles, often guided by NATO personnel, hit the Russian heartland, it risks retaliation in a manner not currently part of the so-called special military operation,” Gordon-Banks noted, adding that the Russians “genuinely believe they face an existential threat from the West,” especially the United States.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230921/us-uses-ukraine-to-test-military-solutions-for-future-use-expert-says-1113561952.html
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230921/germany-says-not-in-favor-of-idea-to-deprive-russia-of-veto-power-in-un-security-council-1113555506.html
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matthew gordon-banks; weapons shipments for ukraine; russophobia; special military operation
matthew gordon-banks; weapons shipments for ukraine; russophobia; special military operation
‘Listen More, Lecture Less’: NATO Must Accept Global Failure of Anti-Russia Diplomacy
In forming their foreign policy, Western leaders have acted like the Russian Federation is the Soviet Union - a catastrophic mistake that has fueled both strategic errors like the conflict in Ukraine and driven Russophobia at home, which only further distorts their vision, an expert told Sputnik.
In Poland, popular resentment against arming Ukraine and prolonging the conflict with Russia have manifested in political pressure from the country’s right parties, causing Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to
announce a halt in arms shipments ahead of elections next month.
In the United States, continuing weapons shipments and financing for Kiev have become a major factor in the
complex political jockeying of the US Congress. Even the strongly pro-Ukraine Biden administration, which has pledged its undying support for Kiev, has backed off plans to integrate the former Soviet republic into the NATO alliance, instead suggesting an
Israel-like arrangement with preferential sales of new weapons.
Matthew Gordon-Banks, a former British Conservative Member of Parliament and Senior Research Fellow at the UK Defense Academy, told Sputnik on Thursday that NATO’s gamble on pressing its strategy to weaken Russia was based on false premises and as a result has totally failed, alienating much of the world.
21 September 2023, 15:06 GMT
“We had so very many opportunities to prevent conflict in Ukraine,” Gordon-Banks said. “We must now, especially in the UK, seek to improve our diplomacy, improve our dialogue and quite simply ‘listen more and lecture less.’ The Global South has frankly had enough. Good diplomacy requires not just the expression of your own country’s views and policy but having a complete understanding of another country’s views and concerns and for them to be noted; and then for policy makers not to ignore them.”
“The refusal of Western leaders, especially the US, to entertain an alternative narrative regarding Ukraine has created more risk with each passing day. False or mistaken assumptions about why Russia is doing what it is doing carries an enormous risk of miscalculation on the part of the United States and its NATO allies. All too often, there is a failure to seek to understand and take on board how Russia and Russians see things.”
“The wild talk of war with Russia, from some, takes no account that NATO is unlikely to win such a conflict,” Gordon-Banks asserted.
He noted that despite Western sanctions, the Russian economy remains “robust,” and that its “seemingly unlimited access” to natural resources, including energy resources and rare earth metals, will keep its global military position strong. As a consequence, the Russian defense industry has ramped up production to levels “the West cannot match,” he said.
By contrast, “Ukraine is totally dependent on the West to provide money and weapons,” Gordon-Banks said, noting that the Russian Armed Forces were “inflicting enormous casualties on Ukraine’s military and decimating infrastructure critical to the Ukrainian military campaign.”
21 September 2023, 11:13 GMT
“Too many so-called ‘key opinion-formers’ have never even met a Russian or Chinese citizen, let alone have a real understanding of how they see things,” the academic said. “This includes many so-called ‘experts.’”
“This ignorance breeds Russophobia and a feeling of superiority not founded in reality. Even worse are those individuals and academics who know that they are daily lying in their statements, but feel unable to tell the truth.”
“Ukraine has been a spectacular failure of US foreign policy. To some extent it is having an impact, especially
with the rise of BRICS, which may cut America off at the knees. Even on the military side, the type of ground in Ukraine was always going to lead to an artillery-based war, with much equipment unable to move in that terrain for many months of the year. Right from the start, the US ought to have known it had neither the shells required to supply Ukraine or the military-industrial complex to manufacture them in sufficient quantity.
“Each time British or NATO missiles, often guided by NATO personnel, hit the Russian heartland, it risks retaliation in a manner not currently part of the so-called special military operation,” Gordon-Banks noted, adding that the Russians “genuinely believe they face an existential threat from the West,” especially the United States.
