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We were promised ‘economic shock and awe’ against Russia — Andrew Cockburn

Summary:
Maybe economic warfare is not all that it was cracked up to be. Or maybe not. Blowback from it is rocking the NATO alliance as NATO countries buckle economically. The only NATO country profiting from the crisis is the US and other NATO countries view this as at their expense, although, being vassal states, they can only whine about it.What went wrong? The world economy is a system and the US failed to grasp Russia's place in the system and also the state of the system itself. As a result, assumptions turned out to be wildly wrong since they were not reality-based but rather figments of fantasy. Thus far, this has turned out to be a monumental strategic blunder.The overall result is biasing the world system against the Global North/West in the Global South/East much to Western

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Maybe economic warfare is not all that it was cracked up to be. Or maybe not. Blowback from it is rocking the NATO alliance as NATO countries buckle economically. The only NATO country profiting from the crisis is the US and other NATO countries view this as at their expense, although, being vassal states, they can only whine about it.

What went wrong? The world economy is a system and the US failed to grasp Russia's place in the system and also the state of the system itself. As a result, assumptions turned out to be wildly wrong since they were not reality-based but rather figments of fantasy. 

Thus far, this has turned out to be a monumental strategic blunder.

The overall result is biasing the world system against the Global North/West in the Global South/East much to Western consternation as its former dominance fades markedly. The information war on the part of the West has failed in the Global South/East as China and India support Russia economically and Russia supports them with resources.

However, the game is far from over. The combined West is still powerful economically and is reacting. But this West now facing a strategic alliance of Russia, China and Iran that is open about its aims, which it views as existential. Putin declared recently that this conflict is existential for Russia, fulfilling the requirement for the first use of nuclear weapons. Moreover, Russian nuclear doctrine is under revision to bring it in line with US doctrine, which allows for a preemptive first strike. (And while North Korea is not usually mentioned as part of this alliance, it is for all practical purposes.) 

This is US foreign policy realists' worst nightmare scenario, since China reputedly having great national capacity than the US, UK and continental Europe combined, and Russia is a nuclear peer.

And it could get worse if Russia shares military technology with China, Iran and North Korea. Moreover, no one in the West seems to know if this has already occurred and if so, to what degree.

Not to mention that the pace is increasing one might say, "exponentially," chiefly owing to US and UK brinksmanship.

So, failure of the economic war that was supposed to crash the Russian economy in weeks has resulted in a strategic upheaval following the US refusal to acknowledge Russia's security needs.

Responsible Statecraft
We were promised ‘economic shock and awe’ against Russia

Andrew Cockburn

See also

Strategic Culture Foundation (sanctioned by the US Treasury Department)
Manichaeism and ‘An Ideology of Liberal Empire’ – Biden’s Forever Cosmic War Against Russian ‘Evil’
Alastair Crooke | founder and director of the Conflicts Forum, former British diplomat and senior figure in British intelligence and in European Union diplomacy
Mike Norman
Mike Norman is an economist and veteran trader whose career has spanned over 30 years on Wall Street. He is a former member and trader on the CME, NYMEX, COMEX and NYFE and he managed money for one of the largest hedge funds and ran a prop trading desk for Credit Suisse.

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