The economist Michael Hudson made the comment in an interview several years ago that in the 2016 election the choice for president was between Donald Trump and World War III.
Hudson made this comment knowing full well that Hillary Clinton was a virulent Russiaphobe and serial warmonger.
Considering that the current administration is full of Obama Administration and Hillary State Dept retreads, we should not be terribly surprised to find ourselves at this point looking over a cliff and staring into the abyss. These people are calling the shots, and are feeding talking points to both Biden and Stoltenberg. The puppet masters have had Biden say over and over again "Putin can not win!"
but as election in 2016 was a surprise "manipulation" txs to Cambridge Analytica & Co, this time Demonazicrats will try something strong, "spectacular" and will use their best arms of mass distraction to avoid a real confrontation with electorate.
I'm afraid that as this interesting post is warning, the Illegal and unconstitutional EU Commission will go along with Stoltenberg nazi ideas. But don't be surprised, when Stoltenberg became PM of Norway he spent more and more public money in armaments. And was not a coincidence that under his mandate it happened that massacre by one or more neo nowegians nazi , know as the Utøya Massacre: 69 teenagers killed...
So I agree, he should be dismissed and jailed, not Assange...
Deep changes are direly needed in the CIA/NSA, etc. Yesterday.
They illegally are warmongers and regularly over meddle in elections of sovereign states. Why did Mr. 10% meddle in Brazil's last election against the people there?
Help the Trump campaign, donate to the Trump campaign, speak personally to as many illegal aliens as i can reach near Tucson, all in order to help them do the firing Kash Patel has described planned for their first few days of the new presidency. Otoh, should things actually go hot because of the leftie campaign of violence, some might be able to go underground and pop up in leftie places susceptible to principals being removed. Tactics lefties use need to be used on them. Otherwise, they will only continue.
Oh, because Trump folded like a cheap suit on his campaign blah-blah when he hired the worst of the worst neocons (Bolton and Pompeo) to fun his foreign policy apparatus? True I'd prefer the Narcissist over the doddering-senile-ice-ream-cone-licker/hair-sniffer but I'd also prefer to be punched in the nose than kicked in the nuts....
Yes, Trump made plenty of errors in his first term. He has admitted that. He was surrounded by vermin and sociopaths and a gaggle of billionaire dumb bells and the seditious. He was not a professional politician. For sure, he is not an angel. But neither is he the Devil. That would be the sniffer placed in the WH by the elite in DC and the West Coast and East Coast. It is highly probable, almost a certainty, that if the elite take the upcoming election, the nation will be lost to history. The upcoming election is highly probably the most important in the nation's history, if not, then at least in the modern era. One thing he has shown us just be being who he is, is how much the elite hate and despise us. At least now more see this. Better a patriotic business dude that an evil, mean spirited, man without a soul who has become a multimillionaire at our expense and lies every time he opens his foul mouth. The Heritage Foundation has been vetting a potful of candidates for WH advisors, etc., from which much better people may be selected to advise and manage the fed gov. Listen to interviews of Kash Patel with Lou Dobbs. It will be much better this time. There is going to be tons of squealing coming out of DC and the Media. Keep your thinking cap on and snugged down because the squealors are gonna be very loud. It gives me a smile.
Why do we have such breathtakingly incompetent and spineless "candidates" from which to choose? Tell me why you like chocolate covered dirt-cones vs plain dirt-cones please! I refuse to eat any dirt :)
NATO and Ukraine have acted like a bully. The Russians reacted to each punch with a punch of their own. The moment the bully becomes too big and strong, one cannot answer with punches anymore. One needs to kick the bully in the teeth or in the balls.
What makes us believe the Russians won't go nuclear? Because it's a faux pax?
I don't know if people here realize it. The Russians have been fighting this war honourably. Soldiers have been bringing in food and medicine and the low numbers of civilian casualties on the Ukrainian side proves this. The Russians have been feeling sorry for Ukraine and have been fighting this war with a one hand tied behind their back, believing there will be someone reasonable in the West who will come to their senses, but there is none.
At one point the Russian restraint will be gone. Just don't cry when it finally happens....
Correct. American SOP would have been to knock out the utilities. This would render much of the country uninhabitable in wintertime and create a refugee crisis.
Yes, the reckoning is coming. US is doing ALL the targeting, intel and recon on targets in the Black Sea and even worse civilians inside Russia. How many Americans know that actual American soldiers are flying the drones and relaying the information to NATO boots on the ground to fire the weapons that terrorize civilians. It is pathetic
The US government doesn't care if Europe turns into a nuclear wasteland. It means less competition for the Americans. If you don't believe it, just watch how the Americans took out the German economy. They blew up Nordstream and now Germany is facing an economic crisis. Yes, GDP doesn't look too bad (shrinking only slightly) but most manufacturing companies are moving their production abroad. Well, if this is how you treat a friend....
The question is, where the heck are the European leaders to finally intervene here and stop the escalation and the bloodshed?
But I assume a Scholz, whose pipeline got blown to pieces and visits Biden pretending life is a peach, is a hopeless basket case...
But Stoltenberg won't be fired. He is doing no more than carrying out his brief. Washington wants a war with Russia and they don't care if it turns nuclear - in fact, I think they're counting on it doing so.
It's too late regarding plain NATO involvement in strikes vs prewar Russian territory. But they should still fire him, and ideally deploy him to the trenches to join the hundreds of thousands whose death he cheered.
"NATO has been playing chicken" and "harassing Russia" sounds about right. However, Russia has consistently been doing 1/2 measures, as in a "special military operation" instead of a war against Ukraine. Likely 1/2 measures will continue.
There has been a war on ever since 2014 and the blatant aggression of the last two years by Russia. Ukraine has every right to bomb the capital of Russia just as we did after Pearl Harbor. How many missile strikes have been made on Kiev?
It is about time that the Russian people recognize that their fearless leader has gotten them into a war with a tough bunch of people willing to stand up for their independence.
Unfortunately Ukraine will never have enough firepower and the Russians will retaliate in Europe. Tis has nothing to do with "rights" --it is a matter of common sense and not inviting unnecessary risks
HaHaHa, you win comment of the month. Have you been drinking?? I really find it hard to believe that you know nothing about how this conflict began and yet you will spout nonsense anyway. Ukraine began the conflict and now Russia is finishing it
Stoltenberg's term ended in October, but because.member countries couldn't agree on his successor at Vilnius, he's staying till October 2024.
Dutch PM Rutte created a crisis in Dutch politics, and terminated his administration in order to get the job, and is now favourite, but he and failed German Defense Minister UvdL - who was publicly criticized by the head of the EU Commission for visting Kyiv and making bellicose speeches without EU authority while saying she represented the Union - have been locked for several months in a competition to show which is more hawkish, in order to impress neocon Biden and so succeed macho Jens.
What does Stephen Bryen think of the Kremlin arresting Russian invasion supporters? If Putin were to actually retaliate, I doubt he would go around arresting invasion supporters, but instead would be encouraging them.
I read the story. It is full of errors. Prigozhin led a revolt against the Russian army leadership and Putin. The deal was he was not arrested, but agreed to leave the country. Later he was moving back and forth, also continued his operations in Africa. He had a well financed and large (and profitable) operation, but he went too far and the Kremlin cracked down. The rest is well known.
OK, but I still think it is odd that after the Prigozhin mutiny, people that called on the army to support Putin over Prigozhin like Strelkov was arrested and Surovikin was demoted. And then on the other hand people like the RT editor Margarita Simonovna that disappeared during the mutiny and did not publicly support Putin, stay in their jobs.
Is there any country that NATO has not approached for membership? I think the problem with promising to defend everyone was that Russia got a taste of actually fighting NATO and instead of it being the sleeping tiger that Russia hadn't wanted to disturb, they now know NATO as a schizophrenic paper tiger that can't find its tail with all four paws.
I’m not really sure how you can claim that Soltenberg has turned NATO into an offensive alliance. Russia attacked Ukraine and threatened the Baltic Countries, Finland and Sweden. The expansion of NATO to include the Baltic Countries, Finland and Sweden was the immediate result of that attack and those threats. The US and the UK guaranteed the sovereignty and borders of Ukraine in 1994 under one of the Budapest Memoranda in return for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons. In 2014, Russia breached its duty to not invade Ukraine by seizing the Donbas and Crimea. The US, UK and others began providing military assistance, which seems the least that they could do in view of their 1994 commitments. In 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine and began threatening NATO members and adjacent countries, resulting in the current armed conflict. Previously, NATO members responded to the 9/11/01 attacks by honoring their Article 5 obligations assisted the US in its operations against the perpetrators of those attacks.
There are too many SINS of Historical OMISSION in your version of events.
It was Biden who presided over the 2014 US/CIA Coup/Regime change of the Democratically Elected Russian friendly government, installing the US UN-elected proxy anti-Russian Ukraine government. That's when the seeds for this WAR were planted.
That anti-Russian government immediately started shelling the majority Russian speaking UKRAINIANS in the East bordering Russia who voted for the Russian friendly government and refused to accept the US/CIA orchestrated Coup. From 2014 to 2022 there were some 14,000 UKRAINIAN Civilians in the East killed by the Ukraine government shelling, but that was not hyped big News in the West.
Representatives of Russia, Ukraine, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the leaders of two pro-Russian separatist regions signed the 13-point Minsk accord in February 2015.
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2202 calling on all parties, to implement the 13-point agreement in February 2015. The leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine, gathered in Minsk at the time, and issued a declaration of support for the deal.
1. An immediate and comprehensive ceasefire
2. Withdrawal of all heavy weapons by both sides
3. Monitoring and verification by the OSCE
4. To start a dialogue on interim self-government for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in accordance with Ukrainian law, and acknowledge their special status by parliamentary resolution.
5. A pardon and amnesty for people involved in the fighting
6. An exchange of hostages and prisoners.
7. Provision of humanitarian assistance.
8. Resumption of socio-economic ties, including pensions.
9. Restoration of full control of the state border by the government of Ukraine.
10. Withdrawal of all foreign armed formations, military equipment and mercenaries.
11. Constitutional reform in Ukraine including decentralisation, with specific mention of Donetsk and Luhansk.
12. Elections in Donetsk and Luhansk on terms to be agreed with their representatives.
13. Intensifying the work of a Trilateral Contact Group comprising representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE.
To Putin's great disappointment, Ukraine and the Western signatories made no effort to implement the terms of Minsk II. Germany's Chancellor Merkel and France's President Holland spilled the beans the purpose of Minsk II was only to stall deceiving Putin, while NATO armed and trained Ukraine for the WAR the US was determined to provoke with Russia.
Fast forward to December 2021 when Putin repackaged the agreed Terms of Minsk II in a draft Treaty submitted to the US for consideration the US rejected out of hand without any Diplomatic discussion at all.
In early 2022, Western MSM were reporting Russia had amassed some 140,0000 troops on the border without mentioning Ukraine amassed some 80,000 troops facing the Russian speaking Ukraine majority in the East resisting the 2014 CIA orchestrated Coup.
More than anyone else, only because The Kansas City Times was quoting me in the Historical record of September 13, 1976, publishing, "He wanted to bring to the Public’s attention an “idea being put out subtly and deceptively” by the government that we have to get prepared for a war with Russia” I went to the OSCE website to see what was happening with no. 3 of the 2015 Minsk II the week before the Russian SMO.
US Western MSM didn't report it because it conflicts with the incessant Western War Propaganda the Russian SMO was unprovoked.
In the week before February 24, the Ukraine government increased shelling the Russian speaking Ukrainians with up to 2000 Truce violations a DAY.
It was Ukraine that started the WAR, most probably as US direction, that provoked the Russian SMO to stop it.
We also know Russia and Ukraine initialled an agreement to stop the fighting in March, 2022 but the US lapdog Johnson went to Kiev with the instruction to not follow through with Russia because the US would arm and support Ukraine to fight Russia as long as it takes.
US/NATO claiming Russia wants to re-constitute the Soviet Union is fake US hype to sell more Weapons of Death & Destruction, preparing Americans and the World for the FINAL WAR to End ALL WARS, WWIII/Armageddon.
Vladimir Putin, "Anyone who doesn't regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who wants it restored has no brains."
New York Times 20 February 2000;
If the US wasn't so determined to weaken Russia as their stated goal using Ukraine as their proxy, all the territory Ukraine lost in the WAR would still be part of Ukraine, but for the US also presiding over the Gaza carnage perpetuating the WAR, when the US has the leverage to stop the slaughter by threatening to stop supplying Israel the bombs and cash.
The Fact is the US Military-Industrial Congressional Complex is making a KILLING off the Ukraine War and the Gaza MASSACRE.
Thanks I used to do this when people would bring up the Budapest mem. while leaving out ALL of the extremely relevant details. It actually goes back even farther but you give them enough
I won’t produce a TL;DR reply. So, just a summary. I don’t know, and neither do you, if the CIA inspired the color revolution that brought about the change in Ukraine Gov’t. It is quite reasonable to believe that the Russian aligned government was actually the result of Russian manipulation which the Ukrainians overthrew. In any event, the Ukrainians seem to be very intent on keeping their freedom from Russian domination. On this, I side with the Ukrainians. For the same reason I sided with the Hungarians, the Poles, the Finns, etc. Putin has been extremely clear about his intentions. And those intentions bear a remarkable resemblance to the megalomaniac behavior of Hitler in the 1930’s. Better to stop these aggressive tyrants early. I might also point out that the Donbas was first invaded by ‘little green men’, i.e., Russian state operatives masquerading as domestic freedom fighters. This is a common Russian tactic. The initial fighting occurred in response to this invasion. It is important to note that Ukraine was not the first venue for Russian aggression. Chechnya and Georgia were previous victims. Putin is not a good guy. He is a liar and a thief. He’s not the victim here, he is the attacker. Our response has been incompetent and ineffective. The Ukrainians, who are outnumbered 3 to 1, are fighting a desperate fight. It would be in our best interest for Putin to suffer a defeat and for his own people to remove him from office. And, that would be best for world peace as well.
Be careful. Chechnya was part of Russia, it was not a foreign territory. I feel sorry for Ukraine, but they had a reasonable peace deal that would not have cost them any territory (Minsk II) and they were encouraged to disown it, and foolishly did. I don't think there is any resemblance between Putin and Hitler regarding expansion of territory. Seems to me that is a misdirected argument. The notion that Russians will remove Putin from office is a pipe dream.
It would appear The Great Santini thinks the CIA spends most of its time in Church and does not involve itself in Regime change of governments the US can't control.
Here's former US Secretary of State and former CIA Director Mike Pompeo boasting in front of a friendly audience,
"I was CIA Director. We Lied, we cheated, we stole. It's – it was like – We had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American Experiment."
That's delusional & BLIND American Patriotism for you.
Harry Truman who created the CIA, wanted it hauled in for it's excesses.
The Washington Post December 22, 1963 – page A11
Harry Truman Writes: Limit CIA Role To Intelligence
INDEPENDENCE, MO., Dec. 21 — I think it has become necessary to take another look at the purpose and operations of our Central Intelligence Agency—CIA. At least, I would like to submit here the original reason why I thought it necessary to organize this Agency during my Administration, what I expected it to do and how it was to operate as an arm of the President.
I think it is fairly obvious that by and large a President's performance in office is as effective as the information he has and the information he gets. That is to say, that assuming the President himself possesses a knowledge of our history, a sensitive understanding of our institutions, and an insight into the needs and aspirations of the people, he needs to have available to him the most accurate and up-to-the-minute information on what is going on everywhere in the world, and particularly of the trends and developments in all the danger spots in the contest between East and West. This is an immense task and requires a special kind of an intelligence facility.
Of course, every President has available to him all the information gathered by the many intelligence agencies already in existence. The Departments of State, Defense, Commerce, Interior and others are constantly engaged in extensive information gathering and have done excellent work.
But their collective information reached the President all too frequently in conflicting conclusions. At times, the intelligence reports tended to be slanted to conform to established positions of a given department. This becomes confusing and what's worse, such intelligence is of little use to a President in reaching the right decisions.
Therefore, I decided to set up a special organization charged with the collection of all intelligence reports from every available source, and to have those reports reach me as President without department “treatment” or interpretations.
I wanted and needed the information in its “natural raw” state and in as comprehensive a volume as it was practical for me to make full use of it. But the most important thing about this move was to guard against the chance of intelligence being used to influence or to lead the President into unwise decisions—and I thought it was necessary that the President do his own thinking and evaluating.
Since the responsibility for decision making was his—then he had to be sure that no information is kept from him for whatever reason at the discretion of any one department or agency, or that unpleasant facts be kept from him. There are always those who would want to shield a President from bad news or misjudgments to spare him from being "upset."
For some time I have been disturbed by the way CIA has been diverted from its original assignment. It has become an operational and at times a policy-making arm of the Government. This has led to trouble and may have compounded our difficulties in several explosive areas.
I never had any thought that when I set up the CIA that it would be injected into peacetime cloak and dagger operations. Some of the complications and embarrassment I think we have experienced are in part attributable to the fact that this quiet intelligence arm of the President has been so removed from its intended role that it is being interpreted as a symbol of sinister and mysterious foreign intrigue—and a subject for cold war enemy propaganda.
With all the nonsense put out by Communist propaganda about "Yankee imperialism,“ ”exploitive capitalism,“ ”war-mongering,“ ”monopolists," in their name-calling assault on the West, the last thing we needed was for the CIA to be seized upon as something akin to a subverting influence in the affairs of other people.
I well knew the first temporary director of the CIA, Adm. Souers, and the later permanent directors of the CIA, Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg and Allen Dulles. These were men of the highest character, patriotism and integrity—and I assume this is true of all those who continue in charge.
But there are now some searching questions that need to be answered. I, therefore, would like to see the CIA be restored to its original assignment as the intelligence arm of the President, and that whatever else it can properly perform in that special field—and that its operational duties be terminated or properly used elsewhere.
We have grown up as a nation, respected for our free institutions and for our ability to maintain a free and open society. There is something about the way the CIA has been functioning that is casting a shadow over our historic position and I feel that we need to correct it.
Interesting comment. First, the Chechens didn’t think so. With the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, they set up their own government (with the usual confusion, etc.) In 1994 the Russians attacked Chechnya in the 1st Chechen War. By 1996 the Chechens had defeated the Russians and the Russians recognized an independent Chechnya. In 1999 formal hostilities began again as the 2nd Chechen War resulting in the conquest of Chechnya. Chechnya now provides troops to Russian in the war against Ukraine. As for the removal of Putin, there have apparently been at least two such attempts, one in 2022 early in the invasion and then the Wagner rebellion in 2023. There may have been others. Clearly Putin has reason to be concerned. That’s probably why he jailed Navalny and likely had him murdered.
it does not matter what the Chechen's thought. They were part of Russia and the prior USSR and their area was landlocked to boot. While I think the war was brutal and excessive, it was not a "foreign war."
Because Victoria Nuland bragged about spending five billion dollars and took it upon herself to appoint the post-putsch Ukrainian government as a favor to a friend.
No idea how you can claim the opposite. Clearly, you need to do some reading on the origins of the Russian military operation and recent history of Ukraine. Russia didn’t attack unprovoked or without warning.
You’re on Substack, which is a good first step, but keep reading.
I have literally spent a lifetime reading about Russian military operations. And also reading about Russian history, politics, economic theory, equipment design, etc., etc.
In 1976, as a Canadian, I was highly visible at the Republican National Convention in Kansas City and after the Republicans left town, The Kansas City Times published 2 reports on my presence in the City, the 1st on September 13, with a followup on ALL SOULS DAY DAY, November 2, 1976.
Among so much more, they wrote in the September 13 article with the picture of me wearing my trademark no. 13 jersey, “He came to town for the Republican National Convention and will stay until the election in November TO DO GOD'S BIDDING: To tell the World, from Kansas City, this country has been found wanting and its days are numbered [...] He gestured toward a gleaming church dome. “The gold dome is the symbol of BABYLON,” he said.” [...] He wanted to bring to the Public’s attention an “idea being put out subtly and deceptively” by the government that we have to get prepared for a War with Russia.”
It's taken 48 years, but it's happening NOW.
"On ALL SOULS DAY, November 2, 1976 The Kansas City Times published this picture in the followup to the September 13, 1976 article on my Time in the City as a Canadian, reaching an exceptionally high level of visibility at the Republican National Convention:
After being deported back to CanaDa as an Alien, I was surprised and probably the only one out of the 100 Million people watching the movie on TV 7 years to the month later, November 20, 1983, THE DAY AFTER Kansas City, of all the major American Cities, was incinerated in a Nuclear Holocaust.
After the destruction, the movie pauses at the very same picture frame published by The Kansas City Times 7 years earlier.
You can see it in this brief clip from the movie, as a SIGN of the TIMES this World has arrived at these 2 Generations later:
Since 2004. They might have been a bit concerned about Russian revanchism. After all, the Russians had invaded them in 1939, lost control of them in 1941 to the Germans and then resumed control in 1944. There were active, but unsuccessful insurgencies against the Russians for a few years after WWII. The Baltic states were more than happy to throw off the Russian yoke in 1991 and aggressively pursued NATO membership. The Russian invasion of Ukraine a scant 10 years later must have affirmed the wisdom of their decisions. I don’t think you can conclude that 10 years is a long time.
I don’t know what Ukraine was up to since the Budapest accords. I think they’ve been working for NATO and EU membership for some time as well. There’s been a lot of reluctance by existing NATO partners to add new members to the alliance because of corruption, Communist influence, and cost/benefit calculations. Ukraine has been more problematic in that regard than others. Corruption is an endemic feature of having been under Communist rule. Zelenskyy at least started out trying to eliminate it. He represented a sea change from his predecessors. And, of course, there have been a number of American politicians that have been using Ukraine (and other former Communist countries) as an ATM for many years. They had allies in the Ukrainian government until Zelenskyy showed up. As I noted above the Ukrainians have shown that they are absolutely dedicated to preserving their freedom, despite our often vacillating, feckless and incompetent support. Without our support the Ukrainians will eventually be overwhelmed by weight of numbers. With our support they may arrive at an acceptable peace. I doubt turning over Ukraine to the Russians would result in any improvement of the lives of the common folk. If reports from that area are accurate (e.g., Bucha, Mariupol, etc.) , and I believe that they are, the opposite would likely be the result.
Perhaps it is just my misunderstanding - but I am comforted by the fact that NATO has largely already demilitarized itself particularly outside of the United States.
Yes, there are NATO air forces, but NATO ground forces don't have artillery, don't have air defense, don't have tanks, and don't have trained troops. Not the least bit clear how European NATO is going to execute any kind of direct conflict with Russia. Even the US - the probability of being able to transport large troop formations *and* keep them supplied over the Atlantic in the face of hypersonic missile interdiction seems ... highly speculative.
NATO is far from demilitarized. However, it is not in good shape mostly because NATO countries always assumed that the US would fight for them, sort of "defense welfare"
I did not say NATO has *no* arms, but I did say that European NATO is small in number, poorly supplied and - outside of possibly air forces - simply inadequately trained and armed for modern conflict.
Do you disagree with this statement?
The entire German military is apparently smaller than the Russian 1st Tank Guards army by itself, even if they did not give many (most?) of their Leapords to Ukraine. France is better off but is not that much better off. The UK has no artillery left and literally a single division's (or less) worth of Challengers left. Spain? Italy? Netherlands? Scandinavia? Baltics? Not seeing a lot of contribution there. Poland has a respectable military - if only they had not given everything to Ukraine and has not yet received the South Korea replacements.
Net net - if Stoltenberg really is trying to push NATO into war with Russia, as oppose to earn his present and future neocon/military industrial pay, it would be a top 3 military miscalculation of all time.
The economist Michael Hudson made the comment in an interview several years ago that in the 2016 election the choice for president was between Donald Trump and World War III.
Hudson made this comment knowing full well that Hillary Clinton was a virulent Russiaphobe and serial warmonger.
Considering that the current administration is full of Obama Administration and Hillary State Dept retreads, we should not be terribly surprised to find ourselves at this point looking over a cliff and staring into the abyss. These people are calling the shots, and are feeding talking points to both Biden and Stoltenberg. The puppet masters have had Biden say over and over again "Putin can not win!"
Ignorant, incompetent and reckless!
Well said!
but as election in 2016 was a surprise "manipulation" txs to Cambridge Analytica & Co, this time Demonazicrats will try something strong, "spectacular" and will use their best arms of mass distraction to avoid a real confrontation with electorate.
I'm afraid that as this interesting post is warning, the Illegal and unconstitutional EU Commission will go along with Stoltenberg nazi ideas. But don't be surprised, when Stoltenberg became PM of Norway he spent more and more public money in armaments. And was not a coincidence that under his mandate it happened that massacre by one or more neo nowegians nazi , know as the Utøya Massacre: 69 teenagers killed...
So I agree, he should be dismissed and jailed, not Assange...
Good luck with that, and you can bet your last euro that this is not the end of the escalation.
Anyway, Stoltenberg (like every other politician in europe) is an American puppet with less authority than a calf in a veal pen.
Deep changes are direly needed in the CIA/NSA, etc. Yesterday.
They illegally are warmongers and regularly over meddle in elections of sovereign states. Why did Mr. 10% meddle in Brazil's last election against the people there?
Enough already. Hang'em high.
So how do you propose to do this?
Help the Trump campaign, donate to the Trump campaign, speak personally to as many illegal aliens as i can reach near Tucson, all in order to help them do the firing Kash Patel has described planned for their first few days of the new presidency. Otoh, should things actually go hot because of the leftie campaign of violence, some might be able to go underground and pop up in leftie places susceptible to principals being removed. Tactics lefties use need to be used on them. Otherwise, they will only continue.
Oh, because Trump folded like a cheap suit on his campaign blah-blah when he hired the worst of the worst neocons (Bolton and Pompeo) to fun his foreign policy apparatus? True I'd prefer the Narcissist over the doddering-senile-ice-ream-cone-licker/hair-sniffer but I'd also prefer to be punched in the nose than kicked in the nuts....
Yes, Trump made plenty of errors in his first term. He has admitted that. He was surrounded by vermin and sociopaths and a gaggle of billionaire dumb bells and the seditious. He was not a professional politician. For sure, he is not an angel. But neither is he the Devil. That would be the sniffer placed in the WH by the elite in DC and the West Coast and East Coast. It is highly probable, almost a certainty, that if the elite take the upcoming election, the nation will be lost to history. The upcoming election is highly probably the most important in the nation's history, if not, then at least in the modern era. One thing he has shown us just be being who he is, is how much the elite hate and despise us. At least now more see this. Better a patriotic business dude that an evil, mean spirited, man without a soul who has become a multimillionaire at our expense and lies every time he opens his foul mouth. The Heritage Foundation has been vetting a potful of candidates for WH advisors, etc., from which much better people may be selected to advise and manage the fed gov. Listen to interviews of Kash Patel with Lou Dobbs. It will be much better this time. There is going to be tons of squealing coming out of DC and the Media. Keep your thinking cap on and snugged down because the squealors are gonna be very loud. It gives me a smile.
If we learned nothing else from 2016-2020, it is that Trump is weak, stupid and easily manipulated.
That's funny.
Who are you pushing for? Biden, Big Mike, Haley? Which one is your daddy?
Where is it written that I have to be "for" any of the above?
Why do we have such breathtakingly incompetent and spineless "candidates" from which to choose? Tell me why you like chocolate covered dirt-cones vs plain dirt-cones please! I refuse to eat any dirt :)
NATO and Ukraine have acted like a bully. The Russians reacted to each punch with a punch of their own. The moment the bully becomes too big and strong, one cannot answer with punches anymore. One needs to kick the bully in the teeth or in the balls.
What makes us believe the Russians won't go nuclear? Because it's a faux pax?
I don't know if people here realize it. The Russians have been fighting this war honourably. Soldiers have been bringing in food and medicine and the low numbers of civilian casualties on the Ukrainian side proves this. The Russians have been feeling sorry for Ukraine and have been fighting this war with a one hand tied behind their back, believing there will be someone reasonable in the West who will come to their senses, but there is none.
At one point the Russian restraint will be gone. Just don't cry when it finally happens....
Correct. American SOP would have been to knock out the utilities. This would render much of the country uninhabitable in wintertime and create a refugee crisis.
The problem is that the sociopaths running the West see Russian restraint as contemptible weakness. They have no such qualms.
Yes, the reckoning is coming. US is doing ALL the targeting, intel and recon on targets in the Black Sea and even worse civilians inside Russia. How many Americans know that actual American soldiers are flying the drones and relaying the information to NATO boots on the ground to fire the weapons that terrorize civilians. It is pathetic
The US government doesn't care if Europe turns into a nuclear wasteland. It means less competition for the Americans. If you don't believe it, just watch how the Americans took out the German economy. They blew up Nordstream and now Germany is facing an economic crisis. Yes, GDP doesn't look too bad (shrinking only slightly) but most manufacturing companies are moving their production abroad. Well, if this is how you treat a friend....
The question is, where the heck are the European leaders to finally intervene here and stop the escalation and the bloodshed?
But I assume a Scholz, whose pipeline got blown to pieces and visits Biden pretending life is a peach, is a hopeless basket case...
But Stoltenberg won't be fired. He is doing no more than carrying out his brief. Washington wants a war with Russia and they don't care if it turns nuclear - in fact, I think they're counting on it doing so.
Slouching to WWIII…
Slouching? No. Diving head first at break neck speed.
It's too late regarding plain NATO involvement in strikes vs prewar Russian territory. But they should still fire him, and ideally deploy him to the trenches to join the hundreds of thousands whose death he cheered.
"NATO exists to manage the risks created by its existence”
Political scientist Richard Sakwa on Ukraine, 2015
"NATO has been playing chicken" and "harassing Russia" sounds about right. However, Russia has consistently been doing 1/2 measures, as in a "special military operation" instead of a war against Ukraine. Likely 1/2 measures will continue.
Stephen,
Just remember that the Doolittle raid was just the beginning of Japan's destruction and defeat.
The Doolittle raid was after Pearl Harbor and in wartime.
There has been a war on ever since 2014 and the blatant aggression of the last two years by Russia. Ukraine has every right to bomb the capital of Russia just as we did after Pearl Harbor. How many missile strikes have been made on Kiev?
It is about time that the Russian people recognize that their fearless leader has gotten them into a war with a tough bunch of people willing to stand up for their independence.
Unfortunately Ukraine will never have enough firepower and the Russians will retaliate in Europe. Tis has nothing to do with "rights" --it is a matter of common sense and not inviting unnecessary risks
It's as if you forgot about the most blatant coup in history.
HaHaHa, you win comment of the month. Have you been drinking?? I really find it hard to believe that you know nothing about how this conflict began and yet you will spout nonsense anyway. Ukraine began the conflict and now Russia is finishing it
The Colonel knows a lot more about that conflict than you do.
I remember that war ended with nuclear weapons.
This guy is jonesing hard for WW3. And he want to fight it with others peoples money and other peoples kid doing the dying!
Stoltenberg's term ended in October, but because.member countries couldn't agree on his successor at Vilnius, he's staying till October 2024.
Dutch PM Rutte created a crisis in Dutch politics, and terminated his administration in order to get the job, and is now favourite, but he and failed German Defense Minister UvdL - who was publicly criticized by the head of the EU Commission for visting Kyiv and making bellicose speeches without EU authority while saying she represented the Union - have been locked for several months in a competition to show which is more hawkish, in order to impress neocon Biden and so succeed macho Jens.
What does Stephen Bryen think of the Kremlin arresting Russian invasion supporters? If Putin were to actually retaliate, I doubt he would go around arresting invasion supporters, but instead would be encouraging them.
https://slavlandchronicles.substack.com/p/the-kremlin-campaign-against-russian
I read the story. It is full of errors. Prigozhin led a revolt against the Russian army leadership and Putin. The deal was he was not arrested, but agreed to leave the country. Later he was moving back and forth, also continued his operations in Africa. He had a well financed and large (and profitable) operation, but he went too far and the Kremlin cracked down. The rest is well known.
OK, but I still think it is odd that after the Prigozhin mutiny, people that called on the army to support Putin over Prigozhin like Strelkov was arrested and Surovikin was demoted. And then on the other hand people like the RT editor Margarita Simonovna that disappeared during the mutiny and did not publicly support Putin, stay in their jobs.
Is there any country that NATO has not approached for membership? I think the problem with promising to defend everyone was that Russia got a taste of actually fighting NATO and instead of it being the sleeping tiger that Russia hadn't wanted to disturb, they now know NATO as a schizophrenic paper tiger that can't find its tail with all four paws.
I’m not really sure how you can claim that Soltenberg has turned NATO into an offensive alliance. Russia attacked Ukraine and threatened the Baltic Countries, Finland and Sweden. The expansion of NATO to include the Baltic Countries, Finland and Sweden was the immediate result of that attack and those threats. The US and the UK guaranteed the sovereignty and borders of Ukraine in 1994 under one of the Budapest Memoranda in return for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons. In 2014, Russia breached its duty to not invade Ukraine by seizing the Donbas and Crimea. The US, UK and others began providing military assistance, which seems the least that they could do in view of their 1994 commitments. In 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine and began threatening NATO members and adjacent countries, resulting in the current armed conflict. Previously, NATO members responded to the 9/11/01 attacks by honoring their Article 5 obligations assisted the US in its operations against the perpetrators of those attacks.
There are too many SINS of Historical OMISSION in your version of events.
It was Biden who presided over the 2014 US/CIA Coup/Regime change of the Democratically Elected Russian friendly government, installing the US UN-elected proxy anti-Russian Ukraine government. That's when the seeds for this WAR were planted.
That anti-Russian government immediately started shelling the majority Russian speaking UKRAINIANS in the East bordering Russia who voted for the Russian friendly government and refused to accept the US/CIA orchestrated Coup. From 2014 to 2022 there were some 14,000 UKRAINIAN Civilians in the East killed by the Ukraine government shelling, but that was not hyped big News in the West.
Representatives of Russia, Ukraine, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the leaders of two pro-Russian separatist regions signed the 13-point Minsk accord in February 2015.
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2202 calling on all parties, to implement the 13-point agreement in February 2015. The leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine, gathered in Minsk at the time, and issued a declaration of support for the deal.
1. An immediate and comprehensive ceasefire
2. Withdrawal of all heavy weapons by both sides
3. Monitoring and verification by the OSCE
4. To start a dialogue on interim self-government for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in accordance with Ukrainian law, and acknowledge their special status by parliamentary resolution.
5. A pardon and amnesty for people involved in the fighting
6. An exchange of hostages and prisoners.
7. Provision of humanitarian assistance.
8. Resumption of socio-economic ties, including pensions.
9. Restoration of full control of the state border by the government of Ukraine.
10. Withdrawal of all foreign armed formations, military equipment and mercenaries.
11. Constitutional reform in Ukraine including decentralisation, with specific mention of Donetsk and Luhansk.
12. Elections in Donetsk and Luhansk on terms to be agreed with their representatives.
13. Intensifying the work of a Trilateral Contact Group comprising representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE.
To Putin's great disappointment, Ukraine and the Western signatories made no effort to implement the terms of Minsk II. Germany's Chancellor Merkel and France's President Holland spilled the beans the purpose of Minsk II was only to stall deceiving Putin, while NATO armed and trained Ukraine for the WAR the US was determined to provoke with Russia.
Fast forward to December 2021 when Putin repackaged the agreed Terms of Minsk II in a draft Treaty submitted to the US for consideration the US rejected out of hand without any Diplomatic discussion at all.
In early 2022, Western MSM were reporting Russia had amassed some 140,0000 troops on the border without mentioning Ukraine amassed some 80,000 troops facing the Russian speaking Ukraine majority in the East resisting the 2014 CIA orchestrated Coup.
More than anyone else, only because The Kansas City Times was quoting me in the Historical record of September 13, 1976, publishing, "He wanted to bring to the Public’s attention an “idea being put out subtly and deceptively” by the government that we have to get prepared for a war with Russia” I went to the OSCE website to see what was happening with no. 3 of the 2015 Minsk II the week before the Russian SMO.
US Western MSM didn't report it because it conflicts with the incessant Western War Propaganda the Russian SMO was unprovoked.
In the week before February 24, the Ukraine government increased shelling the Russian speaking Ukrainians with up to 2000 Truce violations a DAY.
It was Ukraine that started the WAR, most probably as US direction, that provoked the Russian SMO to stop it.
We also know Russia and Ukraine initialled an agreement to stop the fighting in March, 2022 but the US lapdog Johnson went to Kiev with the instruction to not follow through with Russia because the US would arm and support Ukraine to fight Russia as long as it takes.
US/NATO claiming Russia wants to re-constitute the Soviet Union is fake US hype to sell more Weapons of Death & Destruction, preparing Americans and the World for the FINAL WAR to End ALL WARS, WWIII/Armageddon.
Vladimir Putin, "Anyone who doesn't regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who wants it restored has no brains."
New York Times 20 February 2000;
If the US wasn't so determined to weaken Russia as their stated goal using Ukraine as their proxy, all the territory Ukraine lost in the WAR would still be part of Ukraine, but for the US also presiding over the Gaza carnage perpetuating the WAR, when the US has the leverage to stop the slaughter by threatening to stop supplying Israel the bombs and cash.
The Fact is the US Military-Industrial Congressional Complex is making a KILLING off the Ukraine War and the Gaza MASSACRE.
Thanks I used to do this when people would bring up the Budapest mem. while leaving out ALL of the extremely relevant details. It actually goes back even farther but you give them enough
I won’t produce a TL;DR reply. So, just a summary. I don’t know, and neither do you, if the CIA inspired the color revolution that brought about the change in Ukraine Gov’t. It is quite reasonable to believe that the Russian aligned government was actually the result of Russian manipulation which the Ukrainians overthrew. In any event, the Ukrainians seem to be very intent on keeping their freedom from Russian domination. On this, I side with the Ukrainians. For the same reason I sided with the Hungarians, the Poles, the Finns, etc. Putin has been extremely clear about his intentions. And those intentions bear a remarkable resemblance to the megalomaniac behavior of Hitler in the 1930’s. Better to stop these aggressive tyrants early. I might also point out that the Donbas was first invaded by ‘little green men’, i.e., Russian state operatives masquerading as domestic freedom fighters. This is a common Russian tactic. The initial fighting occurred in response to this invasion. It is important to note that Ukraine was not the first venue for Russian aggression. Chechnya and Georgia were previous victims. Putin is not a good guy. He is a liar and a thief. He’s not the victim here, he is the attacker. Our response has been incompetent and ineffective. The Ukrainians, who are outnumbered 3 to 1, are fighting a desperate fight. It would be in our best interest for Putin to suffer a defeat and for his own people to remove him from office. And, that would be best for world peace as well.
Be careful. Chechnya was part of Russia, it was not a foreign territory. I feel sorry for Ukraine, but they had a reasonable peace deal that would not have cost them any territory (Minsk II) and they were encouraged to disown it, and foolishly did. I don't think there is any resemblance between Putin and Hitler regarding expansion of territory. Seems to me that is a misdirected argument. The notion that Russians will remove Putin from office is a pipe dream.
It would appear The Great Santini thinks the CIA spends most of its time in Church and does not involve itself in Regime change of governments the US can't control.
Here's former US Secretary of State and former CIA Director Mike Pompeo boasting in front of a friendly audience,
"I was CIA Director. We Lied, we cheated, we stole. It's – it was like – We had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American Experiment."
That's delusional & BLIND American Patriotism for you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPt-zXn05ac
Harry Truman who created the CIA, wanted it hauled in for it's excesses.
The Washington Post December 22, 1963 – page A11
Harry Truman Writes: Limit CIA Role To Intelligence
INDEPENDENCE, MO., Dec. 21 — I think it has become necessary to take another look at the purpose and operations of our Central Intelligence Agency—CIA. At least, I would like to submit here the original reason why I thought it necessary to organize this Agency during my Administration, what I expected it to do and how it was to operate as an arm of the President.
I think it is fairly obvious that by and large a President's performance in office is as effective as the information he has and the information he gets. That is to say, that assuming the President himself possesses a knowledge of our history, a sensitive understanding of our institutions, and an insight into the needs and aspirations of the people, he needs to have available to him the most accurate and up-to-the-minute information on what is going on everywhere in the world, and particularly of the trends and developments in all the danger spots in the contest between East and West. This is an immense task and requires a special kind of an intelligence facility.
Of course, every President has available to him all the information gathered by the many intelligence agencies already in existence. The Departments of State, Defense, Commerce, Interior and others are constantly engaged in extensive information gathering and have done excellent work.
But their collective information reached the President all too frequently in conflicting conclusions. At times, the intelligence reports tended to be slanted to conform to established positions of a given department. This becomes confusing and what's worse, such intelligence is of little use to a President in reaching the right decisions.
Therefore, I decided to set up a special organization charged with the collection of all intelligence reports from every available source, and to have those reports reach me as President without department “treatment” or interpretations.
I wanted and needed the information in its “natural raw” state and in as comprehensive a volume as it was practical for me to make full use of it. But the most important thing about this move was to guard against the chance of intelligence being used to influence or to lead the President into unwise decisions—and I thought it was necessary that the President do his own thinking and evaluating.
Since the responsibility for decision making was his—then he had to be sure that no information is kept from him for whatever reason at the discretion of any one department or agency, or that unpleasant facts be kept from him. There are always those who would want to shield a President from bad news or misjudgments to spare him from being "upset."
For some time I have been disturbed by the way CIA has been diverted from its original assignment. It has become an operational and at times a policy-making arm of the Government. This has led to trouble and may have compounded our difficulties in several explosive areas.
I never had any thought that when I set up the CIA that it would be injected into peacetime cloak and dagger operations. Some of the complications and embarrassment I think we have experienced are in part attributable to the fact that this quiet intelligence arm of the President has been so removed from its intended role that it is being interpreted as a symbol of sinister and mysterious foreign intrigue—and a subject for cold war enemy propaganda.
With all the nonsense put out by Communist propaganda about "Yankee imperialism,“ ”exploitive capitalism,“ ”war-mongering,“ ”monopolists," in their name-calling assault on the West, the last thing we needed was for the CIA to be seized upon as something akin to a subverting influence in the affairs of other people.
I well knew the first temporary director of the CIA, Adm. Souers, and the later permanent directors of the CIA, Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg and Allen Dulles. These were men of the highest character, patriotism and integrity—and I assume this is true of all those who continue in charge.
But there are now some searching questions that need to be answered. I, therefore, would like to see the CIA be restored to its original assignment as the intelligence arm of the President, and that whatever else it can properly perform in that special field—and that its operational duties be terminated or properly used elsewhere.
We have grown up as a nation, respected for our free institutions and for our ability to maintain a free and open society. There is something about the way the CIA has been functioning that is casting a shadow over our historic position and I feel that we need to correct it.
Interesting comment. First, the Chechens didn’t think so. With the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, they set up their own government (with the usual confusion, etc.) In 1994 the Russians attacked Chechnya in the 1st Chechen War. By 1996 the Chechens had defeated the Russians and the Russians recognized an independent Chechnya. In 1999 formal hostilities began again as the 2nd Chechen War resulting in the conquest of Chechnya. Chechnya now provides troops to Russian in the war against Ukraine. As for the removal of Putin, there have apparently been at least two such attempts, one in 2022 early in the invasion and then the Wagner rebellion in 2023. There may have been others. Clearly Putin has reason to be concerned. That’s probably why he jailed Navalny and likely had him murdered.
it does not matter what the Chechen's thought. They were part of Russia and the prior USSR and their area was landlocked to boot. While I think the war was brutal and excessive, it was not a "foreign war."
Except for the CIA stirring up trouble. Anything to destabilize Russia.
You might wish to read up on the matter: https://www.historynet.com/russias-forever-war-chechnya/
The Great Santino has his own version of history. Stop watching CNN mate.
Anyone that calls himself "the great -----" tells me all I need to know about a person
I guess that means you’ve never seen the movie.
1) Not your mate. 2) I haven’t watched CNN in over 30 years.
According to World surveys, the US is the greatest threat to World Peace, and as a Canadian, I agree!
Because Victoria Nuland bragged about spending five billion dollars and took it upon herself to appoint the post-putsch Ukrainian government as a favor to a friend.
Go on, pull the other one.
No idea how you can claim the opposite. Clearly, you need to do some reading on the origins of the Russian military operation and recent history of Ukraine. Russia didn’t attack unprovoked or without warning.
You’re on Substack, which is a good first step, but keep reading.
I have literally spent a lifetime reading about Russian military operations. And also reading about Russian history, politics, economic theory, equipment design, etc., etc.
You read a life long but haven't learned anything it seems, or did you already forget everything? lol
The small amount that I have forgotten is more than you will ever know.
In 1976, as a Canadian, I was highly visible at the Republican National Convention in Kansas City and after the Republicans left town, The Kansas City Times published 2 reports on my presence in the City, the 1st on September 13, with a followup on ALL SOULS DAY DAY, November 2, 1976.
Among so much more, they wrote in the September 13 article with the picture of me wearing my trademark no. 13 jersey, “He came to town for the Republican National Convention and will stay until the election in November TO DO GOD'S BIDDING: To tell the World, from Kansas City, this country has been found wanting and its days are numbered [...] He gestured toward a gleaming church dome. “The gold dome is the symbol of BABYLON,” he said.” [...] He wanted to bring to the Public’s attention an “idea being put out subtly and deceptively” by the government that we have to get prepared for a War with Russia.”
It's taken 48 years, but it's happening NOW.
"On ALL SOULS DAY, November 2, 1976 The Kansas City Times published this picture in the followup to the September 13, 1976 article on my Time in the City as a Canadian, reaching an exceptionally high level of visibility at the Republican National Convention:
https://ray032.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/kansas-city-times-november-2-1976-all-souls-day-2.jpg
After being deported back to CanaDa as an Alien, I was surprised and probably the only one out of the 100 Million people watching the movie on TV 7 years to the month later, November 20, 1983, THE DAY AFTER Kansas City, of all the major American Cities, was incinerated in a Nuclear Holocaust.
After the destruction, the movie pauses at the very same picture frame published by The Kansas City Times 7 years earlier.
You can see it in this brief clip from the movie, as a SIGN of the TIMES this World has arrived at these 2 Generations later:
https://youtu.be/q7J8eMyK1DI
Since 2004. They might have been a bit concerned about Russian revanchism. After all, the Russians had invaded them in 1939, lost control of them in 1941 to the Germans and then resumed control in 1944. There were active, but unsuccessful insurgencies against the Russians for a few years after WWII. The Baltic states were more than happy to throw off the Russian yoke in 1991 and aggressively pursued NATO membership. The Russian invasion of Ukraine a scant 10 years later must have affirmed the wisdom of their decisions. I don’t think you can conclude that 10 years is a long time.
I don’t know what Ukraine was up to since the Budapest accords. I think they’ve been working for NATO and EU membership for some time as well. There’s been a lot of reluctance by existing NATO partners to add new members to the alliance because of corruption, Communist influence, and cost/benefit calculations. Ukraine has been more problematic in that regard than others. Corruption is an endemic feature of having been under Communist rule. Zelenskyy at least started out trying to eliminate it. He represented a sea change from his predecessors. And, of course, there have been a number of American politicians that have been using Ukraine (and other former Communist countries) as an ATM for many years. They had allies in the Ukrainian government until Zelenskyy showed up. As I noted above the Ukrainians have shown that they are absolutely dedicated to preserving their freedom, despite our often vacillating, feckless and incompetent support. Without our support the Ukrainians will eventually be overwhelmed by weight of numbers. With our support they may arrive at an acceptable peace. I doubt turning over Ukraine to the Russians would result in any improvement of the lives of the common folk. If reports from that area are accurate (e.g., Bucha, Mariupol, etc.) , and I believe that they are, the opposite would likely be the result.
Perhaps it is just my misunderstanding - but I am comforted by the fact that NATO has largely already demilitarized itself particularly outside of the United States.
Yes, there are NATO air forces, but NATO ground forces don't have artillery, don't have air defense, don't have tanks, and don't have trained troops. Not the least bit clear how European NATO is going to execute any kind of direct conflict with Russia. Even the US - the probability of being able to transport large troop formations *and* keep them supplied over the Atlantic in the face of hypersonic missile interdiction seems ... highly speculative.
NATO is far from demilitarized. However, it is not in good shape mostly because NATO countries always assumed that the US would fight for them, sort of "defense welfare"
I did not say NATO has *no* arms, but I did say that European NATO is small in number, poorly supplied and - outside of possibly air forces - simply inadequately trained and armed for modern conflict.
Do you disagree with this statement?
The entire German military is apparently smaller than the Russian 1st Tank Guards army by itself, even if they did not give many (most?) of their Leapords to Ukraine. France is better off but is not that much better off. The UK has no artillery left and literally a single division's (or less) worth of Challengers left. Spain? Italy? Netherlands? Scandinavia? Baltics? Not seeing a lot of contribution there. Poland has a respectable military - if only they had not given everything to Ukraine and has not yet received the South Korea replacements.
Net net - if Stoltenberg really is trying to push NATO into war with Russia, as oppose to earn his present and future neocon/military industrial pay, it would be a top 3 military miscalculation of all time.