Operation Barbarossa II: Some Further Thoughts

21.02.2020 Author: James ONeill

 Operation Barbarossa II: Some Further Thoughts 

Column: Politics

Region: Russia in the World

In a recent article published in NEO an alarming picture of United States and NATO forces encroaching ever closer to Russia’s borders was set out. The thrust of the article was that this encroachment was done for a specific purpose: to facilitate an attack upon Russia using nuclear weapons. The article raises important issues that are worth further examination.

While it would be exceedingly unwise to bet against the United States engaging in such an attack there are a number of reasons why such an argument is highly improbable. This is not to say that it cannot or will not happen, but the consequences of such an attack would be so devastating for the United States that this omnipresent reality should itself be a sufficient deterrent.

As readers of this website are well aware, the post war history of the United States is one of endless interference in the affairs of foreign countries. This interference has taken many forms from military invasion and occupation at one end of the spectrum to social and economic warfare on the other end.

For the most part, the objects of this unwanted and unwelcome military intervention have been too weak, militarily, to resist. There are some notable exceptions to this general principle. The United States invasion of North Korea in 1950 had multiple effects. Of paramount geopolitical importance it revealed to the newly installed government of the People’s Republic of China that the United States’ real long-term aim was the destruction of its Communist government and the reinstatement of its compliant ally Chiang Kai Shek as ruler of China.