By Paul Angel
Europe is at war again and it is painful to watch. Whether the assault on Ukraine lasts years or ends before I finish writing this, the sad fact is that our “leaders” have learned nothing from history: World War I and World War II were devastating disasters for the world. And to see Ukrainians being killed by Russians and vice versa is particularly distressing, knowing no good can come of it no matter who “wins.” Those who are currently defending or blaming Vladimir Putin or Volodymyr Zalensky are missing the point: Europeans should never be killing other Europeans—now or in the future, for whatever reason. As a race, we should have evolved beyond this. Obviously, we haven’t.
That being said, this war can be laid at the feet of those Western policymakers who have decided Russia should never be allowed to reach its national potential. The West has, for the past 30 years, made sure of that, thwarting at every turn Russia’s attempts to control its own borders and achieve some level of economic success. None of these geniuses formulating U.S. policy bothered to take seriously Russia’s legitimate national security concerns. Would America ignore a foreign power methodically placing tanks, drones and nukes in a neighboring nation, all pointed at Washington, D.C., like those NATO countries have aimed at Moscow?
And, if for the past 30 years, we had warned our adversaries that this was unacceptable—and they continued to supply more war materiel to the hostile lands surrounding the U.S., would we sit by and do nothing? Evidently, that is what our foreign policy geniuses decided Russia would do, ignoring every sign that this very course of action could devolve into a dangerous shooting war.
But why would Putin order his troops into Ukraine now, of all times. Let’s imagine what Putin might have been thinking when he met with President Joe Biden in June of 2021. As he looked across the table at Biden, Putin may have thought:
“These Americans: They can’t even figure out which bathroom to use. Their cities are in chaos—race riots, drug addiction, looting and murder. Their southern border is unguarded and they let unvetted criminals from across the world—intent unknown—into their nation, even facilitating their travel. Look at their president! corrupt, compromised and decrepit. I could snap him like a dry twig. Their vice president is even worse. I doubt she could find Russia on a map! They are weak, divided, spoiled and foolish. They have no stomach for a real war.”
As Putin eyed Biden from across the table, Joe’s brain was filled with its own thoughts. “What flavor ice cream am I going to have for dessert? Will I have time to soak my bunions before getting on the plane? What’s the word for ‘nappy time’ in Russian?”
Joe doesn’t know much, but he does know one important thing. The only way to defeat a superpower without destroying the world is not to engage it on the ground in pitched battle or in the skies with jets and guided missiles. That is no longer Uncle Sam’s way of waging war against nations that actually have standing armies, advanced weapons, satellites, drones, and nuclear weapons.
Instead, Joe knows the West now comes equipped with a force much more powerful by far than a million-man army sporting all the latest mass-murdering goodies from Raytheon and other arms dealers. That force is much scarier than even nukes: a gaggle of pinstriped bankers.
Rather than fight an enemy on the ground, in the air, in cyberspace or outerspace, nowadays the U.S. instead unleashes its bankers on all who dare challenge it. They battle from the boardroom, not the battlefront. That should tell you something about the power the bankers have over our world—and have for a long time. It has always been bankers that have funded the most maniacal military leaders of the past, from Bonaparte to Stalin, and are at the heart of the perpetual war cycle.
But never before has the power of the bankers been seen so obviously displayed. If they want a war to stop, or one to start, they can get the job done. And they hit Russia hard with their economic blitzkrieg.
Our silk-tied secret weapons can destroy a nation faster than a nuclear-tipped bomb on a hypersonic missile. And that is what the Western world is aiming to do to Russia: bankrupt it and make it helpless.
Putin and his spokesmen say that they don’t give a hoot about financial sanctions, but they do. Whether the sanctions work or not has yet to be seen. And, if we can, should we not do all we can to avoid military confrontations where human beings are blown to pieces, civilians caught in battle zones die in droves and irreplaceable historical and cultural sites are razed to dust?
Perhaps, but, when the bankers get involved, inevitably everyone is enslaved—from Minsk to Moscow, Madrid to Montana—and only their wallets seem to get fatter, not yours or mine. In fact, the A-bomb could become an obsolete weapon of war, one that is not nearly so devastating as when a small army of bankers show up to foreclose on your nation.
Vladimir Putin, whether he “wins” the war in Ukraine or not, is seeing the power of the bankers firsthand—but he could bypass or eventually replace them. China would be willing to help. That will require some time, but it can be done. Should Putin succeed, the end of American/Western financial hegemony is near. Many nations, in fact, are looking forward to that day.
So, if bankers have so much power, why don’t they just end war altogether? Good question—but where’s the profit in that?
Paul Angel is the managing editor of American Free Press.
