##### US strategic goals seen from the inside

+ I recommend Michael Brenner's remarkable analysis, reproduced by CF2R:

“ From April 2021, the contours of US strategy towards Ukraine and Russia quickly became clearer: stage a provocative incident in the Donbass that triggers a Russian reaction that can then be used to confirm the specious claims by Washington about pre-existing Russian invasion plans.

The significant reinforcement of Ukrainian forces along the line of contact in the Donbass, abundantly supplied with Javelin anti-tank missiles and Sprint anti-missiles, foreshadowed the preparation of offensive military actions. It was doing exactly what we accused Moscow of: planning a deliberate attack. Washington expected the ensuing crisis to force Western Europeans to agree to a comprehensive set of economic sanctions – including the cancellation of Nord Stream II against Russia. It was the centerpiece of the plan. Joe Biden's foreign policy team was convinced that the draconian sanctions would cause Russia's fragile and undiversified economy to collapse . ( Emphasis ours. EH) The secondary benefit for the United States would be a greater dependence of Europe vis-à-vis them in terms of energy resources, and implicitly, their alignment with the political positions of Washington. Thus, fear of Russia and economic dependence would indefinitely perpetuate the vassal status of European states which has been theirs for seventy-five years.

Therefore, Washington's main target in the Ukraine crisis was Russia – the growing obedience of European allies to Washington being a collateral gain. The widespread – and we hoped global – boycott of Russian natural gas and oil exports was seen as a way to deplete the country's financial resources and economy as its export earnings decline.

If we add to this the plan to exclude Russia from the SWIFT financial transaction mechanism, the shock suffered by the economy was bound to lead to its implosion . The ruble would collapse, inflation would soar, living standards would fall, popular discontent would weaken Putin so much that he would be forced to resign or be replaced by a cabal of disgruntled oligarchs. The result would be a weaker Russia beholden to the West, or an isolated and powerless Russia. As President Biden said, "For the love of God, this man can't stay in power".

To fully understand the tactic employed by the United States, one must take into account a crucial fact: very few people in official Washington cared about the stability of Ukraine or the well-being of the Ukrainian people. Their eyes were fixed on Moscow. In the minds of Washington's strategists, Ukraine presented a unique opportunity to justify the imposition of crippling sanctions that would end Putin's supposed ambitions in Europe and beyond. Furthermore, the increasingly close ties between Russia and European states would be severed, probably irretrievably. A new iron curtain would divide the continent, marked by a line of blood – Ukrainian blood. This geostrategic reality would free the West to devote all its energy to dealing with China. Everything the United States has done with respect to Ukraine over the past year has been dictated by this overriding objective.