{"id":121717,"date":"2022-06-24T07:16:13","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T11:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=121717"},"modified":"2022-06-24T07:44:07","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T11:44:07","slug":"biden-forces-russia-to-retake-all-of-ukraine-and-maybe-even-lithuania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=121717","title":{"rendered":"

Biden Forces Russia To Retake All Of Ukraine, And Maybe Even Lithuania<\/b><\/h2>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Eric Zuesse
\nOrientalReview.org<\/p>\n

The Soviet Union had included what now are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Byelarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.<\/p>\n

There is no indication that Russia\u2019s President Vladimir Putin had intended on February 24th anything more than to add to Russia the extremely pro-Russian former Donbass region of Ukraine. Russian troops were, however, sent also to surround Ukraine\u2019s capital Kiev only in order to prevent Ukrainian troops there going south and joining Ukraine\u2019s troops who already for eight years had been and still were in Donbass, so that Ukraine could then reinforce its Donbass troops against Russia\u2019s invasion. Once Russia determined that its forces and the (highly pro-Russian) local Donbass Government forces in Donbass were clearly on the path toward victory there, the Russian troops surrounding Kiev became withdrawn southward toward Donbass. The clearer that it has since become that Russia would succeed in its Donbass operation, the more that America and its allies supplied weapons to Ukraine, and the less willing, to negotiate with Russia, this made Ukraine\u2019s Government. That encouragement to Ukraine\u2019s Government, from the U.S. and its allies, caused Ukraine\u2019s Government to commit itself to victory at any cost against Russia (even promising to invade Crimea to retake it). The negotiations between Russia and Ukraine therefore collapsed.<\/p>\n

\"Biden<\/a>Biden seems to have made some sort of deal with Ukraine\u2019s President Zelensky that if Ukraine would do that (resist Russia all the way), then America and its allies would commit to Ukraine all the way up to World War III, but not by sending troops, only weapons and economic aid, which total so far this year the U.S. has been authorized in an amount of $54 billion. America\u2019s allies have donated far less. Basically, the deal is between Biden and Zelensky, to fight Russia all the way to a \u201cvictory\u201d by Ukraine (actually by America) against Russia.<\/p>\n

However, now that Ukraine is losing its war, Biden and his allies are allowing the war to expand closer and closer to WW III. Ukraine has several times bombed nearby cities in Russia, though constantly promising that it won\u2019t.\u00a0 And now, Lithuania, which is part of America\u2019s alliance, has closed Russia\u2019s rail traffic through Lithuania into Russia\u2019s province of Kaliningrad. Analogous would be if an anti-U.S. Canada were to block U,.S. rail traffic between the lower 48 states and the American state of Alaska. That sort of thing violates international law and is the international-law equivalent of a declaration of war, which Lithuania has now done (though not yet formally declared), with the approval of the U.S. and of America\u2019s pther allies, all of which are thereby daring Russia to enforce its own international-law rights by Russia\u2019s bombing any Lithuanian-or-allied forces that would attempt to enforce the U.S.-and-allied blockade against Kaliningrad.<\/p>\n

An excellent discussion of the ramifications of this situation can be found here:<\/p>\n