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Written by Eric Zuesse
On January 9th, Robert Fico, Slovakia’s Prime Minister, who is Slovakia’s longest-serving PM, and who had led his country into the Eurozone in 2009 and helped to bring it into the EU, headlined an opinion article in the Slovak newspaper Truth, “The West’s strategy in Ukraine is simply not working”, and he announced that as Slovakia’s leader, he will now separate his country from both the EU and America on their policies regarding Ukraine and Russia.
He did this carefully so as to avoid impugning the intents of the EU and of America’s Government, and he provided only a practical or pragmatic statement, which steered clear of any reference to intents. In short, he alleged that the EU and America’s Government have been and will continue to be making mistakes regarding their policies regarding both Ukraine and Russia, but that, from now on, Slovakia won’t continue to join in on these mistakes. As a short-term strategy, this soft turn-around by him will soften the opposition to him both internally within Slovakia, and externally within the rest of the EU and in America.
However, his article nonetheless had one sharp edge to it, by several times pointing out evil things that the U.S. Government had done, such as in Iraq, and also in “the total influence of the USA on everything that happened and is happening in Ukraine after 2014 until now” — though he likewise carefully avoided usage of any evaluative term such as “evil.” However, a disadvantage of this soft turn-around is that it will cause easier to make a reversal of this turn-around (especially if a domestic opposition Party subsequently wins control); and, so, though better as a short-term strategy, this is worse as a long-term one. That trade-off, which Fico made, was probably wise, because in most cases a long-term strategy can succeed only if it first survives its short-term challenges. This is the reason why successful politicians (such as Fico) almost invariably have preferred to make soft transitions, instead of hard ones.
Following, here, is my translation abbreviating, and in places clarifying, Google’s auto-translation from the original Slovak version of Fico’s article:
“Robert Fico: The West’s strategy in Ukraine is simply not working”
9 January 2024, Opinion by Robert Fico, Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic
The convulsions that accompany today’s liberal demagoguery in defense of the West’s utterly failed strategy against Russia in Ukraine are beginning to cause wrinkles on my forehead.
The protagonists of this demagoguery feed the public with such monstrosities that it is not enough to react to them with just a wave of the hand. I understand the nervousness in the camp of Slovak progressives and liberals. … But that does not entitle any of them to accuse government officials of such nonsense and the most serious crimes as, for example, that we wish for Russian occupation or for Russia to be our neighbor.
From the very beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, I rejected the black-and-white vision that is desired in Washington and Brussels. The war in Ukraine has its roots already in 2014 and, … of course, in the total influence of the USA on everything that happened and is happening in Ukraine after 2014 until now. …
Russia responded to the security situation and Ukraine’s pressure to join NATO by violating international law, using military force without an international mandate. Big countries often do that; for example, see what the US accomplished in Iraq. And the West, instead of immediately making every effort to achieve a quick ceasefire, at the beginning of 2022 without even losing a tenth to Ukraine, made a huge mistake. It incorrectly evaluated the use of Russian military force as an opportunity to bring Russia to its knees. One look at history. Russia was invaded by Hitler in June 1941, but the Western Allies did not open a second front until the summer of 1944, when the outcome of the war was clear in favor of the former USSR. …
At the very beginning of the war in Ukraine in 2022, the West did not allow the Ukrainians to conclude a ceasefire with fair terms on at least two very promising occasions. Because a painfully wrong decision has already been made, that the West will take advantage of Russia’s violation of international law, supply Ukraine with piles of weapons, billions of dollars, load Russia with massive sanctions, attack Russia’s main mineral income and expect the Ukrainian soldier, down to the last, to bring to the West the Russian bear’s head on a platter in the form of a militarily exhausted, economically ruined, internationally isolated and internally politically subverted Russia. This was and unfortunately still is the Western strategy, which I openly say at home and abroad that it does not work, that it has failed. … I am not one of the Slovak politicians who are happy that in Slovakia the Russian Federation is being made a mortal enemy, and I do not like it at all that we are labeled as an enemy country in Russia.
It is literally shocking to see how the West has repeatedly made mistakes in assessing the situation in Russia. The facts are inexorable. Russia completely controls the occupied territories militarily, and attempts to convince the international community with demagoguery that alleges the demoralization of the Russian soldiers and huge Russian troop losses, are increasingly showing themselves to have been empty demagogic wishful thinking. Ukraine is not capable of any meaningful military counter-offensive, and it has become completely dependent on financial [he doesn’t mention military] aid from the West … Neither the Russian economy nor the Russian currency collapsed, anti-Russian sanctions increase the internal self-sufficiency of this huge country, Russian energy giants report record deliveries to China and India. … With a high probability, weapons and money will continue to pour into Ukraine for some time, but to no avail. It is politically impossible for its authors to openly admit the incorrectness of the adopted strategy. In two or three years we will be where we are now. In the EU alone, perhaps 50 billion euros will be lighter, and in Ukraine, cemeteries will be fuller by thousands of dead soldiers. Unfortunately, common sense will not win, although we are all ordered to immediately declare a truce and sit down at the negotiating table. It is evident that the futile waste of human resources and money and the passage of time will not worsen Russia’s negotiating position, on the contrary, it will strengthen it, because in a few years the international community will also begin to organize a retreat when looking at the reality. …
If I wish for something, it is for the Slavs to stop fighting each other for geopolitical reasons, on both the pro-American and the pro-Russian sides. Let Ukraine follow its sovereign, not dictated, path. If it sees himself in the EU, let it get this chance, provided it meets the conditions. We will be happy to help. Russia also needs security guarantees. And I continue to believe that we should return to the prior European rhetoric of how the EU and Russia are somewhat connected vessels and how they need each other. As Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, I will not spread hostility towards any country in the world. … I will no longer be subject to stupid liberal and progressive demagoguery that offends basic human justice and that will ultimately cause enormous harm.
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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse’s latest book, AMERICA’S EMPIRE OF EVIL: Hitler’s Posthumous Victory, and Why the Social Sciences Need to Change, is about how America took over the world after World War II in order to enslave it to U.S.-and-allied billionaires. Their cartels extract the world’s wealth by control of not only their ‘news’ media but the social ‘sciences’ — duping the public.
very humiliating we hillbillies cannot bribe fico
you can bribe as much politicians as you want but there ares some “redlines”. for example starting a nuclear war with russia needs more then just bribes.
he changes sides after emptying the ammunition depots to send everything to ukraine?
that was previous party in power that emptied slovakia’s weapons for ukraine . cannot put that on fico.
slovakia should be ashamed. it split from the czechs because it didn’t like playing second fiddle, just like how crimea split from ukraine and there wasn’t even a bloody coup d’etat in prague or civilians burned and shot to death and a demand that slovak accents and grammar be banned
washington took over ukraine the very same way it took over iran in ’53 and kosovo in ’99, by using paid street thugs, organized mafia and in ukraine’s case, nazi ideologues.
what does that make washington? not hard to fill in the blank.
fico did not send ammo to ukraine. what he says is very right and correct and what he said all slavic nations think. slavic (and other) nations should not be judged by the acts of their non-representing client governments. it’s not changing sides but call to common sense when idiotic approach brought only a catastrophy and widespread death and suffering.
maciuca iubește agricultura claunului. maciuca iubeste sa vada fermierii romani îngropați in preruri ce nu sustin continuarea activitatii agricole. bravo tra sportatorilor si fermierilor care au fost si sunt la. chiajna
imagine common sense prevailing in the eu bloc? good for slovakia and hungary, others will join soon enough.
dream on flathead. russia lost and is toast.
was that before or after your smooth brain ingested more shrooms?
nauseating gestapo pigslop returns from san francisco…
if russia lost then nato can stop fighting them, right?
russia has atomic weapons that can destroy all nato countries 25 times, cope
nato is not fighting
are they chickens? bwak bwak
well, nato general say nato is fighting:
usa lt.gen frim 6,49min
youtube.com/watch?v=wlkljushedg
– “if ukraine goes to the bargaining table or if ukraine loses this war, you might as well say the u.s lost the war, nato has lost this war. because remember, we have backed ukraine from the beginning in this war. nato backed ukraine from the beginning in this war. if we abandon the ukranians, then we have lost just as much as the ukranians have lost. i would rather push forward, push hard.”
lol du saudummes hurenkind.
even all serious western military analysts say soon game over for ukros.
but pls dont forget to post here again comments, when russian troops will one day be on the victory parad in odessa.
everyone is more than excited to see what explanations and justifications you will give us then.
they lost? when? how? in this dimension or parallel one?
lost moment russian flatheads entered ukraine, even if maybe there will be military wonder and putin conquers ukraine , russia still lost. paria as long as putin’s regime exist. only friends the worst of the worst aka north korea, iran, eritrea, syria and a bitch to china.
brics are not worst of the worst. in fact by 2024 they are outperforming most of the g7 incl. your country germany. cope nazi
germany is on its way to 1922. then they’ll find another guy like adolf to make them feel important again. how about you, gneaus? touring any beer halls lately? lol
actually, america’s depression in the 20-30’s infected germany and gave rise to adolf, so in the end, it was the american economic collapse that created the nazis and wwii..
how many times is germany going to be infected by the us screwing it and suffering more than the us itself, huh? it managed to temporarily escape in 2008 but the effect is a slow moving one. history sure can rhyme sometimes.
what’s a eunuch like you chiming in for, entertainment?
well well i would say austria and ireland next
the u.s is turning into a failed no longer influential entity and the eu is combusting.
sure flathead. by the winter is coming, flatheads freeze to death and quee for eggs like it is 1987 all over again. russia truely best country on earth
never mind even the western media is now admitting russia is winning and their economy is booming…lol..
lay off of the mushrooms…
good luck figuring out your own gender
if winter doesn’t bolster russian defenses then maybe this would be a great time for you to march in.
you are a living proof that a braindead little hurenkind nazi moron is the result, when your grandpa fcks your sister and the result was you.
little gestapo piglet threw a tantrum a week ago, tried to fake automate his responses, pathetic clown…
how many tattoos you think the little piglet has? any face tattoos?
gneaus, can you post a pic for us, pretty please?
gestapo pigwhore went dark… clever gestapling… ahahahaaaa…
i think he got embarrassed that the swastika tattoos that goth junkey with the tongue rings did on him are all backwards. that’s what you get for 10 euros.
aww did my comment trigger this poor whittle nazikins.
great speech from gico but erick zuesse also had to check their background history, their actions if what he said its what he does… too many politicians take advantage, anyone can speak, even if he is the pm of slovakia, but the last thing as i know, slovakia is occupied territory by the west and eu, the system is against him, probably they will kick away… fico is smart because you cannot fight or be enemies with a great world power near you
a cease fire would be the best thing. work out the details later!
zylensky sure pushes for the weapons and monies.
russia has done some good things in history i think.
see what happened with the minsk agreement…. we are dealing with people who think men can be pregnant. negotiating is useless with the devil. the dniepr should become the new border of russia or nato will continue its wars. accepting a peace treaty now and take only the dombass would give to russia only 10 years of peace.
the situation in the former eastern bloc is dire. the politicians (u.s. puppets) are dependent on eu subsidies. as the eu economy drags and romania, bulgaria, poland, slovakia, hungary, czechia are on the bottom of eu economy, the tensions are rising. and politicians are driving these countries to another war adventure, as yugoslavia, iraq, libya, syria, afghanistan and ukraine was not enough. people smell war against russia and don’t want it.
here we go, u.s. deep state bypassed congress again (like they did with the “war on terror”) and started major war against yemen.
why do we need to focus on politicians and media clowns as the pentagon and the deep state are doing anything they want. why we should address at un council and international courts when elites are taking decisions without consulting publicly anybody, especially not 10 billions of deplorables on this planet.
un and int. courts are corrupt and serving the banksters also