© Sputnik / Natalia Seliverstova
It is commonplace for Americans to portray Russia as a dangerous country with nearly unlimited territorial ambitions.
But the facts simply do not support such an alarmist view. Instead, Russia's behavior is more consistent with that of a beleaguered regional power trying to fend off hostile intrusions from an American-led NATO.
The self-serving myth of a malignantly aggressive Russia, however, continues to grow - with potentially dangerous consequences for European and global peace.
Assertions that Moscow's behavior pose a serious, even an existential, threat to Europe and the entire democratic West surfaced even before Donald Trump became president. They flared up in 2008 when fighting erupted between Russia and neighboring Georgia -
even though the latter country had initiated the aggression. Senator John McCain
asserted that "it's very clear that Russian ambitions are to restore the old Russian Empire."
Such allegations became more pervasive when Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula in 2014 following the Western-assisted Maidan revolution that overthrew Ukraine's elected, pro-Russian government. Ultra-hawkish writer and media talking head Ralph Peters asserted that Putin had a
detailed plan for reclaiming the Russian empire. "Make no mistake," Peters warned, "Putin
truly believes he's entitled to reclaim Ukraine and a great deal more. In his view, independent capitals from Warsaw (yes, Warsaw) to Bishkek [the Kyrgyz Republic's capital] are integral and natural parts of the Russian imperium. He regards them as property stolen from its rightful owner: Moscow." Hillary Clinton's rhetoric was even
more apocalyptic: Putin's actions, she contended, were "what Germany did back in the '30s."
Comment: In an ideal world a law like this is reasonable, however it will likely become apparent soon enough that it's only ever used to target small fry and 'enemies of the state', and those involved in corruption at the highest levels and in ways that benefit the UK will never need to fear investigation. It's notable that it has taken so long for a law like this to come into effect, and it comes at a time when the UK establishment is overseeing an undeniably dying economy.
Also in the news recently was that Italy enforced a similar law raiding a notorious Gypsy-Mafia crime family and evicting then from their plush villas.
See also:
- Fraud, deception, laundering - Bailed out banks still behaving badly and no one's stopping them
- UK government prevented raid on company suspected of tax fraud and money-laundering because 'it's the largest Tory donor'
- City of London - Tax haven, money launderer of the world and the capital of global crime
- Death squads, pedophiles and psychopaths: Inside the British establishment
And check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Yellow Vest Protests, Brexit Farce - Revolutionary Climate in Western Europe?