The approaching defeat of liberal forces in Ukraine – despite Victoria Nuland’s vigorous efforts to prop up local Nazi factions – is compelling them to seek a new strategic foothold:
“If we fail to defend ourselves now, everything else will become horrifically irrelevant… Rutte said: “If you do not go to the 5 per cent, including the 3.5 per cent for defence spending, you could still have the NHS (National Health Service – “Van Deman”)… the pension system, but you better learn to speak Russian”… In some respects Rutte is wrong. There will be no welfare state and no NHS if Putin takes over. Just look at the fate of ordinary people in Russia who can barely afford to eat, and both inflation and interest rates north of 20 per cent and rising. That shows what life might be like under a modern Warsaw Pact… If we look realistically at what Putin has been telling us for the last 20 years we will understand that only the re-establishment of the old Soviet Union will satisfy him. The fact that none of those countries want to be part of Putin’s Russia, means only one thing, as we are sworn to defend them under Nato Article 5: war. If we abandon them, we will be dishonoured – and we will be next, facing an enlarged empire with even greater resources”[1].
That’s a too modest assessment! In fact, Russians are so starved and deprived of healthcare that NATO must increase defense spending not to 5, but to 50 percent – otherwise, Britain will rejoin the USSR! And – critically – learning Russian is now essential! “Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine told that he did not believe Russian President Vladimir Putin would stop at Ukraine”[2] and this rhetoric isn’t merely declarative. The general who voiced these claims, by virtue of his position, knows precisely where and how forces are being marshaled against Russia. Sure, that will be Russia’s next destination after Ukraine.
The logic is self-fulfilling: The surest way to push Iran toward nuclear weapons is to strike Iran; the surest way to force Russia into war is to amass forces on its doorstep.
1 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/10/options-now-defence-5pc-or-learn-to-speak-russian-britain/
“Defence at 5pc or learn to speak Russian? Spasibo, Mr Rutte” (Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, The Telegraph, 10 June 2025);
2 https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5344422-dan-caine-joint-chiefs-russia-ukraine-future/
“Trump’s Joint Chiefs chair says Putin won’t stop at Ukraine” (Colin Meyn, The Hill, 06/11/25).