A summary of the neocon position:
“The main message of the neocons is that the US must predominate in military power in every region of the world, and must confront rising powers that could someday challenge US global or regional dominance, most importantly Russia and China. For this purpose, US military force should be pre-positioned in hundreds of military bases around the world and the US should be prepared to lead wars of choice as necessary. The United Nations is to be used by the US only when useful for US purposes.”—Jeffrey Sachs, other-news.info 6/27/22
Paul Wolfowitz, working in the Department of Defense (DOD) in 2002, drafted a Defense Policy Guidance DPG) paper for the DOD which called for expanding NATO to Central and Eastern Europe. This countermanded explicit promises by President Clinton and German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genser. a dozen years previous…promises made to Russia to address Russian concerns. —I guess Wolfowitz figured those promises could be broken because Russia, as a result of the breakup of the USSR, at that time was a broken nation, struggling to maintain its economy and its military. Russia, Wolfowitz must have reasoned, was therefor powerless to resist, and if it’s to our advantage promises can be broken.
The foreign policy of the US is following Wolfowitz’s DPG to the letter. He is a neocon, as is Robert Kagan, influential advisor to conservative think tanks and government agencies, Kagan spelled out his view in a 2014 essay for The New Republic entitled “Superpowers Don’t Get to Retire.” The piece argued that active, forceful U.S. intervention in the affairs of other countries had reshaped the international system for the better.
Other influential neocons are Kagan’s wife, Victoria Neuland, who is now Undersecretary of State and Anthony Blinken, the current Secretary of State. Neuland participated in the overthrow of Ukraine’s pro-Russian president Victor Yanukovych in 2014 as Barack Obama’s Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs. She is now guiding US policy in Biden’s War in Ukraine.
In spite of the US’s lack of success for the past 50 years in nearly every regional conflict in which it has participated, the neocons think they can defeat Russia with their plan to expand NATO into Ukraine.
I do believe the neocon hubris has caused them to disregard the current strength of Russia and the current weakness of NATO. Undoubtedly a colossal tragic flaw. What was the political reality in 2002 is not the political reality today. Yet, the neocon doctrine and plan for US hegemony and world control that was enunciated by Wolfowitz in 2002 is being followed religiously.
Look at the current situation: Ukraine is loosing over 20% of its territory to Russia’s military operation and has lost most of its military equipment and much of its manpower—and consider that Russia has not declared full war, yet, and has committed only a fraction of its military.
The ability of Russia to conquer the entirety of Ukraine, even with the West continuing to supply additional arms, is not disputed by any objective military analyst. The sanctions imposed by the West have backfired. NATO is fast depleting (or has depleted) it’s store of military equipment, and Europe has cut off its energy supply and is experiencing Inflation and diminished manufacturing ability as a result.
Neocons are faced with a failure of their policy. The US Government has adopted neocon policy and has to eventually admit it has failed. Ukraine has lost the conflict and faces the choice to either lay down arms and surrender to terms dictated by Russia —or face complete annihilation.
Change is desperately needed. The people in the US, as the last possible hope, hold the key to ending the neocon policy of its government. Despite an undemocratic and cumbersome electoral system in the US, enough of its people understanding the situation can effect the necessary changes.
Please, let’s do it!
A vote of no confidence for our current policies is necessary. Please, let us do it!