Marko Papic on NATO and Germany defense

Ultimately, the architects of NATO – almost exclusively American – were not stupid.  They created a geopolitical architecture that – in the words of NATO’s first General Secretary Lord Ismay – was meant to “keep Americans in, Russians out, and Germans down.”  This has been an extraordinarily beneficial arrangement for the US, giving Washington an important geographical anchor on the Eurasian continent while forcing Europe to be largely subservient to US national interests.  Europe was effectively left in a permanent state of geopolitical adolescence.  The war in Ukraine ultimately illustrates that reality.  By waking up Germans to this reality, President Trump has ensured that Berlin – and Europe by extension – is no longer satisfied with staying down.

~ Marko Papic, "Europe’s Crisopportunity: Trump, Putin, And The Geopolitical Gambit," BCA Research, March 2025

Edward Curtin on Trump bringing peace to Ukraine

The real issue is Trump and the question of whether or not he is for real in his efforts for peace in Ukraine. I am very skeptical and think it is justified. 

I am convinced that the US/NATO war against Russia will not be ending unless NATO is dissolved, which Trump is not proposing.  He only wishes to strengthen NATO with European money, not that of the U.S. NATO’s only raison d’être is to destroy Russia as an independent country and create regime change there through multiple means.  This has always been so.  This is why NATO has existed for so long and has expanded.  Open warfare in Ukraine is just one means among many they have used over the years.  You can end the overt war and continue the covert. 

If NATO is not dissolved, the undermining of Russia will continue under Trump, who seems to recognize that the proxy war is lost on the battlefield, a fact obvious for years despite U.S. government and mainstream media propaganda to the contrary – propaganda so blatantly false that it raises questions about people’s gullibility.  How many foreign leaders does such media need to call the new Hitlers before people wise up? 

Trump’s theatrical antics will persist, however, and Trump and Putin will probably eventually meet and some deal may be struck on Russia’s terms, but if Russia doesn’t want to be tricked again, it should beware the possibility of a Trump Trojan horse.

~ Edward Curtin, "Hold the Applause for Trump, the 'Peacemaker'," LewRockwell.com, February 22, 2025

George Kennan on NATO expansion after the Soviet Union collapse

I think it is the beginning of a new cold war.  I think the Russians will react adversely and it will affect their policies.  I think it was a tragic mistake.  There was no reason for this whatsoever.  No one was threatening anybody else.  This expansion would have the Founding Fathers rolling in their graves.  We have signed up to defend a whole series of countries even though we have neither the resources nor the intention to do so in any serious way.

~ George Kennan, historian who advocated a policy of Soviet containment during the Cold War, May 2, 1998

Jim Rogers on Russian stocks

I am not sure why Putin is keeping this up...  I'm not sure why Washington hasn't said, why Ukraine hasn't said, "Ok, we're not going to join NATO.  We'll sign a treaty that we will not join NATO."  What do we care if Ukraine is part of NATO or not?  That would solve the problem and if that happens - no, of course for a while people are going to be angry at Russia, rightly or wrongly, it doesn't matter... - but that would mean that Russian stocks are very, very, very cheap.  Eventually, I presume, that people would be drinking tea with the Russians again and drinking vodka and having a good time with the Russians again.  I doubt if it [the war] will last forever.  We had a horrible war with the Germans and the Japanese...  Now they're our great friends.  So times change.  Peoples' attitudes change.  And if you buy something cheap you usually - if you have staying power - usually make money.

~ Jim Rogers, interview with Daniela Cambone, Stansberry Research, 17:00 mark, March 8, 2022

Kim Iversen on poking the Russian dog

The dog barked and barked and growled and growled.  People even pointed year after year that the dog is growling and dangerous, yet we kept taunting the dog, and now the dog is attacking.  And we're sitting here acting shocked, claiming there was no provocation on our end. 

~ Kim Iversen, "Kim Iversen: ”Ukraine Will Be Wrecked." OMINOUS Warnings Of NATO-Provoked War Given For DECADES," The Hill, 7:00 mark, March 2, 2022

Kim Iversen on the end of American hegemony

I do think this is about NATO expansion.  I think that's upset Putin.  I also think this was very planned.  And I think we are being very shortsighted thinking that this is just a Ukraine issue.  I don't think this is about Ukraine.  I think this is about American hegemony.  And the more we understand this: that is what they're taking on [Russia and China], we're already in World War III, be just don't realize it.  Hopefully it doesn't escalate to a nuclear war, but at this point they're taking us on.  That statement, if you read the whole statement that was put out by China and Russia on February 4th, it is ominous.  They're basically saying, "Your days are numbered, guys.  It's over." 

They then forge all these economic partnerships to one another and then suddenly Russia goes in and invades Ukraine, as if they were going to have a NATO vote tomorrow to bring them in?  They weren't.  There was nothing truly imminent about it.  Why did it happen?  Because I think these guys planned this out and thought this through and I think the U.S. dollar's been replaced.  We just don't realize it yet...

~ Kim Iversen, "Kim Iversen: Ukraine-Russia Is REALLY About The Demise Of US Hegemony, Petrodollar," The Hill, 15:00 mark, March 1, 2022

Chris Hedges on NATO buildup that preceded Russia's invasion of Ukraine

NATO is building a missile base in Poland that's a hundred miles from the border with Russia.  We almost had a nuclear war over Soviet missiles in Cuba.  That's 90 miles from the coast of Florida.  I don't think Russia's fear and sense of betrayal...  I don't think any of that is unreasonable.  That's the tragedy.  That does again - I'm going to reiterate - not justify the war crime that they have committed and are committing in the Ukraine, but they had far more reason to be concerned than we did in Iraq where we just fabricated and lied and created weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist.

~ Chris Hedges, "Ukraine: Prelude to a War Crime," 16:00 mark, March 3, 2022

Sheldon Richman on war in Georgia and the failure of U.S. foreign policy

The tragic events in the nation of Georgia show that U.S. foreign policy is a bust. In particular, NATO must go. This may seem counterintuitive, but this relic of the Cold War has nothing to contribute to peace. On the contrary, it is a destabilizing tool of America’s provocative imperial foreign policy.

~ Sheldon Richman, "War in Georgia Shows U.S. Foreign Policy Is a Bust," FFF Commentaries, August 15, 2008