The U.S. and Russia Have Common Interests

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday, the 21^st day of March in the year of our Lord 2025. I will be talking about the subject I hate the most, and that is war which seems to be almost everywhere. The partial ceasefire in Ukraine, the open fire now in Gaza, and the U.S. war in the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden and Bab-el-Mandab against the Houthis.

How war shapes the world order

War shapes the world order and I guess it always has. For example, the military defeat of Napoleon in 1814 led to the Congress of Vienna. This cemented Great Britain as the leader of the new world order instead of France. I suppose since those countries controlled the world it would be OK to call that a world war resulting in the new order which existed until World War One or 1914. The victors in WW l set the order with the formation of the League of Nations. Which totally collapsed when Germany decided that it would be a better world leader than Britain. The victors in World War ll formed the new order with the United States as its leader and the United Nations to cement the order permanently.

The Soviet Union, which was one of the victors in WW ll didn’t accept the U.S. as world leader. That resulted in a 40 year long world order which became the cold war. The end of the cold war brought an end to the Soviet Union which dissolved into the Russian Federation. The global elite of the world had to find a way to continue the struggle to feed the eternal death machine. So the conflict between NATO and Russia continued. We won’t move one inch closer to Russia, Reagan told Gorbachev. But later presidents reneged on that promise and the struggle continued.

NATO and a continued mission against Russia

NATO was formed out of the shared belief that the Soviet Union was a direct threat to Western Europe. So an alliance pledged together that if one were attacked it would be considered an attack against all. The colonial possessions of the members were to be excepted from that deal as the French possessed Vietnam (or Indochina as it was known then). That agreement didn’t change much over the years. So the world order remained in a post-World War Two state of mind. And the United States grew ever stronger militarily and Europe grew ever weaker.

Europe was fine with it, because all those countries could let their militaries deteriorate since the U.S. had their backs. The Europeans did not even live up to the paltry, relatively speaking, of 5% on defense that the NATO agreement called for. The U.S. constantly urged them to spend more but why should they because the U.S, nuclear umbrella was there to cover them. Donald Trump appeared on the scene and started his America First rhetoric exposing the obvious that the NATO agreement and the way it was enforced was extremely unfair to the U.S.

Europe and its 1939 mindset

The Europeans were stuck and have continued to be stuck in a 1939 mindset which told them the Russians are coming, but the Russians never came. They wanted to constantly poke the bear but they had nothing with which to defend themselves against the bear. The U.S. wanted a unipolar world with the U.S. at the head and the Europeans were fine with that as long as they could spend their tax revenue on their welfare and other social relief programs to pacify the masses. In the meantime, the U.S. and its people languished under the ever-increasing weight of 36 trillion of debt increasing by 2 trillion per year. The weight of constant wars and constantly increasing burdens of wounded veterans to care for, the people becoming ever more impoverished, the middle class driven into poverty and unpayable debt.

Trump recognizes that the U.S. and Russia do share interests in common

Now, I’m taking a little poetic license here folks and speaking for Donald Trump. But I think it went something like this. Trump takes office having already looked at the world and seen the order of it. He said this is grossly unfair and must be changed because we are slowly dying. The new world he sought involved Russia and the U.S. exploring their common interests rather than fighting. The Soviet Union broke apart because the Soviets could no longer afford to maintain it. Their people were impoverished with a majority as hopeless alcoholics, and life expectancy plummeting. Reagan and Gorbachev worked it out. The rest you know as history, although many prefer to lie about what the agreement actually was, it was recorded. 

Trump insisted he could work with Russia to find common ground. Total war today, which has always reshaped and redefined world order, is unthinkable, because it would mean Armageddon for the world so something else has to be found to fight about and to jockey for leadership in the world. Trusting the world to fight wars and giving one the power to dictate economic terms works to a degree but only if China, Russia, the U.S., all NATO countries, all Middle East countries, have leadership that is sane and remains that way year after year. Are we willing to bet our lives and the lives of all our prodigy on that assumption.

An economic redefinition – and Russia and America as the real combatants

Why not redefine the world order in economic terms instead? I think that is what Trump is hopeful of doing. I realize that I am not in the White House. So I can’t know fully what is happening outside of my research and study. But having said that, I will also say that I disagree with the way the ceasefire negotiations were conducted.

The war is a proxy war between the U.S. and Russia with the U.S. trying to use Ukraine as a battleground to weaken and eventually break up Russia leaving the U.S. unchallenged in a unipolar world. It didn’t work and instead it had the opposite result with Russia growing much stronger and Putin modernizing his army and consolidating his rule.

This war would not and could not have been fought without the full commitment, at least economically, by the U.S. Therefore the negotiations should be between the U.S. and Russia, not between Trump and Zelensky. The Russians certainly see it as a war between them and the U.S. So why not acknowledge that, try to work it out so that Putin can go back to his people and say look at what we gained, all the sacrifice was worth it? The U.S. and its agent Zelensky can say look at what we gained and you will see that Russia got some formerly Ukrainian territory but not nearly as much as it wanted and tried to get, so we won.

Vietnam redux

This is very reminiscent of the position the United States was in with regard to South and North Vietnam. The end became a foregone conclusion and years of negotiating were conducted over prisoners and over how to explain the inevitable victory of the North. Everybody goes home a victor but out of all the death and destruction comes a new order for the world. It would be a tacit if not overt admission to say that the age of the unipolar world is over. The Project for a New American Century was a complete failure. It only accomplished the slaughter of millions and the impoverishment of even more.

The new order of the world will apparently have the U.S., Russia, and China, as multi-polar countries in this world of massive egos and lunatic ambitions. Is there room in this world for all three? Time will tell I guess, but I pray there is. Now let me mention some of the other wars that are at the disposal of Donald Trump in the second month of his administration.

Other wars – in the Middle East

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas/Gaza is no more. It was obvious from the beginning that it would not work because neither side wanted it to work. My guess is that if you searched the world over you could not find a place with a higher population of insane lunatics than in the Middle East. Hamas could have allowed the ceasefire to continue by simply releasing the remaining hostages or their bodies. What good are the hostages to Hamas anymore because they obviously have not deterred Israel from its attacks.

So, the Israelis mobilized 400,000 troops and began another attack on the rubble that is now Gaza. Hundreds are already dead and once again most are women and children. To think those civilians in Gaza, deserve what they have gotten or that they have any way to control Hamas is foolish and heartless. Why are the Israelis still bombing Gaza and sending in more soldiers. It can’t be because of the Hostages because that makes no sense.  It must be because they are tired of the constant attacks by Hamas on their civilians and their infrastructure. So they intend to put a stop to it once and for all. The other possibility is more sinister and that is the territorial expansion of Israel.

Yemen and the Red Sea

In the same region of the world and in a war based on the war against Gaza the Houthis in Yemen started their attacks against shipping trying to exit or enter the Red Sea. They explained to the world that the attacks were in retaliation for the Israeli attacks in Gaza and the blockade to prevent humanitarian relief efforts from reaching Gaza. They attacked the aircraft carrier Harry Truman and its battle group with 19 missiles and drones. The U.S. Navy swatted them aside with no problem at all.

But then Trump ordered a bombing attack inside Yemen to teach them a lesson. Trump criticized Biden during the campaign for relying on bombing when “a telephone could be used more easily.” It’s easier, I guess when you have your own finger on the trigger. I am afraid that some of the neocon, war is the only answer, people have slipped into the foreign policy portion of the administration.

We haven’t exactly had successful foreign [policy people in place during say, the last 50 years and so perhaps we should try something different. Perhaps someone should start communicating with we the people honestly instead of spouting out the same propaganda that most of us have heard our entire lives. Maybe someone could come onboard who is willing to reexamine the foreign policy positions that have been in place no matter which party controlled the oval office.

A failing of the current world order

Finally, folks, if we are able to stop the killing in Ukraine only to continue the killing in Gaza and start new killing in Yemen, what have we accomplished? Politics is not about finding peace; it is about finding excuses for war. So I suggest we start reexamining the world order and the politics that fuels it as well.

At least that’s the way I see it,

Until next time folks,

This is Darrell Castle.

From CastleReport.us, appears by arrangement – Ed.