Russian President Vladimir Putin could turn his attention to Lithuania once he secures his goals in Ukraine, General David Petraeus has warned, as he accused the West of dragging its feet on vital military support. The former CIA Director said Mr Putin’s ultimate aim was not just holding four partially occupied Ukrainian provinces and annexed Crimea — but toppling President Volodymyr Zelensky and seizing control of the entire country.
Speaking during a Policy Exchange webinar on Thursday, he said: “They still want to control not just all four of these provinces and Crimea. They want to topple Volodymr Zelensky and replace him with a Russian puppet so they control all of Ukraine.” And he warned: “Once that’s done, you’re going to see them start to focus toward, I’d say, one of the Baltic States — Lithuania has featured prominently in his speeches — and we should be listening.” The remark was a reference to Mr Putin’s infamous description of the collapse of the USSR as “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century” — a statement General Petraeus – who warned Putin was “planning for a war against Europe” – said had laid bare the Kremlin’s true intentions for years.
I interpret this as warmongering on Petraeus’ part. NATO has behaved belligerently toward Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union. They started out gradually by making false promises of non-encroachment while also feigning they might allow Russia to join NATO. It was all hostile BS and here we are today. NATO/Ukraine tried to kill Putin in a mass drone attack just a few days ago; an attack Trump seems to have been unaware of, and probably was deliberately not informed of by compromisers close to him, who knows? The attack was almost certainly designed to disrupt Putin-Trump peace negotiations, which appeared promising. There is a clear path to peace in Ukraine which requires allowing Russia to get what it deserves historically, culturally, politically and as the spoils of their successful incursion against NATO encroachment in Ukraine. ABN
American Buddhist Net 